Top 10 Idiots

Top 10 Idiots's Journal

December 18, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-23: 2019 Year In Review Edition (Season Finale!!!)

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-23: 2019 Year In Review Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up UCLA? Has Trump been impeached yet? Well we're waiting! How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! Well here we are, we are at the end everybody! It’s been a hell of a season touring universities all over the country. And we’re going back for round 2 next year leading up to our 3rd annual Stupidest State contest! Do we have time for the thing? OK so back when we started the Top 10, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was just about to hit the theaters, and the hype-o-meter was off the charts. Well, this week, the conclusion of that arc of the saga, Star Wars Episode XI: The Rise Of Skywalker, is about to hit theaters. And Burger King, has come up with one of the most bizarre promotions I’ve ever heard of. Would you allow the movie to be spoiled for you for a free sandwich? I mean better yet how much is a spoiler worth to you? Because if I’m letting one of the most anticipated movies of the year be spoiled for me, it’d better be a hell of a lot more than just a damn sandwich! In fact, actual Star Wars fans weren’t having any of it. So apparently people love their science fiction franchises way more than they love their fast food franchises. Go home Burger King, you’re drunk. OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first I have to play Saturday Night Live’s brilliant opener from last week about what happens when things get way too heated at the holiday dinner table:

Happy end of 2019 everybody!!! We survived a 3rd year under president Donald J. Trump! So with that in mind we are doing our 3rd ever Year In Review edition! In the first slot this week is the first two months of the year – January and February (1) when Trump and the entire world was obsessed with the ending of the hit HBO show Game Of Thrones, and Trump thought he was the one who was going to ascend to the Iron Throne because, reasons. In the second slot is the second two months of the year – March and April (2) where there were scandals a plenty which included Patriots owner Robert Kraft getting arrested in a sex sting operation and Paul Manafort being convicted of some pretty serious crimes. Taking the third slot this week is a head first dive into summer with May & June (3) which saw conservatives taking their war on “shadow banning” to new extremes by grilling the head honchos of social media companies on Capitol Hill about anti-conservative bias. In the fourth slot is the meat of summer – July and August (4) – which saw the case against billionaire child molester and human sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstiein come to a head, and the degree of which he was murdered / suicided varies on which media outlet your drug of choice is. In the fifth slot this week is fall – September and October (5) which includes such idiocy as Trump’s Halloween fail, his war on vaping, a whole metric fuck ton of mass shootings, and the Straight Pride Parade in Boston was a colossal fail. Rounding out the year is the winter months – November and December (6) of course, while everyone is figuring out which car commercial is the least annoying, Trump is getting impeached, and the impeachment trial is proving to be the colossal disaster that we all know it was going to be. Now that that’s out of the way, since we like to get you in the holiday spirit, in the number 7 slot, everyone looks forward to Santa’s visit every year, except New York City, which is the home of Santacon (7), and we’re going to ask “SantaCon: How Is This Still A Thing?”. In the number 8 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and sigh, another round of the circular firing squad that is the militant religious group known as “One Million Moms” and the back and forth between them and the Hallmark Channel is the stuff of pure insanity, and our resident pastor has some thoughts on that! At the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is People Are Dumb, and we’re going to go through and post some of our favorite People Are Dumb stories throughout the year that was 2019. Finally this week, our 2020 voters’ guide, Keeping Up With The Candidates is going to talk 2020 predictions! Yeah it’s earl but you can never be too early! And the palate cleanser for putting up with my bullshit, we have a surprise guest. Oh who am I kidding? It’s the legendary Vampire Weekend! Really buy their new album “Father Of The Bride” or you are no friend of this program. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]January – February: Game Of Groans
[br] [/font] [br]

This is always one of the hardest Top 10s of the year to do because the question is how do you cram an entire year’s worth of idiocy into six short entries? Where do you start? Well we have to start at the beginning of the year of course. The Dems have just come off the high of retaking the house out from underneath this corrupt administration. And of course, Dear Leader wasn’t having any of it. For someone who doesn’t quite get pop culture references, for him to see himself as the champion of some bizarre Game Of Thrones contest that no one else was playing was simply stunning.

When President Trump tweeted out a meme of his envisioned steel-slat wall with the words, “THE WALL IS COMING” over the weekend, many fans of “Game of Thrones” accused the president of never actually watching the hit HBO series.

In the series, the enormous wall of ice protecting the Seven Kingdoms from encroaching wildlings is — spoiler alert — eventually destroyed, which is presumably not the end result Trump envisions along the southern border. But Trump’s allusion to the “Game of Thrones” wall is all the more curious for another reason.

The fictional “Game of Thrones” barrier is actually based on a real wall. In fact, it’s one of the most famous walls in ancient Western civilization — one that may hold a lesson for Trump. A massive wall, said historian David Frye, is nothing without an equally massive investment in upkeep and patrol. That fact is evident in the true story of Hadrian’s Wall, the inspiration behind the fictional frozen wall in “Game of Thrones.”

George R.R. Martin, the author of the book series, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” that inspired “Game of Thrones,” has previously revealed that he was standing atop Hadrian’s Wall in 1981, imagining himself as a second-century Roman soldier, when he had the idea for his wall.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/08/an-ancient-border-wall-inspired-game-thrones-barrier-trumps-meme-does-it-hold-any-lessons/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.761f68e7bad7

I think that’s how Trump actually envisions himself. For someone who doesn’t read and doesn’t get pop culture references (he recently failed by comparing himself to Thanos), Game Of Thrones is way too advanced for him! He should start with something easy like the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series and work his way up! And then the government shut down happened in January and the entire world saw how he greets champion athletes visiting the White House. Remember when that was an honor? Well, he reduced the White House dinner to going to the drive through, because that’s what Trump does. And that’s what he did when the world champion Clemson Tigers visited the White House. Literally everything he touches turns to shit!

The Clemson football team’s visit to the White House on Monday night is going to be a greasy one.

The Tigers were invited by President Donald Trump to celebrate their national championship victory over Alabama and, according to Trump, the menu is going to be all fast food.

“I think we’re going to serve McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King’s [sic], with some pizza,” Trump said. “I really mean it. It’ll be interesting. I think that would be their favorite food, so we’ll see what happens.”

It sounds like Clemson will be getting the authentic White House experience, enjoying some of the president’s favorite foods. In a book about the 2016 campaign, two top Trump aides wrote that the “four major food groups” on Trump’s plane were “McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza and Diet Coke.”

The menu probably isn’t a hit with Clemson Director of Football Nutrition Paul Harrington, though. We’ve emailed Harrington for his thoughts and will update this post if he gets back to us.
https://sports.yahoo.com/president-trump-promises-several-fast-152758405.html

&feature=emb_title

Seriously forget House Of Cards, this is a House Of Carbs! Then we go to February where it’s Valentines Day and we’re coming off the 1 year anniversary of the Parkland Massacre. But that was completely overshadowed because we were introduced to Nicholas Sandmann and the ultra right wing Covington Catholic high school in Covington, Kentucky. Who were just coming off the March For Women wearing MAGA hats (natch) and then stared down Native American war veterans at the Indigenous People’s March, and the resulting shit show was quite spectacular.

A crowd of students surrounds the Native American man, laughing and filming on cell phones. One boy, wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, stands just inches away from the man's drum, staring at him with a wide smile.

Nathan Phillips, an Omaha elder participating in the Indigenous Peoples March, keeps drumming and singing.

The jeers of the students – and Phillips' stoic response – were captured in a video that has sparked widespread criticism and drawn an apology from a Kentucky prep school and diocese.

The students and Phillips had both converged in Washington, D.C., last Friday. The students, a group of boys from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, were there to attend the March for Life. Phillips had come for the first-ever Indigenous Peoples March, on the same day.

Videos show a number of young men and women, predominantly white, jumping, cheering and chanting, in a dense circle around Phillips. Many are wearing Trump paraphernalia, and some are wearing clothing associated with the Covington high school.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/20/686988268/video-of-kentucky-students-mocking-native-american-man-draws-outcry

Yes, that escalated very quickly. And of course since Trump attracts the assholes, he invited Sandmann and his crew to the White House, and then Sandmann attempted to sue the Washington Post and New York Times for an ungodly sum of money, and that suit will most likely never pass muster. Then one of our favorite controversies, the Blackface controversy, ensued once again in Virginia when some old pictures recently started surfacing of Gov. Ralph Northram.

Controversy swirled over the weekend after a racist photo in Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook surfaced.

The photo, which pictured a person in blackface and a person dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe, was featured on Northam's page in a 1984 yearbook. Northam, a Democrat, initially apologized for being in the photo, then later said he did not believe he was pictured.

Despite calls for his resignation from several members of his own party, the Democrat is standing his ground and has refused to leave office.

Here's a breakdown of how we got here:

The photograph was first discovered Friday afternoon by the conservative news outlet Big League Politics. It was one of several published on Northam's medical school yearbook page from Eastern Virginia Medical School from 1984, the year he graduated. The school confirmed the photo's authenticity and provided a copy of the page to USA TODAY.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/04/ralph-northam-scandal-virginia-governor-uncertain-future/2763459002/

That’s it for January and February, which brings us to…

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]March – April: Scandals And Animals
[br] [/font] [br]

Remember the Q Anon conspiracy theory? You know the one where it said that Trump was going to have “mass arrests” and “military tribunals” aimed at taking down the country’s elite for acts of sexual perversion? Well, the spring season started off with the owner of the Patriots, Robert Kraft, along with a metric fuck ton of celebrities and professionals getting busted for having connections to the alleged Miami Madam that has been a staple of the country’s elite. Well it turns out the table might be on the other foot, as Kraft got taken down with a whole bunch of other celebrities and billionaires, which may or may not include billionaire who lives on a secluded pedo island, Jeffrey Epstein. Well, let the conspiracy theories start flying!

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is facing charges of misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution after he was twice videotaped paying for a sex act at an illicit massage parlor, police in Florida said Friday.

The 77-year-old Kraft was one of 25 people involved in the alleged solicitation at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida.

Michael Edmondson, spokesman for the state attorney's office in Palm Beach County, told ESPN that the nature of any charges that the 25 people face will not be released until next week.

