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Top 10 Idiots

Top 10 Idiots's Journal
Top 10 Idiots's Journal
November 18, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-17: The Man With The Golden Goose Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-17: The Man With The Golden Goose Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Still coming to you from this blank void. How’s everybody doing? I know, this has been quite a week, hasn’t it? For the first time in five years I feel like I can finally sleep easier at night. But we’ve still got a long way to go before the end of 2020. And man it’s going to feel like an eternity until January 1st gets here, after which we only have 20 more days left of this god forsaken administration! So do we have time for the thing? And yeah this is the first “thing” we’ve had in like two months so let’s do this thing! Well we got to talk about the Space X launch for a minute. Wasn’t that great on Sunday? Yes like the Lakers winning the NBA Finals or the Dodgers winning the World Series, just some mild escapism from the absolute shit show that is 2020. But that said it was pretty cool to watch wasn’t it? I mean it wasn’t quite the spectacular they had last year when they launched a Tesla Roadster in orbit around the earth but it was still pretty cool, am I right? I mean I always said that space travel will start expanding when it becomes profitable to do so. And now that Space X has taken the helm it looks like it might start becoming profitable to do so! Although really, Elon Musk believes in alien DNA and promoted Kanye West for president, and named his baby after a series of unpronounceable syllables, so is this really the guy who we want in charge? It remains to be seen. OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he talks about Trump’s insane denial of the 2020 election results:



Wow, the dust has finally been settled from the 2020 election but Trump isn’t going quietly! In the #1 slot this week is of course the guy who won’t be president for much longer and that’s’ Twitter’s own @realDonaldTrump (1). He’s attempting to stage what one might call a coup and it’s backfiring on him spectacularly! In the second slot this week is Trump Supporters (2) – they’re planning a Million MAGA March on Washington DC and we will have all the low lights from the shit show! Yes, you saw that correctly! In the third slot this week is SCOTUS (3). So Boofing Brett Kavanaugh had an independent thought on health care, but then Samuel Alito decided to channel his inner Frank Costanza and air his grievances to the Federalist Society! In the number four slot this week is also @realDonaldTrump (4) and he has a plan to start his own news network! Yes, he’s declaring war on the channel that made him, Fox, because, reasons. In the number 5 slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week my home state of California always makes the news for the big money and big prizes poured in to their proposition system, so what made the cut this year? Well it was quite the mixed bag for starters! In the number 6 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church of the Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week – our resident pastor takes a look at what Northern California megachurch hipster cult pastor Sean Feucht is up to and well, let’s just say that coronavirus likes this. In the #7 slot this week is a new edition of “Beating A Dead Horse”. So Ben Shapiro – you know him as the guy who constantly attacks liberals for needing “safe spaces” – hates the concept of gender bending in rock music. Well guess what? That concept is older than time itself! Taking the #8 slot this week, is a new segment! We have our first ever edition of “People Who Somehow Got Re-Elected” (8) and who better to induct into the new class than our old buddy Mitch McConnell? Because he has an inexplicably low approval rating, yet keeps getting reelected every time! WTF! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a new I Need A Drink – why are celebrities buying controlling stakes in European EFL teams? We will have some drinks and find out! Finally in “Road To The White House” (10) – why does Trump refuse to concede? And why won’t they tell the incoming president anything? So many questions! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Can we talk about the New Zealand Bird Of The Year vote for a minute? Because it’s quite literally insane that they actually have a Bird Of The Year vote. And in this election there were 1500 votes that were found to be fraudulent. That’s because New Zealand really cares about its’ bird of the year. Which this year happened to be Spotted Kiwi. Although I personally happen to be a fan of the Yellow Eyed Penguin in this case. So cute! But the reason I bring this up is because this is just an election to decide New Zealand’s national bird. Now imagine this having real consequences like here in America, where President Boy Who Cried Wolf is screaming about voter fraud. Allow me to cue my inner Twilight Zone narrator and just imagine if you will, a scenario in which 5,000,000 votes suddenly got overturned. It’s frightening, isn’t it?

President Donald Trump on Friday sought to reframe his unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud, proclaiming in a statement that his push to ensure the integrity of this year’s vote “is no longer about any single election.”

He also vowed to pursue a fair and transparent vote counting process “through every aspect of the law,” despite there being no evidence of broad wrongdoing.

The president struck a slightly less combative tone than he has previously this week, ditching his pleas to “stop the count” of ballots as his opponent Joe Biden pulled ahead in two states that would hand him the presidency.

“We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification, and that this is no longer about any single election,” Trump argued. “This is about the integrity of our entire election process.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/06/trump-campaign-election-is-not-over-434684




That’s right – Trump is hopping mad! But just think about that bird election there for a minute. Now just imagine what could go wrong if Trump ordered a recount in every state and somehow got the majority of the popular vote overturned? It’s pure fantasy at this point – he lost and the election results are unlikely to be overturned. But take a look at the clusterfuck currently happening in Georgia to get a preview of where we could be headed.

A recount in Georgia’s presidential race found more than 2,600 ballots in Floyd County that hadn’t originally been tallied, likely helping President Donald Trump reduce his 14,000-vote deficit to Joe Biden.

Trump could gain nearly 800 net votes from the discovered ballots. There were 1,643 new votes for Trump and 865 for Biden.

The problem occurred because county election officials didn’t upload votes from a memory card in an ballot scanning machine, said Gabriel Sterling, the state’s voting system manager.

He called it “an amazing blunder” and said the county’s elections director should resign.

“It’s not an equipment issue. It’s a person not executing their job properly,” Sterling said. This is the kind of situation that requires a change at the top of their management side."
https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-recount-uncovers-2600-new-votes-in-presidential-race/I75NSPYYGNF43HQZBPYKJWJ5MA/




That is true! And there’s no one who’s a bigger sore loser than Trump is. Hell he’s even a sore winner – think about the fact that he’s spent the last four years just berating Hillary over the results of the 2016 election. Nothing pleases this guy! But in fact he’s dead wrong on his election claims and he’s fighting quite the losing battle. He’ll go down in flames and it might take Bradley Tanks and a SWAT team to remove him from the White House on 1/21/21.

A group of 59 computer scientists, researchers and cybersecurity experts on Monday released a letter rejecting President Donald Trump’s claims of widespread electoral fraud as “technically incoherent” and “unsubstantiated” in the latest rebuke of Trump’s campaign to undermine public confidence in the election results.

“We are aware of alarming assertions being made that the 2020 election was ‘rigged’ by exploiting technical vulnerabilities,” wrote the group of experts, which included Matt Blaze, a cryptologist and professor at Georgetown University, and Alex Stamos, the former security chief at Facebook. “However, in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.”

Since multiple media outlets, including Fox News and the Associated Press, on Nov. 7 projected Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election, Trump and his allies have continuously made false claims of election fraud. The director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has debunked the president’s conspiracy theories while mostly avoiding mentioning Trump by name.

“Anyone asserting that a US election was ‘rigged’ is making an extraordinary claim, one that must be supported by persuasive and verifiable evidence,” the security experts wrote in their letter. Trump and his allies have provided no such evidence, and lawyers representing the Trump campaign in court have consistently failed to convince judges of their arguments.
https://www.cyberscoop.com/election-security-experts-trump-voter-fraud-baseless/




Holy shit! I’m no expert on cyber security by any means but I think even a room full of chain smoking monkeys on typewriters could tell Trump that he’s completely full of shit on election fraud! I could go on all day about how members of his own party are saying that he’s completely full of shit but I don’t have that kind of time! Even the US election security officials claim he’s full of shit!

US election officials have said the 2020 White House vote was the "most secure in American history", rejecting President Donald Trump's fraud claims.

"There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised," a committee announced.

They spoke out after Mr Trump claimed without proof that 2.7 million votes for him had been "deleted".

He has yet to concede to the president-elect, Democrat Joe Biden.

The result of the 3 November election was projected by all the major US TV networks last weekend.

On Friday, the BBC projected Mr Biden to have won Georgia and Mr Trump to have won North Carolina.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54926084





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[font size="8"]Million MAGA March Highlights
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We seriously had a pool in the Top 10 Home Offices going as to how long before Saturday’s Million MAGA March in Washington DC would turn violent. I figured it was going to be at some point after the march when the protestors got bored and went home. I was not disappointed. Of course you should know by now that when the MAGAs gather – whether it’s the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, that some serious shit will fly and it will most likely end with injuries and arrests. Or as the Los Angeles Lakers call it, a victory parade. I kid, I kid. But let’s take a look at the million MAGA March for a minute and how the Trump presidency began and how it will end.

The Trump administration is ending the same way it started: spreading false claims about crowd sizes in Washington, D.C.

On Nov. 14, thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters rallied in Washington to support false claims that he had won re-election. But White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted an alternative estimate of the demonstration’s attendance.

"AMAZING! More than one MILLION marchers for President @realDonaldTrump descend on the swamp in support," McEnany said in the tweet, which has been shared more than 56,000 times.

The post took us back to January 2017, when Trump’s first press secretary, Sean Spicer, claimed the crowd at Trump’s inauguration "was the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period." We rated that claim Pants on Fire!

Since Trump retweeted a claim that more than a million people gathered in Washington to support him, we wanted to take a closer look at McEnany’s tweet.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/nov/16/kayleigh-mcenany/million-maga-march-did-not-have-more-1-million-att/




Yes these are some extremely terrible people. And if you saw the posts on Twitter you’d think that conservatives were badly mistreated during the protests. No they weren’t. In fact like most protests, they’re the antagonists looking to start some shit, but they’re able to spin it in such a way that they’re the victims. And yes like every pro-Trump march since the administration began, this one ended about how you’d expect.

Supporters of President Donald Trump — including members of the militant hate group the Proud Boys — fought with counterprotesters in Washington, DC, on Saturday night following the “Million MAGA March” rally that attracted crowds of thousands in the nation’s capital throughout the day.

During the day, the rally was largely peaceful, with only minor altercations between demonstrators and counterprotesters. But by evening, the violence reportedly intensified, leading to at least one hospitalization.

The Proud Boys, as Vox’s Fabiola Cineas has explained, are known for inciting violence, and reports from the scene note provocations coming from demonstrators, as well as from counterprotesters at various points. Video footage shows a number of street brawls breaking out in various parts of the city, including some fights that left onlookers asking for a greater police response.

During one such melee near the White House, baton-wielding Trump supporters fought with a group of counterprotesters in a brawl that left one man hospitalized after being stabbed in the back. Separately, an independent journalist said she believed she was stabbed in the ear by a member of the Proud Boys. Four police officers were injured.
https://www.vox.com/2020/11/15/21565938/million-maga-march-violence-protests-dc




So yeah just keep in mind that if you hang out with the Proud Boys, someone is gonna get stabbed and that’s something that you should try to avoid at all costs! But the thing is the Trump administration ended the same way it began – by lying about crowd sizes! And let’s comment on their uniforms for a minute. I mean seriously they complain about Harry Styles wearing a dress, but they have no problem with color coordinating and matching scarves? Please!!!

The Proud Boys, a violent far-right group which Donald Trump told to “stand by” during a September presidential debate, are expected to rally in Washington DC, on Saturday. They’re part of a constellation of groups and demonstrations heading to the capitol to protest the election result in a “Million MAGA March.”

“People want to show up and have their voice heard,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox on Thursday, when asked about the event. “I mean this president — look, he got more votes than any Republican nominee, or for president I should say, in the history of our country and indeed he got more Republican votes as any nominee in the history of our party back in 2016.”

The president did not win the presidential election, and in all likelihood lost the popular vote by millions, but he and his allies have continued to claim without evidence Democrats cheated the results in statements and a series of flagging lawsuits around the country.

The concurrent demonstrations in the capitol, including the Million MAGA March as well as various “Stop the Steal” events, are a physical manifestation of the outrage that’s spread in conservative circles online, and are expected to attract a broad cross-section of Trump-supporting factions, including radical anti-government vigilante groups like the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, followers of conspiracy-peddling outlet Infowars, alt-right activists, neo-Nazis, as well other supporters of the president.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/proud-boys-dc-maga-trump-election-b1722071.html




Yeah seriously! The Proud Boys even got a visit from Dear Leader as he drove through the rally on his way to go golfing. But the one nice thing is that the MAGA movement appears to be dying down even though 70 million voted for the Orange Asshole. And like I said the Trump administration will end as it began – with them lying about crowd sizes. In fact this was one of the most poorly attended rallies in recent memory.
Saturday’s “Million MAGA March” in Washington D.C. failed to live up to its name, in that only thousands of people—nowhere near a million—gathered in the nation’s capital over the weekend to protest the right of their fellow Americans to vote for someone other than Donald Trump to be President.

According to a report from the Washington Post, those gathered at the march heard from a cast of speakers who were conspiracy theorists, among them Alex Jones (who has been sued for accusing the families of the children killed at Sandy Hook of being actors), after getting a glimpse of their head conspiracy theorist Trump, who drove by the people gathered in his name on the way to golf.

During the day the Trumpers marched through the streets against voting, COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and even Fox News (which has begun acknowledging the fact that Biden is the projected winner of the presidential election).

True to form, current White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany hopped on Twitter to continue the tradition of press secretaries in the Trump White House, by outright lying about the numbers of people present for the march, claiming that it was “more than one million”:
https://www.theroot.com/the-million-maga-march-didnt-meet-its-target-number-bu-1845679318





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Yes it’s a fact that conservatives now have a 6 – 3 supermajority on the Supreme Court. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that even they have to follow the law and the constitution of the United States. Even a man such as Boofing Brett Kavanaugh has to comply by the standards of the bench that he presides over and it cannot be ignored! But even such hard lined conservatives like Boofing Brett have an independent thought every once in a while. But it won’t be long before the conservatives break his spirits and remind him who he is working for. After all they will strip our rights and take away our nice things whether we like it or not!

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts made comments Tuesday implying they’re likely to uphold the Affordable Care Act as the fate of the landmark health care act was argued before the court, suggesting it is unlikely that a majority of justices will ultimately vote to strike down the ACA even if its individual mandate provision is declared unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court heard Texas v. California Tuesday, which concerns whether the individual mandate in the ACA, which imposed a penalty on Americans who didn’t purchase health insurance, should be declared unconstitutional after Congress invalidated the mandate by getting rid of the tax penalty in their 2017 tax legislation.

Conservative state attorneys general and the Trump administration argue that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, and because of that the entire ACA should be struck down, because they believe the individual mandate cannot be severed from the rest of the law without the entire law being invalidated.

Kavanaugh said during the hearing that the case appeared to be a “straightforward case for severability” based on the Supreme Court precedent, and “it does seem fairly clear that the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision and leave the rest of the act in place,” including protections for preexisting conditions.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/11/10/kavanaugh-roberts-suggest-they-wont-strike-down-affordable-care-act-obamacare-in-supreme-court-hearing/?sh=5dabed5a6954




That’s right! Brett Kavanaugh had an independent thought alarm that even conservatives can’t ignore, and it certainly wasn’t what Trump signed him up for and paraded him around for! Both he and Roberts are suggesting that it’s not the court’s duty to strike down ACA. Though no matter what happens we’ll keep an eye on it because that’s what we do. But even the insurance industry themselves is surprised by this ruling! And they would know.

It’s been 10 years, and Republicans still can’t quit Obamacare.

As coronavirus cases mount and as state and local governments brace for more COVID fallout, the battle over President Obama’s signature achievement continues to rage -- and the health benefits of more than 20 million Americans hang in the balance.

The war over the Affordable Care Act has been full on since its enactment in March 2010.

Republicans who voted against it then called parts of the ACA unconstitutional, taking particular aim at the individual mandate provision, which requires people to enroll in insurance coverage or face fines. It faced challenges in the Supreme Court in 2012 and 2015, and was upheld both times. President Trump has vowed to overturn Obamacare as well, but after nearly four years in office still has relatively little to show for his efforts.

Now, as coronavirus continues to take lives, and with two months left in the White House for Trump, the fight over Obamacare is before the Supreme Court once again.
https://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/the-war-against-obamacare-is-still-raging-after-10-years-and-a-pandemic




Oh seriously people! Stop your rabbling! Kavanaugh will be told to get in line soon enough. As if that wasn’t enough, let’s switch gears and talk about Samuel Alito’s showing at the Federalist Society’s annual gathering of deplorables. It seems he has a few thoughts on COVID destroying our basic civil liberties. And before we do I want to show just what we’re up against. And why Alito is not fucking helping at all!

Washington (CNN)White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Scott Atlas criticized Michigan's new Covid-19 restrictions in a tweet shortly after they were announced Sunday evening, urging people to "rise up" against the new public health measures.

"The only way this stops is if people rise up," Atlas said. "You get what you accept. #FreedomMatters #StepUp"

His message -- which runs counter to the consensus of public health officials -- is likely to fuel new tension between the White House and Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whom federal and state officials announced last month was the target of an alleged domestic terrorism kidnapping plot.

Responding to Atlas' tweet Sunday evening, Whitmer told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "We know that the White House likes to single us out here in Michigan, me out in particular. I'm not going to be bullied into not following reputable scientists and medical professionals."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/15/politics/scott-atlas-coronavirus-michigan/index.html




Gee seriously what could go wrong there? We already have one petulant man child attempting to stage a coup the last thing we need are clones! So Dr. Atlas said that shit. We’re in the worst pandemic not seen in an entire century, so why do Alito's comments matter when Atlas says shit like this? Well take this combined with Kavanuagh’s comments on the ACA and we have a colossal shit show in the making and it’s all thanks to you know who.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito delivered an unusually inflammatory public speech Thursday night, starkly warning about the threats he contends religious believers face from advocates for gay and abortion rights, as well as public officials responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to a virtual conference of conservative lawyers, the George W. Bush appointee made no direct comment on the recent election, the political crisis relating to President Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his defeat or litigation on the issue pending at the Supreme Court.

However, Alito didn’t hold back on other controversial subjects, even suggesting that the pressure Christians face surrounding their religious beliefs is akin to the strictures the U.S. placed on Germany and Japan after World War II.

“Is our country going to follow that course?” Alito asked. “For many today, religious liberty is not a cherished freedom. It’s often just an excuse for bigotry and can’t be tolerated, even when there is no evidence that anybody has been harmed. ... The question we face is whether our society will be inclusive enough to tolerate people with unpopular religious beliefs.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/13/alito-speech-religious-freedom-436412





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Well if you can’t beat them, steal them. That seems to be the motto of the Donald J. Trump reelection campaign. And we’ve said before that if Trump loses the election that he’s going to burn the house down before he goes. In fact it’s already started and he’s going nuclear on Fox News. That’s right – the network that made him into the heartless monster that he is is turning on him, like some kind of fucked up Frankenstein monster. And I mean come on, I read the Frankenstein novel in middle school I have seen how this sort of thing turns out! And it will not turn out well for Trump or for Fox News.

"Fox News Sucks! Fox News Sucks!"

For those of us who are no fans of Donald Trump, we have all likely thought words to that effect over the years as Fox News defended Trump and the Republican Party. But the chant "Fox News Sucks!" didn't come out of the mouths of Trump's opponents, but rather from a swath of Trump's own supporters during Saturday's march in Washington, D.C.

For me, it was a beautiful sight: watching Trump supporters adorned with their Trump paraphernalia, waving Trump flags, in the streets chanting the mantra over and over. Finally, I agree with Trump supporters on something!
This is not the first time Trump lovers have mocked Fox News. Days after the November 3 election, some Trump supporters were heard chanting "Fox sucks" in Arizona outside a vote counting location -- reportedly because they were upset the network had called Arizona for Joe Biden before most other media outlets.

But the large numbers of Trump supporters Saturday vocally eclipsed what happened in Arizona. This was clearly a reaction to Trump's increased attack on Fox News via his tweet Thursday, where he claimed Fox News forgot he was the "Golden Goose" for their ratings. Trump, in essence, appeared to blame Fox News for his election loss, writing: "The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was @FoxNews!"
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/15/opinions/trump-election-war-fox-news-obeidallah/index.html




I could honestly see that’s where news is headed. Seriously a man as petty and vindictive as Trump obviously has something up his sleeve. The guy is fuming mad over losing the election and he’s taking it more like the child screaming at Target when his parents don’t buy him a toy than he is taking the loss like a real man should. So how did the relationship between Trump and Fox News turn into a modern day version of the Frankenstein story?

The last day of Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign began just after 7 a.m., as polls opened on the East Coast, with a call to “Fox & Friends,” the television morning show that had turned the reality star into a U.S. president. He got his usual hero’s welcome. But it was no longer enough.

“This has been a very special show for me,” he told the hosts of this broadcasting safe haven where he had workshopped his birther message, shared gossip and conspiracy theories, and repeatedly set the tone for his entire administration’s day. “We’ve had a great relationship, and you have a great show. So, it’s my honor.”

But his remarks quickly turned pointed that Tuesday morning as he boasted about how well he had done in the job of president, despite unexpected challenges — not from China or Russia or North Korea, he said, but from the United States. And he mused rhetorically about what had changed the most for him since 2016.

“Fox,” he said, answering his own question. “It’s much different now.” As the hosts sputtered, he elaborated: “In the old days, they wouldn’t put sleepy Joe Biden on every time he opened his mouth. . . . It’s a much different operation — I’m just telling you.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/the-long-love-affair-between-fox-news-and-trump-may-be-over-heres-how-it-ended-last-week/2020/11/09/f4dddb5e-2095-11eb-90dd-abd0f7086a91_story.html




That did go south so fast! And remember that episode of Futurama where Bender gets kicked out of a theme park and vows to start his own, but better? Well Trump is aiming to do just that. He’s made the world look at the US as a laughing stock, and he’s taken his brand of poison to Fox News as well. So if he gets kicked out of Fox News where’s he going to go? It seems Trump’s brand of love – hate with Fox News has been taken to new extremes.

President Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network, sources tell Axios.

The state of play: Some Trump advisers think Fox News made a mistake with an early call (seconded by AP) of President-elect Biden's win in Arizona. That enraged Trump, and gave him something tangible to use in his attacks on the network.

"He plans to wreck Fox. No doubt about it," said a source with detailed knowledge of Trump's intentions.

With loyal viewers and longtime dominance, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said on a Nov. 3 earnings call:

"We love competition. We have always thrived with competition. ... Fox News has been the number one network, including broadcast networks, ... from Labor Day through to Election Day."

Here's Trump's plan, according to the source:

There's been lots of speculation about Trump starting a cable channel. But getting carried on cable systems would be expensive and time-consuming.
https://www.axios.com/trump-fox-news-digital-media-competitor-25afddee-144d-4820-8ed4-9eb0ffa42420.html




Oh come on, Axios! You know Trump isn’t the type to throw tons of money away on a business that will go nowhere! Oh wait, he’s already lost money in casinos, airlines, vodka, steaks, hotels, golf courses, and a fake university. What’s there to stop him from investing money in his own media company? Well like most breakups, this one is going to be extremely long and extremely painful, and the last thing we need is another conservative media outlet. Trump might think he's the golden goose, but really he's more The Man With The Golden Goose. And a solid gold toilet. So I give this one six months before they pack it in.

Allies of President Trump have reportedly looked into investing in the conservative news outlet Newsmax to compete with Fox News, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal published on Sunday.

Hicks Equity Partners, a private-equity firm with connections to a co-chair of the Republican National Committee, have been in discussions in recent months with the media company about investing in Newsmax. The Journal reports the talks may also be part of larger efforts that could include a streaming video service.

Trump's allies have been exploring ways to compete with Fox News for the past two years, according to the Journal. Trump’s relationship with the network has been complicated. He has often shown appreciation for the support he receives from Fox News hosts and the network's coverage of his presidency has often influenced decisions he's made inside the White House. He has also lashed out at the network when it criticized him.

Trump recently posted a flurry of anti-Fox News tweets that attacked the network and lamented that it had forgotten the "golden goose" that made it successful. He appeared furious at the network's projection that Democrat Joe Biden would be victorious in Arizona's presidential tally.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/526069-trump-allies-raising-millions-for-new-conservative-tv-network-report





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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: California Propositions
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!



Every election cycle, the state of California always makes national news for it’s increasingly controversial series of laws that are decided by the people known as “propositions”. They’re always a mixed bag of stuff and you never know what you are going to get with each one. But unlike other states, California’s propositions are sponsored by some big money investors on both sides – for and against. And this year there was a lot at stake – including allowing rideshare drivers to unionize (Prop 22), requiring dialysis clinics to employ on site medical staff (Prop 23) to a tale as old as time, requiring employers and colleges to embrace diversity (Prop 16). So what were the big winners and losers this year? Let’s start with one of the big losers, Proposition 22.

What happened in California? Despite the state’s liberal reputation, voters there last week approved Proposition 22, a ballot initiative exempting many gig companies from state workplace laws and stripping their workers of basic, essential protections.

Uber, Instacart, Lyft, DoorDash and other on-demand providers of ride-shares and food and grocery deliveries spent $200 million pushing the proposal, an astounding sum that workers and their allies couldn’t remotely hope to match. Not surprisingly, Californians were misled by an avalanche of claims about the proposal’s impact on workers. The measure, which takes effect next month, was approved with 58 percent of the vote.

Emboldened by the results in California, Uber and friends are apparently planning to take the show on the road. Potential targets could include Massachusetts or New Jersey, where state regulators have pursued them, or New York or Pennsylvania, where courts have rejected the argument by gig companies that workers run their own independent businesses. The rest of us need to understand what happened in California.

What was at stake with Proposition 22 was whether workers for app-based driver and delivery companies would be considered employees under California statutes, which like workplace laws nationwide, cover only employees, or whether they should be classified as independent contractors. Proponents argued that requiring gig companies to follow current laws would badly damage their on-demand business model and result in longer wait times, higher prices and the loss of countless jobs. These were the same bleak prognostications gig companies made about the minimum wage for drivers that New York City enacted two years ago — predictions that did not come to pass.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/opinion/prop-22-california-gig-workers.html




Yes so think of Uber and Lyft sponsoring legislation against their employees like KFC sponsoring legislation against chicken. It’s in their name! Another big loser in all of the Propositions was Prop 20, a measure that would have reduced prison populations and toughened stances on criminals. So how did that one favor with voters? Well it was, as they say, rejected.

Proposition 20, a California initiative that would have toughened sentencing in criminal cases and reduced the number of prison inmates eligible for early parole, was rejected by state voters on Tuesday.

The measure by law enforcement and prosecutors hit the ballot just as the Black Lives Matter movement was drawing new attention to demands for change in the criminal justice system to reduce incarceration and its disproportionate effect on people of color.

“The defeat of Proposition 20 is a significant milestone in California’s ongoing effort to make its criminal justice system more effective, and the rejection of mass incarceration by voters is a major advance for the national criminal justice reform movement,” said Jay Jordan, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, the organization behind many of the reforms that Proposition 20 targeted to eliminate.

Proposition 20 was opposed by 62% of the voters, according to the state’s unofficial election tally.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-03/2020-california-election-prop-20-falling-short-in-early-returns




Well that’s prison-ist. But this year this shows that California isn’t the progressive paradise that conservatives think it is. In fact if any of these propositions had won, you could think that it indeed was a progressive paradise. But if you look at the actual exit polling data, you will see that in fact the opposite is true about California.

No surprise — unofficial election results show California voters going for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over President Donald Trump by a 2-to-1 margin. Democrats dominate state government, too.

But while California is often painted as a solidly blue state, the 2020 election has shown that when issues are on the ballot, it’s always not so progressive.

“Everybody focuses on candidates, while initiatives are where all the policy gets done,” said Democratic strategist Jim DeBoo.

DeBoo worked on the successful “No on Prop 21” campaign this cycle, advocating against expanded rent control laws. He was speaking on a panel hosted by Capitol Weekly Thursday.

“When you’re having a discussion with voters about initiatives, the partisanship pieces separate,” he said. DeBoo noted that there’s often a false assumption that Californians are going to turn to their political party leaders for guidance on ballot measures.
https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/11/06/why-this-years-ballot-propositions-show-california-isnt-as-progressive-as-some-might-think/




That said how can some of these measures pass in the future? Well it’s just like any other campaign where you have to get out the vote. Unfortunately for some, Prop 22 and 23 had some huge money backing them. Although if you do live in California, you’re probably relieved that you don’t have to see commercial after commercial and receive robocall after robocall. What won and lost? Here’s a definitive guide.

California voters weighed 12 statewide ballot measures in areas including criminal justice, rent control and privacy laws.

Here’s a look at what failed and what was approved:

PROPOSITION 14: APPROVED. Authorizes $5.5 billion in state bonds to fund stem cell research, with $1.5 billion dedicated to research on Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stroke, epilepsy and other medical conditions. The money would include funding for construction of research facilities. The bonds would be paid off over about 30 years at a total cost of about $7.8 billion.

PROPOSITION 15: REJECTED. Would have loosened some of 1978′s Proposition 13 limits on property tax increases by permitting most commercial and industrial properties to be taxed on current market value rather than the original purchase price. Those properties would be reassessed every three years. Residential property wouldn’t have been affected. Supporters said the measure could raise an additional $12.5 billion a year to fund schools and local government services.

PROPOSITION 16: REJECTED. Would have allowed race, sex, color, ethnicity, and national origin to be considered in the awarding of government contracts, public employment and in admissions to state colleges and universities. Supporters sought to repeal a 1996 voter-passed amendment to the state Constitution that effectively banned affirmative action.
https://ktla.com/news/california-voters-have-decided-on-all-12-state-propositions-heres-what-passed-and-failed/




That’s it this week for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.




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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 virtual congregation!! Well we can’t have any real congregations congregating until we deal with this virus. And in case you’re wondering why cases aren’t going down where you live, you have two people to thank – Sean Feucht and Lauren Daigle. Who are these people you might ask? Well us Californians are well aware of Mr. Feucht’s shenanigans as he runs the notorious Bethel Church in Redding – a church that got busted for ponzi schemes and runs lunatic fringe representative candidates among other things. And Lauren Daigle is an inexplicably popular Christian music star. Which is what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want! So if you see a “Let Us Worship” event coming to your city, since we are still at the height of COVID-19, you should absolutely run the other way!

What in God’s name were they thinking?

On Saturday afternoon, Lauren Daigle, the hugely popular contemporary Christian pop singer from Lafayette, joined California-based worship leader, activist, musician and shrewd self-promoter Sean Feucht near Jackson Square for one of his “Let Us Worship” rallies/concerts.

Feucht, who operates out of the 11,000-member nondenominational charismatic Bethel Church in Redding, Calif., apparently believes coronavirus restrictions represent an existential threat to organized religion. He also seems to think Christians who gather, unmasked, in large crowds are somehow immune from the virus.

The many thousands of dead Christian COVID-19 victims might beg to differ.

Undeterred, Feucht has presided over meticulously filmed and social media-shared “Let Us Worship” events around the country. Thousands of folks showed up Oct. 25 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/keith_spera/article_44b2ea74-2380-11eb-b0e3-87e81927bff8.html




That is a good point, guy with unusually large angel wings! But here’s the thing about this guy – this isn’t the first time he’s been caught doing this sort of thing during this pandemic. Look, you idiots just don’t get it – nobody is trying to cancel church. We’re just canceling mass gatherings until this virus is dealt with and goes away. So until you realize that, stay away from stuff like this. Because that’s what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want!

Organizers of an unauthorized Christian music festival that drew thousands of mostly unmasked attendees to Tempe Town Lake earlier this month could face thousands in fines.

Tempe seeks to charge organizers with violating several city codes, the city’s mask mandate and state guidelines on large gatherings.

The city also seeks to recover costs related to police, fire and parks staff that responded to the event. A cost estimate is not yet available.

People from across the Valley and out-of-state gathered at Tempe Town Lake on Nov. 1 for the event, Let Us Worship, hosted by California-based Christian worship leader Sean Feucht.

Organizers didn’t obtain an event permit from Tempe and held the event even after city staffers told them they could not. They flouted the city’s mask mandate that requires people to wear masks in public when social distancing isn’t possible during the new coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2020/11/11/tempe-may-charge-christian-concert-organizers-let-us-worship-covid-19-violations/6228698002/




Yes, Mr. Feucht is the devil!!! He is a DAYMON!!! His church fully embraces and supports the unholy, ungodly Dark One, a man who is so disgusting that his name shall not be mentioned in my church, even if it is online for the time being! What’s even crazier is that somehow this album got to the top of the iTunes charts. In case you’re wondering why this evil virus is spreading out of control, thank this guy!

Thousands of people are expected to gather on the National Mall on Sunday for a prayer rally, and participants are not required to wear masks, triggering concerns this could become a super spreader event.

Up to 15,000 people are expected to attend Let Us Worship from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Dr. Glenn Wortmann, chief of infectious diseases at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, says it’s very difficult to protect yourself from COVID-19 at these types of large gatherings.

“It’s concerning,” he said. “I mean, anytime there's a group of a large number of people in one area, there is a potential for spread. The fact that the event is happening outside makes the risk lower.”

The D.C. event is the last stop on a national tour that has drawn controversy. Event leader and evangelist Sean Feucht has said he’s holding worship protests in defiance of coronavirus restrictions. At those events, many attendees could be seen not wearing masks.

Feucht’s group did submit a COVID-19 mitigation plan outlining precautions for those working the event, not for those attending.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/worship-protest-planned-on-national-mall-without-mask-requirement-prompts-super-spread-concerns/2452538/




Well now of course they didn’t! They don’t care! They support the Dark One and have been busted for fraud multiple times! So of course leave it up to this mad man to skirt the laws and make a dangerous situation that much worse. And that’s divided even his own congregation who has mixed feelings on this subject. Just ahh!!! The stupid boggles my mind!

At least two Shasta County supervisors are losing their patience with the leadership at Bethel Church over its messaging amid the recent COVID-19 outbreak at its School of Supernatural Ministry.

At Thursday’s special board meeting, Supervisors Les Baugh and Leonard Moty said the tipping point for them came this week, when they learned Kris Vallotton, a church leader who co-founded the evangelical school, hosted a large family outdoor wedding last weekend in Shingletown.

The wedding also came up at Tuesday’s regular board meeting.

“I’m not convinced they’re really hearing (us),” said Baugh, a pastor at Anderson Community Church in Anderson.

“Supervisor Moty, you mentioned the wedding (Tuesday) and I didn’t know at the time the wedding actually had been a personal wedding of one of the leaders of the Bethel community, and I do say, as a community, that’s wrong. That should not have happened,” Baugh said on Thursday.
https://www.redding.com/story/news/local/2020/10/24/shasta-county-covid-outbreak-bethel-church-coronavirus-cases/3744308001/




I’m done ranting about this moron. Seriously how does that guy have 11,000 followers and we barely fill a small theater? It boggles the mind! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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Well here’s a dead horse that’s been beaten since the days of ancient Greece! If you don’t know conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, he’s the darling of the campus wing of the alt right with his constant attacks on “safe spaces” and “triggered liberals”. But he might be the triggered one here since he’s got a major problem with Harry Styles (of One Direction fame) wearing a dress in his latest music video. Yes you heard that right – Harry Styles channels his inner David Bowie on this one! You might remember that famous cover from “The Man Who Sold The World”, right? Or literally anything that Elton John has ever done? Or ever seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show? I could go on and on about this, but really, Ben Shapiro needs to get out of his bubble and experience the world. But we all know that he won’t do that.

We live in an age of professional internet trolls. It’s a bustling industry. One is currently POTUS. The current Senate Majority Leader’s soul has been replaced with enough nuclear-strength trollishness that his flesh is starting to rot off his body like he tried to wear a cursed horcrux or something. There’s an entire network devoted to trolling, and it’s one that a significant portion of the population of the United States considers a reliable source for news.

Yes, this is a troll’s world, and we’re just living in it. But every so often a troll’s powers can be turned into a force for good. Bossip headlines are a fine example. Last Week Tonight’s “Eat Shit, Bob” is another. A drag queen roasts some homophobe and the world grows a little brighter. And today, November 16, we got another such instance, when professional trolls Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens decided to get performatively distressed by Harry Styles wearing selling the shit out of a dress on the cover of Vogue.

First, here’s the shocking development that’s so riled up Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, and other hate-fueled buttholes of the internet: A Vogue cover, a.k.a. an assault on contemporary masculinity.

Set aside the stupidity of these tepid takes—and boy howdy, are they ever stupid. The important thing here is not that two adult humans had nice little snit fits about a pop star wearing a dress on the cover of a magazine. The important thing is that the pop star in question is Harry Styles, and anyone with even a modicum of knowledge of how the internet and fandom intersect knows better than to willfully pick a fight with the Stylers.
https://news.avclub.com/grab-your-popcorn-ben-shapiro-and-candace-owens-just-p-1845691538




Let’s make one thing perfectly clear – Ben Shapiro is a professional troll. He gets paid to say stupid shit like this. But then again so do we. The only difference is our ridiculous claims are based in reality. Ben Shapiro on the other hand lives in conservative fantasy world. But then another professional troll – Candace Owens – also had to chime in on the subject. You might be asking yourself “don’t these people have anything better to do?” and I answer you “no they do not.”.

Owens only doubled down after she was criticized for the comment, backed by the likes of Ben Shapiro and a handful of others on social media. But in his interview, Styles told Vogue that a good outfit was armor enough against the barbs.

“I think if you get something that you feel amazing in, it’s like a superhero outfit,” he told Vogue. “Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with. What’s really exciting is that all of these lines are just kind of crumbling away. When you take away ‘There’s clothes for men and there’s clothes for women,’ once you remove any barriers, obviously you open up the arena in which you can play. I’ll go in shops sometimes, and I just find myself looking at the women’s clothes thinking they’re amazing. It’s like anything—anytime you’re putting barriers up in your own life, you’re just limiting yourself. There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never really thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something.”

Even if he doesn’t think much about what he wears, the star’s choices are significant. LGBTQ+ advocates applauded the fashion choice featured on one of the world’s largest platforms for fashion as a win for greater acceptance of gender fluidity. Still others pointed out that it took a cisgender, heterosexual white man to make this statement.

"Am I happy to see Harry be celebrated for openly flouting gendered fashion norms? Yes. Do trans femmes of color receive praise for doing the same thing every day? No," wrote author and activist Alok Menon on Instagram.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/526180-candace-owens-might-not-like-seeing-harry-styles




Excuse me a minute… Now I’m not saying go as far as Bender here, but you know we are living in strange times indeed. So to put this in perspective, a normal person would look at this and think that Mr. Styles’ reasons for wearing a dress would seem perfectly normal and innocent. But not in conservative batshit land, where they think he’s a demon and sets men back 100 years! No the only people who set men back 100 years are well, men like Ben Shapiro!

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro mostly discusses politics, but sometimes he ventures out into entertainment. Most famously in recent days, he was taken aback by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP,” and a video of him reciting the song’s lyrics went viral. Now he has focused his attention on Harry Styles and his affinity for women’s clothing.

Styles and Candace Owens went viral today after Owens criticized Styles recent dress-filled Vogue photo shoot. Owens tweeted, “There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men.” Shapiro showed support for Owens’ perspective, tweeting this morning, “This is perfectly obvious. Anyone who pretends that it is not a referendum on masculinity for men to don floofy dresses is treating you as a full-on idiot.”

Meanwhile, Owens has since expanded upon her original comments. Fellow conservative commentator Matt Walsh tweeted, “Candace Owens is trending because a bunch of whiney idiots are mad that she said men who wear dresses aren’t manly. Her statement, of course, is true and utterly self-evident, and would have provoked no reaction as recently as a decade ago.” Owens shared the tweet and responded, “Wait until they find out that I also think women should be feminine — and I enjoy cooking for and taking care of my husband. DEFCON 1.”
https://uproxx.com/pop/harry-styles-womens-clothes-ben-shapiro-candace-owens/




Well Harry is maybe not full drag queen yet like Billy Porter is. I mean come on I’m not knocking Billy Porter, that dude has style! I mean it takes a real man to wear a dress in public! But really Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens went too far. It’s not all doom and gloom though. At least people are stepping up to defend Harry Styles’ choice of clothing. So let’s leave it at least on a positive note, shall we? Because last I checked it’s still the shittiest year ever, 2020 and we do need good news once in a while!

Nobody's going to drag Harry Styles down.

Last week, the former One Direction singer made history by becoming the first man to appear solo on the cover of Vogue. In fact, the 26-year-old chose to wear a Gucci jacket layered over a dress for part of his photo shoot.

While many fans were quick to applaud the singer, others like New York Times best-selling author Candace Owens chose to put down the look.

"There is no society that can survive without strong men," Candace wrote on Twitter. "The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men."

While some Twitter users agreed with the sentiment, others quickly called Candace out. Olivia Wilde, who is directing Harry in the upcoming film Don't Worry Darling, replied writing, "You're pathetic" while Kathy Griffin warned her there's nobody stronger than Harry's fans. As the comedian explained, "Candy Owens doesn't know what she in for going up against the Harry Styles stans."
https://www.eonline.com/news/1209182/olivia-wilde-and-more-stars-defend-harry-styles-after-candace-owens-slams-vogue-dress





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[font size="8"]People Who Somehow Got Re-Elected
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Politicians at the state and local levels who are so toxic, you wonder how they’re able to get away with the things they get away with. This is:



This week’s person who somehow got re-elected is none other than our current Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell. Mitch Mitch Mitch. What are we going to do with you? In a world where the guy who lost the presidential elections won’t contest the results, he has enablers. One of those enablers is the current Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell. He has been a hard supporter of the Trump train and won’t accept the results. Trump is an abuser, and every abuser has their enabler. Trump has his enabler and that’s Mitch McConnell. How do we deal with an abuser and enabler even after the abuser has been kicked to the curb? It’s going to be difficult.

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused in a speech to acknowledge that President-elect Joe Biden had won the election, echoing President Trump’s suggestion that voter fraud—which is so rare as to barely exist—delegitimized the former vice president’s victory.

“President Trump is 100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options,” McConnell said in a statement on the Senate floor. But so far, the “allegations of irregularities” lack any evidence. They are so off-base that even one Fox News host refused to air them.

Trump’s attempts at suing his way to victory are unlikely to work. Biden won both the popular vote and the Electoral College by large enough margins that even the alleged fraud is unlikely to make up the deficit. Still, McConnell is sticking by Trump’s side. His unblinking deference to Trump not only strokes the president’s ego—it allows for a scenario in which Trump could refuse to leave the White House even if he lost, potentially endangering the sanctity of the United States’ democratic process.

During the Watergate scandal, when a trio of Republicans—House Minority Leader John Rhodes, Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, and Senator Barry Goldwater—told Richard Nixon that he was certain to be impeached, he resigned the next day. Today, conversely, a sizable portion of Republican leadership refuses to accept reality. And rather than packing his bags, Trump is out planning rallies.
https://www.motherjones.com/2020-elections/2020/11/mitch-mcconnell-wont-accept-that-biden-won-the-election/




So Trump has lost and Mitch McConnell won’t accept the election results. He’s one of the most powerful men in the country, we might add. Now you can boo. So if you can’t accept the election results, even though you lost by a huge margin, what do you do? Well you sue until you get your way. Think of it like the toddler who screams out of control at the department store until he gets his toy. And yes, Mitch is helping the toddler get his way!

In a short but extraordinary speech Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stood behind President Donald Trump, who is baselessly alleging widespread voter fraud after losing the presidential election to Joe Biden.

Trump continues to vow he will fight the election results in the courts, despite judges repeatedly tossing out his legal team’s claims on the evidence. On the Senate floor Monday afternoon, McConnell defended Trump’s right to question the election results and repeated talking points used by Trump’s team.

“In the United States of America, all legal ballots must be counted. Any illegal ballots must not be counted,” he said. “The process should be transparent or observable by all sides and the courts are here to work through concerns.”

There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, or that “illegal” votes swung the election for Biden. Trump’s team conceded in court that their observers are overseeing the ballot counts.

McConnell, the most powerful Republican in Congress, is well versed in crafting statements that do not anger President Trump. But in the midst of a contested election, his speech is a sign the Republican establishment may refuse to acknowledge the reality that Trump lost the election. McConnell even mocked news outlets for projecting that Biden was the winner after the numbers showed he had won the Electoral College, saying the Constitution gives the media no role in selecting the president.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/paulmcleod/mitch-mcconnell-backs-trump-contest-election-results




Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump are just like Bruce Banner – don’t make them angry, and when they do, they turn into giant monsters capable of doing enormous and untold damage. So how does Mitch McConnell keep winning time and time again despite that he polls negatively every single time? It is totally baffling to the mind. And Trump’s chief enabler is going to do some serious damage if we’re not careful.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is walking a fine line with his handling of President Trump’s refusal to concede the election.

The GOP leader is defending Trump’s right to challenge the vote counts in several key battleground states, arguing the courts are meant to handle disputed election results and that “wealthy media corporations” should not project the winner.

But McConnell is also keeping his distance from the president’s claims of voter fraud that his campaign has yet to back up with any hard evidence.

“What I’m going to do here in the Senate is concentrate on the business that we have left to do,” he told reporters Tuesday, adding he would “let the presidential election go through the various stages that it goes through under the Constitution.”

Asked if there were any signs of fraud in his own reelection race in Kentucky or any Senate races, McConnell responded: “I don’t know — at the risk of bragging, it wasn’t very close.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/525612-mcconnell-treads-cautiously-in-trumps-post-election-fight




Yes, they do suck all right! We’re venturing into uncharted territory if Trump will not concede the election and he has Mitch McConnell to back him. And let’s not forget that we have two senate runoff elections that could favor democrats and flip the senate toward President Biden’s favor. The election may be over, but we’re not done yet, and come January 20th, here’s what is on McConnell’s agenda if he remains the Senate Majority Leader.

Mitch McConnell doesn't think Donald Trump needs to concede the 2020 election -- even days after the race has been called for former Vice President Joe Biden.

"In the United States of America, all legal ballots must be counted. Any illegal ballots must not be counted. The process must be transparent or observable by all sides, and the courts are here to work through concerns," McConnell said on the Senate floor on Monday. "Our institutions are actually built for this. We have the system in place to consider concerns, and President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options."

Which is an interesting take -- especially given that McConnell is perhaps the biggest institutionalist in the Senate, a believer in the "way things are supposed to work" and mindful of the ways in which precedents are set, met and heeded.

So why is McConnell defending Trump's right to hold out on admitting defeat despite the total and complete lack of evidence of any sort of widespread voter fraud? Well, politics.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/politics/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-conceding/index.html




So Mitch McConnell would waste time going after mail in voting despite that this was one of the most secure elections ever. That’s Mitch McConnell, yet another inexplicable candidate who is one of the:




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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Hey everyone, I don’t know about you but I could really use a drink!



Of course you know by now that the idea is that there’s so much dark shit out there that we have a few drinks and discuss literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. And hell I’m going to add a provision to this topic in that we also don’t talk about COVID-19. Because seriously it’s on the news 24 hours a day. This week we’re going to talk about celebrities and football teams. And I don’t mean American football. I’m talking European football. And how this got started is that Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhanny of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia fame have teamed up to buy EFL teams on the cheap. So tell me virtual bartender, what goes well with a story about soccer? A cranberry grapefruit vodka? Well that is Deadpool’s favorite drink, but don’t call it a seabreeze! I’ll just stick to my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. It’s all I’ve got in the studio right now. Anyway here’s more.

A new era of Hollywood glitz and glamour is coming to the fifth tier of the English football pyramid where Wrexham AFC -- the third-oldest professional soccer club in the world -- are now under the ownership of "Deadpool" star Ryan Reynolds and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" creator Rob McElhenney.

As you're no doubt aware, the two actors this week completed their unlikely takeover at the Racecourse Ground after initially submitting their plans in September. The bid garnered backing from the 156-year-old Welsh club's supporters, which includes plans for an immediate cash injection of £2 million ($2.65m) on completion of the deal.

Wrexham sit 14th in the 23-team National League, the division in which they've played since their relegation from the Football League in 2008. However, Reynolds and McElhenney have vowed to reawaken what Reynolds has branded a "sleeping giant" with the goal of transforming the Red Dragons into a "global force" like never before.

As things stand, the venerable club's highest ever league finish was 15th in the old Second Division (now the Championship), which they achieved in 1978-79.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-the-toe-poke/story/4112007/ryan-reynolds-and-rob-mcelhenney-join-lebrondurantelton-john-and-will-ferrell-as-celebrity-football-owners




Ah, I needed that! And that is an unusually large glass of wine by the way! So A list celebrities are buying D list teams. It’s pretty much the reverse of that Will Ferrell basketball movie where a D list celebrity owned a D list team. And Ryan Reynolds isn’t the only one who’s buying football clubs. No sports can have audiences right now, so they are being bought on the cheap.

The gang has bought a soccer club.

You may have never heard of Wrexham AFC, but you might do soon.

Actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney moved a step closer to becoming investors in the Welsh soccer team -- one of the world's oldest professional soccer clubs and currently playing in English soccer's fifth tier -- after their takeover bid was overwhelmingly approved by the club's board.

The Wrexham Supporters Trust Board, which currently owns the club, voted in favor of the deal that would see the celebrity duo take complete ownership of the club.

The bid is still subject to final agreement and official confirmation from governing bodies, but the stars have said they already have lofty ambitions to turn Wrexham into a "global force."

Reynolds, known for appearing in blockbusters such as "Deadpool," and McElhenney, co-creator and star in US sitcom "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," first expressed their interest in a takeover back in September.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/16/football/ryan-reynolds-rob-mcelhenney-wrexham-takeover-approved-spt-intl/index.html




I can’t wait to see that episode – The Gang Buys A Soccer team! I can just imagine them purchasing a like Z grade club in the garbage part of Philadeliphia, and then Frank tries to become a coach and uses his own dirty tricks to win games. That would be hilarious! And of course Ryan Reynolds is a guy who knows advertising. So leave it to him to do something funny and self-deprecating!
As if 2020 wasn't weird enough, Ryan Reynolds and his actor pal, Rob McElhenney, have had their takeover bid for a football team in Wales approved and to mark the occasion they have produced an advert for a trailer company. Yes, really.

Reynolds and McElhenney, best known for his work in the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, registered their interest in the team, which plays in the National League, the fifth tier of English football, in September. The news came literally out of nowhere and caught many people completely unaware.

Was this another one of Reynolds' elaborate pranks or the plot of a new movie? The answer to both of those is no, as their interest was 100 per cent genuine and on Monday they confirmed that fans of the club had voted overwhelmingly in support of the proposed takeover bid. The club has been fan-owned since 2011 and 98 per cent of the Wrexham Supporter's Trust voted in favour of Reynolds and McElhenney's $2.5 million takeover, which is expected to bring in £2m worth of investment into the team.

Their big unveiling came on Monday afternoon when the pair put together an advert for Ifor Williams, a trailer company (the kind that you tow behind your car, not the movie kind) which is the current sponsor of the club.
https://www.indy100.com/article/ryan-reynolds-rob-mcelhenney-wrexham-football-9725380




Ah that’s good stuff! So if you don’t know the Wrexham AF football club, you soon will! And when we can get back to having audiences again, Mr. Reynolds and Mr. McElhanny will be there watching the games with you. Also just like being a Patreon subscriber you can get more perks the more you pay for tickets, and you’ll even be able to watch games with the guys themselves!

Vancouver native and Whitecaps FC supporter, Ryan Reynolds made global soccer news on Monday, becoming part-owner in Welsh side Wrexham Football Club, which plays in the fifth tier of English soccer.

Reynolds joined forces with fellow actor Rob McElhenney, who take over the club with the blessing of the Wrexham Supporters Trust. An overwhelming 98 percent of the supporters voted in favor of the takeover by the Hollywood duo.

Vancouver native and Whitecaps FC supporter, Ryan Reynolds made global soccer news on Monday, becoming part-owner in Welsh side Wrexham Football Club, which plays in the fifth tier of English soccer.

Reynolds joined forces with fellow actor Rob McElhenney, who take over the club with the blessing of the Wrexham Supporters Trust. An overwhelming 98 percent of the supporters voted in favor of the takeover by the Hollywood duo.

“We want to be great ambassadors for the club, to introduce the club to the world and be a global force,” Reynolds reportedly told Wrexham supporters at a November 8 meeting.

Reynolds and McElhenney have already announced plans for a behind-the-scenes documentary. Formed in 1864, Wrexham are the oldest club in Wales and the third oldest club in the world.

Reynolds has never been shy about sharing his love for soccer, including for his hometown Whitecaps. He said that his "heart belongs to the Vancouver Whitecaps" in a 2018 Facebook post on the heels of a promotional visit to the Santiago Bernabeu:
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/11/16/vancouver-whitecaps-supporter-ryan-reynolds-becomes-owner-wrexham-football-club





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[font size="8"]Road To The White House
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Welcome back to our ongoing coverage of the 2020 election to end all elections in… *cue reverb* ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!! Ooh that was some good reverb there! So this week there’s some shenanigans happening. Yes, Biden finally settled the election with a whopping 306 electoral votes and kicked Trump’s fat ass to the curb. But Trump isn’t willing to go quietly! It’s going completely insane and about as well as you’d expect. But you know what? We’ve already covered that for the beginning of this edition and now we’re going to talk about what we should be talking about – President Biden’s transition team. So who is going to be on the team?

President-elect Joe Biden is building out the staff that will surround him in the White House, announcing Tuesday that he is tapping two long-time advisers for top roles and naming several other veterans of his presidential campaign to senior positions.

Among Tuesday's announced hires: Mike Donilon, the chief strategist for Biden's campaign who played a leading role in crafting his speeches and advertising as he framed the 2020 race as a "battle for the soul of the nation," will be a senior adviser to the president. And Steve Ricchetti, the Biden campaign chairman and a veteran of the Barack Obama and Bill Clinton White Houses, will be a counselor to the president.
The announcements come days after Biden tapped veteran Democratic operative Ron Klain as his chief of staff, and show that Biden is first filling out the staff that will surround him in the White House before moving on to Cabinet announcements.

News of at least two of the appointments had already broken Monday: Jen O'Malley Dillon, the campaign manager who took over after Biden limped through the Democratic primary and turned his campaign into the biggest fundraising juggernaut in history, is Biden's deputy chief of staff.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/17/politics/biden-white-house-senior-staff/index.html




So unlike Trump, Biden isn’t packing his administration with partisan and divisive hacks. He’s actually packing the posts with qualified people! Which is what should be done! Though just like the election, there are shenanigans. Which is why Trump needs to be kicked to the curb. Because we need to get through COVID and through this administration. But we can’t do either as long as shit like this is being pulled!

The top General Services Administration official who's blocking President-elect Joe Biden's transition team from accessing government resources ahead of his inauguration appears to be looking for a new job, according to a message obtained by ABC News.

Emily Murphy, head of the GSA, recently sent that message to an associate inquiring about employment opportunities in 2021, a move that some in Washington interpreted as at least tacitly acknowledging that the current administration soon will be gone.

Murphy has the power to decide -- or "ascertain" -- when election results are evident enough to trigger a transition of power, allowing the winning team access to career staff at federal agencies and internal government information including national security matters and plans for administering a COVID-19 vaccine.

Donald Trump appointed Murphy in 2017, and she's so far refused to certify Biden as the election's winner as Trump attempts to overturn the election result in court.

A White House spokesperson referred ABC News to the GSA when reached for comment.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gsa-official-blocking-bidens-transition-privately-plans-post/story?id=74234794




Ha we’ve already had one Apprentice host, last thing we need is another one. So looking for a new job is probably the right move. And while the Trump administration has declared war on “Big Tech”, Biden’s team is actually embracing it. Because unlike Trump trolls, we can say stuff online that doesn’t get immediately flagged! And yes the next time we’ll go into them grilling Mark Zuckerberg (again) about censorship. So here’s what to expect from that!

When it comes to Silicon Valley, Joe Biden is something of a blank slate. And for Silicon Valley, that means Joe Biden is something of an opportunity.

So Big Tech reformers and Big Tech allies are gearing up for a spirited fight in the coming months over the types of people who will staff the Biden administration. Those personnel decisions will offer some of the first revelations into how exactly the president-elect will regulate the tech industry and its titans, a high-stakes question about the American economy that he mostly avoided answering during his campaign.

That ambiguity is making the transition period all the more important, a dozen people with ties to the Biden team tell Recode. Reformers want to make sure they at least have a seat at the table and that they aren’t boxed out by well-paid industry interests. Forces aligned with the industry, meanwhile, want to make sure that a Biden administration isn’t too captive to the online left, even though they know it won’t resemble the halcyon days of Barack Obama.

Back then, Silicon Valley was a celebrated part of America’s innovation economy. Since Obama left office, though, the tech industry has become radioactive to parts of both the left and the right, part of a “techlash” that has culminated in calls to break up Big Tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Tech critics worry that these companies and their leaders have amassed too much control over Americans’ lives when it comes to privacy, the economy, and politics. Now Obama’s former No. 2 will have to answer these important questions on dicier terrain: Will he pursue this breakup? Will he inflame the tensions or cool them? Will he side more with the reformers or the industry?
https://www.vox.com/21561878/joe-biden-transition-silicon-valley-personnel-eric-schmidt




The other thing that makes Biden’s transition team worth noting is that unlike Trump – whose transition team and cabinet was mostly white, Biden’s is far more diverse. In fact he’s embracing diversity while Trump thinks of diversity as being a very old wooden ship from the Civil War era. And that’s precisely why Biden won and Trump lost – people are rejecting his ideas of hate and racial supremacy.

As President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office in January, nearly half of the transition team laying the groundwork for his administration is made up of people of color, and women are in the majority.

Forty-six percent of the transition staff are people of color, according to new diversity data of the transition team provided to CNN, and 41% of the senior staff are people of color. The majority of transition staff -- 52% -- are women, and 53% of the senior staff are women.

The new diversity figures come as Biden is set to announce his Cabinet picks and senior staff for the White House in the coming weeks -- one of the first tests of his campaign pledge to build an administration that will "look like America."

Biden's first major step toward diversity in his administration came when he selected Kamala Harris, a Black and South Asian woman, as his vice president. In his first staffing announcement, Biden chose a White man and longtime adviser -- Ron Klain -- as his chief of staff for the White House.
https://www.kmov.com/news/people-of-color-make-up-nearly-half-of-biden-transition-team/article_84bb56e1-19ed-531c-9014-40e5c62a57d6.html






Programming note: We are off next week for Thanksgiving. We will be running a viewer mail bag Best Of. We will be back in two weeks and beginning our sendoff to this nightmare year that was 2020! And when we come back on 12/2, we will announce the winner of the Trumper Games!

See you in two weeks!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded At: Flappers Comedy Club, Burbank, CA
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Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo


November 11, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-16: Happy Days Are Here Again Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-16: Happy Days Are Here Again Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? I know, this has been quite a week, hasn’t it? For the first time in five years I feel like I can finally sleep easier at night. Why is that you might ask? WE GOT HIM!!! Holy shit we actually got him! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Kanye West finally conceded! Oh I am kidding. But for this week we’re actually breaking with California protocols and having an audience! It’s a small one but we actually have a live audience for the first time since March and boy does it feel good! Now you might be asking because we have a competent president, what the hell are we going to talk about? Well you know the Top 10 began when Obama was president, because remember when we used to have a competent president? Now, we have a Biden presidency to look forward to. Unfortunately Fox News still exists. And unfortunately even under a Biden presidency conservative idiocy is not going away any time soon. Especially because Trump is hopping mad and he’s planning on stealing the election if he hasn’t already! But yes we finally have new leadership and it’s very much happening. OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and his latest show is actually taking the concept of “Last Week Tonight” and making it actually about last week:



We did it!!! And we have a massive Top 10 to celebrate! In the first slot this week is the triumphant return of a fan favorite Top 10 segment – the Trumper Games! And oh boy, I have been waiting four long, excruciating years but we finally get to add @realDonaldTrump (1) to the list of tributes who get eliminated from the contest! Who will be the last left standing? Taking the second slot this week is the 2020 Election (2) and we’re going to profile some of the biggest winners and losers – most notably the state of Kentucky because we are unfortunately stuck with Moscow Mitch for another term. In the third slot this week is the Donald Trump Campaign (3) because oh man this might be one of the biggest presidential screw ups in the history of presidential screw ups! In the #4 slot this week we have another entry in the ever-growing list of People Who Somehow Got Elected, and the first is Alabama’s new Congressman and former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville (4) – seriously how did this guy beat Doug Jones? It boggles the mind! In the #5 slot this week is Kanye West (5). Oh Yeezy, give it a rest. You had your fun running for president, but you’re an entertainer, stay in your lane! In the #6 slot this week, we’re giving Top 10 Investigates a week off because we have to talk about the insanity coming from the right called “Stop The Steal” – you lost, get over it! That’s what you have told us for the last 4 years anyways! In the number 7 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit”, and this week our resident pastor is going to show what members of the Christian right are taking sides, and well, it’s going to get ugly the next time you’re actually able to go to church! In the number 8 slot this week is Steve Bannon (8) and people, threatening to murder someone is not cool, so don’t do it! Taking the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week we have a new election edition of People Are Dumb, because even the election hasn’t stopped the stupid from being stupid! Finally this week in Road To The White House, we have even more thoughts on what has been an absolutely insane election season. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]The Trumper Games
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Hey everybody! I am baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!! I am baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Yes we are defying orders because we haven’t done this since Top 10 7-3. Yes, it has been a while and there have been some departures but we couldn’t do this segment because well COVID. But this week there has been an absolutely shocking turn of events – there has been an elimination! Yes, there has been one man who everyone has been dying to eliminate. That man is the president himself! Mmmm… yes… this champagne has never tasted so good! But where is my humble man servant Nathaniel? Yes, come on out here, Nathanial! We are celebrating today! Because as of November 7th – our long national nightmare is finally over! But the president himself is refusing to go quietly!

Joe Biden won the presidential election on Saturday after the Associated Press called him the winner in Pennsylvania, pushing the former Vice President past the 270 electoral college votes needed to clinch the White House.

Less than half an hour after the news, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, alleged without any evidence that the electoral system in Philadelphia, which had contributing to Biden’s victory, was riddled with fraud. It was the latest indication that, even as Trump’s path to victory evaporates, his campaign will continue to fight the outcome in court.

In the past week alone, the Trump campaign blitzed state and federal courts with roughly a dozen new lawsuits, most attempting to halt the vote-counting process or disqualify tranches of ballots. The majority of the Trump campaign’s lawsuits were filed in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, and Michigan—states where either Biden’s margin of victory is relatively slim, or where a winner has yet to be called.

After Biden declared victory on Saturday, President Donald Trump seemed poised to continue to fight in court. In comments from the White House, he vowed to pursue a lawsuit in Pennsylvania. But legal experts say his chances of meaningfully challenging the election are dwindling. Many of his campaign’s lawsuits filed this week have been dismissed on lack of merit, and the ones that have gained some traction are unlikely to change the outcome of the Presidential race.
https://time.com/5908505/trump-lawsuits-biden-wins/




Oh that’s fierce! And the president is hopping mad, people! He is not going to go quietly! Damn it Nathaniel, where is my champagne? Ah here it is! Next time don’t keep me waiting! So how did the President himself get eliminated from the Trumper Games? Well it’s a matter of the fact that well, he’s a raging asshole. And two, there’s nothing graceful about him. But really the president’s biggest victim in all of this is the president himself.

It all finally caught up to him. The lies, the outrageous boasts, the disorder and disastrous management, the rants and the race-baiting, the predatory instincts and compulsion to dominate—all the things that made President Donald Trump the ringmaster of the American political circus at last compelled a majority of voters to drive him out of the tent.

Few other Presidents in modern history so inflamed the nation or exposed the cracks in our democracy as Trump. In the end, Trump’s pride didn’t just precede his fall, it precipitated it. Until the final months, his campaign was managed by a novice who burned through millions of dollars. Trump thought he could wish away a deadly virus. He dismissed his legions of critics, preferring to bask in the adulation of fans. He governed as President only of his base, and he ran for re-election without pivoting toward the center. He barely articulated a policy vision for a second term. He campaigned hard, jetting to dozens of rallies on Air Force One in the final weeks of the campaign, and outperforming the expectations of many thanks to a formidable ground game, a sophisticated campaign data operation and a passionate base of support.

But in the end, the Trump presidency ended much as it began: with a thin margin in key states separating two candidates in an anxious nation, and Trump appealing to America’s demons over its better angels, hurling baseless claims that he’d been robbed.
https://time.com/5907973/donald-trump-loses-2020-election/




Yes, I love it too! And come on people, do you know the President like we do here at the Trumper Games? Well even members of the president’s own family are telling him that he needs to step down and end this charade. It’s madness. But he won’t. Come on Trump just admit that you lost and you hate being the president so we can get on with our lives already! Seriously – Jim Carrey said it best – Trump is a grade A LOO-HOO-SE-HER.

President Donald Trump's inner circle is beginning to split over his ongoing refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election, as Jared Kushner and first lady Melania Trump advised him to come to terms with President-elect Joe Biden's victory and his adult sons pressed him and allies to keep fighting.

Kushner, the President's son-in-law and senior adviser, has approached him to concede, two sources told CNN. The first lady, according to a separate source familiar with the conversations, has privately said the time has come for him to accept the election loss.

Meanwhile, Trump's two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have urged allies to continue pressing on and they have pushed Republicans and supporters to publicly reject the results even as CNN and other news organizations projected the race for Biden on Saturday.


Trump's campaign is planning a messaging blitz to fuel its argument -- unsupported by any evidence to date -- that the President's second term is being stolen from him through corrupt vot
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/08/politics/jared-kushner-donald-trump-concession/index.html




Yes and anything goes during one of the biggest elections in the deeply divided America that we currently live in. Now kids, I am going to draw a line down the center of the house, and you live on your side and we’ll live on ours. Got that? But as much damage as the President is doing, one thing is for certain – he’s going to burn it all down in a blaze of glory before he goes! But for now consider the President – originally a tribute from the First District – ELIMINATED!!!

Donald Trump came to use the line often at his campaign rallies. “Can you imagine if you lose to a guy like this?” he would say of Joe Biden. “It’s unbelievable.”

It’s not so unbelievable now. Despite record turnout, and a tighter than expected race, the US president’s blind faith in the power of positive thinking appears to have collided with the reality of a coronavirus pandemic, a chaotic campaign and the uprising of a democratic and Democratic resistance. He is the first incumbent to lose a bid for re-election since George H W Bush in 1992.

More successful incumbents have made elections about their challengers rather than themselves. But Trump could neither escape the pandemic and its economic fallout nor find a way to define Biden. With more than 225,000 Americans dead after contracting the virus, his closing rallies were held largely in midwestern states enduring record infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/07/joe-biden-rode-resistance-wave-donald-trump-imploded





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[font size="8"]2020 Election Highlights
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We need some music for this one!



Yes at long last happy days are here again! One thing is for certain – Trump lost!! First incumbent in more than 30 years to not be awarded a second term! And rightfully so. But for this entry we’re going to talk about the highlights of this election – well besides Joe Biden winning and Trump losing, there’s plenty of other hot voting action going on throughout the country. Like senators and always the laughing stock of every single election – the propositions on the ballot in my home state of California. Of which there were many. But before we get into that – let’s talk about Joe Biden winning for a minute. This is truly a momentous occasion that should be celebrated.

Joseph R. Biden Jr. addressed the nation for the first time as president-elect on Saturday night, delivering a message of unity and trying to soothe the extraordinary divisions that defined the last four years in American politics.

“Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end here and now,” he said.

In remarks before a drive-in audience in Wilmington brimming with longtime friends from Delaware, his home state, he directly appealed to the tens of millions of Americans who backed President Trump’s re-election, seeking to make good on his central campaign promise of bringing the country together.

“For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight,” Mr. Biden, speaking at the conclusion of his third run for the presidency, said. “I’ve lost a couple times myself. But now, let’s give each other a chance. It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again.”
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/07/us/biden-trump




That’s right – Trump is one pathetic loser and he’s trying to steal what little he has left in the election – and don’t worry – we will cover that in full next week. But now let’s move on to the second biggest election in the entire country – the Kentucky senate election between Mitch McConnell and Amy McGrath. Don’t boo yet – I can already preemptively hear your boos – but there really wasn’t much of a contest there.

Regardless of who controls the Senate next year, Republicans and Democrats will have the same leaders they do now.

The Senate GOP on Tuesday unanimously reelected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as the caucus’ leader. Likewise, all Senate Democrats chose Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to head their caucus.

The election results have not yet indicated who will enter the next Congress with a Senate majority. Republicans and Democrats will both come out of the 2020 election with at least 48 Senate seats, a net gain of one for Democrats, NBC News projects.

NBC has not called the winner of four Senate races. At least one outstanding race, and potentially two, in Georgia will get decided by a runoff in January.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/10/mcconnell-and-schumer-reelected-senate-leaders-after-2020-election.html




That’s right – Mitch McConnell will remain the leader of the GOP senate unfortunately which means that if the Democratic elections in Georgia prevail, he still could be the deciding vote. Now let’s switch gears and talk about my home state of California. Because no matter what state you’re from, you will have measures on the ballot. But your measures don’t measure to California’s propositions of which there were many. They were varied, and both the yes and no had big money behind them. So what were the big winners and losers?

The message that California voters sent in the presidential election was unequivocal: With almost two-thirds of ballots counted so far going for Joseph R. Biden Jr., the nation’s most populous state put up mammoth numbers for the Democrats. But dig a little deeper into the results and a more complex picture of the Golden State voter emerges, of strong libertarian impulses and resistance to some quintessentially liberal ideas.

In a series of referendums, voters in California rejected affirmative action, decisively shot down an expansion of rent control and eviscerated a law that gives greater labor protections for ride-share and delivery drivers, a measure that had the strong backing of labor unions. A measure that would have raised taxes on commercial landlords to raise billions for a state that sorely needs revenue also seemed on track for defeat.

The full force of the election results provided something of a gut check for liberals in a state that plays a big role in the Democratic Party and often offers insights into where the rest of the nation might be headed.

“The results in California show the Democrats that you can go too far,” said Bob Shrum, a former Democratic strategist and the director of the Dornsife Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California. “California is a very liberal state that is now resistant to higher taxes and welcoming to the new gig economy, which is where the industry was created.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/us/california-election-results.html




Yes unfortunately the “gig economy” will stay just that – a gig economy. And don’t worry next week we will dive more into the like 20 or so propositions that were on California’s ballot. But one that we will discuss was the controversial Dialysis measure that required doctors or trained nurses to be on site at all deregulated clinics. That would seem like a no brainer right? WRONG!

A $100-million effort to impose new regulations on the dialysis industry was defeated Tuesday.

Proposition 23 would have required dialysis clinics to employ at least one doctor who would be on site whenever patients are receiving treatment. Supporters of the measure, including the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, said dialysis clinics were putting profits over patient care by not having a doctor available in the event of complications or an emergency.


Opponents, however, argued the measure was the latest attempt by SEIU-UHW to weaponize the ballot box to try to force the dialysis industry to spend millions to defend itself when the union’s real interest is getting clinic workers to unionize. The dialysis industry put more than $100 million into fighting the measure, saying the unnecessary added cost would lead to dialysis clinics closing, which would put patients at risk.

Proposition 23 was opposed by 64% of voters, according to the state’s unofficial election tally Wednesday morning.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-03/2020-california-election-tracking-prop-23





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[font size="8"]Rudy Guiliani
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OK I’ll admit it – I’ve only seen 3 episodes of VEEP. And I just finally got around to finishing Parks & Recreation. And I’m aware no campaign – whether it’s for city council or POTUS – is immune from blunders. But this blunder ranks as about one of the biggest blunders in history. I mean no one could have fucked things up the way this turned out am I right? In case you don’t know what I am talking about – on Saturday, while the whole world was celebrating the downfall of Twitter’s @realDonaldTrump, Trump’s attorney Rudy Guiliani gave a press conference and they had an incredibly interesting choice of venue.

On Saturday morning, shortly before the AP and other news outlets called the election for Joe Biden, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to announce that his lawyers would be holding a “big press conference” in Philadelphia. But there seems to have been some major confusion about where it would be held. First Trump tweeted it would take place at the “Four Seasons, Philadelphia.” Trump later corrected himself and said that the news conference was going to be held at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping. And the Four Seasons Hotel sent out its own tweet, making sure everyone knew that the news conference would not be held there but rather at the landscaping business that has “no relation with the hotel.”

When journalists arrived at the site of the news conference, they were flabbergasted by the scene and many quickly speculated that someone in the Trump campaign made a serious mistake. After all, the parking lot of a landscaping business in the outskirts of the city in an industrial part of town was a drab backdrop for a news conference by a president who wanted to convince Americans he still had a chance of winning. And making matters even stranger, the landscaping business was between an adult bookstore and a cremation center. The location led to lots of mockery online, and many people were very happy with the scene that was ripe for mockery, and some saw as a poignant metaphor of the failure of the Trump campaign.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/four-seasons-total-landscaping-trump-team-news-conference.html




I have to say I'm really liking this new direction for Veep, I think the writers are... oh wait I am being told this is real! Seriously??? This actually happened? Someone is getting fired! Yeah that happened! In all seriousness, the Trump campaign started on a gold escalator. Now it’s going to end in the parking lot of a landscaping company next to an adult bookstore. Well the good news is that the shit is being mocked out of this event. Like for instance VR furries!