The potential charges come amid a widespread crackdown on sex trafficking in Florida from Palm Beach to Orlando. Hundreds of arrest warrants have been issued in recent days as result of a six-month investigation, and more are expected. Ten spas have been closed, and several people charged with sex trafficking have been taken into custody.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/26055197/patriots-owner-robert-kraft-facing-charges-solicitation-prostitution

Uh… except that there is everything wrong with that! And speaking of controversies coming back to bite us, Michael Jackson, outside of his singing career, has never been in the news for any particularly good reason, and even 10 years after his death, stories continue to linger over what really happened at Michael Jackson's Hollywood home known as "Neverland Ranch". Especially when the documentary “Leaving Neverland” shed some light on what really happened when kids were invited to stay over at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch:

As the release of a new documentary detailing abuse accusations against the singer Michael Jackson has prompted debate about his legacy, the public response to its contents is also leading radio stations across the globe to stop playing his music.

A radio network in Quebec pulled Jackson’s music from its nearly two dozen stations, according to The Canadian Press. In Britain, Variety reported that the BBC was forced to deny imposing such a ban after it was reported that the singer’s music had been “quietly dropped” from one of its stations.

And the backlash has led to an almost complete removal of the singer’s music from the airwaves in New Zealand, after the two largest radio networks — which own most of the country’s commercial stations — said Wednesday that they would no longer play Jackson’s songs.

In the New Zealand and Canadian cases, radio networks cited a change in public opinion about Jackson that was tied to the documentary “Leaving Neverland,” a two-part mini-series focusing on the accusations of two men who say Jackson abused them as children, as the reason for the ban. The program is scheduled for broadcast in New Zealand on Sunday and Monday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/world/asia/michael-jackson-radio-stations.html

The sad thing is that death was probably a good career move for Mr. Jackson. Then, as if the arrest of Robert Kraft wasn’t troubling enough, Trump’s senior campaign manager Paul Manafort went down in a shocking blaze of 16 crimes being committed. You commit 16 crimes, whaddya get? Another day in prison and deeper in debt. Yeah that joke didn’t work the first time, but the subpoenas are still there!

Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, has been charged in New York with mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other state felonies, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., said Wednesday, an effort to ensure he will still face prison time if Mr. Trump pardons him for his federal crimes.

News of the indictment came shortly after Mr. Manafort was sentenced to his second federal prison term in two weeks; he now faces a combined sentence of more than seven years for tax and bank fraud and conspiracy in two related cases brought by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

The president has broad power to issue pardons for federal crimes, but has no such authority in state cases.

While Mr. Trump has not said he intends to pardon his former campaign chairman, he has often spoken of his power to pardon and has defended Mr. Manafort on a number of occasions, calling him a “brave man.”

Later on Wednesday, the president said, “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort,” and that he had “not thought about” a pardon for him.

The new state charges against Mr. Manafort are contained in a 16-count indictment that alleges a yearlong scheme in which he falsified business records to obtain millions of dollars in loans, Mr. Vance said in a news release after the federal sentencing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/nyregion/manafort-indictment.html

Now this brings us to April where Trump was coming off the high of the Mueller Report being completely redacted and lots of blacked out tape polluting what was actually said in the report, so we may never know what really happened. And how do you celebrate if you’re Donald J. Trump? Well, you celebrate by going to Scotland where you make some shockingly stupid statements about wind power.

Unlike President Trump’s inability to pronounce the word “origins,” his recurring anti-wind bloviating isn’t a sign of mental decline. Sure, it is stupid and wrong to say the sound of wind causes cancer (just who is the “alarmist” by the way?) or reduces real estate values (it doesn’t.) But it’s also dangerous. This and other anti-science campaigns like the ones against vaccinations and evolution are not just silly ignorance. They’re weaponized stupidity.

Trump’s tirades aren’t reflective of any deeply held belief or well-informed opinion, but instead appear to be informed by, and in service of, Big Oil’s anti-wind propaganda. For decades fossil fuel companies have attacked clean and renewable competition, from working to block local wind power installations to fighting state policies promoting wind. Key to that effort is spreading myths about wind power’s potential as well as its progress, which our Fox News President predictably regurgitates.

For example, take Trump’s bizarre recurring joke were he pretends to be someone who watches a lot of television (ok—no need to suspend disbelief on that part,) but has to turn it off when the wind isn’t blowing. Trump’s own Department of Energy debunks that ridiculous reliability argument (hi, batteries!) along with other energy myths. Wind power kills less birds than other forms of energy, it poses no human health threat, and it is increasingly more competitive than fossil fuels.

The sad irony of Trump’s weaponized stupidity is that it hurts the rural communities and red states who are benefiting “bigly” from wind power. For example, on November 9, 2016, the very day Trump was elected President, the Omaha World-Herald published a story about how “wind has saved family farms across a wide swath of the heartland.”
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-hate-wind-opinion-1385881

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Come on, put a warning on that thing! If that’s what passes for your hair, no wonder you make those claims about wind power. But at the end of April something really sad happened when we nearly lost the ancient French landmark of the Notre Dame cathedral. But Trump was celebrating Easter in the most Donald J. Trump way possible. Let’s roll the tape on that:

&feature=emb_title

At that point you almost have to feel sorry for the Easter Bunny, though we probably all know that it was Rudy Giuliani underneath that weird rabbit mask. That’s it for March and April, and the winter and spring season. Now we dive head first into the summer season with…

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]May & June: Conservatives’ War On Social Media
[br] [/font] [br

You know Mark Zuckerberg is a James Bond villain. In fact the scenario that’s playing around the globe right now with the rise in hate and white supremacy and people preferring dictators over freedom, is pretty much the plot of the movie Tomorrow Never Dies. In that movie, Elliot Carver is a media tycoon who is using a nuclear stealth boat to manipulate the headlines to pit two superpowers together with the intent of starting World War III. Sounds plausible right? Well Mark Zuckerberg is nowhere near as charismatic as Elliot Carver was. So thanks to conspiracy theories, conservatives really have it in for social media outlets over “shadow banning” which as we’ve explained many times on this program, is not a thing. Instead… they’re just being hateful dicks. And they still can’t see it even after grilling the head honcho himself. At this point, you almost have to feel sorry for Mark Zuckerberg… but eh, why waste the time and effort?

Facebook banned several prominent accounts promoting white nationalism on the platform on Thursday.

Accounts barred from Facebook, as well as its subsidiary Instagram, as part of the new enforcement include the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the far-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos and the anti-Muslim figurehead Laura Loomer. Jones was previously banned from Facebook but still had an account on Instagram, which was no longer live as of Thursday.

“We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today.”

Facebook banned several prominent accounts promoting white nationalism on the platform on Thursday.

Accounts barred from Facebook, as well as its subsidiary Instagram, as part of the new enforcement include the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the far-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos and the anti-Muslim figurehead Laura Loomer. Jones was previously banned from Facebook but still had an account on Instagram, which was no longer live as of Thursday.

“We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/02/facebook-ban-alex-jones-milo-yiannopoulos

I’m pretty sure that’s a live look in at what Trump is really thinking. I mean two of his biggest minions got banned from nearly all social media platforms, because, well, they’re colossal dicks. But then one of the biggest bombshells of the administration to date – Trump’s ass is flat broke! Yet, he acts like a billionaire, just like George Bluth acts like a billionaire.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s businesses lost a total of more than $1 billion from 1985 to 1994, according to the New York Times, which said it obtained printouts from Trump’s official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts.

The newspaper said Trump posted losses in excess of $250 million in both 1990 and 1991, which appeared to be more than double any other individual U.S. taxpayer in an annual IRS sampling of high-income earners.

Trump lost so much money that he was able to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years, the Times said.

Over the 10 years, Trump’s core businesses, including casinos, hotels and apartment buildings, lost $1.17 billion, according to the newspaper.

The Times quoted a lawyer for the president, Charles Harder, as saying the tax information was “highly inaccurate.”

Trump, a real estate magnate who turned over the running of his businesses to his sons after his election in 2016, touted his business acumen and negotiating skills on the campaign trail
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/08/trump-tax-returns-from-1985-1994-reportedly-show-1-billion-in-losses.html

Yes, I don’t care either. And then this might be one of my favorite stories of the year, and we did an entire Top 10 Investigates on it (see: Top 10 #6-18 ). Why are anti vaccination crusaders hanging on to an old episode of the Brady Bunch to describe their feelings toward measles? Oh measles are harmless – it’s just a day off school! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… fuck you!

“If you have to get sick,” Marcia Brady bellows. “Sure can’t beat the measles!” Marcia delivered the line in an episode of The Brady Bunch that aired in 1969. Fifty years later, it's echoing through Facebook antivaxxer communities.

If you ignore the sitcom context, it does sound like a peppy mid-century advertising slogan for the disease, the sort of thing a feverish Don Draper might have come up with after his eighth Old Fashioned. So, naturally, that’s how antivaxxers are taking it.

Marcia’s pro-measles platform has been a staple of the antivax community for a while now—it’s a popular meme, which means that it’s also T-shirt. Screengrabs of blonde-pigtailed Marcia grinning at the thought of measles are so common in anti-vaccine forums that Maureen McCormick, who played Marcia, got on NPR and asked to be excluded from this narrative. She’s quaintly scandalized that strangers would use her face for their own ends without her permission, without asking her whether she believes in vaccines or not. The antivaxxers do not care.

To them, whether or not Maureen McCormick vaccinated her children, which she did, is irrelevant, as is McCormicks’ discomfort with becoming the face of measles. (“Boo hoo,” read several Facebook comments.) So is the fact that the creator of The Brady Bunch, Sherwood Schwartz, was also a known child vaccinator. Everyone involved can wave their vaccination records all they want and it won’t deter anybody from buying a T-shirt that informs the world that the titular family of a sitcom failed to die of measles on daytime television. This meme is not about Marcia or any of the Brady bunch: It’s about having a slice of 1969.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-brady-bunch-measles-episode-is-now-a-viral-menace/

Well if you gave someone the measles, they probably wouldn’t be your friends either! Well then June comes and republicans go all out on their feelings about abortion, and as you can guess, is one of the driving factors fueling this wretched administration. People like Pat Robertson have some incredibly warped feeling s on the subject.

Televangelist Pat Robertson said he thinks Alabama went "too far" with a controversial abortion bill that could punish doctors who perform abortions with life in prison.

"I think Alabama has gone too far," he said Wednesday during an episode of "The 700 Club." "There's no exception for rape or incest. It's an extreme law and they want to challenge Roe v. Wade."

He continued: "But my humble view is that this is not the case we want to bring to the Supreme Court because I think this one will lose."

The bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday, only allows exceptions "to avoid a serious health risk to the unborn child's mother," for ectopic pregnancy and if the "unborn child has a lethal anomaly."

The law carries stiff penalties for those caught violating it. For example, doctors could face up to 99 years in prison for performing an abortion in the state.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/alabama-abortion-bill/index.html

Hey I’m intolerant of your intolerance, sir! Good day! But my favorite thing about the summer was the utter implosion of the lobby fueling conservatives known as the National Rifle Association. Yes, after years and years of mass shootings, NRATV finally closed up shop, and may are citing that Parkland may have been the straw that broke the camels’ back. So I say this with all sincerity – a hearty “womp womp”.

The National Rifle Association shut down production of its online streaming network NRATV amid a shakeup within the gun lobbyist group.

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre announced the decision to no longer air "live TV" programming through NRATV on the group's website on Wednesday, adding that the decision to return to live programming is a "subject of ongoing analysis."

"Many members expressed concern about the messaging on NRATV becoming too far removed from our core mission: defending the Second Amendment," LaPierre wrote. "So, after careful consideration, I am announcing that starting today we are undergoing a significant change in our communications strategy."

The decision comes after two prominent board members criticized the online media branch's direction in March, The New York Times reported.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/06/26/NRA-shuts-down-production-of-NRATV/2381561590237/

That’s it for May and June, now we trod head first into the meat of summer with…

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]July – August: Epstein Gets Suicided
ttps:// [br] [/font] [br]

Summertime, and the livin’s easy. Top 10 is on the microphone to Ras MG. All the people in the dance will agree that we’re well qualified to represent the LBC. G. Me and Louis, we go run to the party, dance to the rhythm, it gets harder… OK I’m no Brad Nowell but that was my Sublime chunk. We are well into the summer and halfway through the year now. Don’t worry, we will get into the Epstein tragedy in a few minutes. But first I want to talk about how Trump don’t know much about anything – biology, history, you name it. Especially history. I don’t want to say that Trump most likely slept through history class, and probably biology class as well. At least that was the case during his July 4th Americagasm Spectacular held at the National Mall

President Donald Trump celebrated "the greatest political journey in human history" Thursday in a Fourth of July commemoration before a soggy, cheering crowd of spectators, many of them invited, on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial. Supporters welcomed his tribute to the U.S. military while protesters assailed him for putting himself center stage on a holiday devoted to unity.

Trump called on Americans to "stay true to our cause" in a "Salute to America" program that adhered to patriotic themes and hailed an eclectic mix of history's heroes, from the armed forces, space, civil rights and other endeavors of American life.

While the president avoided diversions into his agenda or re-election campaign, his speech, however, contained historical errors. In outlining the history of Independence Day, Trump claimed the Army "took over the airports" during the American Revolution and evoked the battle of Fort McHenry, which occurred decades later during the War of 1812. There was no air travel in America in the 18th century.

"In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a unified Army out of the Revolutionary Forces encamped around Boston and New York," Trump said. "... Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s red glare it had nothing but victory. And when dawn came, their star-spangled banner waved defiant."
https://www.necn.com/news/politics/Washington-Fourth-of-July-Trump-Military-512210491.html

Oh it absolutely was a disaster. But before we get into Jeffrey Epstein, we got to talk about another conservative related tragedy – the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. We found out that the conspiracy peddled by everyone from Alex Jones to Sean Hannity to Rush Limbaugh – that said that DNC staffer Seth Rich was gunned down to cover up evidence of election rigging and profiteering, and it was an intentional hit job – was revealed to be a steaming load of BS. And when Fox News tells you it’s bullshit, it’s bullshit.

In the summer of 2016, Russian intelligence agents secretly planted a fake report claiming that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was gunned down by a squad of assassins working for Hillary Clinton, giving rise to a notorious conspiracy theory that captivated conservative activists and was later promoted from inside President Trump’s White House, a Yahoo News investigation has found.

Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, first circulated a phony “bulletin” — disguised to read as a real intelligence report —about the alleged murder of the former DNC staffer on July 13, 2016, according to the U.S. federal prosecutor who was in charge of the Rich case. That was just three days after Rich, 27, was killed in what police believed was a botched robbery while walking home to his group house in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C., about 30 blocks north of the Capitol.

The purported details in the SVR account seemed improbable on their face: that Rich, a data director in the DNC’s voter protection division, was on his way to alert the FBI to corrupt dealings by Clinton when he was slain in the early hours of a Sunday morning by the former secretary of state’s hit squad.

Yet in a graphic example of how fake news infects the internet, those precise details popped up the same day on an obscure website, whatdoesitmean.com, that is a frequent vehicle for Russian propaganda. The website’s article, which attributed its claims to “Russian intelligence,” was the first known instance of Rich’s murder being publicly linked to a political conspiracy.
https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-the-true-origins-of-the-seth-rich-conspiracy-a-yahoo-news-investigation-100000831.html

Damn right, sir!!! Now that we’ve stalled enough, we got to get through the Jeffrey Epstein mess, which is what happened when he got locked up. The mess was so huge that it caused yet another huge resignation in the Trump camp – Alex Acosta. Which probably marks that as the 1,242,563,659,304th resignation from the Trump camp.

President Donald Trump announced Friday that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta has resigned, a move that comes after furor over a plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein.

Acosta has been under renewed scrutiny over his previous role as the US attorney in Miami, during which he negotiated the 2008 plea deal with Epstein. Epstein, a well-connected multi-millionaire, avoided a federal trial at the time and served only 13 months in prison for state prostitution charges over his involvement with underage girls. A Miami Herald investigation published last November described the plea deal, negotiated by Acosta, as the "deal of a lifetime."

Acosta's resignation is effective next Friday. Trump said the labor secretary will be replaced on an acting basis by the current deputy secretary, Pat Pizzella.

Acosta, standing next to Trump outside the White House before the President departed for a trip, said he resigned to remove himself as a distraction.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/12/politics/alex-acosta-donald-trump-labor-secretary/index.html

Good point! Then tragedy struck as Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. Now, here’s where the whole thing goes to shit. Conspiracy theorists on both sides are making the claim that he didn’t kill himself – he was murdered. And the degree of suicided varies on which news outlet is doing the reporting, and who gets the blame depends on what your late night or AM radio talk show of choice is.

News that wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead Saturday morning in his jail cell has raised questions of how a high-profile suspect was able to apparently kill himself inside one of the country’s most high-security prisons.

Epstein, who was arrested in July for the alleged sex trafficking of minors, died at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, located in downtown New York City. The FBI and DOJ have launched investigations into Epstein’s death.

With a lack of answers coming from prison officials, conspiracy theories flourished on social media over the weekend with #EpsteinMurder trending worldwide.

Citing ongoing investigations into Epstein’s death, the Bureau of Prisons has been hush about specific details that led to the former financier’s apparent suicide, leaving only a few known facts in a pool of unanswered questions.

What we know about Epstein’s death

The Bureau of Prisons has released only one official statement since Epstein’s death on Saturday. The statement confirmed that around 6:30 am on 10 August, Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of the prison “from an apparent suicide”. The Bureau of Prisons has not released any further information .
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/12/jeffrey-epstein-death-suicide-prison

That is a good point, madame! One thing we don’t have a tolerance for at the Top 10 is bullshit, and there are some serious peddlers of it. Like for instance in Portland, where the famous alt right fight club known as the Proud Boys fight the mysterious, mask wearing protest group known as “Antifa”, even though we have a reason to suspect that Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes controls both groups and pits them against each other in a fight to the death.

The much-anticipated protest in Portland on August 17 that was instigated by the Proud Boys, a national right-wing extremist group, has dissipated with minimal engagement from counter-protesters.

The day's events began around 9:30 am, with a crowd of left-wing counter-protesters congregating at Tom McCall Waterfront Park to make costumes and plan their actions for the day. Some of these anti-fascist (or antifa) protesters arrived dressed in all black. Others dressed in banana costumes or wore unicorn horns.

Shortly after 11 am, a group of Proud Boys and associated right-wing activists marched across the Morrison Bridge from Southeast Portland, arriving in Waterfront Park just north of the bridge. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) appeared to have anticipated their arrival, having staged lines of armored officers and cement barriers between the Proud Boys and the left-wing groups, who were gathered in the park just south of the Morrison Bridge.

While individual protesters later clashed, the bulk of the two main groups never met. Instead, the PPB allowed the Proud Boys to march east over the Hawthorne Bridge, which until that point had been completely closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic. By the time antifa protesters—who, unlike the right-wing protesters, were not allowed by the PPB to cross the Hawthorne Bridge—reached the east side of the Willamette River, most of the gathered Proud Boys had boarded several buses and left, heading west over the Morrison Bridge.
https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/08/17/26989070/as-protest-spread-along-waterfront-and-across-bridges-portland-police-mostly-managed-to-keep-protesters-apart

Hey! Stop fighting guys!!! And speaking of fighting, before we close this chapter of the year, we have to delve into one of my other favorite stories of the year not involving Trump. It involves the internet sewer message board known as 4chan. A teenage social media influencer known as Bianca Davis was murdered (we delve into this in Idiots #7-4 ). And 4chan went completely off the wall insane posting her dead body all over the internet, possibly committing multiple felonies in the process. Yeah you don’t want to do that, it makes a bad situation that much worse.

A young woman active on social media was brutally murdered, with gruesome photos of her body posted to Instagram and other platforms.

Horrific images of 17-year-old Bianca Devins were posted on Instagram early Sunday, after she went to a concert in Queens with Brandon Andrew Clark.

Clark, 21, reportedly called police on himself, according to Lt. Bryan Coromato. When he was discovered in his car in Utica, Clark reportedly slit his own throat and posted pictures of his bleeding neck on Instagram as well.

Devins, who was a popular "egirl" on Tik Tok, was was found dead outside the SUV. Clark was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent surgery. The two reportedly met online, and had been seeing each other for about two months before the night of the concert, by Canadian musician Nicole Dollenganger.

Bianca's sister, Olivia Devins, later called Clark a "close family friend."
https://www.newsweek.com/bianca-devins-murder-discord-1449363

I love that show! That’s it for the summer, now we head straight for fall in…

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]September – October: Vaping Death
[br] [/font] [br]

The fall season for idiocy was so insane that I had to name it after a Metallica song because, well, it sounds pretty metal! I mean “Vaping Death” sounds a lot like the Metallica song “Creeping Death” doesn’t it? Well before we get into that, September is of course hurricane season, with Hurricane Dorian raving through the Gulf Coast. But up in the North, there was an insane thing that happened, and we missed a chance to cover it, because our show at Syracuse got cancelled. But that thing is the Straight Pride Parade in Boston, which was needed to be held because, reasons. And of course the usual band of alt right assholes, not only organized it, but showed up at the event and turned it into the shit show we all knew it would devolve into.