Four Seasons Total Landscaping, the Philadelphia business smack dab between a crematorium and a sex shop, is in many ways the heart and soul of America.

It also happens to be the place where former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and other supporters of President Donald Trump's failed reelection campaign addressed the press after media outlets called the race for his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

Now, it exists in VR — complete with weathered detailing and a last-minute Trump 2020 podium. And rejoicing furries.

Coopertom, a fursuiter and popular YouTuber, posted a video on Twitter on Monday morning of furries circling the scene in joy on the massively multiplayer virtual reality platform VRChat.

According to a tweet, virtual versions of a neighboring crematorium and sex shop are “in the works.”
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinehaskins1/furries-four-seasons-total-landscaping




That’s right you VR explorers can now get your picture taken in front of the now famous landscaping company with people dressed like rabbits and dogs! I mean seriously people are going to look at the year 2020 and go “people lived this way????”. And that guy was president? Oh and here’s where it gets weird – you knew it was going to. You know that guy Guiliani brought up on stage claiming to have evidence of voter fraud? Guess what? He’s a registered sex offender! No shit!

During the now-infamous Saturday Trump campaign press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Northeast Philadelphia, Rudy Giuliani called upon three witnesses who he said could prove voting fraud in the presidential election.

The first witness was a convicted sex offender who has been a consistently unsuccessful candidate in New Jersey for several years, as first reported by Politico.

“It’s such a shame. This is a democracy,” Daryl Brooks, who said he served as a GOP poll watcher, said at the press conference outside the landscaping business after shaking Giuliani’s hand. “They did not allow us to see anything. Was it corrupt or not? But give us an opportunity as poll watchers to view all the documents—all of the ballots.”

Brooks served three years and eight months in prison in 1998 after he was convicted on several charges of lewdness, sexual assault, and endangering the welfare of a minor for allegedly exposing himself in front of two girls who were ages 7 and 11. According to NJ.com, Brooks maintained his innocence, claiming he was set up by Trenton police and other elected officials because of his work as a city activist.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/daryl-brooks-giulianis-vote-fraud-witness-at-four-seasons-total-landscaping-is-a-convicted-sex-offender




Yeah I think even Jesus would roll his eyes at this one! But in case you’re wondering – yes the Four Seasons Total Landscaping company is having a sense of humor about the incident. That’s right – they’re merchandising the SNAFU! Merchandising, merchandising – that’s where the real money from the political SNAFUs are made! Hell there’s even a fun run for Philly fun runners!

If you're not over the fact that the Trump campaign held a press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping off I-95 and NOT the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia in Center City, then you should probably sign up for this fun run on Sunday, Nov. 29.

Called the "Fraud Street Run," it's one mile longer than the Broad Street Run. Participants start at the now-famous Philadelphia business Four Seasons Total Landscaping – located between a crematorium and a sex shop, if you need help finding it – and race to the Four Seasons luxury hotel at the Comcast Center.

President Donald Trump said in a since-deleted tweet Saturday that his legal team would host a press conference at the Four Seasons. He then tweeted out clarification that it would be at a Philadelphia landscaping business called Four Seasons. The hotel Four Seasons then tweeted out further clarification that they were not involved at all.

At the press conference, Rudy Giuliani tried to push Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud.
https://www.phillyvoice.com/four-seasons-total-landscaping-race-fraud-street-run/





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[font size="8"]People Who Somehow Got Elected: Tommy Tuberville

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Politicians at the state and local levels who are so toxic, you wonder how they’re able to get away with the things they get away with. This is:



This week – Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville. How did this guy beat Doug Jones? Well it is Alabama and they can never elect anybody blue. And if someone who happens to have a “D” next to their name in the Yellowhammer State manages to survive an election, chances are that they do not last very long. So who is Tommy Tuberville if you don’t know? Well he’s the former football coach who took Auburn University from zeroes to heroes. That’s right – a football coach is now a United States senator. God bless America, right? Right?

Former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville won election to the U.S. Senate Tuesday night, defeating Democratic incumbent Doug Jones with pledges of loyalty to President Donald Trump.

As of 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, Tuberville had 1,375,794 votes (61%) in incomplete, unofficial returns listed by the Alabama Secretary of State's office. Jones had 898,243 votes (39%). The Associated Press called the race at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday.

The first-time candidate's campaign focused on Tuberville pledging his loyalty to President Donald Trump, and his victory speech repeated that theme.

"I want to thank President Donald Trump," Tuberville said in an 18-minute speech. "He is without a doubt in my lifetime the guy who’s done more for the United States of America than any other man."
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2020/11/03/alabama-election-results-tuberville-jones-us-senate-race/6048147002/




Well at least Nelson has a sensitive side. But in case you are wondering what Tuberville’s former players and staff think of him running for senate, well it’s about as mixed of a bag as you can possibly get. Some of course are for it, and others are against it. But of course his loyalty to Donald Trump will always be the 800 pound gorilla in the room. And Tuberville is very much on board the Trump train.

Tommy Tuberville, the Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama, is leading incumbent Sen. Doug Jones by 14 points in the polls. The highly watched race has attracted huge outside spending, and pundits have speculated about what it might take for the country’s most vulnerable senator to hold onto his seat. But the reality is the race can be boiled down to two of Alabama’s favorite things: Trump and football.

Tuberville has clung close to President Donald Trump throughout the campaign. Trump endorsed Tuberville in the primary over Jeff Sessions—Trump’s former attorney general and an Alabama senator from 1997 to 2017. In return, Tuberville has said that his number one priority was “taking that stick out of [Trump’s] hand and giving [him] a baseball bat.” He has also promoted birtherism, complained bitterly about environmentalists, said immigrants were bringing “drugs” and “diseases,” and stoked fear about the socialist and communist “indoctrination” of the education system.

Tuberville has never held elected office, but he gained fame in the state from nearly a decade as head coach of the Auburn Tigers. In 2004, Tuberville led the team to a 13-0 season and an SEC championship. He also led Auburn to six straight victories over the University of Alabama in its longest winning streak against the in-state rival. (Remarkably, Crimson Tide fans do not seem to hold this against him.) Jones’ campaign has attacked Tuberville’s team loyalty (highlighting one story from Tuberville’s time as coach of Texas Tech, when he ditched a dinner with recruits after getting offered a job at Cincinnati). Tuberville, meanwhile, has continued to cite his leadership experience as a coach, and his outsider status, as the reason he should represent the state.
https://slate.com/culture/2020/10/tommy-tuberville-senate-auburn-players.html




So Tuberville may have had the longest streak of beating the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide – which would be like the Miami Marlins beating the New York Yankees to win the World Series – and his platform is just about as Trumpian as you can get. In fact you could also see that he’s like a mini me version of Trump. But will Tuberville’s plan of avoiding every issue play out in the Senate? Probably not.

Back when Tommy Tuberville worked as a swashbuckling young coach at Ole Miss in the late 1990s, he earned the nickname “Riverboat Gambler” for his propensity to onside kick and ignore the odds on fourth downs. He’d often press his luck on national television games, hoping to capture viewers.

Nearly a quarter-century and a few coaching jobs later, Tuberville is running for the U.S. Senate in Alabama. And his campaign strategy is much different than the high-risk bravado that formed his early coaching reputation.

In football parlance, Tuberville’s first political campaign is operating on a “punt to win” mantra, as he’s avoided debate, shown little expertise on issues and generally avoided any exposure that would have him expound on issues in a public forum. His Republican candidacy has drafted off the popularity of President Trump in Alabama, putting him comfortably ahead in the polling heading into Tuesday’s election.

With the political direction of the United States Senate in flux, a race between a football coach who has never held public office and an incumbent, Doug Jones, with a nationally recognized name would be the kind of local race that emerges as national fodder. Especially with the possibility that Tuberville’s potential election could swing the Senate to the Republicans.
https://sports.yahoo.com/will-tommy-tubervilles-strategy-of-avoiding-issues-win-senate-seat-040920430.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANY9LhW1FSXv7ckFW9GCv1bgAFR271ZAZfqx_D9yD_ryTUVwf24nwwgvXTZmZGN3hMrjH7NN0y92kzmz-Ho-ilB2vWiwcMPuVJhee_ND-QoYU3G9tIvlkIcYT7xLECOLQYLOl5D_cyn3_WLLhH0E-ehfhlnnl_ziJQi42EF767Gg




Yeah probably. Well now that Tuberville has become a senator – there’s his record on the field which is spectacular, if you’re into that sort of thing. Then there’s his record off the field – which like most athletes supporting far right policies, is questionable. And if you dig deeper, Tuberville is quite the shady businessman. Which makes him a perfect representation of the GOP!

Tax returns from a charity founded by U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville show that in 2015 and 2016 about one-third of its spending went to the veterans’ causes the charity was set up to benefit.

The foundation’s tax returns don’t make clear the amount the organization spent on charitable purposes in 2017 and 2018.

The Tuberville campaign sent AL.com documents from the foundation showing it spent money on a program for veterans in 2018 that was not included in the tax return for that year. Including that amount, 50% of the foundation’s expenditures were for charitable purposes in 2018.

Charity watchdog groups generally say at least 65% of expenses should go to the programs for which charities receive their tax-exempt status.
https://www.al.com/news/2020/10/tax-records-not-clear-on-tuberville-veterans-charitys-spending.html




So questionable choices on and off the field, defrauding a charity, and actively avoiding the issues. That’s Tommy Tuberville, yet another to add in the ever-growing list of:




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[font size="8"]Kanye West
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Did anyone really think that Kanye West had a legitimate chance to become president? We’ve spent the last four months covering his batshit crazy attempt to become leader of the free world. And he’s going about doing this the same rate as Wiley Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner. And you might be asking what was the point of Kanye’s campaign? Well we pointed out in Top 10 #9-11 that the whole point of Kanye’s campaign was to siphon votes from Biden to help Trump. But it turns out that plan backfired on him spectacularly. Although you know the real sad thing? People actually voted for him! That’s right – hold your boos!

US Presidential candidate Kanye West conceded his run in the race early this morning (November 4), taking to Twitter to announce his withdrawal – Kanye style.

West formally ended his campaign shortly after midnight local time today by posting an image of a map of the United States with its states shaded in according to those that have thus far been won by fellow candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

The caption accompanying the image simply said “WELP”.

The rapper-cum-presidential candidate appears to be keeping the door to a 2024 election campaign open, however, also including that year in the caption.
https://www.nme.com/news/music/kanye-west-concedes-2020-presidential-election-2808637




OK Kanye we get it! So what was the point of this whole experiment? If he runs third party you know that he doesn’t have a chance in hell. So who is the Kanye voter? Everyone knows how toxic and dangerous Trump is, and then there’s a certain group of people who will never vote Democratic no matter how hard you convince them. But here’s what people who voted for Yeezy actually had to say about voting for him.

There is no plausible reality in which Kanye West becomes the next president. And yet people disenfranchised with the electoral system say they’re voting for him anyway.

“Do I think he's going to win? No. Do I think we need change? Yes. Am I voting for change? Am I voting for my interests? Yes,” 33-year-old Quentin Jones told BuzzFeed News.

After officially announcing his candidacy in mid-July and reportedly spending nearly $12 million on his own campaign, West is only on the ballot in 11 states, making it mathematically impossible for him to earn enough votes to become the next president of the United States. In August, a survey by Morning Consult/Politico showed that only 2% of 2,000 registered voters in the US supported West.

BuzzFeed News spoke to seven people who said they plan on voting for or have already voted for West, ranging from ages 19 to 42 in states across the country, including Florida, Colorado, Utah, Texas, and California. In the past, some of them had only cast ballots for either Republicans or Democrats; others are first-time voters.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/krystieyandoli/kanye-west-presidential-campaign-voters




That’s the last thing America needs – is another unstable jackass with questionable mental health and ties to the extreme religious right running the White House. I mean come on, how badly do we need to be punished here? And what did we do wrong? I want to know!!! But the thing is, as unorganized and unplanned as Kanye’s clusterfuck of a campaign was, there’s no denying he had some influence on how future campaigns will be run. Yeah, we’re screwed.

Kanye West’s presidential campaign may be the future of American politics. This is not to detract from the fact that it was a shambolic, hastily organized ego trip undertaken by a political neophyte of questionable mental health. But as Election Day approaches, what seemed like a minor summer subplot to the 2020 presidential campaigns feels more and more like the precursor to the next phase in American politics.

Through covering Kanye West’s presidential campaign over the nearly two-month period between when he first announced his run to when he changed his focus to urinating on one of his Grammy Awards, it served as a testament to how easy it is to run for president when you’re rich. West has no real constituency, no grassroots support, and no idea what he was doing. But simply spending around $10 million, he’ll be on the ballot in a dozen states.

The failures of Kanye West’s campaign should not be attributed to laws written to perpetuate the two-party duopoly, to crafty legal maneuverings by Democrats set to thwart him, or to even just the sheer indifference of voters toward the presidential candidacy of a celebrity who has built an entire persona around unorthodox behavior. Instead, there’s one simple reason behind them all: Kanye West himself.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/2020-election-kanye-wests-white-house-run-is-the-future.html




Yeah that’s the kind of guy we need running the free world. And if you think that he’s going away anytime soon, well, you don’t know Kanye. And if you think that it’s easy to make fun of Trump, just think of the material that a Kanye administration will provide! Oh and by the way, people who say it’s their “calling” to be the leader of America, are the ones who probably shouldn’t be anywhere near the White House.

Within the first five minutes of Kanye West’s appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, West tells Rogan, “I believe my calling is to be the leader of the free world,” meaning the president of the United States, and that the calling was given to him by God. Rogan responds, “What does that mean, to you? Does that mean you have a plan that’s different that’s been implemented before? What would you do if you were the leader of the free world? What would be different about the way you would handle things? If that’s your plan, what is it about that that is your calling?” What Rogan is asking is, essentially: What’s your platform?

West proceeds to speak mostly uninterrupted for the nearly three-hour length of the episode, but does not clearly lay out a presidential platform. West does talk about some other plans, though, which include “building a monastery that will then be the future of monasteries,” founding a “gospel university” that will seat 100,000 people in an arena and train them “like Russian swimmers” to recite his hymns, and his outlines for a sustainable community that will harness the four elements to produce power, but that won’t use solar, because of something about Tesla vs. Edison. Don’t call any of these thoughts tangents, though; West says when he speaks, it’s a “symphony of ideas.” Some other things he references before he gets to policy: the sinking of the Titanic, the inventor of the keyboard, whether or not Brandon Lee’s death was a murder conspiracy, Edna Mode from The Incredibles, the Disney movie Maleficent, the Disney movie Tron, and the scene where Jim Carrey is under the table in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. After all of this, a little over halfway through the interview, West reveals that he is flying to Atlanta multiple times a week, where he is building a soundstage. Despite whatever may be in the works for that soundstage, West admits, “I go back and forth on content. Should I work in content?” It’s the most relatable thing he’s ever said.
https://www.vulture.com/2020/10/kanye-west-on-joe-rogan-experience-talks-calling-to-campaign.html





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[font size="8"]Stop The Steal
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Holy shit, Trump super fans are going to provide me with no shortage of material through the remainder of the Trump presidency and beyond. There’s still five states that are inexplicably unaccounted for – Alaska, North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia. Now depending on what state you go to – Trump fans have conflicting messages but both want the same outcome – they think that Democrats are attempting to steal the election. Even though Trump himself is the one stealing it, and the New York Times polled all 50 states and found no evidence of voter fraud. Ah, who am I kidding? This is the Trump administration! Facts don’t matter, only unfiltered outrage does! So who are they accusing of what exactly?

Facebook has taken down a group that had amassed more than 300,000 members and was sharing misinformation and organizing around false allegations of impropriety during the 2020 elections.

The group, called “Stop the Steal 2020,” was organizing protests targeting the election officials currently counting ballots cast in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

“In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the Group ‘Stop the Steal,’ which was creating real-world events,” said a Facebook spokesperson in a statement emailed to TechCrunch. “The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.”

Protestors advocating for votes to be counted and for vote counting to cease are cropping up across the country as Republican Party organizers and campaign officials try to derail the count of mail-in ballots and absentee votes cast in the 2020 race and Democratic supporters organize counter-protests.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/05/facebook-takes-down-stop-the-steal-2020-group-organizing-around-false-claims-of-election-chicanery/




Oh god what are you people rabbling about again? Seriously it’s time for you to shut up and let the adults run the country again. You snowflakes can go run to Parler and engage in white supremacist circle jerks for the rest of time. So one state in particular – has been the product of conservative anger and that’s Nevada, even though Joe is leading by a sizable margin there and they have the least amount of votes. I mean come on really, grow up guys.

Politically right-leaning demonstrators gathered for a second night of "Stop The Steal" protests outside of the Clark County Election Department building in North Las Vegas Thursday night.

Conservative activist and Donald Trump supporter, Michael Couldrey, announced a "call to action" on social media earlier in the afternoon asking supporters to bring signs outside of the building.

The protest grew to more than 150 individuals in attendance, many carrying pro-Trump signs that included messaging that alleges election officials are "stealing the election" for Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

News 3 crews on scene spoke to a couple of demonstrators, who said they wanted to keep the event peaceful and just wanted to make their voices heard.

The protests come as the president and several conservative outlets highlight concerns of election irregularities in several states, including Nevada.
https://news3lv.com/news/local/stop-the-steal-protesters-gather-outside-clark-co-election-department-for-second-night





Well that is a good point! So who’s organizing these protests and what do they hope to accomplish? So one of these guys is Ali Alexander, a high profile Trump troll who is the very definition of a guy who is voting against his best interests. And the way he’s being funded is by people who willfully give him some money through online payment apps like Paypal and Venmo. Yeah this guy is a real piece of work, we may have to profile him for a future “This Fucking Guy”.

Right-wing “Stop The Count” protests that have sprung up in the last 72 hours to attempt to manipulate the vote-counting process in favor of Donald Trump appear to be at least partially artificially bolstered by paid Republican operatives. But unlike previous coordinated protests that have been revealed to be supported well-funded and organized conservative interests, the demonstrations have been organized largely by a collection of disgraced right-wing internet figures. Some have been all but discarded from mainstream Republican circles for being too extreme, too inept, or some combination of the two. Despite this, they’ve been good at one thing: figuring out how to spin never-ending mishaps into continued careers.

The protests have grown since Election Day, with FreedomWorks and Trump’s 2020 digital director getting involved in the events, according to The Guardian and Washington Post. Here’s a smattering of some of the more compelling characters involved:
Ali Alexander

After one of the first 2020 primary debates, Alexander went viral claiming that Kamala Harris wasn’t an “American Black,” because she was of Jamaican and Indian heritage, instead of descending from African-Americans who had been forced into Antebellum-era slavery. Alexander was convicted of two felonies in 2007 and 2008, and has a track record of publicly noting people for are Jewish. He made a sensationalist video with right-wing snafu generator Jacob Wohl and Laura Loomer, the Islamaphobic failed Congressional candidate, wherein Wohl seemingly fakes the group receiving death threats during filming.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/11/stop-the-steal/




Seriously where is that guy when you need him? And by the way in case you were wondering, yes, the group is advocating for violence. And yes, Facebook banned them. But you can only keep trolls banned for so long before they start coming out of the woodwork. And they keep popping up elsewhere. Of course think of this as playing a game of Whack-A-Troll. These morons aren’t going away, they’re just getting both louder and dumber.

Facebook on Thursday banned a large group called “Stop the Steal” that supporters of President Donald Trump were using to organize protests against the presidential vote count. Some members had called for violence, while many falsely claimed that Democrats are “stealing” the election from Republicans.

Though the group amassed more than 350,000 members before Facebook took it down, it was just one of several smaller groups that popped up as vote counting extended for days in several battleground states. Inside the groups, members and organizers tried to ensure they would get around Facebook’s moderators and “trolls” who might report or mock them.

“In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the Group ‘Stop the Steal,’ which was creating real-world events,” Facebook said in a statement. “The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.”

Facebook said it will continue to watch for activity that violates its rules and will take action if it does. As of Thursday afternoon, a copycat “Stop the Steal” group was growing steadily, nearing 13,000 members, and others were easily searchable on Facebook.

Inside the groups, members posted baseless claims of voter fraud and organized protests. Calls for violence were not immediately apparent, although the the Center for Countering Digital Hate shared a screenshot of one post in the now-banned group that read “Neither side is going to concede. Time to clean the guns, time to hit the streets.”
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-misinformation-violence-elections-d5c9bd5fe6a799fd627c50521b6cbb36





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[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 this has been a trying time but we have finally emerged victorious! That is right! For one thing we are no longer virtual! We have a church again! Of course we lack things like an actual collection plate and our famous gospel choir, but we are slowly getting back to normal! That said we are once again going to test the religious requirements of IRS 501(c) because that’s what our brothers and sisters on the right are doing. And they are getting weirder, crazier, and more violent with their rhetoric. Which is what I’m sure the GOOD LAWRD JAYSUS had intended! Oh wait, he didn’t intend this. Let’s start with someone who I think is one of the craziest people on the religious right – Mark Taylor, that’s right, the Liberty University fake profit just won’t shut up.

During an appearance on the “Up Front In The Prophetic” YouTube program last Wednesday, QAnon conspiracy theorist and so-called “firefighter prophet” Mark Taylor declared that any Christian who voted for Joe Biden in the presidential election has cursed their family for generations to come.

After repeating his assertion that many of President Donald Trump’s critics are so thoroughly possessed by demons that they “aren’t human” any longer, Taylor attacked Christians who dared to vote against Trump.

“Let me tell you something,” Taylor fumed. “Every Christian, every pastor out there that voted for Joe Biden last night, you have brought a curse upon yourself and your family, your children, and your children’s children down to the third and fourth generation, and you need to repent.”

“You cannot call yourself a Christian and call yourself a [Democrat] and vote for Biden,” he continued. “You are implementing the dark agenda. Satan’s agenda. The kingdom of darkness. You are not supporting the kingdom of God. And if you cannot see that, if you do not repent, judgment will fall upon you, I believe, and your family and your children’s children down the third and fourth generation.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mark-taylor-says-christians-who-voted-for-biden-have-cursed-their-families-for-generations-to-come/




That’s right – the Devil walks among us!!! Or does he? Apparently according to these weirdos, we’re the ones to blame for America not voting the way GAWD intended! But the unholy Dark One, whose name shall not be mentioned in my church, has a spiritual advisor. I mean come on really, that is so hilarious but is not that unexpected! Oh and in case you are wondering she’s as crazy as he is!

Trump spiritual adviser and campaign surrogate Paula White hosted a second post-election prayer service Thursday night, during which she once again declared God’s intention to put President Donald Trump back in the White House and denounced the demonic forces she said are trying to derail God’s plans and Trump’s reelection. As on Wednesday, she was joined by her son Brad Knight.

“God has already settled his mind” about the election, White said. “We will override any will of man over the mind of God.”

White explained that “the Lord has already made his decision” but that there is a “spiritual battle” going on. She said that she was going to lead people in spiritual warfare to overturn “every evil wickedness” that was coming “against this nation and beyond this nation, what this nation is assigned to, what this nation has to carry forth with the gospel of Jesus Christ, with the prosperity of other nations, with the alignment of the church.”

“You said you will mow down the wickedness,” White prayed, adding:
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/paula-white-asks-god-to-override-will-of-man-and-keep-trump-in-office-her-son-urges-god-to-bring-rage-and-fury-against-those-who-resist-him/



That’s right – he’s the devil!!! But that isn’t stopping those who claim to be righteous from openly supporting the unholy Dark One! In fact this is the hill on which they are willing to die. And they’re not going away folks. Oh no. expect the rhetoric coming from our brothers and sisters on the right to get more violent and more crazy in the coming months! This is the kind of thing that their hard earned dollars get collected on Sunday for!

During Sunday services at televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s Eagle Mountain International Church, Copeland’s daughter and Eagle Mountain senior pastor Terri Pearsons called on God to arrange “another election” so President Donald Trump can be reelected to the White House.

Pearsons, who last week called on God to give Republicans control of the House of Representatives, reacted to the news that Joe Biden had been declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election by praising God for giving the Trump campaign legal strategies to expose the supposedly rampant voter fraud that caused Trump to lose and urging God to remedy this travesty by scheduling a new election.

“You’re giving our administration legal strategies,” Persons preached. “You frustrated the enemy. You caused them to turn on themselves. You caused them to reveal their hands. You caused their plots to be exposed. You caused their plans to be exposed. You caused those who worked evil and inequity to be exposed. And you sent the host of the angel armies, and you cooperated, Lord, from Heaven with your armies in the Earth. In Jesus’ name, we thank you that Heaven and Earth are working together. Thy will be done! Thy will be done. Thy will be done! Thy will be done! Thy will be done!”

“Lord, we don’t just look to the presidency,” she continued. “We’re asking you to straighten out every Senate race, straighten out every House race, straighten out every governorship, straighten out every state legislature, straighten out every mayoral election, straighten out every city council. Straighten ’em out. Straighten ’em out. Straighten ’em out. Expose it all. Expose it all. Expose it all, Lord.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/another-election-terri-pearsons-calls-on-god-to-do-whatever-it-takes-to-ensure-trumps-reelection/




Whoa, the Reverend is getting uppity! And here’s the thing guys – you’re not prophets! And you deserve to be mocked because you say some unbelievably stupid and crazy shit. Yes, we’re allowed to swear in my church. I make the rules. So maybe if you stop saying stupid things and stop supporting batshit crazy ideologies, maybe we might take you seriously for a change!

Right-wing pastor Curt Landry streamed an emergency broadcast on his YouTube channel Wednesday in which he declared that President Donald Trump would be reelected because God will not allow prophets such as himself to be mocked by critics and unbelievers.

“Son of man, do you think that I am going to allow my prophets who prophesied Trump’s second term and prophesied all this goodness coming to this nation to be mocked by a mass media manipulation?” Landry asked rhetorically, speaking on behalf of God. “The Lord says, ‘No, I shall not. For my namesake, I shall protect my word, I shall protect my people, I shall protect my prophets from this evil destruction. For I shall pull back the veil and I shall reveal that which is done in darkness. For they who shift the votes and move the boxes around, those who raised the dead and the dead vote, I will expose them says the Lord. For they may be tricky men, but they shall not trick me,’ says the Lord.”

Landry then began to prophesy that Trump would win the states in which the vote count between the two major candidates was close.

“And the Lord says, ‘Son of Man, prophesy onto Wisconsin, that it will go red for Trump,'” Landry declared. “‘Prophesy onto Michigan that it will go red for Trump. Prophesy onto Pennsylvania that it goes red for Trump. Prophesy onto North Carolina that it goes red for Trump. Prophesy onto Georgia that it goes red for Trump. Prophesy onto to Nevada that it goes red for Trump. Prophesy for recounts in places where the corruption is there. Prophesy that the media will cancel the assignment to call the election.'”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/curt-landry-declares-trump-will-win-because-god-will-not-allow-his-prophets-to-be-mocked/




Oh if you think we will stop mocking you, you are wrong! You deserve every bit of it! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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Hello again everyone and welcome back to the segment where we attempt to explain the things that cannot be explained, Conspiracy Corner! We of course are broadcasting this from an underground Doomsday Prepper shelter from deep in the alkalai flats of the New Mexico badlands – undisclosed location of course! Well our favorite crazy pseudo-religious cult known as Q Anon just refuses to go away. Even when Dear Leader does not get reelected. But they are getting out of the basement and going to Congress! Well of all the Q supporting candidates that ran in states like Florida, Georgia, and Colorado, one won. That is Marjorie Taylor Green. And if they actually got into Congress they could do some damage.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives recently voted to condemn the pro-President Donald Trump online conspiracy theory known as “QAnon.” But multiple QAnon-friendly lawmakers may soon be taking seats in the House chamber.

More than two dozen candidates for Congress in the Nov. 3 elections have endorsed or given credence to QAnon or promoted QAnon content online, the non-profit watchdog group Media Matters says. Two are independents; the rest are Republicans.

At least one of them is expected to be elected to the House of Representatives next week, and a second has a good chance.

The FBI has listed QAnon as a domestic terrorism threat.

The unfounded conspiracy theory, which began in 2017 with anonymous web postings from “Q,” posits that Trump is secretly fighting a global cabal of child-sex predators that includes prominent Democrats, Hollywood elites and “deep state” allies.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-house-qanon-idUSKBN27B14J




You have to be crazy to believe in Q Anon. But of all the candidates who ran, one stands out above the rest and that is Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene. How did Greene worm her way into Congress? Well of course I don’t have to remind you that Q Anon believes in a baseless conspiracy theory about a secret society of Satanic pedophiles that rule the landscape and they’re all about to be doxed. But there’s no doxing going on here.

The apparent inevitable ascent to Congress of a Georgia Republican who has promoted the outlandish conspiracy theories of QAnon could be a bellwether for American politics, in which extreme views creep increasingly into the mainstream, experts on extremism told CNN.

Marjorie Taylor Greene -- who, in addition to promoting QAnon theories, has also suggested that President Barack Obama is Muslim, called Jewish billionaire and liberal philanthropist George Soros a Nazi, and questioned whether a plane really crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11 -- beat neurosurgeon John Cowan in a primary runoff on August 11.

A month later, her longshot Democratic challenger, Kevin Van Ausdal, dropped out of the race in the Republican stronghold, citing personal and family reasons, all but clinching Greene's victory for the 14th district congressional seat in northwest Georgia.

QAnon adherents believe in a baseless conspiracy theory that there is a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who have infiltrated the highest reaches of American government and are working hand-in-hand with other elites in business and Hollywood. They believe President Donald Trump is secretly fighting to destroy this cabal and that messages are being delivered to them in code by an anonymous central character called Q.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/23/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-qanon-congress-invs/index.html




Yeah probably! But here’s the thing – MIT’s Technology review pointed out that Congress actually had a hearing on how dangerous Q Anon was becoming. They started out as just a group of people we could laugh at. But now it’s getting real. In fact so real that they’ve actually got a foot in the door. And this is a reason why nobody should pay attention to conspiracy theorists. And when you do you probably shouldn’t have.

The news: In a 90-minute virtual US congressional hearing hosted by the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, representatives took stock of the state of misinformation in America and sought advice from some of the leading experts in the field. What they heard were urgent, alarming warnings about the state of truth, political fragmentation, and the spread of conspiracy theories, specifically QAnon.

Later that day during a televised town hall meeting, President Trump said he knew “nothing” about QAnon, before saying that he agreed with one of its central beliefs.

Who was there: The committee, headed by Democrat Adam Schiff, heard from four disinformation experts: Joan Donovan (a regular contributor to MIT Technology Review), Nina Jankowicz, Cindy Otis, and Melanie Smith. They discussed the proliferation of malign actors and misinformation around the election campaign, noting that they were the result of largely domestic forces. Otis remarked that they “embrace and deploy tactics that sound much more like foreign influence operations than the tactics of good digital campaigning.”

Who wasn’t: No Republicans attended the hearing. In fact, Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee have been boycotting almost all meetings for months. Jankowicz urged the depoliticization of online disinformation, saying that “disinformation is a threat to democracy no matter what political party it benefits.” Several witnesses and Chairman Schiff pointed out that President Trump regularly creates, shares, and amplifies disinformation.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/16/1010606/congress-was-warned-over-qanon-hours-later-trump-boosted-it/




We’re not surprised at all that nobody from the conservative side attended that hearing. Getting in bed with Q Anon is like eating that monster party sub. Sure it starts out to potentially be great. By the time you’re three feet in, the lettuce has wilted and the mayo is starting to turn. And then by the time you’re halfway through you’re already sick of it. Then nobody gets to the end of the sandwich and you wind up throwing it in the dumpster. But that said, Q Anon should probably be ignored.

Georgia’s Fourteenth Congressional District was created by Republican legislators about a decade ago, after the 2010 census. It’s bordered by Tennessee to the north and Alabama to the west, with jagged lines in between—which reflect, in part, an effort to redraw the neighboring Ninth District around the home of a Republican congressman, Doug Collins. Except for Athens, where the University of Georgia is based, north Georgia is highly Republican, “largely because it has very few minorities, and if you don’t have minorities you have a Republican district there,” Charles Bullock III, a political-science professor at U.G.A., told me. “But the kinds of Republicans there may have changed.” The Fourteenth incorporates some of the old Seventh District, which, in the seventies and eighties, was represented, as Bullock put it, by a “paranoid urologist” named Larry McDonald. McDonald was a Democrat, but he was also one of the most conservative members of Congress and the second president of the John Birch Society, a group committed to the idea that the civil-rights movement was a Communist plot. In 1983, McDonald was on a Korean Airlines flight to Seoul that accidentally flew into Soviet airspace. “He was very much a Russian conspiracist,” Bullock said. “And, sure enough, the Russians shot down a plane he was on, and killed him.” An investigation concluded that the Soviets had most likely misidentified the aircraft as a U.S. spy plane.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/how-the-qanon-candidate-marjorie-taylor-greene-reached-the-doorstep-of-congress





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Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. It’s been a while since we have done one of these, but there’s no shortage of stupid people. That’s one thing that will be a constant even in the Biden administration. First off, everyone should know that impersonating a police officer is a felonious offense right? Hell I learned that from the Simpsons episode where Marge is a police officer. And even if you do abuse your fake police officer privileges, is using it for fast food really the way you should go? Well that said, this might be one of the dumbest examples we’ve seen of someone abusing their right to be a fake police officer.

In a harebrained and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to score some free food, a Georgia woman posed as an FBI agent while demanding gratis grub from Chick-fil-A workers, cops allege. Late Thursday morning, police received a suspicious person call from employees at the eatery in Rockmart, a city 45 miles from Atlanta. A 911 caller reported that the suspect, who was in a white van, was “identifying themselves as a federal agent to try and get free food.”

When cops arrived at the Chick-fil-A around noon, they approached a white Dodge Grand Caravan whose driver was later identified as Kimberly Ragsdale, 47, who lives about 20 miles from the restaurant. Asked by an officer if she had been identifying herself as a federal agent, “Ragsdale stated that she was a federal agent,” according to a Rockmart Police Department report. In response to a police request to see her credentials, Ragsdale replied that she “did not have one that it was electronic.”

Ragsdale refused to exit her van until an officer displayed his taser and warned that it would be deployed unless she got out of the Dodge. After being handcuffed, Ragsdale continued her charade. “Ms. Ragsdale then began to talk into her shirt like she was talking into a radio telling someone that we were arresting her and to send someone to Rockmart PD,” reported Officer William Gilstrap.

Chick-fil-A workers told another cop that Ragsdale had been coming to the restaurant (seen below) “for several days saying she worked with the FBI and requested free food.” Ragsdale was charged with impersonating a public official.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/chick-fil/chick-fil-a-masquerade-021749




Maybe don’t give that guy a badge. Next up – remember that episode of the Simpsons where Homer buys a Monkey’s Paw and it gives him three wishes? Well in India there’s a story of men who were tricked into buying Aladdin’s lamp. Now come on really this is a special kind of stupid here because everyone knows that’s fake and Robin Williams won’t pop out of the lamp when you rub it, right?

Two men have been arrested in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly duping a doctor into buying an "Aladdin's lamp" that they promised would bring him wealth and health.

As part of the con, they even pretended to conjure up spirits from the lamp, in line with the tale from The Arabian Nights, Indian media report.
"during one visit 'Aladdin' actually made an appearance

The men had reportedly wanted more than $200,000 for the lamp but settled for a down payment of $41,600.

A third, female, suspect is at large.

The doctor reportedly filed a complaint with local police in Meerut, western Uttar Pradesh, earlier this week.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54759863




Yes, please clap! Next up – we go to the Land Down Under. That’s Australia don’t you know? Well there’s stupid criminals as much as there are stupid police. And by stupid police I mean cops who do dumb shit. Let’s be clear here. Here’s the thing too – everyone is afraid of being involved in violence, but would you ever mistake a plant for a weapon? I mean come on when plants are outlawed…

Police called out to investigate reports a masked man was armed with a machete discovered he was carrying a bag of leeks.

The alarm was raised by a member of the public on Thursday evening who thought a man in Aberdeen's Provost Watt Drive was carrying a weapon.

Officers attended and CCTV showed a man in a shop buying the mask and leeks.

Police Scotland said it had been established no crime took place and no further action was needed.

A spokeswoman confirmed: "A witness reported a man wearing a mask and carrying an item shaped like a machete.

"Officers conducted enquiries in the area and CCTV from a nearby premises showed a man in a shop buying a mask and leeks, which were put in a bag and are what the witness reported to police as being a potential weapon."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-54746440




Next up – remember that scene from Vegas Vacation when Randy Quaid’s cousin Eddie cooks chicken on some hot desert rocks instead of a grill? Well just because they’re called “hot springs” doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re meant for cooking safely or sanitarily. After all we’re in one pandemic and the last thing we need is another one! Seriously people cook your food safely!

This is weird, even by 2020 standards. A group of people, including a man from Idaho Falls, was recently busted in Yellowstone National Park while they were cooking a chicken in one of the park's geothermal hot springs.

The culinary event happened in early August, according to Nate Eaton at East Idaho News, when park authorities were given reports of a group carrying cooking gear towards a hot spring. Rangers arrived and found the group had two chickens cooking in the hot waters of a spring. The Idaho Falls man was given a citation for walking in the thermal area, to which he plead guilty. He was also given a $600 fine, probation, and he is banned from Yellowstone for the next two years.

I can't imagine that chicken boiled in sulfur heated water can be very delicious, and while Yellowstone may be doing many things to improve the park for visitors, cooking stations at the geysers isn't part of the plans. Yet. Travelling off the designated paths is dangerous at Yellowstone as ground can be brittle and home to a body of hot water underneath. Many of the geysers and hot springs are unpredictable, so park rangers take the off-trail excursions very seriously. Plus, you don't need to leave the pathways to have an amazing vacation at Yellowstone and you also don't need a lot of time. A nice weekend vacation to Yellowstone is possible for residents of Southern Idaho.
https://kezj.com/idaho-man-busted-cooking-chickens-in-yellowstone-hot-spring/




I like how even the bottle and glass get deep fried! Finally this week – we go of course to the Sunshine State, America’s most penis-shaped state, the state of Florida. Seriously where would this segment be without the state of Florida? They never fail to provide the crazy. And someone who eats fast food, I love a good fast food rage story. Give me a story about a guy who calls 911 because McDonalds didn’t give him the right chicken nugget sauce and I’m in! Here’s one where a guy melted down because Checkers ran out of lettuce. Come on!

Lettuce calm you down, sir.

A Florida man was arrested this week after allegedly suffering a lettuce-related meltdown, The Smoking Gun reported Friday.

Henry Arce-Cabellero, 49, has been hit with misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct in an establishment as well as resisting an officer without violence, for the incident late Wednesday when he hit the windows of a Tampa Bay-area Checkers restaurant.

A criminal complaint notes that the man was “yelling and screaming” at employees — who then had “fear for their safety” — because, as authorities say, “he was upset that the store had no more lettuce for their sandwiches.” ...........(more)

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-florida-man-arrested-lettuce-meltdown-20201107-nu6b4hihgndj3ai2vjxv7sm574-story.html




That’s it this week for:




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Welcome back to our ongoing segment covering our now 46th president’s historic election in… *cue reverb* THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!! Ooh that was some good reverb there! We did it! Joe Biden is our 46th president! Or is he? He may have got 279 electoral votes but Trump is still refusing to concede. And it’s quite possibly the stuff of pure insanity. Remember during the beginning of his term I said that he’d go full Howard Hughes? Well that distinct possibility still remains. Well Trump of course is the egomaniacal narcissist everyone thought he was. And he’s attempting to stall and delay what is ultimately going to be the inevitable – he lost! And he’d better get used to losing because I forsee a lot of that in his future!

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a frequent GOP critic of President Trump, says it is “wildly inappropriate” for the administration to stonewall President-elect Joe Biden on the transition of power following last week's election.

“This latest move to employ the Department of Justice in all of this is so wildly inappropriate and stalling an orderly transition process especially at a time like this is equally unacceptable," Baker said in a statement Tuesday after Attorney General William Barr authorized the Justice Department to probe any "substantial allegations" of voter fraud, despite no evidence of widespread wrongdoing having been presented. "I can't think of a worse time to stall a transition than amid a deadly pandemic that the federal government continues to own primary responsibility for responding to."

Baker added that “if the Trump campaign has legitimate legal challenges” to the voting process, “they should bring them to court,” but he added, “I’m aware of no legitimate claims of wrongdoing anywhere near the scale of what it would take to change this outcome and there’s no credible third party entity that has verified the president’s claims in any way.”

Baker has previously criticized the president for his baseless claims about the reliability of mail-in voting, leading Trump to blast him as a “RINO,” or "Republican in name only."
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/525478-gop-massachusetts-governor-unacceptable-for-trump-to-stall-transition




Yeah probably. Trump blames everybody but himself for the things he’s done and it’s not surprising that we’re here now. And not only did we predict that Trump is going full Howard Hughes, he’s also going full dictator in his quest to hang onto the White House. But it’s slipping. And we want to know what Trump’s end game is. He has no path to reelection and like we said it’s just delaying the inevitable.

President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday dismissed President Donald Trump's refusal to concede the election as not very consequential to his efforts to begin transition planning and said it did not reflect well on Trump.

"I just think it's an embarrassment, quite frankly," Biden said. "How can I say this tactfully? I think it will not help the president's legacy."

Biden, the Democratic nominee, racked up the 270 Electoral College votes to clinch presidency on Saturday. Trump has falsely claimed the election was stolen, as his campaign mounts legal challenges in several states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Nevada.

More:'Time to heal in America': President-elect Joe Biden, VP-elect Kamala Harris talk of unity

Biden is preparing for his Jan. 20 inauguration, including assembling an advisory panel to guide his efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he would likely make his first Cabinet announcements by Thanksgiving. Biden on Tuesday spoke to leaders of the United Kingdom, Germany, France and other European nations who congratulated him on a victory.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/10/joe-biden-reacts-trump-refusal-concede-its-embarrassment/6234083002/




Yes, run along Trump. It’s time to get the adults back in charge. Because if you don’t concede not only does it make you look bad, it makes your whole party look bad. Oh who am I kidding? This is the republicans we are talking about here – there’s nothing you can do to make them look embarrassing despite that they constantly look embarrassing!

The Department of Justice is “looking into” allegations by Republicans that illegal votes were cast in Nevada and Pennsylvania, NBC News reported Tuesday.

The investigations were disclosed after Attorney General William Barr, in a memo, authorized federal prosecutors to probe “specific” claims of voter fraud even before the election results of the race between President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden are certified.

Barr’s Justice Department is eyeing GOP claims that ineligible voters cast ballots in Nevada, and that there was backdating of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, a department source told NBC News.

After Barr’s memo, issued Monday, the head of the DOJ division that prosecutes election crimes resigned, in apparent disagreement with the new policy and its ramifications. The official, Richard Pilger, will continue to work within the DOJ.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/10/presidential-election-doj-eyes-nevada-and-pennsylvania-in-trump-biden-race.html




I’m not sure that’s quite how that works. But never the less we are going to keep an eye on the situation as it develops because Trump is going full dictator and that’s not a good thing. And if he somehow flips the election, he could install a dictatorship. And he’d have the Supreme Court backing him. But they’re going about finding voter fraud in the same way that Wiley Coyote chases the Road Runner. And they’re bringing in their arsenal of defective Acme products to do so!

Facebook on Wednesday announced an extension on its political advertising ban for at least another month, citing delays in election results due to COVID-19 and unprecedented rates of mail-in and absentee voting. The extension was announced in an update posted to its original blog post on the topic.

“The temporary pause for ads about politics and social issues in the US continues to be in place as part of our ongoing efforts to protect the election. Advertisers can expect this to last another month, though there may be an opportunity to resume these ads sooner,” the update reads. “Getting the US election results this year may take longer than in previous elections due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and more people voting by mail. We’ve introduced a range of policies and products to help protect the integrity of the election and reduce opportunities for confusion or abuse.”

What Facebook does not explicitly mention is that the current US presidential race has already been called in favor of President-elect Joe Biden, while President Donald Trump has refused to concede and is using claims of election fraud to dispute the results and mount legal challenges in battleground states.

That means Facebook’s ad ban is in effect preventing Trump from falsely declaring victory through ads or using its network to make other false or misleading claims (although he may still do so by posting through his page or other White House accounts). And because Trump’s refusal to concede and the fallout from that decision may only drag on well into next month and possibly January ahead of Inauguration Day, Facebook’s ad ban appears to be one tool the company thinks it will need to prevent further spread of misinformation on its social network.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/11/21560969/facebook-political-ad-ban-extended-trump-2020-election-concede-misinformation






See you next week!

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October 21, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-15: Wouldn't It Be Nice Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-15: Wouldn’t It Be Nice Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? This is our last Top 10 before the regular election. Now you might be wondering – why is this? And I answer you, sir or madam, is that this is the most important election of our lifetime and we can’t afford any screwups. I will be taking two weeks off because you don’t need my commentary or tomfoolery. I mean I appreciate you viewing our little program here, but you can definitely do without me until the election. What? Just my commentary and a few mildly amusing jokes interspliced with some Simpons GIFs? Yeah no I am not needed this week or next. Because we have 14 fucking days until the end of this thing and we’ve covered the entirety of the Donald J. Trump administration over 4 years and 216 editions, that’s 2,160 entries. And I know y’all haven’t seen a lot of these, so if you’re looking for some fresh content, just go check out one of the older editions and pretend it’s a new one. I’m just going to sit here and browse Simpsons related Twitter feeds on my phone. Hey, I voted. It’s time for everyone else to do the same! So go, go on, vote. We will come back once the dust has settled on 11/11. Once we hand Trump the eviction notice he so badly deserves, we can get back to having life again. OK that’s enough of the intro. We have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first Jon Oliver is back and he delves into why the World Health Organization is important and why the US is making a mistake not to participate:



So where do we begin for our final Top 10 before the 2020 election to end all elections? The top slot this week is going to go to of course the guy who we currently and inexplicably still call president, Donald J. Trump (1). Yeah so he enlisted the reigning kings of fake news, the New York Post, in an attempt to smear Hunter Biden, and it backfired on him to the point where he and his supporters got kicked off of social media outlets! So much for the “October Surprise”. In the second slot this week, is also Donald J. Trump (2) and despite that there’s still a raging pandemic, he isn’t stopping his super-spreader rallies, and his one in Iowa last week was particularly insane. In the number 3 slot this week is California Republicans (3) – they have had quite the banner week whether it was Gavin Newsom fighting with Trump or some light election fraud, we’ve got everything boiled down to a single entry! In the fourth slot this week is Conservative Rappers (4). Yes, this is a thing and it’s not just limited to Kanye, everyone from 50 Cent to Ice Cube is weighing in their opinions on the election! In the number 5 slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates, and this week we’re going to take a look at COVID cures – the WHO found 4 to be completely bogus, and one is Trump’s favorite drug of choice, hydroxycholorquine! I’m shocked, shocked I tell you! Taking the 6th slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week the Vatican has been putting priests on trial! Our resident pastor is going to dial up his Pope Hotline to find out what’s up! Taking the 7th slot this week is a new This Fucking Guy (7) and while Trump has been harping on Hunter Biden, we profile his idiot sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr! In the 8th slot this week is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8) and the right still will not shut up about Benghazi and I’m not going to point fingers, but it goes all the way to the president! In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week we have a new I Need A Drink and this week we’re going to get drunk and finally talk about politics, because Ice Cube has been pegged as a Trump supporter and it’s causing the internet to lose their minds! But whose side is he really on? Finally this week in Road To The White House (10), it’s our last one before the election and we’re going to have our final thoughts on what has been a certainly insane primary that got hijacked by COVID-19. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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OK so you know how every single election going back to 1960 there’s always some sort of gigantic breaking news story like two weeks before the election that seems to favor one candidate over another that puts themselves in a position to win it all? Well it happened back in 2016 when the Comey Hillary e-mail story first broke. Trump got a taste of the high life in 2016 when he first won. This time, 4 years later, he’s again try to find the proverbial “October Surprise”. Only this time he’s completely full of shit and we know that he’s completely full of shit. Trump is attempting to lay the smackdown on Hunter Biden using his fixer and it’s backfiring on him big time.

President Donald Trump demanded that Attorney General William Barr open an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, just two weeks before Election Day.

“We’ve got to get the attorney general to act,” Trump said Tuesday in a phone interview with the TV show “Fox & Friends,” in response to a question about whether a special prosecutor should be appointed to probe unsubstantiated allegations against Hunter Biden.

“And he’s got to act fast. He’s got to appoint somebody,” Trump added, saying it should be done before the Nov. 3 election.

The president has publicly called for Barr to probe a number of his political opponents ahead of the election, including former President Barack Obama and Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, in addition to the Bidens.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-20/trump-demands-attorney-general-barr-investigate-hunter-biden




That is a good question – why? Well Trump is a mob boss and he’s using his fixer to fix the election by trying to make Hunter Biden look like the most corrupt POS on the face of the planet. But he’s really not, and neither is his father. That’s the thing – Trump is trying to throw shade where there isn’t, and people are finally starting to see through his lies and red tape, and are finally getting bored of the MAGA movement in general. But what about Trump’s own kids – mainly his daughter Ivanka and her equally shady husband Jared?

A recent Senate committee report entitled “Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on US Government Policy and Related Concerns” contains this statement: “The extent to which Hunter Biden’s role on Burisma’s board affected US policy toward Ukraine is not clear.”

Translation: Despite their best efforts, Senate Republicans could find no evidence that Hunter Biden’s role on the board of a Ukrainian energy company directly affected US policy toward Ukraine. If Senate Republicans had uncovered such evidence, they would deliver it, gift-wrapped, to Sean Hannity, all in the interest of tainting former vice president Joe Biden. But they could not. So, denied an official smoking gun, President Trump’s political allies turned to the smoke of a New York Post story so dubious that the staff reporter who wrote much of it refused to put his name on it, The New York Times reported.

Trump’s strategy is clear. His own children are brazenly trading on the Trump family name to advance the Trump Organization’s business interests. Changing the subject to “What about Hunter Biden?” becomes a way to project the corruption spotlight onto the Bidens and away from the Trumps. Plus, if the final weeks of the campaign are all about Hunter Biden, that allows Trump to distract from what are the real issues: Trump’s failed leadership, especially regarding the coronavirus pandemic; Trump’s ongoing commitment to dividing the country by race and political ideology, rather than trying to unite it; and Trump’s utter lack of character, integrity, and honesty.

The Hunter Biden-Burisma story isn’t pretty. The Senate committee report said the work that Hunter Biden did in Ukraine, for which he was paid $50,000 a month, created a conflict of interest when his father, as vice president, was the public face of the Obama administration’s handling of Ukraine. Hunter Biden — who clearly has had challenges in life — “cashed in” on his father’s name, the report said, raising concerns from at least two Obama administration officials. Still, the report found no clear connection between his role with Burisma and US policy with Ukraine. The New York Post is trying to establish one, with its story alleging that Hunter Biden helped arrange a 2015 meeting between a Burisma executive and his father. The Biden campaign says no meeting, as alleged by the Post, took place.
https://subscribe.bostonglobe.com/B6570/?p1=BG_Meter_Meter1




Um… just a little? This is a whole lot of shade. It’s a boat load of shade. And once again like literally all things with Trump, it all comes back to Russia. That’s right – the Russkies might be involved in influencing Trump’s Hunter Biden smear. I mean isn’t it obvious by now? If you hang with Trump you’re going to get a virus, and the Russians might be involved somehow. But really it’s seriously weird how everything with Trump almost always comes back to Russia.

A New York tabloid’s puzzling account about how it acquired emails purportedly from Joe Biden’s son has raised some red flags. One of the biggest involves the source of the emails: Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani has traveled abroad looking for dirt on the Bidens, developing relationships with shadowy figures, including a Ukrainian lawmaker who U.S. officials have described as a Russian agent and part of a broader Russian effort to denigrate the Democratic presidential nominee.

Yet Giuliani says foreign sources didn’t provide the Hunter Biden emails. He says a laptop containing the emails and intimate photos was simply abandoned in a Delaware repair shop and the shop owner reached out to Giuliani’s lawyer.

That hasn’t stopped the FBI from investigating whether the emails are part of a foreign influence operation. The emails have surfaced as U.S. officials have been warning that Russia, which backed Trump’s 2016 campaign through hacking of Democratic emails and a covert social media campaign, is interfering again this year. The latest episode with Giuliani underscores the risk he poses to a White House that spent years confronted by a federal investigation into whether Trump associates had coordinated with Russia.
https://www.nbc15.com/2020/10/18/fbi-probing-if-russia-involved-in-hunter-biden-email-story/




And speaking of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the GOP’s equivalent of Kevin Bacon, Rudy Guilaini, somehow has his creepy claws in this story and well this is where it gets weird. And once again he tends to fuck everything up that he touches. And if the mob – Trump and Guiliani are involved – that’s when things start to go fuck up. Just remember kids – if Rudy comes out and sees his shadow, that means 8 more months of nuclear winter!

When the New York Post published the alleged contents of a computer hard drive purporting to document the Ukrainian and Chinese business activities of Hunter Biden, the newspaper cast the information as a "smoking gun."

Enter the FBI.

Less than three weeks before one of the most contentious presidential campaigns in history, federal authorities are investigating whether the material supplied to the Post by Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, is part of a smoke bomb of disinformation pushed by Russia.

The inquiry, according to a person familiar with the matter, is at least in part, aimed at determining whether Russia has set its sights on a familiar target: Biden's father, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. The person is not authorized to comment on the matter publicly and asked not to be named in order to speak candidly.

The FBI has declined to comment, refusing to either confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/10/17/fbi-probes-possible-russia-link-hunter-biden-data-trump-ally-giuliani/3661895001/





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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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We are literally two weeks away from the election where we will hopefully send our current and inexplicable president Donald Trump and the Christian right the eviction notice that they wholeheartedly deserve. And he’s losing it big time. I wanted to talk about his Iowa rally but then he had to come to my home turf of Orange County and throw quite the shit show of one of last and final stops on the World COVID Deplorable Tour 2020. The venue? Newport Beach and the support? None other than the legendary group the Beach Boys. And that’s mainly what I wanted to talk about for this entry – the feud between the Beach Boys is still going strong 60 years later!

Two of the original Beach Boys, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, made it clear on Sunday they had no part in the performance at a fundraiser for President Trump by the current touring version of their group headed by Mike Love.

Speaking to Variety through a spokesperson, Wilson and Jardine said, “We have absolutely nothing to do with the Trump benefit today in Newport Beach. Zero. We didn’t even know about it and were very surprised to read about it in the Los Angeles Times.”

The Beach Boys performed on Sunday at a short fundraising event in Orange County where ticket prices started at $2,800 and went as high as $150,000.

This is not the first time the two members have chosen to disassociate themselves with the band's appearances at a Trump event. In February they both signed on to a Change.org petition calling for a boycott of the touring Beach Boys due to the group headlining an event at the Safari Club International where Donald Trump Jr. was a keynote speaker. In a statement they said they were both strongly opposed to trophy hunting, which the organization supports.
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/521674-al-jardine-denounce-beach-boys-appearance-at-trump-fundraiser




Yes, wouldn’t it be nice? I mean even two of the original Beach Boys – that’s Brian Wilson and Al Jardine – have condemned this idiotic fundraiser appearance. And we’re still in the middle of the COVID pandemic so that makes having concerts even worse! So yes the third remaining original member of the legendary group – Mike Love – is a MAGA! So the Beach Boys were already apart as a band, Mike Love being a MAGA is making it even worse!

On Sunday, for somewhere between $2,800 and $150,000, you could go see the Beach Boys play a Donald Trump fundraiser in Newport Beach, California. The idea was to help solve a cash flow problem for Trump—“no one really thinks about how Orange County, California, is an ATM machine,” Jon Fleischman, a former Republican state official, told the Los Angeles Times. Whether or not the event raised enough money to meaningfully help Trump, it has at least revived an intra-Beach Boys rift.

The Beach Boys’ touring group is currently led by Mike Love, but doesn’t include all the members most associated with the band’s best-known work. “We have absolutely nothing to do with the Trump benefit today in Newport Beach. Zero,” Brian Wilson and Al Jardine told Variety through a spokesperson. “We didn’t even know about it and were very surprised to read about it in the Los Angeles Times.”

As the trade noted, the last time all the surviving members of the Beach Boys performed together was in 2012, for a 50th anniversary tour. More recently, Wilson and Jardine have toured together under Wilson’s name, sometimes playing Beach Boys songs, while Love has the license to use the band name for his concerts.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/10/trump-california-fundraiser-beach-boys-rift




That was the Beach Boys way back when! I can hear grandparents back then complaining about music then, and our grandparents complain about music now, and soon when we’re grandparents, we’ll be complaining about our grandkids’ music! See how that cycle works? And speaking of grandpa complaining about music, actual musicians are weighing in on this controversy, like David Crosby, for instance!

David Crosby has laid criticism on Mike Love, saying on Twitter that the Beach Boys co-founder and vocalist “most assuredly has no talent at all”.

Mike Love currently helms the touring edition of the Beach Boys – without co-founders Brian Wilson and Al Jardine – which just a few days ago (18 October) headlined a Trump fundraiser at Newport Beach, California.

A Twitter follower asked Crosby: “What do you think about the Beach Boys voting to let Mike Love use the name of the band to endorse the cult leader?” To which the Byrds co-founder replied, “Those aren’t the Beach Boys and I doubt they voted.”

“Mike Love is, in the opinion of almost every musician I know, a shithead, most assuredly has no talent at all, and, as you can probably tell… I just don’t like him,” Crosby continued.
https://guitar.com/news/music-news/david-crosby-beach-boys-mike-love/




Wrong band, man! Oh and you know how when a musician starts talking about their political opinions and then a million people jump on them and yell “STAY IN YOUR LANE!!!”. Well our good friend Jason Isbell, of his band Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, has a solution for that. And that is basically to shut the fuck up! And we support this opinion whole-heartedly! Just shut up and sing and pay the troll toll!

If Jason Isbell had five bucks for every time a troll’s tweeted at him to “shut up and sing,” he might not be able to purchase his second 1959 Les Paul but possibly a 1969 Les Paul. And definitely a ’79 Paul.

In addition to being a Grammy winning musician, one of rock’s great comeback stories and perhaps his generation’s most revered lyricist, Isbell is known for being politically outspoken.

Outspoken in interviews. And on social media. And of course, in his songwriting. “Be Afraid” a single from his latest album “Reunions,” even contains the lyric: “We don’t take requests/We won’t shut up and sing/Tell the truth enough/You find it rhymes with everything.”

Isbell, a Green Hill native and former Shoals resident, leans left politically. OK, more than leans.
https://www.al.com/life/2020/10/jason-isbell-why-not-ask-beach-boys-to-shut-up-and-sing-after-trump-support.html





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[font size="8"]California Republicans
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Sigh… this is why we don’t get nice things. As you know the governor of my home state, the great state of California, is in a war with Trump over funding for disaster relief. And then Trump did what he always does – flip flop! You don’t mess with the Newsom! Yes, that’s the title of this week’s edition and it was the best I could come up with at the time. But that’s not what this entry is about. The republicans of California are pure fucking evil. I mean come on, we’re the state that gave the country Devin Nunes of all people. This week the California conservatives have been caught trying to rig the election and they’re failing miserably at it.

California officials lowered the temperature Friday in their legal standoff with the California Republican Party over its unauthorized ballot boxes, saying the party had committed to enough changes for now to satisfy their concerns.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a Democrat, said the state GOP had agreed to “no longer deploy these unstaffed, unsecured and unofficial ballot drop boxes.” The practice had drawn national interest as the major parties jockey for seats in California congressional battlegrounds that Democrats won in the 2018 midterms — and as Republicans continue to attack the state's election system.

In an earlier response to Padilla, the California Republican Party said it would continue to accept mail ballots at boxes but promised some safeguards: The boxes will be attended to whenever the public has access to them, and ballots will be secured and then delivered to elections officials within the required 72-hour frame, the party said. The party pledged to not represent those boxes as “official,” saying a volunteer had done so in error, while arguing that the process was legal due to a 2018 law that loosened collection requirements.

"If they want to continue ballot collection activity, that is legal in California, but they must abide by state law around the ballot collection program," Padilla said.
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/10/16/california-allows-republican-ballot-boxes-with-safeguards-1326076




Yeah where’s that lawyer when you need him? Seriously if you’re in one of the counties affected by the fake ballot boxes, you might want to register for Track My Ballot. But yeah this is a fight that started out with some intention and then just fizzled out. Make no mistake that the GOP is trying to rig the election and so far the numerous attempts they have had is almost like Natasha and Boris trying to catch Moose and Squirrel! Ha, I pulled that reference out of my hat!

In a press conference seemingly designed to deescalate a week-long legal standoff, declare victory and profoundly confuse the California press corps, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Secretary of State Alex Padilla said they would not be taking legal action against the California Republican Party for its makeshift ballot box program.

But the two Democrats insisted that the GOP had changed policy in response to their warnings — a claim the Republicans denied.

“We are not going to mother or shepherd someone through every day of activity, but what we are trying to do is make it clear what the law requires,” said Becerra, two days after he threatened the California Republican Party with criminal prosecution.

“We are prepared to enforce those requirements of the law and we wait to see what the Republican Party does. Based on what we find the evidence to be in terms of their activities, that will determine what we do.”

When reporters noted that state Republican Party officials said that, in fact, they would be continuing on with their program as planned, the attorney general said that it was “the deeds not the words that count.” He also said that his office is issuing subpoenas and would continue to monitor the program.
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/politics/ballot-box-battle-california/103-dfa267a8-c876-4187-8c9e-3a68b148e5d7




Now here’s where this fight gets weird and you knew it was going to. Of course I’ve been saying this about everything that’s been happening in this incredibly shitty and dark year that is 2020. So pretty close to where we tape the Top 10 in normal times is the town of Baldwin Park – that’s the home to Knotts Berry Farm, don’t you know? Well, a ballot box caught fire there and well, it might be arson.

“The arson of an official ballot drop box … has all the signs of an attempt to disenfranchise voters and call into question the security of our elections,” Hilda L Solis, LA county supervisor, said in a statement, adding that the county has asked the state attorney general and FBI to investigate.

The LA county registrar’s office, which oversees the elections in the state’s largest county, has not responded to questions about how many ballots were affected, but said officials had last collected ballots from the site at 10am on Saturday. The fire was reported around 8pm on Sunday, and the damaged drop box location has since remained closed.

A fire department spokeswoman said three arson investigators were dispatched to the scene, and that the fire department spent nearly two hours on site responding to the blaze.

George Silva, a local resident who saw the fire on Sunday night while on a bike ride, told the Guardian firefighters initially struggled to put out the blaze.

“I saw a lot of smoke coming out of the ballot box,” said Silva, 33, who lives nearby in Baldwin Park, a majority Latino city in south LA county. “Clearly somebody lit something and threw it in there. There’s no way this was an accident. It’s completely outrageous.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/19/la-drop-box-fire-ballots-damaged-suspected-arson-attack




Yeah so everything burns, and so do ballot boxes. This is getting seriously scary and we have 13 days until the election people! We need to get our shit together! We have Joe Biden, or the biggest asshole who’s ever called himself a leader since Adolf Hitler. The good news is that the criminals will be found and prosecuted and the FBI is on it!

"This attack on a county ballot drop box was reprehensible,'' Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said about the Sunday night fire. "Burning ballots is not just vandalism, it is an attack on our democracy and on our residents' right to vote. Whoever did this must be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Crews responded to the 4100 block of Baldwin Park Boulevard, outside the Baldwin Park Library, around 8:30 p.m. and quickly put out the fire.

Inside the box were some 200 ballots, according to the Mayor of Baldwin Park Manuel Lozano.

"What we do know is that there were 230 pieces," Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan told reporters.

County officials last picked up ballots from the drop box location on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 10:10 a.m., according to the county's registrar's office.
https://www.foxla.com/news/fbi-notified-of-arson-investigation-after-ballot-drop-box-set-on-fire-in-baldwin-park





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Black Rappers, what the hell is wrong with you? Have you been listening to Kanye again? Don’t you know that’s bad for you? Well I’m sure that you saw Ice Cube trending on Twitter last week. You know Ice Cube – friend of the show. Multi-platinum recording artist. Star of some of the best comedies and movies of the last 20 years. And now apparently he’s a MAGA for some reason. Well let’s get to the bottom of this controversy. Because last week, somehow he was outed as a MAGA, and social media just collectively lost their shit. But if you’re like Mr. Cube and you somehow see this election as a lesser of two evils, can’t you see that Biden is the lesser of two evils? I mean really?

Ice Cube, like many Americans, is looking at the upcoming presidential election as a battle of the lesser of two evils.

On Wednesday President Trump's Senior Advisor Katrina Peirson tweeted that rap legend Ice Cube is working with his administration to help develop The Platinum Plan. This proposal is a list of deliverables to the Black Community in the form of jobs, health care, and education.

Ice Cube soon put out a tweet of his own confirming that he had reached out to both the Democratic and Republican parties about discussing his Contract With Black America (CWBA). According to the 51-year-old rapper/actor/director, Democrats wanted to wait until after the election to talk about the CWBA. Trump's campaign, on the other hand, made adjustments to their plan, and is presumably using it as a method to gain the Black vote.

Many on social media were left speechless. Why would one of the most vocal Trump detractors and pioneers of gangsta rap align himself with the genre's biggest enemy?
https://www.popdust.com/is-hip-hop-conservative-2648222330.html




So that begs the question – is Ice Cube a MAGA or not? Well in addition to the Ice Cube controversy, another rapper has thrown his hat into the political ring. 50 Cent has outed himself as a MAGA because – wait for it – Trump is promising to lower his taxes! God after this election is over, I need to go take a cold shower, and bury my head in the sand until January 20th. Yes, 50 Cent is a MAGA.

An October surprise for the ages.

In a stunning announcement that surely portends something, rapper 50 Cent has endorsed President Trump for another term in office after previously criticizing him for the nation’s coronavirus failures.

The change of heart appears to have originated from 50 Cent seeing a graphic that shows Joe Biden’s tax proposal from the CNBC program “Power Lunch.”

The Biden tax plan only applies to people making more than $400,000 a year.

50 Cent immediately moves close to the top of the list of celebrities who have endorsed Donald Trump, which includes Kid Rock, Jon Voight, Roseanne Barr, Kirstie Alley, Scott Baio and several others.
https://www.nydailynews.com/snyde/ny-50-cent-endorses-president-trump-20201019-57eibalflnamraejdwdu4p6zmi-story.html




Roll credits! Now here’s where it gets weird. And you knew it was going to. Apparently Eric Trump got a hold of a picture that shows Ice Cube and 50 Cent together to apparently prove some bizarre theory that the two know each other, naturally they must be MAGA BFFs right? I mean seriously that’s the kind of shit third world dictators do to prove that people like them, when secretly we despise their guts!

Eric Trump on Tuesday shared a manipulated photo on Twitter of rappers Ice Cube and 50 Cent wearing “Trump” hats after both made headlines over endorsing or appearing to work with his father, President Trump.

The doctored photo, which has since been taken down, featured Ice Cube and 50 Cent sitting together, both wearing hats that say “Trump 2020.”

“Two great, courageous Americans,” Eric Trump tweeted along with the image.

Ice Cube tweeted the original photo in July as part of a birthday message to 50 Cent. In the original, both rappers are wearing baseball caps with sports logos. Ice Cube’s hat says “Big 3,” and 50 Cent's has a New York Yankees logo.

Ice Cube gained attention last week after Trump campaign adviser Katrina Pierson said he was working with the administration on its platform for African Americans.
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/521898-eric-trump-shares-manipulated-photo-of-ice-cube-and-50-cent-in




But wait! There’s more! Here’s where it gets even weirder! The idiot Trump brothers are attempting to race bait Joe Biden and it’s backfiring on them! This is one of the strangest stories in the hip hop world since the Bernie Sanders / Public Enemy debacle back in March (see: Top 10 #8-9 ). Bottom line is that you don’t mix politics and hip-hop, and we’re saying this since we know Ice Cube wrote a song about Trump called “Arrest The President”!

Rapper Ice Cube responded to a tweet from President Donald Trump's son Eric Trump on Tuesday morning, after Trump praised him and rapper 50 Cent for "supporting" Trump's re-election campaign.

Trump shared a doctored photo of the two rappers sitting side by side, both wearing "Trump 2020" hats. The president's son called them, "Two great, courageous Americans," but Ice Cube was seemingly not pleased by the manipulated image.

"N***a please," the former N.W.A. member wrote in a quote tweet.

Eric Trump has since deleted the tweet, but it was shared in a screenshot by Buzzfeed media editor Craig Silverman. He also included a tweet from Ice Cube that included the unedited photograph of 50 Cent and Ice Cube wearing a Yankee hat and Big 3 hat, respectively.
https://www.newsweek.com/ice-cube-slaps-down-eric-trump-after-his-tweet-praising-rapper-50-cent-1540664





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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Hydroxychloroquine II
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!



Science is desperate to find a cure for the novel coronavirus that showed up back in March and has wrecked our lives and ruined this year. But so far many attempts have been tried and almost none have succeeded. In fact since President Trump came into contact with COVID-19, his methods of treatment have been questionable at best. Most notably in the spotlight is hydroxcholorquine, a drug that is commonly used to treat lyme disease. It has been adopted by the anti-mask movement as a symbol that COVID can be cured. But can it really? In fact new studies have proven just the opposite and that a lot of the “proven cures” for COVID are nothing more than bogus snake oil. Here’s what the FDA is finding out lately.

An international group of researchers believe there is enough evidence that anti-malarial drugs could be repurposed to treat COVID-19 and that they should be assessed for efficacy in clinical trials. The review article, published online in Trends in Parasitology, outlines the evidence for the antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties of certain anti-malarial drugs that could play a role in tackling COVID-19.

The research group, from institutions across Europe, Asia and Africa, point to a combination of the drugs artesunate and pyronaridine as the most promising.

Both drugs have demonstrated antiviral effects on the SARS-CoV-2 virus in human lung cells in laboratory studies and pyronaridine is more potent than hydroxychloroquine in these tests. Artesunate also has anti-inflammatory effects and could work in a similar way to dexamethasone, which has been shown to improve survival in hospitalized COVID-19 patients receiving oxygen. And artesunate use doesn't incur the same risk of adverse effects as dexamethasone.

These drugs are both inexpensive and have a well-known safety profile, meaning they could be trialed in symptomatic patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis with minimal risk. They could also easily be manufactured at scale.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-10-anti-malarial-therapies-hydroxychloroquine-covid-.html




Except that Panda Virus isn’t really a thing. At least we’re hoping that’s not a thing. So hydroxycholorquine is proving to be nothing more than a bunch of snake oil. Now that said, the anti-maskers are making a claim that Uganda has a low case count because they’ve embraced hyrdoxycholorquine in the EasternAfrican country. That’s simply not the case. That is shocking, we know. But we live in a world where facts are irrelevant!

Hydroxychloroquine has been touted by some — including President Donald Trump — as a treatment for COVID-19. But studies have found it is not an effective treatment and may cause serious side effects for some patients, as we’ve reported.

False claims about the drug nevertheless continue to circulate on social media. An article shared on Facebook from the website palmerfoundation.com.au is headlined, “Hydroxychloroquine is why Uganda, with a population of 43M, has only 15 COVID-19 deaths.”

“Uganda, a country in east-central Africa, has a 2018 population of 42.729 million, which is 13% of the United States’ population of 328.239 million in 2019,” the article says. “And yet Uganda has 1,603 COVID-19 cases and just 15 deaths (h/t Rush Limbaugh), whereas the U.S. has 5,656,744 COVID-19 cases and 175,105.”

The article continues, “This is why: Uganda is afflicted with malaria, a disease caused by parasites that enter the body through the bite of a mosquito. Malaria is common in Africa. In 2012, Uganda had the 6th highest annual deaths from malaria in Africa. Hydroxychloroquine is a drug used to treat or prevent malaria.”
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/10/ugandas-low-covid-19-cases-due-to-restrictions-not-hydroxychloroquine/




So hydroxychloroquine Is a no. But what about the president’s other drug of choice, Remdesivir? That on the other hand has been proven to work. If you listen to actual scientists instead of your creepy racist uncle on Facebook, then you know that Remdesivir is a drug that is worth exploring further. But don’t buy into the conspiracy theories surrounding hydroxychloroquine on Facebook, because those simply aren’t true.

WHO today accepted the recommendation from the Solidarity Trial’s International Steering Committee to discontinue the trial’s hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir arms. The Solidarity Trial was established by WHO to find an effective COVID-19 treatment for hospitalized patients.

The International Steering Committee formulated the recommendation in light of the evidence for hydroxychloroquine vs standard-of-care and for lopinavir/ritonavir vs standard-of-care from the Solidarity trial interim results, and from a review of the evidence from all trials presented at the 1-2 July WHO Summit on COVID-19 research and innovation.

These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect.

For each of the drugs, the interim results do not provide solid evidence of increased mortality. There were, however, some associated safety signals in the clinical laboratory findings of the add-on Discovery trial, a participant in the Solidarity trial. These will also be reported in the peer-reviewed publication.
https://www.who.int/news/item/04-07-2020-who-discontinues-hydroxychloroquine-and-lopinavir-ritonavir-treatment-arms-for-covid-19




So the next time anyone you know starts spouting conspiracy theories based on hydroxycholorquine on Facebook, you might just want to know that it’s a steaming load of bullshit. Also keep in mind that politicians and senators who are praising the drug have absolutely no idea what they are talking about, and that we need a president who listens to science, not quacks. Unfortunately right now we have a president who listens to quacks and we won’t get any real answers anytime soon.

When the president’s doctors described the range of treatment Trump received to deal with the virus, however, hydroxychloroquine was not mentioned.

Dr. Sean P. Conley, the president’s physician, said that Trump was given an infusion of an experimental antibody treatment, which involved a five-day course of antiviral drug remdesivir. He also was given zinc, vitamin D, melatonin, aspirin and the heavy-duty steroid dexamethasone. But not hydroxychloroquine.

As Kellie Owens, a health researcher at Data & Society, pointed out, “To be clear, because hydroxychloroquine got so much attention from the president, and was subsequently studied so heavily, it’s probably one of the things in the pandemic where the science is the most settled. The most recent meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that I’ve seen showed no benefit to hydroxychloroquine, and suggests potential increases in mortality.”

That hasn’t stopped Biggs, however, whose personal and political success is not based on the study of “meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials” but on once having been handed a sweepstakes-winning $10 million check by Ed McMahon and Dick Clark.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2020/10/16/trump-covid-treatment-exposes-hydroxychloroquine-kooks-like-andy-biggs/3674420001/




That’s it this week for Top 10 Investigates! Good day!




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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 virtual congregation! You know the world is very weird and a very dark place right now. And it doesn’t get much darker than the Vatican. Now we’ve been avoiding this topic as much as we can because it’s our policy not to make fun of extremely dark situations. So this week, I am instead going to marvel at the utter insanity that is the Holy Catholic Church. Because as the Dude himself said, this aggression will not stand, man! I mean this situation is so utterly horrifying, but hey what happens at the Vatican stays at the Vatican, am I right? Well, Holy Mother Church has a much different talking point than what we’re used to on this subject.

Two priests are going on trial before the Vatican’s criminal tribunal this week, one accused of sexually abusing an altar boy who served at papal Masses and the other accused of covering it up.

The trial, confirmed Monday by the Holy See’s press office, marks the first known time that the Vatican has criminally prosecuted a case of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred within its walls.

The proceedings, which begin Thursday, were forced on the Holy See after victims and a whistleblower went public in 2017. Their stories undermined Pope Francis’ pledges of “zero tolerance” for abuse because the alleged crimes occurred in his own backyard and had gone unpunished for years.

The case concerns the closed world of the St. Pius X youth seminary, a palazzo inside the Vatican walls just across the street from where Francis lives. The seminary serves as a residence for about a dozen boys, aged 12 to 18, who serve as altar boys at papal Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-10-13/vatican-priests-trial-abuse-coverup




Now seriously, why the fuck would any parent allow their boys to participate in the Catholic Church these days knowing what everybody knows about this religion? I mean this is so fucked up that there’s no way you could possibly make fun of it, so we won’t try. Really if the Catholics want to earn respect I think they need to clean up their organization and this is going to be a start at least!

Two Catholic priests went on trial in the Vatican, in what is the first lawsuit for an alleged case of sexual abuse in the city-state.

Gabriele Martinelli, 28, is accused of raping an altar boy between 2007 and 2012.

Enrico Radice, 72, is accused of covering up the alleged crime while he was rector of the school of theology where sexual abuse is said to have occurred.

Neither of them took a stand on the charges.

Although many priests have faced abuse allegations around the world, the Vatican has so far never held a judgment on suspected sexual abuse within its own walls.

The trial, which began with a brief hearing on Wednesday (10/14), has high symbolic value, as the Vatican is home to the spiritual leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, such as Pope Francis.
https://alkhaleejtoday.co/international/5104764/The-two-priests-accused-in-the-first-sexual-abuse-trial-in.html




Yeah but definitely not this! I mean I really might have to go take a cold shower after this because it’s insane. But how does the church keep getting away with this? It’s because they don’t care, the Vatican controls the laws for the priests to follow, they can keep pushing back the actual trials as long as they want to! I’m not a lawyer but I’m pretty sure that’s not how the law works! Oh wait, they want GAWD’s law! Because GAWD and JAYSUS rule all!

TWO priests are going on trial at the Vatican on Thursday in the first criminal prosecutions related to paedophilia to take place in the city state itself.

One is accused of sexually abusing an altar boy in St Peter’s Basilica and the other of covering up the incident.

The accusations against alleged abuser Gabriele Martinelli and Enrico Radice, then rector of the St Pius X youth seminary, have been dismissed as “mud” and “calumny” by the order that runs it, Opera Don Folchi.

The trial comes as Pope Francis publicly met Australian Cardinal George Pell for the first time following his acquittal on sex abuse charges that lie at the heart of an international financial scandal. The Holy See released video footage of their meeting.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/first-vatican-paedophile-trial-beginning-pell-meets-pope




Something tells me I don’t want to see video of that meeting, but I am sure that it went like that! But you might think these are the only trials involving priests. Oh no my fair congregation! This isn’t a comedy this is a horror movie! I mean even Kevin Smith couldn’t come up with something as creepy and weird as the modern day Catholic Church. Like I said I might need to go take a cold shower after this one because this was pretty disturbing, my friends!

The sexual abuse trial of Piero Alfio Capuana, the lay leader of the 5,000-member Catholic Culture and Environment Association, began in this small Sicilian city on Sept. 15, three years after the abuse allegedly took place.

Capuana, 75, known as "the Archangel" by acolytes, is accused of delegating his associates to select and organize his targets, some as young as 11 years old. The accusers told Religion News Service that they would be called to a back room at the Cenacle, as the association's headquarters is known, after ceremonies in which Capuana would purportedly speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit. Behind closed doors, the young girls said, they would be instructed to bathe him and perform sexual acts.

Three of his closest associates, known as the "12 Disciples," are also charged, accused of organizing and facilitating the abuse.

Even after accusations that their leader was sexually abusing girls first emerged, few members believed them. When parents watched Capuana kiss their underage daughters on the lips or request solo dances with them, most were not concerned.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/trial-catholic-lay-leader-highlights-gaps-churchs-sex-abuse-oversight




Holy shit indeed! Whew, this one got dark! My producer is getting fired tomorrow and we’re never touching this subject again! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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This week’s This Fucking Guy is actually a twofer – Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. While their father, the 45th president of the United States, and is somehow still inexplicably holding onto the job, Donald J. Trump, is trying to throw shade at Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, let’s not forget these two exist! Let’s first not forget that these are what one might call “children of privilege” in that they’ve grown up around obscene wealth and their father is also president! Man I bet that makes for some awkward Thanksgivings and Christmases, doesn’t it? Well let’s look at where the two are headed for the rest of the campaign trail! Trump Jr and his crazy girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle are headed to Woodstock because reasons.

Donald Trump Jr., son of President Donald Trump, and Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle visited Woodstock last week to speak at a Trump rally at Bull Valley Golf Club.

The event took place Oct. 13 and featured an indoor meet-and-greet fundraiser with Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr., followed by an outdoor rally that ran from 5 p.m. until about 7:30 p.m.

Event host Gary Rabine said he was able to draw the big names using his connections within a few Republican organizations to convince the Trump campaign that it would be worth their while.

"I can basically tap into friends to say, 'Hey friend such-and-such, can we get Don Jr. or Don Sr. to town, to Woodstock, so that we can show that you care about this part of the country,'" he said.

Rabine is the CEO and founder of Rabine Group, a Schaumburg-based construction engineering company. He also is part owner of the Bull Valley Golf Club, where the event was held, according to reporting by the Northwest Herald. Rabine is on the executive committee for the Republican Governors Association and is the founder of the Job Creators Network.
https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20201020/donald-trump-jr-kimberly-guilfoyle-visit-woodstock-for-trump-rally




Yeah that’s what happens when you don’t get the rights to your songs or character! But that said the Trump clan is full of some absolutely shady characters. What is Trump Jr campaigning about? Well he claims that his campaign And here’s the thing Don Jr. – Big Tech is not out to get conservatives, that’s a steaming load of bullshit. They are however, out to get assholes. Being conservative and being an asshole tend to go hand in hand!

Republicans have long claimed that social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter “censor” conservative voices, going so far as to hold entire congressional hearings re: this alleged prejudice. “I’ll just cut to the chase, Big Tech is out to get conservatives,” Representative Jim Jordan declared in July. “That’s not a hunch. That’s not a suspicion. That’s a fact.” In reality, right-wing accounts have been suspended from time to time for doing things like proposing that people purposely infect themselves with COVID-19 or suggesting that a Democrat be tried and hanged for treason. (Some left-wing accounts have also been temporarily banned.) In the saddest cases, conservatives have insisted that the proof tech sites are throttling them lies in the paltry number of likes and retweets their posts have received, refusing to consider the possibility that said posts were simply bad, unfunny, or stupid. Speaking of which!

Yes, that’s a real clip of Donald Trump Jr. lying in bed with his head in such a position that his neck is completely obscured, nursing what appears to be a serious sunburn, and claiming that Instagram has been purposely hiding his posts from his legions of followers. “Hey guys, hope you’re doing well,” the president’s eldest son says, again, from his bed. “Just watching my algorithms getting crushed. I guess I did something to piss off the Instagram gods, so hopefully you’re seeing this stuff anyway. We’ll do what we can. Talk to you soon.”

From the outside, it’s extremely difficult to understand why Donny boy posted this clip, the only logical explanation being that he thinks he looks good. Or that he can’t conceive of any reason why the video wouldn’t garner a sufficient number of likes other than Big Tech being out to get him because they’re afraid of the truth. While Twitter temporarily prevented users from sharing a supremely shady article about Hunter Biden’s hard drive last week, a decision the company eventually reversed, it’s not clear that’s the reason Don Jr. isn’t setting records for view counts.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/10/donald-trump-jr-bed-video




Yeah cue the Sad Hulk Music for that one! So while Donny Jr is sitting in bed wallowing in his sorrows about how social media websites are big meanie heads and won’t let him say the racist and sexist drivel conservatives are known for, his brother Eric Trump is proving to be just as big of a moron as he is! Yes, Eric is accusing Joe Biden of squatting! Yes, Eric thinks Joe Biden lives in a house he doesn’t own!

Since before the 2016 election, critics have asked to see President Donald Trump's tax returns to no avail. Several weeks ago, the New York Times reported Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, heightening critics' suspicions about Trump's finances and financial dealings. Now, Eric Trump is using an aerial photo of Democratic nominee Joe Biden's former home to raise questions about Biden's finances.

“The salary of a U.S. Senator is $174,000 per year. This is Joe Biden’s house.... seems legit,” Eric Trump shared on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Oct. 17.

However, Eric Trump's claim is false: Biden no longer owns that home and Biden has not made a senator's salary in more than a decade.

The pictured home is a 5-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house at 6 Montchan Drive in Wilmington, Del. Redfin estimates the 10,012-ft home is worth $1,643,478.

Biden bought the former Dupont mansion for $185,000 in the mid-1970s after learning it was set for demolition. The home was abandoned and needed repairs. The Wall Street Journal described the DuPont purchase as one of Biden’s many strained financial ventures.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/10/19/fact-check-biden-no-longer-owns-house-eric-trump-highlighted-online/3703380001/




And by the way in case you’re wondering if they couldn’t possibly be any dumber, just look at where Eric Trump was planning on having a campaign stop. Remember last week when those scary looking white guys attempted to kidnap Governor Whitman? Well one of Eric Trump’s stops apparently included stopping at the gun shop where the men were known to congregate! Yeah even the best comedy writers in the world couldn’t come up with this shit!

The son of President Donald Trump will not appear at a Michigan gun store on Tuesday for a campaign event after the store announced it briefly employed one of the men accused of plotting to kidnap and possibly kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The store, Huron Valley Guns in Hudson, was set to host Eric Trump for a "Make America Great Again" event Tuesday morning. But on Monday afternoon, the store — which in addition to selling firearms offers a shooting range, barbershop and restaurant — announced the venue change in a Facebook post.

The post did not name which of the 13 men arrested worked at the store. It noted the man was fired after only a few weeks, speculated as to how the governor and others would react to the news and said it was important this information was released before the event occurred because "we would not want anything to hurt the chances of President Trump."

"In February 2020 we had a young man that worked on the range who would show up for work in a LOT of tactical gear. We found that a little odd. We weren't comfortable with him for a few other reasons and fired him after 3 weeks. He ended up being one of the fringe characters arrested for the Governor Whitmer kidnapping," the post states.

"A lot of us here at HVG are pro, current or ex-police. We are all Pro USA and are very patriotic. While all of you know who we are and what we're about...a lot of people dont (sic). The Governor would have had a field day against the Trump campaign. They would accuse the administration of sending his son to a facility where terrorists work and train. This could not be further from the truth, but imagine the left spin."
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/12/eric-trump-michigan-new-hudson-gretchen-whitmer/5970258002/




So feeling sorry for themselves because they can’t be assholes on social media and campaigning at gun shops where violent government overthrows were being planned. That’s the sons of the president – Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump – this week’s:




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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Yes folks it’s a new edition of Conspiracy Corner! When there’s things in the news that can’t be explained, we naturally turn to conspiracy theories. And they’re just getting weirder and nuttier by the day! We are of course coming to you live from a remote location deep in the alakali flats of the New Mexico badlands – you know the same place where Walter White ran a meth lab out of the back of an RV. Just allow me to adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference… and you know what there we go! So this week, it’s been announced that Facebook – purveyors of getting your creepy uncle’s racist rants out there since 2005, is banning that Trump-loving social movement known as Q Anon, though Q Anon is really just a creepy cult!

Facebook said Tuesday that it is banning all QAnon accounts from its platforms, a significant escalation over its previous actions and one of the broadest rules the social media giant has put in place in its history.

Facebook said the change is an update on the policy it created in August that initially only removed accounts related to the QAnon conspiracy theory that discussed violence, which resulted in the termination of 1,500 pages, groups and profiles.

A company spokesperson said the enforcement, which started Tuesday, will “bring to parity what we’ve been doing on other pieces of policy with regard to militarized social movements,” such as militia and terror groups that repeatedly call for violence.

“Starting today, we will remove Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts for representing QAnon. We’re starting to enforce this updated policy today and are removing content accordingly, but this work will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks,” Facebook wrote in a press release. “Our Dangerous Organizations Operations team will continue to enforce this policy and proactively detect content for removal instead of relying on user reports.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-bans-qanon-across-its-platforms-n1242339




Yes so when you surrender yourself to Q Anon, just remember that Trump is equal parts God, Rambo, John McClane, Rocky Balboa, and Dirty Harry combined. And everyone who doesn’t agree with his politics is a satanic pedophile. But why do they have to bring Satan into it? That’s a mystery! Because everyone knows even Satan wouldn’t do that sort of thing. Even crazier is that this is happening after the group known as Q formed! And now Q Anon is going international!

Facebook said Tuesday it will ban any pages, groups, and Instagram accounts representing the conspiracy theory QAnon from its platform.

The move comes three years after the far-right conspiracy theory began. During those years QAnon adherents have embraced a number of different and often contradictory theories, but the basic false beliefs underlying QAnon are claims about a cabal of politicians and A-list celebrities engaging in child sex abuse, and a "deep state" effort to undermine President Trump. Last year an FBI office warned that Q adherents are a domestic terrorism threat.

Facebook's move will be welcomed by some, but the platform has allowed the conspiracy to grow and spread for years.

There are now multiple Republicans running for Congress who have expressed support for QAnon.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/tech/facebook-qanon/index.html


But that said

Seriously a little crazy? This a screeching violin short of being full blown Norman Bates level psychotic, and in normal times we’d take people like this and lock them in insane asylums complete with straight jackets and padded walls. This is some seriously crazy shit. Conspiracy theories like Q are really nothing new, but when you consider that Trump himself is a conspiracy theorist, he is only amplifying the crazy!

Recent decisions by Facebook and YouTube to crack down on the far-right conspiracy theory movement known as QAnon will disrupt the ability of dangerous online communities to spread their radical messages, but it won’t stop them completely.

Facebook’s Oct. 6 announcement that it would take down any “accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content,” followed earlier decisions by the social media platform to downrank QAnon content in Facebook searches. YouTube followed on Oct. 15 with new rules about conspiracy videos, but it stopped short of a complete ban.

This month marks the third anniversary of the movement that started when someone known only as Q posted a series of conspiracy theories on the internet forum 4chan. Q warned of a deep state satanic ring of global elites involved in pedophilia and sex trafficking, and asserted that U.S. President Donald Trump was working on a secret plan to take them all down.
QAnon now a global phenomenon

Until this year, most people had never heard of QAnon. But over the course of 2020, the fringe movement has gained widespread traction domestically in the United States and internationally — including a number of Republican politicians who openly campaigned as Q supporters.
https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/10/facebook-and-youtubes-moves-against-qanon-are-only-a-first-step-in-the-battle-against-dangerous-conspiracy-theories/




Yes!!! This is a theory that goes all the way to the president! Of course all theories do go all the way to the president. After all this is the presidency of, by and for late night conspiracy theory talk shows. But what happens when a conspiracy goes too far? It’s like the My Chemical Romance song says “This is for the broken, the beaten and the damned.”. So if you ever wonder how groups like ISIS, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda came to be, look no further than Q Anon!

YouTube is following the lead of Twitter and Facebook, saying that it is taking more steps to limit QAnon and other baseless conspiracy theories that can lead to real-world violence.

The Google-owned video platform said Thursday it will now prohibit material targeting a person or group with conspiracy theories that have been used to justify violence.

One example would be videos that threaten or harass someone by suggesting they are complicit in a conspiracy such as QAnon, which paints President Donald Trump as a secret warrior against a supposed child-trafficking ring run by celebrities and “deep state” government officials.

Pizzagate is another internet conspiracy theory — essentially a predecessor to QAnon — that would fall in the banned category. Its promoters claimed children were being harmed at a pizza restaurant in Washington. D.C. A man who believed in the conspiracy entered the restaurant in December 2016 and fired an assault rifle. He was sentenced to prison in 2017.

YouTube is the third of the major social platforms to announce policies intended rein in QAnon, a conspiracy theory they all helped spread.

Twitter announced in July a crackdown on QAnon, though it did not ban its supporters from its platform. It did ban thousands of accounts associated with QAnon content and blocked URLs associated with it from being shared. Twitter also said that it would stop highlighting and recommending tweets associated with QAnon.
https://apnews.com/article/youtube-qanon-conspiracy-theories-ef03a889e68239de6692ce42666d97d8





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[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb! So who is dumb this week you might ask? Well I answer you good sir or madam. I want to start with this batshit story out of the Badger State – the great state of Wisconsin! We go to the town of Eau Claire for this story and it might be the single craziest People Are Dumb story that I’ve ever covered – “Mother let dog run loose in Wisconsin Walmart and performed a series of karate moves while son stripped naked, police say”. Yes that is a thing that happened! And well enough of my ramblings, I will let the story do the talking, and it’s one of the craziest ones yet!

Police got quite the kick out of a mother and son wreaking havoc inside a Wisconsin Walmart with their dog.

Officers with Eau Claire Police Department responded to reports of a theft in progress at the shopping center around 8:30 p.m. Friday, where they found 46-year-old Lisa Smith “screaming in the entryway" and chasing after her loose canine, authorities said in a statement.

Shoppers and Walmart employees told responding officers the dog, Bo, was not wearing a leash when Smith arrived and started running up to customers while his owner “erratically started pulling apart store displays and placing them in her cart.”

Smith was asked to leave the store, but continued to cause trouble in the parking lot, where she performed a series of karate moves. Bo meanwhile, attempted to escape the Walmart with a stolen treat — a box of Jiffy Cornbread Muffin mix.

Her 25-year-old son, identified by officers as Benny Vann, was also “in the store causing problems,” police said. He made his way to the back of the Walmart and stripped down, exposing himself to other customers.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-mother-son-karate-wisconsin-walmart-naked-arrested-20190413-gvvqufmw5jbqpokmxjbyxen4eu-story.html




Yeah I’m really guessing that “stripping naked in a Wal-Mart” doesn’t qualify as “great skills”, now does it? Next up – rap music! Yes, even the music industry has its’ fair share of idiots (and yes, I’m looking at you, Takeshi Six6 Nine9 or whatever your name is). But this guy might be one of the worst offenders in an industry that has spawned many! And this story is why I wanted to do a People Are Dumb segment this week. So yeah if you’re going to commit fraud against the government, maybe don’t sing about it before you commit the crime!

A rapper who bragged about defrauding the government’s unemployment program in a music video has been arrested on federal charges of carrying out the exact scheme he mentioned in his video, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Fontrell Antonio Baines, 31, who goes by the stage name “Nuke Bizzle” was arrested after applying for more than $1.2 million in jobless benefits and using stolen identities in a scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Baines, originally from Memphis Tennessee but who now resides in the Hollywood Hills in California, was allegedly exploiting the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) provision of the CARES Act which the DOJ says is designed to expand access to unemployment benefits to self-employed workers, independent contractors, and others who would not otherwise be eligible.

“Baines possessed and used debit cards pre-loaded with unemployment benefits administered by the California Employment Development Department (EDD),” the DOJ said in a statement announcing Baines’ arrest. “The debit cards were issued in the names of third-parties, including identity theft victims. The applications for these debit cards listed addresses to which Baines had access in Beverly Hills and Koreatown.”

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/rapper-bragged-defrauding-government-music-video-arrested/story?id=73678566&cid=clicksource_4380645_4_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed




Next up – dumb computers! Yes, even these machines that have so greatly enhanced (or not) our lives can also be stupid! Such is the case with the St. John’s Onion Company out of Newfoundland, Canada where their advertising for their signature product – onions – was apparently deemed too sexy by Facebook! I mean come on, anyone with a food fetish can certainly see the sex characteristics of the onion, with all its’ curves… right? I mean right???

If you look at a photo of onions, you'll most likely just see onions. But Facebook apparently sees them differently, and has told a St. John's business its onions are too risqué for advertising on the site.

Jackson McLean, a manager at Gaze Seed Company, said the business was unable to advertise its walla walla onions on Facebook after the company told them the picture on the seed's packaging went against Facebook's advertising guidelines.

"We got notified the other day that it's an 'overtly sexual image' that they had to ban from the site," McLean said Monday. "I guess something about the two round shapes there could be misconstrued as boobs or something, nude in some way."

McLean said the business pays Facebook for advertising, and was preparing to advertise the onions in the spring. When he got the response back from the site, he said all he could do was laugh.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/onions-too-sexy-for-facebook-1.5750881




Yeah maybe don’t listen to that guy! Next up – good old Florida! And where would be without the craziest state in the union? Well first off if you can afford to rent a $200,000 Porsche – good for you, you still have a job in 2020! But if you get to rent a car as luxurious as a Porsche, maybe don’t go for a joyride in it, especially when you’re the only one who rented it! Yeah that makes you easy to identify.

BIG PINE KEY, Fla. – A Florida man was cited after driving over 100mph in a 35mph zone in the Florida Keys around 11 p.m. Thursday.

Habib Palacios, 39, of Miami, was cited for improper start and speeding more than 50mph over the speed limit. He is facing thousands of dollars in fines, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Palacios told a deputy the Porsche 911 Turbo is a fast car and cannot go slow after “burning out” pulling away from a stoplight and reaching speeds over 100 mph.

The Miami native was clocked on radar at 102 mph and given a mandatory notice to appear in court.

Deputies discovered the Porsche was listed as a rental.
https://nbc-2.com/news/crime/2020/10/16/florida-man-speeds-over-100mph-in-rented-200000-car/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter




That’s true! Finally this week – once again sticking with America’s most penis-shaped state, the great state of Florida – you know that Halloween is coming up and naturally there’s going to be all sorts of stories like this! And really guys, there’s plenty of ways to kill demons but giving your kids guns probably isn’t the best way to do this. You do know that Zombieland is just a movie right?

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WESH) – A now-former Orange County deputy is accused of giving a gun to a child and telling her to shoot anyone who entered his apartment. He also allegedly performed an exorcism on a second child.

According to local NBC affiliate WESH, Christopher Dougherty was arrested on Sunday after deputies were called to an apartment on Thursday.

Deputies said the found Dougherty with a gun at the apartment and saw a young girl lying on the floor with a rifle.

“She was wearing a Kevlar helmet and bulletproof vest. She was ready to shoot anyone who entered the apartment,” a deputy wrote in the arrest report.
https://nbc-2.com/news/state/2020/10/20/florida-deputy-gives-kids-guns-to-fight-demons-he-said-were-in-home/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter




That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]Road To The White House: The Final Thought

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Welcome back to our ongoing coverage of the 2020 election to end all elections in… *cue reverb* ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!!! Ooh that was some good reverb there. This week it’s our final thoughts on what has been an absolutely insane 2020 that got completely upended by a virus that has stalled campaigning and sent Joe Biden underground while Donald Trump goes and conducts business as usual which has well, not been good for him. But let’s not forget about the incumbent president. While the primaries were insane and we finally have a real leader in Joe Biden, let’s not forget about Trump. In fact this has had one of the worst outcomes that a presidential campaign stop can have, because well, Trump has been linked to COVID. And yes as I have repeatedly stated here, if you hang with Donald Trump, you’re gonna get a virus. I’m just saying it happens!

Nine people who have contracted the coronavirus reported attending a Donald Trump rally in Bemidji, Minn., last month, state health officials said Friday, including two who were hospitalized.

One of them remains in an intensive care unit.

Doug Schultz, a Minnesota Department of Health spokesman, said in an email that the department cannot say definitively that the infections were acquired at the rally, due to widespread community transmission of the disease — “only that they attended the rally during the time when they were likely to have been exposed to the virus that made them ill (i.e. 14 days prior to illness onset).”

At least one person was likely infectious while at the rally, the department said.

Two other people who contracted the virus reported attending a protest in response to the rally.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/09/trump-minnesota-rally-coronavirus-cases-428425




Gee, who could have seen that one coming? We’re in the home stretch of the campaign and Biden is playing it safe while Trump is being completely reckless and irresponsible. But you know what? Trump is doing this for us everybody! That’s right – he’s an everyday con man and he’s keeping you in your house and making sure you have access to all the supplies you need to keep you through this pandemic! Oh and did I mention that this is all a steaming load of bullshit?

With just days to go before the election, President Trump has a lot of things on his mind. And water pressure for toilets appears to be one of them. In a lengthy digression during his rally in Carson City, Nev., on Sunday, Trump claimed that Americans have to “flush their toilet 15 times” due to restrictions on water usage.

“You know what really bothers me? When you go into a new hotel or new house, they have these faucets, and you turn them on and no water comes out,” the president said. “So you go into a hotel or you buy a house, and they have what’s called the restrictor. Right? Same thing, by the way, same thing with your dishwasher. I freed that up too. The dishwashers, they had a little problem,” the president said.

“They didn’t give enough water, like, so people would run them 10 times, (wash the dishes 10 times) so they end up using more water. And the thing’s no damn good. We freed it up. Now you can buy a dishwasher and comes out and beautiful. Go buy a dishwasher. Go buy it. Those companies. I said, ‘What’s wrong with this thing? It doesn’t clean the dishes.’ Right? The women come up to me, the women who they say don’t like me, they actually do like me a lot ... a lot. Suburban women, please vote for me. I’m saving your damn house.”

“We have a situation where we’re looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms, where you turn the faucet on in areas where there’s tremendous amounts of water, where it all flows out to sea because you could never handle it all, and you don’t get any water,” Trump said. “They take a shower and water comes dripping out, very quietly dripping out. People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once; they end up using more water. So EPA is looking very strongly at that, at my suggestion. I did this for you.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-toilet-water-pressure-story-rally-183213209.html




That’s right Trump, you’re fired! And let’s not forget that he’s such an asshole that he can’t stand even the slightest bit of negative press! That’s right, and that’s why he’s so afraid of people like Amorosa, who wrote a tell all book two years ago! But that raises another problem – he’s a delinquent when it comes to paying his bills! Not only does he stiff cities with security for his rallies, he doesn’t pay his bills!

Donald Trump’s campaign wants Omarosa Manigault Newman to pay up for penning an incriminating tell-all book about the president in 2018. But it’s the Trump campaign that hasn’t paid its bills.

The delinquent $52,000 payment — revealed in a previously unreported letter dated Oct. 14 and obtained by POLITICO — is just one example of how the Trump campaign is handling the flurry of legal actions it has taken to both protect the president and attack his enemies in the final weeks of the campaign.

In some instances, the campaign is pressing ahead. In others, it has let the cases go dormant. The through line, however, is that the campaign has started a lot of fights in court, yet is not close to resolving them with just two weeks left until Election Day.

In the action against Manigault Newman, the campaign may simply let the case dissolve. In 2018, the Trump campaign filed an arbitration case against the former West Wing aide over her book, which rocked the White House with stories of Trump using lewd, sexist and racist language. At one point, Trump’s attorneys suggested Newman pay for a nearly $1 million ad campaign “to counteract the long-term adverse effects” of her remarks.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/20/trumps-case-omarosa-problem-unpaid-legal-bills-430237




That’s right – everything burns! And Trump is burning money so fast that he can’t seem to keep a positive balance! I wanted to talk positively about how the Democrats are handling things, but I’m having way too much fun bashing Trump instead. Let’s not forget the fact that the man is fucking broke and he seems to spend money faster than he can keep it. My final thought – do you really want this man to continue running our government? Do you? @realDonaldTrump, guess what? You’re fired.

President Donald Trump’s sprawling political operation has raised well over $1 billion since he took the White House in 2017 — and set a lot of it on fire.

Trump bought a $10 million Super Bowl ad when he didn’t yet have a challenger. He tapped his political organization to cover exorbitant legal fees related to his impeachment. Aides made flashy displays of their newfound wealth — including a fleet of luxury vehicles purchased by Brad Parscale, his former campaign manager.

Meanwhile, a web of limited liability companies hid more than $310 million in spending from disclosure, records show.

Now, just two weeks out from the election, some campaign aides privately acknowledge they are facing difficult spending decisions at a time when Democratic nominee Joe Biden has flooded the airwaves with advertising. That has put Trump in the position of needing to do more of his signature rallies as a substitute during the coronavirus pandemic while relying on an unproven theory that he can turn out supporters who are infrequent voters at historic levels.

“They spent their money on unnecessary overhead, lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous activity by the campaign staff and vanity ads,” said Mike Murphy, a veteran Republican consultant who advised John McCain and Jeb Bush and is an outspoken Trump critic. “You could literally have 10 monkeys with flamethrowers go after the money, and they wouldn’t have burned through it as stupidly.”
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-virus-outbreak-joe-biden-donald-trump-impeachments-8ac355b6ebd62b19d8a44fedcbf5b128






All right folks, this is it. This is the real deal. I’ve spent 4 whole years covering the Donald J. Trump administration – from the time he wormed his way down that gold escalator to his Newport Beach COVID rally. I don’t need to tell you how high the stakes are here. I am preaching to the choir. Go out and vote. Get out the vote! We’ll be here waiting for you when you get back! We will be running a best of next week and 11/4 will go dark. We will be back in full on 11/11 with a brand new edition and I will be either in a good mood or ready to throw my TV out the window!

See you in three weeks!

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October 14, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-14: Pretty Fly For A Really White Guy Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-14: Pretty Fly For A Really White Guy Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? Seriously didn’t this last week feel like it was an entire year? I know! Can I gloat for a minute? It’s about damn time a team I root for won it all! I’m of course talking about the Los Angeles Lakers! Yes, congratulations to the Los Angeles Lakers for winning their 17th title in NBA history! Thank you canned audience! I mean seriously, ever since that horrifying helicopter crash that took the life of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, and 7 others, nothing has gone right this year. But I think last night was a turning point because the Lakers got their title and were able to dedicate it to Kobe on what has otherwise been an extremely shitty year. So yeah since February we haven’t really had much to celebrate and we’re looking at a nightmare scenario for the transition period after Trump loses to Biden and that’s going to be ugly. And yes I have watched nearly every game in the NBA bubble in Orlando because it’s a pandemic and everyone is bored as hell. But that said, congratulations again to the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers for winning it all! OK that’s enough of the intro so we have a lot of idiocy to cover in the weeks leading up to the election. But first Bill Maher is back and he has a dire warning and nightmare scenario laid out should Trump decide that he’s not going to concede to Biden:



We’re just a mere 3 weeks away from the 2020 election and it’s shaping up to be quite the shit show we all knew it would be, wouldn’t it? Taking the first slot this week is our vice president Mike Pence (1) and the debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris was quite the shit show, but we can all agree that the fly on Pence’s head was the star of the show, am I right? Even Joe Biden had some fun with the buzz in the room! Taking the second slot this week, is our current and inexplicable president, Donald J. Trump – he has not only infected the whole West Wing, but he’s very slowly losing his mind! At slot #3 is Donald Trump Supporters. Remember his infamous “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” tweet back in April? Well it inspired some real home grown terrorism, and well, this one fucked up situation! Taking the fourth slot this week is also Donald Trump (4) and this week after all the batshit crazy things he’s done, Nancy Pelosi is finally discussing the 25th Amendment! In the fifth slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and you may have noticed plexiglass barriers everywhere due to COVID-19 but what do they do and how effective are they? Taking the sixth slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and this week - are we fighting a holy war? The evangelical crowd is suggesting yes, but our resident pastor has a different theory! In the seventh slot this week is a new Beating A Dead Horse – and Saturday Night Live (7) once again attempted to cater to Trump fans by having a country music guy on – and one who’s known for partying and he has been partying hard in the middle of a pandemic! At slot #8 is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week, everyone’s favorite (?) theorists Jacob Wohl and Jack Berkman are finally throwing in the towel and turning themselves in. I can’t wait to see the future movie about them starring Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week we have a new People Are Dumb, because of course they are! Finally this week in Road To The White House – Trump is bailing on the debates and going on his virtual Deplorable Tour! Yes, he is actively losing his mind! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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We need some music for this one!



Yeah love me some Offspring! I don’t know if anyone saw the Vice Presidential debates but it was quite the shit show that everyone had expected. Kamala did great at the debate, as was expected, and Mike Pence showed himself off as Trump’s mini me. But there was an unexpected star of the show during the 2 hour shit show, and that was that a fly unexpectedly landed on Pence’s head and stayed there for a whole two minutes. And if you watched the whole thing you can see that well, even Pence himself didn’t know about it! But that’s to be expected, I mean flies are drawn to horseshit. Hey o!!! But yeah, like most things just walk it off!

Vice President Mike Pence said Monday he learned afterward from his children that a fly had landed on his head during last week’s debate against California Sen. Kamala Harris.

“They’re the ones that told me. I didn’t know he was there,” Pence told Fox News in an interview, referring to the insect that lit up Twitter in the hours after the vice presidential forum.

“They all told me, ‘Dad, you did OK,’” he said. “But they did tell me about the fly. And it was a good laugh for all of us.”

The black bug sat on Pence’s closely cropped, white hair for roughly two minutes last Wednesday as he debated racial justice and police brutality with Harris, the running mate to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The Biden-Harris campaign began selling fly swatter merchandise within minutes of the vice presidential candidates leaving the stage, and jokes about the fly have continued on social media and cable news through this week.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/12/mike-pence-fly-on-his-head-429000




Unfortunately Bart’s head wasn’t on the fly. But that said it was absolutely hilarious that this happened, but no one in the Trump administration has a sense of humor and is able to laugh about themselves, so that’s that. But that’s kind of sad when you’re such a transparent person that the fly not only outranks you in the debate but actually steals your thunder! Mike Pence is such a soulless, animatronic excuse for a human that he shows no emotion over this, nor does he have a sense of humor about it.

Ahead of Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate, the buzz was around whether Kamala Harris or Mike Pence would turn in a standout performance.

Instead, the unexpected star of the show was a fly, which landed on Pence’s head and sat there, seemingly carefree, for a full two minutes.

The unnamed fly prompted much commentary online, and the word “flies” began trending on Twitter. Some pointed out that flies, according to conventional wisdom, are drawn to feces.

It wasn’t long before the fly had its own Twitter account – Mike Pence’s Fly.

During her debate prep Harris and her team were aware of the double standard women in power are subjected to compared with men – including increased scrutiny over how women look.

But it was Pence’s appearance which drew more attention.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/07/fly-mike-pence-vice-presidential-debate-pink-eye




I think having a killer spider might make things even worse! But really no one took the liberty of naming the fly? That’s pretty lame! Seriously, even the fly has more charisma than Mike Pence does. In this otherwise extremely dark and depressing year, we need things that make us laugh. And this was definitely one of them, even both sides can agree on! If that’s pretty fly for a white guy, this is Pretty Fly For A Really White Guy!

In comparison to the disorderly spectacle that was the first presidential debate, the vice-presidential was relatively tame. As expected, Kamala Harris spoke eloquently and emphatically when asked to discuss Trump’s negligent and reckless response to the pandemic and Joe Biden’s tax plan, among other topics. On the other side of the inadequately sized plexiglass barriers sat Vice-President Mike Pence, who spent the debate dodging moderator Susan Page’s questions entirely, repeatedly interrupting Harris, and cynically posturing himself as a man who cares deeply about every American.

By the time the clock struck approximately 10:16 p.m. — a mere 14 minutes away from the debate’s conclusion — things were feeling pretty lethargic. That is, a little black object that suddenly appeared atop Pence’s Lego-helmet hair, perplexing viewers across the country. Is something wrong with my television screen? some wondered. Personally, I thought that a piece of ceiling debris had conveniently landed on Pence’s head, which I found gratifying. And then, seemingly simultaneously, we identified the puzzling mark:

But what made this guest appearance so stunning is that said fly did not immediately take flight upon realizing its landing pad was living and emitting a stream of monotonous sounds. Rather, this resolute little bug dug its toes into Pence’s helmet and hung out for a remarkably long two minutes, almost as if it were atop a bountiful feeding ground, like a deer carcass, or maybe even warm pile of garbage. (Naturally, Biden’s campaign has already seized onto this viral moment and is selling a “Truth Over Flies Fly Swatter.”)
https://www.thecut.com/2020/10/a-fly-landed-on-mike-pences-head-during-the-vp-debate.html




Yeah where’s a Venus Fly Trap when you need it? Oh and in case you’re wondering – yes the fly already has its’ own brand of merchandise! Merchandising – that’s where the real money from this administration is made! My personal favorite – even though Joe is already selling his own brand of fly swatter, there’s the Mike Pence fly bobblehead! That’s right this is a thing that exists!

The moment a fly landed on Mike Pence’s head during Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate is being immortalized with a bobblehead.

You might say the buzz hadn’t died down from the debate when the folks at the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum issued the news.

Pre-orders are available for the Mike Pence fly bobblehead, which costs $25. The bobblehead includes the fly on Pence’s head, a plexiglass-like barrier and a removable mini swatter. Shipping is expected in January.

The fly landed - and stayed – on Pence’s head for a couple of minutes as he debated Sen. Kamala Harris in Salt Lake City.

While bobbleheads gained fame for depicting moments mostly in sports, this year has expanded the reach of the Milwaukee-based hall.
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/10/mike-pence-fly-bobblehead-set-to-be-released.html





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Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Trump not only got infected with, but has been spreading the very virus that he has been calling a hoax since this February! Well we’ve been following the events of this potential walking biohazard returning to the White House, and it’s been quite the shit show that you would absolutely expect from the Trump White House. When Biden gets in, he’s going to need to do some serious fumigation to not only get COVID out, but to get the smell of stupid out of the damn room! Thank you canned audience! Man I miss having an audience. But yes, Trump is turning the White House into a biohazard. And it’s not pretty.

In the wake of his return to the White House yesterday from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for COVID-19 treatment, President Donald Trump continued to downplay the threat from the virus, with more infections reported in a growing circle of people around him and in upper military ranks.

In another development, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today released its COVID-19 vaccine standards for developers, following an earlier block by the White House due to its concerns that the guidelines would delay the arrival of the first doses until after Election Day.
Trump returns with defiant messaging

After Trump returned to the White House by helicopter last night, he climbed stairs to a balcony, took off his mask, and posed for pictures, drawing a contrast to reports yesterday of infections in White House staff, including housekeepers, and news photos of workers in personal protective equipment disinfecting the press room in the facility's West Wing. Two people with confirmed COVID-19 are now being isolated treated at the White House: Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

As Trump prepared to leave the hospital yesterday, he tweeted that Americans shouldn't fear the virus or let it dominate them. His comments, followed by his mask removal, prompted sharp blowback from public health officials, who accused the President of downplaying the virus again and pointed out that Trump received a combination of experimental and state-of-the-art treatments that most patients don't get.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/10/trump-returns-white-house-outbreak-expands-more-staff-and-military




Yes everyone, all is well!!! Actually all is not well! If you want a truly alarming statistic, there’s more cases of COVID-19 in the White House than there are in all of New Zealand! And you know what? The cases aren’t going to stop there. While the rest of us watch in horror at the shit show unfolding at the West Wing, they simply don’t seem to care and are getting back to business as usual!

Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Monday urged the White House to develop stronger health protocols after the Covid-19 infection of President Donald Trump.

Trump, who announced his diagnosis early Friday, is now being treated for Covid-19 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

“I hope the whole White House takes a different approach. I don’t think there were good precautions taken at the White House. They weren’t modeling good precautions, but equally important, they weren’t taking good precautions to protect the president, in my view,” Gottlieb said on “Squawk Box.” “They both need to model better precautions for the nation so that people see a better example being set by our leaders.”

Gottlieb, earlier on “Squawk Box,” took issue with most of the prevention strategy relying on testing for the coronavirus. Many public health experts during the pandemic have emphasized that coronavirus testing is one component of a larger mitigation strategy. They have said other protocols such as wearing face coverings, maintaining social distance and good hygiene are critical to preventing transmission, too.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/05/scott-gottlieb-hits-white-house-over-trump-coronavirus-precautions.html




Seriously dude, what COVID precautions? Anyone who’s been watching the horror show unfold the last 7 months should be aware that he clearly doesn’t give a shit and that we’re on our own. But $10 says that he doesn’t make it past election day to serve his second term. And remember what I said about New Zealand? Look at this – there’s more cases in the White House than there are in all of that country!

The coronavirus outbreak has infected "34 White House staffers and other contacts" in recent days, according to an internal government memo, an indication that the disease has spread among more people than previously known in the seat of American government.

Dated Wednesday and obtained by ABC News, the memo was distributed among senior leadership at FEMA, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security and the agency responsible for managing the continuing national response to the public health disaster.

The memo also notes that a senior adviser to the president is among those infected. Hope Hicks and Stephen Miller, both senior aides to the president, have tested positive in recent days.

The new figures underscore both the growing crisis in the White House and the lengths to which government officials have gone to block information about the outbreak's spread. ABC News had previously reported that a total of 24 White House aides and their contacts had contracted the virus. It was not clear in the FEMA memo with the larger number what “other contacts” referred to.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/34-people-connected-white-house-previously-infected-coronavirus/story?id=73487381




I don’t think it’s too early to tell sir. It’s very well way past time to tell – Trump is a walking, talking biological weapon. He’s so far infected 34 people and is on his way to infect the whole damn West Wing, and I don’t want to point fingers but someone is going to die from this. Of course it’s like playing a game of Russian Roulette and you never know who the bullet is going to hit. But as with most things, this is going to get worse before it gets better.

One of the best weapons to deploy against a killer virus is accurate information—that is, the truth. If the public is fully and well informed about the dangers and the best countermeasures, the better the chances this threat can be arrested. Donald Trump, who with his wife, Melania, has tested positive for COVID-19, recklessly chose not to adopt this fundamental strategy in the face of a pandemic that has claimed over 207,000 American lives and that has yet to be tamed. You know the list: He downplayed the coronavirus (comparing it to the flu), he pronounced it was under control (it wasn’t), he said it would miraculously disappear with warmer weather (it didn’t), he promoted unproven and crackpot remedies (bleach, light, and hydroxychloroquine), he denigrated the most basic means to stop the spread (mask-wearing), and he refused to encourage safe practices (holding rallies with thousands of unmasked supporters).

Trump has mounted a disinformation campaign since COVID-19 landed in the United States. He has undercut and contradicted the guidance provided by his own government’s public health experts. He has fueled the passions of the misguided anti-maskers and provided ammo to fools who believe the pandemic is a hoax. This week a Cornell University study that analyzed 38 million English-language articles about the coronavirus concluded that Trump was the largest driver of the “infodemic.” In other words, he is the chief spreader of the virus of disinformation. That was hardly a shocker. The Washington Post fact-checkers have chronicled over 20,000 false statements and lies from Trump since he stepped into the White House.

So now when the coronavirus hits the West Wing, infects the president, a top aide, his wife, and perhaps others and triggers yet another crisis, a crucial element will be missing: trust. Can the public believe anything Trump and his minions say about this latest development? Of course not.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/10/with-covid-hitting-the-west-wing-what-happens-when-the-president-is-a-liar/





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You know that every week in 2020 has felt like 10 years hasn’t it? So remember back in April when Trump tweeted to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!!!” when protesting the COVID lockdowns? We covered this back in Idiots #8-14, which feels like an eternity ago! Well anyways in that length of time, it seems that a group of people in the great state of Michigan have decided that they are going to well, liberate Michigan. And this is why you should never listen to a guy like Trump. Because he is a raging psychopath with serious anger issues, and you don’t want to piss a guy like that off, he will explode! And these dumbfucks who attempted to kidnap Governor Whitmer, what did they expect? Were they going to go full Bane from the Dark Knight Rises and hold their own trials? Because let’s ask Bane and Scarecrow how well that worked out.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday revealed new and sometimes shocking details of the case they have built against six men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Defense attorneys began their efforts to shoot holes in the government's story, suggesting through questions they directed at an FBI agent that some of the plotting was just talk and that there was no specific kidnapping plan, just a range of ideas being tossed around.

Five of the six defendants sat with chains around their waists and wrists, sometimes nodding to family members or friends in the courtroom in the Grand Rapids federal building, as assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler showed photos and videos and drew testimony from an FBI special agent.

The sixth federal defendant is still in Delaware, where he was arrested. All six are charged with conspiracy to kidnap and have been held in custody since their Oct. 7 arrests.

Seven other defendants face state charges brought by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, including supporting terrorism, gang membership, and possessing a firearm in commission of a felony.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/13/suspects-plot-kidnap-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-face-court/5977284002/




Seriously was this plot inspired by Bane or something? I mean you couldn’t make up something this frothing-at-the-mouth crazy! And in case you’re wondering the caliber of people that Trump has been attracting to his cause lately, well let’s take a look at a place that was going to be visited by one of Trump’s dim sons – Eric. Apparently one of the guys who worked at this gun shop was being – wait for it – a belligerent, abusive jackass!

Eric Trump canceled a visit to a gun shop in Michigan where one of the men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used to work.
Sarah Al-Arshani 2 hours ago

Eric Trump canceled a visit to a Michigan gun shop after it was discovered that one of the 13 men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used to work there.

Huron Valley Guns wrote in a Facebook post that one of the men accused in the plot worked there for three weeks in February and was fired after showing up to work wearing "a LOT of tactical gear."

"We found that a little odd. We weren't comfortable with him for a few other reasons and fired him after 3 weeks. He ended up being one of the fringe characters arrested for the Governor Whitmer kidnapping," the organization wrote.

Ed Swadish, owner of Huron Valley Guns, told The Detroit News that he couldn't reveal the name of the employee on the advice of his lawyers but said the former employee worked on the gun range.

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/eric-trump-canceled-visit-michigan-gun-man-accused-whitmer-worked-2020-10




No it really isn’t! But never mind the batshit crazy conspiracy theorists plotting to kidnap the governor and overthrow the government. That’s all crazy talk don’t you know? It’s all just a big, hearty gut laugh that we can all look back in a few years and go “See? Remember how crazy the year 2020 was?”. But that’s the play from the defense – it was all crazy talk from a bunch of crackpots. Ha ha ha ha ha, it’s all so obvious now!

There was no real plan to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but only "military wannabes" who engaged in "big talk" and played with guns in the woods, defense lawyers argued in court Tuesday.

As one defense lawyer suggested, the case appears to be one of "big talk between crackpots," or "people who talk a lot ... but are never going to do anything."

"Have you ever dealt with big talkers?" defense attorney Scott Graham asked an FBI agent on cross examination, adding: "There's kind of a military-wanna-be theme that runs between the militias."

Graham was grilling FBI special agent Richard Trask about his testimony that at least 13 militia members plotted to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home and do one of two things: either take her on a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan and leave her there, or, take her to Wisconsin and try her for treason.

Graham asked the FBI agent how the suspects planned to get Whitmer to Wisconsin.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/13/whitmer-kidnap-plot-defense-adam-fox-kaleb-franks/3639980001/




No it really isn’t at all! Now here’s where it gets weird. Because this is the Trump administration, and you knew it was going to. Apparently, Whitmer wasn’t the only governor these goons were planning to kidnap. Virginia was also on their list of states to be “liberated”. Because guess what? That’s another of the states that Trump has been targeting because of lockdown restrictions, because he’s a certifiably insane individual!

Accused conspirators charged in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also discussed "taking" Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, an FBI agent testified at a court hearing Tuesday, as federal authorities offered new details about the alleged anti-government plot.

During the hearing here in Grand Rapids to discuss the charges filed last week against members of a self-proclaimed militia accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, FBI Special Agent Richard Trask revealed that months ago, some of the suspects met in Dublin, Ohio, where Northam, also a Democrat, was discussed as a potential target.

“At this meeting, they discussed possible targets, taking a sitting governor, specifically issues with the governors of Michigan and Virginia, based upon the lockdown orders,” Trask told the court, referring to state-mandated restrictions implemented to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

No one has been charged with plotting to kidnap Northam, but, like Whitmer, Virginia’s governor was the target of intense criticism from some conservatives over the summer. President Trump has sharply criticized both governors, tweeting all-caps demands in the spring that their states be “liberated.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/ralph-northam-gretchen-witmer-kidnapping-plot/2020/10/13/26b4e31a-0d5f-11eb-b1e8-16b59b92b36d_story.html





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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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It’s no secret that Donald Trump has gone off his fucking rocker. The man is certifiably insane and he’s getting worse as each day inches closer to the election. And it’s going to be the election from hell, that you can be assured of! So impeachment didn’t work, and giving him a lame duck Congress didn’t work, so what’s behind door number 3? Why it’s the 25th amendment! Yes, that most sacred of constitutional amendments that says that the president can be removed from power if he’s proven to be abusing it, could actually be invoked! We actually saw this being put to use in season 2 of the TV show 24 when President Palmer’s ability to govern is questioned by Vice President Prescott. So how would this work in real life?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that Democrats will hold an event on Friday to discuss the 25th Amendment amid concerns over President Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis.

“Tomorrow, by the way, tomorrow, come here tomorrow. We're going to be talking about the 25th Amendment. But not to take attention away from the subject we have now,” she said in response to a question at a press conference regarding a possible coronavirus stimulus package.

When pressed for clarification as to whether Pelosi believes it is time to invoke the 25th Amendment, which delineates presidential succession, she declined to provide an explicit answer but hinted the discussion was tied to what she said was a lack of transparency from the White House over Trump’s health.

“I’m not talking about it today except to tell you, if you want to talk about that, we’ll see you tomorrow,” she said. “But you take me back to my point, Mr. President, when was the last time you had a negative test before you tested positive? Why is the White House not telling the country that important fact about how this made a hotspot of the White House?”
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/520191-pelosi-were-going-to-be-talking-about-25th-amendment




Ok, Jack, you do that! So how would invoking the 25th amendment work? There’s numerous times over the last 4 years that it could have been used. So why wait until now? Nancy Pelosi has brought about the fact that it could be used. Because right now it would take a commission to kick Trump out of the Resolute Desk, but there’s no way that committee could prove to be partisan. Well, there’s a loophole.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., unveiled a bill Oct. 9 to establish a commission that could be tasked with determining if a president is no longer fit for office.

The bill from Raskin, a former constitutional scholar, comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s Oct. 2 announcement of his positive COVID-19 test. The bill would create what would be known as the ‘‘Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of the Office” in accordance with the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.

The commission would not have the unilateral power to invoke the 25th Amendment and kick Trump or any future president out of the White House. Pelosi and Raskin insisted in a press conference that the move was unrelated to the election less than a month away.

“This is not about President Trump,” said Pelosi. “He will face the judgment of the voters. But he shows the need for us to create a process for future presidents.”
https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2020/house-democrats-new-bill-on-the-25th-amendment-explained/




And that’s a guy who you do not want to fuck with either. And speak of guys who you don’t want to fuck with, Trump is hopping mad that this is even being remotely considered. But what he doesn’t know is that in the event that he tries to fuck with the election and it’s unresolved by December 15th, Nancy Pelosi becomes president. So yeah he’s becoming his own worst enemy at this point.

When the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis was acknowledged, there was naturally a lot of interest in what would happen if he were to become so ill that he was incapacitated to do his job, even temporarily. At the time I wrote about the three incidents in which two presidents (Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush) invoked Section 3 of the 25th Amendment upon undertaking surgical procedures and made George H.W. Bush and Dick Cheney, respectively, acting presidents of the United States very briefly. This remains an option for Donald Trump if he finds that he is no longer doing as well as he currently claims.

But with the president seeming to act as his own chief physician, and conducting such odd stunts as riding in his SUV motorcade around Walter Reed Medical Center not long before he succeeded in obtaining a discharge, following a disturbingly brief hospitalization, inquiring minds are beginning to wonder about Section 4 of the 25th Amendment:

Section 4 involves involuntary measures to declare the president incapacitated. Here’s the first paragraph:

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

That possibility is beginning to circulate in part due to the president’s rather odd conduct since entering Walter Reed, and in part because of concerns about the possible psychological impact of the treatment he is continuing to receive, as former Solicitor General Neal Katyal notes:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/25th-amendment-wont-save-us-from-trump-on-covid-19-steroids.html




Seriously, where is that guy when you need him? Of course we all know what happened when we saw Mitt Romney get ostracized from Trumpland when he voted for impeachment. And if you think Trump is bad now, wait until you see him on steroids! Not of the anabolic variety but of the kind used to cure crippling lung diseases. He is frothing at the mouth batshit crazy!

President Trump announced early Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19. At 74 years old and obese, Mr. Trump is considered at higher risk for complications of the infection. On Friday evening, Mr. Trump was transferred to Walter Reed Medical Center "out of an abundance of caution," where he will continue to do his job, the White House said.

White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said Mr. Trump has mild symptoms but "remains in good spirits" and continued working throughout the day.

"Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the President will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days," McEnany said. "President Trump appreciates the outpouring of support for both he and the first lady."

Still, the news of his positive coronavirus test drove an immediate surge in Google searches for the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which lays out the succession for the executive branch should the president be incapacitated or deemed unable to carry out the duties of the presidency.

White House communications director Alyssa Farah said that despite the president's stay at Walter Reed, he has not transferred power to Vice President Mike Pence.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-covid-test-what-is-the-25th-amendment-succession-white-house/





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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Plexiglass Barriers
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!



You may have seen pieces of plastic Plexiglass pop up at various supermarkets, fast food restaurants, and just about everywhere. They have also been a hot topic of discussion during the Vice Presidential Debates. But what do these windows do? Supposedly they’re for stopping the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. However, in the health care world, there’s been a debate about whether or not these plastic barriers are actually effective or not. Can they actually stop the spread of the virus? How do they work against protecting you from the virus? And in the long run is spending all this money on a temporary solution really a good thing? These are the many questions that need to be answered while the pandemic is still going on.

Mike Pence's team agreed Tuesday night to allow the Commission on Presidential Debates to erect a plexiglass barrier near the vice president for Wednesday's debate in Salt Lake City, a Pence aide and commission member told CNN, bringing an end for now the negotiations over coronavirus safety precautions around the contest.

Pence's team made clear throughout the week that they thought putting any plexiglass barriers near the vice president was unnecessary and that they opposed such a move. Sen. Kamala Harris' team, however, wanted the plexiglass barriers, in part, because of the ongoing spread of coronavirus inside the White House and the fact that Pence attended a Rose Garden event over a week ago that may have been the genesis of the spread. Pence has since repeatedly tested negative for the virus.

"We have inquired as to the medical or scientific need for a plexiglass barrier when two times the (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) distancing guidance has been implemented," said a Pence aide. "But most importantly the Vice President is looking forward to having a conversation about the marked shift left that Joe Biden wants to take this country, so we are not going to let a barrier prevent the Vice President from making the case for four more years of Donald Trump."

Physical barriers like plexiglass are typically recommended when social distancing cannot be maintained. The candidates will be separated by 12 feet on stage. Masks are considered the best defense against both droplet and aerosolized transmission of the virus.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/plexiglass-vp-debate/index.html




Much like shooting the virus, having a small piece of plastic on your desk isn’t really going to help protect you from an airborne virus. And just like masks, plexiglass is not only the latest divide in the right wing culture wars, it’s dividing scientists as well. So the question is – do plexiglass barriers really help protect you from coronavirus? The answer is a definite… maybe.

Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that because of Pence’s proximity to the president and exposure to the virus, he should quarantine for another week. However, with Pence testing negative for the virus, his advisers say that not only will he go forward with the in-person face-off, but that any dividers are not medically necessary because the candidates will be 12 feet apart.

Plexiglass dividers are one tool to prevent transmission of the virus, but are typically used in combination with other measures, like maintaining a 6-foot social distance and requiring masks. The demand for barriers in the vice presidential debate was among a larger list of Biden campaign conditions, which included testing, face coverings and a larger distance between the candidates.

The debate over the debate is bound to have an effect beyond Wednesday, since the vice presidential debate will likely serve as a trial run for the final two match-ups between Trump and Biden in the run-up to Election Day. But even if plexiglass barriers are used in the remaining debates, their protective benefits are far from proven when it comes to the coronavirus.

Dr. Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Arizona, said it wasn’t entirely clear how effective plexiglass barriers are at preventing the transmission of Covid-19. The dividers are not “a substitute for any of the efforts we know work,” she said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/06/plexiglass-barriers-debates-426935




That’s probably the only safe way you can protect yourself from COVID. Only problem is you cannot use the bathroom, eat, or drink in one of those. In fact leading medical experts are calling the glass “minimal protection” and saying that the barriers are mainly for cosmetic purposes. The next time you see a plexiglass barrier just remember that it really isn’t doing much to protect you at all.

Nonetheless, a person familiar with the debate planning told NBC News that Harris’ campaign asked for the plexiglass to be used at the event at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The plexiglass is “minimal protection,” Schaffner said in a phone interview, adding that the barriers are mostly “cosmetic.”

However, he added that barriers are one part of a “layered approach” that includes testing and distancing of everyone on stage. Those in the debate hall are required to wear a mask and there will be no handshake or physical greeting between Pence and Harris, according to the commission. Altogether, he said, the steps have likely reduced the risk of spread occurring.

The plexiglass barriers are just one “part of the CPD’s overall approach to health and safety,” according to a fact sheet distributed by the commission.

The debate is due to take place indoors and, of course, plenty of talking is expected. That’s important because the CDC released new guidance on Monday that said the virus can spread through particles in the air between people who are further than 6 feet apart in certain environments. The CDC said the risk of that occurring increases indoors and when people are doing certain activities, including speaking.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/07/plexiglass-barriers-at-pence-harris-debate-are-a-joke-wont-stop-coronavirus-medical-experts-say.html




Unfortunately you’re not Mr. Burns, and there’s no such thing as being completely indestructible. So plexiglass shields are everywhere now based on CDC guidelines. And the truth of the matter is that they could not be helpful. Or someone could also be screwing with us. Because in a raging pandemic you can’t take too many precautions but when you do, make sure that the ones you take are going to protect you from the virus and will not hurt you.

You’ve no doubt seen the plexiglass dividers being used to protect people in different public settings.

They were even installed on the stage at the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate to shield the participants from each other.

But are they effective?

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommend the use of plexiglass and other barriers in work environments to reduce direct spread of potentially infectious droplets between people, especially in manufacturing, retail or food service settings where physical distance might not be consistent.

Even though these recommendations are in place, there is surprisingly little science that supports their use or that gives clear guidance on the best design for them.
https://www.kark.com/news/health/coronavirus/covid-19-plexiglass-how-effective-are-the-barriers/




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! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 virtual congregation! Is it safe to say that we are in the midst of a holy war? Because we are currently vying for the SOUL of this great country! And the reason I ask this is because I have been told by supporters of the unholy, ungodly Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken in my church that that is indeed the case! In fact, the Dark One is currently running a cult and it is a very dangerous and scary one at that. In fact here’s a perfect example of how one takes his indoctrination into the cult way too seriously and way too far!

Trump-loving right-wing pastor Robert Henderson streamed a video on his YouTube channel Friday night in which he declared that President Donald Trump was chosen by God and therefore “should never be criticized.”

Henderson, who claims to have secured Trump’s 2016 victory by beseeching “the courts of Heaven” and asserts that he has been called by God to serve as Trump’s spiritual running mate in 2020, warned that Christians who are criticizing Trump are bringing “a curse upon our nation.”

“I promise you there is a curse on our nation, not because the secular world speaks against President Trump, but because the Christian world does,” Henderson said. “We are violating the laws of God, and we are violating the ways of God by rising up and speaking evil against President Trump. People may not like his mannerisms, they may not like the way he does things, they may question his motives, but here’s the reality: He sits in the seat of the president of the United States of America, and because of that, he should never be reviled, he should never be spoken evil of, he should never be criticized.”

“I pray that all the negativity that has been spoken against President Trump, that it would not be held to our account,” Henderson wept, “and that the Lord would be merciful to large portions of the church that thinks that we have a right to our opinion.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/robert-henderson-says-trump-was-chosen-by-god-and-should-never-be-criticized/




Now really there was a time when someone would talk like that and they would get sent to the place with padded walls and straight jackets! These days we give them a platform and followers who latch onto their garbage! Seriously we’re less than 4 weeks away from the election that could send the Dark One packing, so that means that extreme far right Christians have upped their ante!

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, now led by Billy Graham’s right-wing-activist son Franklin Graham, has turned the October issue of its “Decision” magazine into a virtual 38-page campaign brochure for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Franklin Graham hosted a “prayer march” on the National Mall on Sept. 26, the same day a group of End Times “prophets” hosted a rally calling for national repentance and revival.

The over-the-top propagandistic tone is set on the cover, which features a heroic image of Trump and a photo of Democratic presidential Joe Biden caught with a lost puppy look on his face.

Franklin Graham introduces the issue with a column under the headline, “Blessed in the nation whose God is the Lord,” a scriptural quote used often by Christian nationalists who insist the U.S. must “return” to God. Graham describes the Trump presidency as a “wonderful season of progress for the cause of religious freedom and the moral and Biblical values we hold dear,” and he warns that if Trump loses, all that “wonderful” progress could be quickly and permanently reversed.

The magazine warns that religious freedom is on the ballot, asking, “Will Christians remain free, or will the government impose a godless, immoral social agenda upon them?”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/billy-graham-evangelistic-association-evangelizes-for-trump/




Man what book are you reading Reverend? You do *NOT* use GAWD to stump for the Dark One under any circumstances! For the good LAWRD JAYSUS is apolitical and if he were to meet the unholy one, would surely cast him into the fiery pit of HELL!!! Now here’s where they are taking the Holy War a step too far. Fake coach Dave Daubenmire is taking the battle against Hillary Clinton just a wee bit too far!

On his “Pass The Salt Live” broadcast Thursday morning, radical right-wing activist Dave Daubenmire declared that publicly executing Hillary Clinton would be “the greatest example of love.”

During the program, Daubenmire read from his recent column in which he proclaimed that “Hillary should hang from the neck until dead.”

“I do not believe that there has ever been a more corrupt American politician than Hillary Clinton,” Daubenmire said. “Her public life has been one slimy action after another. The demonic left loves her. There is no doubt in my mind that she is under control of very dark forces. Spiritual forces. Demonic forces. Gates of hell forces. Hillary Clinton is a child of the devil.”

“The greatest example of love is discipline,” he added later in the program. “The greatest example of love is to kill those traitors, so others learn never to do it.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dave-daubenmire-says-executing-hillary-clinton-would-be-the-greatest-example-of-love/




Now you’ve dang gone too far there, fake Coach! These people have a bizarre obsession with Hillary Clinton’s death, don’t they? I would hope that the Secret Service is protecting her 24/7. That said, despite all the unusually violent rhetoric coming from the Christian right during this madness, when the Civil War comes, it will be “business as usual”. But really since about March of 2020, nothing has been “business as usual”.

Right-wing pastor Rick Joyner posted a video on his Facebook page Friday in which he told viewers not to worry about the looming civil war that is supposedly coming to the United States because even though there will be violence and bloodshed, it’ll mostly be confined to the inner cities, and life will be “pretty much business as usual” for everyone else.

Joyner, who has been warning for years that the United States is heading for civil war and martial law and recently declared that God had “seeded our country” with military veterans who are experienced with urban warfare to head up “good militias,” assured his viewers that they would most likely be minimally impacted by the coming conflagration.

“Everyone, when they hear civil war, they think, ‘Oh no, every city, community, everybody’s gonna be in battles,'” Joyner said. “Think about it: Only a tiny percentage of the population of America was engaged in the first Civil War. Really it was 1 or 2 percent of the actual population of the country were engaged in battles in the Civil War. The rest of the country went on with business as usual.”

“Now, I believe this one is going to be of a different nature,” he continued. “It’s not gonna be pitched battles with armies. I believe it is going to be inner cities. I believe it’s gonna be a lot of militias engaged. I believe it’s going to be difficult, no doubt about it, but it’s going to be different. But still, in most of the country, it’s gonna be pretty much business as usual.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-joyner-assures-his-viewers-its-gonna-be-pretty-much-business-as-usual-during-the-coming-civil-war/




So never mind that, just go buy things at Bed, Bath & Beyond and go to your favorite events during a civil war. It’s just business as usual! These people are clinically insane! 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
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Saturday Night Live is finally back with their first new episodes since the pandemic began and it’s been something of a mixed bag. You had SNL At Home, which fucking blew. But now they’re back in the studio with a live audience which has been good but not great. However, their attempts to cater to the right wing after being accused of liberal bias have backfired on them spectacularly. But first off let’s have a control group here, is that host Bill Burr had what some might call a “mixed” bag of jokes, mainly because he was railing on the concept of “cancel culture”. Now this is 2020 and the Me Too movement is 3 years old, so we’re already getting sick of the cancel culture talk!

Saturday Night Live continued its strong October kickoff with Bill Burr as its host in the Oct. 10 episode. It marked Burr’s first time doing the gig, but the seasoned comedian has an extensive resume when it comes to sketches and punchy routines.

He’s sarcastic, snarky, humorous, and at times raunchy, and his work can be seen in stand-up specials as well as scripted TV series. Burr is no stranger to commanding a stage, but his SNL opener left the audience divided with some expressing their discontent and others noting some ironies.

Twitter lit up with commentary during and after his monologue.

As some viewers chuckled out loud at Burr’s monologue, others weren’t feeling his cracks about white women, “wokeness,” and oppression.

After giving his explanation of the woke movement, Burr said white women “swung their Gucci-booted feet over the fence of oppression,” and hijacked the cause. He then referred to them as his “b*tches.”

One of the other parts of Burr’s routine that some people didn’t care for was his comparison of the Black History Month to Pride Month. Unhappy with his comments, some called him and his routine “trash,” “unfunny,” “embarrassing,” and “belittling.”
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/why-some-are-angry-at-bill-burr-snl-monologue-and-why-many-fans-are-calling-it-genius.html/




Seriously did you ever stop to think that the reason why you’re getting canceled is because you’re just not funny? Although that brings up another good subject – is how do you make fun of “woke” culture? It is not something you can really make fun of because otherwise your jokes come off as cringy and embarrassing. I mean seriously it’s been 3 years since the dawn of the Me Too Movement, and you really can’t joke about it.

When Saturday Night Live has a genuine stand-up comedian as a host, it can shift the whole structure of the show, which is what happened last week, with Chris Rock, and this week, with less famous comedian Bill Burr. Combined with the season’s endless debate sketches, a longer stand-up-based monologue can reduce the amount of airtime available for actual sketches. Unlike Rock’s gig, the Burr-hosted episode seemed to take some of its cues from Burr’s stand-up material — and with so few sketches making it to air, it only takes a few with common ground to make an episode feel more thematically unified than usual.

In his monologue, Burr poked fun at notions of wokeness and allyship, making his case that white women have hijacked national conversations about equality and that a longer, warmer gay pride month has an unfair advantage over February’s Black History Month. These jokes worked well enough on their own, if not wildly inventive in their development or execution. Burr’s set ended with an abrupt “that’s my time!” without the usual big-laugh button that’s supposed to precede it.

It’s not so far removed from the type of material Rock sometimes favors: acknowledging certain social ills without necessarily giving a left-leaning audience what they think they want or expect. Burr, though, had a whole episode that felt keyed into his lightly satirical yet not fully developed point of view. Then again, maybe Burr is just compatible with SNL’s ongoing struggle to figure out new, less predictable angles on, for lack of a better word to capitalize for faux-importance, The Discourse.
https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/10/bill-burr-snl-wokeness/




See we live in a weird time in the comedy world. The pandemic has killed live audiences for the foreseeable future, and “woke culture” as it’s been called has made everything from timeless monologues to current comedians super cringe worthy. And come on if you don’t know why they’re trying to cancel John Wayne… well let’s just remember that John Wayne was a racist asshole! And if you don’t know why, you’re probably a racist asshole too.

The second episode of Saturday Night Live’s 46th season opened with a noticeably low-energy sketch skewering last week’s vice-presidential debate.

Mike Pence (Beck Bennett) gets repeatedly called out by Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) for interrupting her, although he effectively puts her on the defense by pivoting to “the two issues Americans do care about: swine flu and fracking.”

The fracking question causes Harris to flip-flop and dodge, as does a later question regarding court packing.

But this is no match for the pesky insect that stakes its claim on Pence’s snow-white dome. It turns out it’s actually Joe Biden (Jim Carrey) who, sensing Harris needs his help, teleports to the debate but gets transformed into a half Jeff Goldblum/half fly creature in the process. (For those not up on their David Cronenberg, this is a reference to the classic Goldblum – starring The Fly).
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/oct/11/saturday-night-live-jim-carrey-mike-pence-pesky-fly




And speaking of canceled, here’s the kind of jokes that they come up with in what’s been an increasingly humorless world. So since a lot of Bill Burr’s material is off limits, they joke about, among other things – pumpkin spice beer! And come on, Sam Adams is the Boston equivalent of Foster – if you are in a real Boston bar and you try to order that shit, they laugh at you! And yes, I have tried just about every beer that Sam Adams makes, including the Pumpkin Spice variety!

“Real Bostonians” agree that Sam Adams' Jack-O Pumpkin Ale is a win — at least when there’s nothing else to drink.

Canton native Bill Burr hosted “Saturday Night Live,” so of course there was a Boston-centric sketch.

The sketch included Burr in a fake commercial as a “real Bostonian” trying a new pumpkin beer, Jack-O Pumpkin Ale from Sam Adams, at the grocery store. The commercial is a parody, but the Jack-O Pumpkin Ale is real.

“This is the kind of beer somebody brings to a party at your house, and it just sits in the fridge for like eight months,” Burr says. “And then one day your buddy comes over and he’s like ‘Hey, you gotta beer?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, you know, I’ve got this pumpkin s***.’”

The sketch also includes the classic “non-beer drinker" and a guy talking about the beer’s hops.
https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/2020/10/bill-burr-stars-in-snl-fake-sam-adams-commercial-that-has-real-bostonians-try-pumpkin-beer.html





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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Hello everyone and welcome to Conspiracy Corner! When people have things that they can’t explain, they turn to conspiracies of course! And this is the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable! Of course I am coming to you live from an underground doomsday prepper shelter deep in the alkali flats of the New Mexico badlands. Undisclosed location of course. Now this week, the GOP is full of conspiracy theorists, and perhaps the two dumbest men in America – Jacob Whol and Jack Burkman, who we have covered on this program many times are finally throwing in the towel. Yes, they’ve decided to give up on their shenanigans and let the adults run things again. But they’re not going down without a fight! Just let me adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference and… there we go!