A "Straight Pride" parade in downtown Boston attracted counterprotesters -- and a heavy police presence -- resulting in almost three dozen arrests.

A large number of counterprotesters taunted marchers Saturday and chanted "Alt right, get off our streets, no justice, no peace." Counterprotesters outnumbered the parade participants, CNN affiliate WCVB reported. Boston's mayor also condemned the parade, and encouraged residents to attend block parties and other events that celebrated the city.

Thirty-four people were arrested at the parade, said Boston Police Officer James Moccia, a department spokesman. Four officers also suffered non-life threatening injuries, he said.

The parade started around noon at Copley Square and moved down Boylston and Tremont streets, ending at City Hall Plaza.

Floats and signs expressed pro-military and pro-Trump sentiments, such as "Support our troops" and "Build the wall and crime will fall." A man in a jester's hat carried a sign saying "Great to be straight" as he danced down the street.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/31/us/straight-pride-parade-boston/index.html

Seriously, even the Delta House had a better taste in float decoration than the people attending the Straight Pride Parade did. Maybe they could take some decorating tips from the Queer Eye guys? I’m just saying. But while everyone was still reeling from a string of recent mass shootings, Trump had to go and ban vaping because – shocker – people *MIGHT* die from it. Yeah 6 deaths from vaping vs nearly 80,000 this year alone from guns. Which is more important? Well…

A teenager who says vaping gave him lungs “like a 70-year-old” is suing a leading e-cigarettes company.

Adam Hergenreder, an 18-year-old from Illinois, has accused Juul of marketing e-cigarettes to young people with the message that vaping could boost their social status

He underwent hospital treatment at the end of August for nausea and laboured breathing after using e-cigarettes for more than 18 months.

"I'm 18 years old. My lungs are like a 70-year-old's," he told CBS while in hospital. “My lungs will never be the same."

In a statement on Friday, Juul said it had “never marketed to youth” and argued its products were meant to help adult smokers quit traditional cigarettes.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/vaping-teenager-sues-juul-e-cigarettes-lung-damage-adam-hergenreder-a9105211.html

No, don’t smoke to that, it will wreck your lungs! But Vaping Death sounds pretty metal doesn’t it? Then the Trump campaign headed to Michigan where Mike Pence went to a whistle stop in Mackinac Island – a place that famously has not allowed cars since the automobile was invented. And this comes *AFTER* the Trump administration decided that cars “have too much junk on them” (see: Idiots #7-13 ). Cue The Dude – this aggression will not stand, man!

Mackinac Island (pronounced "Mackinaw" ) draws nearly a million visitors each year and is regarded as one of the most precious natural resources in Michigan. Just 450 people live on the small destination, and they get around by bike.

"Bikes are just our way of life," Mary McGuire Slevin, the executive director of the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau, told the sustainable-business news site TriplePundit. "They are like a part of our bodies, we don't even think about it. When I see a tourist go out for a bike ride around the circumference of the island, you can just tell the difference when they come pedaling back into town — they are more relaxed and have a big smile on their face."

Even Gerald Ford, the only president from Michigan, traveled by horse-drawn carriage when he visited Mackinac in 1975.

So when Pence broke with tradition over the weekend, controversy ensued. Several current and former Michigan residents reached out to Business Insider over email to share their thoughts.

" (This is) a true gem that has been assaulted in plain sight," Skaneateles, New York resident Bitsy Jennings Govern, who grew up in Michigan, told Business Insider.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-pence-car-free-mackinac-island-michiganders-react2019-9

While that’s going on, we also have to tell the tale of the gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoogi and the ensuring mystery surrounding it. Did the Saudis do the dirty deed or didn’t they? This is a conspiracy that goes far deeper than the Jeffrey Epstein murder, and it turns out that the Dear Leader whose name dare not be questioned, Donald J. Trump, may have had a hand in both. Jeffrey Epstein had connections to Trump and Clinton, but Khashoogi was getting to close to the real truth about the brutal Saudi regime.

For Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose henchmen killed and dismembered Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate, life goes on much as before. In the spring, after the CIA detected new threats against Khashoggi’s associates, warnings went out to Canada, Norway and Washington, D.C. In November, the FBI arrested two former employees of Twitter, the platform often described as Saudi Arabia’s closest thing to a public square. Both were charged with passing on information about dissidents to bin Salman’s government.

By then, the crown prince had gone back to doing interviews with foreign press. Thirteen months and one day after Khashoggi’s murder, he presided over an IPO that valued the Saudi national oil company at $1.7 trillion, a world record. And in early December, the kingdom convened the Saudi Media Forum, to examine, according to its website, “challenges” facing the news media, “the formation of public opinion in the new environment of communication and etc.”
https://time.com/5748877/journalism-worldwide-2019-press-freedom/

And speaking of bad people, one of my favorite movies of the year was the Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix about the origin and rise of the famous Batman villain. And we can’t get out of here without examining the controversy surrounding the movie and whether or not history would repeat itself with a midnight mass shooting (and we covered this controversy in Idiots #7-14 ) , a la The Dark Knight Rises. So what could possibly await people seeing the Joker? Well, they could, but really didn’t.

Amid concerns about potential violent situations, the opening weekend of Warner Bros’ controversial Joker in New York City will see an increased police presence both in and out of uniform.

Earlier this week, the NYPD’s Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison told officers that the department plans to visibly station cops at theaters showing the Joaquin Phoenix-starring film. Now Deadline has learned that a significant undercover detachment will also be deployed to make sure nothing untoward occurs inside cinemas in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.

“This is 360-degree policing approach to ensure safety for ticket buyers in their seats, as well as on the streets,” a law enforcement official said of the strategy to have plain-clothed police in a number of theaters in America’s largest city starting with the October 3 previews and throughout the expected heavily attended weekend. “If something happens inside one of the screenings, we intend to be able to pacify the situation quickly and conclusively,” the well-placed source added, noting that large-scale and security-hefty events go off without a hitch in New York every day.

Still, concerns about threats have bedeviled this latest take on Batman’s arch nemesis since Joker debuted at the Venice Film Festival in late August. Set in a near-collapsing and crime-invested Gotham City of 1981, the Todd Phillips-directed and Golden Lion-winning Joker, which co-stars Robert De Niro, pays distinct homage to Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver and 1982’s King of Comedy – both of which featured his The Irishman lead De Niro and both of which were stationed in a decaying NYC.
https://deadline.com/2019/10/joker-movie-theaters-new-york-police-plan-opening-weekend-undercover-1202749565/

Yes it is! And we’re almost done here! That brings us to the winter season, and we are ending with…

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]November – December: Impeacment Is The Reason For The Season
[br] [/font] [br]

Yay, we’re almost done for the year. What? I still have 5 more entries? I just want to get it over with and see Vampire Weekend. Come on, I can see Ezra and the guys warming up backstage! OK fine, let’s power through this thing. So it’s very likely that Donald J. Trump stole the 2016 election and he will attempt again to steal the 2020 election. At the end of October, Nancy Pelosi dropped the big one and said that Trump can and should be impeached. Well, the biggest losers of this whole shindig easily turned out to be Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise, and Matt Gaetz all three of them R-Obviously. And with friends like these – a guy who’s roped in one of the biggest university sex scandals of all time, a gun shot victim turned full gun fetishist, and a guy who’s been convicted of a whopping 7 DUIs, who needs enemies? But the question is how will it end? Will Trump and those who have aided and abetted him finally get their just desserts? Or will Trump be the guy who gets away with it all like in the 90s classic movie LA Confidential? Either way you know they’re planning to blame the “deep state” which as we’ve discussed, is not really a thing.

What do you expect from a guy who's currently suing a Twitter Cow?

But the real piece de resistance came courtesy of Steve Scalise, who brought along a poster to show just how unhappy he is with proceedings.

Exactly how does Steve Scalise think leadership changes occurred in the Soviet Union? Leon Trotsky did not get impeached, though it wouldn't have been the worst thing to get a guy like Stalin out of the driver's seat.

Based on the cutout, it would seem the "Soviet-style" proceedings occurred in the "37 days" that Democrats have been interviewing witnesses behind closed doors. This is nonsense: we are still at the investigation stage. The accused does not get to send his lawyer along with the cops when they interview a witness. (That's not to mention that some of what's under discussion may be classified. People testify behind closed doors at the Capitol all the time.) When hearings begin in the House, it will be more like a grand-jury equivalent—meaning the defense still does not get to send a lawyer or question witnesses. The president will get his due process when the trial is held in the Senate, assuming the House votes to send it there. In the meantime, House Republicans are present for all of this and are undoubtedly running defense for him throughout.

But Scalise made clear his "Soviet-style" label also applies to the rules the Democrats put up for a vote, which allow committee chairs like Adam Schiff to veto the Republicans' inevitably batshit witnesses. Republicans have long sought to disrupt public hearings with made-for-TV crapola. It's not hard to imagine Republicans calling for Strzok and Page, or Bruce and Nellie Ohr, or any of the other characters from the Trump Conspiracy Cinematic Universe. Ideally, the Republicans would call witnesses relevant to the inquiry in a good-faith effort to get to the bottom of whether the president committed gross misconduct, but Nancy Pelosi was not born yesterday. She knows they might just as easily call Cap'n Crunch.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a29654276/steve-scalise-soviet-style-impeachment-democrats-trump/

So let’s recap – Trump’s biggest supporters are a guy who got shot at a baseball game and continues to support guns, a 7 time DUI champion, a guy who’s been roped in one of the biggest university sexual harassment scandals of all time, and a guy who’s suing a cow. With friends like these, who really needs any enemies? Elsewhere, the Washington Nationals won the World Series and visited the White House, and we learned that Kurt Suzuki and Ryan Zimmerman were both hardcore MAGAs.

Will someone please get the U.S. Marine Band off the internet?

The country's premier musicians have taken their skills down a notch, performing the world's most annoying jingle Baby Shark for the Washington Nationals during the team's White House visit. And that's far from the most unexpected stunt that happened when the World Series winners graced the South Lawn on Monday.

Not every National chose to head to the White House, giving either personal or political reasons for skipping the celebration with President Trump. But Kurt Suzuki was more than happy to be there. When Trump asked him to come up and say a few words, the catcher put on a MAGA hat, threw up his hands in a Trump-like manner, and unexpectedly participated in a Titanic reenactment with the president.