Two right-wing political operatives accused of orchestrating robocalls aimed at deterring voters in Detroit and other major cities from casting their ballots by mail were arraigned Wednesday on voter intimidation charges, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl were each charged last week with one count of intimidating voters, one count of conspiracy to commit an election law violation, one count of using a computer to commit the crime of intimidating voters and using a computer to commit the crime of conspiracy. The first two charges each carry a maximum of five years in prison and the latter two charges carry a maximum of seven years in prison.

Both men turned themselves in to Detroit law enforcement early Thursday morning, according to a news release and appeared for their court appearance virtually from the Detroit Detention Center.
"The Attorney General's office alleges that Burkman and Wohl attempted to deter electors from participating in the November election by creating and funding a robocall targeted at certain area codes, including Detroit and other major U.S. cities with significant minority populations," Nessel said in a release ahead of the court proceeding. "It's believed around 85,000 robocalls were made nationally, though an exact breakdown of the numbers of calls made to each city or state is not available."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/08/politics/jack-burkman-jacob-wohl-robocall-voter-intimidation-charges/index.html




That is a good question! Apparently the biggest kind because as we have pointed out, these guys are certifiably insane. And they are out to take down alleged democratic voter fraud… by committing real election fraud! Folks, I don’t need to tell you that voter intimidation is a crime and we are in the final hours of the election that could send Donald Trump packing. But his supporters aren’t going down without a fight. May they be regulated to the dust bin of history!

Two right-wing political operatives accused of voter intimidation in Michigan have turned themselves in to authorities in Detroit, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday.

Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl appeared virtually for arraignment on multiple felony charges in the 36th District Court in Detroit.

The Attorney General’s office alleges that Burkman and Wohl attempted to deter electors from participating in the November election by creating and funding a robocall targeted at certain area codes, including Detroit and other major U.S. cities with significant minority populations. It’s believed around 85,000 robocalls were made nationally, though an exact breakdown of the numbers of calls made to each city or state is not available.

Burkman, a 54-year-old Arlington, Virginia resident, and Wohl, a 22-year-old Los Angeles resident, are each charged with:

One count of election law – intimidating voters, a five-year felony;
One count of conspiracy to commit an election law violation, a five-year felony;
One count of using a computer to commit the crime of election law – intimidating voters, a seven-year felony; and
Using a computer to commit the crime of conspiracy, a seven-year felony.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2020/10/08/michigan-ag-burkman-wohl-turn-themselves-in-on-voter-intimidation-charges/




That is a good point sir! And yes these two if found guilty, will be going away for a long time, and they will emerge at a time when Trump is no longer president, so no pardon, fellas! And by the way that’s not the only thing these two idiots have been up to. They’ve also been scheming and attracting the attention of the FBI through their leaking of documents pertaining to conspiracy theorist #1 Roger Stone’s trial. Yes, it goes all the way to the top!!!

The FBI is investigating blundering conservative operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman for a series of possible crimes, according to a document filed by federal prosecutors.

Ironically, the document revealing the investigation was filed just days after Wohl and Burkman staged a fake FBI raid on Burkman’s home in a bid for media attention.

The FBI investigation centers on Wohl and Burkman’s February release of confidential juror questionnaires from the trial of Trump associate Roger Stone. The FBI is investigating the pair for potential witness harassment, criminal contempt, and obstruction of justice, according to the filing.

The case could mark more legal trouble for the pair, who have become notorious in the political world for their quickly foiled schemes to smear Trump opponents with bogus sexual assault allegations.

In an email to The Daily Beast, Burkman said he wasn’t aware of any FBI investigation. Wohl told The Daily Beast via a text message that he also didn’t know about the case.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sealed-docs-reveal-fbi-investigation-into-jacob-wohl-jack-burkman-over-roger-stone-trial-leaks




So voter intimidation and jury tampering… any other crimes these two Trumpiest of the Trump supporters can conjure up? How about extreme robodialing? Yes, not only are they trying to rig the election (and failing badly at it), they’re also engaging in some extreme voter fraud and misinformation regarding propositions and ballot reforms! Really, the sooner these two idiots go away and are never heard from again, the better!

Jacob Wohl, a conservative activist known for his largely bumbling attempts to stage political scandals, has been charged with running a robocalling scheme to spread false election information. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed four felony charges today against Wohl and his partner Jack Burkman. They’re accused of targeting Detroit residents with calls that discouraged voting, including false claims that mail-in ballots would let health agencies “track people for mandatory vaccines.”

Wohl and Burkman allegedly targeted voters in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois, making a total of around 85,000 calls in August. The calls claimed to come from a group called “Project 1599, a civil rights organization founded by Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl,” and they were aimed at areas with large Black populations, urging them to not “be finessed into giving your private information to the man.”

Michigan officials denounced the calls at the time, but they stopped short of confirming that they were made by Wohl and Burkman. The 2020 presidential election has been fraught with concerns about misinformation and voter suppression, especially because many voters could be mailing in their ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump, who has retweeted posts by Wohl, has repeatedly and falsely cast doubt on mail-in voting’s validity. Wohl himself was suspended from Twitter last year after announcing that he would create fake accounts to interfere with the election.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/1/21497823/jacob-wohl-jack-burkman-michigan-robocall-voter-intimidation-felony-charges





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Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. So who is dumb this week? I want to start with dumb products. And this product… may be one of the dumbest! Seriously, there’s a high tech chastity belt for men out there. Who the fuck would buy this and who the fuck would actually wear this thing? Oh and there’s no surprise that it can be hacked! I mean come on it’s one thing to get an STD. It’s another thing to get a virus on the device that’s supposed to be protecting your junk. Really I have so many questions about this thing. But if we answer all of them… fuck, I just don’t have that kind of time!

A security flaw in a hi-tech chastity belt for men made it possible for hackers to remotely lock all the devices in use simultaneously.

The internet-linked sheath has no manual override, so owners might have been faced with the prospect of having to use a grinder or bolt cutter to free themselves from its metal clamp.

The sex toy's app has been fixed by its Chinese developer after a team of UK security professionals flagged the bug.

They have also published a workaround.

This could be useful to anyone still using the old version of the app who finds themselves locked in as a result of an attacker making use of the revelation.

Any other attempt to cut through the device's plastic body poses a risk of harm.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54436575




Good pull! Next up – poop! Yes, our bathroom time is never immune from a People Are Dumb story, and we go to the state of Michigan for this one! Yes, Florida isn’t the only state where the stupid and crazy exist. Shocker – they are everywhere!!! And this disgusting story is definitely something that Trump era politics have brought on us. And well, let’s let the story do the talking.

A man pooped in an empty box, closed it, then left it on a shelf at a Van Buren Township Meijer, police said Tuesday.

The Meijer's security footage recorded the suspect pooping in the aisle and then placing the box containing feces back on the shelf. This incident took place at the Meijer store located at 9701 Belleville Rd. on Thursday around 4 p.m. The suspect also stole some items from the store.

Employees at Meijer brought the footage over to Van Buren Township Police.

Police uploaded the footage onto their Facebook page. However, Meijer officials requested the department to take any images and videos of the incident down, citing their corporate policy as a reason.

The suspect left the parking lot in a light-colored Ford Escape. Police said they have no leads on any suspects at this point.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/06/van-buren-poop-box-meijer/3637667001/https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/06/van-buren-poop-box-meijer/3637667001/




Somehow I don’t think Flushing Meadows is supposed to work that way! Next up – we of course have to go to America’s most penis-shaped state, the Sunshine State, good old Florida. Florida is always one of the craziest states in the union and for good reason. For one thing – the Good Book is not supposed to be a weapon! Unless you’re John Wick, but if that’s the case, that dude can literally use anything as a weapon. But if you’re not John Wick, don’t do it!

A man who’d just broken into his neighbor’s home because he claimed God told him to throw a Bible at a deputy who responded to the scene, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said the victim called them on Sept. 22 because he returned to his home in Summerfield after being gone for about an hour and found that his door had been kicked in.

The man’s neighbor, 39-year-old Robert Hoskins, told him, “I (expletive) up man, I was mad," records show.

Hoskins had asked the victim to borrow clothes and when the man declined, he waited until he left and kicked down the door, according to the affidavit.

Deputies said as they arrived at the scene, Hoskins approached them while only wearing underwear, yelled something along the lines of “I condemn you” and threw a Bible, hitting a deputy in the face.

After that, records show Hoskins was hit with a Taser so that he could be subdued and handcuffed.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/09/30/bible-thumping-florida-man-accused-of-throwing-holy-book-at-deputy/




Next up – we go to the Florida town of St. Petersburg! Look, I know times are tough right now because of COVID and we could all use a pick me up. But maybe don’t follow the lead of Florida Man and start passing out weed like it’s Halloween candy. Yeah really. I sure could use a hit right now and I know a lot of us could. But in some parts of the country – mainly in those run by conservative states – weed is still illegal last I checked!

A man accused of passing out marijuana over the weekend to people in downtown St. Petersburg told police he was doing it “because it was Christmas,” according to multiple reports.

Records from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office show police arrested Richard Ellis Spurrier, 67, on Saturday to face one count each of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute.

In an arrest affidavit obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, police said officers saw small pieces of marijuana hanging off one of Spurrier’s shirt sleeves when they spotted him around 11:30 p.m. near the intersection of Second Street and Central Avenue.
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When officers approached him, they noticed Spurrier carried a backpack. A search of the bag turned up 45 grams of marijuana, a prescription bottle bearing Spurrier’s name and a glass pipe and a digital scale with marijuana residue on them, WTSP reported.
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending/florida-man-accused-handing-out-marijuana-passersby-because-it-was-christmas/22VOOFIAPVFXPGLFDZ7RJMN56I/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter




Good point Homer! Finally this week is yet another Florida Man story – and this might be one of the strangest Florida Man stories yet! We go to the town of Ocala, that’s the home of John Travolta don’t you know. So here’s the thing, if you are out fishing and you find something like, I don’t know, an explosive hand grenade, do you really think your next stop should be getting some fast food? I know that I don’t!

A Florida man made an explosive discovery Saturday while magnet fishing.

While using a magnet to search water for salvage items, the fisherman pulled up a World War II hand grenade, according to police in Ocala, Florida, about 80 miles northwest of Orlando.

The fisherman threw the grenade in his trunk and drove to a Taco Bell, where he called police. The Taco Bell was evacuated, police said, but was reopened later that day.

Ocala police later verified on their Facebook page the device was a WWII hand grenade and a bomb squad had removed the device without incident.
https://ktla.com/news/florida-man-prompts-evacuation-at-taco-bell-after-bringing-grenade-he-found-while-fishing/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter




That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]Road To The White House: Trump Bails On Debate
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Welcome back to…. Cue reverb… ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!! Oh man that was some good reverb there. Last week, which seems like an eternity ago this year, we covered the first presidential debates and of course the term “shit show” doesn’t even begin to describe it. Of course we are in a raging pandemic and all rules about the way society is supposed to function are thrown out the window, and we are in an election year at that! But then again Trump is still our president, and he refuses to abide by the rules. So put those two things together and the question is asked – is there a possibility there will even be a second debate? To which I answer: “are you fucking kidding me?”.

It seemed novel when Donald Trump boycotted the final debate before the Iowa caucuses four years ago.

This time, polls and the timing of the election suggest, it looks more like a mistake.

Twenty-six days before the election, more than 6.3 million people have already voted, according to the United States Elections Project, and that number is ballooning by the day. In declaring Thursday he wouldn't do a remote debate, he's surrendering an opportunity, with an audience of tens millions, to turn around his campaign.

“I don’t see how he catches up to and passes [Joe] Biden without two more debates,” said Frank Luntz, the veteran Republican consultant and pollster. “While an online debate is clearly problematic, no debate at all is worse.”

Trump's reelection prospects are already precarious, at best. He is running behind Biden by nearly 10 percentage points nationally, and he has given up so much ground in battleground states that Biden is expanding the map into states that Trump was once expected to win comfortably, like Texas and Ohio.
https://ww w.politico.com/news/2020/10/08/trump-debate-boycott-428039




So rather than play by the rules and hold a virtual rally, Trump instead is going out on his own and holding super spreader events! So what happens if Trump decides to again bail on the second debate – it’s widely known that he’s infected with COVID and continues to infect everyone in his path, so the idea of holding an in-person debate is out of the question. But there’s no mistaking that Trump is an abusive, obnoxious jerk and would love to give Biden the virus if he could!

The fate of the final debates between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden was thrown into uncertainty Thursday as the campaigns offered dueling proposals for moving forward with a process that has been upended by the president’s coronavirus infection.

By Thursday afternoon, it was unclear when or how the next debates would proceed, or whether voters would even get to see the two men running for the White House on the same stage again before Election Day.

The whipsaw day began with an announcement from the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which said the next debate on Oct. 15 would be held virtually. The commission cited health concerns following Trump’s infection as the reason for changing the structure of the town hall-style debate.

Trump, who is eager to return to the campaign trail despite uncertainty about his health, said he wouldn’t participate if the debate wasn’t in person. Biden suggested the event be delayed a week until Oct. 22, which is when the third and final debate is already scheduled.
https://www.ocregister.com/2020/10/08/second-trump-biden-debate-to-be-virtual-due-to-trumps-covid-19/




That is true and Trump is quite the evil fucker. In fact not only does he have COVID, he’s flying out to Florida (obviously) to do another in-person campaign event. And of course his supporters don’t give a flying fuck about COVID or their own health. Dear Leader is speaking and they will avoid Satan himself to go see him! But here’s where it gets creepy and weird.

Donald Trump has claimed he is immune to coronavirus and told a rally it makes him feel ‘so powerful’ he would jump into the crowd and give supporters a ‘big fat kiss’. The US president called the pandemic a ‘lovefest’ and threw face masks into the crowd of hundreds at the Orlando Sanford International Airport, Florida, on Monday night. Trump told the predominantly mask-less audience: ‘One thing with me, the nice part: I went through it, now they say I’m immune. ‘I feel so powerful, I’ll walk into that audience. I’ll walk in there, I’ll kiss everyone in that audience. I’ll kiss the guys and the beautiful women, everyone, I’ll just give you a big fat kiss.’

Speaking at his first rally since falling ill, the 74-year-old president defended his handling of the pandemic – which has so far killed 215,000 Americans – in a bid to revive his campaign with just weeks to go until Election Day. Although he was admitted to hospital with the virus only a week ago, Trump claimed to the audience the pandemic was almost a thing of the past. He said: ‘Under my leadership, we’re delivering a safe vaccine and a rapid recovery like no one can even believe. ‘If you look at our upward path, no country in the world has recovered the way we have recovered.’

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/13/trump-tells-fans-hell-give-them-big-fat-kiss-after-covid-infection-at-packed-rally-13412428/?ito=cbshare




Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! EW! Wait a minute… EW. Why the flying fuck does he always make every thing so creepy and weird? Because he is a creepy weirdo and it’s just totally disgusting. OK now that I have got that off my chest, you know what the GOP really thinks of us and Joe Biden? Well let’s just say that they’ve gone full asshole and now all rules are off the table.

Ronna McDaniel seethed at the Commission for Presidential Debates for their decision to adopt a virtual format for their second event of the 2020 election.

The GOP chairwoman remains in quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19, which seems to have originated from the White House’s apparent super-spreader event that left President Donald Trump and many others infected. Nonetheless, McDaniel gave an interview to Fox News’ Sandra Smith on Thursday, where the focus was on Trump’s refusal to participate in a virtual debate.

McDaniel began by slamming the commission and saying it was “filled with Republicans who have been very critical of this president, and a large group of Democrats.” After that, she insinuated that the commission is in Joe Biden’s pocket, claiming “47 years of Joe Biden being in D.C. has bought him a lot of favors across the aisle.”

“I hope no future nominee of our party works with this commission,” McDaniel said. “They are a total joke and they are hurting our democracy and impacting this election.”
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/ronna-mcdaniel-blasts-debate-commissions-virtual-format-from-quarantine-after-trump-bails-theyre-a-total-joke/




[font size="8"]And Now This:

Folks last week we lost one of the greats of all time – Eddie Van Halen. And I know that live music is off the table right now so I am paying tribute to him through live music. Really anyone who knows the Sunset Strip scene has a Van Halen story or two. Me I’ve always liked his song “Right Now” from his 1991 album “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” and it’s a protest song even though it at one point was used for a Pepsi product that no longer exists. So here it is – Van Halen performing “Right Now”.



Folks, before we get out of here, a programming note. Next week is our last new regular Top 10 before the election. 10/28 will be a Viewer’s Choice All Time Best Of (with maybe a new entry or two), and 11/4 will go dark. Maybe we will do a Top 10 Mini depending on how I feel or how things are going. We will be back in full on 11/11 once the dust has been settled – and hopefully in a much better mood than we have been the last 4 years! Next week, we will have our final thoughts going into the election in “Road To The White House”.

See you next week!

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October 7, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-13: Mr. COVID Goes To Washington Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-13: Mr. COVID Goes To Washington Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? Holy fuck, what a crazy week this has been right? I was originally going to do a Wheel Of Corruption for this edition but we’ll save that for next week. OK, do we really need celebrities making collaborations with fast food companies? I know that it’s 2020 and no one can go out and perform right now because of this fucking virus, and people got to make money. So do we really need more advertising? And do we also really need more fast food? Of course this started with Travis Scott, who I like to call the Krusty The Klown of the hip-hop industry. And now there’s J. Balvin who also announced a collaboration meal with McDonalds. Do we really need this? Or is McDonalds now becoming that restaurant that names sandwiches after celebrities now? And I mean let’s face it – if anyone needs their own McDonalds meal named after them it’s Trump! Come on, think about it – next time you go to McDonalds, you can experience Trump’s slow, steady gorging process with two Big Macs and two Filet O’Fishes. I guess he doesn’t include a heaping order of fries in that meal because it might be a little too healthy! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he delves into the latest surrounding the 2020 mother of all elections to end all elections:



Well, it looks like Trump got COVID and now nobody in his direct line of sight is safe from it! Taking the number one slot this week of course is Donald Trump (1) and not only did he get the highly infectious and very contagious disease, his reckless victory parade is the stuff of legendary conservative idiocy! In the second slot this week – is Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale (2) and I originally wasn’t going to cover this story because domestic abuse is nothing to make fun of, but when Brad might be hiding some deep, dark secrets about his former boss, they need to get out there! In the third slot this week is the future Trump brownshirt army – the Proud Boys (3) and they are going all in after Trump’s debate shout out, but gay people have been taking back the name “Proud Boys”! Ha ha! Taking the number 4 slot this week is Donald Trump. A joint study by Harvard and the WHO examined some 8 million articles about COVID-19, and guess who is the key source of misinformation? Yup, him! In slot #5 this week is Top 10 Investigates, and we had this story planned for our edition a couple of weeks ago that unfortunately got axed, but we are going to talk about Charles Feeny, the billionaire who wants to die broke and penniless! In the number 6 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and we’re going to find out “does anyone really hate God?”. The Dark One’s campaign is trying to paint Joe Biden as “godless” but his faith suggests otherwise! In slot #7 this week – we add Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson to the ever-growing list of People Who Somehow Got Elected (7)! In the 8th slot this week we have a new edition of Conspiracy Corner – it hasn’t even been 24 hours and the conspiracy theorists are already speculating about how Trump got COVID! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, we have a new “I Need A Drink” (9) – and come on, racism and homophobia has no place in an MLS game, so we salute the San Diego Loyals for doing the right thing! Finally this week in “Road To The White House” – we have a complete recap of the first debate, and speculate whether or not we will have a second! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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You know I’ve been saying since the start of the Trump presidency that if you hang with Donald Trump, you’re gonna get a virus. I’m just saying it happens. He’s an overweight, dirty, lazy, unkempt slob of a man who thinks he’s got taste and class. For that he really doesn’t have any. He spends all day lying in bed and yelling at Fox News, only occasionally getting up to indulge in his favorite hobby. So it should be absolutely no surprise to anyone that he contracted COVID-19 after holding rallies that have hundreds of people in attendance. I kind of think of it like that game of chicken - where you stand in front of traffic before jumping out of the way at the last second. He tried to jump out of the way this time, but he failed big time!

President Trump, who spent the weekend in the hospital being treated for COVID-19, made a theatrical return to the White House on Monday evening, disembarking Marine One and walking the staircase to the South Portico entrance, where he turned to face the cameras, removed his mask and gave his signature two thumbs up.

Shortly before, a masked Trump had emerged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he was receiving treatment, pumping his fist and giving a thumbs up as he ignored questions from reporters.

In a video recorded at the White House that he tweeted later, the president seemed somewhat more circumspect about a virus that he has often downplayed, along with measures to halt its spread, such as wearing masks.

Trump thanked the staff of Walter Reed and said that during his three-night stay he had "learned so much about coronavirus."

"One thing that's for certain – don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it. You're going to beat it," he said. "We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines. All developed recently. And you're going to beat it."
https://www.npr.org/sections/latest-updates-trump-covid-19-results/2020/10/06/920625432/maybe-i-m-immune-trump-returns-to-white-house-removes-mask-after-covid-treatment




Seriously, this is his “Don’t cry for me Argentina” moment. Though this isn’t Evita and he isn’t Eva Paron crying for help. Instead, this is more like Mr. COVID Goes To Washington, and instead of acting presidential, Trump is just some schmuck who got the virus by doing something stupid. And in case you’re wondering, yes, the experts actually did tell him that the thing that gave him the virus was in fact a dangerous thing to do. Even worse is that he only stayed literally two days in the hospital.

President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he planned to leave the hospital that same day despite a COVID-19 infection.

“I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M.,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge.

I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”

It was not immediately clear if the president’s medical team had cleared his release.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/trump-tweet-announces-hes-checking-out-of-hospital-on-monday-dont-be-afraid-of/




Oh fuck it, just run the negative ads there, Joe! There's your first one right there! Seriously even Trump’s own sons think he’s gone too far. First the victory parade, then the shout out from the White House balcony. And let’s not ignore that the whole White House might be a biohazard – don’t worry, we’ll cover that next week – and that’s just barely scratching the surface. When Trump’s sons think he’s gone too far, he’s gone too far!

Donald Trump’s erratic and reckless behavior in the last 24 hours has opened a rift in the Trump family over how to rein in the out-of-control president, according to two Republicans briefed on the family conversations. Sources said Donald Trump Jr. is deeply upset by his father’s decision to drive around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last night with members of the Secret Service while he was infected with COVID-19. “Don Jr. thinks Trump is acting crazy,” one of the sources told me. The stunt outraged medical experts, including an attending physician at Walter Reed.

According to sources, Don Jr. has told friends that he tried lobbying Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Jared Kushner to convince the president that he needs to stop acting unstable. “Don Jr. has said he wants to stage an intervention, but Jared and Ivanka keep telling Trump how great he’s doing,” a source said. Don Jr. is said to be reluctant to confront his father alone. “Don said, ‘I’m not going to be the only one to tell him he’s acting crazy,’” the source added.

One area where the family seems united is over the president’s manic tweeting early Monday morning. After Trump sent out more than a dozen all-caps tweets, the Trump children told people they want Trump to stop. “They’re all worried. They’ve tried to get him to stop tweeting,” a source close to the family told me.

The Trump family’s private concern about Trump’s behavior could raise questions about his fitness for office. Trump has been prescribed drugs that medical experts say can seriously impair his cognitive function. Last night the New York Times reported that steroids, which Trump is reportedly taking, specifically dexamethasone, are known to “affect mood, causing euphoria or a general happiness.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/10/don-jr-thinks-trump-is-acting-crazy-presidents-covid-joyride-has-family-divided




Clean that up. And by the way yes the merchandise has already started. You can buy a Trump beats COVID commemorative coin right fucking now! For the low low price of $100! But that said, how is this going to affect his poll numbers? If anything America has had enough and it’s getting safer to say that Trump might be done.

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — President Donald Trump has joined the ranks of a handful of world leaders who contracted the coronavirus after downplaying its seriousness.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 56, tested positive for the virus March 27 after rejecting a shutdown of British businesses. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, 65, announced he had the virus July 7 after flouting social distancing requirements and shrugging off the growing number of deaths in his country. In both cases, those leaders saw a slight sympathy bump after their diagnoses.

Experts doubt whether President Trump, 74, will see a similar boost from a sympathetic American electorate. Like other populist leaders, he has publicly downplayed the severity of the pandemic and was flouting social distancing and mask requirements in the days before his diagnosis. But none of the other leaders got their diagnoses in the final four-week stretch of a general election.

Back in April, Johnson saw a six-point surge in approval between the time he was diagnosed with a serious case of COVID-19 until he was discharged from the hospital after a week of intensive treatment. In total, his approval was up more than ten points from before his illness. Johnson's personal approval hit a peak of 66% and remained relatively high for more than a month before slumping into the 30s.
https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/trump-may-not-get-a-sympathy-boost-after-covid-diagnosis-experts-say





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[font size="8"]Brad Parscale
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Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooly crap. I originally wasn’t going to cover this story but you guys bombarded me with emails and social media replys saying that I need to cover this. Because last week before Mr. COVID went to Washington, Trump’s campaign manager went absolutely batshit crazy, and it’s like peeling an onion. The more layers you peel back, the more it stinks. And the more you’re likely to cry as a result. So what happened? Now the thing is before we delve into this story, I am not making fun of the man himself or even the situation. I’m just reporting the facts with my usual brand of nonsense commentary. While COVID went to Washington, DC – Brad Parscale went to Florida for a campaign stop.

At 6 feet, 8 inches tall, campaign strategist Brad Parscale literally stood atop the political world after his boss, Donald Trump, trounced the Republican field in the 2016 Florida primary and overcame Hillary Clinton in the critical Sunshine State to claim the presidential election.

Though the digital guru hailed from Texas, he started scouting locations to live in Florida, a key swing state, just a year after Trump’s victory. Parscale zeroed in on Fort Lauderdale, said one person who has known him for years, because it was conveniently located between Miami and Trump’s palatial property at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

Plus, while it was more buttoned down than South Beach, the city offered similar sun, sand and fun — and, the person said, Parscale, 44, had a reputation for being “a wild guy, a risk taker.”

“Fort Lauderdale is known for being a place to have a good time, while still being respectable and geographically central,” said the person. “He chose Fort Lauderdale probably because it suited his lifestyle.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article246174240.html




Seriously, Bugs Bunny had the right idea! I mean come on Brad, you knew it was the wrong time to go to Florida! Even just setting foot in the Sunshine State anymore guarantees that you will succumb to the craziness! But now that I have got that out of my system, what was Brad’s motivation for doing this? I heard some say that he was suicidal and we are not touching that one with a 10 foot pole. But at least his wife is cooperating with the police!

Brad Parscale, a senior adviser to Donald Trump’s campaign who was involuntarily detained by police this weekend, said he is stepping away from the reelection effort and seeking help for what he called “overwhelming stress” on him and his family.

In a statement provided to POLITICO on Wednesday, Parscale’s wife, Candice, also denied that Parscale physically abused her, despite a police report in which said she told authorities the contrary.

“The statements I made on Sunday have been misconstrued, let it be clear my husband was not violent towards me that day or any day prior,” she said.

Parscale, 44, was demoted as campaign manager in July as the president’s poll numbers cratered. Long one of Trump's closest aides, Parscale remained on the reelection effort in a limited capacity: He made trips from his home in Florida to the campaign’s Arlington, Va., headquarters and worked on digital projects, including producing videos for the Republican National Convention.

“I am stepping away from my company and any role in the campaign for the immediate future to focus on my family and get help dealing with the overwhelming stress," Parscale said in the Wednesday statement.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/30/brad-parscale-stepping-down-trump-campaign-424069




Yeah probably! But hey Brad, here’s the thing – underwhelming stress? Look, 2020 has been a cruel mistress to us all, and we’re all dealing with it in our own ways. But here’s the real underlying trouble – remember last week when we said that Trump was broke? Well guess what? Brad Parscale might have had a hand in it! See, grifting begats grifting! And maybe that Q Anon slogan was right – where we go one, we go all!

Brad Parscale’s wife told police he’s been ‘stressed out for the past two weeks’ and suicidal.

President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager is reportedly under investigation for stealing millions from the 2020 presidential campaign and Republican National Committee.

According to a DailyMail report, Brad Parscale pocketed between $25-$40 million from Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign and $10 million from the RNC, insiders told the outlet. The news follows the release of bodycam video that shows Fort Lauderdale police detaining Parscale after his wife reported that he was threatening to commit suicide on Sunday afternoon..

theGrio previously reported, Candice Parscale told authorities that her husband had guns in the home and that he had been physically violent towards her. Parscale reportedly went willingly to a hospital with the responding officers under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows police to detain someone who’s potentially a threat to themselves or others.

Candice told police Parscale had been “stressed out for the past two weeks and has made suicidal comments throughout the week to shoot himself.”
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-ex-campaign-manager-under-010512163.html




Damn right the shit just got real! And what’s even more real is that Parscale’s family is worried that he’s going to squeal on his former boss. Here’s where the shit is going to hit the fan and why we had to cover this story. Trump’s campaign is broke and they’re spending cash faster than a drunken gambler at a bachelor party at Caesar’s Palace. And if the truth comes out, Trump is in some seriously deep shit!

Donald Trump’s campaign is still assessing the political damage from Tuesday night’s chaotic first presidential debate. The president’s refusal to condemn white supremacists, of course, is the immediate crisis. “He blew that for sure,” a campaign adviser told me. “It’s nuts,” a former West Wing official said wearily, sounding like a storm survivor with PTSD. “Total lunacy,” said another former White House staffer, who remains close to the campaign. “Trump didn’t win over any voters, and he pissed off a lot of people,” added a prominent Republican.

Trump advisers agree on what he needs to do differently at the next debate. “He has to just relax and let Joe Biden speak,” said the ex-official, who remains close to the White House. But Republicans are resigned to the fact that Trump is unlikely––or unwilling––to course-correct. “Trump thinks he won. He didn’t,” said another Republican with ties to the campaign. “But does anyone have the balls to tell him that? No. They’d be fired.”

Trump doesn’t accept the consensus that the debate was a disaster because, sources said, he was unabashedly himself. “The thing about the debate is people got to see why no one that has any integrity can work for Trump. This is what Trump is like in the Oval Office every day. It’s why [John] Kelly left. It’s why [Jim] Mattis quit,” said the prominent Republican. “Trump doesn’t let anyone else speak. He really doesn’t care what you have to say. He demeans people. He talks over them. And everyone around him thinks it’s getting worse.”

Inside Trumpworld there’s a view that the past week is an inflection point in the campaign. It started on Sunday night with the bombshell New York Times report that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. “For Trump the Times story was worse than losing reelection,” said the second Republican. “If you had told Donald back in 2015 that his tax returns would be exposed and he’d have all these investigations, I guarantee you he wouldn’t have run.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/trumpworld-panics-over-debate-fiasco-as-campaign-turmoil-mounts





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[font size="8"]The Proud Boys
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If you haven’t heard of the alt-right Fight Club known as the Proud Boys, then you definitely haven’t been to a protest lately. Because whenever the dreaded “Antifa” shows up, the Proud Boys are almost certainly going to follow, mainly to kick some ass. Even though they are the ones getting their asses kicked and then go on social media to complain about how liberals are big meanie heads. We first covered the Proud Boys starting in Idiots #2-22, way back in 2017 and they’ve been appearing in Top 10s ever since. And 2017 seems like an eternity ago doesn’t it? Well, now they’ve become self-aware, and that is fucking scary.

When hundreds of supporters of President Trump gathered for a Labor Day rally in Oregon, a man in the signature black-and-gold shirt of the Proud Boys approached the crowd with a welcoming smile.

If the Republican activists ever needed security for an event, said the man, Flip Todd, the Proud Boys were available. They had sworn loyalty to the country and the president, he said. “We’ll continue to fight for you.”

It took only a few hours to demonstrate what that might entail. As some in the rally caravanned by car to Salem, the state capital, the Proud Boys joined a group of right-wing demonstrators who rushed across a street and began attacking people who had set up a leftist counterprotest. At one point, a large man in a bulletproof vest knocked a much smaller counterprotester to the ground, an event the Proud Boys celebrated later when they posted video of the attack. “Hulk smash!” it said.

The far-right band of brothers who have turned street thuggery into political theater had not quite become a household name before President Trump was asked about the Proud Boys during Tuesday night’s presidential debate, and whether he would condemn white supremacists: “Proud Boys,” he said, “stand back and stand by.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/proud-boys-trump.html




Seriously, this isn’t Fight Club and you’re not Brad Pitt. In fact most of the “Proud Boys” look about how you would picture the exact opposite of Brad Pitt to look. Hey o! That joke would have killed in front of a live audience. And just like the previous Terminator reference, not only are the Proud Boys now-self aware because of Trump’s debate shout out, they’ve joined forces with another hate group that you’re probably familiar with – the Nazis! And you never go full Nazi, ever!

The far-right extremist group the Proud Boys publicly claim they are not white supremacists, however local members in Denver have been seen at protests with known neo-Nazis.

In 2019, 9NEWS profiled local Proud Boys in an investigation titled Homegrown Hate.

The investigation included images of local Proud Boys posing in photos with local neo-Nazis during a protest at a drag queen event at Mile High Comics.

In video images, Samuel Cordova was seen posing with Proud Boys.

Cordova pleaded guilty to a hate crime in Denver after vandalizing a local book store during a drag queen story time. At the time of his arrest, police said in their report Cordova had stickers belonging to the white supremacists group Patriot Front in his backpack.
https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/local-politics/colorado-proud-boys-remain-active/73-78490ce9-3466-4ff1-8522-e5687b1fb2c5




Seriously, where are Jake and Elwood when you need them? And by the way with Trump’s little joy ride outside the hospital this week – guess who was there with support? That’s right – Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, who we profiled on a segment of “This Fucking Guy” back in the 5th season of the Idiots (see: Idiots #5-7 ). And yes he’s every bit as batshit crazy as you might imagine!

The founder of the Proud Boys joined the vigil for Donald Trump outside Walter Reed Medical Centre this weekend after the president gave a shout-out to the far-right group during the first presidential debate.

He was spotted in the crowd, draped in what appeared to be a Trump/Pence campaign flag, outside the Maryland hospital by a CNN video producer. Mr McInnes also appeared to be holding a Budweiser beer and not wearing a mask.

Some were “chanting ‘Gavin! Gavin!’ as he arrived,” Donald Judd tweeted on Saturday afternoon.

Gavin McInnes, who co-founded Vice , established the Proud Boys in 2016 before leaving the group in 2018.

The Proud Boys has taken on "Stand Back and Stand By" as a new motto in reference to Mr Trump's response of Joe Biden's requests he denounce the group and white supremacy.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-proud-boys-alt-far-right-gavin-mcinnes-covid-hospital-b789243.html




Oh wait, that was Jingle All The Way. And by the way, we have to talk about the latest clash in Portland, because it seems that the Proud Boys are hell bent on turning the hipster capital of America into America’s Trump-loving fight club. And you know that other saying – the beatings will continue until morale improves! Yes, this group is Trump’s new BFF, and they will literally fight for him.

The Proud Boys claimed that they would bring legions of dedicated patriots to the city of Portland, Oregon, in a powerful show of strength against their anti-fascist foes, but when the moment of truth came on Saturday, the right-wing gang failed to deliver.

Despite weeks of hype and deep concerns over the possibility of severe and deadly violence, the organization, which the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as a hate group, drew a modest crowd of angry men and women, whose brief gathering mostly consisted of swilling cheap beer and hard seltzers and assaulting journalists in a park on the edge of town. The absence of large-scale violence, which has so often defined the group’s forays into Portland over the past few years, came as a relief to a city that has been blanketed in wildfire smoke in recent weeks and targeted by the Trump administration as an “anarchist jurisdiction” for its nightly protests against police brutality.

In the run-up to the rally, Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency and established a law enforcement task force led by the Oregon State Police, which reportedly deployed approximately 500 officers to police the event. At most, several hundred people turned out for the demonstration, a far cry from the 20,000 participants and observers the Proud Boys had estimated in their request for a permit — the city denied the request, citing coronavirus restrictions that cap group gatherings at 50 people.
https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/





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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Look, I know that we’re in the middle of a raging pandemic – and everyone is bored, tired, restless, isolated, angry, and pissed off. I know that I am. But before we start pointing fingers, let’s not forget the one man who is largely responsible for us getting into this mess. And that man is of course is the guy who’s in charge of the country right now – the man who we inexplicably still call president, Donald J. Trump. That’s right, you read that correctly – Trump is the sole source of misinformation on the virus known as COVID-19, responsible for one of the biggest disasters in United States history – both politically and economically. But yeah let’s blame Trump for all of this!

Is President Trump the nation’s chief disinformation officer?

Controversial posts concerning COVID-19 on Monday in which the president tells the public "Don’t let it dominate you" and "Don’t be afraid of it" and claims he may have immunity to the deadly virus have heightened public criticism of Trump for spreading dangerous falsehoods.

On Tuesday, Facebook removed a post by Trump comparing COVID-19 to the seasonal flu, while Twitter added a warning the message contained "misleading" information.

“There is no doubt that Donald Trump is the largest spreader of specific and important types of misinformation today,” said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.

In the critical last weeks of the election, social media companies are facing a tsunami of conspiracy theories, hoaxes and fake claims on everything from COVID-19 to voting. And whether during a presidential debate, in press briefings or in posts on Facebook and Twitter, much of that misinformation is being generated and amplified by Trump, two recent studies show.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/10/05/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-disinformation-facebook-twitter-election/3632194001/




Yeah probably. Especially when this is one of the most alarming things coming out of the Trump administration since his diagnosis – he’s the key spreader of misinformation about the virus! See, I’ve been saying that since the Trump administration began that when you hang with Trump, you’re going to get a virus. Now when you hang with Trump, not only do you get a virus, he’ll give you a heaping pile of bullshit to go with it!

When I asked public health experts how the United States had reached 200,000 coronavirus deaths, several of them cited the misinformation coming from the White House and President Donald Trump himself.

The president has questioned the efficacy of masks, hyped unproven treatments, and continues to promise a vaccine before experts and the drug companies themselves believe it will actually be ready. That lack of clear and accurate communication has now extended to Trump’s own Covid-19 diagnosis, with his doctors seemingly obfuscating the details of the president’s condition. They have outright acknowledged downplaying the seriousness of his symptoms, and the treatment Trump is receiving does not entirely comport with the sunny prognosis advanced by the White House.

The effect of all of these communications failures is diffuse and uncertain. But we do know this much, according to new Cornell University research: The president of the United States was the loudest megaphone for Covid-19 misinformation during the first few months of the pandemic.
https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/21497221/donald-trump-covid-19-coronavirus-news-misinformation-study




That is certainly true sir! But that’s also what happens when the President Of The United States lives in a bubble – not just because of COVID – but also constantly feeds off of his own bullshit when it comes to the news. See, the news sources that Trump says are actually news, are in actuality, fake news! It’s all so obvious now! But yeah he might be fucking with us, and if he’s going down, he’s going down swinging.

As the 2020 presidential election approaches, social networks have promised to minimize false rumors about voter fraud or “rigged” mail-in ballots, a mostly imaginary threat that discourages voting and casts doubt on the democratic process. But new research has suggested that these rumors aren’t born in the dark corners of Facebook or Twitter — and that fighting them effectively might involve going after one of social media’s most powerful users.

Last week, Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center put forward an illuminating analysis of voting misinformation. A working paper posits that social media isn’t driving most disinformation around mail-in voting. Instead, Twitter and Facebook amplify content from “political and media elites.” That includes traditional news outlets, particularly wire services like the Associated Press, but also Trump’s tweets — which the paper cites as a key disinformation source.

The center published the methodology and explanation on its site, and co-author Yochai Benkler also wrote a clear, more succinct breakdown of it at Columbia Journalism Review. The authors measured the volume of tweets, Facebook posts, and “open web” stories mentioning mail-in voting or absentee ballots alongside terms like fraud and election rigging. Then, they looked at the top-performing posts and their sources.

The authors overwhelmingly found that spikes in social media activity echoed politicians or news outlets discussing voter fraud. Some spikes involved actual (rare) cases of suspected or attempted fraud. But “the most common by far,” Benkler writes, “was a statement Donald Trump made in one of his three main channels: Twitter, press briefings, and television interviews.”
https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/5/21499009/harvard-berkman-klein-center-paper-voting-misinformation-trump-tweets-media-framing





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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: The Broke Billionaire
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 Investigates!



Billionaires. Most people either love them or hate them. Some even want to elect them president of the United States. Those people are crazy. However, this week, there’s one billionaire in particular who made headlines this week for one particular reason. He wants to die broke and penniless. Meet Charles Feeny. Feeny made his fortune as the backbone of the Duty Free shops that you see at the airport. He made billions off of his investment. Now his dying wish is to die broke and penniless. And he may just have achieved that goal.

Charles 'Chuck' Feeney, the former billionaire co-founder of airport retail giant Duty Free Shoppers, is now broke after giving away his massive fortune to charity.

The 89-year-old, who lived a frugal life, has donated more than $8 billion to charities, universities and foundations worldwide through his foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies.

Feeney had pioneered the idea of Giving While Living, the idea to spending one’s fortune on big charitable donations during one's lifetime instead of creating a foundation upon death. He was famous for his promise that he will give all his money away to charitable causes, and he fulfilled his dream this month. And he insists he couldn’t be happier.

“We learned a lot. We would do some things differently, but I am very satisfied. I feel very good about completing this on my watch,” Feeney told Forbes.

In 2012, Feeney said he set aside $2million for his and his wife’s retirement with plans to donate the rest. https://www.news18.com/news/world/the-broke-billionaire-duty-free-king-secretly-gives-away-all-of-his-fortune-to-charity-2881567.html




So why did Mr. Feeny decide to do this and why are his assets so hidden? What made him do this? Well you know the old adage about how you cannot take it with you. Mr. Feeny is a different kind of billionaire – he made his wealth through investing. And then he turned around and invested those investments into different investments. In fact, his charitable contributions earned him the nickname “the secret billionaire”.

Self-made billionaire Chuck Feeney had one main life goal: to die broke.

Feeney comes from a working-class New Jersey family. The Irish-American grandson of immigrants amassed his fortune after co-founding the duty-free shopping empire Duty Free Shoppers. Despite his riches, he doesn’t own a car, rents a small apartment, flies economy class, and owns only one pair of shoes. He even crashes in his daughter's apartment while in New York. Instead of indulging himself, Feeney set up a foundation called The Atlantic Philanthropies in secret in 1982 and transferred almost all of his wealth into it. He made countless endowments to charities and universities across the world for 38 years.

Now, at the age of 89, he has finally run out of money and achieved his goal of “striving for zero...to give it all away.” Feeney became known as the “secret billionaire” because of his penchant for discretion, even while funding massive educational, medical, and philanthropic institutions throughout the U.S. and Ireland. Forbes even stated in 2012 that Feeney was “the man who arguably has done more for Ireland than anyone since Saint Patrick.”

Although Feeney always preferred flying under the radar, he continued to keep a low profile until 2005, when the opportunity came along to do some good with publicity. His work only came to light when journalist Conor O’Cleary wrote his biography with the goal of promoting ‘giving while living’ to other wealthy people.
https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/inspiration-motivation/chunk-feeney-billionaire-donations






Yes and then light it all on fire! Mr. Feeny is not the only billionaire who is risking it all. We go to Thailand, where 41 year old billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit is risking it all because he’s fed up with the current state of the Thai monarchy. So rather than using his money for evil, people like this and Mr. Feeny are using their money for good. In fact he’s starting his own political party to help reform the monarchy.

Rising 34 stories above Bangkok’s Phetchaburi Road, the Thai Summit Tower is the headquarters of Thailand’s largest car parts manufacturer. Until recently, it was also home to an upstart political party headed by the company’s 41-year-old heir, Thanathorn. On the fifth floor, he and the fresh-faced activists of the Future Forward Party (FFP) would hold boisterous press conferences and hushed policy meetings. They gained 17 Juangroongruangkit % of the vote in last year’s general election despite being barely a year old.

That remarkable showing should have thrust 81 FFP lawmakers into Thailand’s 750-seat National Assembly. But the political establishment struck back. First, Thanathorn was banned from politics over shares he allegedly held in a media company. (Thai law says electoral candidates cannot hold such shares; Thanathorn insists they had been transferred to his mother.) Then, on Feb. 21, the party was dissolved over alleged funding irregularities. The legal action was described as “politically motivated” by Human Rights Watch. With it, the political will of 6.3 million voters was snuffed out.

Sitting down with TIME in the week before that decision, Thanathorn was sanguine. Over the past two decades, populist governments in Thailand have been removed from power twice by the military and three times by the courts. The FFP may have been a long way from Government House but the power nexus centered around the palace, the courts and the military was evidently spooked.

“The Future Forward Party is a vehicle, but even if they dissolve us, we will continue the journey,” shrugged Thanathorn at the time. “This year, I’m sure, with me leading, or otherwise, we’ll return to public demonstrations.”
https://time.com/5886694/thanathorn-juangroongruangkit-thailand-protests-monarchy-military/




But Mr. Feeny and Mr. Juangroongruangkit aren’t just giving away their fortunes for free. Instead they’re making sound and sensible investments that will help determine their country’s futures. But Mr. Feeny has a 35 year head start – and he has already accomplished his goal. At 89, he most likely doesn’t have a lot of time left on this earth, but he feels like his goal is accomplished.

Chuck Feeney will have given away the last dollar of his $9 billion fortune, $2 billion of it to Ireland. He will be delighted to kiss his last dime goodbye says Christopher Oechsli, the CEO of Feeney’s Atlantic Philanthropies.

Oechsli revealed the news when he spoke to a business podcast on RTE, Ireland’s national broadcast station.

Now living in San Francisco after globe-trotting all his adult life, Feeney created Duty-Free Shops, known as DFS, and eventually sold his shares, netting an absolute fortune.

He was loudly proclaimed as a billionaire, but little did anyone know he was secretly giving every penny away starting 35 years ago.

I’ve known him since 1987 and never knew for years what he was up to until Forbes magazine broke the story.
https://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/broke-billionaire-chuck-feeney




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! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 virtual congregation! You know we are just one month out from the election. And this election will determine the future of America. Now, do we go with the unholy, ungodly Dark One – a man so disgusting and depraved that I will never allow his name to be spoken in my church – even if we aren’t a real church right now? Or do we choose the lighter path and go with Joseph R. Biden? I know which way I would choose. But that said, the ungodly Dark One is trying to accuse Biden as being ungodly. Which makes me ask this question – does anyone really hate GAWD? Both sides make this claim, and none of it is true. No one hates GAWD. But the LAWRD welcomes all – even the haters and the losers. So why is Biden being painted as the godless one?

President Donald Trump’s right-wing backers have long joined in his attacks on media outlets that are anything short of reverential in their coverage of the president. In recent days, a couple of pro-Trump “prayer warriors” have gone a step further, denouncing the media as “demonic.”

Intercessors for America, an ardently pro-Trump prayer network that is closely allied with Paula White’s One Voice Prayer Movement, promoted an article Tuesday claiming that mainstream media and social media platforms are employing the “demonic force” of deception, promoting an agenda that “happens to line up with goals of the principality of tyranny.”

Lance Wallnau, a dominionist author who promotes Trump as God’s anointed, recently declared, “Fighting with Trump is fighting with God” and blamed demons living inside journalists for “all of the animosity, hatred, venom, and vitriol” that is stirred up against Trump.

In Tuesday’s IFA article, contributing writer Michael Guidera wrote that the media has a responsibility to report truthfully and without bias but claimed that they are no longer able to do so because they have been “corrupted” by the devil. The media, he wrote, employ a number of “deceptive techniques,” including one borrowed from the serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden: “Just a Little Poison, mix truth with a lie.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/pro-trump-prayer-warriors-declare-media-demonic/




These people really have a thing for demonic forces don’t they? And why do they refer to themselves as “prayer warriors”? Are they actually fighting a war? Maybe only in their warped and twisted minds. But I’m not really sure they know what the word “tyranny” means. In fact the Unholy Dark One is getting some much needed help from the pulpit.

In a livestream in the wee hours Saturday, “prophetic” author Lance Wallnau prophesied that God would heal the ”anointed” President Donald Trump and send an angel against Trump’s enemies to war on his behalf while he is sick with COVID-19.

Wallnau said that Trump getting sick so close to the election is like the ”Access Hollywood” tape coming out just before the 2016 election. Almost everyone thought it would destroy Trump’s chances, Wallnau said, but it was a sign of God at work, “humbling Donald Trump before his promotion.”

Trump’s diagnosis, Wallnau said, was God “immobilizing the president before God moves.” Wallnau said he believes that God is about to release an angel to fight for the nation and against everything coming against Trump, from the Chinese government to “thousands of witchcraft curses.”

The Angel of the Lord is going to go forth for America. Why? Because the president can’t fight now. You get what I’m saying? He can’t do it. So, the Lord is sending his angel. In a way, it’s the worst thing the devil could have done because if it was just Trump, then it’s just Trump. But now there’s an angel going forth. And who knows what kind of mischief that’s going to wreck on the enemy’s camp.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/lance-wallnau-claims-fighting-trump-%E2%80%8Bis-fighting-god-says-while-trump-%E2%80%8Bis-sick-gods-angel-will-wreck-his-enemies/




Well so can I, I do have that power as I am a man of GAWD!! And the LAWRD shall send them to hell when he sees fit now doesn’t he? Now let’s take a look at the actual religions of these two men – starting with the man who is going to be the 46th president of the United States – Joe Biden! He is a real man of GAWD, and he makes no mistakes about the religion he chooses to worship!

In 2016, Mormons rejected Donald Trump in numbers unheard of for a Republican nominee — viewing the thrice-married, immigrant-bashing Republican as an affront to their values.

In 2020, the president is going all-out to change their minds — a little-noticed effort that could make or break him in Arizona and Nevada, home to more than a half-million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints combined. Joe Biden's campaign, sensing an unlikely opening for a Democrat, is also targeting Mormons in the pair of Western swing states.

Before Trump became the party standard-bearer, Mormons had been among the most loyal GOP voters in the country. A 2010 Gallup survey found that “Mormons are both the most Republican and the most conservative of any of the major religious groups in the U.S. today.” But many Mormons found Trump blasphemous, and the church itself made thinly veiled statements condemning the candidate’s rhetoric on immigration and religious freedom.

Mormon support for the Republican ticket dropped from 80 percent in 2004 and 78 percent in 2012, to 61 percent in 2016, even as most other Christians moved further to the right, according to Pew.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/13/trump-biden-mormons-church-412234




Now on the flipside – we have the Unholy, Ungodly Dark One! And why do I keep referring to him as “The Dark One”? Because he is the leader of the free world. And he’s a man who is so full of sin, so disgusting, depraved, and batshit crazy that I will never, ever speak his name in my church! Except that one time I did, but there are exceptions to every rule. In fact he’s a man so disgusting that a religion known for insane lifestyles is denouncing him as being demonic!

In 2016, Mormons rejected Donald Trump in numbers unheard of for a Republican nominee — viewing the thrice-married, immigrant-bashing Republican as an affront to their values.

In 2020, the president is going all-out to change their minds — a little-noticed effort that could make or break him in Arizona and Nevada, home to more than a half-million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints combined. Joe Biden's campaign, sensing an unlikely opening for a Democrat, is also targeting Mormons in the pair of Western swing states.

Before Trump became the party standard-bearer, Mormons had been among the most loyal GOP voters in the country. A 2010 Gallup survey found that “Mormons are both the most Republican and the most conservative of any of the major religious groups in the U.S. today.” But many Mormons found Trump blasphemous, and the church itself made thinly veiled statements condemning the candidate’s rhetoric on immigration and religious freedom.

Mormon support for the Republican ticket dropped from 80 percent in 2004 and 78 percent in 2012, to 61 percent in 2016, even as most other Christians moved further to the right, according to Pew.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/13/trump-biden-mormons-church-412234




That’s right – even the Mormons – some of the most devout of all the religions – are calling him the Godless one! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:





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[font size="8"]Ron Johnson: People Who Somehow Got Elected
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Politicians at the state and local levels who are so toxic, you wonder how they’re able to get away with the things they get away with. This is:



This week: Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. How did this guy get elected? While the world is sitting in horror of Trump’s recent COVID diagnosis, there’s another case that’s going dangerously overlooked and that’s Ron Johnson. The CDC is reporting that “super spreader” individuals are infecting hundreds of people and they might not even know it. Ron Johnson is one such individual. And this guy could be deciding the vote that puts Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court. So what makes Mr. Johnson so dangerous? Well, while mass gatherings are shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ron Johnson said “fuck it” and went to an Oktoberfest party anyways. Yes, holding an Oktoberfest party during a pandemic. That is a thing that happened.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson attended an Oktoberfest fundraising dinner on Friday evening while he was awaiting the test results that would show he was infected with COVID-19.

The Wisconsin Republican chose to attend the bash even though he knew that President Trump and many of his inner circle had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Johnson, who didn’t reveal his diagnosis until Saturday, justified his behavior in comments to the Madison, Wisconsin Capital Times by saying he only took his mask off when it was time to address the crowd. He also insisted that he was “at least 12 feet from anybody” during his speech at the event, which was sponsored by the Ozaukee County Republican Party. It was held at the River Club of Mequon, a self-described “casually elegant private club committed to personal service.”

“I feel fine, I feel completely normal,” he said in a conference call with reporters, adding that he didn’t “stick around” to mingle at the dinner.

Attendees paid from $40 for a single ticket to $500 for “gold host” status, which included two meal tickets, priority seating, and “special host recognition.” Former Wisconsin attorney general Brad Schimel was the evening’s featured guest, according to an invitation on the Ozaukee County Republican Party’s Facebook page.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-sen-ron-johnson-went-to-oktoberfest-party-after-testing-positive-for-covid-19




Yes, they’ll get special host recognition all right – when everybody at the party comes down with the virus because they didn’t listen to scientists and ignored the warning signs. So guess what happened with the party? That’s right! He tested positive. And that means that Senator Johnson can join Trump in the recovery wing at Walter Reed Hospital.

Just days after coming out of a self-quarantine prompted by being exposed to someone with COVID-19, Sen. Ron Johnson has contracted the virus, his office announced Saturday morning.

According to a brief statement, the Wisconsin Republican tested positive on Friday, the same day as announcements came that President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, several members of the White House staff, and multiple other prominent Republican Senators were all infected.

Johnson is currently asymptomatic and “feel(ing) healthy,” his office explained. He is expected to remain isolated until his doctor gives him clearance to return.

The senator plans to keep working through his isolation, however. Johnson’s statement indicated they were already working remotely, and they will now go all virtual “for the immediate future.”
https://www.nbc15.com/2020/10/03/sen-ron-johnson-tests-positive-for-covid-19/




That’s probably the only safe way to live right now in the age of COVID. And guess what else is going on – not only did Ron Johnson come down with the virus, at least 3 senators – all in the GOP – have also tested positive. This isn’t going to look good when they go to cast that SCOTUS vote that will replace Justice Ginsburg. This is what happens when you don’t take this virus seriously.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Saturday that the full Senate will not return until Oct. 19 — two weeks later than planned — after three GOP senators tested positive for the coronavirus.

But McConnell also vowed that the Senate would still move ahead with Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination, with the Senate Judiciary Committee set to begin confirmation hearings on Oct. 12.

“The Senate’s floor schedule will not interrupt the thorough, fair, and historically supported confirmation process previously laid out by Chairman [Lindsey] Graham,” McConnell said in a statement announcing the schedule change.

“Certainly all Republican members of the committee will participate in these important hearings,” added McConnell who noted the panel has already been allowing members to participate virtually.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/03/ron-johnson-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-425829




That’s what is going to happen from now until there’s a vaccine. And if people like Ron Johnson keep doing this that’s what is going to happen. But that’s not before he puts fellow super spreader Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. That’s right – Ron Johnson could be one of the deciding votes that puts Judge Barrett on the highest of high courts. I like senators who don’t get the virus!

Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who recently tested positive for Covid-19, said on Monday that he will do everything he can to vote for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, even if he has to wear a "moon suit" to do it.

"If we have to go in and vote, I have already told leadership, I'll go in a moon suit." Johnson said during an interview on 630 KHOW in Denver. "We think this is pretty important. People can be fairly confident that Mitch McConnell is dedicated to holding this vote," he said.

Asked if he would find a way to vote even if he tested positive the day before, but his vote was needed, Johnson said he "would certainly try."

"I would certainly try to find a way, making sure that everybody was safe," he said, adding, "So you can go into a medical clinic and you can take the precautions and do it safely, but we wouldn't be able to do that on the floor of the Senate? Where there is a will there is a way. We can do these things."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/05/politics/ron-johnson-moon-suit-supreme-court/index.html




That man could help decide the fate of the future of the United States. That’s Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, yet another inexplicable candidate to add to the ever-growing list of:




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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable! We are of course coming to you live from our remote basement bunker deep in the alkaline flats of the New Mexico badlands – I can’t disclose too much about the location because I don’t want the evil government to read my thoughts! Now just let me adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference… and there we go! So what are conspiracy theorists blabbering about this week? Well, of course you know their Dear Leader got the dreaded coronavirus. And that hasn’t stopped the conspiracy theorists from coming up with some absolutely batshit theories! Yes, the guano is flying fast and furious with this crowd!

At the news of President Donald Trump’s and first lady Melania Trump’s positive COVID-19 diagnoses, right-wing actors and politicians went into overdrive testing out farcical conspiracy theories, blaming China and the Democrats, and attacking anyone who criticized the president.

Trump, who attempted to ridicule Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for regularly wearing a mask at Tuesday night’s presidential debate, seldom sports a mask in public and has turned a CDC public health guideline into a controversial issue in the United States by repeatedly undermining public health experts.

In May, Trump went against state guidelines by choosing not to wear a face mask as he toured a Ford facility in Michigan, telling reporters, “I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”

But despite the president’s rare mask wearing in public, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch seemed to defend him against any such criticism, claiming that “no ‘Fauci standard’ studies exist that masks curtail spread of #coronavirus.” He also insisted that “Hydroxychloroquine is a safe drug” and that “The suppression of hydroxychloroquine is the worst public health scandal of the modern medical era,” despite evidence showing it is ineffective at treating COVID-19 patients and can be dangerous.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-actors-test-out-conspiracy-theories-in-wake-of-trumps-positive-covid-19-diagnosis/




By the way, anyone else really surprised that Trump is the mastermind behind most of these batshit crazy theories out there? And if you’re not, have you been following this administration? You know how absolutely batshit insane Trump is and how he doesn’t live in reality – he only lives in the reality that he chooses to create. And that is a very dark and scary one!

A day and a half after the president tested positive for COVID-19, the conspiracy theories and disinformation around his condition are rampant, driven in part by his own administration’s mixed messages and evasiveness about the specifics of how sick he actually is.

On Saturday morning, the doctors treating him at Walter Reed Medical Center refused to answer specific, straightforward questions at a press conference about Trump’s condition, like how high his fever had been, and whether he has been on oxygen since testing positive for the virus. Minutes later, an unnamed person “familiar with the president’s health” told White House reporters the president’s vitals had been “very concerning” and “the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care.”

“We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery,” the source said, adding confusion to the lack of clarity about the president’s condition.

Online, conspiracy theorists on both the left and the right speculated that Trump had either been much sicker than we’d been told — or not sick at all but rather using a fake diagnosis as part of an elaborate power play.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhiprakash/trump-coronavirus-case-conspiracy-theories




And by the way, is anyone really surprised that the Q Anon dipshits have been coming up with the craziest conspiracy theories surrounding Trump and COVID? To which I ask you again – have you been following this administration? Trump attracts the craziest and most depraved minds in not only America, but all over the world. So it’s absolutely no surprise that the basement dwellers of 4chan are fabricating the most batshit things you’ve ever heard.

Americans on both sides of the political divide are spreading conspiracy theories on social media about President Donald Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis.

The president's announcement on Twitter early Friday that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the illness set off a flurry of speculation.

On the social media app Parler, where supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory have congregated after being expelled from other platforms, there was widespread speculation about the meaning of the announcement.

Members interpreted the announcement as a covert message, designed to signal to them that the president is stepping out of the public eye in anticipation of what they call The Storm.

"The Storm" is the name QAnon believers give to the day when they claim that the president will take action to dismantle a network of child abusers and "deep state" agents secretly manipulating world events.
https://www.businessinsider.com/qanon-plus-some-progressives-spread-trump-virus-conspiracy-theories-2020-10




Now here’s where it gets weird – because you knew it was going to. And again, I ask – have you been following this administration? I keep asking that because this administration has unleashed some of the most batshit stuff you’ve ever heard. But the real weirdness in all of this is that Q Anon and COVID conspiracies are merging! Yes, they are going to create the largest turd of misinformation you’ve ever seen in your life! They know too much!

Online and in real-life demonstrations, two viral conspiracy theories are increasingly coming together.

At first glance the only thing they appear to have in common is their vast distance from reality.

On one hand, QAnon: a convoluted conspiracy theory that contends that President Trump is waging a secret war against Satan-worshipping elite paedophiles.

On the other, a swirling mass of pseudoscience claiming that coronavirus does not exist, or is not fatal, or any number of other baseless claims.

These two ideas are now increasingly coming together, in a grand conspiracy mash-up.
Linked up

It was apparent on the streets of London last weekend, where speakers addressing thousands of followers at an anti-mask, anti-lockdown demonstration touched on both themes. Posters promoting QAnon and a range of other conspiracy theories were on display.

On Sunday, President Trump retweeted a message claiming the true number of Covid-19 deaths in the United States was a small fraction of the official numbers. The tweet was later deleted by Twitter under its policy on misinformation.
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-53997203





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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Whew, I don’t know about you guys but I could really use a drink!



Whew, so much bad news this week! So of course you know by now that the idea is that we have some drinks and while we are drinking, we talk about literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. And not only that, this has the bonus of being a sports story with an added dash of some old school homophobia. Yup, we’re talking 1950s fire and brimstone. So tell me virtual bartender, what goes well with a story about sports bullying? A seabreeze? Yeah no thanks. I think I will have my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the Double Jack. So we go to San Diego for this story. The San Diego Loyals are a relatively new team in the MLS world, managed by international superstar Landon Donovan. Well last week something unbelievable happened. The Loyal… forfeited a game. Here’s what happened.

The San Diego Loyal boss' career was defined by a belief that some things are bigger than soccer, and that belief extends to the team he manages

Landon Donovan is fighting battles which are bigger than results in the game of soccer. As head coach of San Diego Loyal, Donovan is committing to making unprecedented decisions, not because they are easy but because they are right.

Donovan and SD Loyal made headlines for the second time in a week on Wednesday for forfeiting a second consecutive match. A first-year club in American soccer's second division, SD Loyal's inaugural season will not necessarily be remembered for what they accomplished on the field but the stances they have taken off of it.

Last week, SD Loyal's Elijah Martin was reported to have been called a racial slur by LA Galaxy II's Omar Ontiveros, prompting the club to forfeit after learning of the incident from the referee postgame.
https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/i-will-act-i-will-speak-donovan-setting-new-precedent-as-manager-/816ujbovn1x81uax4izgy62t3




Man I miss drinking in front of a live audience! We’ll get that freedom back at some point. So good for San Diego for taking a stand against rampant bullying in sports. Of course that doesn’t matter because we have a president and first lady who are on a “Be Best!” campaign so everybody is putting their best face forward! Ah, who am I kidding? Of course everyone is at their worst right now, we’re in a raging pandemic with a raging asshole at the helm. Thankfully the San Diego Loyal are the opposite of that!

USL Championship club San Diego Loyal has forfeited a match for the second-straight week after alleging hateful language from an opposing player, this one costing the team its playoff hopes.

Sad Diego was leading Phoenix Rising 3-1 at halftime Thursday but decided not to continue the match after Phoenix Rising player Junior Flemmings was accused of using a homophobic slur against San Diego’s Collin Martin, who is an out gay man.

Martin, who publicly came out while a member of Minnesota United in 2018, was sent off before halftime and told the fourth official that he was verbally abused.

Flemmings denied making any such comments in a lengthy post on Twitter and said after the game that he stands “in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ movement.” He said he’s “disappointed” in San Diego as he’s been “mauled and ridiculed online with no opportunity to defend himself.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/soccer/san-diego-loyal-forfeits-match-after-allegations-of-homophobic-slur-against-martin/ar-BB19BCpB




Ah, thanks, I needed that! So the San Diego Loyal walked off not once, but twice. And unlike a baseball walkoff, you’re not celebrating in a football walk off. Instead, you’re probably ranting and cursing and throwing your empty beer bottles at the TV. Because it’s 2020 and you can’t do that at your favorite watering hole. But taking a stand is costing them in both fans and controversy. Let’s ask women’s football star Alex Morgan what she thinks.

Alex Morgan hailed Landon Donovan's San Diego Loyal side after they forfeited their match against Phoenix Rising on Wednesday following an allegation of homophobic abuse.

San Diego were leading 3-1 in the second-tier USL Championship when they left the field after it was claimed openly gay player Collin Martin had been on the receiving end of a homophobic slur, with opponents Phoenix denying the allegation.

"But also that he's travelling with the squad and is so outspoken about the team's beliefs was important, especially when it came to the homophobic slur that was said on the pitch.

"I just respect them so much for deciding not to play the remainder of the game. I think that's the right decision.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12089424/alex-morgan-tottenham-womens-star-hails-san-diego-loyal-over-forfeit-decision




So the impact of this decision will be felt across the league but who knows how long this will go on and what are the long term consequences of this decision? Well the short term decision is that this is going to have an affect on the Loyals’ playoff hopes. And yes, this is one of those things where doing the right thing could actually be the wrong thing. Yeah think about it!

Led by Landon Donovan and backed by the club's owners, San Diego Loyal put actions above words after an anti-LGBTQ slur was directed at Collin Martin. In doing so, it revealed what its club is all about.

Why do we care so deeply about sports? Why endure such suffering simply to test our limits? Why risk disappointment and defeat? Why do people support a club? Why follow a team, and invest so much financial and emotional capital into the exploits of others?

Is it to win? To celebrate championships and hang banners? If so, then unless you’ve attached yourself to one of a select few teams from places like Munich or Foxborough, you’re going to spend the vast majority of your life deeply disappointed. Most seasons don’t end in titles.

Or is there something more?

On Wednesday night in San Diego, a second-division soccer team and its famous first-year manager bet big that there is.

“I think people want authenticity,” Landon Donovan told Sports Illustrated. “Everybody’s trying to get their dollar and trying to sell them something, sell them a ticket and sell them a scarf. But they want something that’s real in their life and something they can believe in.”
https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/10/02/san-diego-loyal-landon-donovan-phoenix-rising-collin-martin





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[font size="8"]Road To The White House: Debate Recap
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Welcome back to our ongoing coverage of the 2020 election to end all elections! This is… *cue reverb* THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!! Ooh, that was some good reverb there! So in the last week , we covered the possible scenarios that could happen if Donald Trump decides that he’s not going to leave the White House in the event that he loses the election. We’ve also covered the coveted endorsement of rapper Ice Cube and what that would mean. Now this week we’re going to talk about the first debate that happened last week, and in the sea of news last week, that feels like an eternity ago. Though the first debate can be boiled down to five words: “Shut the fuck up Donny”. Seriously, where is Walter Sobchak when you need him? But really it was quite the shit show.

President Donald Trump turned his first debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden into a chaotic disaster.

Trump bullied, bulldozed and obfuscated his way through the 90-minute showdown, interrupting Biden and moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News at every turn. He ignored substantive questions and Biden's policy arguments, and instead swung at a straw-man version of Biden, taking aim at both Biden's son and a distorted description of his record that exists primarily in far-right media.

Over Trump's interruptions, Biden responded by mocking the President, calling him a "clown," a "racist" and "the worst president America has ever had." He criticized Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, his failure to produce a health care plan and his response to protests over racial injustice.
Over and over, Wallace tried to regain control of the debate, without success.

When Trump complained that only he was being chastised for talking over questions and Biden's answers, Wallace shot back: "Frankly, you have been doing more interrupting."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/30/politics/trump-biden-first-debate-takeaways/index.html




Yeah seriously, why wasn’t that guy moderating the debates? Now CNN, what did you learn? You’re Trump’s public enemy number one! Things got even crazier when the subject of white supremacy came up. And today’s white supremacists are nothing like your father’s white supremacists! Yes, Trump has received endless amounts of very well-deserved shit for failing to denounce one of America’s biggest problems.

President Donald Trump has said a far-right group should "stand down" and let law enforcement do its work, after his refusal to explicitly condemn the group in a TV debate sparked a backlash.

Mr Trump said "I don't know who the Proud Boys are", a day after urging them in the election debate with Joe Biden to "stand back and stand by".

Proud Boys members called his debate comments "historic" and an endorsement.

Mr Biden said Mr Trump had "refused to disavow white supremacists".

The exchange came during the first of three televised debates between the two men ahead of the 3 November election. The debate descended into squabbling, bickering and insults, with US media describing it as chaotic, ugly and awful.

The commission that regulates the debates said it would introduce new measures for the next two to "maintain order". Mr Trump said they should get a new anchor and a smarter Democratic candidate.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54359993




Seriously, Donny, shut the fuck up!!! But switching gears now, will a second debate be held? That’s the question right now. Well whether or not a second debate happens, there’s going to be some rules changes in place. Like actually getting Donny to shut the fuck up. Because that’s something that he needs to do if he’s going to prove to be presidential. Because right now his plan of constantly talking over your opponent just isn’t working.

The group that sponsors the presidential debates said Wednesday that it will make format changes to the next two showdowns between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden “to maintain order” in light of their fractious first showdown.

A source close to the Commission on Presidential Debates told NBC News that no final decisions have been made on the changes. But the source also said that the group is considering cutting off a candidate’s microphone if they violate the rules.

The initial debate between Trump and Biden in Cleveland on Tuesday night quickly descended into disorder, with frequent name-calling and interruptions.

Trump on several occasions resisted moderator Chris Wallace’s admonitions to follow the rules and to allow the former vice president Biden to speak uninterrupted.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/30/next-trump-biden-debate-will-see-format-changes-after-criticism.html




Yeah seriously. Shut the fuck up Donny! Why don’t we have this guy moderating the next debate? Well there might not even be a next debate, at least for the time being. But at this point does anybody even really care? Or will the poll numbers make that much of a difference? People are already mortified by Trump’s behavior and that might not carry well going into the actual election – of which we are only 30 short days away! Assuming this country is still standing then!

Just days after the first of three planned presidential debates, President Trump has tested positive for COVID-19, putting the likelihood of further debates in serious doubt ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3. But after the debacle that was the first debate, a second appears unnecessary anyway.

Commentators ranging from the New York Times editorial board to Democratic New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez called Tuesday's debate— an unproductive shouting match levied with personal insults and constant interruptions—a "national disgrace." The debate did little to swing decided voters to the other side, while perhaps the most significant aim of a presidential debate—convincing undecided voters—had a minuscule pool to work with in the first place.

A recent NBC News poll from Sept. 20 found that just 6% of voters were undecided, suggesting little room for the election to dramatically swing either way following a debate. Meanwhile, a FiveThiryEight poll in conjunction with Ipsos found that voters planning to vote for Biden only changed from 5.0 to 5.2 on a scale of 10 (with 10 meaning absolutely certain). Trump voters only changed from 3.8 to 3.7.

Furthermore, a CBS News survey found that just 17% of respondents felt "informed" by the debate. The majority, 69%, said their main takeaway from the debate was feeling "annoyed."
https://fortune.com/2020/10/02/second-debate-trump-biden-will-it-happen/






See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded At: Flappers Comedy Club, Burbank, CA
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September 16, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-11: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Presidential Fantasy Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-11: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Presidential Fantasy Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? We are back but we’re still broadcasting from this empty white void because we can’t be in a studio right now thanks to COVID. I really do miss all of the tomfoolery that we used to have before COVID. So why did we take two weeks off? Well for one thing it’s a chance to rest – I kind of needed a break from the extremely horrible 24/7 news cycle that we’re living in, for mental health reasons. The other thing is that we have 6 editions left before Election 2020 and I wanted to make sure that we get ready. Because the last time, we took a break from the news before the election and what happened? Bam, we got four years of this douchebag. So yeah that’s about it. There’s no thing this week because I want to address what’s going to happen for the Top 10 between now and the election. Between now and November 3rd we literally have 6 editions left. That means that we’ve covered the entirety of the Trump presidential administration here. Since he slimed his way down that gold escalator in Trump tower to holding indoor rallies during a major global pandemic and everything in between. To be honest, I want it to stop. But assuming that we get four more years of Trump I will be watching and waiting out his every move. Just like COVID, conservative idiocy will exist until we eradicate it. So let’s start by voting out Trump on November 3rd. Mr. Trump, you’re fired. OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first Bill Maher is back and he pleads America to side with teachers instead of using them as a political prop:



Well another week, another Top 10 under the virus. So where do we start this week? Well in the first slot whenever the Top 10 is on an extended break, we like to catch up on stuff we missed (1) which includes Nancy Pelosi’s hair cut incident, Trump’s bizarre rant about protest weaponry, and a gender reveal party gone horribly, horribly wrong! Taking the second slot this week is Donald Trump (2). Yes, the guy who we currently call president is somehow inexplicably still president, and he got caught lying his ass off about how dangerous COVID was because he wanted to be a “cheerleader for America”. So what could go wrong? Taking the third slot this week is Donald Trump supporters, otherwise known as the MAGAs (3). So not one, but two boat parades were held – one in my state of California and the other in Texas, and not only one, but both boat parades featured sinking vessels! Was it Das Boot? In the fourth slot this week is Kanye West (4). Yes, his presidential ambitions are still a thing, but his sham campaign is getting the boot in more places than one. Taking the fifth slot this week is our weekly investigative piece Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week while schools are attempting to get back to normal in the age of COVID, so is the virus and it’s getting scary. If you do go back to school, do so with extreme caution! Taking the sixth slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week our resident pastor is going to investigate the phenomenon of Satanic Witchcraft in the 2020 election! But the real Satanist is sitting in the Oval Office! In the seventh slot this week is a new “This Fucking Guy” (7) and this week we’re going to profile the head of Trump’s United States Post Office, and guy who will be overseeing mail-in voting in the 2020 election, Louis De Joy, and whew. This fucking guy. Taking the 8th slot this week is a new edition of Beating A Dead Horse (8) and this week we’re going to talk about Trump’s use of the CCR classic song “Fortunate Son” and some other misused songs. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week of course is a new People Are Dumb because stupid doesn’t take a holiday! Finally this week in “Road To The White House”, Joe Biden’s got some special guests in store for some campaign fundraising events, but find out why they may or may not be controversial! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Catch Up On Stuff We Missed
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We took a rare break last week. As usual whenever the Top 10 takes an extended break, we always like to play a game of catch up on stuff we missed. Because in this 24/7 news cycle you never know what’s going to happen. And since two weeks are way too long to cover something like Nancy Pelosi’s hair salon incident, which is STILL GETTING COVERAGE!!! Damn right I'm pissed off about this, because this should be the least of our worries right now! Meanwhile the guy who killed 200,000 people because he wanted to be a “cheerleader” for America? Buptkiss! Yes that’s right, also it’s rare that I get to use the word “buptkiss” in context like that! But still this is fucking infuriating and it still outlays the belief that conservatives are infallible. And here’s the thing, conservatives, we all hate this pandemic and we all want to get back to some sort of normalcy. But these things take time. And we don’t need your nonsense.

Pelosi visited eSalon in San Francisco, where she says she has gone for hair appointments many times, on Monday afternoon. According to the salon's owner, Pelosi's assistants had set up the appointment with an independent stylist in advance.

A security camera shows Pelosi walking through part of the salon with wet hair and what appears to be her face mask around her neck rather than covering her face.

The footage was released by Fox News on Tuesday, along with a scathing interview with the salon's owner calling it a "slap in the face" for Pelosi to get her hair done at the salon when others could not.

According to the owner, Erica Kious, an independent stylist took the appointment with Pelosi. That stylist, who has been identified by his lawyer as Jonathan DeNardo, texted Kious on Sunday night informing her that he had made an appointment with Pelosi's team for Monday afternoon.

Pelosi's team was told by the salon that they could have one person in the salon at a time under the current coronavirus guidelines, Pelosi's spokesperson Drew Hammill said in a statement.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/03/what-we-know-nancy-pelosis-hair-salon-trip-amid-coronavirus/5708541002/




Oh and by the way in case you’re wondering what the actual COVID guidelines for hair salons are, this doesn’t happen anywhere, and the actual guidelines for California [/link state that they can’t hold indoor services anywhere and that services must be performed outside if necessary. Also in case you’re wondering if actions have consequences or not, well…

A San Francisco hair salon visited by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is officially shutting down.

“I am actually done in San Francisco and closing my doors, unfortunately,” Erica Kious told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night.

The e-Salon first made headlines after Pelosi's visit last week.

Kious released surveillance video to Fox News showing Pelosi inside the salon, when in San Francisco, salons are only allowed to operate outdoors. Pelosi was also seen on the clip without her mask for a brief time.

Pelosi said she made the appointment, trusting what the salon told her over the phone: That they could accept once client at a time.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/i-am-actually-done-in-san-francisco-hair-salon-visited-by-nancy-pelosi-shuts-down




Yup that is a definite fail for you! The next thing I want to catch up on is Trump’s absolutely batshit comment about protest weaponry. Yes, the protests and unrest in this country are absolutely unreal right now. But before we get into this story we got to roll the tape on this one. Because it is certifiably batshit insane.



Whew. That guy is the president of the United States. I will repeat – that guy is the president of the United States! Just… why do people allow this man to continue to be president? It boggles the mind!!

PRESIDENT Donald Trump says rioters are purchasing canned soup to launch towards police officers in cities across the country and when apprehended, the violent vigilantes claim the soup is for their family.

Those are the claims made by the president moments ago in the White House during an event in the Cabinet Room.

“In cities all across the situation weve also seen police officers assaulted,” President Trump said.

The president listed various weapons he said the protesters have used on police molotov cocktails including frozen water that he said was the “size of a football.”

He claimed protesters use “cans of soup” to throw at officers and then claim it’s just “soup from my family” when they are caught.
https://www.yc.news/2020/07/31/president-trump-says-media-supports-rioters-that-bought-canned-soup-to-throw-at-cops/




The other thing I wanted to catch up on that we missed – Trump is fucking broke! Yes, the campaign is hemorrhaging money! In fact they are so broke that they’re resorting to some really drastic measures to keep the campaign running. And yet, the jackass president will somehow blame Democrats for his shortcomings, because that’s all he does. Ah, president loser can go eat shit.

Money was supposed to have been one of the great advantages of incumbency for President Trump, much as it was for President Barack Obama in 2012 and George W. Bush in 2004. After getting outspent in 2016, Mr. Trump filed for re-election on the day of his inauguration — earlier than any other modern president — betting that the head start would deliver him a decisive financial advantage this year.

It seemed to have worked. His rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., was relatively broke when he emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee this spring, and Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee had a nearly $200 million cash advantage.

Five months later, Mr. Trump’s financial supremacy has evaporated. Of the $1.1 billon his campaign and the party raised from the beginning of 2019 through July, more than $800 million has already been spent. Now some people inside the campaign are forecasting what was once unthinkable: a cash crunch with less than 60 days until the election, according to Republican officials briefed on the matter.

Brad Parscale, the former campaign manager, liked to call Mr. Trump’s re-election war machine an “unstoppable juggernaut.” But interviews with more than a dozen current and former campaign aides and Trump allies, and a review of thousands of items in federal campaign filings, show that the president’s campaign and the R.N.C. developed some profligate habits as they burned through hundreds of millions of dollars. Since Bill Stepien replaced Mr. Parscale in July, the campaign has imposed a series of belt-tightening measures that have reshaped initiatives, including hiring practices, travel and the advertising budget.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/07/us/politics/trump-election-campaign-fundraising.html





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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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In case you haven’t forgot, we’re still in the middle of a raging pandemic that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. And Trump, the guy who we still inexplicably call president, is presidenting by example – and holding mass gatherings and indoor rallies when CDC and WHO guidelines suggest otherwise. But that said, we have to talk about the recent allegations that have surfaced suggesting that Trump lied (shocker) about the horrifying dangers of COVID while downplaying it because he wanted to be a “cheerleader” for America. Well, Mr. President, we don’t need a cheerleader. We need a real fucking leader. Someone who, I don’t know, listens to facts and logic and reason, and also listens to real experts. We don’t need your nonsense.

President Trump deliberately downplayed the severity of the coronavirus despite knowing in early February that the virus was “deadly.” according to a new book from Bob Woodward.

“I wanted to always play it down,” he told Woodward on March 19th, according to audio obtained by CNN. “I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.”

Trump also expressed concern that “it’s not just old people” who are impacted by Covid-19, and that “some startling facts came out” about how “plenty of young people” were prone to the virus. In public, however, the president has repeatedly insisted that Covid-19 does not pose any significant risk to young people, especially as he’s advocated for schools to resume in-person instruction this fall. In August, Trump falsely said children are “virtually immune” to the virus, while claiming “it will go away like things go away.”

Trump knew about the danger the virus posed as early as February 7th, as he was publicly minimizing the risk of the disease spreading in the United States and bungling action to stop it. “It’s a very tricky situation,” the president told Woodward before explaining that the virus can be transmitted through the air. “It’s more deadly than … even your strenuous flus. … This is more deadly. This is five percent [mortality rate] versus one percent and less than one percent. You know? So, this is deadly stuff.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-knew-coronavirus-deadly-bob-woodward-book-1057051/




That said, the president of the United States basically is going to let us all die to save his sorry ass. Oh yeah, this is so much better isn’t it? And if you want any further proof that Trump simply doesn’t care about us or that there’s a killer virus out there ravaging the landscape, well, he held an indoor rally in Nevada and the governor of Nevada wasn’t exactly, let’s say, thrilled with that. But that didn’t stop Trump from going full asshole.

President Donald Trump told the Review-Journal in an exclusive interview Sunday that he did not believe he was subject to Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak’s order limiting gatherings to 50 people when he addressed a crowd of thousands at an indoor rally in Henderson.

The president blamed the Democratic governor for forcing his campaign to abandon plans to hold an outdoor rally Sunday at Cirrus Aviation near McCarran International Airport and a Saturday rally in Reno, which was moved to an outdoor venue in Minden.

The Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority told the tenants of a private hangar where the president was originally supposed to hold a rally that doing so would violate coronavirus rules and their lease agreement. McCarran officials said no one from the Trump campaign or Cirrus Aviation ever asked them about holding a rally.

After failing to arrange alternative venues in the Las Vegas area, the campaign decided to hold the rally indoors at the Xtreme Manufacturing facility, owned by his friend Don Ahern, Trump said.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/in-exclusive-interview-trump-slams-sisolak-defends-indoor-rally-2121257/




Well unfortunately as of right now COVID is one thing that definitely isn’t staying in Vegas. In fact the virus doesn’t care. And you know I remember way back in the early days of the Trump presidency, I predicted that he’d be going full Howard Hughes by the end of his first term. And there’s still time for him to do that! Especially when he’s apparently terrified of the virus behind the scenes, made even more mystifying that he’s been long-rumored to be a germophobe.

The clip was aired Monday evening by Stephen Colbert, the host of CBS’s Late Show, with Woodward appearing virtually as a guest. He called the tape, which was recorded during an April 13 phone call at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, “quite revealing.”

“Bob, it’s so easily transmissible, you wouldn’t even believe it,” Trump said about COVID-19.

“I mean, you could be in the room — I was in the White House a couple of days ago, meeting with 10 people in the Oval Office and a guy sneezed — innocently, not a horrible — you know, just a sneeze,” the president recounted. “The entire room bailed out, OK? Including me, by the way.”

Woodward smiled upon hearing the tape being played and Colbert said he knew Trump was “making light there at the end," adding that at the heart of the recording is “something extraordinarily shocking.”

“Yes,” Woodward replied to the TV host.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/so-easily-transmissible-trump-recounts-room-clearing-sneeze-in-woodward-tape/ar-BB192DYD




Yeah that’s one way to *NOT* kill the virus and you might kill someone else in the process. But that said, you can talk all the shit you want about black lives matter, or blue lives matter, or all lives matter. Under the Donald J. Trump administration, we’re in the COVID pandemic, and that means that no lives matter, and this president deliberately put lives in jeopardy for the sake of his massive ego. In case you were wondering, no, it’s not a good thing that Trump did this. Shocker.

Days after Dr. Anthony Fauci said he “didn’t get any sense” that President Donald Trump had willfully distorted information on coronavirus, the top infectious disease expert said it was “not a good thing” that Trump admitted to intentionally downplaying the threat of the virus.

Shortly after audio recordings and excerpts from Bob Woodward’s upcoming Trump book were released, featuring Trump telling the investigative journalist that he knew the virus was airborne and deadly in early February, Fauci told Fox News he didn’t “recall” some quotes attributed to him. Woodward reported that Fauci, as a White House coronavirus task force member, called Trump’s leadership “rudderless” and said the president’s attention span is a “minus number.”

Appearing on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports on Friday, Fauci was pressed by host Andrea Mitchell on the president’s lengthy public stance against social distancing and masks despite acknowledging to Woodward this past winter that the virus was dangerous and contagious.

“Doesn’t that help cause widespread resistance to wearing face coverings?” Mitchell added.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dr-fauci-reacts-to-trumps-woodward-tapes-says-not-a-good-thing-to-downplay-coronavirus-threat





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[font size="8"]The Trump Campaign
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I don’t know about you guys, but I had big plans for this year that got upended by COVID, and I’m sure that you did too. However, just like in 1918 there were fucking idiots abound. But as long as they keep holding events like this, who knows how long the pandemic is going to go on? Well last week, I had to engage in a bit of schadenfreude as it looks like Mother Nature took out her sweet, sweet revenge on the MAGAs. And that MAGA boaters took their support for Dear Leader to new heights in Texas and, my home state of California, to new heights. Unfortunately their attempts are more in line with Das Boot or Titanic than they are Party Boat or Captain Ron. So just how bad was their idea? Well, pretty bad.

Multiple boats have sank and several made distress calls during a "Trump Boat Parade” in Texas, according to law enforcement.

Boats reportedly ran into trouble around 1:20pm (CDT) with several 911 calls made about vessels in distress. Other boats were reportedly sinking while sailing the parade route on Lake Travis.

A spokesperson with the Travis County Sheriff’s department confirmed to CBS Austin that multiple boats have been sinking on the lake.

There was no details about the precise number of boats in distress.

A Facebook page for the event showed that more than 2,000 people were scheduled to attend the parade. An additional 5,000 people said they were interested.

The event encouraged boat owners to bring “boats of all shapes and sizes” to participate in the parade.

Trump memorabilia, such as Make America Great Again flags and Trump/Pence signs, as well as American flags were pictured on many boats in attendance.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-maga-parade-boaters-flotilla-texas-sinking-b404399.html




I can see Trump as the captain of the Titanic – “Come try our buffets, we have the best buffets. Don’t forget to try your hand at the shuffleboard court, it’s safe to go out there. Don’t panic!”. If this is Das Boot, then maybe this is the MAGA version of Das Boot. DAS BOOT MAGA. And this might be my favorite part of the whole thing – they wanted to break the record for the largest boat parade ever. Well, maybe don’t cover your boat in Trump flags. And if you do, don’t be surprised if your boat tips over. It’s simple physics.

Supporters of President Donald Trump took to their boats, kayaks, and jet skis on Saturday to break a world record.

The rally, which was held in Clearwater, Florida, aimed to break the Guinness World Record for the largest boat parade. The current record-holder is from a 2014 boat parade that took place in Malaysia.

The potentially record-breaking flotilla in Florida was organized by the coffee shop Conservative Grounds.

The organization called it the "MOAB," or "Mother of all Boat Parades," and claimed that 1,600 boats registered for the event.

If every registered boat participated, this would beat the 1,180 boats needed to break the record. According to Gehart, supporters traveled from across Florida and from neighboring states to participate.

Guinness officials are reviewing the footage from the event to determine the exact number of boats, Fox13 reported. In order for a boat to be counted, it needed to pass through Belleair Causeway to the Welch Causey in Clearwater, Florida, according to the organizer's website.
https://www.insider.com/trump-supporters-attempt-break-guinness-world-record-largest-boat-parade-2020-8




Oh and here’s where it gets weird. Because it’s Trump, you knew it was going to. Not only did boats sink in Texas, they also sank in Oregon and Wisconsin, and they keep sinking because once again MAGA boat owners don’t understand things like physics and science. Because if you overload your boat with a bunch of MAGA flags, you’re gonna have a bad time. It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?

The president loves his “beautiful boaters,” his well-off, pleasure-craft-owning supporters who, since early May, have held nautical parades in his honor. Throughout the summer, Trump has cited his popularity among small boat owners as proof that he is actually ahead in the presidential race. “Are we polling the boaters yet?” he reportedly asked during one June campaign meeting, fixated on a show of support that affirms his popularity among his most ardent backers: wealthy, suburban weekenders who already own several flags with his name on them.

Encouraged by the president’s zeal, boaters have been taking to the nation’s waterways and no-wake zones throughout the summer as a show of pride in their candidate and other related political interests. But some of his supporters have done so with a little too much speed. To date, at least seven boats have capsized or sunk due to the intensity of the wakes at the maritime rallies, as detailed below:

August 17 in Portland, Oregon: One boat sunk.

On the Willamette River just north of the Burnside Bridge in Portland, a small motorboat that was not involved with the August 17 boater parade capsized due to the many rocking wakes
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/09/boats-keep-sinking-and-capsizing-at-the-trump-boat-parades.html




Ah I miss that show. But my favorite thing about this is that there are some creative people out there, and that when the word got out about this on social media, they started spinning it. The best part of this whole thing? Instead of calling it “Dunkirk” after the Christopher Nolan WWII movie, they called it “Dumbkirk”. Yes, there are still a lot of very funny people on social media!

When choppy waters swamped five boats in Saturday’s Lake Travis boat parade in support of President Donald Trump, the internet heard the distress call and responded with a boatload of memes and quips.

The trending hashtag #Dumbkirk became a safe harbor for those not necessarily on board with the president’s re-election campaign. Many incorporated a photo by freelance photographer Bob Daemmerich, who was covering the event for the Austin American-Statesman. The image was featured on the newspaper’s front page Sunday and was among 30 photos documenting the event, which featured hundreds of boats on the lake west of Austin.

Before things turned bad on Lake Travis, Trump himself tweeted a GIF from one of many boat parades this weekend. (It was unclear which parade the video was from, and Trump did not mention the Lake Travis parade or problems directly.)

By Saturday night, after news of the problems on Lake Travis went worldwide, the meme-makers and photoshoppers took the helm.
https://www.statesman.com/news/20200906/lsquowersquore-gonna-need-bigger-votersquo-how-dumbkirk-swamped-internet





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[font size="8"]Kanye For President
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While our presidential choices are once again down to old white guy vs old white guy, the one guy who isn’t one of those isn’t really exactly going anywhere. I’m talking about Kanye West and his extremely ill-advised plan to help Trump and hurt Biden in the 2020 election. Hey Kanye, we’re onto you. And we are not going to let you derail this election the way countless Jill Steins, Ralph Naders, and Ross Perots have done in the past. But here’s the thing – many people want to know the answer to the most pressing question of 2020 – is Yeezy for real? Well, he is the most real person you might ever know to actually exist. And for the other? He’s a super genius just like his hero Trump is! Yeah put the two of them in the same room and you have an ego capable of crushing the planet.

The last 48 hours have presented a series of new challenges for Kanye West’s haphazard campaign for president.

In a span of two days, West was booted from the ballot in five states: Illinois, Montana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. In Illinois, Montana, and West Virginia, it was because he filed an insufficient number of valid signatures. In Wisconsin, it was because West did not file on time. In Ohio, the information and signature on West’s nominating petition and his statement of candidacy did not match those on petitions circulated to be signed.

West has filed in several other states in this week: Louisiana, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Virginia, but it is unclear if he will ultimately qualify to appear on the ballot in all of them.

West may face particular issues in Virginia, where seven of the 13 electors that West submitted told Intelligencer they were either unaware that they signed up to cast electoral votes on his behalf, or that they had signed notarized paperwork connected to the rapper’s presidential bid at all.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/08/kanye-wests-campaign-is-both-proceeding-and-unraveling.html




Really why is he so obsessed with that? But that brings me to my next point – he will be lucky if he snags any votes away from Biden because this is his My Beautiful Dark Presidential Twisted Fantasy. And yes I added the “president” part of it because like Trump he thinks he can play president and get away with it too! Well, I think we’ve had enough of vanity candidates because he’s still getting kicked off the ballot in many states.

Two Virginia residents are suing to keep rapper and producer Kanye West's name off the state's ballot in November, saying they were duped into signing on as electors for West.

The lawsuit, brought this week by a prominent Democratic firm, is the latest legal fight involving West's unorthodox candidacy for the White House. The music and fashion mogul has not mounted a traditional campaign, and GOP figures around the country have emerged to assist him in gaining access to state ballots. That has fueled speculation among Democrats that Republicans are promoting West's candidacy in an effort to siphon Black votes from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in key states.

In recent days, West's campaign has sued to get on the ballot in two presidential battlegrounds -- Wisconsin and Ohio -- where local authorities have rejected his petitions. This week, the West campaign also sought a preliminary injunction against officials in West Virginia, who invalidated more than 7,000 signatures of the more than 14,000 collected by his campaign.

Those actions have left West 761 signatures shy of the 7,144 needed for inclusion on the ballot, his lawsuit argues.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/02/politics/kanye-west-presidential-bid-legal-challenges/index.html




Holy crap he’s even taken over our candy canes! But we will tell you a couple of states where Yeezy is on the ballot and where he is not. And where he is on the ballot? Well he’s shockingly on the ballot in Mississippi and North Carolina but he’s not on the ballot in states like California. Yeah we are onto his game here. But one thing – his presidential aspirations are falling just a bit short.

So far, Kanye West has spent nearly $7 million of his own money on what continues to be one of the most befuddling presidential bids in the history of American politics.

An overdue campaign-finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission on the Friday of the holiday weekend provided new insight into what, exactly, the rapper is doing. So far, those millions have made West likely to appear on the ballot in at least 12 states — including swing states like Minnesota and Iowa.

There is also ongoing litigation in five other states where he still hopes to make the cut. The most remarkable case is in Virginia, where a number of electors for West were unaware that they had signed paperwork to be his electors. In what was almost certainly a first in American history, two electors for West successfully sued to have the candidate removed from the ballot in the state on Thursday. In a statement to Intelligencer, Gregg Keller, the top strategist for the West campaign, described the decision as “a typical, tired political show trial” and insisted the campaign would appeal.

The issues were slightly more pedestrian in the swing state of Arizona, where West was also thrown off the ballot Thursday after a local judge ruled that the rapper’s Republican voter registration in Wyoming disqualified him from running as an independent presidential candidate in the Grand Canyon State as a matter of state law. The West campaign’s lawyer in Arizona, Tim LaSota, has since appealed the decision to the state supreme court.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/09/kanye-wests-nearly-7-million-dollar-campaign-hits-legal-snags.html




I could totally see that working in real life. But Kanye is still one of the craziest mofos out there and he will not rest! That’s right, he’s one of the hardest working guys out there and I can imagine if he’s president that one of his first actions would be to take down Universal Records. Yeah after Trump, do we really need a guy who thinks that he’s the next Moses as the president? No, we need the adults back in charge, and we need it now!

Kanye West claimed he’s “not putting no more music out till I’m done with my contract with Sony and Universal” on Twitter Monday night.

“Vivendi family I’m in Calabassas,” he then tweeted, apparently trying to reach the French conglomerate that owns Universal. West’s GOOD label, as well as Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam, which put out the bulk of his records before the GOOD imprint was established, are all owned by Universal.

“I need a [public] apology from J Cole and Drake to start with immediately,” he continued in a separate tweet, adding, “I’m Nat Turner … I’m fighting for us.”

“I’m the 2nd richest black man in America,” another tweet added, though West eventually deleted that one. “I need all my people with me for us to get free.”

“I’m waiting to meet with [Shawn] Carter also,” West then tweeted, referring to Jay-Z.
https://pagesix.com/2020/09/14/kanye-west-says-he-wont-release-any-new-music-on-sony-universal/





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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: COVID on Campus
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!



It’s back to school time, but this year it’s different. The Coronavirus Disease of 2019, or COVID-19, is still raging through the populace. Which begs the question – is it safe to go back to school in the middle of a raging pandemic? The answers are ranging from a “no” to “hell no”. Which conflicts with the president’s message of things being OK enough to go back to school. But where are the problems going to lie? Well the biggest mystery so far surrounds student housing. How do you control the pandemic with students going from the dorms to campus and where community showers and sinks make containing the virus impossible? The president wants all schools open because that’s what he thinks we should be doing, and we should be doing that. But we are in the worst pandemic in 100 years and it’s a growing challenge for school deans everywhere.

Cases of coronavirus are spiking on university campuses, leaving administrators with two unappealing options: Quarantine students in dorms, or send them home.

The University of Alabama said it had recently posted university police officers at its quarantine dorms while Notre Dame said it had hired guards to monitor students in quarantine in hotels and off-campus apartments. And perhaps unsurprisingly, many schools are having trouble running what are essentially disease containment units.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Brianna Hayes was assigned to a quarantine dorm after developing a fever. Two days later, the university informed her that she had tested positive and would need to move again, to a Covid-19 isolation dorm.

There was no university staff in the dorm to help sick students, Ms. Hayes said, and no elevator. Feverish and exhausted from the virus, she made four trips up and down staircases to move her bedding and other belongings to her isolation room. During her week in isolation, she said, no one from the university came to check on her.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/09/us/schools-reopening-coronavirus.html




That’s probably the safest way to live in the age of COVID right now. But as of right now there. But in reality there are no good options for reopening schools right now. Putting kids back in the classroom puts both kids and teachers at risk. Making everyone go online makes it hard to track students. And everyone is at risk whether they are a student or not because of the very real possibility of the virus being harder to contain.

Although the risk is lower, it is not nonexistent. The AAP report, which includes data from 44 states, notes that a small percentage of this age group—between 0.2 and 8.8 percent of child COVID-19 cases—did require hospitalization. The same report indicates that 19 of the states reported no deaths among children, and the highest rate of pediatric deaths was 0.6 percent of cases. But if the total number of infections in this age group rises, the number of those that develop a severe case would likely increase as well.

Children also might pass the coronavirus to adults, who tend to have much more severe symptoms. Teachers, janitors, bus drivers and others must all spend significant amounts of time with students in enclosed spaces, where they are at a relatively high risk of contracting COVID-19 from children (as well as one another). Before students even entered public school buildings in Gwinnett County in Georgia, 260 employees who attended planning meetings either tested positive for COVID-19 or had had contact with someone else who had. In Santa Clara, Calif., 40 school officials took part in an indoor meeting. Days later, one of the officials received a positive COVID-19 test—and as a result of that person’s exposure, the other attendees had to go into quarantine. Many school employees fear that returning to the classroom will put their life, and the lives of their loved ones, at very real risk.

“The issue we need to worry about is whether or not [children are] vectors,” says Helen Jenkins, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Boston University School of Public Health. The science on how much children transmit the coronavirus is not settled. Some data suggest, Jenkins says, that “those infected are half as likely as adults to transmit to others.” Dooley notes that “we also are seeing increasing data that [children] don’t tend to be spreaders, so they’re not necessarily passing it to other children or other adults in their household or their community—from the data that we have so far.” But other data indicate children older than 10 can act as vectors. A study in Emerging Infectious Diseases, published online in July, analyzed contact-tracing reports for nearly 6,000 coronavirus patients in South Korea and found those aged 10 to 19 spread the virus as much as adults did.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/schools-have-no-good-options-for-reopening-during-covid-19/




Again that’s not how you contain the virus! And contrary to the growing argument that it only affects senior citizens and those who have immune deficiencies, those more likely to get the most serious COVID cases are children, and that means that if children can get it literally anyone can get it. Because it’s a novel virus and that means that we’re all immune until we come up with cures and vaccines, which probably wont be until next year.

With millions of American children soon returning to school, a new study shows that at least 97,000 kids were infected with COVID-19 during the last two weeks of July.

According to the new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, at least 338,000 U.S. children had tested positive through July 30, The New York Times reported. That means that more than a quarter of those cases had come up positive in the second half of July alone.

Already, some schools have tried to reopen and then had to order quarantines or close after COVID-19 cases were reported among students and staff, the Times reported. North Paulding High School in Georgia, which gained national attention last week after videos of crowded hallways made their way onto social media, announced Sunday it would switch to online instruction for Monday and Tuesday after at least nine coronavirus cases were reported there.

In the new report, states in the South and West accounted for more than 7 of 10 infections. The count could be higher because the report did not include complete data from Texas and parts of New York State outside of New York City.
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-08-10/as-schools-reopen-report-shows-97-000-us-kids-infected-with-covid-in-late-july




So your campus has the potential to be a super spreader event. *CUE HORROR MUSIC* And by the way if you’re thinking of holding that party or planning that backyard barbecue, just remember that this could have a stemming effect on your community. Because they can trace it back to YOU. And your party, and there goes your school’s plans being canceled. So think that every action you have during COVID will have a reaction.

Colleges aren't the only schools that have had to close their doors soon after reopening.

And in some cases, school officials are laying the blame for their changing plans on families in their communities, where graduation and end-of-summer parties prompted spikes in positive COVID-19 cases.

That's what happened in the Carle Place School District in Long Island, New York, where Superintendent Christine A. Finn announced school would start with remote learning last Wednesday rather than in person.

"We have no choice but to put the safety of our staff and students first," she said in a letter that connected many of the new positive COVID-19 cases in the community to attendance at parties where some who tested positive had close contact with students.

"As we are learning the hard way, the actions of a few can impact the many," she said.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/09/13/covid-cases-schools-back-to-school-fall-semester/5694385002/




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! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s VENMO 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 virtual congregation! Unfortunately we are still unable to bring you the full and proper Holy Shit that you know and love and we are still broadcasting from this white void. So that means no gospel choir and no Blues Brothers style theatrics. But what we can bring you is our commentary on all things religious and man they are just growing batshit insane. Well you know there are DAYMONS among us in the Deep State! Yes, we’re allowed to talk politics here in my church, because why not? Well there’s a movement in the GOP called “Q Anon” and they are out to get witches! Yes, they are convinced by GAWD that witches walk among us! What year is this? 1687?

Are demons active forces in American life and politics? That is what a large number of evangelicals in the US believe and are increasingly vocal about.

Since the 1980s, growing numbers of evangelicals have given the fight against demons a key role in their spirituality and their politics. Known as “spiritual warfare”, this views demons as central actors in world politics and everyday life. While often seen as fringe, belief in spiritual warfare is common across denominational lines, including among evangelicals close to Donald Trump such as Robert Jeffress and the president’s spiritual advisor, Paula White.

A key idea in spiritual warfare is that demons don’t only attack people, as in depictions of demonic possession, but also take control of places and institutions, such as journalism, academia, and both municipal and federal bureaucracies. By doing so, demons are framed as advancing social projects that spiritual warriors see as opposing God’s plans. These include advances in reproductive and LGBTQ rights and tolerance for non-Christian religions (especially Islam).

In a recent article published in the journal Religion, I explore how these ideas about demons combine with the wider Christian nationalism shown to be prevalent among Trump’s support base. Through a survey of conservative evangelical literature, articles, and television and radio broadcasts released between 2016 and 2018, I analyse how their authors used discourses of spiritual warfare to navigate the changing political reality, and Trump’s victory and presidency in particular.
https://www.themandarin.com.au/139744-demons-of-the-deep-state-how-evangelicals-and-conspiracy-theories-combine-in-trumps-america/




Yes! Because only witches and DAYMONS would light their cigarettes on fire after being burned at the stake! But since we are on the subject of Satanic Witchcraft, we have an actual cult in the making and it’s a cult without central leadership. Their meeting place is online and their leader is only known as Q, and they spout such mindless slogans as “Where We Go One We Go All!”.

QAnon has been making headlines in recent weeks. It's going to make more.

QAnon is, among many things, an expansive conspiracy theory built around the idea that a "deep state," or cabal of elite leftists, is clandestinely working against President Donald Trump. A person (or small group) known as "Q" drops revelations in various forms online. At the core of the appeal is its ability to generate fear. Suggesting that there is a powerful figure or group subverting the country and empowering all manner of evil is frightening.

Some of the headlines about QAnon in recent days have connected it with evangelical Christians. In addition, many proponents describe their mission in religious and quasi-religious terms.
Legitimizing a new religion?

Some talk about QAnon as if some messianic figure is at work. Similar to the ancient heresy of Gnosticism in the early church, it lures people with promises of secret knowledge. It provides a sense of identity and belonging with code phrases like, "Where we go one, where we go all." Many people, including active church members, are being drawn in.

QAnon is starting to shift things in ways that will particularly impact churches. According to a recent NPR article, many pastors believe it already has.
https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/opinion/2020/09/05/qanon-and-evangelicals-its-time-address-qanoners-column/5717300002/




But how do you cast out something unwanted? We can’t congregate in public right now, so dark minds are going to become even darker. They worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken in my virtual church! And since we can talk politics in my church, actual priests are talking politics, and they don’t have kind words to say about us who are fighting every day for truth and injustice! Dare I say this is a bit… demonic?

Two renegade priests: one calls COVID sham, one says Dems face hell

The Rev. James Altman, a priest in La Crosse, Wis., appeared in a video posted on YouTube, calling Catholic Democrats "Godless" hypocrites doomed to hell — a video, produced by a Minnesota conservative media news outlet, that now has received 655,000 clicks.

The Rev. Robert Altier delivered a fiery sermon earlier this month, labeling COVID-19 an evil, man-made conspiracy and telling his Catholic congregation in Crystal that “we’ve been lied to.”

That came just days after the Rev. James Altman, a priest in La Crosse, Wis., appeared in a video posted on YouTube, calling Catholic Democrats “Godless” hypocrites doomed to hell — a video, produced by a Minnesota conservative media news outlet, that now has received 655,000 clicks.

Catholic priests — as with all faith leaders — are supposed to steer clear of endorsing political leaders, at minimum, from the pulpit. But the two incendiary speeches reveal that the country’s polarized political climate is drifting through some church doors.

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/two-renegade-priests-one-calls-covid-sham-one-says-dems-face-hell/572411762/?om_rid=103169417673&om_mid=1283603913




Seriously where is that woman when you need her? But really if online is replacing reality, what would it take to stop a fake religion from replacing a real one? Q Anon has no tenants. It has no central leadership. It has no weekly sermons. It has no pastors or preachers. But what it does have is a bunch of batshit insanity. And it’s going to take a lot to deprogram these cult members!

Remember the “Left Behind” series, about how the Rapture would whisk away all devout right-wing Christians before Jesus Christ unleashed the apocalypse on the unbelievers? Purity rings? Jesus Camp? Breathless stories about “girls gone mild,” giving up sex and tank tops for the Lord? A federal health official who believed that women who had premarital sex couldn’t feel love? Jerry Falwell Sr. and Pat Robertson blaming 9/11 on the “pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way”?

There can be no doubt that the heyday of Christian fundamentalism in America was the George W. Bush administration. Conservatives craved reassurance that they were defenders of “morality”, despite supporting an indefensible invasion of Iraq that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. These claims to moral superiority over liberals mainly came in the form of policing hymen status, harassing women at abortion clinics and claiming a right to Christian forgiveness (for yourself) when caught with prostitutes or soliciting gay sex in public bathrooms.

White evangelicals still hold considerable political power, which is why Donald Trump occasionally tries to get photographed fondling a Bible in ways he vainly hopes are convincing. Abortion and LGBTQ rights are still under serious threat, as the Christian right has made major inroads into the federal judiciary.
https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/white-evangelicalism-is-in-decline-and-qanon-could-take-its-place/




Yes, we’re dealing with some absolutely crazy people here and we need to deprogram them as soon as possible! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Louis De Joy
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This week’s This Fucking Guy is the self-appointed and self-proclaimed Postmaster General of the United States, Louis De Joy. Oh wait, he’s the actual Postmaster? Yeah. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a raging pandemic that has ravaged this country. We’re also in the middle of the presidential election that could and should unseat Donald J. Trump. Now what should normally be a no-brainer in the middle of the raging pandemic is to allow people to vote by mail. But nope, President “Voter Fraud” is screaming that voter fraud is a very real possibility but in reality it’s not exactly what you might think, but is a fraud is how Louis De Joy actually got the Postmaster General job.

Louis DeJoy boosted his giving to Republican political campaigns as the job of U.S. Postmaster General became available, a researcher told Congress.

DeJoy, who now holds the position, gave President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee more than $600,000 over eight weeks after the opening was announced, Lisa Graves, executive director of True North Research, which investigates the influence of money on public policy, said in written testimony submitted to a panel of the House Oversight Committee in advance of a hearing Monday.

In the 2019-2020 cycle, DeJoy has given more than $1.5 million to GOP candidates and campaigns, the bulk of which has gone to aid Trump’s 2020 election strategy, Graves said. The sum includes nearly $80,000 to aid GOP Senate races since last December, when the former Postmaster General announced she would resign.

“This level of partisanship,” Graves said in written testimony, “undermines public trust in the Postal Service as an institution.”

Representative Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat who is chairman of the panel, said the hearing would help fill out a portrait of DeJoy. “We have a crony at the helm of our nation’s Postal Service, a man rife with conflicts of interest and potential violations of law,” Connolly said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/dejoy-gave-600-000-to-gop-after-postmaster-job-opened-up




Newman!!! Actually, Louis DeJoy could be just like Newman in that Newman is a character with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. You see, hiring a Postmaster General to destroy the Post Office is like your alcoholic friend hiring a guy named Jack Daniels to do his dry cleaning. You know he did it just for the thrill and it’s a very obvious sign that he has a fucking problem! But the problems that DeJoy is facing continue to mount and it’s the stuff of impending doom.

Scrutiny of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy intensified on Monday amid new reports alleging improper business dealings and persistent charges that the longtime Republican donor is subverting postal operations in order to make mail-in voting difficult in November’s presidential election.

“I am calling on Mr. DeJoy to be fired or resign,” government watchdog Lisa Graves told lawmakers on Monday morning, during a briefing on postal operations before the House Oversight Committee. True North Research, the organization Graves heads, found that DeJoy — who runs a North Carolina shipping firm — had been sued by his brother Dominick for allegedly siphoning money from the trucking company founded by their father.

Unknown nationally until this summer, DeJoy has become a key figure in the debate over how people should vote in November’s presidential election. Although that decision is ultimately up to individual states, voting by mail is impossible without a properly functioning postal service. That is the purview of the federal government.

President Trump has insisted, incorrectly, that voting by mail is subject to widespread fraud. Critics say the charges amount to a national voter suppression effort — one that, those critics say, DeJoy is abetting. Installed to run the U.S. Postal Service in June, DeJoy donated $1.2 million to the Trump Victory Fund. He has also been a consistent supporter of GOP in North Carolina, where he lives. The state’s Republican Party has been accused of being on the leading edge of efforts to suppress voters, particularly African-Americans in particular.
https://news.yahoo.com/scrutiny-of-postmaster-general-louis-de-joy-intensifies-230112268.html




Mail on Sunday? Oops!! And you know what? While we’re on the subject of DeJoy and the USPS let’s do that thing that Trump fans and Red Pill Truthers do and go down the rabbit hole shall we? So if you were to do a deep dive on this DeJoy character, let’s keep in mind that he is one shady mofo. And he’s just the type of guy that Trump attracts. Because business grifters are going to be business grifters! Hold your boos.

A two-decade-old audit of mail equipment transport contracts by the U.S. Postal Service's inspector general found that a company previously run by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was awarded multiple noncompetitive contracts by the Postal Service that may have cost consumers as much as $53 million more than if they'd been competitively bid.

The 2001 audit found that New Breed Logistics, a supply chain services provider based in North Carolina, was awarded more than $300 million in Postal Service mail equipment transport contracts that could have come in at a much lower price had they been shopped competitively to a range of vendors.

The audit, reviewed by NBC News, made it clear that the premise for awarding any noncompetitive contracts to a single vendor, such as New Breed, "did not fully meet Postal Service requirements" and "potentially exposed the Postal Service to cost and performance risks."

The contracts awarded to New Breed, beginning in 1992, were to operate a pilot mail transport equipment service center in Greensboro, North Carolina. DeJoy was chief executive of New Breed from 1983 to 2014.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/postal-contracts-awarded-dejoy-run-company-were-questioned-2001-postal-n1239990




No, don’t cancel your mail just yet. Because we are going to need it there, Kramer! But Louis DeJoy is one shady character. He’s so shady that even expert witnesses are telling the house that this guy is grossly unqualified to be the Postmaster General. In fact I’m not an expert (shocker) but even I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy has never worked a day in his life at the Post Office. Let’s just ask Newman!

United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy should not have been chosen for his post due to apparent conflicts of interest that made him ineligible, expert witnesses told Congress on Monday.

That is what Richard Painter, a former top ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, and David Fineman, former chairman of the U.S.P.S. Board of Governors under the Bill Clinton and Bush administrations, said before the House Overisight Committee.

DeJoy's $30 million stake in his former logistics company, XPO Logistics, which is a major contractor for the Postal Service and has received $14 million from the agency since DeJoy was appointed in June, should have posed far too great a risk for a criminal financial conflict of interest, the men testified to the House Oversight Committee.

In addition, the witnesses said that if DeJoy had been properly vetted before being appointed by the board of governors, they could have uncovered allegations of potential campaign violations reported by The Washington Post earlier this month.

"You do not get that job if you keep stock in a contractor with your agency," Painter said. "That is a deal breaker because you could go into public office and commit a felony. It would have been a deal breaker in the Bush administration. We would not have nominated, appointed or approved—in any way—a senior Executive Branch official having that conflict of interest."
https://www.newsweek.com/dejoy-never-should-have-been-approved-postmaster-general-expert-witnesses-tell-house-oversight-1531829




He’s the Postmaster General who should have never been appointed in the first place! That’s Louis DeJoy, this week’s:




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[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse
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So the Oscars wants to be less inclusive and more racist? No, they want to be less racist and more inclusive. That’s right, the Academy of Motion Pictures is going full steam with embracing divserity which is going to look great for the 2021 Best Picture nominees since we’re in a pandemic and no movies are getting made or released! How is that going to work? Well, moving onto best pictures when full movie production resumes, you can bet that there’s going to be a lot more people being included in the Best Picture nominations. Where in recent years the Best Picture has been won by… let’s see… white guy, white guy, white guy, a bunch of white guys, and oh yeah white guy. Except for Moonlight and whatever the hell the Shape Of Water is. But enough of my rambling.

The diversity and inclusion initiative has been a heavy focus for the Oscars the past few years, shown by the expansive membership initiative. As part of the Academy Aperture 2025 initiative, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday new representation and inclusion standards in order to be eligible in the best picture category.

For the 94th and 95th Oscars ceremonies, scheduled for 2022 and 2023, a film will submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form to be considered for best picture. Beginning in 2024, for the 96th Oscars, a film submitting for best picture will need to meet the inclusion thresholds by meeting two of the four standards.

All other Academy categories will keep their current eligibility requirements. For categories such as animated feature, documentary feature and international feature, that submit for best picture consideration, they will be addressed separately.

For a number of years, the Academy has struggled to nominate films that are diverse in its cast, directors, and technical craftspeople. In 2016, after they failed to nominate any person of color among their 20 acting nominees, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who was Academy President at the time, took historic action by committing to doubling the number of women and diverse members by 2020, which they have achieved.
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/oscars-inclusion-standards-best-picture-diversity-1234762727/




Now you might be asking – “how is this going to work?” and I answer you – I’m pretty sure even the Academy doesn’t know. But the other question is why the hell are we waiting until 2024 to fully implement this criteria? Well that’s probably when we’re going to resume film production. Well I’m hoping that it’s not that long. But the bad thing is this won’t change who wins best picture.

Hollywood has always straddled the line between authenticity and artifice, both onscreen and off. In the old-school studio system, it wasn't unusual for an actor's "real" identity to be as much a work of fiction as the movies he starred in. Backstories were fabricated; facts were massaged; private lives were obscured. Gay stars pretended to be heterosexual playboys, recognizably ethnic surnames were traded for anglicized ones, and mixed-race actors who could pass as white often took pains to do so.

In the next few years, the Hollywood game-playing surrounding identity may well take a new turn, with actors scrambling to classify themselves outside the white, cis, and heterosexual norms that their predecessors hewed to. This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) handed down a brand new set of diversity and inclusion requirements, which films must start meeting in 2022 (with full rollout in 2024) to be eligible for Best Picture consideration. Those who want a shot at the Oscar will need to make sure their production meets those standards in at least two of the following four categories: "Onscreen Representation, Themes and Narratives," "Creative Leadership and Project Team," "Industry Access and Opportunities," and "Audience Development."

Although this announcement came at a moment when diversity commitments are particularly trendy, anyone who's followed the Oscars and its attendant controversies over the past few years will know that it's been brewing for much longer. It was 2015 when an all-white slate of acting nominees first prompted a viral backlash against the Academy and its yearly awards ceremony, a P.R. nightmare that Hollywood has been clumsily trying to overcome ever since. Prior to now, the biggest initiative was a 2018 mass recruitment of new members, which nudged the Academy's makeup ever so slightly in a more diverse direction while making no real impact on its overall hegemony of white males. Unlike the Academy's other efforts, this latest move carries a whiff of control, not just over Oscars consideration, but over the art itself.
https://reason.com/2020/09/11/the-oscars-new-diversity-rules-wont-change-who-wins-best-picture/




That’s of course assuming there’s going to be a next year there, Homer! I kid I kid, there’s going to be life after COVID. I hope. Anyways before I start rambling again, just how far did the Academy step in it in regards to their diversity requirements? Well let’s just say think of it like stepping in a pool of giraffe diarrhea. That’s a horrible and disgusting image that will do little to help the overall landscape, and let’s face it, you feel bad for the giraffe! So just how much did they step in it?

On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced new guidelines for film eligibility.

These new guidelines emphasize diversity, but in more complicated ways than you might assume. Before considering the effects of the new rules, it is worth contemplating the old rules, both explicit and implicit.

Previously, the only formal requirements for eligibility were that a movie had to have been screened and advertised for a week for paid admission in Los Angeles County in the preceding calendar year. Hence Oscar eligibility lists published by the academy includes movies that nobody expects to get Oscars — such as Pokémon Detective Pikachu and the remake of Charlie’s Angels. Of course, those are the official rules for eligibility, but as everyone intuitively knows — and Oliver Schilke and I showed in a 2014 article for the American Sociological Review — there are implicit criteria for getting an Oscar. Notably, Oscar bait is typically released in November or December; has IMDb genres of drama, war, biography, and/or history; has plot elements such as disability, scandal, investigative reporting, human-rights abuses, or show business; has a director with a track record of nominations; and is released by the specialty division of a major studio. The new rules would add that the film must substantially reflect diversity on the screen or behind it.

The new rules emphasize diversity in a level of detail that is unprecedented for the mainstream Oscar categories. (Categories such as foreign and documentary have long had complicated rules.) The new rules require Oscar-eligible films to meet any two of four “standards.” Standard “A” requires that the film has a non-white lead actor or much of the supporting cast are intersectionally diverse or the story centers on women, non-white people, LGBTQ+, or disabled people.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/the-new-oscars-diversity-rules-will-have-little-impact/




So where do actual movie stars stand on the Oscar’s new inclusion rules? Well they’re about as divided as we are on the subject. It’s going to be a while before Hollywood gets back to its’ pre-COVID self but while that happens, we’re waiting to see what the stars actually think. And well it’s generally a mixed bag of opinions.

Ever since the #OscarsSoWhite campaign began four years ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been searching for innovative ways to champion inclusivity across the white- and male-dominated film industry, including by diversifying its ranks. On Tuesday, they released their newest initiative: new inclusion standards for films seeking a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards.

Starting in 2024, Best Picture hopefuls will have to meet the standards of two out of four broad groups of criteria laid out in a 1,000-word memo: representation onscreen (addressed in Standard A), behind the camera (B) and in audience development (D); and pipelines for young, marginalized talent (C). The guidelines, which the Academy says were created following a far-reaching consultation process throughout the industry, specifically draw attention to the underrepresentation of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities.

DeVon Franklin, a film producer who co-led the initiative, said in an interview that while the guidelines had been in the works for over a year, they were successfully voted through by the Academy’s board of governors in June, in the wake of the global protests following the death of George Floyd. “It was a moment when the board said, ‘We, as the representatives of our constituents and the Academy, want to be a lighthouse for the future,’” he said.
https://time.com/5887344/oscars-diversity-rules-movies/





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[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Hit it!



Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. While we were off for the Labor Day holiday, stupid obviously never takes a holiday! So who is dumb this week? Well first, Dr. Phil is dumb. Yes, the fake TV psychiatrist that Oprah unwittingly leashed upon the masses continues to prove why he should not be practicing any medicine. Hell, he doesn’t understand the unwritten rules of social media! And one of those rules is that you don’t tell people what to do! No! if you tell someone to do something, they’re only going to want to do more of this. Especially when we’re in a pandemic and everyone is bored out of their skulls!

Dr. Phil McGraw popped up on TikTok on Thursday to pop off to his followers who keep calling him “Daddy.”

It seems that a lot of people who follow his posts refer to him as “Daddy” in the comments and he’s apparently annoyed.

So as part of the app’s popular “you have to stop” posts, McGraw asked his TikTok fans to cease the patriarchal nicknames when commenting on his posts.

“I hate to break it to you, but I ain’t your daddy, and your real daddy is probably getting his feelings hurt,” McGraw said. “I appreciate the support — it’s a little weird, but I appreciate the support.”

@drphil

#YouHaveTo stop calling me “daddy.” I ain’t ya daddy.
♬ you have to stop supporting trump - hannah_harpist

And because this is the internet, everyone immediately respected his wishes ― not!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1103&pid=18286




Damn right!! You don’t tell the internet what to do, Dr. Phil! No, no, no, no, no, no. Next up – let’s go across the pond to France! As we have proven on this program time and time again, there’s stupid people no matter what country you go to. But in this particular case, we all get annoyed with bugs and insects. But this might not be the best way to go about doing things. In fact, you could put a “DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME” warning on this next story.

The man, who is in his 80s, was about to tuck into his dinner when he became irritated by a fly buzzing around him.

He picked up an electric racket designed to kill bugs and start swatting at it - but a gas canister was leaking in his Dordogne home.

A reaction between the racket and the gas caused an explosion, destroying the kitchen and partly damaging the roof of the home in Parcoul-Chenaud village.

According to local media, the unnamed man had a lucky escape, sustaining just a burn to the hand.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54051423




Yeah something like that. Next up – you know much of the country is experiencing devastating wildfires, and I swear that it’s Mother Nature’s way of saying she’s bound and determined to get rid of us once and for all. And you can spout your conspiracy theories, believe me. But one thing you should never ever do? How about don’t set off fucking explosives in a dry climate on the hottest day of the year? What could go wrong?

At the time of writing there are 7,718 fires raging across California, 20 people have lost their lives, and nearly 5,000 buildings have been destroyed. The ignition of one of these fires caught the attention of the press, and the internet, more than others.

On September 5, an explosion of coloured smoke revealed the gender of a Californian couple’s soon to be born child, and simultaneously set light to over 10,000 acres of the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yuaipa.

Gender-reveal parties, relatively unheard of just a few years ago, have now become an important rite of passage for expectant parents in the US. Seen by some as an unhelpful reinforcement of binary gender stereotypes, these parties have long been the source of mockery by the internet. Years of one-upmanship have seen ever more extravagant reveals posted to social media – cake cutting, mass dance performances, balloons dropped from planes, and, increasingly, pyrotechnics.

So, when a gender-reveal party started the El Dorado fire, it was bound to draw attention. Memes and spoof articles soon appeared, and the mainstream media latched on to the story. The idea that the fires were started by human stupidity is one we actually find appealing, and almost comforting. But this narrative hides a very uncomfortable truth.
https://theconversation.com/california-wildfires-why-a-gender-reveal-party-got-the-blame-but-shouldnt-have-146033




Yeah seriously don’t do anything that dumb. There are limits people! Next up – the state of Florida always brings the crazy! We make fun of America’s most penis-shaped state but it does have some of the craziest people alive! For instance this particular story out of Port St. Lucie, Florida. Now I love me some bacon, but don’t get your bacon and your cocaine mixed up, that’s mistake number one. Mistake number two? Don’t keep either one in the backseat of your car for an extended period of time.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A Florida man was arrested Wednesday after deputies found more than a pound of cocaine in his truck and even more at his home, including some on top of a stack of bacon.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said Clifford Eugene Tindall was pulled over around 7 p.m. and deputies found a bag filled with nearly a pound of cocaine in the back seat, TC Palm reported.

Deputies found more cocaine during a search of his home around 9 p.m. Some cocaine was found “directly on top of a stack of bacon,” investigators said.
Content Continues Below

Tindall, 62, was arrested and charged with two counts of cocaine trafficking, according to jail records. He was released on $70,000 bond.
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending/florida-man-arrested-with-pound-cocaine-some-kept-stack-bacon-deputies-say/DTHZQL5X5RERZJ2JO6ZCG2D62Y/




Of course! Finally this week, we go to that most senior of all Florida cities, The Villages! And yes many times during the course of this horrible administration I’ve been there, and we have all been there. But if Trump drives you to drink, maybe don’t tell this as your excuse to the cops. Me personally? I’m going to go have a few cold ones after this because well, Trump and the COVID pandemic are really driving me to drink.

A man who crashed his golf cart while driving it drunk through The Villages said he was driven to drink after watching President Donald Trump on TV, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said they were called to a single-vehicle golf cart crash the evening of July 30 on Rainey Trail and Buena Vista Boulevard and when they questioned the driver, 82-year-old Cary De Van, he said he hit a wall inside the golf cart tunnel while driving home.

De Van’s red golf cart had what appeared to be a broken axle, leading deputies to believe he ran over a concrete curb, records show.

The report said De Van was slurring his words and smelled of alcohol as deputies were questioning him about the crash. De Van was not injured and no property was damaged during the crash.

He claimed that about two hours prior, he saw Trump speaking on TV and “then got really mad at what he said” so he started drinking vodka, according to authorities.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/08/19/florida-man-involved-in-dui-golf-cart-crash-claims-president-trump-drove-him-to-drink-deputies-say/




That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]Road To The White House: Biden’s Special Guests
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Welcome back to the… *cue reverb* ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!!! Oh that was some damn fine reverb there! So when we last met, we talked about the differences in celebrity endorsements between Biden and Trump. And basically Biden has the endorsement of all the cool celebrities, while Trump is full of has-beens and dipshits who have been banned from social media. This week, since we can’t campaign in person, we have to resort to campaigning virtually. Yeah it blows but while COVID is still a thing we can’t do things the way we normally do. But Biden’s got a whole lot of special guests lined up for his virtual campaign events. Like for instance, one of my favorite rappers, our good friend Ice Cube, who is riding with Biden!

Ice Cube has been promoting his Contract with Black America ahead of the upcoming presidential election, and it looks like both major party candidates have taken notice. Speaking with TMZ earlier this week, the rap veteran revealed that the camps of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have contacted him about his proposed agenda.

“The end game is to get a candidate to adopt this plan because it’s needed for Black America,” Cube told the outlet. “We all got our favorite candidate that we want to win, but the thing is — we need this done.”

In a previous op-ed The Hill article, Cube outlined his Contact with Black America and called for politicians to present a plan for reparations and address racial inequalities within the banking and financial industries, criminal justice system, policing, education and Hollywood.

Cube added that the Biden campaign is already “moving full-speed” ahead on social justice issues, but he wants to see an equal amount of attention go to economic equality initiatives.
https://www.revolt.tv/2020/9/10/21430574/ice-cube-trump-biden-contract-black-america




Really Ice, you’d expect Trump to be a leader on social issues? Have you been following the last 4 years of this horrible administration like we have? But here’s the thing – Ice Cube is such a hot guest to have that both teams – Team Biden and Team Trump – are vying to get his take on America in 2020 before the election. So why are they focusing on earning his opinion? Well because… celebrity. And black.

Ice Cube has been promoting his Contract With Black America ahead of the upcoming Presidential election.

The contract serves as a “blueprint to achieve racial economic justice.” The Hip Hop legend revealed during a conversation with TMZ Live that both candidates have been in contact with him to outline his demands.

“The end game is to get a candidate to adopt this plan because it’s needed for Black America,” said Cube as he discussed his contract. Cube says he washed his hands of identity politics. In other words, he’s will to vote Trump back into office if he meets his demands before his Presidency is up.

“[Me and Biden’s team] talked about a few things,” said Cube. “Making sure that a fair amount of government contracts go to Black businesses, and I say Black specifically because the word ‘minority’ has actually hurt us because every minority usually gets something but us. I really wanna focus on economics. I think economics could fix a lot of these other social problems. They’re moving full-speed on dealing with social issues. The same amount of energy needs to go into getting us out of this economic hole that Black people have found themselves in generation after generation. We have to close this wealth gap.”

Ice Cube assures that both parties “understand that something big needs to be done.”
https://thesource.com/2020/09/10/ice-cube-reveals-joe-biden-and-donald-trump-reached-out-to-him-about-his-contract-with-black-america/




Now here’s where Ice Cube’s endorsement is considered shocking. Because while he’s a black celebrity, he’s also very, very rich. And something (we’re guessing Kanye maybe?) might be turning wealthy black Americans against the Democratic party. So because of that, we have to present both sides of the issue and here’s where Team Trump could see some input from Mr. Cube.

On May 24, Ice Cube tweeted, “Hold the Black vote hostage until one of ’em comes with A Black Agenda that we’re satisfied with. It’s not our job to fix the country’s mess until we fix our mess…#fuckyoupayme.”

The hip-hop icon’s tweet falls in line with a sentiment Sean “Diddy” Combs recently shared during an interview with Naomi Campbell when he called for Black people to hold off giving Joe Biden and the Democrats support until the Black community’s issues and needs are addressed.

“We want to know very clearly. Just like Trump made it clear that he wanted to build a wall, Biden needs to make it clear that he’s gonna change the lives and quality of life of Black and Brown people,” Diddy said. “Or else he can’t get the vote. I will hold the vote hostage if I have to.”

In the interview on Campbell’s web series, “No Filter with Naomi,” Diddy declared the “Black vote ain’t free.” More people seem to be following this belief especially after the presumptive presidential Democrat’s interview on The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne Tha God.

Nina Turner, national co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, tweeted, “The @DNC must stop playing games with our votes. And to my Beloved Black Community: Now is the time! We owe it to our ancestors, ourselves and to our future to seize this moment for the uplift of our people. This assignment is forever!#Iaintblack“
https://www.blackenterprise.com/ice-cube-joins-charlamagne-diddy-against-biden-democrats-lets-hold-the-black-vote-hostage-until-theres-a-black-agenda-were-satisfied-with/




Let’s not go that far! But yeah that’s where Mr. Cube could do some damage, because he’s an actor and a hip hop star and creator of some of some of the best hip hop songs of all time. And he holds sway with the younger generation of rappers like Charlemagne The God, Lil Wayne, and Lil Uzi Vert. So you can see why his opinion is actually important.

Ice Cube has been promoting his Contract with Black America ahead of the upcoming presidential election, and it looks like both major party candidates have taken notice. Speaking with TMZ earlier this week, the rap veteran revealed that the camps of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have contacted him about his proposed agenda.

“The end game is to get a candidate to adopt this plan because it’s needed for Black America,” Cube told the outlet. “We all got our favorite candidate that we want to win, but the thing is — we need this done.”

In a previous op-ed The Hill article, Cube outlined his Contact with Black America and called for politicians to present a plan for reparations and address racial inequalities within the banking and financial industries, criminal justice system, policing, education and Hollywood.

Speaking with TMZ, the multi-hyphenate said that he and the Biden campaign team talked “about a few things,” namely economic support for Black Americans.

“Making sure that a fair amount of government contracts go to Black businesses,” he named as one talking point. “... I really want to focus on economics. I think economics could fix a lot of these other social problems.”
https://www.revolt.tv/2020/9/10/21430574/ice-cube-trump-biden-contract-black-america





See you next week!

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September 2, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #13: Labor Day Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #13: Labor Day Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? It’s hard to enjoy a holiday when all the days are running together right now, but we’ll try to help get you through this extremely crappy time in America and the world right now. Yes, we’re all sad, scared and angry because COVID is still wandering the landscape. But the good news though is that we’ll get to go back to the studio! Yay!!! The next few (hopefully) editions will be from our new home at the amazing Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank. Still no live audiences allowed for the time being, but we can manage! And yes, I regret not being able to cover the insanity surrounding the RNC and Trump’s nomination. Because these things have a shelf life and by the time we come back next week it will already be yesterday’s news! Of course our whole show is focused on covering yesterday’s news, but that is beside the point. Although the good thing – when we come back on the 9th our next set of the Top 10 Hot 10 is going to focus on the sports and entertainment industry! Yes, everyone from Aubrey Huff to Sean Hannity to James Woods to Clint Eastwood and everybody in between is going to be covered, and there will be another edition of Holy Shit to go along with it! Just like the last time we will begin announcing our picks for this batch of the Top 10 Hot 10 on 9/2 on our Twitter feed at @10Idiots! OK I’m rambling enough. That’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first I have to play this short but sweet Biden ad aimed at football fans (myself included!):



So where do we start for this best of? Well in the #1 spot, from Idiots #9-2, we’re dedicating it to Trump’s extremely ill-timed and poorly planned MAGA rally in Tulsa that claimed the life of former presidential candidate Herman Cain, among other nonsense that came out of that. In the second spot from Idiots #9-8 is Kanye West (2). Yes, the College Dropout and inexplicable presidential candidate basically admitted that his whole campaign is a fraud meant to take votes away from Biden. Fuck him.In the third slot from Idiots #8-19, is Lockdown Protests (3). Yes we all get the dire straits that this wretched virus has left us in but these idiots were taking their protest game to the next level, and getting everyone else infected in the process! Taking the fourth slot, from Idiots #9-9 is Herman Cain (4). He sadly lost his battle with COVID-19 after attending Trump’s inane Tulsa rally, but his Twitter account is still inexplicably active! Who’s tweeting and why is it aimed at Biden and his supporters? Taking the 5th slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and from Idiots #8-17: Mississippi audited their government at the state and local levels and found some absolutely ridiculous spending sprees! Find out what they blew their money on this time! In the #6 slot, from Idiots #9-3, our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 (6) covered yet another disastrous rally, this time at an Arizona megachurch, and come find out the completely batshit justification as to why they held an indoor rally in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century! Taking the 7th slot this week, from Idiots #9-5, is our favorite segment “Beating A Dead Horse” (7), and this week, country music group Lady Antebellum dropped the word “Antebellum” from their name and found out the name Lady A was already taken, but who really owns the rights to the name Lady A? The answer is not what you would expect! Taking the 8th slot this week, from Idiots #9-6, is our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner (8), and Q Anon followers took their fight to the DIY furniture industry and accused furniture manufacture Wayfair of sex trafficking, resulting in one of the most insane corporate apologies of all time! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a People Are Dumb, and we’re dedicating it to our favorite state, the Sunshine State, and a guy who spent his stimulus money on some absurdly stupid items! Finally this week in our documenting of the 2020 campaign, Road To The White House (10), Joe Biden names his nominee and it’s Kamala Harris! Find out what in store!Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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From: Idiots #9-2

Everyone knew that Trump holding an indoor event in the middle of the deadliest pandemic in 100 years was a colossally bad idea. And holding it in Tulsa, Oklahoma – the site of America’s worst race riot, on the day that slavery was ended – was also a bad idea. But allow me to engage in a bit of schadenfreude here. Because, nobody showed up! That’s right – absolutely nobody showed up to this rally. Don’t worry, we will get to that in a bit here. But he can make all the excuses all he wants, the fact of the matter is that COVID still reigns supreme, and until we start reeling in this monster, we can kiss large stadium gatherings like this goodbye. But that didn’t stop his most hardcore fans from showing up.

President Donald Trump is "furious" at the "underwhelming" crowd at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday evening, a major disappointment for what had been expected to be a raucous return to the campaign trail after three months off because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to multiple people close to the White House.

The president was fuming at his top political aides Saturday even before the rally began after his campaign revealed that six members of the advance team on the ground in Tulsa had tested positive for COVID-19, including Secret Service personnel, a person familiar with the discussions said.

Trump asked those around him why the information was exposed and expressed annoyance that the coverage ahead of his mega-rally was dominated by the revelation.

While the Trump re-election effort boasted that it would fill BOK Center, which seats more than 19,000 people, only 6,200 supporters ultimately occupied the general admission sections, the Tulsa fire marshal told NBC News.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-furious-underwhelming-crowd-tulsa-rally-n1231674




Ooh boy this one hit Trump where it hurts! Yes, he’s about as mad as an angry, animated Lewis Black with flames shooting out of his head. Of course, anger is the only emotion that Trump knows. Does he know fear? No. Does he know compassion? No. Does he know disgust? No. Does he know Joy? Hell freaking no! Trump wouldn’t know joy if it bit him in his ass! So he’s hopping mad about what happened in Tulsa, and it was glorious. This might be my favorite thing about this whole rally. Can we throw that image up there?



May that image be forever known as the downfall of the Trump administration! And I love all of the Spinal Tap comparisons – Trump might be at that stage.

Plus, the history of Trump campaign managers has an eerie similarity to the history of Spinal Tap drummers. In the 2016 campaign, Lewandowski gave way to Paul Manafort (remember him!) who gave way to Kellyanne Conway. And throughout it all, there were whispers that Kushner or Ivanka (or both) were the real brains behind the operation. Or that Trump himself was effectively managing his own campaign, making all the important calls about what do say and do.

Parscale is, without question then, the most likely target of Trump's anger. But go back to Kaitlan's tweet -- this part in particular: "Anyone, including WH aides, could be fired depending on coverage."

The key -- and revealing -- bit there is "depending on coverage." Trump is seething, yes. But he's also watching cable TV. And taking calls. And making calls. And trying to suss out -- from all of that -- who the collective "they" are blaming for the Tulsa rally debacle. That, as much as his own sense, will determine who gets fired.

Because, again, Trump is all about perception: It's not about whose fault it really is that the crowd over the weekend didn't live up to the hype. (In truth, there's no way it's one person's fault.) It's about who the media, his friends and major party donors blame. That's the person Trump will blame.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/22/politics/trump-rally-tulsa-2020/index.html




Oh god that movie is a classic. I could totally see Trump going down that road. Maybe next he will open up for petting zoos and puppet shows. Assuming we have such activities in the near future. But you can bet there will be some firings and when that happens, get ready for the return of the Trumper Games! I mean this whole year just can’t get any weirder. And Trump’s gone through as many cabinet members as Spinal Tap has drummers. At Trump got him some ratings! Oh, those sweet, sweet ratings!

Now it’s apparent where many of President Donald Trump’s supporters who stayed away from Saturday’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were instead: they were home watching it on television.

Fox News Channel, which aired Trump’s speech live, had the biggest Saturday night audience in the network’s 24-year history, the Nielsen company said. During Trump’s address at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Fox had 8.2 million people watching.

CNN and MSNBC aired only clips of Trump talking, yet each news network had about twice as many viewers as they normally get on Saturday nights. Collectively, the three networks had nearly 12 million viewers for its Trump coverage, Nielsen said.

For those in Oklahoma, the night’s biggest story was the arena’s empty seats.

In the absence of sports or first-run scripted series, news continues to be the dominant force in television viewing. Fox News Channel’s prime-time average of 3.68 million viewers for the week topped all broadcast and cable networks.
https://apnews.com/c9e9a3808ea5ff2280944f5d57e53daa




Yeah so there’s no sports, or recreation, or entertainment of any kind during this nightmare known as COVID-19. So Trump is the only game in town! He’s literally the kind of guy who would find a way to broadcast from the Springfield badlands while the entire world was held hostage by a nuclear bomb, and I wouldn’t put that past him. But that’s not stopping him from taking his show on the road!

President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the Arizona-Mexico border, then hold a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday.

His visit to Arizona comes as the state is experiencing large increases in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The president recognized two of Arizona's most prominent Republican officials, Gov. Doug Ducey and U.S. Senator Martha McSally.

Ducey was greeted with some "boos" from the crowd.

But Trump complimented Ducey for the work he's done in Arizona and his win at the polls nearly two years ago.

The President said he asked Ducey how Trump was doing in the state, "He said you're doing really well and I said good because he knows better than anybody."

Trump asked the crowd to support McSally in November because she supports the border wall. Plus, Trump said, her opponent Mark Kelly "is very weak on China and other things."
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2020/06/23/updates-president-trump-rally-tuesday-arizona/3238171001/







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[font size="8"]Kanye West

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From: Idiots #9-8

Spoiler Alert!!!! Kanye West is completely full of shit! But if you’re here and you’ve been following our reporting for the last few weeks, you already knew that. This week however, the Yeezy for president campaign took a turn when he got caught admitting what we all pretty much could have figured out the obvious – his campaign is a spoiler campaign meant to help Trump and hurt Biden. But what you may not know is that he’s being used and abused by GOP operatives, and he doesn’t care. You also might be wondering when Kim is going to step in and put a stop to this. I would say normally Kanye’s hair brained schemes fizzle out when there’s something good on TV. But we’re in a pandemic and there’s no new content being produced.

Kanye West's unlikely White House bid is getting help qualifying for presidential ballots in key states from Republicans around the country, fueling suspicions he's being pushed to run by allies of President Donald Trump hoping to siphon support away from Joe Biden.

The rapper qualified for Colorado's presidential ballot on Thursday, after the Secretary of State's office verified that nine electors he submitted are all registered to vote in that state. One of those was Matthew Zielinski, is a former Republican congressional candidate who served as an officer with a county Republican Party in suburban Denver.

Zielinski tweeted that he believed in "fair ballot access" but declined further comment.

A similar pattern has played out in in Wisconsin, Ohio, Vermont and Arkansas, where lawyers or activists with GOP ties have been involved in securing the star's place on the ballot. The successful effort in battleground states Wisconsin and Ohio in particular raised red flags for Democrats, who are braced for a close race and anxious about any third-party candidate drawing voters.
https://abc7chicago.com/politics/republicans-push-kanye-2020-but-will-it-really-hurt-biden/6359322/




Seriously, I could just post clips from that South Park episode and it would not really be that much different than what’s going on now. But let’s do a little bit of onion peeling here. See, if we take a pairing knife to the onion and start removing the layers, this story stinks. Of course he actually admits to being a spoiler in the election and it’s a hell of a lot worse than you might think.

Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November’s presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.

Asked about that directly, West said that rather than running for president, he was “walking,” quickly adding that he was “walking . . . to win.”

When it was pointed out that he actually can’t win in 2020—that he won’t be on enough ballots to yield 270 electoral votes, and that a write-in campaign isn’t feasible—and thus was serving as a spoiler, West replied: “I’m not going to argue with you. Jesus is King.”

West rebuffed various attempts to clarify who was driving his ballot access or strategy and whether it’s being coordinated by or with Republican-affiliated officials. He does, however, appear to have a continuing relationship with the Trump White House. West says that he’s “designing a school within the next month” and that “I’m meeting with Betsy DeVos about the post-Covid curriculum.” (The Secretary of Education’s press office hadn’t responded to a request for comment by the time we published.)

“I like Kanye very much,” President Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday. “No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We'll have to see what happens.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2020/08/06/exclusive-kanye-west-indicates-that-his-spoiler-campaign-is-indeed-designed-to-hurt-biden/#17005eb76397




We already have one batshit crazy, completely unstable egomaniacal jackass running the show, do we really need another one? Hell no! and we also don’t need this coming around in 2024 either. So what’s stopping Kanye? Well, there is this thing called the Federal Election Commission, which we profiled during our tour of the government (see: Top 10 #5-18 ). So yeah they’re stepping in in the great state of Illinois!

Kanye West's Presidential run just got a death blow, at least in Illinois, where election officials say more than half his submitted signatures are invalid ... and that means he's off the ballot.

TMZ broke the story ... multiple people stepped up to object after Kanye submitted his petition to get on the ballot in his home state. That triggered a review -- from the State Board of Elections -- of all the 3,128 signatures on his documents.

The tally is in, and 1,928 were ruled invalid ... which leaves Ye way more than a thousand short of the 2,500 needed to be a Presidential candidate on the state's ballots. What we don't know is what was wrong with the bad ones.

It could be any number of issues -- fake names, fake addresses, unregistered voters in Illinois -- or even simply an illegible signature.

Bottom line is Illinois will be officially removing him on August 21, or he still has the option to gracefully announce he's withdrawing.

https://www.tmz.com/2020/08/07/kanye-west-off-illinois-ballot-presidential-campaign-signatures-invalid/




God, I would certainly hope not! But wait until you see *WHY* Kanye is not getting on the ballot. Sure, he may have racked up those signatures pretty quick, but it turns out that a good majority of said signatures are complete bullshit. See, you know people aren’t taking his campaign seriously when they start fucking with the petitions and putting fake names on it. But even more so when they put names of celebrities and cartoon characters. Well, Kanye is kind of a cartoon character.

On Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Michael Curran, an attorney for rapper Kanye West’s independent presidential campaign, is demanding Democrats prove their assertion that Mickey Mouse didn’t really sign West’s petition to qualify him for the ballot in Wisconsin.

“Curran … dismissed most of the other technical challenges as ‘misguided and ill-informed,’ including the claims that the nomination papers included obviously fake names, such as ‘Mickey Mouse’ and ‘Bernie Sanders,'” reported Daniel Bice. “He said the complaint must prove these are fraudulent signatures.”