Paired with Ryan Zimmerman's thank you to Trump for "continuing to make America the greatest country to live in the world," the fan base that had booed Trump at a Nationals home game wasn't too happy. But politics aside, the most disturbing yet unfortunately memorable part of the event happened when the Marine Band broke out its rendition of Baby Shark. Kathryn Krawczyk
https://theweek.com/speedreads/876306/lot-weird-things-happened-nationals-white-house-visit

Seriously? Baby Shark? That’s how you choose to use the Marine Corp Marching Band? Really? As if that wasn’t weird enough, check out what Trump did to spend his Halloween:

https://twitter.com/loganclarkhall/status/1189209790502834176

They can’t even give out Halloween candy without it being weird. And we saw how weird Easter was, at that point, you almost have to feel sorry for the Easter bunny! Getting back to the impeachment trial, one of the highlights so far has been one of the biggest far right conspiracy theorists in the world, Roger Stone, going down in flames. But not before Alex Jones and his merry band of idiots attempted to interfere in the trial and got caught with their pants down:

InfoWars conspiracy theorist and Roger Stone ally Alex Jones stepped up his attacks on the jury at Stone’s trial on Tuesday, broadcasting the name and face of a woman he claimed was a juror at the trial and calling her a “minion” of anti-Trump forces.

“We’ve got her name, and we’re going to release it,” Jones said on his InfoWars broadcast, before revealing a woman’s name and putting her face on the screen behind him.

Later in the broadcast, Jones and his attorney were joined by a person dressed as the Grim Reaper and wielding a sickle. Stone hosted a show broadcast on InfoWars until recently, and Jones and his employees have frequently attacked the judge in Stone’s case, Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

Jones’ attacks on the jury were based on reporting that the first potential juror in the case was a former Obama administration employee in the Office of Management and Budget whose husband works for the Department of Justice. But in his rush to attack the potential juror as a deep-state plant, Jones appears to have gotten the wrong person.

During his broadcast, Jones didn’t show a picture of the actual potential juror, who, despite his claims, didn’t make it onto the jury anyway. Instead, he showed a picture of another former OMB staffer who appears to be totally unrelated to the Stone trial.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/alex-jones-goes-on-tirade-against-roger-stone-jurors

Hey don’t go full Infowars, never, ever go full Infowars. Because Alex Jones is an insane crazy man, and it was recently revealed that they just make shit up, which is not at all shocking. And if you’re expecting guys like Scalise, Jordan, Nunes, and Gaetz to make complete asses of themselves, you’re correct on that one because they absolutely did!

Republicans and Donald Trump have sought to smear key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry against the president as having dual or mixed loyalties to the US, due to being born abroad.

The move has sparked condemnation as a bigoted tactic that has maligned career US diplomats and officials as being potentially disloyal to their adopted country due to not being born in America.

The attacks have focused on the Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, the National Security Council Ukraine expert Alexander Vindman, and the former White House Russia security expert Fiona Hill.

Trump called the Canadian-born Yovanovitch “bad news”. The British-born Hill told congressional investigators that accusations against Yovanovitch related to a “mishmash of conspiracy theories … an idea of an association between her and George Soros”.

Hill also said far-right conspiracy theories that she herself was a “Soros mole in the White House, of colluding with all kinds of enemies of the President, and, you know, of various improprieties” resurfaced after her deposition before the House intelligence committee was announced.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/17/trump-impeachment-inquiry-witnesses-vindman-yovanovitch

But that’s not exactly true, Cartman! And by the way, it’s been a while since we checked in with Melania’s “Be Best” campaign, and if you want to see how well that’s going, just look at what Trump’s been tweeting since Greta Thunberg beat him out for Person Of The Year in Time Magazine! And if you want to see how to completely derail an entire campaign in one tweet, look no further than what happened in Baltimore:

Melania Trump on Tuesday defended the rights of teenagers who booed her when she addressed them in Baltimore, a city her husband, President Donald Trump, has disparaged as “rat and rodent infested.”

She traveled there to urge hundreds of middle and high school students to avoid misusing drugs, saying that would make it harder for them to achieve their life's goals. But her remarks drew a mix of boos and cheers, and the audience remained noisy throughout her five-minute address.

It is highly unusual for a first lady to be booed at a public appearance. Mrs. Trump released a statement hours after she had returned to the White House, defending the principle of freedom of expression while reaffirming her commitment to the issue that drew her to Baltimore.

"We live in a democracy and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the fact is we have a serious crisis in our country and I remain committed to educating children on the dangers and deadly consequences of drug abuse," Mrs. Trump said.

The first lady has been using her prominence to spotlight programs she thinks can help young people, whether it's to teach them to be positive online or to avoid drug misuse and addiction.
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/11/heres-what-melania-trump-had-to-say-about-teens-who-booed-her-in-baltimore.html

Yeah you don’t want to go there, Melania. Maybe go to Alabama, or Mississippi where they still support you. Anyway before we wrap it up, I could point out that Kid Rock got caught saying something racist, or Borat himself claiming that Facebook has gone full Nazi, but one of my favorite things to happen at the end of the year was the completely batshit crazy, off the wall interview with John Schnatter of Papa John’s fame, I’m not even going to show the articles, let’s just play the clip, this is 2019 in a nutshell:

Yeah of course it wont if you eat 40 pizzas in 30 days, I think the meat sweats are coming out of your pores, man. That’s it for our 2019 year in review everybody! I’m out!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]SantaCon: How Is This Still A Thing
[br] [/font] [br]

It’s time once again to ask:

This week: Santa Con, how is this still a thing? You know it’s Christmas time and everyone looks forward to Santa’s visit. Except of course for New York City, during the week before Christmas, thousands of people dressed as Jolly Old St. Nick gather in the Big Apple for a weekend of some hard drinking and debauchery. And the citizens of New York usually don’t want anything to do with the hard partying Santas. In fact these Santas really don’t care if you are naughty or nice. They just want to hang out in New York City and drink, wearing the signature Santa outfits. In fact if these Santas are coming to your door, you probably don’t want leave cookies and milk for them.

It's that time of year again -- the time of year when a large group of people dressed as Santa Claus flood the streets and subways of New York City in what has become an annual bar crawl tradition.

This year, however, "The Crossroads of the World" will be the meeting place for the inordinately amount of drunken Mr. and Mrs. Clauses.

This year’s SantaCon is scheduled for Saturday starting at 10 a.m. It will kick off from Father Duffy Square, a section of Times Square between West 46 and 47th Streets and Broadway and Seventh Avenue.

SantaCon is a massive annual bar crawl in which participants dress in red and white resembling jolly old St. Nick, elves and other holiday-themed costumes.

According to its official page, "SantaCon is a charitable, non-political, nonsensical Santa Claus convention that happens once a year to spread absurdist joy."

The rules of SantaCon are simple - don't mess with kids, cops, bar staff, the charity mission or simply, the city of New York.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/santa-clauses-a-lot-of-them-are-coming-to-town-what-to-know-about-santacon-nyc-2019/2241290/

Yes that’s pretty much what going to SantaCon is like for New Yorkers. Even the creators of SantaCon don’t want anything to do with SantaCon. In fact actual New Yorkers have been calling on mayor Bill DeBlasio to flat out cancel the Gathering Of The Santas. But there is one thing that all New Yorkers can agree on is that everyone hates SantaCon. No, not SantaCon!

Bill de Blasio could become the most popular mayor in New York City history if only he'd cancel SantaCon, said a man on a mission to put an end to the event.

"It would be a bold and frankly, a popular decision to make," said organizer Jason Selvig, of the comedic duo The Good Liars. "Hell, he could re-run for president on that platform."

Selvig has launched his Cancel SantaCon campaign about a week before thousands of drunken, vomiting, car-punching Santa Clauses are slated to storm New York City bars, subways and streets on Dec. 14.

The petition has garnered more than 300 signatures from New Yorkers calling on the Mayor to cancel SantaCon, the comedian said.

"Hatred of SantaCon may be the one thing that unites New Yorkers of all backgrounds and political beliefs," said Selvig. "SantaCon is the worst day of the year."
https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/mayor-de-blasio-should-cancel-santacon-new-yorkers-say

However, while New Yorkers dread the now annual gathering of the Santas and all the drunken, Fireball fueled debauchery that now comes with Christmas, the real party is happening in nearby New Jersey, where the NJ Transit System has actually ordered the Santas to keep their booze off of the Jersey trains and buses. Yes, this is a thing that actually needed to be said.

Santa is coming to town, specifically during the next two Saturdays, when the costumed, strolling cocktail party known as SantaCon happens in Hoboken and New York.

Both NJ Transit and SantaCon have some rules. But NJ Transit’s are the easiest for those dressing and drinking as Santas, elves, reindeers, Frosty and Olaf to remember - keep the booze off the transit system.

In fact, the agency said riders can’t drink any beverage aboard a train or light rail vehicle on Dec. 7 and 14, just in case someone is sneaking some Baileys in that innocent coffee. The ban also extends to unopened six-packs and airline sized Fireball bottles.

Beverages and food are normally banned from NJ Transit buses. This ban includes light rail and commuter trains.

NJ Transit’s ban is in effect on Dec. 7 for SantaCon in Hoboken and Dec. 14 for the New York event. The ban will be strictly enforced, NJ Transit officials said. Traditionally the Long Island Railroad, Metro North and MTA have similar bans when SantaCon hits NYC.

SantaCon is an annual bar crawl held around the country during December as a fundraiser for charity. In the case of New York SantaCon, participants donate by purchasing a $10 ticket through that event’s website, which also gives priority access to some locations, according to the NYC SantaCon website. It says $450,000 has been raised for charity over 9 years.
https://www.nj.com/traffic/2019/12/santacon-is-coming-to-town-but-you-have-to-keep-your-booze-off-nj-transit.html

Well despite all the drunken debauchery that follows when thousands of Santas flood the streets of New York City and nearby New Jersey, SantaCon manages to get away with it because it’s billed as a charity fundraiser, and has actually raised legitimate charity money for legitimate causes. And there was that incident where the Santas helped a guy after getting stabbed on the LIRR, which is likely to happen when you visit New York. But that’s also one of the weirdest scenes to happen in New York lately, but even the police chief of Hoboken is sending an alarm into the “charitable causes” of SantaCon.

Thousands of people dressed as Santa, Mrs. Claus and elves descend upon the city every December for a pub crawl that requires a massive police response.

Hoboken's SantaCon dubs itself an "annual charity event for the local community" with the "best" drink specials.