Kanye West, who is running under a self-created political entity he calls “the Birthday Party,” has filed to run in a number of states, aided by Republican election strategists who appear to hope he will pull votes from former Vice President Joe Biden. His bids to get on the New Jersey and Illinois ballots failed due to irregularities with the petition signatures, and his campaign is accused of similar problems in the Wisconsin filing.

In addition to fake names, the challenge alleges that West’s signature-gatherers lied to at least six people about what they were signing, and filed the paperwork just after the deadline. Curran denies anything improper in West’s petition process.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/kanye-wests-lawyer-demands-democrats-prove-mickey-mouse-didnt-really-sign-his-ballot-petition-in-wisconsin/






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[font size="8"]MAGA Protestors
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From: Idiots #8-19

There’s no question that the Coronavirus outbreak has the potential to be the biggest disaster of a generation and could have social and economic consequences that will last way until the next century, even after eradication. So naturally the masses from both sides are getting pissed and we want some answers. But there’s only one side that is taking it to the streets and protesting in mass numbers. And they’re not wearing masks. OK maybe they are wearing masks as V For Vendetta characters. Which, if you explain them the true meaning of the movie, well… they might not take it so well. So how are the MAGA protests going? Let’s take a look at my home state of California where they’re going after Gov. Newsom hard.

A major protest rally against California Governor Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order began at the state Capitol Saturday morning, with more than 2,000 demonstrators gathered in Sacramento to demand lockdown measures be lifted.

The demonstration, called 'Liberty Fest,' has been touted by organizers as the country's largest Memorial Day weekend protest against lockdown measures put in place to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Hundreds of protesters gathered along the street across from the Capitol building before noon, some wearing t-shirts that read: "Resist. Rise. Revolt. Reopen."

Saturday's programming at the demonstration involved protesting, live music, barbecues and a tailgate party, according to The Sacramento Bee.

Reporters and officers at the scene wore masks, but most of the protesters did not, according to images shared to social media of the event. Many in attendance also failed to adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) guidelines on social distancing as they marched around the Capitol building.
https://www.newsweek.com/liberty-fest-protesters-gather-california-capitol-against-states-coronavirus-lockdown-memorial-1506196




Judging by their looks, I don’t think any of these men and women will be performing hunger strikes any time soon. Hey o!!! See what I did there? Of course we’re at the stage of the pandemic where we’re getting extremely restless. If you look at 1918, it was at this point where the dreaded second wave first started appearing, even as cases went down. So do you trade responsibility for freedoms? This is America, nobody wants to be responsible for anything!

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed many bustling routines into dull days. People have been advised to stay home, avoid non-essential travel to “flatten the curve,” and ensure COVID-19 doesn’t overwhelm the healthcare system. While a small minority, some in BC feel that these measurements are oppressive. In April and May, these protestors marched the streets of Vancouver, flailing their signs and screeching for BC to reopen. This is a dangerous and egocentric response to the COVID-19 outbreak and the public health measures meant to keep people safe.

While the anti-lockdown protests may be a result of mere ignorance or misunderstanding, they have tangible, negative effects on the containment of coronavirus. Not only do they fail to consider the capacity of our healthcare system and endanger the health of others by ignoring social distancing recommendations, these protests are also providing a platform that actively encourages others to do the same.

Studies have shown that coordination amongst individuals is necessary for quarantine restrictions to take effect. While the Vancouver protest in mid-April consisted of only a few people, a video of it received over 21,000 likes on Twitter. This gives a voice to those who are already skeptical of the COVID-19 pandemic and increases confirmation bias — a rejection of any information that disagrees with the preconceived notion that COVID-19 isn’t a threat. The resultant inability to gather information objectively normalizes doubt in health officials and creates further unrest about the perceived “oppressive” measures of the government.

Concerns about government overreach during these times aren’t necessarily unfounded. However, the belief that legitimate quarantine restrictions for public safety violates citizens’ rights to freedom is a fundamental misunderstanding of how our society functions.
https://the-peak.ca/2020/05/anti-lockdown-protests-ignore-social-responsibility-for-egotistical-freedom/




Just wait until that chant gets heard outside Sacramento! But the US isn’t the only country experiencing protests from the ultra far right. Of course I’ve mentioned frequently on this program that the ultra far right are the same no matter what country you visit. Remember when we used to visit other countries before the pandemic? That was nice. But let’s take a look at Spain for instance.

Thousands of people in Spain are protesting against the government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The far-right Vox party urged supporters to drive through major cities without leaving their vehicles in order to maintain social distancing.

Protesters in the capital, Madrid, drove in convoy and waved Spanish flags as they called for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to resign.

Spain imposed some of the tightest restrictions in Europe on 14 March.

It has eased restrictions in recent weeks, but Madrid and Barcelona have remained under tight lockdown due to their more severe outbreaks of Covid-19.

Both cities will begin to relax their curbs from Monday by allowing outdoor dining and gatherings of up to 10 people.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52783936




Hey MAGAs, conservatives, and Trump supporters – let me liberal ‘splain something for you – we both want the same thing! No one wants social distancing. No one wants to live in this weird, isolated world that we’ve become since the pandemic. We all want things to go back to the normal we had before the nightmare started. I want to go back to seeing movies, live shows and sports again. I want to resume traveling and touring again! But if you don’t follow the rules during the pandemic, there might not be a normal to return to! Especially if this guy gets his way!

In North Carolina, an anti-lockdown movement that has gained momentum since April took a new turn: The founder's husband said he wouldn't rule out violence to avoid coronavirus-related safety measures.

"Are we willing to kill people? Are we willing to lay our lives down? We have to say yes," Adam Smith, the husband of ReOpen NC leader and founder Ashley Smith, said in a series of videos on Friday. He deleted the videos after news outlet Raw Story began reporting on them.

"Is that violence? Is that terrorism? No, it's not terrorism," he continued. "I'm not trying to strike fear in people by saying, 'I'm going to kill you.' I'm gonna say, 'If you bring guns, I'm gonna bring guns. If you're armed with this, we're going to be armed with this.'"

ReOpen NC, a protest group that held demonstrations in five cities across the state on Monday, was formed less than two months ago, according to its social media page.
https://www.businessinsider.com/north-carolina-reopen-organizer-willing-to-kill-to-end-lockdown-2020-5





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[font size="8"]Herman Cain
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From: Idiots #9-9

This next entry is going to go against the long, long standing Top 10 policy that we never speak ill of the dead. But when the dead are mysteriously using their Twitter accounts to speak ill of us, that’s when I throw out the rules and say “fuck it” and start fighting fire with fire! If you’ve been following the Top 10, you know that former presidential candidate and pizza magnate Herman Cain sadly lost his brief battle with COVID-19. But if you’re on the Tweet Sphere, you know that somehow, Cain has mysteriously risen from the dead and is tweeting republican! Yes, to borrow that classic Bart Simpson line. So how did someone manage to get a hold of Cain’s verified account and why are they using it for bad? Because fuck it, that’s why!

Herman Cain's Twitter account is still tweeting, more than two weeks after the former Republican presidential candidate died from coronavirus.

Cain died at 74 years old on July 30 after being hospitalized with coronavirus. His official Twitter account, now with the name "The Cain Gang," has since regularly tweeted or retweeted criticism against Democrats, particularly against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his pick for vice president, Kamala Harris.

For instance, on Thursday, Cain's Twitter tweeted "Harris has a ton of baggage and a political glass jaw. She's awful."

That same day, it tweeted that The Cain Gang "consists of different writers who have their own opinions. We all lean right, but we're also individuals. Each piece reflects the opinions of that writer. That's how Herman wanted it to work."

Cain's daughter, Melanie Cain Gallo, wrote in a post on his website on Tuesday that Cain "believed in using his voice to teach, enlighten and give hope. It's one of the ways he used this web site every day, and he wouldn't have wanted that work to stop with his passing."
https://www.businessinsider.com/herman-cains-twitter-is-still-active-after-died-from-coronavirus-2020-8




Well in this case they’re tweeting republican! But why? And why is this so fucking creepy? Well Hermain Cain was a naturally creepy individual by nature. I mean we all saw that weird campaign ad from when he actually attempted to run:



Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. 8 years later and that still creeps me the fuck out. But seriously, speaking of the creep factor, here’s why this is so creepy.

Although Republican activist and one-time Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain — who served as co-chair of Black Voices for Trump — died from COVID-19 on July 30, new posts from his Twitter account, @THEHermanCain, have appeared this week. And according to The Guardian's Adam Gabbatt, Cain's allies have decided to keep the account active with tweets on this week's events.

One of the posts appeared after former Vice President Joe Biden, on Tuesday, chose Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate. Another post, added on Thursday, attacked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Gabbatt explains that Cain's daughter, Melanie Cain Gallo, has offered some clarification on the new tweets. According to Gallo, "We've decided here at Cain HQ that we will go on using this platform to share the information and ideas he believed in. He often talked about the site going on once he was ready to step away from it. We had hoped he could enjoy reading it in his retirement, but he made it clear he wanted it to go on."

Gallo also said that new tweets from her father's social media accounts will "go under the name The Cain Gang."

But initially, the name on the account hadn't been changed — "Herman Cain" still seemed to be tweeting — and no explanation for the new posts was given. The posts appeared exactly as they would have had Cain tweeted them while he was alive, leading many to react to the disconcerting situation in shock.
https://www.salon.com/2020/08/15/herman-cains-twitter-account-is-creeping-everyone-out-it-is-still-trolling-after-his-death_partner/




So this begs the question – if Herman Cain is dead, then who’s got a hold of his account? And why is this individual using it to promote the dark side? Well the “Cain Gang” has taken over his account and they are apparently using it to spread his legacy. And by the way is the name “Cain Gang” what you really want to call your army of followers? Or do you even have an army? Maybe it’s just a small but vocal fan club.

Herman Cain, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate who died after contracting COVID-19, is continuing to denounce to Democratic politicians on social media two weeks after his death.

"Just in case you thought Biden's candidacy was going to be anything other than completely nuts, team Trump has released a new video," read the first post on Cain's Twitter account since an Aug. 7 one that shared the time of his funeral.

"How well prepared is Kamala Harris for the presidency? We take a look. We're not impressed and you won't be either," read a post added to his Facebook account on Wednesday.

"Harris has a ton of baggage and a political glass jaw. She's awful," read a post added Thursday.

The flurry of political posts on his social media accounts is the work of Cain's daughter Dr. Melanie Cain Gallo.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/13/herman-cain-attacks-kamala-harris-social-media-2-weeks-after-death/3362783001/




Wait, let me get this straight. Kamala has a lot of baggage but your man dies from a plague after hanging out with Trump in Oklahoma City? Get the fuck out of here! And come on, Cain Gang, whoever you are, we’re onto you! And I really hate to use TMZ for this angle of the story but I couldn’t find anything else but guess what? No violation at all! Even though Twitter has rules against this sort of thing!

Herman Cain's political takes from beyond the grave will continue -- even if some Twitter users think it's dirty pool -- because they're not breaking any rules.

The late pizza tycoon and politician's Twitter account raised eyebrows Wednesday night when it started firing off anti-Joe Biden posts in response to Joe announcing Kamala Harris as his running mate.

The tweets drew a mixed reaction -- some joked Cain had jumped online posthumously to keep supporting President Trump. But, others fumed the account was violating Twitter policy ... since the person posting is obviously not HC.

Not so, according to a Twitter spokesperson, who tells us the profile info and images have been updated to reflect who is truly managing the account ... so, it's all Kosher.

The new group in charge calls itself "The Cain Gang," and -- led by his daughter Dr. Melanie Cain Gallo -- vows to continue working on his political mission.

Since Wednesday, that's included several tweets and retweets supporting Trump and slamming his opponents.
https://www.tmz.com/2020/08/14/herman-cain-gang-twitter-account-no-violation-biden-tweets/







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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Mississippi Audit Scandal
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From: Idiots #8-17

It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 Investigates!



When greed and corruption happen at all walks of life, who is to blame? Well there’s many different levels of greed that happen all around us. We go to Mississippi for this story. Where there’s a tale of corruption and greed that is dwarfing and even eclipsing the Enron scandal. It appears that an audit of Mississippi’s financial assets revealed some absolutely ridiculous spending on some very lavish and unnecessary items. And when we say unnecessary items, we mean luxury sports cars, expensive houses, and much much more. Think of this as the Enron scandal, circa 2020. And we can’t even get out much right now.

Money meant to help poor residents was used to buy luxury cars, sponsor a college baseball tournament and hire family members of a top state official, according to a report from State Auditor Shad White.

The 104-page audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services released Monday shows how federal welfare grant funds flowed from DHS into two nonprofit groups, which allegedly spent the cash in inappropriate or questionable ways.

More than $94 million in welfare money spending was "questioned" by auditors, according to the report – alleging either outright misspending or lack of documentation showing it was spent properly.

In a statement, White said the report "shows the most egregious misspending my staff have seen in their careers at the Office of the State Auditor." He said, "If there was a way to misspend money, it seems DHS leadership or their grantees thought of it and tried it."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/04/mississippi-welfare-scandal-audit-shows-94-million-questionable-spending/3080541001/




So in a time when the entire economy is entering levels not seen since the Great Depression because of social distancing measures, what’s $94 million in wasted government spending? This is the kind of government spending that the GOP warned us about. Not only that, how did celebrities like Brett Farve get involved in this? Because this is the kind of fraud that is well, beyond fraud. At least Farve is off the hook.

A nonprofit group caught up in an embezzlement scheme in Mississippi used federal welfare money to pay former NFL quarterback Brett Favre $1.1 million for multiple speaking engagements, but Favre did not show up for the events, the state auditor said Monday.

Details about payments to Favre are included in an audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. State auditor Shad White said his employees identified $94 million in questionable spending by the agency, including payments for sports activities with no clear connection to helping needy people in one of the poorest states of the U.S.

Favre, who lives in Mississippi, faces no criminal charges. The audit report lists the payments to him as "questioned" costs, which White said means "auditors either saw clear misspending or could not verify the money had been lawfully spent." The Associated Press on Monday sent questions to Favre by text message and left a message for him with his longtime agent Bus Cook, and Favre did not immediately respond.

Favre also did not immediately respond to ESPN's request for comment.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29139299/brett-favre-name-arises-amid-mississippi-welfare-scandal




That’s Farva. Not Farve. We had a typo in our search engine there. But not only was Brett Farve name dropped in this bizarre scandal, there was also some big name wrestlers in this thing that were being hired for motivational speaking gigs, never performed, but still got paid very well. This must be nice in this day and age to get paid this kind of money for not really doing anything.

Ted DiBiase, the former professional wrestler, has placed his lakeside home in Madison, MS, on the market. The ostentatious grappler once known as the “Million Dollar Man” is seeking $1,575,000 for the French Colonial retreat.

He and his family were recently named in a report by the Mississippi auditor's office as recipients of anti-poverty funds that were misspent on items unrelated to assisting the poor.

On 1.42 acres overlooking Reunion Lake, the “thoughtfully designed” residence covers nearly 6,000 square feet. Built in 2010, the home features five bedrooms and 5.5 baths, with a floor plan designed to take in lake views.

The main level includes a large foyer, private study, formal dining room, and living room. The family room is adjacent to a large kitchen with high-end appliances and finishes.
https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Amid-Audit-Scandal-WWE-Hall-of-Famer-Ted-DiBiase-15256541.php




Yeah sure so the government of Mississippi just name dropped all Mississippi celebrities in a bizarre audit and wasteful spending. So Mississippi might be SOL when it comes to a wasteful spending spree, and these days that kind of money might be hard to find. But certainly they are not the only ones out there. The government of Mississippi is just the ones who got caught. And expect many more where that came from.

Money meant to help poor Mississippians was instead used to buy expensive cars, sponsor a college baseball tournament, hire family members of a top state official and pay Brett Favre for speeches he never gave, according to a new report from State Auditor Shad White.

The 104-page audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services released Monday shows how federal welfare grant funds flowed from DHS into two nonprofits, which then frequently spent the cash in inappropriate or suspicious ways.

More than $94 million in welfare money spending was "questioned" by auditors, according to the report — alleging either outright misspending or lack of documentation showing it was spent properly.

In a statement, White said the report "shows the most egregious misspending my staff have seen in their careers at the Office of the State Auditor." He added that "if there was a way to misspend money, it seems DHS leadership or their grantees thought of it and tried it."
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/04/ms-welfare-scandal-audit-94-m-questionable-spending/3076949001/




That’s it for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.




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[font size="8"]Holy Shit: The Dark One Goes To Church
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From: Idiots #9-3

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 online congregation! You know with churches going online and not congregating in public for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus, we’re kind of running low on material right now. But thankfully last week that SAYVED! For the unholy, ungodly Dark One whose name shall not be mentioned in my church – even if it is an online and virtual one, actually went to a church. He is a SINNER, who does some absolutely unspeakable things, yet he views himself as the godliest of the godly! And among that crowd, he can do no wrong! So why is he pandering to the holiest among us? Well, also why not? Because screw everyone that he doesn’t agree with, that’s why!

After a disappointing showing at his campaign rally over the weekend, President Donald Trump renewed his performance for a packed crowd of students on Tuesday, telling his Arizona audience that they were guardians in a cultural war over the heritage of the country.

“We’re here today to declare that we will never cave to the left wing and the left-wing intolerance,” the president said at a Students for Trump event in Phoenix.

The appearance, at the Dream City megachurch, was one of his first rallies since taking a three-month hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. Images from the event showed a large crowd tightly packed together, with almost no one wearing protective masks. There were no temperature checks for the estimated 3,000 cheering attendees who, like many of Trump’s staunchest fans, ignored a new local ordinance requiring them to wear a mask, despite a public-health plea from the Democratic mayor on Monday.

The coronavirus is out of control in the Grand Canyon State after its governor lifted a stay-at-home order last month, and the president is polling relatively poorly here against his presumptive Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/23/trump-rally-arizona-336565




Yes let’s wait two weeks to see where this is heading and it cannot be good. For the commander in chief is doing an absolutely terrible job of setting such an example of what to do during these trying times, he is failing on every level! But how is his second in command doing? Well he’s not doing much better, and he was the guy who was picked to lead us in charge to tackle this forsaken virus!

A choir of about 100 performers sang at a megachurch campaign event featuring Vice President Pence on Sunday. They did not wear masks while they sang.

Many epidemiologists and singing experts currently fear that singers may be superspreaders of COVID-19, due to aerosolization of the virus. Singing involves much more forceful and deep breathing than simple talking.

The choir was performing at the Celebrate Freedom Rally, which took place at Dallas' First Baptist Church and was billed as an event "to celebrate our freedom as Americans and our freedom in Christ with you through worship." According to CNN, about 2,200 people attended the rally at the Texas megachurch, which can hold about 3,000 people. The singers reportedly wore face coverings between their selections.

Last Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a "pause" on his state's reopening after saying that Texas is facing a "massive outbreak" of the coronavirus.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/29/884614249/cdc-says-singers-could-be-virus-super-spreaders-but-100-sang-unmasked-with-vp-pe




Seriously guys, this isn’t the 1980s, this is 2020 and there is a deadly virus roaming the landscape, and it is not stopping! It’s going to get worse. And you shouldn’t be going to church right now. But no one is canceling church, and I’m sure that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would back me up here! If you want to get back to your old life and I know we all do, real change starts at the top! Of course I still won’t mention his name in my church, even if it is virtual!

One month after President Donald Trump ordered the nation’s governors to immediately reopen churches, his administration is facing a difficult dilemma.

Clusters of Covid-19 cases are surfacing in counties across the U.S. where in-person religious services have resumed, triggering questions about whether his administration should reassess its campaign to treat houses of worship the same as other essential businesses, or leave them alone and risk additional transmission of the deadly coronavirus — including in communities that are largely supportive of the president.

An outbreak at a Pentecostal church in Oregon, where hundreds of worshipers resumed gathering over Memorial Day weekend, forced an entire county to return to phase one of its reopening after local officials traced 258 cases of Covid-19 back to the facility. In West Virginia, six health departments across the state have reported coronavirus outbreaks linked to churches. One of them, a Baptist church in Greenbrier County, had 34 congregants test positive for the virus. And in Texas, which hit an all-time high of new cases last week, health officials have received numerous reports of church-related exposures.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/28/trump-coronavirus-spread-churches-342296




Yes, churches are the biggest problem that the unholy, ungodly Dark One and his DAYMONS are facing at the moment. But he’s not going down without a fight. For his network is actively encouraging people to defy orders and defy the LAWRD, you’ve got another thing coming! And you are most definitely not welcome in my church – online or in person – until you get a grip on reality! But this is not the kind of thing you want to hear in a sermon, and you won’t hear it in my church! I won’t allow it!

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?
https://theintercept.com/2020/06/24/trump-made-racist-joke-phoenix-megachurch-crowd-went-wild/




So do not take any medicine offered by the Dark One, for he is the virus! 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: Lady A Vs Lady A
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From: Idiots #9-5



Pop quiz, hot shot! You’re in a super popular country music group, and you’re under fire for having a racist name in a time when racism is finally getting scrubbed from the annals of American history! So what do you do? What do you DO???? Well, the Dixie Chicks recently dropped the “Dixie” from their name and are going by “The Chicks”. Now here’s the conundrum. Country music’s controversial group Lady Antebellum, dropped the southern moniker “Antebellum” and is going with the name Lady A. But… but… there’s already a singer with the name Lady A, who is from Seattle, and has had that stage name for over 20 years! How did that happen, and why has Lady A not fired their manager yet? Instead, Lady A, the band, is taking a much different and way more American route than Lady A the singer is. See if you can guess what that is!

Let the games begin. The band formerly known as Lady Antebellum announced in June that they were changing their name — but the transition hasn’t been easy.

Band members Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood confirmed that they would be taking the country group in a new direction after acknowledging the dangerous history of the word “antebellum” amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests.

“As a band, we have strived for our music to be a refuge … inclusive of all,” the Grammy winners declared via a lengthy Instagram statement on June 11. “After much personal reflection, band discussion, prayer and many honest conversations with some of our closest Black friends and colleagues, we have decided to drop the word ‘antebellum’ from our name and move forward as Lady A, the nickname our fans gave us almost from the start.”

Scott, 34, Kelley, 38, and Haywood, 37, admitted that they felt “regretful and embarrassed” about not being more aware of the meaning behind the word and its connection to slavery. “We are deeply sorry for the hurt this has caused and for anyone who has felt unsafe, unseen or unvalued,” they added.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/celebrity/singer-lady-a-reacts-to-bands-name-change-lawsuit-everything-to-know/ss-BB16AVEV?li=BBnbfcL




Yeah probably. But it’s not racism here that’s the problem. The problem is that one group has apparently felt that money is a far more important issue and they need a lot more of it, which is also a very American thing to do. But like Coronavirus, expect this lawsuit to sting and linger in the air for a very long time to come. It’s basically a battle of money vs reputation, and money usually wins out in this day and age.

Singer Anita White, also known as Lady A, released a statement over the weekend saying that the country group of the same name — formerly known as Lady Antebellum — “has used their wealth and influence to intimidate and bully me into submission without offering any real recompense for appropriating my name.”

Says White, “It is now clear that their apologies, friendly texts, and playing on my love of God were just insincere gestures aimed at quieting me. Well, I will not be quiet any longer.”

White had made her views clear earlier in the week in interviews with Vulture and Rolling Stone, but the 790-word statement represents her first full expression of her feelings about the breakdown in negotiations with the band in her own words.

Although the group Lady A had sought an agreement in which both artists could freely use the name, the singer Lady A explains why she has resisted that, and says in her statement that “co-existence will simply not work.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/lady-singer-claims-band-used-wealth-influence-bully-me-says-n1233648




Good question! Why? Well, money, and bullshit. Plus there’s no way that the members of the group formerly known as Lady Antebellum thought this through. So, like Eminem says, will the real Lady A please stand up? Please stand up? Please stand up? OK I got a little carried away here. But the fact of the matter is that it’s way more complicated than you might think.

Intellectual property attorneys say the country act may have a good case for using its longtime nickname.

There is only one Beatles for a reason. Acts rarely, if ever, share a name. And although Seattle-based blues singer Anita White believes that the country trio formerly known as Lady Antebellum is trying to “erase” her by adopting the more culturally appropriate moniker Lady A -- which has been White’s stage name for more than three decades -- intellectual property experts say the Nashville group likely has the upper hand in a new lawsuit because of a trademark filing from 10 years ago.

On June 11, the Nashville act announced its name change to shed the pre-Civil War association with slavery implied in the word Antebellum -- meaning “before the war” -- drawing a swift response from the 62-year-old Black singer, who said she has used the Lady A name since 1987.

“It’s not right that they can come and decide that they want to use this name and take it from me, because now it feels like another knee on my neck," she told CBS affiliate WUSA in Washington, D.C., a reference to the police-related death of George Floyd, who died in May after a white Minneapolis officer held his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. After talks between White and the band broke down, the country trio -- Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood -- filed a lawsuit in Nashville on July 8 claiming White's team delivered an "exorbitant monetary demand" of $10 million to turn over the trademark rights to the name.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/legal-and-management/9416649/lady-a-who-has-rights-to-name-experts




Maybe don’t hire that guy. But in addition to being a trademark and lawsuit nightmare, this reimagining of Lady Antebellum as Lady A has also been a PR nightmare! Yes, in addition to lawsuit headaches, they are also dealing with bad press. That’s a thing that nobody wants to deal with. But that can hurt a music act’s reputation no matter what genre it is. Seriously, ask Michael Jackson. What? Too soon? Well this does not appear to be going away any time soon.

Last week, they sued Anita White, a Black blues artist who has gone by the name "Lady A" for more than 20 years, seeking to enforce a trademark they have had for the name since 2011. In choosing to pick this fight now, the band showed us all the limits of our national moment of reckoning around race.


Put another way, plenty of public figures and companies presented themselves as racial progressives in the days during and following the protests. For many, that progressiveness seems to stop as soon as dollars are involved.

According to their court filing, the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum (I'll just call them "TBFKALA" for short) has sold 18 million album units and 34 million tracks and been streamed some 5 billion times. They have won seven Grammys and countless other honors.

In contrast, Ms. White started going by "Lady A" at karaoke nights in the 1980s. She has a day job working for Seattle Public Utilities. At the time of the filing of the lawsuit, the band's Spotify page had over 7 million monthly listeners. Ms. White's had 166.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/opinions/lady-a-lawsuit-anita-white-terrible-williams/index.html






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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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From: Idiots #9-6



Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable! It’s Conspiracy Corner! Oh hello, I am broadcasting the inner most thoughts from deep inside my brain from an underground bunker in the vast cornfields of the rural Iowa farmlands! Of course it’s an undisclosed location! Just let me adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government blockage. They are trying to read my thoughts and your thoughts after all. So this week, an extra dose of crazy happened as Trump’s favorite cult Q Anon attempted to dig up some dirt on furniture purveyor Wayfair, and not only did it backfire on them spectacularly, they have lost one of their biggest social media hangouts where they can wreak their brand of conspiracy theory havoc!

The claim: Expensive products on Wayfair are coded listings for missing children being sold in a human-trafficking scheme

The internet has been gripped with a conspiracy theory this month as thousands of viral posts allege that online furniture firm Wayfair is involved in a child sex-trafficking operation.

“So wayfair has third party vendors that are HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING on their website,” various social media posts have alleged. “There are items like throw pillows, cabinets etc. priced at 10-20,000 dollars and named after missing girls. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!”

Posts point to the high prices of items like pillows and dressers as evidence that the products are secretly fronts for child trafficking. Theorists further note the names of some of the dressers, which are allegedly the same children who have gone missing over the past few years.

Some users also allege similar activities occur on other e-commerce sites like Amazon, Etsy and Walmart. Others claim the scandal can only be tracked by using the Russian search engine Yandex.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/22/fact-check-wayfair-not-involved-child-sex-trafficking/5460739002/




Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Put a warning label on that one! But seriously, Q Anon has gone full batshit, and in a world where we currently don’t have anything to do, can we at least get something to do for the Q Anon nuts? Because they clearly need a hobby, and this one ain’t it. So who started this insane conspiracy theory? And why are they so convinced? Yeah right now we’re trying to survive a horrible pandemic and retailers might be going a little overboard with price gouging, but not this.

Last weekend, an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that online furnishings retailer Wayfair is trafficking children through listings of products with inflated prices and human names erupted on social media.

An Arizona couple helped fuel the rumor by posting on Instagram that they had purchased a $17,000 desk from Wayfair and would share their experience with their followers.

The theory that pillows and cabinets being sold at wayfair.com for thousands of dollars is somehow evidence of a child trafficking scheme has been debunked by independent fact-checking publication Snopes. It gained traction through a July 9 Reddit post on a forum dedicated to discussing conspiracy theories, Snopes notes.

Maddie and Justin Thompson, of Gilbert, are not convinced.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/16/wayfair-human-trafficking-conspiracy-arizona-couple-spread-instagram-rumors/5449777002/




Well I guess that’s one way to go furniture shopping right now! But yeah sure, buy a $17,000 desk and it contains a… child? How did that one get past the loading docks? Really, these people are fucking batshit crazy, and they really need to find a hobby. But you know what is not to be done? Don’t overload the national child sex trafficking hotline with bullshit conspiracy theories, OK? This is a fake crisis, don’t make it a real one!

A national organization fighting to end human trafficking says the believers in the unfounded Wayfair human trafficking conspiracy theory are overwhelming the organization with reports and making it harder to do its work.

Polaris, a non-profit that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, said in a press release on Tuesday that "the extreme volume of these contacts has made it more difficult for the Trafficking Hotline to provide support and attention to others who are in need of help."

Polaris said that the reports included no information "beyond what has been widely shared online. Nor have any of these reports been made by someone who has a specific connection to any alleged missing children."

Believers in the conspiracy theory think that the furniture company is selling human children who have gone missing by disguising them as pillows and other goods. The theory went viral in the last few weeks after being spread by QAnon believers on Twitter and Facebook, though both platforms told Insider they had removed certain posts containing this misinformation.
https://www.insider.com/wayfair-human-trafficking-conspiracy-theory-national-hotline-call-2020-7




Yes, we get it, this is one of the worst crimes imaginable. But why the fuck are you so obsessed with it right now? I get that we don’t have anything to do. Really, don’t waste Wayfair’s time, and don’t waste the time of actual officials who are trying to find real sex traffickers. And by the way this can have some real world consequences for you if you get caught trying to do this. So really, shut the fuck up and keep the batshit insanity to yourself.

Twitter (TWTR) has removed thousands of accounts linked to QAnon, a group known for spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation online.
"We've been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm," Twitter's safety team said late Tuesday in a tweet. "In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called 'QAnon' activity across the service."

More than 7,000 accounts have been removed in the last several weeks, according to Twitter. It also expects that additional actions it is taking to limit the reach of QAnon activity on its platform could affect 150,000 accounts worldwide.
QAnon began as a single conspiracy theory. But its followers now act more like a virtual cult, largely adoring and believing whatever disinformation the conspiracy community spins up.

Its main conspiracy theories claim dozens of politicians and A-list celebrities work in tandem with governments around the globe to engage in child sex abuse. Followers also believe there is a "deep state" effort to annihilate President Donald Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/21/tech/twitter-qanon-crackdown/index.html





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[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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From: Idiots #9-7

Hit it!



Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb! This week, we’re taking to our favorite place in the world – the Sunshine State! Even in the worst pandemic in an entire century, the Sunshine State always brings the crazy! But mainly I wanted to use this space to talk about one specific story. We of course are going to that magical Florida city of Miami. Home, of course, to the Miami Marlins, to the Miami Heat, to the Miami Dolphins, to serial killer extraordinaire Dexter Morgan, and now they’re home to this douchebag. Look, if you’re going to fleece the government for life saving PPP money, maybe keep a low profile, OK?

Fund payroll, take care of employee benefits, pay the mortgage, cover utilities, buy a Lambo?

Apparently, that last one doesn’t quite qualify as a permissible cost under the Paycheck Protection Program, but that allegedly didn’t stop one Florida man from putting some of his coronavirus aid money toward buying a $318,000 Huracán EVO.

David Hines, whose business was in the red by more than $30,000, received a $4 million loan from the government and soon took to the streets of Miami Beach in his fancy Italian sports car.

As if the Lambo wasn’t enough, Hines also splashed $4,600 while shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue as well as thousands more on fancy hotels and jewelry, according to the Washington Post.

Maybe, just maybe, he should have kept a lower profile.

Hines was arrested and charged with making false statements to a lending institution, bank fraud and engaging in transactions in unlawful proceeds.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/florida-man-uses-coronavirus-aid-money-to-buy-a-318000-lamborghini-2020-07-28




Of course the Lamborghini is always the much more subtle choice! Next up – speaking of Batman, we go to the Florida city of Englewood for this one. Yeah if you wind up getting arrested for a DUI, maybe don’t tell the police that you’re Batman. But while Batman would never get a DUI, chances are good that Commissioner Gordon is going to be following Batman’s case load.

ENGLEWOOD, Fla. — A southwest Florida man is accused of wandering around a hotel naked and identifying himself as Batman, authorities said.

Christopher L. Jackson, 49, of Englewood, was arrested Friday and charged with loitering and exposure of sexual organs, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call at the Suncoast Inn in Englewood late Friday after the motel’s manager reported a naked man had tried to enter his room, WINK-TV reported.

Deputies found Jackson at a table outside the motel, the television station reported. Jackson claimed to have a room at the motel and had accidentally locked himself out of the room, but the manager said Jackson was not registered there, WINK reported.

“I made multiple attempts to obtain his name and date of birth which he replied with ‘I’m Batman,’” the deputy wrote in an arrest report. ............(more)

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending/naked-florida-man-tells-deputies-hes-batman/YHEZQLR6TZGZ7AQC5LV4NURC4U/?




Yeah no this guy is not the hero we need or deserve, is it? Next up – we go to the, and I hope I am pronouncing the name of this town right – Wimauma, where you should never have these particular two things in your hands at the same time. And by those two things, we are talking about guns and alcohol. And this story just keeps getting better and better. Cue the “hold my beer and watch this!” people!

WIMAUMA, Fla. (CW44 News At 10) – According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, a man in Wimauma was arrested on Saturday, August 1, 2020 after reports that he was waving a firearm at citizens while walking down the road.

At 11:49 a.m. on Saturday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office received multiple calls from citizens that a man walking near Railroad Street and State Road 674 was pointing a gun at vehicles driving by. Deputies arrived within minutes and located the armed man walking south on Railroad Street.

Eric Ricardo Felder, 66, was still holding and carelessly waving the firearm around in one hand with an alcoholic beverage in the other. Deputies took him into custody without incident.

Felder was in possession of a loaded .38 Smith and Wesson revolver. He was arrested and charged with felon in possession of a firearm, 2 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, use of a firearm while intoxicated, improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon, and resisting arrest without violence.
https://tampa.cbslocal.com/2020/08/02/florida-man-arrested-with-gun-in-one-hand-beer-in-the-other/




You tell ‘em, Homer! Next up – America’s most penis-shaped state never fails to bring the crazy even during the worst pandemic in a century. Normally we would do these when we go to Florida but since we’re not going to Florida any time soon due to COVID restrictions, we are exploring the sunshine state from home! Well one thing we won’t be doing – exploring the state with a live candle in our cars!

The Charlotte County Fire Department and EMS has a warning for drivers.

Do not drive with an open candle!

According to the department’s Facebook page, the fire started after a fragrant candle that was burning in the car, tipped over onto some papers, and caught on fire.

The man driving stopped his car and ran for a trashcan to fill with water and when he got back, the car was engulfed in flames.

Fire and EMS crews say they were able to put out the fire but, unfortunately, not before the fire destroyed the car.
https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/florida-man-driving-with-candle-sets-car-on-fire/




Yeah I would say that’s probably the right time to abandon ship! Finally this week on People Are Dumb – you know the show Cops finally got yanked off the air after 30 seasons because people are sick of police brutality. But that said, we miss the crazy because this is the kind of thing that would almost certainly be featured on that particular program. If you get arrested, maybe don’t do cartwheels. Seriously.

He flipped out.

A Florida man was caught on camera trying to evade arrest — by cartwheeling away from the police.

The now-viral footage shows the gymnastics enthusiast blocking the path of a truck at a Wawa in Orlando, by doing a flip in the middle of the roadway.

Officers took him down for apparently blocking traffic, but the man was able to wiggle out of their grasp.

He then launched into a cartwheel — but didn’t get very far.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office identified the spry 40-year-old as Gianfranco Fernandez, according to Orlando outlet WOFL-TV.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/23/florida-man-tries-to-evade-arrest-by-cartwheeling-away-from-cops/




That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]Road To The White House: Who Is Karen Bass?
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From: Idiots #9-8





Welcome back to… ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!! Ooh that was some good reverb there! Of course you know, thanks to COVID-19, we’re in what seems like literally the longest election year ever with each day slower than the one before it. So has presumptive nominee Biden chosen his running mate yet? Oh I see, maybe next week? Of course, the three stooges – Trump, Johnson, and Bolsonaro, are sadly, still inexplicably still in power. With two of those clowns having the virus and one shockingly still doesn’t. So the original piece that I had planned to do is no more, because it’s official! We have a running mate! And it’s who I called way back when the campaign started, and as a Californian, I couldn’t be happier for this nomination!

Kamala Harris was the front-runner to be Joe Biden's running mate pretty much since the moment the presumptive Democratic nominee announced in March that he would pick a woman to be on his ticket.

She was a safe pick and a practical one. She's also now in the position to be the heir apparent for the Democratic Party - whether it's in four years because Biden loses in November or doesn't run for re-election or eight years if Biden serves two full terms.

That could be why it seemed that there were so many attempts to knock Harris down a peg, or advance alternative candidates over the past month.

This was, in effect, the first fight of the next presidential nomination contest, and Harris - whose ambitions are clear - now has a step on the competition.

But determining future Democratic nominees is a battle for another day. The pressing concern for the party at the moment is how Harris might help Biden win the White House. Here are some strengths she brings to the ticket and, perhaps, some concerns Democrats may have.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53745148




Yes that is a good point, while the rest of us are attempting to embrace diversity, the GOP is thinking of it the same way that Ron Burgundy does! So how did Kamala get to be the vice president on what is going to be the ticket that will end Trumpism once and for all? Well, her list of qualifications should surprise no one, and especially no one that’s been following California politics for quite some time!

Joe Biden thinks he is going to win the White House in 84 days' time.
That's the unmistakable message he sent just after 4 p.m. Eastern time when, via text, his campaign announced that he had picked Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his vice presidential nominee.
Harris, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year, had been the front-runner to be Biden's pick for months because, well, she simply made sense.
Consider:

* She's been vetted on the national stage due to her own 2020 bid
* She has experience in government -- as both the California attorney general and as a US senator since 2017
* At 55 years old, she represents a younger generation of leader -- something that Biden, who will be 78 on Inauguration Day 2021, said was a major factor in his choice
* She is a historic pick as the first Black and South Asian American woman to appear on a major party's national ticket
* She's from California, a massive treasure trove of both Democratic votes and Democratic donors
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/11/politics/joe-biden-kamala-harris-vp/index.html




Hell yeah let’s do this thing! We are fired up and we are ready to send Donald Trump and the Christian right packing! We need a real leader to lead us through these times so we can get back to doing what we love doing. And only Joe sees the dire straits that COVID-19 has put the US in, and it’s going to take a near Herculean effort to lead us out of this. But Joe and Kamala are ready to take charge on day one and do what needs to be done!

US presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's selection of Senator Kamala Harris gives him a running mate who can appeal to African American voters who are core to Biden's base of support and serve as a fierce critic of President Donald Trump's record in office.

A former top state prosecutor in California, Senator Harris brings a law-and-order career record that will help Biden steer a tricky, centrist line between Black Lives Matter protesters and white Americans who worry about attacks on police funding.

At the same time, picking a woman who competed with Biden during the presidential primaries and attacked him memorably on race during a debate, shows Biden asserting a degree of self-confidence that he can forge a cooperative, working relationship with her, political analysts told Al Jazeera.

"Biden faced unprecedented pressure to pick a Black woman," said John Jackson, a professor at the Public Policy Institute of the University of Southern Illinois.

"He wanted someone who is going to command some respect and will balance the ticket with demographic characteristics of gender and race," Jackson said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/biden-choice-kamala-harris-vp-candidate-unprecedented-200811210524520.html




Yes let’s do this! Finally after 3 years of hell and 6 months of living in an absolute fucking nightmare, we are ready to tackle this thing. And at the end of this segment, I have a special message for the guy who we call president, Donald J. Trump. Hey Trump, guess what? You’re fired. And it’s time that we get a real president and a real vice president who know what they are doing, and Joe is ready! It’s time to kick their sorry asses to the curb and send them packing!

During his final debate with Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden vowed, “If I’m elected president my Cabinet, my administration will look like the country.” With Biden’s selection of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, he has taken an important first step toward representing the diversity of the Democratic Party and the nation.

If Biden wins the election in November, his Cabinet will represent an opportunity to rally underrepresented groups and interests around his administration. As Biden considers candidates for these positions past presidents can offer him a helpful road map for creating a successful Cabinet. The best Cabinets throughout the history of the United States have been filled with competent, engaged and disciplined secretaries who present diverse views and actively disagree with the president.
The historical importance of a diverse Cabinet

In 1789, President George Washington set this precedent for effective leadership by selecting men who represented different regions of the country, backgrounds and ideological interests. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson was a wealthy plantation owner from Virginia, owned hundreds of enslaved people, and brought critical diplomatic expertise to the administration. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton was born in the Caribbean, before making his home in New York City and cozying up to the merchant and mercantile elite in cities. Jefferson and Hamilton disagreed on almost everything and Jefferson later described their Cabinet meetings as a “cock fight,” evoking the bloody, brutal nature of their disagreements. While Jefferson hated these confrontations, Washington knew that he benefited from having both perspectives and pleaded with Jefferson to stay and provide “the check of [his] opinions in the administration in order to keep things in their proper channel and prevent them from going too far.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/08/11/joe-biden-picks-kamala-harris-vp-vice-president-diverse-cabinet-column/3348957001/


Hey Trump! Guess what?




See you next week!

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August 26, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-10: Here Comes The Bad Year Blimp Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-10: Here Comes The Bad Year Blimp Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? If you’re a long time follower of the Top 10, one of our most popular features is the Wheel Of Corruption, in which I spin a giant wheel of 100 items on it, and then I have to talk about whatever the wheel lands on. Now you might be asking yourself “Where’s the Wheel Of Corruption”? Well the thing is the Wheel is part of our live show and is mainly meant to get a live audience reaction. Since there’s no live audiences right now, we can’t do that. And our Wheel and all the equipment is in our Burbank Studio, which we can’t go to right now because of the stay at home orders. So there. We won’t be doing the Wheel for a while but we will be bringing you some of our patented clips without context (patent pending) for this edition. Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do. That’s all we’ve got right now is time. I’ve got some amazing news! Science may have discovered a hangover cure! We can’t cure COVID but we can cure hangovers! Yay, now when I do “I Need A Drink”, I can chug Jack Daniels at home and not look like a raging alcoholic! Well, in theory, anyways. Researchers in Finland discovered that 1200MG of the amino acid L-cystine can stem off hangovers in tablet form. And it will be great when we can start going to bars again, because this is the kind of thing that we need. Not only that, this pill has also prevented nausea, headache, stress, and anxiety! So it’s a win-win. Now I just need to drink enough to help me get through this nightmare of a pandemic! Where’s my bottle of Jack Daniels at? OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he talks further about the ridiculous situation that Trump’s Border Wall has brought us:



Sigh, yet another week under the dreaded pandemic but at least we had a really awesome DNC! So in the top spot this week we’re going to take you through some highlights of the DNC (1) which went way better than expected! In the second slot, we’re going to take you through highlights of the RNC (2) and well, expect 4 straight nights of Trump barfing his brain, some has-been celebrities, and every single member of his family giving a speech. In the third slot this week is the man himself, Donald J. Trump (3), and he attempted to burn the GOP racist dog whistle known as “cancel culture” by attempting to stick it to Goodyear Tires, and well, it backfired on him hilariously! And yes, our standards for the RNC were much, much lower. Taking the fourth slot this week is Steve Bannon (4). He is up to some ridiculously shady shit with his “We Build The Wall” charity, but it may be part of an even larger scam, licensed and endorsed by Trump himself! Grifters gotta grift. In the fifth slot this week is of course our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week we’re taking a look at what is happening in Belarus. Yes, the European country that is home to Minsk is in the midst of a revolution and an evil president who is refusing to give up power, get a sneak preview of what that might look like here! Taking the 6th slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and this week the Christian right has a few tricks up their sleeve to revitalize voters, known as the “50 Day Fight Plan”. Our pastor is going to analyze this plan and come up with one of his own! In the seventh slot this week is a new “Beating A Dead Horse” (7) and this week, Fox News’ favorite blank stare guy, Tucker Carlson, is taking on Cardi B for her controversial new song “WAP”. And yeah the white guy fails to understand everyone not like him again! In the 8th slot this week, we have a new “This Fucking Guy” (8) and we’re going to profile the Western Kentucky teenager who made national headlines last year and is a guest speaker at the RNC this year, Nicholas Sandman (8). Expect him to call the media a bunch of big meanie heads. In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week we have a new “I Need A Drink” and we’re gonna need some drinks to get through Netflix’s controversial new series “Cuties”. In doing research for this one, I might be put on a few Q Anon watch lists! Finally this week, in our ongoing series that is looking at the election, Road To The White House, we’re going to examine the celebrity endorsements of both Biden and Trump. Because they are different, and you will never guess who endorses who! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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Yeah yeah I know that the sign on the door says “Top 10 Conservative Idiots” and we’re not supposed to talk about anything the Dems do, but we’re really just commenting on anything in the news right now so fuck it! This is my show I will talk about what I want, damn it! So Joseph Biden is now *OFFICIALLY* the nominee for the 46th president of the United States, while Kamala Harris stands to be his running mate and the next vice president of the United States. How awesome is that? Can I get a round of applause, my virtual audience? Thank you! So we have to bring you some highlights of the DNC and there’s a lot to digest, especially how we move forward after the devastation wrought this year. Joe Biden had some warnings about what to expect, and it’s not pretty.

The fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention culminated Thursday with Joe Biden accepting the party’s presidential nomination.

In his address, Biden not only eviscerated President Donald Trump’s handling of his first term but also portrayed himself as the best candidate to combat overlapping economic and health-care crises. During a period of reckoning over entrenched racism and economic injustice in America, the former vice president promised to “draw on the best of us, not the worst” and “be an ally of the light, not the darkness.”

Outside of the main event, the night featured testimonials from Biden’s family members, former primary opponents and strangers he has met over the course of his career. The event continued another theme of the week in former Republicans switching their allegiance to Biden.

Here are some of the highlights from the fourth night of the Democratic convention.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/20/dnc-night-4-highlights.html




Unfortunately that’s not going to kill the virus there. But we must heed Joe’s warning, damn it! So grim warnings aside, the DNC was mostly positive compared to what the RNC is doing, and we will get to that in a minute. But we do have to talk about how awesome the roll call was, and how the conservatives will never have anything like it. Because while the Democrats embrace diversity, the republicans think of it the same way that Ron Burgundy does.

After former first lady Michelle Obama's foreboding address Monday about the consequences of a second term for President Trump, and her urgent appeal that people "vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it," the second night of the Democratic National Convention focused on building the case for how Biden would restore a country struggling in an economic and public health crisis.

The main messenger — Jill Biden — delivered an intimate speech that wove together her career as an educator with her story about how her partnership with Joe Biden began with an effort to heal a broken and grieving family.

Democrats continued to highlight their priority for quality and affordable health care with an emotional appeal from an activist stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease. After Democrats focused the 2018 midterms on the threat of the GOP dismantling the Affordable Care Act, the Biden campaign and congressional candidates are confident the issue is an effective one to use in suburban battlegrounds around the country this fall.

Tuesday's lineup featured elder Democratic statesmen including two former presidents, but their appearances highlighted how much the party has changed, and how the energy of younger stars is focused on an agenda far more progressive than these leaders envisioned when they served in office decades earlier.
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/19/903698102/4-takeaways-from-night-2-of-the-democratic-national-convention




No, that’s the conservative line of thinking. But some of the best speeches of the whole week came from Biden’s former primary opponent Bernie Sanders and former first lady Michelle Obama. Both of these speeches are great and worth seeking out on Youtube. This is how we beat Donald Trump – we come together and we fight. So here’s how that whole thing panned out and it was definitely why I’m a Democrat and still in this fight!

Sen. Bernie Sanders and former first lady Michelle Obama headlined the first night of the all-virtual Democratic National Convention on Monday, testing out a new format for the quadrennial event made necessary by the spreading coronavirus.

Day 1 focused on unity, featuring speeches by Republicans in addition to a full-throated endorsement from Sanders, the leader of the party’s progressive wing, for onetime rival Joe Biden.

President Donald Trump was in the speakers’ crosshairs.

“Whenever we look to this White House for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division, and a total and utter lack of empathy,” the former first lady said at one point, offering an unusually blunt assessment.

The two-hour event was emceed by the actress and activist Eva Longoria. It will continue each night through Thursday starting at 9 p.m. ET.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/17/democratic-national-convention-top-moments-and-highlights.html




No no, Bernie isn’t Grandpa, though you could probably have Bernie narrate Grandpa’s quotes in his voice and no one would know the difference. And yes I am dodging things being thrown at me by disgruntled Bernie supporters. Virtually. But one thing that I have to point out about this presidential election is the key difference between the two parties. Joe Biden has nearly all of the former presidents endorsing him. Trump? He has zero. And that’s saying something!

The Democrats officially nominated Joe Biden for president in a virtual roll call vote on Tuesday, the second night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Delegates announced their votes from their home states in locations ranging from a beach in American Samoa to a fire station in Connecticut to the new Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C.

Former second lady Jill Biden closed out the night's events with a speech from the Delaware high school where she used to teach. She spoke about the loss and tragedy her family — and the nation — has faced, and highlighted how hard times can lead to resilience.

"How do you make a broken family whole?" she said. "The same way you make a nation whole. With love and understanding—and with small acts of kindness. With bravery. With unwavering faith."

Jill Biden said we need "leadership worthy of our nation … that's Joe. He and Kamala will work as hard as you do, every day, to make this nation better."
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/democratic-convention-night-2-live-updates/





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[font size="8"]RNC Recap
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Let’s do another one of our patented clips without context!



Nah. Given his bad diet, laziness, and the fact that everyone around him has COVID, he’s more likely to die of a heart attack than he is from an assassin. Nice try, Rick.



OK not to be outdone, there’s plenty on display at the RNC. Of course we won’t get to all of it – we don’t have that kind of time! In fact I wanted to live blog this week but I respect my writers so I didn’t want to be making a call to the emergency room when this edition is over. But that said, how fucking crazy is it that Trump is literally speaking every single night of this convention? Who the hell does that? And what could he possibly say that’s different from one night to the next? Does his brain just vomit shit out and then he somehow manages to put it into word form? Well, that is a thing and unfortunately Trump’s ego is the size of Kansas and that’s something that we unfortunately have to deal with.

Anthony Scaramucci, who spent 11 days as the White House communications director before he was removed from the position, said Sunday that President Donald Trump was exhibiting "classic narcissism" by planning to speak at every night of the Republican National Convention.

As Business Insider previously reported, Trump is preparing to speak on all four nights of the Republican National Convention, scheduled to begin Monday. According to The New York Times, he plans to speak nightly during the 10 p.m. hour of the convention, which will be mostly virtual after the president for months insisted on an in-person event.

"But, knowing his personality, he thinks it's the right way for him to do it. He thinks it's all about him, him all the time," Scaramucci told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday during a broadcast of "State of the Union." "The classic narcissism is to annihilate everybody around you and then show everybody that you can do it all alone, you can do it by yourself."

He continued: "It's all about me and watch me. I'm going to win this without your help. And so I'm sure he was advised by some smart, somewhat courageous people inside the campaign not to do that. That level of saturation is beyond ridiculous."
https://www.businessinsider.com/scaramucci-trump-speaking-four-times-at-rnc-beyond-ridiculous-2020-8




That is a good question, sir! Can the mind vomit? Well Trump’s mind vomits on a daily basis – just take a look at his Twitter feed! Hey o!!!! Thank you I’m here all week, don’t forget to tip your virtual server via VENMO. Yes, that’s a 2020 social distancing joke. But speaking of crazy, we have to talk about the batshit crazy performance from Trump Jr’s girlfriend Kimberly Guillfoyle. Did you know she was married to Gavin Newsom? Yeah I had no idea either. But this speech is beyond ridiculous.

Red states. Reagan red. The red of President Trump’s favorite ties. There’s so much red in the recent mythology of the Republican Party, it’s little wonder, really, that it was the predominant color worn by speakers on the opening day of the Republican National Convention.

It stood out on the stage flanked by the towering Doric columns of the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., where many of the speeches aired Monday night were recorded, even against the row of American flags. On Natalie Harp, as she told of surviving cancer and the “right to try”; on Tanya Weinreis, the coffee shop owner whose business was one of the first to receive a Paycheck Protection Program grant in Montana; on the closing speaker, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. (Though not on Donald Trump Jr., who chose a silvery blue tie for his own excoriation of the rival party.)

But on no one did red stand out quite so much as it did on Kimberly Guilfoyle, senior fund-raising official for the Trump campaign, former Fox News host and Mr. Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, as she gave what was the perhaps the most … fiery speech of the night.

“Very forceful speech, Jake, from Kimberly Guilfoyle,” said Wolf Blitzer to Jake Tapper on CNN.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/style/kimberly-guilfoyle-republican-national-convention.html




Yeah you know I liked that speech better when it was in the original German! Thank you my fair virtual audience! But while the Democrats are bringing people together and getting positive remarks, the Republicans on the other hand are taking things in the much more opposite direction. Instead of images of hope, the conservatives are painting images of fear. And some light racism. Well, replace the word “light” with “heavy”.

Night one of the RNC saw speakers such as Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. attempting to get Trump's base foaming at the mouth. It probably worked.

To hear the Laura Ingrahams and Jeanine Pirros of the world tell it, last week the Democrats held a convention marked by darkness and pessimism — a monomaniacal four-day rant about Donald Trump in which their own candidate, Joe Biden in case you've already forgotten, was defined only by his not being Donald Trump. And to hear those same pundits tell it, rather than resorting to the same sort of name-calling that the Democrats wallowed in, this week's Republican Convention was going to be a more positive affair, celebrating the power of America and hope for the future.

After one night of the Republican Convention, is the GOP living up to the promised better angels of their nature (to quote a Republican president who would be baffled by today's Republican Party, but also probably Twitter, Hamilton and Sour Patch Kids)?

Depends on which direction you choose to fixate on, I suppose.

The first thing to know is that the Republicans dispatched with the actual convention portion of their convention earlier in the day. Before the morning was over for half of the country, the Republicans had done a roll call unanimously nominating Donald Trump — a more traditional roll call, before the Republicans made a flimsy attempt to mimic the Democrats' Zoom roll call around America in under two primetime minutes — and they'd already decided not to bother with a platform this time around. So Monday's opening night got to be almost entirely speeches, mostly taking place at a podium at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/critics-notebook-republican-convention-launches-with-fear-mongering-and-shouting




No, no, that comes later. While the Democrats are bringing people together, the GOP are tearing people apart. And there is no president I’ve ever seen that just revels in hate the way Trump does. And then he accuses the other side (us) of being the hateful ones. But if you’re tired of the “owning the libs” bullshit as much as I am, well, here’s where it gets weird. There’s no president in my lifetime where they have told the other side to fuck off like Trump has.

As he took the stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, President Donald Trump smiled as delegates enthusiastically chanted, “four more years!”

“Now, if you really want to drive them crazy, you say 12 more years,” the president said, inspiring some shouts in support of a dozen more years of Trump in the White House.

It’s not the first time Trump has publicly toyed with the idea of an extended stay on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Just moments after a divided U.S. Senate handed Trump an acquittal on impeachment charges in February, the president took to Twitter to revive a controversial tweet showing a never-ending political campaign.

The tweet features a doctored video of a TIME Magazine cover with a series of campaign yard signs with escalating years, from “Trump 2024” to 2028, 2032 and eventually the year 90,000 and “4EVA.”
https://www.masslive.com/politics/2020/08/president-donald-trump-urges-rnc-delegates-to-chant-12-more-years-if-they-want-to-drive-critics-crazy.html





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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Silly Donald. When will you learn that you cannot cancel the cancelers of cancel culture? Yes, in this day and age where everything is getting canceled for so much as attempting to look at you funny, Trump attempted his own hand at cancelling the cancel culture, and well, it backfired on him hilariously. What was the target you might ask? Well the target is Goodyear. And like moths to a bug zapper, here comes the Bad Year Blimp! So here’s how it happened. A Goodyear employee was attending a sensitivity training seminar. Said employee found out that MAGA hats were banned, took photo, uploaded it to social media, and all hell broke loose. So of course naturally the Trump MAGA conservatives got their underwear in a wad and immediately assumed their free speech rights were under attack. Or were they?

After President Trump calls to boycott Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., over a reported policy ban on workplace expression involving political campaigning, some employees at Fayetteville's plant have strong reactions toward the company for taking this stance. They say it violates their rights.

"Why is Goodyear giving a ban like that and telling us what to wear and what not to wear? The LGBT community and the Black Lives Matter community gets to wear their shirts," said Goodyear employee Robert Sampson. "This is how I feel. If Goodyear doesn't want everybody to wear certain shirts to work. They should make everybody wear uniforms, but they don't do that. That's how I see it."

Sampson is a longtime employee of more than 20 years who works in raw materials prepping rubber. He said the Fayetteville plant used to allow employees to take a political stance and wear it in the workplace but recently reversed course.

On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump tweeted: "Don't buy GOODYEAR TIRES - They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS," Trump said. "Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!)."
https://abc11.com/business/goodyear-employees-caught-in-crossfire-between-pres-company/6382621/




Sigh… excuse me a minute, I have to go yell at my producer on Skype. No, that was last week! OK I’m back. But yeah so if you’re keeping score at home, so far Trump has endorsed Goya beans and Goodyear’s biggest competitor, Continental Tires. But was this a jab at Goodyear, or a jab at the racist dogwhistle known as “cancel culture”? Well it was a little from column A, and a little from column B.

President Donald Trump is calling on his followers to not buy Goodyear tires and threatening to remove them from his custom presidential limousine, despite previously railing against "cancel culture," after an employee posted a viral photo of a company policy banning "Make America Great Again" and other political attire in the workplace.

"Don't buy GOODYEAR TIRES - They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!)," he tweeted Wednesday morning.

The tweet came in response to an employee who posted a photo, obtained by CNN affiliate WIBW, from a Topeka, Kansas, Goodyear plant that showed a slide during a training that "Black Lives Matter" and LBGT pride apparel were "acceptable" and "Blue Lives Matter," "All Lives Matter," "MAGA Attire," and other political material were "unacceptable."

Goodyear issued a statement following the President's tweet stating "the visual in question was not created or distributed by Goodyear corporate," but that it asks its associates to "refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party, as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/19/politics/trump-goodyear-cancel-culture/index.html




Yeah probably. But here’s where this whole thing gets weird and goes south, because you knew it was going to. Trump does have one ally in Congress backing him up on this, and that’s notoriously toxic Ohio representative Jim Jordan. Yup, the Congressman who is known by his more common nickname Gym Jordan, who was asking of course some completely inane questions and getting well, equally inane responses. Because this is 2020 after all.

Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan says President Donald Trump’s call to boycott Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. over its workplace ban on political attire including MAGA hats isn’t equivalent to the “cancel culture” that Jordan and Trump decry among Democrats.

In an interview with cleveland.com the day after Jordan published a cleveland.com column that urged Ohioans to reject the so-called “cancel culture” by supporting Trump, Jordan said Goodyear - not Trump- engaged in “cancel culture.”

“It’s Goodyear that’s involved in trying to cancel all the people who would like to wear ‘Blue Lives Matter’ masks or hats or T-shirts, or would like to wear ‘Make America Great’ hats T-shirts or masks,” Jordan, a Champaign County Republican, said in the interview.

He accused the company of discriminating against conservatives by letting employees wear apparel with “Black Lives Matter” or LGBTQ messaging, while blocking messages favorable to conservatives.
https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/08/jim-jordan-defends-president-trumps-call-to-boycott-goodyear-and-says-the-company-not-trump-is-engaging-in-cancel-culture.html




Ha ha ha ha. But the bad thing? This is going to come back to bite Trump on the ass hard. Because if there’s one thing Ohioans don’t like, it’s when somebody fucks with their business. And yeah there’s no football this year because of COVID, so that’s all they’ve got! The good news though is that Biden is going to use your tomfoolery in a campaign ad against you! Here’s what you have to look forward to, Spanky, your days are numbered!

AKRON, Ohio — Following an attack ad released by Republican-funded organization The Lincoln Project condemning President Donald Trump’s tweet urging people not to buy tires from Goodyear—Akron’s fourth-largest employer—Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden followed suit.

On Sunday, “Biden for President” released a new ad in Ohio that makes claims that Trump is “going out of his way” to hurt thousands of jobs “in an effort to protect his.”

The Ohio ad features a statement from Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, who was outraged by the call to boycott the company and said “when you come after Goodyear, you’re coming after Akron.”

Last week in a statement, Biden addressed Trump’s tweet, saying he “doesn’t have a clue about the dignity and worth that comes with good-paying union jobs at places like Goodyear—jobs that can support a family and sustain a community.”

Trump’s tweet, made on Aug. 19, made a call, written in all caps, for consumers to stop purchasing tires from Goodyear over an image suggesting employees are not allowed to wear MAGA hats.
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/akron-canton-news/new-biden-ad-centered-in-akron-criticizes-trumps-tweet-calling-for-goodyear-boycott





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[font size="8"]Steve Bannon
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Ah it’s another one of our clips without context!



Of course it would only make sense that Satan’s minions are conspiring against Trump!

You know I make no mistake about my love of the TV show Arrested Development. If you don’t know then drop what you’re doing and go watch it. But the show revolves around the once fabulously wealthy Bluth Family and their real estate empire, and it all crashes and burns, and the one member of the family who can save the family business wants nothing to do with them. And watching Steve Bannon get arrested on a boat was quite frankly a lesson in life imitating art. Because the pilot episode of that show revolves around Bluth family patriarch George Bluth getting arrested at a boat party for shady business practices. And here’s how he got arrested. Remember that “We Build The Wall” charity from a couple of years ago? Yup that was fraud! So how did that play out?

Steve Bannon’s indictment in a scheme to defraud donors to a fundraising campaign to help build Donald Trump’s wall on the southern boarder cast a spotlight on a web of prominent figures adored in conservative and anti-immigration circles.

On Thursday, Bannon and other leaders of the We Build the Wall nonprofit group were indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan for scheming to “defraud hundreds of thousands of donors” in relation to the online fundraising campaign.

But the list of well known names associated with We Build the Wall goes far beyond the figure of Donald Trump’s former campaign manager and populist firebrand Bannon.

The group’s website is a roll call of top figures in Republican and conservative circles.

It lists Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state and a prominent Trump cheerleader, as its attorney general. Bannon was the advisory board chairman. Erik Prince, founder of the private military contractor Blackwater USA, is a member of the organization’s advisory board. Former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo, an icon in conservative anti-immigration circles, is also on the advisory board, as is former Milwaukee county sheriff Dave Clarke and former Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/steve-bannons-arrest-shines-a-light-on-web-of-anti-immigration-conservatives/ar-BB18c7Yt?li=BBnb7Kz




Oh sorry I got carried away there, but this is too damn good. In case you’re wondering, yes, I did have my Instacart driver bring me the largest thing of microwave popcorn I could get and the requisite bucket to fill with. And yes, this could bring down some major Trumpers with it! So here’s the thing – if you donate to a Trump, expect them to take it and not give you a refund when things go south. Trump is a dirty dealer, plain and simple.

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was arrested Thursday after being charged with defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors through his “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign.

Bannon pleaded not guilty during a court hearing later Thursday, and he was expected to be released, according to NBC News. Bannon is getting a $5 million bond that is secured by $1.75 million in cash or property that Bannon has to post by Sept. 3. He is not allowed to use private jets or yachts, and he must surrender his passport. His travel will be limited to Connecticut and the New York and Washington, D.C., areas.

Bannon and three associates were indicted in a federal investigation in the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors allege the four defrauded donors by raising “more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States,” but some of that money was used for personal gain.

The United States Postal Inspection Service assisted in the investigation.

Others in the indictment are Timothy Shea, a 49-year-old from Colorado accused of owning a shell company, Brian Kolfage, a disabled Iraq war veteran, and Andrew Badolato, who according to his own website was a contributor to Breitbart News, the conservative publication Bannon used to run.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/20/former-trump-advisor-steve-bannon-arrested-on-charges-of-defrauding-donors-in-fundraising-scheme.html




Um… define “light” there, guy. Oh and by the way in case you’re wondering where this is going, well, it’s going full Nazi. And if you’re wondering how far “full Nazi” goes, it goes literally all the way. Because guess who is involved? That’s right, the elder Trump brother Trump Junior. And he appeared at an event with who else? Neo Nazis! Here’s the thing guys, you don’t go full Nazi. You never, ever go full Nazi!

Donald Trump Jr., who will serve as the headline speaker at the 2020 Republican National Convention (RNC) Monday, appeared in a photograph with One America News Network (OANN) correspondent Jack Posobiec at a “We Build the Wall” event in July 2019.

Posobiec is a far-right extremist with a history of promoting falsehoods. He is connected to and has taped interview segments with white nationalists and neo-Nazis. He has more than once targeted Jewish reporters with antisemitic hate on Twitter and also used that site to amplify a march held by a modern incarnation of a Polish fascist movement whose members bombed Jewish homes during the 1930s. Prior to being hired by OANN, Posobiec became notorious for his involvement in promoting politically charged disinformation. He also put the words “fmr CBS News” in his Twitter bio in parts of 2016 and 2017, but that company told Hatewatch he never worked for them.

In addition to the photo of the two men together at the We Build the Wall event, Trump Jr. follows Posobiec on Twitter and has done so since before July 2017, according to the app DoesFollow, which gathers data on users of that site. At that time, Posobiec was not yet a correspondent with OANN and was known primarily for supporting President Trump and promoting disinformation and hate. Beyond following Posobiec, the president’s son has also periodically interacted with him on Twitter. Posobiec, for his part, described Trump Jr. as being “redpilled [as fuck]” in a July 13, 2017, private text message with former anti-immigrant propagandist Katie McHugh, who leaked the correspondence to Hatewatch. “Redpilled” is a slang word taken from the 1999 film “The Matrix” that became popular among online far-right extremists to refer to someone’s radicalization to their cause. McHugh has since renounced the movement.
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/08/24/donald-trump-jr-pictured-we-build-wall-event-neo-nazi-collaborator-jack-posobiec




Man if that’s your attorney then who is the prosecutor? Well that’s one thing that this has brought to light and maybe it explains why Trump is so afraid of the USPS! Because did you know that the USPS has its’ own police force? That’s right, and you could say that it’s just like Scientology, because Scientology has their own police force and a super-secret sea prison that they send the unbelievers to. Oh wait, I’ve said too much, damn it!

On Thursday, former White House advisor Steve Bannon and two other men were arrested and charged with defrauding individuals who had contributed to Build the Wall, an online fundraising effort that has raised over $25 million to help build the Mexico border wall promised by President Trump.

According to an indictment unveiled by Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the men claimed that 100% of proceeds would go toward construction but instead used hundreds of thousands of dollars to secretly pay for expenses and salaries.

If found guilty, Bannon will join a venerable cohort of criminals who were nabbed by a federal law enforcement agency most people don’t even know exists.

The U.S. Postal Office Inspection Service (USPIS) is 2,442-member enforcement division made up of white-collar-crime experts, research scientists, explosives, chemical, and biological weapons experts, as well as armed officers who protect post offices and postal employees and arrest people who violate postal laws (there are a lot). It has offices across the country, a forensics lab in Dulles, Maryland, and 22 satellite labs.

It also has an impressive history of laying down the law
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a33670971/steve-bannon-arrest-postal-inspectors/





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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Belarus Revolution
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!



They say that Donald Trump will not want to leave the White House if he’s going to lose the 2020 election. If you want to get a preview of how those events might unfold, then look to the Eastern European of Belarus. A more accurate comparison would be to see how the events of the Ukraine revolution panned out in 2015. But that said, the people of Belarus are at a crossroads. There’s different schools of thought as to how this revolution could pan out. But the fact is that the people of that nation are waking up to the dangers of their regime and the possibility of them cozying up to Russia. But then again nearly everything comes back to Russia in this day and age. How is this going to pan out? Well here’s how this could play out.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the figurehead of popular protests to unseat Belarus' authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko, said Belarusians would "not relent" in the face of state violence as she addressed Members of the European Parliament on Tuesday.

In a speech delivered via video link from exile in Vilnius, Lithuania, the opposition leader urged MEPs at an extraordinary meeting of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs to continue their support for what she called Belarus' "democratic revolution."

"Belarus has woken up. We are not the opposition anymore. We are the majority now. The peaceful revolution is taking place," she said.

She reiterated the demands of protesters in the Eastern European country for free and fair elections as well as the end of intimidation and violence carried out by state actors, calling on the world to respect the "serenity of Belarus."
https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/25/belarus-opposition-leader-sviatlana-tsikhanouskaya-to-address-leaders-at-emergency-eu-summ




Yes, the people of Belarus have woken up. Their president is in a position where he won’t leave their government and the people are looking to get rid of him. But how do you oust a leader in a position of power like that when he could theoretically use the military against you? That’s a tricky situation that the people of Belarus are going to have to navigate. So where is the country headed from here? It’s not going to be what it once was.

A week ago, the popular protests in Belarus seemed close to succeeding.

Lukashenko was speechless as workers in a tractor plant heckled him and demanded he resign.

Observers were musing about a possible Ceaușescu moment - the late Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, awoke in 1989 from his shielded life to learn that Romanians wanted him out.

But Lukashenko has not left and it seems that the ruling elite and Moscow have remained loyal to him.

While many big state enterprises, under pressure from their workers, appear to have defected from the regime, state institutions have not changed sides.

Some have gone on strike, including state TV, but there have been few defections from ministries, parliament, security forces or local authorities.
https://euobserver.com/opinion/149205




So far these revolutionists don’t appear to be carrying torches. That might be the next step. But if you want to see a preview of what could happen not just in America but anywhere in the world this would be a good indication of where we are headed if we keep electing fascist dictators. But what is a “color revolution”? That is what they are calling the events that are taking place in Belarus and neighboring country Kyrgyzstan.

GRODNO, 24 August (BelTA) – A color revolution scenario is being implemented against Belarus; the distinctive feature of this scenario is the use of an external factor, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he inspected a military training area near Grodno on 22 August, BelTA has learned.

At the military training area of the 6th Separate Guards Mechanized Brigade, Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin informed the head of state about the general idea of a comprehensive tactical exercise with an aggregate group at the Grodno tactical direction. He also updated the president on the situation at the Belarusian border.

“Everything is clear. Just as we thought, everything is unfolding in line with a color revolution plan with attempts to foment political tensions inside the country. The uniqueness of the situation is that an external factor is at play, which does not happen all the time. Usually, they act from inside, overthrow the existing government. However, as the authorities are on the ground and are resisting resolutely [not only resisting, but also in control of the situation], they involved an external factor,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the president, opponents want to stretch Belarusian military and law enforcement thin, to draw them away from the domestic situation and put pressure on them at the external border. He added that simultaneously, there are attempts to stir up protest moods and banditry. “You see they are already trying to bring in ‘the alternative president', they are doing it in earnest, because western states are making multiple statements pledging finances and other types of support. The military support is obvious – the relocation of NATO troops to our borders. This all is being done to bring here the alleged new president. This person is addressing western states, in other words NATO, to protect people. If they bring in their troops, Belarus is doomed,” the head of state said.
https://eng.belta.by/president/view/lukashenko-color-revolution-is-unfolding-in-belarus-132810-2020/




So this situation is more similar to the Ukraine or any country where fascism is on the rise, like Turkey, Spain, France, the UK, and all around the world. And all of these countries have one thing in common: a relationship with Mother Russia. Yes, Vladimir Putin is putting his stamp on the world and converting the entire world to be consummate in his flirtation with becoming the world’s dictator. And if more countries are flipped, it might be too little too late. But this is a warning for America and the rest of the world.

Belarus stands before a critical chapter in its history. Following a rigged election in which the incumbent claimed an absurd 80% of the vote, thousands took to the streets demanding free and fair elections and an end to repression. This is an unprecedented show of support for democratic values in a country that has experienced just one competitive election – in 1994, bringing President Alexander Lukashenka to power for the next twenty-six years.

The scale of the protests is remarkable given the risks Belarusians face: at least 6,700 were arrested after the election; at least two protesters were killed; gruesome stories of beatings during and after detention abound. The broad-based opposition is united in a desire for change. Their resolve only strengthened following an internet blackout and police brutality. Mass actions have spread to the smallest towns and villages and encompass diverse segments of society. Demonstrations remain orderly – protesters even pick up their trash.

Citizens coordinate via an encrypted Telegram channel NEXTA (meaning “somebody” in Belarusian), which currently has over 2 million subscribers. NEXTA announces main protest events, cheers on occasional defections from the regime side, posts inspiring images and videos, and publicizes protesters’ horrific stories of torture and rape by the security forces. The channel is manned by a small team of professional journalists who do their best to verify stories and weed out “fake news” and, importantly, warn about provocations.

Dozens of state-owned factories are on strike, a remarkably effective strategy given the degree of state ownership in the economy. The size and strategic importance of the striking enterprises, which include Belaruskali, Belarusian Automobile Plant, Minsk Tractor Works, and many others, facilitate organisation and put workers directly in confrontation with the state. The workers are joined by doctors, teachers, artists, and transport workers. Even CEOs of Belarus’s top IT companies have called for an end to violence and new elections in an open letter.
https://belarusdigest.com/story/revolution-unfolds-in-belarus/




That’s it for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.





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[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Hey! It’s another one of our clips without context!



That’s funny, I don’t remember that being a part of the party platform! Now it’s time for Holy Shit!

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s VENMO 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 virtual congregation! We are currently in a battle for the heart and soul of this nation! I do not say that lightly because in this most egregious of times, we can find comfort in the good LAWRD JAYSUS CHRIST. For he is truly humbled in our presence. And I say this now because we are about to get political here, and as we have tested the limits of the IRS requirement before, wait until I show you how far down the rabbit hole we go because of this! Yes, I do get tired of the Matrix references. But that said, those on the right are about to revitalize voters, whatever that means. Especially now that Jerry Falwell Jr is embroiled in that scandal. We went over that in full last week but I still have to point it out because these are the people that want to control the soul of America!

Jerry Falwell Jr. the embattled president of Liberty University and one of the biggest champions of President Donald Trump, has resigned, Religion News Service has learned.

His resignation came within hours of the publication of a news story that alleged he and his wife Becki had a years-long sexual relationship with a business associate.

Falwell had been placed on indefinite leave earlier this month after posting, then deleting, a provocative Instagram photo of him posing with his arm around a woman at a party with their zippers down and midriffs showing.

After that post, Liberty University alumni and former teaching faculty at the school called for his permanent ouster, citing a long list of offensive statements by Falwell, who has been one of President Trump's staunchest allies.

Read more: https://religionnews.com/2020/08/24/jerry-falwell-resigns-liberty-university-alleged-affair-trump-pool-attendant/




I almost kind of want to post that on a Liberty University message board. Now now, thou musn’t gloat, it’s in the Good Book which we still have available! But that said, conservative Christians are at a moral crossroads because their unwavering support of the unholy, ungodly Dark One, a man so disgusting that his name must not be mentioned in my church, even if it is virtual, is costing them votes! And come on, is this really what we want?

The anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council and its political action arm are seeking $10.7 million for a get-out-the-vote plan in eight battleground states to stop “anti-biblical forces” from achieving their goal to “permanently transform America into a socialist, godless state,” according to a direct-mail fundraising letter from FRC President Tony Perkins postmarked Aug. 18. Perkins declares the November 2020 election “a make-or-break battle for America’s soul.”

“And with the possibility of at least one or more Supreme Court vacancies in the near future, abortion restrictions loosening in states all across the nation, religious liberty threatened like never before, and the debate over the natural family still raging, defeat is not an option,” Perkins writes.

The letter describes a strategy for maximizing conservative evangelical voter turnout by mobilizing members of FRC’s pastors network and its 8,000 community impact teams. It says it will use social media networks and some paid television advertisements to get out its message. FRC says its ground game in North Carolina helped President Donald Trump win the state in 2016 by almost double Mitt Romney’s 2012 margin.

A “special report” included with the fundraising letter highlights the importance of future judicial nominations to “defending pro-life policies, religious liberty, and the rule of law.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/family-research-council-wants-millions-to-reelect-trump-and-save-america-from-a-godless-secularist-leftist-future/




Except that there is judgement here, and that’s all they do. But this might be one of my favorite things to come out of the 2020 election. They have a “50 day fight plan” to revitalize voters. And why not? It’s not like they need revitalization, I think it’s safe to say that their mind is already made up. Do they really need prayer points? I could come up with some prayer points of my own!

President Donald Trump’s religious-right supporters are carrying out an array of efforts to promote his reelection, some using prayer and spiritual warfare as organizing vehicles. One of the latest is calling for a “Fifty Day Fight” between Sept. 14 and Election Day to defeat “the enemy” and ask God for “a second miracle” to put Trump back in the White House. The group held an online organizing meeting on Wednesday.

The project was launched by Daniel Bernard, president of a Tampa, Florida-based ministry called Somebody Cares Tampa Bay. Its partners and sponsors include anti-LGBTQ activist and POTUS Shield member Harry Jackson, far-right Christian broadcaster and failed politician E.W. Jackson, and Jason Yates, who heads My Faith Votes, a religious-right GOTV operation.

A video promoting the project portrays the 2020 election as a “battle of good and evil” and “spiritual warfare at its highest.” It warns that “Satan has released his demons” and urges viewers to “go to war with us.”

The project’s “prayer points” are not subtle. Here are the instructions for praying for the president:
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/50-day-fight-project-calls-for-spiritual-war-against-satan-and-his-demons-to-reelect-trump/




Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! I’m sure this is not what the Good LAWRD JAYSUS would want now, is it! Because if they think that the Dark One is of a sound mind, I can assure you that he is not! But if the unholy Dark One is of a sound mind, then what does it say about them? Well let’s look at their prayer warriors, and I am going to go over this in full the next time we congregate. But one of my favorite Dark One-loving organizations, the Family Research Council, wants to save America from a “Godless left”. Now who are the godless ones really?

The anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council and its political action arm are seeking $10.7 million for a get-out-the-vote plan in eight battleground states to stop “anti-biblical forces” from achieving their goal to “permanently transform America into a socialist, godless state,” according to a direct-mail fundraising letter from FRC President Tony Perkins postmarked Aug. 18. Perkins declares the November 2020 election “a make-or-break battle for America’s soul.”

“And with the possibility of at least one or more Supreme Court vacancies in the near future, abortion restrictions loosening in states all across the nation, religious liberty threatened like never before, and the debate over the natural family still raging, defeat is not an option,” Perkins writes.

The letter describes a strategy for maximizing conservative evangelical voter turnout by mobilizing members of FRC’s pastors network and its 8,000 community impact teams. It says it will use social media networks and some paid television advertisements to get out its message. FRC says its ground game in North Carolina helped President Donald Trump win the state in 2016 by almost double Mitt Romney’s 2012 margin.

A “special report” included with the fundraising letter highlights the importance of future judicial nominations to “defending pro-life policies, religious liberty, and the rule of law.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/family-research-council-wants-millions-to-reelect-trump-and-save-america-from-a-godless-secularist-leftist-future/




Yup and they’re gonna feel real bad about themselves when their boy loses, because good must triumph over evil! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy
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This week’s this fucking guy is Nicholas Sandmann. You might remember him as the smirking MAGA douchebag from last years’ Indigenous People’s Rally that was held in Washington, DC (see: Top 10 #6-3 ). Well, now that smirking MAGA kid has a lot more to smile about because he literally won the lottery. Just remember the American way – if you don’t like it, sue! But this week, Mr. Sandman has been elevated to a whole new level of fame because he’s been an invited guest at the RNC. Yes, as much as Trump loves himself, he has a psychotic hatred for the American news media, so as you can guess naturally he loves this kid, because, reasons. Now hold your boos.

On the weekend of January 18, 2019, a short video appeared on Twitter that purported to show a group of Catholic high school boys—one young man, Nicholas Sandmann, in particular—harassing a Native American elder named Nathan Phillips on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

One year later, the media's reckless mishandling of the story stands as an important warning against the kind of agenda-driven, outrage-mongering clickbait that unfortunately thrives in the world of online journalism.

But no less noteworthy was the news cycle that followed the initial flawed coverage, which featured a host of ideologically-motivated partisans doubling down on their initial assumption, digging for new information to justify it, and reassuring themselves that they were right all along. Sandmann and his MAGA hat-wearing friends had identified themselves as members of Team Trump, and thus the national shaming they endured was deserved, this thinking went. Indeed, those who had defended the boys by disputing some aspects of the encounter—including me, in an article for Reason that changed many people's minds about what had happened—were engaged in "gaslighting": trying to make people think that something they saw hadn't really happened.

Sandmann's subsequent lawsuits have kept the Covington-sympathetic public focused on several of the outlets that misreported the initial story: CNN, The Washington Post, and others. Indeed, these publications certainly deserve criticism, independent of the merits of the individual lawsuits. But these outlets' Covington-related sins pale in comparison to those who continued to malign the teens long after the additional video footage was available.
https://reason.com/2020/01/21/covington-catholic-media-nick-sandmann-lincoln-memorial/




So lesson learned: if you are wearing a MAGA hat, you can sue anyone for anything if they so much as look at you funny! But now this kid is being poised to be featured as a speaker at the RNC. Because, why not? The party that loves to “trigger the snowflakes” are a bunch of easily triggered snowflakes! They also seem to love anyone who will “own the libs”. Because they are a bunch of psychopaths. What can you expect at the RNC? Well expect a lot of Trump love.

Nicholas Sandmann, the Kentucky teen falsely accused of harassing a Native American protester in D.C. in 2019, will speak at the Republican National Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, next week.

President Trump’s reelection campaign announced the 18-year-old would speak at the convention and the Covington Catholic High School graduate confirmed the date.

“I can’t tell you all enough about how excited I am to be apart of this years RNC!” the teenager tweeted.

Sandmann made headlines in July 2019 when he and fellow students demonstrating against abortion rights were approached by a smaller group of protesters including Native Americans raising awareness of the world’s indigenous people. A group called the Black Hebrew Israelites added to the confusion, according to VOX, which reports members of that organization engaged the high schoolers.

Initial reports, some including video clips, took the position that Sandmann and his classmates instigated a confrontation that saw the MAGA-cap wearing teen standing nearly nose-to-nose with an older, Native American man, seemingly smirking at him. As more footage of the incident emerged, Sandmann’s claim that he did not instigate the situation or do anything improper became increasingly convincing.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-nicholas-sandmann-maga-covington-protest-sues-news-rnc-20200818-w5bpj733znahfcvknof4igpbn4-story.html




So here’s the difference between the two parties. The left has David Hogg, who survived one of the worst school shootings in 20 years. And the right has Nicholas Sandman, a smirking teenager who happened to be in the right place at the right time and wearing the same hat that Trump does. But speaking of attorneys, you’d better be careful who you hire if you’re going to sue the shit out of the major networks and newspapers.

A Covington, Ky., teenager who, along with some of his classmates, were at the center of an international tempest in January 2019 for an incident in Washington D.C., has settled a defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post for an undisclosed amount.

Former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandman announced the settlement Friday on Twitter. It also is his birthday.

“On 2/19/19, I filed a $250M defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post. Today, I turned 18 & WaPo settled my lawsuit…Thanks to my family & millions of you who have stood your ground by supporting me. I still have more to do,” Sandman tweeted.

He settled a similar lawsuit with CNN earlier this year. Sandmann also sued NBC Universal in U.S. District Court in Covington and then, in March, added ABC, CBS, USA Today owner Gannett, The New York Times and Rolling Stone.

In January 2019, the students from Covington Catholic High School were attending an annual March for Life trip being held at the same time as an Indigenous Peoples March.
https://www.wtvq.com/2020/07/24/covington-teen-settles-defamation-suit-with-the-washington-post/




Yeah fuck off!!! You guys are concerned about bullying and slander? Have you seen what Trump tweets on a daily basis? Or have you listened to Rush and Hannity and heard what they say on a daily basis? I mean come on, that’s some straight up bullying. And unlike what this kid went through, we don’t challenge Fox News! Maybe we should start. Because they’re not done. You know what they say – the beatings will continue until morale improves!

Attorneys for Nick Sandmann intend to file complaints against five additional media outlets, a status report filed earlier this week says.

The report states that lawyers for the Covington Catholic High School senior intend to file lawsuits against Gannett, ABC, ViacomCBS, The New York Times and Rolling Stone.

"All of the future defendants listed above have published or republished statements made by Nathan Phillips and others that Nicholas blocked or otherwise restricted Phillips’ free movement and would not allow Phillips to retreat at the National Mall on January 18, 2019. Nicholas reserves his right to file complaints in this Court or any other court against any other potential defendant not listed above, subject to the applicable statute of limitations," the document reads.

Sandman is the high school student who found himself at the center of a controversy after his face was depicted across social media during a 2019 March for Life trip, which coincided with an Indigenous Peoples March.
https://www.wlwt.com/article/nick-sandmanns-lawyers-intend-to-sue-5-additional-media-companies/31150604




Again, fuck off!! If you can’t beat ‘em, sue, sue again! Uh oh, I hope I don’t get sued for this piece! That’s Nicholas Sandman, this week’s:




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[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Tucker Carlson Vs Cardi B
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Hey it’s time for another clip without context!



Whew, you guys got to stop smoking the covefefe, it’s bad for you! It’s now time for: Beating A Dead Horse!



I’m getting reaaaaaaaaaaaally sick of conservatives using the talking point that all liberals are “triggered snowflakes”. You know who the real triggered snowflake is? White conservative males. And you know what triggers them? Women. They can’t stand being around women of any kind. Even their own wives and daughters. Case in point: Tucker Carlson is triggered by none other than Latina rapper Cardi B, a rapper who is famous for her depictions of bling in her songs, and among other things, some extremely graphic depictions of the feminine lifestyle. And by “feminine lifestyle”, I mean sex and female body parts. Also, by female body parts, I mean the clitoris, ovaries, and the vagina, or as some rappers call it, the vajayjay! So Tucker Carlson got extremely triggered by Cardi B’s new song “WAP”, which stands for, and I’m guessing, Wet Ass Pussy. So here’s where the offense comes in.

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s raunchy “WAP” was released last week and nearly everyone — from PETA to Tiger King‘s Carole Baskin — has an opinion about it. The rappers’ witty lyricism has also caught the attention of the conservative right, and many members of the GOP are beside themselves. Ben Shapiro recently went viral for reading through the song line-by-line and now Fox News host Tucker Carlson is also losing it over the No. 1 track.

Dissecting the track on his show Tuesday night, Carlson was appalled by the song’s popularity. The anchor was incredulous at the song’s NSFW lyrics and even included a clip of Cardi jokingly explaining the song’s meaning, taking her words at face value.

Voicing his outrage about “WAP,” Carlson said: “That’s garbage. You don’t need to be a puritan to think so. It is, it’s garbage. It’s aimed at young American girls — maybe your girls, your granddaughters and what is it doing to them? Can you imagine what it’s doing to them? People are getting rich pushing that crap on the country and they should be ashamed of themselves. But they’re not ashamed of themselves.”

Carlson also defended himself, saying he’s not being “prudish” and denying his indignation is similar to when James Brown was “sexually suggestive” on stage, something that happened 50 years ago. “Ask yourself, above all, and ask it more than once — What is this doing to our kids? The people pushing it are clearly trying to hurt your children. Why is nobody pushing back?” While Carlson thinks “WAP” is hurting children, Consequence Of Sound points out the anchor also doesn’t believe in the science of wearing masks and how they can keep everyone — including “your children” — safe from contracting coronavirus.
https://uproxx.com/music/tucker-carlson-wap-cardi-b/




Wait a minute, whoa, whoa, whoa! You’re comparing Cardi B to James Brown? Well, let me spell it out for you, Tucker. James Brown was a product of his time and his songs suggested way more than the lyrics did. And I'm guessing that by today's standards, if you were to do some digging, you could probably find a sexual misconduct lawsuit or two in there somewhere. Here, the lyrics don’t suggest anything. You know this song is Cardi B talking about her vaginal area. But here’s where they don’t tell you why they are angry about Cardi B.

Cardi B has a list of things she wants for the country and she has shared them with Joe Biden.

The rapper, who is riding high on the charts right now with her and Megan The Stallion's collaboration "WAP," sat down with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for Elle magazine.
Even Cardi B seemed unable to believe it was happening, saying at the beginning of the virtual chat, "Oh, snap. Is this real?"

After Biden got her to call him Joe and introduced her to his daughter, Ashley, who he said was a fan, he joked that he and the rapper might be related as his daughter's nickname for him had been "Joey B."

He also congratulated Cardi B on landing the cover of Elle magazine and thanked her for her "generosity in dealing with people suffering from COVID" before the rapper launched into her questions.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/17/entertainment/cardi-b-joe-biden-elle/index.html




That’s actually Cypress Hill. But that’s right – they’re not triggered by Cardi B’s song WAP. They’re more triggered by the fact that she supports the next president of the United States, Joe Biden and not the current president, Donald Trump. So yeah Tucker, you’re just looking for an excuse to be pissed off at something. Look I get it, it’s a time to be mad at everything. Now playing devil’s advocate, here’s where things go a bit too far.

Cardi B isn’t pleased that a group of Trump supporters are playing her new song, WAP.

She posted on social media about the incident after videos circulated of a party – where tons of people with red MAGA hats were gathered – that had WAP, her new song with Cardi B, laid over it.

Cardi was not impressed – she tweeted about the incident, pointing out that some Republicans and prominent American conservatives hadn’t been all too happy about the song when it came out, and had spent time trying to tear down the song.

The video, which was posted by a user called TrumpsPlans, is a montage of clips from a Trump2020 boat party, where tons of people without masks and wearing Trump shirts were gathered.

The song only came out two weeks ago, but it’s inspired a lot of meltdowns and consternation from right-wing people. Cardi may have been referring to Ben Shapiro, the prominent conservative commentator who spent a whole video dissecting the lyrics and the video for WAP, commenting that he was only ‘concerned’ because his ‘doctor wife’ said that there may be medical conditions for a WAP (which is worrying).
https://www.indy100.com/article/cardi-b-wap-trump-boat-party-twitter-instagram-9681416




Seriously, Cardi, you’re going to go there? We can’t even track all the people who have COVID! Good luck with that one. But who’s the real triggered snowflake in all of this? Oh yeah it’s Tucker. And man is he fucking triggered in this piece! But you know what? If you don’t like it, change the damn channel! Or stream something else to your wifi! It’s not like you don’t have a choice right now. We live in a land where you can get any content you want 24 hours a day. So I say this in all seriousness – shut the fuck up, Tucker. Also, you don’t care about kids at all.

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson ranted against not one, but two prominent Black women on Tuesday evening, calling Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention “a total and complete crock” before assailing Cardi B’s new hit “WAP” as “filth.”

Michelle Obama, Carlson said in an opening segment devoted to criticizing the DNC, “delivered a taped address from her $11 million estate on Martha’s Vineyard. Michelle Obama, it’s fair to say, has done pretty well for herself. But what she wanted you to know last night was that she is still a victim ― she and everyone who looks like her ― so shut up and accept her dominion over you.”

Carlson argued that Obama was playing up her victimhood and used her speech to stoke racial tension.

“They hate me for my race, says the woman whose husband was elected by that very same country twice in a row, hence allowing her to buy an $11 million spread on Martha’s Vineyard, from which she lectures the plebes. And by the way, if Michelle Obama hates politics so much, why is she giving a political speech at a political convention?”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-michelle-obama-cardi-b_n_5f3cb4c0c5b6d8a9173f978e





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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink

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Hey everyone! I could really use a drink!



So you know the idea about this is that we have some drinks and while we’re drinking we talk about anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. Because let’s face it, there’s some seriously dark shit out there. And I do miss my live audience. Because drinking at home while recording this on my desktop with my webcam just isn’t nearly as fun. I miss my sarcastic bartender. This virtual bartender isn’t nearly as fun. So tell me virtual bartender, what goes well with a story about a creepy new Netflix show? A mudslide? OK who’s been screwing with this thing? Just give me my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. This week we’re going to talk about the controversial new Netflix series called “Cuties” and whew, this is getting quite the reaction. And it’s batshit insane.

Netflix has issued a swift mea culpa after a strong backlash today around the marketing of its forthcoming release Cuties.

The largely well-received French-language pic won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance this year. It follows Amy, an 11-year-old girl who joins a group of dancers named “The Cuties” at school and rapidly grows aware of her burgeoning femininity — upsetting her mother and her values. The film is rated 82% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics generally praised it for its handling of sensitive topics.

Netflix recently began promoting the movie ahead of its September 9 release on the platform. However, the accompany artwork has provoked a storm of online criticism, with many saying the poster sexualizes children. One Twitter user called it “disgusting,” while another said, “Netflix really messed up here.” Here’s the poster that sparked the backlash:

The online release follows its theatrical rollout in its native France via Bac Films, which began Wednesday. The Netflix poster contrasts considerably with the French theatrical poster, which strikes a somewhat different tone:
https://deadline.com/2020/08/netflix-apologizes-inappropriate-cuties-poster-criticized-sexualizing-children-1203018498/




Oh yeah that’s the stuff! Excuse me while I pour another round here. So of course just the poster is triggering people. But have you seen child beauty pageants? Those people are fucking insane! And come on this isn’t any different than what those Q Anon dipshits have come up with. The real outrage should be that people haven’t seen it yet and they’re literally judging a book by its’ cover.

Netflix has issued a statement apologizing for the marketing around its upcoming original film “Cuties,” directed by French filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré. The movie world premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award and earned Doucouré a spot on IndieWire’s annual list of rising women directors to know. Netflix received backlash over the film after it debuted a poster for the film August 18 that many believed sexualized children.

“We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/Cuties,” a Netflix spokesperson said. “It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance. We’ve now updated the pictures and description.”

“Cuties” stars newcomer Fathia Youssouf as Amy, an 11-year-old girl who befriends a group of dancers at her school and begins growing into her burgeoning femininity. Amy’s coming of age experience with her new friends upsets her mother as it is in direct confrontation with the family’s Senegalese Muslim traditions.

Netflix’s poster for “Cuties” featured the young girls that appear in the film striking suggestive dance poses such as twerking while dressed in tight and revealing group outfits. Netflix’s marketing led to a Change.org petition urging the streaming giant to remove the title from its upcoming slate. The petition for Netflix to cancel “Cuties” has earned over 35,000 signatures and counting.
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/08/netflix-apologizes-cuties-marketing-sexualizing-children-1234581341/




OK here’s where cancel culture goes berserk. And I totally get Bill Maher on this one, but here’s the thing – we here at the Top 10 do *NOT* endorse any kind of perversion or any kind of sexual exploitation of minors. Fuck that shit. But the film was trying to make a point about this sort of thing, and the “won’t somebody please think of the children” crowd took things just a bit too far here. Of course we’re in a pandemic and they can’t complain in person, but their online outrage was noted.

On Aug. 20, Netflix issued an apology following a wave of backlash for its marketing materials promoting Maïmouna Doucouré's Cuties. The poster featured the French film's main characters — the titular dance troupe named Cuties — in spandex dance costumes of shorts and crop tops. The streamer's now-deleted movie description read that lead character Amy "becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew," and in an attempt to join them, she "starts to explore her femininity, defying her family's traditions."

An uproar was immediately ignited over the poster's apparent sexualisation of children, and the backlash equated Netflix's marketing with the film's intent. "We're deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/Cuties," a Netflix spokesperson said in the statement on Thursday. "It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance. We've now updated the pictures and description."

The damage, however, was already done. Along with accusations that Netflix was run by pedophiles, petitions went up demanding the streamer remove the film from its lineup. I should note that Cuties won't premiere in the United States until Sept. 9, so the masses currently protesting the film's release haven't actually seen it. But that hasn't stopped over 178,000 people from signing the petition or another petition with the same purpose from gaining over 336,000 signatures.
https://www.popsugar.com.au/entertainment/netflix-cuties-poster-artwork-controversy-47719798




OK why don’t we ask actual actresses what they think of this movie? Let’s take for instance Tessa Thompson, responsible for one of my favorite recent movies Thor: Ragnarok. Now Ms. Thompson of course is a woman who grew up in cinema and saw this kind of thing first hand. Now what does she think of this most egregious of movies? Well, it’s a decidedly different take than the “Won’t somebody please think of the children” crowd.

Thor: Ragnarok and Men In Black: International actress Tessa Thompson has taken to Twitter to defend Netflix’s upcoming release Cuties after the film’s marketing sparked widespread backlash.

Originally titled Mignonnes, the French film is said to follow a young Sengalese Muslim girl who joins a youth ‘twerking’ crew in Paris and finds herself torn between her traditional religious culture and the hyper-sexualized culture of the West.

Mignonnes premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it earned director Maimouna Doucouré the event’s Directing Award, and was soon after optioned for international distribution by Netflix.

Netflix recently ignited a firestorm of anger around Cuties after the streaming service released promotional material for the film, including a poster that featured the pre-teen kids in suggestive outfits and poses.

They also released a description of the film that read “Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her feminity, defying her family’s traditions.”
https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/08/22/thors-tessa-thompson-defends-netflixs-cuties-due-to-directors-race/





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[font size="8"]Road To The White House
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Welcome back to the segment where we are documenting everything leading up to the 2020 election to end all elections! This is… cue reverb… THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!! Oh that was some good reverb there! Last week we brought you all the GOP reactions to Joe Biden’s historic nomination of California senator Kamala Harris to be his running mate. This week, we’re going to talk celebrity endorsements. And I had to look up who is still endorsing Trump because that list is getting shorter and shorter every day. Trump did pick up a celebrity endorsement this week – from former NFL legend Herschel Walker. But really, Herschel, if you are sad that Trump is being called racist, well, have you been paying attention the last four years?

Former NFL player Herschel Walker defended his friend President Donald Trump against claims that he is a racist on Monday during the first night of the Republican National Convention.

“I’m not an actor, a singer or politician. I’m Herschel Walker. Most of you know me as a football player, but I’m also a father, a man of faith and a very good judge of character,” Walker said during his virtual address to Republicans.

Walker went on to recall his 37-year-long friendship with Trump, whom he described as kind and thoughtful — the antithesis of how the president has been characterized over the past four years in office.

“It hurts my soul to hear the terrible names that people call Donald. The worst one is ‘racist.’ I take it as a personal insult that people would think I would have a 37-year friendship with a racist,” said Herschel Walker, a two-time NFL pro-baller.
https://thegrio.com/2020/08/25/herschel-walker-trump-racist-hurts-my-soul/




Yes, break out the sad songs on the tiniest violin. Because if you want celebrity endorsements, you vote for Joe Biden. He attracts the cool celebrities. Trump on the other hand, attracts people like James Woods and Jon Voight. If that’s your cup of tea fine. But let’s keep in mind that here’s the kind of people and “celebrities” of the caliber that Trump attracts. People like the gun-toting McCloskeys of St. Louis!

Mark and Patricia McCloskey — the couple seen in a viral video brandishing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside of their home earlier this summer — are now taking aim at Democrats.

On Monday, the pair spoke from their hometown of St. Louis during the 2020 Republican National Convention, addressing viewers in a four-minute clip about "defending" one's home and decrying anyone who attempts to infiltrate their suburban lives.

“What you saw happen to us could just as easily happen to any of you who are watching from quiet neighborhoods around our country. And that’s what we want to speak to you about tonight,” said Patricia.

The McCloskeys were charged in July with unlawful use of a weapon by exhibiting. Video from the June 28 incident showed the two personal injury lawyers, who are white, holding guns in front of a large crowd of protesters outside their home. Mark was filmed holding a large assault weapon, while Patricia was holding a pistol. (Joel Schwartz, the couple's attorney, has said he believes "no crime was committed.&quot
https://people.com/politics/couple-who-threatened-protesters-with-guns-say-america-will-not-be-safe-with-democrats-in-rnc-remarks/




Yeah compensate this. Now let’s switch gears and talk about Biden’s celebrity endorsements. See kids, if you want to hang with the cool crowd, vote for Joe Biden. If you want to see real artists, celebrities, entertainers, scientists, and everything in between, you vote for Biden. If you want to see lameness on display, by all means vote for Trump. So we’ll go hang out in the cool kids room, and you guys can wait behind the velvet rope to get in.
The 2020 Democratic National Convention wrapped up on August 20, officially naming Joe Biden as the democratic nominee for as the next President of The U.S. and Kamala Harris as his VP.

In addition to impassioned speeches and touching videos, the four day event was jam packed with celebrity appearances from A-List actors to pop performers.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Emmy-award winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus channeled her Veep character Selina Meyer as she moderated the fourth and final night of the DNC.

Throughout the night she zinged the sitting president with her comedic chops.

“Tonight, I couldn’t be prouder to be a loyal union member, a passionate climate activist, and a patriotic Democrat,” she said at one point. “Or as Donald Trump will call me in a tweet tomorrow, ‘a washed-up, horse-face, no-talent has-been with low ratings.’ Well, with all due respect, sir, it takes one to know one.”

John Legend
Singer and songwriter John Legend performed on the last night of the convention. The singer took to the stage to perform ‘Never Break’ and ‘Glory’ with rapper Common.

Billie Eilish
Singer songwriter Billie Eilish delivered a powerful anti-Trump speech, and debuted her new song ‘My Future’ on the third night.

“You don’t need me to tell you that things are a mess. Donald Trump is destroying our country and everything we care about. We need leaders who will solve problems like climate change and COVID, not deny them,” she said.

Before launching into her first single since quarantine, she continued: “Someone who’s building a team that shares our values. It starts with voting against Donald Trump and for Joe Biden.
https://okmagazine.com/photos/celebrities-endorse-joe-biden-eva-longoria-billy-eilish/




At least our VIP sign is much nicer than that! So let that be a lesson, there, kids. If you want to hang out with the cool kids, vote for Biden. If you want to hang out with the creeps and lowlifes, vote for Trump, and that’s about it. I know, I am repeating myself but I can’t emphasize that enough. And if it’s celebrity endorsements that you are after, by all means vote for Democrats! If you don’t care, then vote for Trump, it’s that simple.

If there’s one area that Democrats clearly have Republicans beat, it’s with celebrity endorsements.

The party took full advantage, stocking the programming with appearances from top-tier performers.

Billie Eilish blasted Trump in a startlingly blunt direct-to-camera monologue before unveiling her song “My Future.”

Jennifer Hudson performed the Sam Cooke classic “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Folk legend John Prine’s last recorded song was played over a tribute to those who have died from COVID-19. Prine died this year from the disease.

Common and John Legend led a final night tribute to the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) with "Glory," the Oscar-winner from the movie “Selma.”

Along the way, basketball star Steph Curry and family released a cute and playful endorsement video. Actresses Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kerry Washington and Eva Longoria hosted different nights of the convention.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/513052-what-well-remember-from-the-2020-biden-convention






We are taking a little bit of a break for Labor Day and we will running a Best Of on 9/2 and 9/9. We will be back on 9/15 with the second edition of our Top 10 Hot 10! See you in two weeks!

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August 19, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-9: When You Control The Mail, You Control Information Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-9: When You Control The Mail, You Control Information Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? I hope everyone is enjoying the virtual Democratic Convention. Yeah we wish it were in person too but this shitty virus is still roaming the landscape. But so far some great speeches and we can’t wait to see what Joe and Jill Biden have in store for us! I We’ll have a full 3 part recap next week and preview of the RNC as well. I know that I cannot wait until we kick Trump to the curb in November! Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do. We have all the time in the world right now. I await no schedule! Well, remember how the video store that everyone loved to hate, and hated to love, Blockbuster Video, was down to two locations? Now it’s just down to one – and it’s in Bend, Oregon. Well now that location is doing something and it’s bringing back the slumber parties that you had from childhood! Yup, those are a thing again! Complete with VCR copies of your favorite 80s and 90s flicks! That’s right – for a low price on Air BNB you can now rent the last Blockbuster on earth for a sleepover. I hope they have the old Radiation King TVs from my youth! That’s right, I had one. I also had the cheap ass VCR from Sears with the broken power button. OK I had better stop right now before I completely date myself. OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he talks about the impact all the crisis are having on juries – and it’s scarier than you might imagine:



Sigh, yet another week under the dreaded pandemic and things aren’t getting any better. So we’re here to entertain you for another week! In the first slot this week is of course the guy who we still inexplicably call president, Donald J. Trump (1). If you cannot win, why not rig the vote? That’s what he’s trying to do with his relentless attacks on the USPS. And he just might get it. Do your best Newman impression here. In the second slot this week is the actual 45th president of the United States, Vladimir Putin (2)! Does glorious Mother Russia have a COVID vaccine? Spoiler alert: NO! Taking the third slot this week is Twitter (3). So Herman Cain sadly lost his battle with the dreaded COVID-19 virus that has been plaguing the landscape, but someone is using his verified account to tweet from beyond the grave! And they’re using and abusing his account! In the fourth slot this week is a new edition of “We’re All Gonna Die” – which features Q Anon Maskholes, a new string of potentially deadly insect, and a rather scary development happening in the California desert! Taking the 5th slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week the lawsuit that refuses to die – involving legendary rock band Led Zeppelin, and band nobody’s ever heard of, Spirit, over Stairway To Heaven, might be going to SCOTUS after another ruling. Find out what it takes to go all the way! In slot #6 this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week our resident pastor can’t help but gloat at the straits that Liberty University is in after president Jerry Falwell Jr is quite literally caught with his pants down! Taking the 7th slot this week, we have a new edition of “This Fucking Guy” (7) and this week we’re going to profile the CEO of the NRA, Wayne La Pierre, and his abuse of the NRA’s bank account to spend on some lavish personal items! At slot #8 is our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner (8) and we’ll introduce you to a pair of Q linked candidates who could be headed to Congress, and that’s fucking scary! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, is a new People Are Dumb (9) because of course they are! Finally this week in Road To The White House (10), there’s even more reactions to Joe Biden’s historic nomination of Kamala Harris as his vice presidential running mate, and we will go through more of them! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Donald J. Trump
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It’s basically no secret that the guy who we still inexplicably call president, Donald J. Trump, and I am going to go out on a limb here, and say that he’s a bit afraid of Joe Biden. And he’s gone to such extreme lengths as to denounce Biden and dig up some dirt on his son’s business dealings in the Ukraine. Now his latest attacks are on the United States Post Office. Yes, in the middle of the worst pandemic in an entire century, people want to be able to exercise their right to vote against Trump. And Trump is slipping in the polls. So put those two things together and there’s a good possibility that Trump will be a one term president. But what if… he were to start fucking with the post office? Yes one of the few government entities actually defined in the US Constitution could be in serious jeopardy, and we’d all lose because of it!

The US Postal Service is at the center of the 2020 presidential election following President Donald Trump's repeated baseless claims that voting by mail will lead to voter fraud and his acknowledgment last week that he wanted to block USPS funding to sabotage mail-in voting.

Now, a group of attorneys general from at least 20 states are formally suing the Postal Service as part of an effort to ensure that that mail service is not interrupted before November 3, The Washington Post first reported on Tuesday.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy — a major Trump donor with no prior government experience — has said he hopes to reduce costs by cutting down on overtime and late trips, which has disrupted mail delivery in some parts of the country. Critics say the measures are meant not to financially repair the long-ailing USPS but to compromise the effectiveness of mail-in voting.

In the lawsuits, states are expected to argue that some of the more recent changes DeJoy made to mail delivery, including limiting overtime and late trips, violate federal law because they were not formally approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
https://www.businessinsider.com/attorneys-general-consider-suing-trump-administration-attack-usps-democracy-2020-8



That’s right! When you control the mail, you control information! So Trump is stepping in some seriously deep doo doo with this latest act of aggression. Things are bad enough right now, last thing we need is this petulant man child fucking up one of the oldest and most American of institutions. Having an America without the post office would be like having an apple pie without apples. Just crust and apple flavored syrup. Here’s why this is, and I am just guessing, bad. Hold your boos.

The Trump administration is making new inroads into the operations of the US Postal Service, raising fears that the agency is degrading services ahead of a surge of votes being cast through the mail in the November election.

As President Donald Trump has launched a relentless attack on vote-by-mail elections, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has inserted himself into the Postal Service's finances and a major Trump donor was selected to lead the USPS -- steps critics warn have opened up the independent government agency to undue political influence.

New Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who took over in June, is under pressure to reverse dramatic cost-cutting measures and prepare the Postal Service for a flood of mail-in ballots this fall. Last week, Mnuchin struck a loan deal with the Postal Service giving him access to details of its 10 biggest service contracts, likely including Amazon -- a move that could give the administration new ammunition to push the USPS to agree to one of Trump's pet projects, raising its shipping prices.

And in another sign of Mnuchin's involvement in the Postal Service's dealings, the Treasury secretary received briefings from the USPS Board of Governors to discuss the appointment of DeJoy as postmaster general earlier this year, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, an irregular arrangement that has not happened in past appointments.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/politics/trump-administration-postal-service-elections/index.html




But here’s why Trump is ramping up his attacks on the USPS. It has absolutely nothing to do with his reelection he claims. But it could have a lot to do with his ridiculous on again, off again feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. And Trump is once again upping the insanity that Amazon is responsible for the demise of the USPS. Despite time and time again that claim is 100% pure, grade A bullshit!

President Donald Trump is once again blaming Amazon for the demise of the United States Postal Service.

In an interview with "Fox & Friends" on Monday, Trump reignited his attack against the ecommerce juggernaut, stating that Amazon is killing the USPS.

The remark is one of a series of recent snipes the president has made at Amazon, including back in April when he placed fault on "internet companies that give their stuff to the Postal Service" in response to claims he tried to cut USPS funding from the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill.

"Amazon and other companies like it, they come and they drop all of their mail into a post office," Trump said on "Fox & Friends. "They drop packages into the post office by the thousands and then they say, 'Here, you deliver them.' We lose $3 and $4 a package on average. We lose massive amounts of money."
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-reignites-campaign-against-the-us-postal-service-and-amazon-2020-8




We don’t either but there’s no reason to get rid of the USPS either. We need them as much as they need us. And if you’re not fucking horrified by the attacks on this institution, but if you support these attacks you may just be part of the problem. The resolution? It comes in 78 days and it involves voting Trump’s sorry ass out of the White House! That’s the only way to end this nightmare!

Taking reporters’ questions on the White House lawn Monday morning about the future of the U.S. Postal Service and mail-in balloting, President Donald Trump dissembled.

“One of the things the post office loses so much money on is the delivering packages for Amazon and these others. Every time they deliver a package, they probably lose three or four dollars,” he said. “That’s not good. They have to raise those prices — OK — not for the people to pay, but for Amazon and those companies to pay.”

Trump has been asserting this for years and it’s not true. Delivering packages provides a handsome revenue boost to the U.S. Postal Service, thanks to e-commerce companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and others that ship packages in vast truckloads. But package delivery is a small part of the Postal Service’s operation. Mail delivery is its lifeblood, and it has been withering.

A big chunk of the Postal Service’s losses, about $32.6 billion for the fiscal years 2014 through 2019, are also due to a congressional mandate requiring it to prefund future retiree health benefits for its employees — which many other public and private entities don’t have to do. So no, none of these financial problems are caused by package delivery.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-18/usps-sos-trump-can-t-hide-his-true-reason-for-attacking-post-office





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[font size="8"]Vladimir Putin
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So is anyone really buying this polished turd of a claim that Vladimir Putin already has a vaccine for COVID? Well, the 45th president of the United States and supreme overlord of Mother Russia says that his vaccine has been approved for use. Or has it? Cue the shifty eyes because he might have unleashed a heaping table of bullshit. That’s right, last week Putin unveiled his version of the COVID vaccine called “Sputnik V” but as I have said is anybody really buying this? I know for a fact that I am not. And let’s just see how real Russia’s vaccine really is. Do your best Scooby Doo impression here.

Amid the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a coronavirus vaccine, touted as the world's first such vaccine, too. The registration of the vaccine lays ground for mass inoculation even as the final stages of clinical trials to test safety and efficacy continue.

The announcement came in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 20 million people and killed nearly 750,000 worldwide, thus, crippling world economies.

Russia dubbed its newly launched vaccine against coronavirus "Sputnik V" after the Soviet satellite, the head of the country's sovereign wealth fund said, as per reports.

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund which finances the vaccine project, said Phase 3 trials would start on Wednesday, industrial production was expected from September and that 20 countries had pre-ordered more than a billion doses, AFP reported.
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/russia-develops-world-s-first-covid-19-vaccine-putin-s-daughter-gets-vaccinated-11597135192189.html




Why do TV show and movie characters always say that? Because even I don’t know what I’m thinking half the time. But anyway glorious dictator Putin not only has the vaccine he has had family members take it. If you’re following the 1918 playbook, it was at this point in the pandemic that the bogus drugs and cures were being touted. Hey, we all want to get on with our lives and put this behind us. But we won’t if shit like this keeps happening!

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on 11 August that the country’s health regulator had become the first in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread use — but scientists globally have condemned the decision as dangerously rushed. Russia hasn’t completed large trials to test the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, and rolling out an inadequately vetted vaccine could endanger people who receive it, researchers say. It could also impede global efforts to develop quality COVID-19 immunizations, they suggest.

“That the Russians may be skipping such measures and steps is what worries our community of vaccine scientists. If they get it wrong, it could undermine the entire global enterprise,” says Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

“This is a reckless and foolish decision. Mass vaccination with an improperly tested vaccine is unethical. Any problem with the Russian vaccination campaign would be disastrous both through its negative effects on health, but also because it would further set back the acceptance of vaccines in the population,” said Francois Balloux, a geneticist at University College London, in a statement distributed by the UK Science Media Centre.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02386-2




By the way we’re not the only ones calling bullshit here! See in order to get a vaccine approved, there’s four different stages that one must go through in order to get it approved and distributed. And Putin is claiming that he won the Stanley Cup when we’re just in 1st period intermission of game 1. This virus is a beast and not going away anytime soon. But the subject of the anti-vaxxers’ favorite punching bag, Bill Gates, is calling bullshit!

If Russian President Vladimir Putin has found an effective COVID-19 vaccine, then the data showing its safety and effectiveness should be released, the head of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance says.

In an exclusive wide-ranging interview with Newsweek International, Dr. Seth Berkley said that he had yet to see any efficacy data showing that President Putin had a safe vaccine.

He said: "We don't have public, published information on efficacy or safety of this product.

"It may be that there's some data we don't know about but in general what's very important is that vaccines go through a well-oiled and recognized process for evaluation and safety and ultimately registration.
https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-vaccine-russian-uk-putin-trump-gavi-covid-19-health-1525552




That is most certainly true! And before you keep calling bullshit, like I am, let’s just say that the COVID vaccine race is the latest in the long, long series of pissing contests between the United States and Mother Russia. And it’s made even worse by the fact that we have a ruthless dictator on one end, and an insecure, egomaniacal man child on the other. You can interchange those as you see fit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the approval of a coronavirus vaccine for use on Tuesday, claiming it as a "world first," amid continued concern and unanswered questions over its safety and effectiveness.

"A vaccine against coronavirus has been registered for the first time in the world this morning," Putin said on state TV. "I know that it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity."

Putin added that one of his daughters had already taken it; he said she had a slightly higher temperature after each dose, but that: "Now she feels well."

Developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, the vaccine has been named Sputnik-V, a reference to the surprise 1957 launch of the world's first satellite by the Soviet Union. It has yet to go through crucial Phase 3 trials where it would be administered to thousands of people.

The claim of victory by Putin in the global push to make an effective vaccine against Covid-19 comes amid suggestions that Russia has cut essential corners in its development.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/11/europe/russia-coronavirus-vaccine-putin-intl/index.html





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[font size="8"]Herman Cain
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This next entry is going to go against the long, long standing Top 10 policy that we never speak ill of the dead. But when the dead are mysteriously using their Twitter accounts to speak ill of us, that’s when I throw out the rules and say “fuck it” and start fighting fire with fire! If you’ve been following the Top 10, you know that former presidential candidate and pizza magnate Herman Cain sadly lost his brief battle with COVID-19. But if you’re on the Tweet Sphere, you know that somehow, Cain has mysteriously risen from the dead and is tweeting republican! Yes, to borrow that classic Bart Simpson line. So how did someone manage to get a hold of Cain’s verified account and why are they using it for bad? Because fuck it, that’s why!

Herman Cain's Twitter account is still tweeting, more than two weeks after the former Republican presidential candidate died from coronavirus.

Cain died at 74 years old on July 30 after being hospitalized with coronavirus. His official Twitter account, now with the name "The Cain Gang," has since regularly tweeted or retweeted criticism against Democrats, particularly against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his pick for vice president, Kamala Harris.

For instance, on Thursday, Cain's Twitter tweeted "Harris has a ton of baggage and a political glass jaw. She's awful."

That same day, it tweeted that The Cain Gang "consists of different writers who have their own opinions. We all lean right, but we're also individuals. Each piece reflects the opinions of that writer. That's how Herman wanted it to work."

Cain's daughter, Melanie Cain Gallo, wrote in a post on his website on Tuesday that Cain "believed in using his voice to teach, enlighten and give hope. It's one of the ways he used this web site every day, and he wouldn't have wanted that work to stop with his passing."
https://www.businessinsider.com/herman-cains-twitter-is-still-active-after-died-from-coronavirus-2020-8




Well in this case they’re tweeting republican! But why? And why is this so fucking creepy? Well Hermain Cain was a naturally creepy individual by nature. I mean we all saw that weird campaign ad from when he actually attempted to run:



Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. 8 years later and that still creeps me the fuck out. But seriously, speaking of the creep factor, here’s why this is so creepy.

Although Republican activist and one-time Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain — who served as co-chair of Black Voices for Trump — died from COVID-19 on July 30, new posts from his Twitter account, @THEHermanCain, have appeared this week. And according to The Guardian's Adam Gabbatt, Cain's allies have decided to keep the account active with tweets on this week's events.

One of the posts appeared after former Vice President Joe Biden, on Tuesday, chose Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate. Another post, added on Thursday, attacked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Gabbatt explains that Cain's daughter, Melanie Cain Gallo, has offered some clarification on the new tweets. According to Gallo, "We've decided here at Cain HQ that we will go on using this platform to share the information and ideas he believed in. He often talked about the site going on once he was ready to step away from it. We had hoped he could enjoy reading it in his retirement, but he made it clear he wanted it to go on."

Gallo also said that new tweets from her father's social media accounts will "go under the name The Cain Gang."

But initially, the name on the account hadn't been changed — "Herman Cain" still seemed to be tweeting — and no explanation for the new posts was given. The posts appeared exactly as they would have had Cain tweeted them while he was alive, leading many to react to the disconcerting situation in shock.
https://www.salon.com/2020/08/15/herman-cains-twitter-account-is-creeping-everyone-out-it-is-still-trolling-after-his-death_partner/




So this begs the question – if Herman Cain is dead, then who’s got a hold of his account? And why is this individual using it to promote the dark side? Well the “Cain Gang” has taken over his account and they are apparently using it to spread his legacy. And by the way is the name “Cain Gang” what you really want to call your army of followers? Or do you even have an army? Maybe it’s just a small but vocal fan club.

Herman Cain, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate who died after contracting COVID-19, is continuing to denounce to Democratic politicians on social media two weeks after his death.

"Just in case you thought Biden's candidacy was going to be anything other than completely nuts, team Trump has released a new video," read the first post on Cain's Twitter account since an Aug. 7 one that shared the time of his funeral.

"How well prepared is Kamala Harris for the presidency? We take a look. We're not impressed and you won't be either," read a post added to his Facebook account on Wednesday.

"Harris has a ton of baggage and a political glass jaw. She's awful," read a post added Thursday.

The flurry of political posts on his social media accounts is the work of Cain's daughter Dr. Melanie Cain Gallo.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/13/herman-cain-attacks-kamala-harris-social-media-2-weeks-after-death/3362783001/




Wait, let me get this straight. Kamala has a lot of baggage but your man dies from a plague after hanging out with Trump in Oklahoma City? Get the fuck out of here! And come on, Cain Gang, whoever you are, we’re onto you! And I really hate to use TMZ for this angle of the story but I couldn’t find anything else but guess what? No violation at all! Even though Twitter has rules against this sort of thing!

Herman Cain's political takes from beyond the grave will continue -- even if some Twitter users think it's dirty pool -- because they're not breaking any rules.

The late pizza tycoon and politician's Twitter account raised eyebrows Wednesday night when it started firing off anti-Joe Biden posts in response to Joe announcing Kamala Harris as his running mate.

The tweets drew a mixed reaction -- some joked Cain had jumped online posthumously to keep supporting President Trump. But, others fumed the account was violating Twitter policy ... since the person posting is obviously not HC.

Not so, according to a Twitter spokesperson, who tells us the profile info and images have been updated to reflect who is truly managing the account ... so, it's all Kosher.

The new group in charge calls itself "The Cain Gang," and -- led by his daughter Dr. Melanie Cain Gallo -- vows to continue working on his political mission.

Since Wednesday, that's included several tweets and retweets supporting Trump and slamming his opponents.
https://www.tmz.com/2020/08/14/herman-cain-gang-twitter-account-no-violation-biden-tweets/





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[font size="8"]We’re All Gonna Die
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Hey everyone guess what? We’re all gonna die!!WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!! WOOOOOOO. WOOO. Of course unlike the other times when I’ve said we’re all gonna die, I mean it could really happen this year. After all, this is 2020, which seems to be the year of disaster. Don’t believe me? We’ve had a plague, we’ve had murder hornets, we’ve had test tube stealing monkeys, and we’re still in August! But this might be something that could really kill us – there’s a storm coming. No, I’m not talking about that Q Anon horseshit. I’m talking about a real life fire tornado that’s been brewing up in the Northern California desert. For real.

Firefighters are battling more than a dozen wildfires across California as a scorching heat wave continues to bear down on the state. And in the midst of record-breaking temperatures, rare lightning storms have also sparked a handful of new fires that continue to rage on.

"We are all experiencing rather extraordinary conditions," Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, adding that there are about 15 fires burning in the northern and southern ends of the state.

About 40,000 acres have been charred by a fire that was started by lightning close to Loyalton, a community along the California-Nevada border near Reno.

As of Monday afternoon, officials said it was 10% contained after destroying 11 structures, including five homes, the U.S. Forest Service said.
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/18/903399662/extreme-heat-and-fire-tornadoes-slow-firefighting-efforts-in-california




Yeah probably! So fire tornadoes are one thing that is actually a thing in my home state and it’s absolutely terrifying! You know what else could kill you? A major earthquake, and that’s also a thing that my state of California has to deal with. Not only that, boomerang earthquakes are now a thing! And that would also make a great band name. But you know since the Doomsday Clock moved another 30 seconds closer to midnight, is it any wonder why we are fucked?

A massive earthquake in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in 2016 ricocheted east then west like a geologic boomerang.

Boomerang quakes have only been rarely anecdotally reported, and never before recorded scientifically. This strangely complex earthquake happened on a relatively simple, straight-line fault called an ocean transform fault. That suggests such weird, ricocheting quakes could happen on other straight-line faults, such as the San Andreas Fault that snakes along California's coast.

Complicated earthquakes aren't unusual, said study co-author Stephen Hicks, an earthquake seismologist and research associate at Imperial College London. But that's not surprising because most faults are complicated: They might be very close to other faults, which all rupture in weird ways when one snaps under pressure. Ocean transform faults, by contrast, should be simple, Hicks said.

"We're seeing this level of complexity on just a single structure," Hicks told Live Science.
https://www.livescience.com/boomerang-earthquake.html




Now now we’re not gonna die yet. And not only are we gonna die, the animals might also have a chance of dying with us! No, that’s nothing to laugh or scoff at! You know what the COVID pandemic is having an effect on? The salmon population. Yes, that most delicious of pink, scaly fish that goes great on a bagel with a metric shit ton of cream cheese could be at risk because of the COVID pandemic, which means bad news for us!

Unless you fished for salmon this summer at Bristol Bay, it’s been slim pickings for fishermen in other Alaska regions. Salmon returns have been so poor that communities already are claiming fishery disasters.

Cordova’s City Council last week unanimously passed a resolution asking the state to declare disasters for both the 2018 Copper River sockeye and chinook salmon runs and the 2020 sockeye, chum and chinook runs at the Copper River and Prince William Sound.

The resolution also urges the state and federal governments to declare a “condition of economic disaster in Cordova as a result,” reported Seafood.com, adding, “The town of 2,500 is now the first of what will likely be at least one or two others to ask for a fisheries and economic disaster declaration in 2020.”

The sockeye fishery at Chignik on the Alaska Peninsula also has remained closed again this year. So few salmon have returned state managers said it is unlikely escapement goals will be achieved for the third consecutive year.
https://www.adn.com/business-economy/2020/08/11/2020-salmon-returns-have-been-so-poor-that-alaska-communities-already-are-claiming-fishery-disasters/




Yeah probably! Although there is some good news, I guess. While COVID is ravaging the landscape, and you are more likely to die from that than you are anything else right now, you’re actually less likely to die from a natural disaster! That’s right, while deaths from other variables are way up, deaths from actual natural disasters are way down! Could this be the calm before the storm perhaps?

New data indicates that the number of people killed in natural disasters in the first six months of 2020 was much lower than average figures over the past 30 years.

Why it matters: A combination of climate change and more people moving into risk-prone areas can intensify the effects of natural disasters. But better preparation and greater wealth can prevent deaths, even as the overall price of catastrophe rises.

Driving the news: The reinsurer Munich Re released data about the toll of natural disasters over the first six months of 2020.

While the financial losses were just slightly below the 30-year average over the same months, far fewer people than average — 2,900 people total — were killed by natural catastrophes.
That's 38% below the total from the first half of 2019, and nearly 90% below the 30-year average.
https://www.axios.com/natural-disaster-deaths-2020-49437b93-2a05-41b3-a7ba-2d32b885e34f.html





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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Led Zeppelin Lawuit
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!



It’s the lawsuit that refuses to die. Rock band Spirit has sued one of the most popular rock bands of all time, Led Zeppelin, over the music in their hit song “Stairway To Heaven”. Now that lawsuit is literally one step away from going to the Supreme Court of the United States. What will it take for that to happen and what could the potential outcome have for musicians around the US? Not to mention musicians around the world? The entire world is watching and waiting for the outcome of this lawsuit and the implications that it will have on the creative community. Well now this has the potential to reach the highest law in the United States. What could happen if it goes all the way to SCOTUS?

There’s a feeling you get, when you look at two repeated court losses, and your spirit is crying for … trying a third time. The U.S. Supreme Court has been petitioned to review the never-ending Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” copyright-infringement saga, in what would become the most significant music trial to ever reach the nine justices. The case, which has been in and out of courts since 2016, claims that the band infringed upon the instrumental song “Taurus” by the American rock band Spirit and repurposed it as the intro to “Stairway to Heaven.” Per THR, the petition comes from Michael Skidmore, who had been representing the late Spirit front man Randy Wolfe in previous court cases. “It is fitting, perhaps,” the petition states, “that the future of music copyright law be decided by a case about rock n’ roll’s most iconic song.”

In the new petition, Skidmore claims that he lost the previous trial because the jury “didn’t get to appreciate the true ‘Taurus’” and “wasn’t properly instructed about originality,” as the original “Taurus” recording was not played. In 2016, Led Zeppelin won the trial following a few days of entertaining testimony (Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were both called as witnesses), and earlier this year, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict and denied a retrial. The timeframe for Skidmore to petition the Supreme Court remains unclear, so we’ll entertain ourselves in the meantime by imagining that Clarence Thomas asks a question about how, exactly, the piper will lead us all to reason.
https://www.vulture.com/2020/08/led-zeppelin-stairway-to-heaven-trial-go-to-supreme-court.html




Yes, that could have serious complications for the music industry, who in the last year has seen lawsuits from the Marvin Gaye estate, Ed Sheeran, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles. So how is this latest ruling affecting the music industry copyright claims? Well it comes back after last March when the latest ruling in the suit was that the song did not steal the riffs. Though the members of Spirit are taking it yet another step further.

Once again, Led Zeppelin has come out on top in the midst of a long-running legal dispute with the estate of the late Spirit frontman Randy (California) Wolfe.

Earlier this week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Calif., found — for the second time — that the iconic opening of Led Zeppelin’s 1971 rock anthem Stairway to Heaven was not plagiarized from that of Spirit’s instrumental prog song, Taurus (1968), according to the Associated Press (AP).

The verdict comes six years after Wolfe’s estate — run by trustee Michael Skidmore — ignited the copyright infringement lawsuit in 2014. At the time, the estate sued not only the British rock group, but also their label, Warner Music Group.

Led Zeppelin was initially deemed not guilty of plagiarism in 2016; however, the jury’s decision was overturned in October 2018, when members of the 9th Circuit panel ruled that the case’s previous judge had provided “erroneous instruction” to the jury. This prompted a retrial in 2019.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6661744/led-zeppelin-win-copyright-lawsuit/


So Led Zeppelin won that round, but have they lost the war, or will Spirit rue the day when they sued one of the world’s most popular rock bands? And what could it take for the suit to go all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States? And what will be the potential outcome? Do we know where we are going with this line of questioning? You bet we do not.

The plagiarism claim linked the intro’s origins to a lesser-known 70s rock band, Spirit, and their song, “Taurus.” Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the estate of Randy California, the guitarist for and composer of Taurus, brought a lawsuit in 2014 alleging that Zeppelin stole the guitar intro for “Stairway” from Spirit. The lawsuit alleges that the two bands toured together in the late 1960s, and therefore, Zeppelin had “access” to Spirit’s songs.

Skidmore’s lawsuit charged Jimmy Page and Robert Plant with copyright infringement, but a jury found them not guilty following a full trial. Skidmore appealed, and in 2018 a Ninth Circuit ordered a new trial after finding that the original trial had “erroneous jury instructions.”

A new trial was held in September of 2019. Plaintiff’s main argument focused on the fact that the original trial did not compare the recorded versions of “Stairway to Heaven” and “Taurus.” To some, this might seem odd, but both “Stairway” and “Taurus” were copyrighted under a 1909 law that only protects sheet music turned into the U.S. Copyright Office. More recent copyright laws extend copyright protection to sound recordings.

Plaintiff protested that judging the songs by their sheet music was misleading because Jimmy Page himself does not read sheet music. “Why are we looking at this artificial analysis that never happened in the real world?” Plaintiff’s attorney said, per the Associated Press. “It’s wrong, it’s artificial, it’s imaginary. What we do know, and what we proved at trial, is that Jimmy Page has five of Spirit’s albums in his record collection.”
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/sometimes-words-have-two-meanings-court-rules-stairway-to-heaven-s-troubled




Well that said, Spirit is not the only band who’s been on the side of a Led Zeppelin lawsuit. There’s also popular singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye, who goes by the stage name of The Weeknd. Well, needless to say the copyright suits against Led Zeppelin could determine the future of the music industry. And you can expect that we will keep an eye on this and future lawsuits.

In terms of how Tesfaye or his collaborators might have had access to the trio’s unreleased song, that all centred on Universal Music Publishing. The three songwriters had been signed to the publishing wing of London management company Big Life, which was then bought by the major in 2008. A co-writer on ‘A Lonely Night’, Jason Quenneville, also has links to Universal Music Publishing via a Canadian music firm he works with. So, the theory went, he must have been exposed to ‘I Need To Love’ via Universal.

However, in a motion to dismiss last month, Tesfaye’s lawyers said that Quenneville’s co-write credit on ‘A Lonely Night’ actually stemmed from his work on an earlier unfinished song, a verse from which Tesfaye borrowed for his ‘Starboy’ track. And that earlier unfinished song was written before Quenneville had any connections with Universal.

That motion to dismiss also claimed that the musical elements shared by ‘A Lonely Night’ and ‘I Need To Love’ were also found in lots of other songs. And that one more specific element both songs contained amounted to “three isolated notes spread over three measures, one note per measure”. Citing the recent Ninth Circuit court ruling in the big Led Zeppelin song-theft case, Tesfaye’s lawyers argued that specific element was not substantial enough to be protected by copyright.
https://completemusicupdate.com/article/court-dismisses-plagiarism-claims-made-against-the-weeknd/




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! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 virtual congregation! You know it’s not my style to engage in a bit of schadenfreude because that’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want. But when it involves an institution that is widely known for spreading HERESY and worshipping the unholy, ungodly dark one, whose name shall not be mentioned in my church – real or virtual, then exceptions must be made! But here’s the thing my fair flock, that still come to us week after week to put up with my nonsense, Liberty University was a well oiled machine that actually had some credibility. Then their founder died and made the asshole son president, who worships the unholy, ungodly Dark One, whose name shall not be mentioned in my church! That’s when things started to go predictably south.

A few days after Jerry Falwell Jr. buried his father in 2007, an author writing about the family visited Falwell Jr.’s office and made what he thought was an obvious comment. With the death of Jerry Falwell Sr., a charismatic religious-right titan, Falwell Jr. was about to become president of a Christian mega-university as the heir of the extremely famous brand name.

“I said: ‘You’re really in the spotlight now, eh?’ ” said Dirk Smillie, then a Forbes writer working on a book about the family and the booming university Falwell Sr. had created in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. “If I was in his place, I’d expect a number of emotions. But instead he had this look like he was being taken to the guillotine, like: ‘This is, like, the last thing I want to do.’ He was dreading the visibility that would come from having to replace what his father had engineered.”

Over the next 13 years, Falwell Jr. transformed from a shy, reclusive real estate developer and lawyer nervous in public settings to a highflying national figure — known not only for his leadership of the country’s most prominent evangelical university, which boasts 85,000 students, but also for a long series of controversial social media posts — some criticized as Islamophobic, sexist and racist — and for his zealous public defense of President Trump.

Earlier this month, in the minds of Liberty leaders, he went too far. On Aug. 7 Falwell Jr. was put on an indefinite leave of absence from the presidency after he posted a provocative Instagram photo of himself posing with his wife’s assistant.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/08/17/liberty-president-falwell-instagram-reckoning-trump/




Of course! You cannot support the unholy Dark One because everything he touches turns to absolute shit! Remember, we are allowed to swear in my church! Remember that movie from a few years ago called Horrible Bosses? Jerry Falwell Jr is the dim son who takes over the family business and doesn’t have a clue how to run it. Which is probably how he lost control of the message so easily!

As president and chancellor of the country’s largest Christian university and the son of one of the founding fathers of the religious right, Jerry Falwell Jr. has come to serve as a stand-in for American evangelicals. But to those inside the Liberty University community, Falwell’s leading role has lately seemed more like a liability than an asset. On Friday, the executive committee of the school’s board announced that Falwell will take an indefinite leave of absence.

Alumni feel “they have to hide their association with Liberty,” Colby Garman, a pastor who graduated from Liberty and serves on the board of Virginia’s Southern Baptist Convention, told me by phone Friday night. “A lot of pastors feel that way, a little bit, when it comes to the leadership of the school.” (Falwell did not reply to my request for an interview.)

What finally pushed Liberty’s leaders to act was their belief that Falwell had openly flaunted immoral behavior: He posted, and then deleted, an image of himself on a yacht, his arm around the waist of a young woman who was not his wife. Both of their pants were partially unzipped, and a glass of what looked like alcohol—which he called “black water” in his caption—was in Falwell’s hand. Later, in an interview with a local radio station in Lynchburg, Virginia, where Liberty is located, Falwell explained that the woman works as an assistant to his wife. He laughed the incident off: “I promised my kids I’m going to try to be a good boy from here on out,” he said. But alumni and staff who had previously expressed their concerns about Falwell in private began openly calling for his resignation, including Representative Mark Walker of North Carolina; many of them noted that any number of Falwell’s actions would have gotten a Liberty student written up.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/08/jerry-fallwell-evangelicals-liberty/615112/




So Liberty University has gone over the edge. Guess you can say that we tried to warn them because that’s what you get when you trust the unholy Dark One. Everything he touches dies! Instead, you must trust the good LAWRD JAYSUS! Of course you can see why Liberty is currently in shambles and one incident must be what pushed them over the edge! You can’t trust how things are going right now.

Jerry Falwell Jr., the president and chancellor of Liberty University, has agreed to take an "indefinite leave of absence," according to a statement Friday from the evangelical Christian university.

The leave of absence is effective immediately, the statement said. The executive committee of the university's board of trustees made the request of Falwell. The board did not provide a reason for Falwell's leave in its statement.

CNN has reached out to Falwell for comment. In a separate statement, Jerry Prevo, chairman of the university's board of trustees, said the Lynchburg, Virginia-based university has "experienced unprecedented success" during Falwell's 13 years as president.

"Unfortunately, with this success and the burdens of leading a large and growing organization comes substantial pressure," Prevo said in the statement. "Today, my colleagues and I on the Liberty University Board of Trustees and Jerry mutually agreed that it would be good for him to take an indefinite leave of absence."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/07/us/jerry-falwell-jr-liberty-university-leave/index.html




Except when there is judgement of course, and I speak of that in the Good Book, which you can now buy online for the low low price of $19.99! But yeah this is the incident I am referring to that got Mr. Falwell ousted from his own school. Really don’t do this people, and especially don’t be partying on a boat during a pandemic. But once again everything the Dark One touches dies!

The executive committee did not provide a reason, but the request comes several days after Falwell posted -- and then deleted -- a photograph on Instagram with his pants unzipped and his arm around a woman, The New York Times reported.

According to WSLS, the caption on the post -- which has been deleted -- reads, “More vacation shots. Lots of good friends visited us on the yacht. I promise that’s just black water in my glass. It was a prop only.”

On Thursday, Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., a Southern Baptist minister and former Liberty instructor, called for Falwell’s resignation, according to The Washington Post.

“Jerry Falwell Jr’s ongoing behavior is appalling,” Walker tweeted. “I’m convinced Falwell should step down.”

On Friday, Walker tweeted that the move was the right call for the university and offered prayers for Falwell and his family.
https://www.wsoctv.com/news/trending/jerry-falwell-jr-announces-leave-absence-liberty-university/5RZAAJAKORFRNKGQ2CFEGV7HPI/




So we must not celebrate or pity Rev Falwell, rather, just heed this warning as a caution of things not to do in dire times! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Wayne La Pierre
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Man I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to do this one, but this week’s This Fucking Guy is the long time head of that most American of institutions, the gun lobby organization known as the National Rifle Association, Wayne La Pierre. Yes, this week, Mr. La Pierre is in some deep shit after New York Attorney General Letitia James laid the smackdown on his group for taking advantage of the state’s charity requirements. Which of course is an actual crime but don’t tell the NRA that. But like most good republican executives, Mr. LaPierre used and abused the NRA like it was his personal piggy bank. And for that he must go. Or will he? I always pictured his exit from the NRA in a good old fashioned western style duel to the death!

For nearly three decades, Wayne LaPierre has been the face of the National Rifle Association, burnishing the organization's influence and power in Washington, taking a defiant stance against gun control advocates in the wake of mass shootings and once famously declaring, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

On Thursday, LaPierre's position as CEO and executive vice president of the most dominant gun lobby in the United States became more precarious after New York Attorney General Letitia James sued him and three other high-ranking current or former NRA executives, alleging that they have undercut the nonprofit organization's charitable mission by engaging in illegal financial conduct.

That includes diverting tens of millions of dollars for personal trips and expenditures, lucrative no-show contracts to buy people's silence and other improper spending, according to the lawsuit.

"The NRA was serving as a personal piggy bank for four individual defendants," James, a Democrat, said at a news conference.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wayne-lapierre-allegedly-used-nra-personal-piggy-bank-n-y-n1236068




Man who still has a toilet like that? Anyway Mr. LaPierre is in quite the serious shit, as we pointed out last week. And you know when you’re traveling, back in the days when we actually could travel to places, and I am old enough to remember when that was, why do you need a private jet that costs more than some people’s homes? Or a vacation home that cost more than your actual house? Wayne LaPierre does!

Oh, the places he went in private jets, luxury yachts and safari trucks.

In New York Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuit against the National Rifle Association, the word “travel” appears no fewer than 118 times — almost always in reference to the extravagant jet-setting of the National Rifle Association’s Chief Executive and Executive Vice President, Wayne LaPierre.

New York State is seeking to dissolve the NRA and is suing the group’s executive leadership for “fraud and abuse” following an 18-month investigation that revealed a $64 million loss in just three years.

Central to the 164-page chronicle of alleged financial malfeasance is LaPierre’s use of NRA funds for over-the-top vacations, private jets, and lavish meals. In a statement, James’s office said that the charitable organization's executives “instituted a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement, and negligent oversight at the NRA that was illegal, oppressive, and fraudulent.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2020/08/06/wayne-lapierres-extravagant-travels-are-central-in-new-yorks-nra-lawsuit/#2a9e0ffa38ed




Boy that would be pretty sweet wouldn’t it? Although I don’t know, there’s some places you just don’t want to travel at all these days. Maybe Wayne and his cronies can sit at home and play virtual duck hunter on a VR headset like the rest of us will do during this pandemic! Well all that being said with as dire straits as the most conservative American gun toting of all organizations is in, they might just be their own worst enemy!

A year after being re-elected as the executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre has seen his group go from an electoral kingmaker to the edge of financial ruin. He and other NRA executives have urged laid-off employees to seek public assistance benefits. The nation's most prominent pro-gun lobby has lost tens of millions of dollars amid numerous legal woes and investigations that have exposed its questionable financial dealings. Now, the longtime NRA leader hopes his lawyers can "keep him out of jail," according to previously unreported allegations in court documents in the group's legal battle against its longtime public relations firm, Ackerman McQueen.

The documents, which were published in full on NRA Watch, a new database launched by the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, allege that LaPierre has grown "preoccupied with going to jail." Ackerman's allegations paint a picture of an executive who "didn't trust his own accounting department" and instructed associates not to disclose important information to the group's auditors.

The documents also include allegations about the NRA's search for a personal mansion for LaPierre, whose alleged obsession with "purchasing a lavish home for himself" led Ackerman to pull out of the deal. They also allege that LaPierre may have violated his own group's bylaws by improperly using Ackerman to pay off the group's former president, Lt. Col. Oliver North, who left the organization after what it described as a "failed coup attempt."

Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, the grassroots arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, told Salon that NRA Watch aimed to show that LaPierre "used member dues for what looks like personal reasons" while "only 10% of NRA funds in 2018 were even spent on gun safety."
https://www.salon.com/2020/05/01/exclusive-nra-chief-wayne-lapierres-no-good-very-bad-year-according-to-new-court-filings/




Wow, so a gun organization that spends 10% of its’ income on gun safety? Do car manufacturers only spend 10% of their income on safe driving practices? Yes that’s how an organization is supposed to run, and it ain’t supposed to run like this! But here’s the real kicker out of all of this. And I’m no big city lawyer, but if you put together the NRA’s massive losses with Wayne’s extravagant spending, well, it might just make him look bad!

The National Rifle Association was forced to drastically cut its budget after legal battles cost the group $100 million, according to a recording of an NRA board meeting obtained by NPR.

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre lamented at the January meeting that investigations into the organization launched by attorneys general in New York and Washington had bled finances. He decried the "power of weaponized government."

"The cost that we bore was probably about a $100 million hit in lost revenue and real cost to this association in 2018 and 2019," LaPierre said in the recording. "I mean, that's huge."

LaPierre told board members that the group was forced to cut $80 million from its budget to "survive."

The attorneys general in New York and Washington are investigating the group's finances, as well as its nonprofit status. The NRA has also been locked in a years-long legal battle with its longtime public relations firm, which accused LaPierre of mismanaging the group's money and spending millions on lavish travel, clothing and even his search for a personal mansion.
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/22/wayne-lapierre-reveals-that-nra-cut-budget-to-survive-after-losing-100-million-leaked-audio/




So, reckless spending and treating his own organization like it’s his personal piggy bank. That’s Wayne La Pierre, this week’s:




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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner

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Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! We are coming at you from a remote bomb shelter in the alkali flats of the Iowa badlands. Just allow me to adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference. They are trying to read my thoughts after all, and they’re trying to read yours! That’s right! But that said, conspiracy theories are no longer limited to just crackpots. They’re gaining traction, as with the popular Q Anon conspiracy that got roots in the internet sewer known as 4chan. Of course like most bad things, Q Anon has no basis in real life, and it has no basis in reality. So why are so many people embracing it?

A Republican candidate who subscribes to the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory prevailed Tuesday night in a House primary runoff in Georgia.

Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated fellow Republican John Cowan in the runoff for Georgia's 14th Congressional District, and her victory in the solidly Republican Georgia district means Greene is all but certain to find herself elected to Washington.

What started three years ago as a conspiracy theory born on the internet's dark fringes has moved into the mainstream with candidates like Greene espousing and promoting QAnon theories and phrases as they seek political office on a major party ticket.

QAnon's main theories claim that dozens of politicians and A-list celebrities work in tandem with governments around the globe to engage in child sex abuse. Followers also believe there is a "deep state" effort to thwart President Donald Trump. Another QAnon theory is that Trump will arrest all his wrongdoers like Hillary Clinton and send them to Guantanamo Bay. There is no evidence for these claims.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12/politics/qanon-congressional-candidates/index.html




Man remember the good old days when Q was the lovable chap who used to bring James Bond cool and extremely dangerous gadgets from his workshop? And Q Anon isn’t just limited to getting assholes elected to the highest levels of government. Q Anon is also wreaking havoc with the pandemic. And you can almost always tell a Q Anon supporter by the fact that they’re violent and obnoxious, and start spewing all kinds of pro-Trump crap.