"How many Santa's, Mrs. Clauses's and Elves do you see getting off the trains in Hoboken or standing in bar lines with presents for underprivileged children?" Ken Ferrante, the city's chief of police, tweeted.

As of 2 p.m., 23 city ordinance summonses were issued, 19 of those were for open container/consumption of alcohol in public, Ferrante tweeted.

A wave of police, including 25 Union City officers, will be deployed at 4 p.m.

The first arrest of SantaCon was made just after 1:30 p.m. The 29-year-old male from Ewing, was charged with criminal trespass and obstruction, Ferrante tweeted.

It costs taxpayers about $75,000 for the large police presence during SantaCon, the chief said in a Tweet.
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2019/12/07/santacon-2019-hoboken-nj-bar-crawl-calls-larger-police-presence/4356200002/

So it’s just like Santa, only these Santas don’t care if you’re naughty or nice. That’s enough to make you ask – SantaCon:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
[br] [/font] [br]

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of UCLA! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

My fair congregation! You know this is that time of year when we take an annual look at the conservative culture war that they’ve been waging since the dawn of time, and it’s a war that no one wants to fight. In fact people just flat out don’t care what stores say “Happy Holidays” vs “Merry Christmas” anymore. They are actually, outright, gloating about it. I mean really, was it ever OK to *NOT* say Merry Christmas? I mean America is a land of opportunity, where all races and religions are welcome. Well, at least they used to be before Fox News took over the landscape.

We're well into the 12 Days of the War on Christmas now, where the lead-up to the most ubiquitous holiday in the history of human civilization is punctuated by fears that the same holiday is under attack. The greeting, "Happy Holidays" is not, you see, a small and voluntary gesture meant to welcome many faith traditions to the American experience, predicated on the idea this is a nation for anyone willing to honor the values of a free society. Instead, the phrase is a heat-seeking missile launched at the Yuletide, an insidious plot to erase Christmas from American life.

Luckily, we've recently learned that Donald Trump, American president has already won the War on Christmas. A group of people which definitely exists were trying to stop other people saying, "Merry Christmas," but Donald Trump stopped them from stopping people from saying it. In conclusion, we're saying Merry Christmas again, folks. Yet such is the power of a mass delusion fueled by simmering resentment that somehow, even though the War was won, the defenders of Christmas still feel it necessary to constantly discuss the War, and how there was definitely a real time where you couldn't say, "Merry Christmas" in America.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a30242221/eric-trump-lara-war-on-christmas/

Now here’s where I have a problem with that – we’ve been doing this thing for 3 years now and every year we’ve been doing a Christmas edition! Every year! Nobody is making it a burden on you to say “Merry Christmas” or put up tinsel and Christmas trees, you’re doing that to yourselves! Now contrast that with what happened over the weekend. If you watch the Hallmark Channel at all, well, you might have heard about this controversy.

People are calling for a boycott of the Hallmark channel in the middle of its famous Christmas movie season after the channel pulled an ad from wedding planning company Zola that featured a lesbian couple.

In response, a spokesperson for Zola told BuzzFeed News the company had decided to stop advertising on Hallmark entirely.

"The only difference between the commercials that were flagged and the ones that were approved was that the commercials that did not meet Hallmark’s standards included a lesbian couple kissing," Mike Chi, Zola's chief marketing officer, said in a statement.

The trouble started when the ad caught the attention of the conservative group One Million Moms. The group wrote on its website that it had received complaints from people who had been watching Hallmark, and seen the ad with two women kissing.

"The Hallmark Channel has always been known for its family friendly movies," the group wrote. "Even its commercials are usually safe for family viewing. But unfortunately, that is not the case anymore."
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemcneal/hallmark-pulled-an-ad-because-it-featured-a-same-sex-couple

Yeah so we’ve been putting up with their bullshit for 15 years. They can’t take 15 seconds of a commercial and then they call us the lunatics? Get the hell out of here! Seriously, what’s wrong with them? This is something that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would hate! Can I get an amen?? I mean come on One Million Moms, your schtick is getting old. And even Saturday Night Live was able to see through your bullshit!

Two years after Saturday Night Live skewered Hallmark Channel’s Christmas movies in a cut-for-time sketch, NBC’s program this holiday season aired a new parody of Hallmark’s signature franchise.

In fact, tonight’s skit was somewhat of a sequel to the 2017 sketch, featuring some of the same Hallmark Christmas movie character types and tropes, a big-city career woman, a young Santa, a black character with no backstory, a prince, a Christmas tree farm, a snow globe and a gazebo.

This time, the setting was A Winter Boyfriend for Holiday Christmas, a Hallmark dating show created by the algorithm that makes Hallmark holiday movies. It featured a bachelorette, a New York career woman played by host Scarlett Johansson, and three eligible bachelors, a Christmas tree farm owner (and ghost), played by Beck Bennett, a Prince with a British accent (Alex Moffat), and Nick Sr. Claus (young Santa), played by Kyle Mooney).

The skit touched upon the often criticized lack of racial diversity in Hallmark’s Christmas movies. Moffat was “Prince Simon of Caucasia”, while Chris Redd’s character had a couple of lines, and said that he had no name or back story.

The skit aired amid a controversy surrounding Hallmark Channel’s decision to pull a commercial featuring a lesbian couple kissing on their wedding day.
https://deadline.com/2019/12/snl-spoofs-hallmark-channel-christmas-movies-brides-kissing-ad-controversy-weekend-update-saturday-night-live-video-1202809650/

Imagine being so petty that you have to hound the network into submission so that way they pull an ad featuring two women in love and they can’t handle it? And somehow we are the snowflakes? Right. Oh and I don’t have to picture that, that man currently sits in the Oval Office! But there is some good news is that the Hallmark Channel reinstated their ties with Zola and resumed the ad. Really, One Million Moms, you can go eat one million bags of shit. Can I get an amen??

The Hallmark Channel on Sunday moved to reinstate ads featuring a same-sex couple that had been removed from the cable network. The decision came after considerable backlash over the initial decision to stop airing the ads from the wedding-planning company Zola.

"The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we've seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused," Hallmark CEO Mike Perry said in a statement Sunday night. "Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision."

"Hallmark will be working with GLAAD [Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation] to better represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands," the statement continued. "The Hallmark Channel will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials."

Perry also used the statement to apologize, saying, "Our mission is rooted in helping all people connect, celebrate traditions, and be inspired to capture meaningful moments in their lives. Anything that detracts from this purpose is not who we are. We are truly sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hallmark-channel-same-sex-couple-ad-reinstate-commercials-after-outcry-2019-12-15/

That’s because no one wants to do business with these morons, Reverend! That’s it for Holy Shit this year, we will be back on January 8th! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this year for:

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
[br] [/font] [br]

Hit it!

Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb. And this is always my favorite People Are Dumb segment of the year because we get to go through an entire year’s worth of epic fails and colossally stupid people throughout the year. Not anyone involved in the government, mind you, no, this is ordinary folks like you and I. So where do we begin this week? Well for the first one, going back to the beginning of the year, I love it when people try to recreate scenes from movies and it winds up ending very bad for them. And one scene you should never try and recreate is the driving scene from the Netflix movie “Bird Box”. It’s, well, it’s just a movie, people!

Police say a Utah teenager crashed into another car when she covered her eyes as part of the so-called “Bird Box Challenge.”

Layton police Lt. Travis Lyman said Friday that the 17-year-old drifted into oncoming traffic and hit another car after she pulled a hat over her eyes to emulate “Bird Box,” a Sandra Bullock movie on Netflix where characters must be constantly blindfolded to avoid visions that urge them to die.

Videos of people trying to do things while blindfolded have attracted widespread attention online, and Netflix tweeted a warning about the challenge last week.

No one was hurt in the Monday crash north of Salt Lake City.

Lyman says it should serve as a warning he never thought he’d have to give: Don’t drive while blindfolded.
https://apnews.com/0e72ccc7ef4a4f91a5bbd25b22818733

Well duh! Don’t drive blindfolded I believe is the take away from this story. Next up – remember that episode of Seinfeld where George was riding the subway and he got blindfolded and taken for everything he had by a crazy con artist? Well, this is kind of like that except this guy had a boatload of cash and his own girlfriend was waiting for him in the lobby! This story has everything!

A naked man was getting ready to have sex with a woman he’d just met, while his understanding girlfriend waited downstairs, he told police in North Carolina, but things went downhill quickly after that.

Randleman Police said Christopher Hancock told them he was attacked and robbed at the late morning sexual rendezvous, the Courier-Tribune reported.

Hancock reported he and his girlfriend have an open relationship, and they both went to a house so he could have sex with the other woman, according to WSET.

With his girlfriend waiting downstairs on a couch on Jan. 28, Hancock told police he and the woman went to a bedroom and stripped naked, per WFMY. That’s when two men attacked Hancock, punching and choking him until he blacked out, the TV station reported.

When the Franklinville resident came to, he told police the men were gone, along with his pants and $10,000 he said he had in one of the pockets, according to the Courier-Tribune.

Read more: https://www.newsobserver.com/latest-news/article226410755.html

Yeah the bigger question is where was he going with that $10K? I feel like there’s a huge yada yada yada there. Next up – fast food fights! I love a good fast food fight. The thing with fast food – you get your bag of crap, check your order and then leave. And this one took place at a Taco Bell after this guy claimed they made his Mexican Pizza wrong and things went south from there.

According to cops, the suspect entered the Taco Bell in Spartanburg Wednesday afternoon complaining that “there was not enough meat on his Mexican pizza.” A store employee told cops that she “re-made the suspect’s food.”

The man, however, was equally displeased with his second pizza and demanded a refund. When told that was not possible since a manager was not on the premises, the suspect became “enraged,” declaring that he “would show the employees how to make his food the appropriate way,” according to a police report.

The man then “walked behind the counter into the kitchen area and began making his own food.” A Taco Bell worker noted that the suspect “did not follow proper health/safety guidelines” by not wearing “protective gloves while making his food.”

The Taco Bell employee said the suspect “made himself another Mexican pizza and subsequently left the store and premises.” The man, the worker said, “was angry and upset throughout his time in the facility” and used foul language in response to her repeated demands to leave the Taco Bell.
http://thesmokinggun.com/documents/stupid/man-storms-taco-bell-709254

Next up – ever try to unclog a toilet by yourself? It’s a maddening job isn’t it? Well, these two guys attempted to try it themselves and things only went south from there. Yeah it’s kind of like the Cousin Eddie toilet scene from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

A man from St. Petersburg, Florida, shocked his roommate Saturday when he fired a gun inside their house and shattered a toilet.