In February, five months before she became known as "QAnon Karen," there was no one more terrified of the coming pandemic than Melissa Rein Lively.

"I bought the N-95 masks. I bought the hazmat suit," she said. "In my mind, a zombie movie was imminent."

At the time, Rein Lively said her career was at its peak. Her self-owned marketing company had just helped launch the high-end restaurant Nobu in Scottsdale, Arizona. Hyatt Hotels had signed on for marketing help.

By July 5, she had gone into a Target store and trashed the mask section, streaming her rage in a viral post that drew over 10 million views. Before the police closed in on her garage, she livestreamed her own mental breakdown on her company's Instagram account, telling police to "call Donald Trump and ask him" why she shouldn't be arrested for her actions.

She was, she told the police, the "QAnon spokesperson."
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-qanon-rode-pandemic-new-heights-fueled-viral-anti-mask-n1236695




Seriously, Desmond Llewlyn is the only guy in the entire world who gets to call himself Q. These douchebags don’t hold a candle to that. But the bad thing is, remember last week Twitter banned a whole bunch of Q Anon accounts because they were being violent, obnoxious dicks who were spreading false information? Well that was what some might call a case of “too little too late”. Because Q Anon has been let out of the bag!

Twitter’s decision to crack down on the conspiracy-theory mongering of QAnon underscores the loose-knit group’s increasing reach into the mainstream of US politics.

From an anonymous 2017 posting claiming bizarre child exploitation and deep state plots, the headless and bodiless movement has earned a place in President Donald Trump’s Twitter stream.

His son Eric posted a QAnon image to promote his father’s recent campaign rally; and more than a dozen Republican candidates for Congress in November openly support the group.

But Twitter’s decision this week to shut down some 7,000 accounts pushing QAnon material came amid rising concerns that the movement could spawn violence.

The FBI last year said in a report that QAnon was one of several movements that could drive “both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts.”
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/technology/in-other-news/230720/twitter-crackdown-no-use-qanon-now-among-conservative-mainstream.html




And by the way in case you’re wondering, Q is a hot seller! That’s right, merchandising, merchandising, that’s where the real money from the conspiracy is made! If you want some Q merchandise, just look no further than your local online retailer who will literally sell anything, like Amazon, Etsy, or eBay, where the Q fad is flying off the shelves! Now, not only are they batshit crazy online, they’re branding themselves now!

Amazon currently has hundreds of products listed for sale that promote the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon.

QAnon has been tied to violent acts, and the FBI has warned of the movement's potential to incite domestic terrorism. A man in Nevada professed himself a follower of QAnon after blocking traffic with an armored vehicle, and in 2019 a man cited the movement as the motivation for his plot to kill alleged New York mob boss Francesco Cali.

In a search for "QAnon" on Amazon, Business Insider found the site produced hundreds of results for t-shirts, books, stickers, masks, bandanas, tumblers, hats, and other items related to the movement. Amazon also churned out hundreds of results for "WWG1WGA," the shorthand for QAnon's "Where we go one we go all" slogan.

Most of the products on Amazon sport the "Q" symbol, or bear the movement's signature WWG1WGA saying, as well as others, like "Trust the Plan." Many also include products merging both support for the QAnon movement as well as for the president.
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-selling-qanon-shirts-masks-products-2020-8





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[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Hit it!



Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb. So who is really dumb this week? Well, this week I want to do something different and dedicate it to the Sturgis Biker Rally. Yes, the annual gathering of Harley Davidson afficionados in Sturgis, South Dakota had some serious stupid on display. In fact there was so much stupid that it was called the biggest and dumbest ever. All of this just to “own the libs”. Well, check back with us in two weeks after COVID has incubated. Anyway here’s some of the stupid that was on display in Sturgis. Not only did they have the most crashes and accidents on record, they also had this!

Having found a real cup of coffee, I was walking back to my lavish room at the Spa Hot Springs Motel and Clinic on Main Street, White Sulphur Springs, Montana when the half-dozen biker guys poured out of their adjoining rooms and began the process of saddling up for the day’s ride. They were a riot of Harley-Davidson-branded gear. Harley vests. Harley belts. Harley t-shirts. Harley bandanas. And of course big, chromy Harley motorcycles.

Watching the elaborate packing process while sipping my latte I finally asked, “So what’s up with Sturgis this year? Have they called it off?” Four of them ignored me. The guy I picked for the alpha of the bunch shot me a look and said, “Fuck no.” The sixth guy, a bit more sociable, looked up from carefully folding his rain gear into his (Harley-branded) saddle bag said, “No way. It’s happening.” All I could say was, “Really. Well, that’ll be wild.” “Yeah,” he said. “It’s a protest.”

I was tempted to say something effete and out-of-touch big city liberal like, “A protest against what, sanity?” But I didn’t. At this point in the worst pandemic in a hundred years and with as many Americans dying every three days as died in 9/11, futility is the only product of a “discussion” with Harley-encrusted “protestors.” So ride on, dudes.

It goes without saying that the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a tribal extravaganza of face-to-face, jowl-to-jowl, belly-bumping machismo and consumer exhibitionism holds the high probability of being the single largest “super spreader” of COVID-19 held anywhere in the world since the outbreak began last November. A quarter of a million people, the vast majority middle-aged to older white men, will both ride into western South Dakota this week for the giant, mechanized bacchanal … and then turn around ride back to their homes, all across the country, spreading everything they picked up in Sturgis all along their routes, like a horde of toxic Johnny Appleseeds.
https://www.wrywingpolitics.com/the-gob-smacking-stupidity-of-the-sturgis-motorcycle-rally/#comment-144467




I can’t imagine that’s the way to bike. But first one of my favorite incidents of this whole thing – there was an incident involving a wild animal chase, and maybe some pants may or may not have fallen down, because it’s never a real party unless the pants come off! OK I’m rambling here. But this might be one of my favorite instances of stupidity all year, and this has been a year where lots of stupid shit has been happening!

A woman attending a South Dakota motorcycle rally narrowly escaped after a wild bison charged at her Wednesday evening. Authorities claimed that the reason she survived the attack was because her pants fell off.

The woman, 54, was visiting Custer State Park in Custer County when she approached a bison calf, witnesses said. The victim, who is from Iowa, was in town to attend the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, an annual event which brings thousands of motorcyclists together for several days.

The woman got off her motorcycle to approach the calf when an adult bison charged at her, witnesses said. The bison caught the woman's belt and jeans on its horn as it violently swung her around, according to a post on the Custer County Sheriff Facebook page.

She managed to escape death because her pants came off and she fell to the ground, unconscious, with the attacking bison running off to join the rest of the herd after the woman fell, the post said.
https://www.newsweek.com/motorcycle-rally-goer-survives-wild-bison-attack-because-her-pants-fell-off-1525155




That's funny, I didn't know there was a Jackass reboot in the works! Thank you canned audience! Oh and by the way in case you're wondering what all the hoopla surrounding the Sturgis rally is for, well, we're in a pandemic and this virus is not going away anytime soon. And here is some shocking stupidity on display. I know everyone wants to move on, but we just can't right now, especially when this will be the aftermath of said rally:

A person who spent hours at a bar during the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota last week has tested positive for Covid-19, state health officials said Tuesday.

The potential exposure came during the city's 80th annual Sturgis motorcycle rally August 7-16.

Health experts were concerned the mass gathering could be a "super-spreader" event, as many attendees travel from all over the country -- including coronavirus hotspots -- and could bring infections back home when they return.

The bar-goer visited One-Eyed Jack's Saloon in Sturgis on August 11 from noon to 5:30 p.m. while able to transmit the virus to others, health officials said. Anyone who visited the saloon during that period should monitor for symptoms for 14 days after the visit.

South Dakota Department of Transportation officials tracked over 462,000 vehicles entering Sturgis during the rally, according to CNN affiliate KDLT/KSFY. That total is a 7.5% decline from the previous year but still represents one of the largest gatherings since the coronavirus pandemic began.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/19/us/sturgis-south-dakota-rally-coronavirus-trnd/index.html




Yeah if you went to Sturgis, and did shit like this, you are stupid. Well it can’t be all Sturgis this week, there’s plenty of other stupid people out there! Like for instance at the currently socially distanced Disneyland! Yes, it’s still the happiest place on earth even in the time of pandemic. If you go to Disneyland, and of course Disneyland in *THAT* state - just remember where you parked your car!

Sometimes when you’re on vacation, especially at Walt Disney World, it’s easy to “zen out” and forget about your worries and your strife—or in some cases, how to drive. Just in from Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, photos of a vehicle looming over the entrance steps to the resort are circulating on social media after a guest made an early left turn inside the porte-cochère and ended up stuck on the steps.

The car is seen lodged halfway down the steps, with the front wheels managing to land on the base of the steps, but the back of the car still up in the air.

Guests staying at the resort are making rounds to check in on the vehicle as part of their morning entertainment, which was still at the front of the resort as of an hour ago.

It’s unknown if any guests or Cast Members were injured in this incident. Cast Members have coned off the car and are directing incoming guests to avoid the area.
https://wdwnt.com/2020/08/photos-guest-drives-down-entrance-steps-of-disneys-wilderness-lodge-at-walt-disney-world/?




Yes, Florida never fails to bring the crazy! Next up – I’m sure that nearly every cop in the nation has had their share of drunk people driving just about anything that is not a car. But as we’ve seen time and time again on here that you can get arrested for driving while drunk while literally riding anything that has two or more wheels on it. Hell you can even get DUI on a horse! Well, how about getting a DUI on a lawnmower?

A Florida man who admittedly had “maybe a little too much to drink” was caught on dash camera video riding a lawn mower on a highway, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said they caught Paul Burke, of Fort McCoy, driving the riding lawn mower in the middle of Highway 316 on Wednesday.

Video provided by the department shows Burke slurring his words and admitting that he had been drinking, although he never quantifies exactly how much he had.

At first, Burke said he had “a couple” but when asked again by the deputy again he replies, “I’m not gonna lie to you” and later says, “I have had maybe a little too much to drink tonight.”

Burke said he had just left his home and was driving to his home.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/08/10/video-drunk-florida-man-drives-lawn-mower-on-highway-deputies-say/




I swear there’s a Simpsons GIF for everything! Finally this week, when the cops are the crooks, how do you tell the bad guys from the good guys? Well, we go to Eastern Virginia for this one, where a crooked DEA agent (think Hank Schraeder from Breaking Bad) managed to dupe nearly $4 million out of potential chumps, er, clients. Yeah I think the dumb people are the ones who couldn’t see this guy for the scam artist that he is.

A former Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman admitted in court on Thursday to creating an elaborate scheme where he posed as a covert CIA agent.

Garrison Kenneth Courtney, 44, pleaded guilty to a fraud charge in Eastern District of Virginia's federal court Thursday morning.

He admitted to duping public officials and companies into believing he worked with the CIA and ultimately defrauded a dozen companies of more than $4 million, according to his plea.

Courtney took extraordinary steps to convince public officials and companies he was working for the CIA undercover, including by implying to the companies he was a secret agent on a classified US defense and intelligence "task force" that had been established by top officials like the president or the attorney general, according to his statement of offense.

At times, he said the program was to support special operations forces in Africa. But the program didn't exist, prosecutors said.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/06/11/politics/dea-cia-fraud/index.html




That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]Road To The White House
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Welcome back to the… *cue reverb* ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!! Ooh that was some good reverb there! This week Joe Biden accepted the nomination to become the 46th president of the United States with an overwhelming majority of delegates needed. But that said, people are still talking about the historic nomination of Kamala Harris to the vice presidential position, and man has she got the conservatives running scared, the birthers working overtime to discredit her credentials, and Trump is hopping mad! And he’s unleashed some hardcore rage tweeting aimed at her. Now look, you know I love a good beef, and nobody beefs up more than conservatives vs everybody that doesn’t think like conservatives. Well, this basically outlines the GOP message in a nutshell.

In the 24 hours since Harris was announced as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's running mate, Republicans have launched a variety of contradictory attacks on the newly formed Biden-Harris ticket.

Pulling from a grab bag of dubious accusations, President Donald Trump's campaign and other leading GOP officials and prominent conservatives on social media, like Donald Trump Jr., have pushed conflicting caricatures of Biden, Harris and the Democratic Party's progressive wing, furthering the appearance that Republicans are still broadly unsure of what kind of messaging will stick with voters ahead of November's general election.

The most consistent thread has been the most familiar one: that Biden, and now Harris, is a front for socialists and anarchistic radicals pulling the strings of the Democratic Party. It's been a difficult sell so far, given Biden's 40-year record of liberal-leaning centrism, but Trump has pushed it consistently over the past few months. In a fundraising email on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence welcomed Harris to the race with a similar warning.

"From the very first day of this Administration, President Trump has set our Nation on a path to freedom and opportunity," the email read. "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would set America on the path of SOCIALISM and DECLINE."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12/politics/republican-attacks-kamala-analysis/index.html




Well that said, the GOP is in sharp decline. They’ve essentially become the party of lowlifes and assholes, and if you look at who the keynote speakers are for Trump’s reelection shindig next week, that solidifies that! See, kids, the democrats get all the cool celebrities. The GOP gets Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, that douchebag from the Catholic school, and the My Pillow Guy, if you can call him a celebrity. So why are they so terrified of celebrities like Kamala?

Just one day after Kamala Harris was named the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Trump campaign advisers and allies are expressing concern that the GOP’s initial fumbling response to her selection signals there is no clear strategy to define the historic pick in the weeks ahead, according to several people involved in the discussions.

Despite having months to prepare for the probable outcome that Harris would be chosen, the Trump re-election effort countered with a series of contradictory and at times confusing messages about the California senator, from her record as a California prosecutor to her positioning in the party.

Some allies of the president said they were stunned that the rejoinder appeared to be so flat-footed and incongruous, reiterating that President Donald Trump and his campaign have had trouble landing a punch on the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, and expressing concern that the same issue could take place with Harris.

“They struggled to attack her when she was running and will struggle now,” one former Trump campaign official said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/republicans-fret-over-trump-team-s-reaction-harris-pick-n1236533




Yup, there is an election in November, and we got to get ready. The Dems have a unifying message and the GOP message is all over the place. They even can’t get their attacks on Kamala right. So why does Trump have a habit of calling his female opponents “nasty women”? Well it didn’t take long for Trump to call Kamala nasty because he’s a petty, vindictive piece of crap with a rageaholic personality disorder and is generally afraid of strong women.

Donald Trump wasted little time on Tuesday after Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris will be his running mate before calling her "nasty," and suggested the California Democrat once lied about smoking marijuana while listening to rapper Snoop Dogg.

The president has a well-documented habit of calling women who question or oppose him "nasty," and he made clear during a press briefing that despite the country's ongoing racial tensions, he will not shy away from attacking the first black female vice presidential candidate.

Mr Trump was asked about Mr Biden's choice during a coronavirus briefing in which he said the number of virus cases in the US is falling; it's actually on the rise. He also said, again without supporting data, that it will be eradicated "shortly."

But the bulk of reporters' questions were about Ms Harris, as the Trump-Pence versus Biden-Harris race officially gets underway.
https://www.independent.co.uk/us-election-2020/trump-kamala-harris-press-conference-today-pot-snoop-dogg-cannabis-a9666096.html




Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that! But come on, does anything that Trump does really surprise us anymore? I mean his schtick is getting so old, tired, and repetitive that we could have easily seen this coming. Seriously we’ve been covering this POS for four fucking years now. I know that I am getting tired of what this man is saying. It’s time for a president who is not this piece of shit. I know that I am ready for Joe! In fact Trump’s incompetence and predictability are bringing the GOP down from the inside!

On Thursday, President Donald Trump was asked about a false report that California Sen. Kamala Harris might not be eligible to be vice president.
Rather than dismiss them out of hand, he said this:

"I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements, and by the way the lawyer who wrote the piece is highly qualified, very talented. I assumed the Democrats would've checked that out before she gets chosen for vice president."

Shame on Trump. But anyone who acts surprised that the President was willing to push a lie about his political opponents into the public space has been residing on another planet over the last four-plus years. This is who Trump is and what he does. Birtherism is, literally, how he got his start in politics.

The real story at this point, then, is not necessarily Trump's willingness to engage in baseless speculation about an untrue storyline. The real story is the silence that has -- and will continue -- to greet Trump's ridiculous remark from the Republican establishment and its elected leaders.
Because it's that silence, and the tacit acceptance that "Trump is Trump," that will define the GOP long after Trump leaves office -- whether involuntarily in 2021 or four years later. The willingness to simply swallow known falsehoods or dismiss them with a "I didn't see the President's remarks" or "I'm sorry, I have to get to a meeting" is what will, ultimately, do the lasting damage for a Republicans.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/14/politics/donald-trump-kamala-harris-birther-republcian-party/index.html






See you next week!

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August 12, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-8: Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad NRA? Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-8: Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad NRA? Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? Well especially this year, there’s never been a time where you just want to stop wheat you’re doing and say “fuck it”. There’s just so much bad shit in the news right now and it all sucks, we know things will get better down the line and we’ll try and keep it light for you guys this week. But first, why don’t we get some music going?



Oh man that is such a great song. So this was actually pretty cool this week is that there was a multi-generational listening party online for this song, from groups of all ages. I honestly don’t know why they chose this particular song, but who doesn’t love it? But a lot of people who were mere babies when their parents saw Mike Tyson air drumming to this song in the party suite in “The Hangover”, are just now figuring out why their parents loved it so much. And it actually is kind of a beautiful thing. Maybe we can all end madness, as Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy character would say, through the majesty of song! Really, something has to come along and stop this! Let’s get “In The Air Tonight” blasting everywhere, in every town in every city. Come on people, come together! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first Bill Maher is back and he gives a “eulogy” for Trump:

&t=10s

Well while we’re still holed up in quarantine thanks to Coronavirus, there have been some interesting developments this week! Taking the first slot this week is the epic battle between the NRA and New York Attorney General Letitia James. It seems that James has dropped the big one and the NRA could be indicted and prosecuted for their involvement in Russiagate! In the second slot this week is Kanye West (2). So Kanye basically admits what we’re all thinking – he’s being used as a prop by the GOP to influence the election and siphon votes from Biden! This could get very ugly very quickly! In the third slot this week is the guy who we inexplicably still call president, Donald J. Trump (3). He went on HBO’s Axios TV last week and his interview is quite the stuff of insanity. We will break down some of the more insane claims that have been made. Taking the 4th slot this week is Jake Paul (4). The Youtube star got nailed in Calabasas by the FBI with a boatload of weapons and drugs and well, he’s going down. It’s certainly worth checking out. Taking the 5th slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week the Murder Hornets are back, but they’ve been caught! What can we learn about them and how close are they? Closer than you might think. Taking the sixth slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week is a holy war brewing over COVID? Our resident pastor shakes his head over the insane claim about keeping churches closed and this could also get ugly. Taking the seventh slot this week is a new Beating A Dead Horse (7). And this week, the glorious star of Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds, got married at America’s oldest plantation, and now he regrets doing it, but was he really wrong in doing so? We will find out! Taking the 8th slot this week is a new edition of the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable – Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week, Q Anon trolls are taking on… dolls from the movie Trolls! We cannot make this up! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a new I Need A Drink and this week we’re going to get drunk and discuss some cartoon reboots – a lot of the cartoons we grew up with are getting reimagined for the modern era. Some good, some bad. Finally this week in Road To The White House (10), who is Karen Bass? The LA rep and possible VP nominee has been in the news a lot and we will introduce you to her if you are uninitiated! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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Well well well, who's afraid of the big, bad NRA? Well, NRA members for one thing. And Trump and the GOP too. One thing I will say about conservative America is that they do love their guns. And there is no organization that’s more uniquely American than the National Rifle Association. Yes, the NRA is an organization that thinks that the 2nd amendment, particularly those four infamous words “shall not be infringed” shall be taken way too literally. And they are definitely not afraid to shoot first and ask questions later. They think that life is a Rambo movie. But could their reign of terror finally be coming to a long awaited end? A lawsuit in New York is challenging the NRA’s right to exist as a lobby organization could finally dissolve the entity once and for all.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D-New York) reiterated Friday that she is committed to a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the NRA.

On Thursday, James filed a lawsuit to dissolve the National Rifle Association, citing illegal financial misconduct by the organization’s leaders. She announced the lawsuit at a news briefing in New York City.

Later that same evening, the NRA released a statement, and filed a counter suit against the Attorney General, claiming that New York was simply targeting the organization for political reasons.

Now, James is responding to reactions to the lawsuit, which quickly became a national story, with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-New York) and even President Donald Trump (R) weighing in.
https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/new-york-attorney-general-refuses-to-back-down-in-lawsuit-against-nra




Come on, everyone knows that guns are for keeping the King Of England out of your face! So that is a thing that is happening. So could it happen? Could the NRA cease to exist in its’ current form? It’s entirely possible. But now the NRA is fighting back, and they are hopping mad. You don’t want to get on their bad side, because they have guns and they’re not afraid to use them. So does the NRA get the right to call itself a “charitable organization”? It’s a bit complicated.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Thursday she has filed a lawsuit to dissolve the National Rifle Association. The lawsuit charges the influential pro-gun organization with illegal conduct, alleging it funneled millions of dollars away from its charitable mission.

At the center of the lawsuit, NRA Executive Vice-President Wayne Lapierre, who was born in Schenectady, and is the national face of the NRA.

The NRA is registered as a non-profit organization in New York State. In the complaint, James alleges Lapierre and three other NRA executives used millions of dollars from NRA reserves for personal use, and extravagant lifestyles.

The lawsuit alleges NRA executives awarded contracts to financially benefit close associates and family, and doled out lucrative no-show contracts to former employees in order to buy their silence and continued loyalty.

Now it's not uncommon for an attorney general to go after non-profits. Just within the past few years, there's been several high-profile cases. However, the NRA is massive in size and scope, families across the country have literally been members for generations. It's that robust nature of the group that's the difference maker here.
https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/nra-strikes-back-against-new-york-attorney-general-claims-lawsuit-was-political-attack




Yes, you are most definitely compensating for something! But what? You know it doesn’t take a financial genius to see that the NRA is committing fraud on a felonious level. But could this, for lack of a better word, backfire on them>? Well yes it most certainly could, and no it couldn’t. The NRA is in some absolutely deep doo doo, and it’s going to take a miracle to get them out of this.

Though the NRA, the preeminent gun advocacy group, has been a political flashpoint over the years, this lawsuit revolves around its internal operations and whether they comply with the nonprofit laws in New York state, where the organization is chartered. New York’s top legal authorities allege that the NRA improperly made millions of dollars in payments to benefit executives, disguising compensation as business expenses.

The alleged improprieties involve Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s longtime leader; John Frazer, the group’s general counsel; Wilson “Woody” Phillips, its retired treasurer and chief financial officer; and Joshua Powell, who formerly served as LaPierre’s chief of staff.

The allegations fall into three primary categories: First, NRA funds were improperly spent to personally benefit its executives. Second, its executives also received personal benefits from organizations doing business with the NRA. Third, the group failed to properly disclose these and other transactions in its annual regulatory filings.

Separately, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine is suing the NRA Foundation, a charity tied to the group, for allegedly diverting donations to the NRA itself, which then used them for non-charitable purposes.
https://theconversation.com/why-new-york-is-suing-the-nra-4-questions-answered-144108




How has Homer not been shot yet? But the good news is that James’ lawsuit against the NRA is warranted – they’re not just throwing shade at that most American of institutions. But even going so far as to call it a “terrorist organization” really isn’t that far off either – these guys could definitely be considered terrorists, considering that a lot of the guns they’re selling aren’t being used for the advertised purposes.

New York Attorney General Letitia James made national news when she filed suit last week against the leading gun rights advocacy group, the National Rifle Association. Charges of engaging in self-dealing, diverting the nonprofit’s funds for personal use and awarding contracts to close associates are among the accusations laid out against leadership at the NRA, leading James to call for the group’s dissolution.

The organization quickly fired back that James’s action stems from political bias, referring to it as a “premeditated attack aiming to dismantle and destroy the NRA” in a statement. Critics have also pointed to James’s promises on the campaign trail to investigate the NRA’s nonprofit status and comments referring to it as a “terrorist organization” as further proof of her targeting the institution.

But experts in nonprofit law say that there is substantial enough evidence against the NRA that questions of political bias are rendered moot. “The case speaks for itself,” said Daniel Kurtz, former assistant attorney general-in-charge of the state Attorney General’s Charities Bureau. “That’s essentially just a distraction. Motive is essentially irrelevant. Why did you bring this? I don’t know, it’s pretty egregious.”

A result of an 18-month investigation into the conservative pro-gun membership-based group, the state’s lawsuit specifically targets four top officials affiliated with the NRA, including CEO Wayne LaPierre. LaPierre is being accused of spending more than $3.6 million on travel consultants, taking at least eight private flights to the Bahamas with his family using NRA funds and awarding himself a $17 million post-employment contract without board approval.
https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/policy/criminal-justice/experts-james%E2%80%99-nra-lawsuit-warranted-no-sign-bias.html





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[font size="8"]Kanye West

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Spoiler Alert!!!! Kanye West is completely full of shit! But if you’re here and you’ve been following our reporting for the last few weeks, you already knew that. This week however, the Yeezy for president campaign took a turn when he got caught admitting what we all pretty much could have figured out the obvious – his campaign is a spoiler campaign meant to help Trump and hurt Biden. But what you may not know is that he’s being used and abused by GOP operatives, and he doesn’t care. You also might be wondering when Kim is going to step in and put a stop to this. I would say normally Kanye’s hair brained schemes fizzle out when there’s something good on TV. But we’re in a pandemic and there’s no new content being produced.

Kanye West's unlikely White House bid is getting help qualifying for presidential ballots in key states from Republicans around the country, fueling suspicions he's being pushed to run by allies of President Donald Trump hoping to siphon support away from Joe Biden.

The rapper qualified for Colorado's presidential ballot on Thursday, after the Secretary of State's office verified that nine electors he submitted are all registered to vote in that state. One of those was Matthew Zielinski, is a former Republican congressional candidate who served as an officer with a county Republican Party in suburban Denver.

Zielinski tweeted that he believed in "fair ballot access" but declined further comment.

A similar pattern has played out in in Wisconsin, Ohio, Vermont and Arkansas, where lawyers or activists with GOP ties have been involved in securing the star's place on the ballot. The successful effort in battleground states Wisconsin and Ohio in particular raised red flags for Democrats, who are braced for a close race and anxious about any third-party candidate drawing voters.
https://abc7chicago.com/politics/republicans-push-kanye-2020-but-will-it-really-hurt-biden/6359322/




Seriously, I could just post clips from that South Park episode and it would not really be that much different than what’s going on now. But let’s do a little bit of onion peeling here. See, if we take a pairing knife to the onion and start removing the layers, this story stinks. Of course he actually admits to being a spoiler in the election and it’s a hell of a lot worse than you might think.

Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November’s presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.

Asked about that directly, West said that rather than running for president, he was “walking,” quickly adding that he was “walking . . . to win.”

When it was pointed out that he actually can’t win in 2020—that he won’t be on enough ballots to yield 270 electoral votes, and that a write-in campaign isn’t feasible—and thus was serving as a spoiler, West replied: “I’m not going to argue with you. Jesus is King.”

West rebuffed various attempts to clarify who was driving his ballot access or strategy and whether it’s being coordinated by or with Republican-affiliated officials. He does, however, appear to have a continuing relationship with the Trump White House. West says that he’s “designing a school within the next month” and that “I’m meeting with Betsy DeVos about the post-Covid curriculum.” (The Secretary of Education’s press office hadn’t responded to a request for comment by the time we published.)

“I like Kanye very much,” President Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday. “No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We'll have to see what happens.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2020/08/06/exclusive-kanye-west-indicates-that-his-spoiler-campaign-is-indeed-designed-to-hurt-biden/#17005eb76397




We already have one batshit crazy, completely unstable egomaniacal jackass running the show, do we really need another one? Hell no! and we also don’t need this coming around in 2024 either. So what’s stopping Kanye? Well, there is this thing called the Federal Election Commission, which we profiled during our tour of the government (see: Top 10 #5-18 ). So yeah they’re stepping in in the great state of Illinois!

Kanye West's Presidential run just got a death blow, at least in Illinois, where election officials say more than half his submitted signatures are invalid ... and that means he's off the ballot.

TMZ broke the story ... multiple people stepped up to object after Kanye submitted his petition to get on the ballot in his home state. That triggered a review -- from the State Board of Elections -- of all the 3,128 signatures on his documents.

The tally is in, and 1,928 were ruled invalid ... which leaves Ye way more than a thousand short of the 2,500 needed to be a Presidential candidate on the state's ballots. What we don't know is what was wrong with the bad ones.

It could be any number of issues -- fake names, fake addresses, unregistered voters in Illinois -- or even simply an illegible signature.

Bottom line is Illinois will be officially removing him on August 21, or he still has the option to gracefully announce he's withdrawing.

https://www.tmz.com/2020/08/07/kanye-west-off-illinois-ballot-presidential-campaign-signatures-invalid/




God, I would certainly hope not! But wait until you see *WHY* Kanye is not getting on the ballot. Sure, he may have racked up those signatures pretty quick, but it turns out that a good majority of said signatures are complete bullshit. See, you know people aren’t taking his campaign seriously when they start fucking with the petitions and putting fake names on it. But even more so when they put names of celebrities and cartoon characters. Well, Kanye is kind of a cartoon character.

On Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Michael Curran, an attorney for rapper Kanye West’s independent presidential campaign, is demanding Democrats prove their assertion that Mickey Mouse didn’t really sign West’s petition to qualify him for the ballot in Wisconsin.

“Curran … dismissed most of the other technical challenges as ‘misguided and ill-informed,’ including the claims that the nomination papers included obviously fake names, such as ‘Mickey Mouse’ and ‘Bernie Sanders,'” reported Daniel Bice. “He said the complaint must prove these are fraudulent signatures.”

Kanye West, who is running under a self-created political entity he calls “the Birthday Party,” has filed to run in a number of states, aided by Republican election strategists who appear to hope he will pull votes from former Vice President Joe Biden. His bids to get on the New Jersey and Illinois ballots failed due to irregularities with the petition signatures, and his campaign is accused of similar problems in the Wisconsin filing.

In addition to fake names, the challenge alleges that West’s signature-gatherers lied to at least six people about what they were signing, and filed the paperwork just after the deadline. Curran denies anything improper in West’s petition process.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/kanye-wests-lawyer-demands-democrats-prove-mickey-mouse-didnt-really-sign-his-ballot-petition-in-wisconsin/





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[font size="8"]Sturgis Rally
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Yes, sadly, COVID-19 is still a thing. And look we get it, we’re all fucking bored as hell. Reruns, video games, and leftovers can only get you so far. But right now COVID is running the show, as much as we don’t want it to. And we get that all your favorite events have been canceled. I lost a lot of money in tickets and travel when the pandemic started, I get it! So while we’re all suffering, one event hasn’t canceled. That event is the annual gathering of Harley Davidson enthusiasts in Sturgis, South Dakota – a town whose population nearly triples in size during the week of the Festival and nothing else. So what is not stopping bikers from attending? Come on, even the Harley Davidson people aren’t attending this year!

The 80th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, has already attracted thousands of bikers despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but Harley-Davidson staff were not in official attendance due to the Milwaukee-based manufacturer's travel ban.

"We will be focusing our support in ways that are consistent with our health and safety goals instead of large consumer activations. Fortunately, the Sturgis Rally isn’t restricted to concerts and parties – the true experience is rooted in riding and the spectacular routes that surround the event," a Harley-Davidson spokesperson said in an email.

The 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally runs from Aug. 7-16. Normally, Harley-Davidson would send staff and executives to promote the company. Instead, it is encouraging socially distanced riding through its "Let's Ride" campaign.

"More than building machines, Harley-Davidson stands for the timeless pursuit of adventure,” Harley-Davidson general manager of brand marketing Jon Bekefy said in a press release. “The Let’s Ride Challenge is Harley-Davidson’s invitation for all riders in this challenging time to rediscover adventure through socially-distanced riding to find freedom for the soul.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2020/08/10/harley-davidson-staff-does-not-attend-sturgis-but.html




Seriously, I think even the Sons Of Anarchy are sitting this one out. OK so people aren’t going to follow the rules that the rest of us are following. But there is one thing that the Sturgis rally is known for in years when there aren’t pandemics – crashes! And fighting! You know, biker culture! So while nobody cares about the virus during the Sturgis Rally, it’s good to know that it’s business as usual!

South Dakota authorities on Sunday reported the first haul of crashes, arrests and citations from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in the western part of the state. The annual rally started on Friday, drawing thousands of maskless riders to the streets and bars of Sturgis.

While organizers have said they expect fewer visitors than in other years, the Argus Leader reports the number of arrests and citations have increased from last year.

The Department of Public Safety reported that police made 84 arrests for driving under the influence or drug-related offenses during a 24-hour period spanning from Saturday into Sunday morning. That's up from last year, when 76 people had been arrested in a similar time frame.

Police have also issued more citations, with 226 people getting tickets. The figure is 37 more than last year. But it appears police are less lenient this year and are letting fewer people off with warnings.

So far, police in the region have reported 18 crashes, which is down from last year's mark of 20. None have been fatal.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sturgis-rally-2020-84-arrests-24-hours/




Holy shit!! Crashes have actually increased! I’m sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that people are packing the bars in Sturgis like there’s nothing wrong going on. Now let’s talk concerts. Music festivals around the whole damn world have been canceled because of COVID fears. But that’s not stopping Sturgis. Nope. But let’s think about this for a minute – of all the bands you could risk your life to go see, this is who you pick? Really? I guess people really are that desperate for entertainment!

Smash Mouth's concert on Sunday in front of a packed crowd at Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota drew widespread outrage.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of bikers poured into the small city of Sturgis on Friday for the start of the annual motorcycle rally. More than 250,000 people are expected to attend the 10-day rally, making it one of the largest events to take place during the pandemic.

South Dakota has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks.

The band was one of the headliners at the Sturgis Buffalo Chip music festival.

Smash Mouth was one of several musical acts — including Trapt, Night Ranger, Saving Abel, Buckcherry, Reverend Horton Heat, 38 Special, Quiet Riot and Big Skillet — to play at the multi-day festival where admission to the entire event cost $360 per person, according to the Buffalo Chip website.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/smash-mouth-singer-mocks-coronavirus-pandemic-packed-sturgis-motorcycle-rally-n1236409




Woohoo! Now we can relive all the excitement of Woodstock 1999! No dude, you don’t risk your life to see Smash Mouth. The Rolling Stones are a band worth risking your life to see. The Foo Fighters are a band you risk your life to go see. AC/DC is a band you risk your life to go see. Guns N Roses and Iron Maiden are bands you risk your life to go see. You go see Smash Mouth during a 1990s “Where are they now” celebrity montage. Of course none of the good bands are touring right now, so sacrifices must be made, damn it. But it does seem that COVID, and logic are taking a holiday at Sturgis. Well, see you at the ER in two weeks!

Bill Converse had never attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally before, but this year he drove 29 hours from Georgia to sell his conservative pro-second amendment novelty T-shirts at the famous annual South Dakota event.

The 10-day rally brought hundreds of thousands of bikers to the small city of Sturgis, in the middle of a pandemic. While more than half of the local residents wanted the event to be canceled, city officials knew people would show up anyway and did their best to prepare.

Since Friday, visitors have packed into bars, used communal Slip n Slides, and — for the most part — flouted advice from local officials to wear masks.

Between the event kickoff Friday and early Monday morning, there were nearly 90 drug arrests and 286 total citations within city limits, according to statistics provided by the South Dakota state highway patrol.
https://www.insider.com/sturgis-motorcycle-rally-covid-19-attendees-pack-bars-2020-8





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[font size="8"]The Maskholes: Party Boat Edition
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Look, believe me, I get it. It’s a pandemic, and one that is happening once in a century at that. Everyone is bored as fuck and looking for any excuse to get out of the house and away from their webcams and Zoom meetings and video chats. But don’t be a maskhole. And don’t go and make things worse for the people like me who are trying to take this seriously. So if you can’t go to a party and mingle with people in person right now because of COVID restrictions, where do you go? How about cruising around international waters? That’s right – one industry that is thriving right now is the party boat! Yup, if you’re brave enough to go mingle in public, you can take the party to international waters, because as we learned from the Simpsons, you can do just about anything!

There is one less party boat in the water, and the popular Liberty Belle was not at its usual dock at Pier 36 after police moved in and made arrests on Saturday night.

Officials met the boat at the pier and arrested the owners and the captain of the boat, claiming it did not practice social distancing and did not have a license to serve alcohol.

"How a charter boat could put together a crowd on deck and leave. It's disrespectful, it's illegal, it not only violates public health, it violates common decency," said Governor Cuomo.

As other boats left the same pier on Sunday, the crew of the Majestic Princess, which is a different company, told Eyewitness News that they sanitize hands, they take everyone's temperature and they operate at 50% capacity so that passengers can safely enjoy a ride around the city on a hot summer day.

"If it's crowded, I won't take it," said passenger Yahaira Salinas.
https://abc7ny.com/covid-coronavirus-social-distancing-party-boat/6349400/




Is that shit really helping? Having hand sanitizer to protect from a virus that’s transmitted by respiratory droplets is like putting a piece of duct tape on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. Go on, try the buffets, they’re the best buffets! Amazing, tremendous buffets. And the shuffleboard court, tremendous, tremendous shuffleboard. But New York isn’t the only place that is cracking down. Even Europe is cracking down on illegal parties right now.

Nightclubs around Europe are closed. But that doesn’t mean the continent’s party people are staying home.

As coronavirus lockdowns are eased, illegal raves are growing in popularity. Outdoor events for hundreds, or in some cases thousands, organized via social media and messaging apps, are in full swing every weekend, causing headaches for police forces and lawmakers, and stirring public debate and news media panic.

Tom Wingfield, a senior lecturer at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said in an email that there were no medical studies about the coronavirus and outdoor parties, but that a likely lack of social distancing posed risks for transmission. Throw in alcohol or drugs, and those risks could be exacerbated, he said.

Some countries have tried bringing nightclubs back. In Switzerland, most regions let venues reopen in June, provided they kept attendees’ contact details. (After many partygoers gave false information, ID checks became mandatory in some areas.) Clubs in Barcelona, Spain, reopened at the end of June but shut again a few weeks later as the virus surged in the city.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/sns-nyt-illegal-parties-coronavirus-europe-20200810-l4uc3rgkefe75cdil73sie6bli-story.html




Gambling, drinking, no masks during a pandemic… what else do you need? You know who else can’t help but party when there’s a deadly super virus that’s roaming the landscape? One of our favorite punching bags – Jerry Falwell Jr! Yes, the Liberty University captain was caught steering the ship off the waterfall, and I’m not even going to link to the absolutely disgusting picture that’s been circulating around the internet. You can Google that shit yourself!

You probably had a normal Monday. You got up, gave some ham slices to the cat, started your workday. You took a break, checked Twitter and Wonkette, gave some ham slices to the cat, went back to work. Maybe you ordered lunch takeout from a local eatery you like. You watched your shows last night while casually giving ham slices to the cat, and you fell asleep. Besides how you gave the cat at least 34 ham slices, which is way too many, you are normal.

Jerry Falwell Jr., though. Apparently he was busy deleting this on Monday, from where he had posted it on Instagram this weekend, we guess, until people started noticing it. This is not normal.

OK, you fucking nerd.

If your worldview is so weird that you are concerned with us knowing that you only have "black water" in your glass, instead of telling us why your pants are unzipped and you are showing us your quarantine belly and your upper pubic mound region, which is covered by some kind of stupid underwear thank God, your worldview is fuckin' weird.
https://www.wonkette.com/if-youve-ever-thought-i-wonder-what-jerry-falwells-upper-pubic-mound-looks-like-this-is-your-blog-post




That is a good question! And I honestly don’t want to know the answer to that! But while we’re all stuck at home and going ridiculously stir crazy, people like Falwell are not resisting temptation and going out and partying like it’s 1999! Even Donald Trump Jr and his COVID-diagnosed girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle couldn’t help themselves and shacked up on a party boat in the part of Long Island famously known as “The Hamptons”!

Donald Trump Jr, his sister and girlfriend took part in a 'Trumpilla' in the Hamptons on Friday ahead of a potentially lucrative weekend of fundraising in the region by the president.

Trump is hoping to rake in $15 million in campaign cash on Saturday in a series of fundraisers in the Southampton area of Long Island, including a stop at the home of Don Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

On the eve of the event Don Jr, 42, was spotted participating in a Trump rally on a series of boats off the coastal town of Montauk, 25 miles along the coast from Southampton.

Also at the boat parade was Don Jr's sister Tiffany, 26, and her boyfriend Michael Boulos.

In a blue swimsuit and white loose-fitting pants, Tiffany waved from the deck at the other participants in the 'Trumpilla'.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8606515/Tiffany-Don-Jr-Kimberly-attend-Montauk-boat-party-ahead-presidents-Hamptons-fundraising.html





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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Murder Hornets
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!



Back in June, which during a pandemic, seems like an eternity ago, everyone was obsessed with the latest bug developing out of Asia. Though this was no ordinary bug. The insect, an unusually large cicadia wasp, originating from central Japan, was dubbed the “murder hornet”. The murder hornet is an insect capable of ravaging bee and honey populations, destined to wreak havoc on the environment. The first one arrived in Washington State last week. And has been caught. What can we learn about these so called “murder hornets”? And are there more coming? Maybe this is the proverbial “storm” that Q Anon fans are going on and on about. But there’s more to it than just the hornets got caught – how close are they to your backyard?

Washington state has trapped its first Asian giant hornet -- or, what we've come to know as the "murder hornet."

Scientists have been trying to trap the invasive insects and prevent an infestation since they were first spotted in the state last year. More than two inches long, the hornets get their nickname from their propensity to attack and kill honeybees and potentially, people.

Up until now, five giant hornets had officially been sighted in the state. This is the first one found in a trap, according to a news release.

Officials announced Friday that they had identified the Asian giant hornet earlier this week from a trap collected near Birch Bay on July 14.

"This is encouraging because it means we know that the traps work," Sven Spichiger, managing entomologist for Washington's Department of Agriculture (WSDA) said in the announcement. "But it also means we have work to do."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/31/us/murder-hornet-trapped-washington-state-trnd/index.html




Yes, bees can defend themselves. And the murder hornets are called that because they have an unusually large stinger. So how do murder hornets differ from that of native hornets? And why are native hornets being mistaken for these killer insects? Well that’s because there’s already a similar hornet that’s native to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that looks very similar to the Japanese murder hornet.

People in West Michigan are mistakenly identifying Eastern Cicada Killers for the dreaded Murder Hornet.

The United States was introduced to the concept of the Murder Hornet, or Asian Giant Hornet, back in May. Though the only confirmed sightings of the frighteningly-named insect have been in Washington State.

"But Washington, it seems to be doing everything very, very right. They are putting lots of time and effort into surveillance," said Mark VanderWerp, a Certified Board Entomologist with Rose Pest Solutions.

"So if they keep that work up and they continue to get the word out to people to submit sightings in Washington, not Michigan, there's a very real chance that these things will be eradicated and not established permanently."

Of course, only time will tell. But VanderWerp says it would take many years for the little buggers to make it all the way to Michigan.
https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/cicada-killers-are-being-mistaken-for-the-dread-murder-hornets




Not bees, hornets. No, this guy is not on board with us. But thankfully the hornets won’t be showing up in your backyard anytime soon. If you saw what you thought is a murder hornet, you probably saw one of these instead. Because the actual murder hornet is only one of a small species of hornets and there’s already bees and hornets that look similar to native American populations, but don’t have the destructive and killer nature of the ones originating from Japan.

Read the room, 'murder hornets'! Can't you see society is in no mood for you?

It turns out the hornets may be better at obeying this wish than expected. Asian giant hornets, or 'murder hornets,' have not been documented on the East Coast — though social media is full of people who say they've seen one.

The Asian giant hornet made headlines in early May when The New York Times reported that the insect had, for the first time, entered North America.

Experts who spoke to the Times expressed fears that the invasive hornets would wreak havoc on honeybee populations, not to mention humans — the sting was reported to feel like "hot metal driving into (the) skin."

These hornets are held responsible for 50 deaths a year in Japan, though it should be noted that dozens of bee sting-related deaths also occur in the US each year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Asian giant hornets have almost entirely yellow-orange colored heads, with a dark thorax (the midsection where wings and legs attach) and an abdomen with dark brown and black bands. Their presence in Maryland is "highly unlikely," the Maryland Department of Agriculture tweeted May 4.
https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/2020/07/19/murder-hornet-identification-look-alikes-delmarva-maryland/5467657002/




Well there won’t be any honey if the actual murder hornets show up on American soil. But no, if you think you spotted any murder hornets in your backyard, don’t worry. You’re safe for now. At least that is one thing that you don’t have to worry about possibly killing you in 2020, because we’ve already had lots of other things that could. But there’s no murder hornets on American soil right now and let’s try to keep it that way.

As the Texas summer rolls on and you spend more time outdoors, you're likely to encounter insects flying and crawling around, including ones that are big and mystifying.

Recently, KVUE viewers have shared photos like the one below of what they believed to be Asian giant hornets or "murder hornets," as some people in Japan call them because they're known to kill people.

But the two-winged, striped insect shown in this picture is not an Asian giant hornet. It's actually an eastern cicada-killer wasp, which is native to Texas.

In the U.S., the Asian giant hornets have so far only been discovered in Washington state. There haven't been any confirmed reports of the insect in Texas, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension experts.

Asian giant hornets can grow to be as long as two inches, while eastern cicada-killer wasps typically don't get much bigger than 1.5 inches.
https://www.kvue.com/article/tech/science/environment/asian-murder-hornet-austin-cicada-killer-wasp-confusion/269-2c465a98-7ac7-47b1-905a-5c12d0480ac1




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! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s VENMO 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! This year has been a year of plague! In case you don’t know, COVID-19 is a thing that we must deal with. This wretched, EVIL virus has divided many of us. And none of our nation’s congregations can well, congregate like we used to. But does that mean that there is a holy war brewing among the nation’s faithful? Look, there’s nothing that says that you cannot worship. No! We are free to worship as we see fit! Because that is a right that is guaranteed to us under the Constitution of the United States Of America! But the unholy, ungodly Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken in my church, has a really different theory!

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a list of business sectors required to close as the number of coronavirus cases continue to increase substantially across the state.

California's average daily new cases hit 8,211 over the past week and 23 people died due to virus-related complications in the past 24 hours.

Bars and indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, zoos and family entertainment centers like bowling alleys are required to shut down in all counties — he previously ordered these closures in 19 counties with a concerning number of COVID-19 cases on July 1. The closures emphasize that outdoor activities are much safer than mingling with people inside, though Newsom said he'd prefer residents limit socializing all together.

Counties on the state's targeted engagement list were also ordered to close additional businesses on Monday. The targeted counties, which account for 80% of the state’s population, are required to close indoor operations of fitness centers, places of worship, offices for non-critical sectors, personal hair services, and indoor malls.
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/health/2020/07/13/newsom-orders-gyms-churches-closed-monitored-california-counties/5430110002/




And he most certainly does! If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! So if you cannot hold a live, in-person congregation right now because of the pandemic, where can you go? How about we go to the place where one can usually indulge their fantasies, to a place called Sin City! That’s right, the Christian right are taking their show to Vegas! Well, it’s quite literally the only show going in Vegas right now!

Hundreds of people packed the Ahern Hotel in Las Vegas on Thursday for a faith-based campaign event for President Donald Trump headlined by the president’s personal pastor, Paula White.

“Our president understands how important faith is to our country,” White said.

According to organizers and one speaker, the Evangelicals for Trump event proceeded despite warnings from city and state officials, including several attempts by police to shut it down as it unfolded.
Ralph Reed, a political consultant and chair of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, said Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and the City Council threatened the owners of the Ahern Hotel with fines and license revocation if they allowed the event to proceed.

White added during her speech that Gov. Steve Sisolak also attempted to block the event.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/trump-evangelical-rally-proceeds-despite-warnings-from-city-state-2089941/




Hey it’s a virtual congregation, everyone must be seated in front of their webcams right now! But don’t call it a “holy war”. Don’t call it a comeback either! Because I’m certain that’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want now is it? So Evangelicals for the unholy Dark One, a man so disgusting and ungodly that his name must NEVER be spoken in my church, even if it is virtual, are attempting to bypass the current rules and restrictions! And what is that getting them?

Evangelicals for Trump held a prayer and praise event at a Las Vegas casino Thursday night, circumventing the state's restrictions on church gatherings that are not imposed on casinos.

More than 500 evangelicals attended the event held at the Ahern Hotel, according to The Las Vegas Review-Journal. The hotel lobby’s maximum capacity is 1,600 which allowed the event to follow the 50% capacity rule for hotels and casinos.

Featured speakers at the event included Paula White, head the White House's Faith and Opportunity Initiative, and members of the president's evangelical advisory board, Pastor Jentezen Franklin and Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., along with Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, California, who reopened his church on Pentecost Sunday.

Ralph Reed, chair of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, shared a video from the event that was retweeted by Vice President Mike Pence. Reed and hundreds of others sang and prayed together before speakers shared why they planned to vote for Trump. In Reed’s video, most attendees wore masks but some did not.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelicals-for-trump-bypass-nevada-restrictions-hold-rally-las-vegas-casino.html




That could happen in Vegas! And I hope that when travel restrictions are finally lifted on this nightmare pandemic that we’ll be able to go preach in Sin City again. But here’s the sad thing the COVID holy war isn’t going away, and when the religious right is done with Sin City, they’ll take their show elsewhere. So the moral of the lesson here? Don’t shoot the messenger. And that’s exactly what Vegas did!

The city of Las Vegas has fined a hotel for hosting a religious campaign event for President Trump that broke Nevada's restrictions on large gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A mandate issued by Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) prohibits gatherings of more than 50 people in either indoor and outdoor areas.

The group Evangelicals for Trump, however, held an event at the Ahern Hotel on Thursday with more than 500 attendees, The Associated Press reported. The event was reportedly headlined by the president's personal pastor Paula White.

Organizers told the AP that masks were required at the event, and a temperature check was conducted. Las Vegas spokesperson Jace Radke told the news wire that the organizers and the hotel owner were issued a citation from the city that included a $250 fine.

Per the AP, the Trump campaign has maintained that hotels can hold events at 50 percent capacity and aren't subject to gathering limits that have been placed on places of worship and other venues across the country during the pandemic.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/511089-las-vegas-fines-hotel-for-hosting-trump-campaign-event-despite-coronavirus




And that’s why some things should probably stay in Vegas! Virtual 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: Ryan Reynolds Wedding
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Let’s talk about weddings. Everyone has their vision of the perfect marriage ceremony. Beautiful backdrops, everyone’s friends and family there, ravishing looking wedding parties, free flowing booze, and an overall good time. But could you regret where you have said wedding? Well, lately with racism being erased all over the world after the death of George Floyd, it’s hit the glorious star of everyone’s favorite wise-cracking, foul-mouthed, murderous superhero Deadpool, the great Ryan Reynolds, pretty hard. See, he and his wife Blake Lively got married at one of America’s oldest plantations. Which sounds pretty innocent until you start digging deeper and find out the true history of where he got married.

"Deadpool" star Ryan Reynolds said he and his wife, actress Blake Lively, are "deeply and unreservedly sorry for" for holding their 2012 wedding ceremony at a South Carolina plantation.

"It’s impossible to reconcile," Reynolds told Fast Company, in a profile published Tuesday. "What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy."

Reynolds and Lively got married at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, which features nine slave cabins, referred to as "Slave Street." The move was criticized at the time, but came under renewed scrutiny in 2018 after Reynolds tweeted in support of "Black Panther," the first superhero movie to feature a majority Black cast, and was accused of hypocrisy.

The wedding industry has also been responding to plantation weddings' role in glamorizing sites of violence against Black people. Last year, Pinterest and The Knot banned pictures of all plantation weddings on its platform, including Reynolds' and Lively's.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/ryan-reynolds-blake-lively-apologize-plantation-themed-wedding-n1235770




That’s like what? 16 walls? Yes, that probably was a bad idea to begin with. And this might be a good topic to explore in the future but who knew that weddings could be racist? I mean aside from when your creepy drunk uncle gets up during the toasts and makes uncomfortable remarks about white supremacist content he found on Facebook – and hey we’ve all been there, right? So why is this not OK to do something like this?

When planning their nuptials, some couples dream of having a “classic Southern” wedding at a grand, columned mansion with oak trees covered in Spanish moss and fireflies winking at dusk—a picturesque affair hosted on an antebellum estate that has made its facilities available to rent for parties and events. In other words, a plantation wedding.

But there’s a growing consensus that there’s something deeply wrong with this concept. A beautiful mansion and sprawling estate cannot be separated from a horrifying violent history. These are monuments to American slavery, not a place to hold a celebration or a backdrop for beautiful photos. “If anyone wanted to get married at a plantation, you must ask, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘what exactly are you saying about yourself?’” says Steven Hahn, a historian and the author of A Nation Without Borders: The United States and its World in an Age of Civil Wars.

White Southerners may be the most likely candidates to choose a plantation wedding, as it might be the popular venue in the area, but they are far from alone. Speaking to representatives for plantations like Middleton Place near Charleston, they say that people from all over the world, of all races and genders, opt to have their ceremony and reception there.

There are even celebrity examples. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds (who are from California and Vancouver, respectively) married in 2012 at Boone Plantation in South Carolina. Though they received mostly positive coverage at the time, it has sparked criticism on social media since and it is something Reynolds says he and Lively now deeply regret. “It’s something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for,” Reynolds recently told Fast Company.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/the-scene/weddings/a33446093/plantation-wedding-controversy-ryan-reynolds-blake-lively/




No wonder Southern people are always clamoring for “heritage” – they want that sweet, sweet Antebellum lifestyle! Which really if you think about it, is really just a trashy version of the rich life from Pride & Prejudice. Mr. Reynolds would say that this is a mistake. But that said, I am sure that Deadpool would be mocking you before slicing and dicing you after saying that. I’m just saying.

In the wake of the racial justice movement renewed by the death of George Floyd, Ryan Reynolds apologized for his plantation wedding with Blake Lively. The two wed in 2012 at Boone Hall Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina, a location fraught with painful history as a site where Black slaves lived and produced bricks and crops. (Pinterest and The Knot have since restricted promotions of plantation weddings.) In an interview with Fast Company on Aug. 4, Reynolds said the decision is one that he and Lively will “always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for" — and that it was "impossible to reconcile."

“What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest," Reynolds said. "What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy.” He revealed that the two got married a second time at home — but “shame works in weird ways.” Reynolds continued, “A giant f*cking mistake like that can either cause you to shut down or it can reframe things and move you into action. It doesn’t mean you won’t f*ck up again.” He added that “repatterning and challenging lifelong social conditioning is a job that doesn’t end.”

The interview comes after Reynolds and Lively donated $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in June and acknowledged their own history of complicity. “We want to educate ourselves about other people’s experiences and talk to our kids about everything, all of it,” Lively wrote on Instagram, in part. “We look back and see so many mistakes which have led us to deeply examine who we are and who we want to become.” She also pledged that she and Reynolds would “stay educated and vote in every local election” — and use their “privilege and platform to be an ally."
https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/ryan-reynolds-apologizes-for-his-plantation-wedding-with-blake-lively






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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Q Anon Vs The Troll Dolls
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Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! Yes, we are still holed up here in a doomsday shelter in the the remote alkali flats of the Iowa badlands while we anxiously await the end of the world. Oh, you say that’s actually going on? Great. Just allow me to adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference. So what’s so batshit crazy this week? Well, we have to talk about the group that is off their rocker known as Q Anon. Last time we reported on the Q, they were accusing furniture manufacturer Wayfair of human trafficking because they have too much free time on their hands. This week they’re taking their fight to actual trolls. Which came first? The trolls or the troll dolls? That is a question only real trolls can answer!

Hasbro is removing a Trolls doll from store shelves following a number of complaints about an inappropriately placed button that some people say promotes child abuse. The company announced its decision to discontinue the doll on Wednesday thanks to an online petition that received more than 300,000 signatures.

A now-viral video of the Trolls "Poppy" doll shows one button on its stomach, which is advertised on packaging and another, which led to confusion among buyers. It says clearly on the back of the box that if you press the first button on the stomach, the doll will say ten phrases and sounds. But there’s no mention of a button under the doll’s skirt placed on the “private area,” the video noted. When pressing that second button, the doll gasps and makes sounds like, “Whee!” and “Oh!” which people have complained are a disturbing sexualization of the children’s toy.

The parent who made and shared the video said they felt it necessary to show the hidden button as issues related to child abuse, grooming, and child sex trafficking receive more national attention right now. The video she made, which garnered over half a million views, sparked an online petition to pull the Poppy doll from shelves entirely.
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/08/9955764/hasbro-pulls-trolls-poppy-doll-controversy-explained




Yes, that is a good question! And normally this is where I would say that Q Anon fans should get a hobby, but the sad reality is that this probably is their hobby! But that said, there is some good news for the Q Fans – Hasbro was just named one of the most ethical companies in the entire world for the 9th year in a row! And it’s probably because they don’t listen to Q Anon trolling dipshits!

PAWTUCKET, R.I.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Hasbro, Inc., a global play and entertainment company, has been recognized by Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the 2020 World’s Most Ethical Companies. Hasbro has been recognized for nine consecutive years and is one of only three honorees in the consumer products industry this year.

In 2020, 132 companies spanning 21 countries and 51 industries were honored.

“Hasbro’s commitment to integrity is central to our purpose to make the world a better place for children and their families, and it is evident in every aspect of our business,” said Brian Goldner, Chairman and CEO, Hasbro, Inc. “From our environmental initiatives, like our first-in-the-sector toy recycling program, our goal to eliminate plastic from our packaging and our plans to become carbon negative; to our commitment to workers in our supply chain with our industry-leading Ethical Sourcing Academy, we believe every day is a chance to do better. We are honored that Hasbro was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the 9th consecutive year and are proud to be recognized for our dedication to using our business as a force for good.”

“More than ever before, employees, investors and customers are seeking out companies that demonstrate their commitment to leading with integrity and to using their business as a force for good,” said Ethisphere’s CEO, Timothy Erblich. “This is the 9th consecutive year that Hasbro has earned a spot on the World’s Most Ethical Companies list, a testament to their commitment to making the world a better place by blending profit and purpose in a meaningful way.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hasbro-named-one-2020-world-205400882.html




Well do we really have to? I mean we have Q Anon who is really thinking of children just a little too much. No really, in an almost certifiably creepy sort of way. Although the bad news is that Hasbro actually did listen to Q Anon and Pizzagate trolls, and just like Wayfair, it is costing them deeply. So the moral of the story here? Don’t listen to Q Anon dipshits guys! And I mean yeah, we do live in a world right now where there’s nothing better to do than point out the sex characteristics of troll dolls, so what?

Hasbro announced that it will be pulling Trolls World Tour Giggle and Sing Poppy due to an inappropriately placed button on the doll.

The announcement came after a video showing the button went viral and a Change.org petition amassed over 400,000 signatures. The video, which is in a tweet below, shows a button placed on the underside of the doll that when pushed makes inappropriate noises. According to the Change.org petition, "When you push this button on the doll’s private she gasps and giggles."

Hasbro has since removed the dolls from stores and says they will replace any dolls already purchased with a doll of equal value. The toy maker claims that the button was not intended to be perceived as sexual and was only intended to have the doll react when put in a seated position. You can contact Hasbro's Consumer Care Team to get your doll replaced.

All of that seems completely plausible and most likely just a poor design choice when making the doll, but where and how the outrage came to be is interesting. The original video failed to make any waves online until a QAnon conspiracy theorist decided that the video was worthy of being shared.

Read More: The Weird Story Of Hasbro's Discontinued Trolls World Tour Doll | https://mix957gr.com/the-weird-story-of-hasbros-discontinued-trolls-world-tour-doll/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral




Yeah I thought they did close the sex cauldron down! And speaking of sex cauldrons, here’s the thing when dealing with Q Anon idiots – they’re just making this shit up! That’s right my faithful audience – they are just making this shit up as they go along, much like the creators of LOST did. Hell with the way things are going this year, I totally expect to find a mystery VW bus that will take us to a part of the island where they’re conducting secret experiments.

The DreamWorks Trolls World Tour Giggle 'n Sing Poppy Troll doll, introduced by Hasbro in its spring toy lineup, has a strategically placed button between its legs that giggles when the doll is placed in a seating position. Several posts on Facebook – and a Change.org petition – describe the button as located in the doll's "private parts" area and suggest it is designed as part of an effort to groom young children for sex.

According to Hasbro's product description, the 12-inch tall doll is aimed at children 4 years and older and "giggles 3 different ways when she's tickled." It sings a version of the song "Trolls Just Want to Have Fun" from the DreamWorks Animation feature movie "Trolls World Tour."

The description adds that the doll can say "How about a hug?" and "Um, cupcake!" Finally, it notes that "when you sit her down, she makes other funny sounds, too!" Not all dolls in the spring collection include such a button.

In one video posting, Jamie Nelson Cornaby, from Utah, displays the doll her child received as a gift, shows how its works and also notes the button located at its "private parts."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/08/07/fact-check-troll-doll-draws-fire-giggle-button-private-parts/3307417001/





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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink: Cartoon Reboots
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Hey everyone I don’t know about you but I could really use a drink!



Of course you know by now that this is the segment where we have some drinks and while we’re drinking we talk about anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics or to world events, because there’s a lot of dark shit out there. This week we’re going to discuss the rebooting and reimaging of some of our favorite cartoons. You know since the virus hit, there hasn’t been much production going on in Hollywood these days. But now that’s about to change. Tell me virtual bartender, what goes well with a story about cartoons? A dirty martini? Eh, I will just stick with my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. So what cartoons are getting rebooted? Well one of my personal favorites to start with – Beavis & Butthead!

Beavis and Butt-Head are returning to TV.

Comedy Central announced Wednesday that the world’s favorite slacker teens are getting a reimagining at the cable network courtesy of original series creator Mike Judge. Comedy Central has ordered two seasons of the show as part of a new animation deal with Judge and 3 Arts Entertainment. The deal also includes potential spin-offs and specials.

As with the original series, Judge is set to write, produce and provide the voices for both iconic characters.

“It seemed like the time was right to get stupid again,” said Judge.

The series officially launched in 1993 on fellow ViacomCBS cable network MTV. It featured the titular duo offering satirical commentary on youth and adolescence. The show proved to be a cultural phenomenon, generating strong reactions both positive and negative.
https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/beavis-and-butt-head-reboot-comedy-central-1234695587/




Ah that hit the spot! Man I miss my bartender and my audience. Well, maybe Beavis & Butthead isn’t for you. Maybe you prefer the comedy stylings of Nickelodeon’s Ren & Stimpy – the children’s show that was deemed too racy for children! Maybe that’s because series creator John Kricfalusi was outed as being a creepy weirdo. But that hasn’t stopped Viacom from wanting that sweet sweet revenue!

Happy, happy, joy, joy we are getting a new version of "The Ren & Stimpy Show."
Comedy Central announced on Wednesday that it is reimagining the 1990s cult animated series.

The original "Ren & Stimpy" centered on the exploits of a dog and cat duo and debuted on Nickelodeon in 1991 along with two other animated series, "Rugrats" and "Doug."

But with it's dark humor and themes "Ren & Stimpy" was considered more of an adult series than a children's show.

"We are excited to reinvent this iconic franchise with a new creative team and our partners at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio," Chris McCarthy, president of ViacomCBS Entertainment & Youth Group, said in a statement.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/entertainment/ren-stimpy-reboot/index.html




You know folks, maybe we really have reached the end of ideas! Because there’s over 30 shows being remade and it’s not just cartoons either. Maybe you’re more interested in some real nostalgia, like the remake of Looney Tunes. Yes, all your beloved Looney Tunes characters are getting a much needed 2020 makeover, and no, their remake does not include coronavirus. Oh did that go too far? Sorry.

Even amidst a pandemic and worldwide protests against systemic racism, online headlines on June 8, 2020 was dominated by... an 80-year-old cartoon series.

The Looney Tunes, one of the longest-running properties in the history of animation, was suddenly back in the news because the creators of the series’ latest iteration — a new batch of shorts titled Looney Tunes Cartoons that recently premiered on HBO Max— revealed in a New York Times profile that their new Tunes contained no guns whatsoever. “Cartoony violence” was okay, said executive producer Peter Browngardt. But Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam would no longer chase Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck with hunting rifles or six-shooters.

The announcement was a dream come true for internet headline writers, who know that few things spark outraged clicks faster than a pop-culture classic everyone knows and loves getting “ruined” by political correctness run amok. A Twitter search turns up dozens of angry tweets insisting that without guns the new Looney Tunes “will suck.” One article claimed Looney Tunes without guns “makes no sense” because (and yes, this was a real argument against the change) “Elmer Fudd is a hunter, not a wheat farmer, after all.”

While I am a stickler for extremely accurate depictions of hunters in cartoons about talking rabbits, I finally decided to check out the new Looney Tunes this weekend. They are, without question, the best anything made with Bugs, Daffy, and the rest in decades. Even without the guns, they’re also the most authentic Looney Tunes since the glory days of Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng.


Read More: HBO Max’s ‘Looney Tunes’ Is the Best Reboot of 2020 | https://screencrush.com/looney-tunes-2020/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral




So we have Beavis & Butthead, Ren & Stimpy, and now Looney Tunes. Anything else getting the modern remake? How about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Yes, the original Saturday Morning Cartoon that’s had more remakes and reboots than Star Wars is going back for yet another round! And do we really need Seth Rogen helming this one? Does that mean that the Turtles are going to smoke copious amounts of weed before consuming all the pizza in New York City?

Deadline has learned that Nickelodeon is rebooting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the big screen with Point Grey Pictures’ Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver producing, and Jeff Rowe (Gravity Falls, Connected) directing. Brendan O’Brien (Neighbors: Sorority Rising, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) will write the screenplay. Paramount will be handling global distribution on the film.

This time around, the feature adaptation of the Kevin Eastman-Peter Laird-created comic book, will be CG animated. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature franchise has accumulated $1.15 billion across six movies from three studios since 1990. The last two movies, released by Paramount and Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes in 2014 and 2016, were live-action and together accounted for $730.6M. The last time there was a feature CG version of Turtles was Warner Bros.’ 2007 TMNT ($96M WW).

The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie reps Nickelodeon Animation Studio’s first-ever CG theatrical production, in partnership with Ramsey Naito, EVP, Animation Production and Development, who is overseeing production for Nickelodeon. Josh Fagen is overseeing for Point Grey Pictures.

Said Brian Robbins, President, Kids & Family for ViacomCBS: “Adding Seth, Evan and James’ genius to the humor and action that’s already an integral part of TMNT is going to make this a next-level reinvention of the property. I’m looking forward to see what they do, and I know that Ramsey Naito and her team are excited to take the Nick Animation Studio into another great direction with their first-ever CG-animated theatrical.”
https://deadline.com/2020/06/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-cg-movie-reboot-from-nickelodeon-seth-rogens-point-grey-pictures-1202973764/





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[font size="8"]Road To The White House: Who Is Karen Bass?
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Welcome back to… ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!! Ooh that was some good reverb there! Of course you know, thanks to COVID-19, we’re in what seems like literally the longest election year ever with each day slower than the one before it. So has presumptive nominee Biden chosen his running mate yet? Oh I see, maybe next week? Of course, the three stooges – Trump, Johnson, and Bolsonaro, are sadly, still inexplicably still in power. With two of those clowns having the virus and one shockingly still doesn’t. So the original piece that I had planned to do is no more, because it’s official! We have a running mate! And it’s who I called way back when the campaign started, and as a Californian, I couldn’t be happier for this nomination!

Kamala Harris was the front-runner to be Joe Biden's running mate pretty much since the moment the presumptive Democratic nominee announced in March that he would pick a woman to be on his ticket.

She was a safe pick and a practical one. She's also now in the position to be the heir apparent for the Democratic Party - whether it's in four years because Biden loses in November or doesn't run for re-election or eight years if Biden serves two full terms.

That could be why it seemed that there were so many attempts to knock Harris down a peg, or advance alternative candidates over the past month.

This was, in effect, the first fight of the next presidential nomination contest, and Harris - whose ambitions are clear - now has a step on the competition.

But determining future Democratic nominees is a battle for another day. The pressing concern for the party at the moment is how Harris might help Biden win the White House. Here are some strengths she brings to the ticket and, perhaps, some concerns Democrats may have.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53745148




Yes that is a good point, while the rest of us are attempting to embrace diversity, the GOP is thinking of it the same way that Ron Burgundy does! So how did Kamala get to be the vice president on what is going to be the ticket that will end Trumpism once and for all? Well, her list of qualifications should surprise no one, and especially no one that’s been following California politics for quite some time!

Joe Biden thinks he is going to win the White House in 84 days' time.
That's the unmistakable message he sent just after 4 p.m. Eastern time when, via text, his campaign announced that he had picked Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his vice presidential nominee.
Harris, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year, had been the front-runner to be Biden's pick for months because, well, she simply made sense.
Consider:

* She's been vetted on the national stage due to her own 2020 bid
* She has experience in government -- as both the California attorney general and as a US senator since 2017
* At 55 years old, she represents a younger generation of leader -- something that Biden, who will be 78 on Inauguration Day 2021, said was a major factor in his choice
* She is a historic pick as the first Black and South Asian American woman to appear on a major party's national ticket
* She's from California, a massive treasure trove of both Democratic votes and Democratic donors
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/11/politics/joe-biden-kamala-harris-vp/index.html




Hell yeah let’s do this thing! We are fired up and we are ready to send Donald Trump and the Christian right packing! We need a real leader to lead us through these times so we can get back to doing what we love doing. And only Joe sees the dire straits that COVID-19 has put the US in, and it’s going to take a near Herculean effort to lead us out of this. But Joe and Kamala are ready to take charge on day one and do what needs to be done!

US presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's selection of Senator Kamala Harris gives him a running mate who can appeal to African American voters who are core to Biden's base of support and serve as a fierce critic of President Donald Trump's record in office.

A former top state prosecutor in California, Senator Harris brings a law-and-order career record that will help Biden steer a tricky, centrist line between Black Lives Matter protesters and white Americans who worry about attacks on police funding.

At the same time, picking a woman who competed with Biden during the presidential primaries and attacked him memorably on race during a debate, shows Biden asserting a degree of self-confidence that he can forge a cooperative, working relationship with her, political analysts told Al Jazeera.

"Biden faced unprecedented pressure to pick a Black woman," said John Jackson, a professor at the Public Policy Institute of the University of Southern Illinois.

"He wanted someone who is going to command some respect and will balance the ticket with demographic characteristics of gender and race," Jackson said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/biden-choice-kamala-harris-vp-candidate-unprecedented-200811210524520.html




Yes let’s do this! Finally after 3 years of hell and 6 months of living in an absolute fucking nightmare, we are ready to tackle this thing. And at the end of this segment, I have a special message for the guy who we call president, Donald J. Trump. Hey Trump, guess what? You’re fired. And it’s time that we get a real president and a real vice president who know what they are doing, and Joe is ready! It’s time to kick their sorry asses to the curb and send them packing!

During his final debate with Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden vowed, “If I’m elected president my Cabinet, my administration will look like the country.” With Biden’s selection of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, he has taken an important first step toward representing the diversity of the Democratic Party and the nation.

If Biden wins the election in November, his Cabinet will represent an opportunity to rally underrepresented groups and interests around his administration. As Biden considers candidates for these positions past presidents can offer him a helpful road map for creating a successful Cabinet. The best Cabinets throughout the history of the United States have been filled with competent, engaged and disciplined secretaries who present diverse views and actively disagree with the president.
The historical importance of a diverse Cabinet

In 1789, President George Washington set this precedent for effective leadership by selecting men who represented different regions of the country, backgrounds and ideological interests. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson was a wealthy plantation owner from Virginia, owned hundreds of enslaved people, and brought critical diplomatic expertise to the administration. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton was born in the Caribbean, before making his home in New York City and cozying up to the merchant and mercantile elite in cities. Jefferson and Hamilton disagreed on almost everything and Jefferson later described their Cabinet meetings as a “cock fight,” evoking the bloody, brutal nature of their disagreements. While Jefferson hated these confrontations, Washington knew that he benefited from having both perspectives and pleaded with Jefferson to stay and provide “the check of [his] opinions in the administration in order to keep things in their proper channel and prevent them from going too far.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/08/11/joe-biden-picks-kamala-harris-vp-vice-president-diverse-cabinet-column/3348957001/


Hey Trump! Guess what?




See you next week!

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