Police said the bullet tore through numerous walls before it destroyed the porcelain throne, local station WTSP reported Sunday. Police arrested Ryan Rawson Montgomery, 40, who, according to an affidavit, claimed he was playing with the gun when it unexpectedly discharged.

After the incident, Montgomery tossed the gun in an area of water nearby. A visitor, Sheryl Jackson, 64, took the bullet, later telling police she wanted to hide it.

Police charged both Jackson and Montgomery with tampering with physical evidence. Also charged with culpable negligence and violating probation in Charlotte County, Montgomery is being held on a bail of $2,250. Jackson was released on a $2,000 bail, WTSP reported.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/110315982#post5

God remember when Randy Quaid only played characters like that? Next up I want to talk about an epic car fail story back from July. This is the kind of thing that people hate about marketing, and a promotion gone berserk. If you want to see the full story – it’s quite insane. Just go back to Idiots #7-4 . But a car dealer should not be giving away free guns, along with Bibles and American flags. First off, way to placate the stereotype. Second, that could end very badly for you!

A rural Alabama auto dealership is giving away a Bible, a 12-gauge shotgun and an American flag with the purchase of any new or used vehicle as part of its Fourth of July sales promotion.

Chatom Ford launched the campaign God, Guns and Freedom last week, with general sales manager Koby Palmer telling USA Today that it helped them sell 5 vehicles in just 3 days.

The social media feed from Chatom Ford states it is celebrating America's independence by offering these gifts in exchange for buying a vehicle. Every vehicle purchased new or pre-owned will come with a bible, 12-gauge shot gun, and American flag!

The post shows a dealership employee standing by a flag draped over a Ford F-150.

The video promoting the giveaway, which was posted June 19 and had been expected to run through July 31, has been deleted.
http://clicklancashire.com/2019/06/27/auto-dealership-offers-free-bible-shotgun-american-flag.html

Finally I want to post the Florida Man story to end all Florida Man stories. Especially since it involves one of the biggest Disney flicks of all time, Frozen. Of course now Frozen 2 looks to shatter some box office records. Anyway, people, don’t do this type of thing with an inflatable toy! Meth is a hell of a drug, and good luck explaining that to your children! Just… let it go!

A Florida Man yesterday sexually assaulted a pair of “large stuffed animal toys” inside a Target store, according to police who arrested the fiend on a criminal mischief charge.

As detailed in a criminal complaint, Cody Christopher Meader, 20, entered the retailer around 2 PM Tuesday and approached a display of merchandise featuring characters from the Disney film “Frozen.”

Meader, seen at right, selected a “large Olaf stuffed animal” and proceeded to place it on the floor of the Target in Pinellas Park. He then began to “dry hump” the cinematic snowman “until he ejaculated on the merchandise,” a cop reported.

Meader returned the soiled Olaf back to the display before entering the toy department, where he “selected a large unicorn stuffed animal and began to ‘dry hump’ this item.”
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/bizarre/olaf-targeted-642935

That’s it this year for:

[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep. 18: Next Year
[br] [/font] [br]

Welcome back to our handy guide to the 2020 election, which we will be entering the cycle in a mere two weeks, Keeping Up With The Candidates! This is where we are keeping our guide to the mother of all elections, the 2020 US presidential election in one place! Last week, we said goodbye to the Kamala Harris for President campaign. This week, we’re going say goodbye to the 2019 year and look forward to what’s happening next year. And next year is a presidential year. Which means that it’s going to be a colossal shit show. And the speculation is already beginning to run rampant. So what can we look forward to in a presidential election? And especially one that could see Trump packing? To do so we’re going to take a look at what happened to our friends across the pond in Brexit – Boris Johnson was just handed a colossal victory and it could potentially rip the EU apart.

It started with a stunning exit poll that no one - not even the pollsters, possibly not even Downing Street, had predicted.

Echoing Margaret Thatcher’s landslide victories of the 1980s, the early taste of Boris Johnson’s epic triumph came as the clock stuck 10pm and the shock result was dramatically projected in technicolour for all to see.

Could the Conservatives really be predicted to win 368 seats - a massive 86 majority over Labour on a paltry 191? Only time would tell if what looked like a complete evisceration of Jeremy Corbyn’s hard-Left Communist cabal across swathes of Labour heartlands in the Midlands.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/12/13/landslide-boris-johnsons-stunning-election-victory-unfolded/

This could potentially have some devastating consequences. Now how could this affect the vote here, and many including Trump himself are saying that the UK conservative vote could have a ripple effect here in the States. But while Boris is vowing to get Brexit done, that’s still easier said than done given how much of a disaster the UK Parliament is currently in. Now let’s parallel that with the US Congres.

Britain held its fourth national vote in less than five years Thursday – if 2016's referendum on EU membership is included – and incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson stormed to victory in a contest that was notionally about one thing: Brexit.

Yet it was also about a potential realignment of Britain's political identity.

Johnson's Conservative Party secured 364 of 650 parliamentary seats in a vote that drew comparisons, in terms of its gravity, to Margaret Thatcher's election in 1979.

In the end, the result drew an additional dotted line to the Iron Lady. It marked the Conservative Party's best result since Thatcher’s third election win in 1987.

Thatcher, U.S. President Ronald Reagan's political soulmate, launched Britain on a path toward economic reform and aggressive privatization of its major industries from which it has never looked back – or recovered, depending on your politics.

Johnson won with a simple message. He vowed to "get Brexit done."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/12/13/uk-election-britains-strange-election-boris-johnson-victory-analysis/4396206002/

No so we don’t want that to happen here. Now how could we prevent that from happening? Well there’s several things. We don’t want to be a doom and gloom scenario kind of people, but these things tend to happen. But there is one thing that we have to be vigilant on: bot accounts. The bot accounts are going to come fast and fierce, and they’re coming for your vote. If there’s one thing we need to learn a lesson on from 2016 and last week’s British vote, it’s this.

The prospect of Russian interference in Britain's election flared anew Saturday after the social media platform Reddit concluded that people from Russia leaked confidential British government documents on Brexit trade talks just days before the general U.K. vote.

Reddit said in a statement that it has banned 61 accounts suspected of violating policies against vote manipulation. It said the suspect accounts shared the same pattern of activity as a Russian interference operation dubbed "Secondary Infektion" that was uncovered earlier this year.

Reddit investigated the leak after the documents became public during the campaign for Thursday's election, which will determine the country's future relationship with the European Union. All 650 seats in the House of Commons are up for grabs.

Reddit said it believed the documents were leaked as “part of a campaign that has been reported as originating from Russia."
http://www.startribune.com/reddit-bans-accounts-suspects-possible-uk-vote-interference/565927542/

So what is going to happen? How do we combat the bots? It’s going to take a lot to defeat foreign and outside influence in the next election. And who’s going to come out on top? People, we’ve got 11 months to pick a candidate and we’d better come to a consensus! Someone has to beat Trump and end this nightmare once and for all! But who’s it going to be? WHO????

Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders lead the crowded Democratic field, pulling in together about half of the support of Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll.

Biden leads with 24%, followed closely by Sanders at 22%. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is third with 17%, followed by South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 13%, all together making up a clear top tier of four candidates.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang is fifth with 5%; former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker all pull in 4%.

Clustered together with just 1% support are former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet. Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, billionaire Tom Steyer, spiritualist and author Marianne Williamson and former Rep. John Delaney all get less than 1%.
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/16/788231791/npr-pbs-newshour-marist-poll-biden-sanders-lead-2020-democratic-race

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

There is no next week, this is the season finale! See you next year everybody!

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Vampire Weekend[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get this post season party started! I am extremely excited to have this next guest on, their latest album is called “Father Of The Bride”. You can see them on tour next July and August, unfortunately no LA dates yet. Playing their song “Harmony Hall”, give it up for Vampire Weekend!

Thank you UCLA! This is the end of Top 10 season 7! I’d like to thank my staff, my crew, all of our travel partners and hosts! The Top 10 returns January 8th with a brand new edition live from Syracuse, New York! See you next year!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: Pauley Pavilion, UCLA, CA
Special Thanks To: UCLA
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: UCLA Choir Club, Westwood, CA
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Vampire Weekend Appear Courtesy Of: Columbia Music
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
New! Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

December 11, 2019

I think that's every year!

Especially the last three! I'm going to need a long break after this one!

December 11, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-22: Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Whatever Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-22: Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Whatever Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up USC? How are you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! Man it is good to be back home! We’ve been touring all over the country appearing at universities all over this great nation of ours, and no, we’re not afraid to set foot in red states, though we probably won’t be going to Alabama or Mississippi any time soon. Well hey, it happens! Do we have time for the thing? Yeah so I don’t know if you saw this story pop up first of all, but someone duct taped a banana to a wall and called it art. And then that art was sold for $120,000. I will repeat that. Yes, that was sold for $120,000. But what made it even weirder? Someone pulled the banana (*DING*) off the wall and ate that banana. I’m no art guy, as you can plainly tell by the quality of graphics on this program, so I am not one to judge art. But really… what the fuck? And as you are probably well aware, one of my favorite TV shows of all time is Arrested Development. I do love all of the posts on Twitter that were referencing the show’s famous banana stand. I mean it’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost? $10? Well, this particular banana cost $120,000! And really I’d point out how absurd it is but since we’ve been covering how absurd everything is for the better part of nearly 3 years now, I will just say fuck it, and we need Bernie Sanders to tax the crap out of whoever bought this, but we don’t have time for rational solutions! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to but first Stephen Colbert delves into the impeachment madness on “Don & The Giant Impeach”:

Well folks, impeachment… no longer a hoax! In the number one slot we’re going to dedicate it to all things impeachment (1) including Louis Gohmert’s stunningly stupid revelation on the House floor about future career choices. In slot #2, ugh, I don’t want to talk about this story but really, George Zimmerman (2) can go fuck himself with a rusty spoon, and the NRA can go eat shit. Yes he’s suing the Martin family for an ungodly sum of money. And yes, he can go fuck himself. Taking the third slot this week is Trump’s press secretary Kellyanne Conway (3) and her Twitter feud with her husband George is something to behold, and if you think Trump gets the most grossly unqualified people for the job, you might also be right! In slot number 4, a Russian hacker collective known as “Evil Corporation” (4) got busted by world intelligence operations and we can’t help but cue the references to USA Network’s excellent series Mr. Robot. For the #5 seed this week, is the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump (5) and don’t think for a minute that we’re not going to let him get away with his absolutely insane ramblings on toilets, bathrooms, and how babies work. At slot #6 is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (6) and this week – how could a brewery that nobody’s ever heard of suddenly take over one of the largest craft breweries in the world? We are going to get to the bottom of this insane merger! And in the 7th slot of course is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (7), is the Christian right gaslighting us? It would certainly seem that way, given their unrelenting support of the unholy Dark One, and our resident pastor has some thoughts on that. Taking the 8th slot this week is our feature “Unpopular Opinions”. OK people stop freaking out about Billie Eilish not knowing who Van Halen is, OK! There’s plenty of dead references in popular culture that you just flat out won’t get unless you were there. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, is a new “I Need A Drink” (9) and this week we’re going to talk about how the German holiday of Krampus is getting mainstream popularity, and if you’re tired of the Christmas ad blitz, have we got a holiday for you! Finally this week is our 2020 Voter’s Guide “Keeping Up With The Candidates” (10), and this week we must bid adieu to the Kamala Harris campaign, but she isn’t done yet! And the palate cleanser for putting up with my BS, we have a live performance from an awesome new band out of Mongolia – The Hu! Buy their new album “The Gereg” or you are no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]Impeachment
[br] [/font] [br]

It’s no secret that conservatives literally lie about everything. They are the party of liars, bullies, and assholes. And the more they lie, the worse they look to the rest of us who aren’t indoctrinated in the cult. Here’s the thing – impeachment is no longer a hoax, it is a reality. Of course you wouldn’t know that if you read the Twitter feed from @realDonaldTrump, he is doing everything he can to distract us from what’s really going on, and his administration is just a flat out dumpster fire at this point. Which is what it was designed from in the beginning. But before I get into the meat of the impeachment discussion, I want to first address Louis Gohmert’s stunningly stupid revelation about your kids’ possible future career choices.

When a Republican congressman went so far as to encourage American mothers to refrain from sending their children to some of the nation’s top law schools, he was articulating a sentiment that has been prevalent among conservatives for a while: Higher education — particularly of the elite variety — is harmful for America.

Four constitutional scholars testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday; the three invited by Democrats — Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman, Stanford Law School professor Pamela S. Karlan and University of North Carolina School of Law professor Michael Gerhardt — said that there is evidence that President Trump committed an impeachable offense by using his power to request that Ukraine investigate a 2020 political rival.

Republican lawmakers weren’t happy with what they heard — or the places from which they believe these views came.

While speaking at a news conference following the 8½-hour impeachment inquiry hearing, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), a Baylor University Law School graduate, said:

“All I got to say is: If you love America, mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to go to Harvard or Stanford law school.”

Rep. Douglas A. Collins (Ga.), a graduate of Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School and the top Republican on the committee, opened the hearing stating: “America will see why most people don’t go to law school.”

And Rep. Matt Gaetz (R.-Fla.), a College of William & Mary Law School graduate, sought to paint the professors as out-of-touch offenders of everyday Americans.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/06/republicans-disdain-intellectualism-was-display-wednesdays-hearing/

Man that’s the laziest country song ever. Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be whatever… just don’t let them be doctors and lawyers and such. Because education is bad for the Trump base, it encourages independent thinking y’all! But here’s the best part – all their gaslighting is backfiring on them and there have actually been articles of impeachment produced! So what are they? Well just two and here’s what is in them.

The process for dealing with a President or other federal elected official who abuses their office is spelled out broadly in the Constitution.

In Article I of the Constitution, it says the House shall have the sole power of impeachment and the Senate shall have the sole power to try impeachments.

But the process has evolved over the years. The Constitution does not include the term "articles of impeachment," but a November 2019 Congressional Research Service analysis of the impeachment process explains what they are.

"The House impeaches an individual when a majority agrees to a House resolution containing explanations of the charges," according to the report. "The explanations in the resolution are referred to as 'articles of impeachment.'"

Once articles of impeachment are approved in the House, the Senate takes those allegations and conducts a trial considering whether to remove a President from office. The Constitution mandates that the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/11/politics/what-are-articles-of-impeachment/index.html

Hey Trump guess what? You’re fired!!! Well not yet it’s still going to take a trial in the senate and that could go… either good or bad depending on how you look at the situation. But of course our government is currently being run by people who have absolutely no idea how the constitution works, and we unfortunately got to deal with these people. But is Lindsay Graham really the guy who you want controlling the chaos? He’s an agent of chaos!

Rep. Jim Banks is calling on fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham to ratchet up his defense of President Donald Trump, as House Republicans race to influence the Senate’s GOP strategy in a looming impeachment trial.

In a Wednesday letter to Graham, Banks encouraged the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman to “rethink” his impeachment strategy, in the latest sign that the House GOP is growing restless with their Republican colleagues across the Capitol.

The letter comes after Graham, a top Trump ally, rebuffed a number of the House GOP’s calls for hard-line tactics to defend Trump — including a request from Banks to subpoena the phone records of House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who led the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

But while Trump and his conservative allies in the House are pushing for an aggressive defense in the Senate impeachment trial — which they view as a chance to go on offense and clear the president’s name — Senate GOP leaders are taking a different approach. They’ve made clear that they don’t want the trial to turn into a spectacle, increasing the likelihood that long-simmering tensions between the House and Senate GOP could boil over.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/11/jim-banks-lindsey-graham-impeachment-082385

No one’s getting fired just yet! And really people can we stop with the damn polls already? We all know they’re meaningless at this point. Politics in America is becoming like an 8th grade dance – Democrats are firmly on one side and Republicans are firmly on the other side. And no one is going to be doing any inter mingling anytime soon. So stop it, cut it out! No one’s mind is going to be changed on anything at this point, and that’s scary.

Support for impeachment has remained virtually unchanged from last month despite several weeks of public testimony, a new poll has found.

The Monmouth University poll, which was conducted before this Monday's Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing and before the House leaders unveiled articles of impeachment on Tuesday, found that 45 percent of Americans believe Trump should be impeached and removed from office while 50 percent do not.

In November, 44 percent of respondents said he should be impeached and removed while 51 percent said they did not support this.

“Opinion on impeachment has been rock steady since news of the Ukraine call first broke. Any small shifts we are seeing now are likely to be statistical noise,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement Wednesday.

The poll also found that 38 percent of Americans believe Trump's actions are clearly grounds for impeachment, while 15 percent say they should be looked at as possible impeachable offenses.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/474092-poll-support-for-trump-impeachment-unchanged-after-several-house-hearings

[font size="8"]George Zimmerman
[br] [/font] [br] B

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I didn’t want to talk about this story. I fought with my staff about it, and quite frankly it sucks. I wanted to talk about Brexit instead but we’ll save that for another entry in a future edition. Words cannot express my utter contempt for this colossal piece of shit, and that is it. Yes, we’re talking about George Zimmerman here. And if you don’t know why he was trending then you will after this entry. George Zimmerman is effectively suing the family of the child that he murdered in that dark alleyway for an ungodly sum of money. And if you think I’m kidding let’s replay that segment from John Oliver about SNAP lawsuits:

OK that out of the way this is how George Zimmerman managed to prove that he’s the biggest douche in the universe:

George Zimmerman is suing the family of the teenager he shot nearly eight years ago, seeking more than $100 million from Trayvon Martin's parents, their attorney and others. Zimmerman claims he was the victim of a conspiracy, along with malicious prosecution and defamation.

Martin's family has responded with a statement saying there's no evidence to back Zimmerman's contentions that he was the victim of a conspiracy.

Zimmerman was acquitted on all charges related to his shooting of Martin, who was 17 and unarmed when Zimmerman shot and killed him in a gated Florida community where Martin's father lived. Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self-defense during a scuffle. Zimmerman had faced charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the case, which also shed light on Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law.

Zimmerman and his lawyer, the controversial attorney Larry Klayman, allege that Rachel Jeantel, a key witness for the prosecution who testified about being on the phone with Martin just before the shooting, was an impostor. They accuse her of standing in for another teenager, Brittany Diamond Eugene, whom the suit describes as Jeantel's half sister who did not want to testify in the case.
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/04/784846004/george-zimmerman-sues-trayvon-martins-family-for-more-than-100-million

Oh fuck off you scumbag! You murdered a teenager in a dark alleyway and got off because Florida’s insane gun laws allowed you to “stand your ground”. So while you murdered a kid in an alleyway for carrying nothing more than a bag of Skittles, the state of Florida goes full black knight and says that it was just a flesh wound. And in case you’re wondering, oh this gets worse. So much worse.

Klayman says there is “newly discovered evidence” in a recently published book and documentary by Joel Gilbert called “The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud That Divided America.” Both contend Jeantel was not Martin's girlfriend and had not been speaking on the phone with him.

“The research also allegedly reveals that Trayvon’s real girlfriend and legitimate phone witness was in fact Miami resident Brittany Diamond Eugene, who was switched out for Jeantel when Eugene refused to bear false witness against Zimmerman,” Klayman alleges.

Rachel Jeantel of Miami and Brittany Diamond Eugene of West Park, Florida, are listed as defendants in the suit. NBC News reached out to both by email and got no immediate response.

Gilbert is a frequent InfoWars guest who has produced movies that have falsely claimed that former President Barack Obama's real father was a Chicago communist, that Paul McCartney is dead and Elvis Presley is alive.

Meanwhile, activist Marie Rattigan filed a complaint against Klayman with the Florida Bar alleging that “in an effort to revictimize the family of Trayvon Martin” he filed a “frivolous complaint.” She also noted that Klayman listed the home addresses of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit but not of Zimmerman “to protect him from the same harm he intends to unleash on the defendants.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/george-zimmerman-sues-trayvon-martin-s-family-100-million-damages-n1095916

That’s right – it’s the world’s tiniest violin playing just for George Zimmerman. And of course I need not to point out how insane Infowars is, and they’re definitely not helping things here. There’s no mistake how horrible of a person Zimmerman is. But there’s no conspiracy here, he’s just a piece of shit, and anyone who supports this monster is also a piece of shit. And really do we need to know the motives behind this suit? It’s like that kid from Kentucky who sued the Washington Post for $250 million – there’s no motive, it’s just a legal way of saying “fuck you”.

George Zimmerman — who was acquitted in the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012 — filed a lawsuit on Dec. 4 against Martin's family for defamation and conspiracy. Callie Crossley, host of WGBH News’ Under The Radar, joined Boston Public Radio Friday to speak about Zimmerman's motives for suing.

"This is a $100 million lawsuit that he filed against Trayvon Martin's family," Crossley said. "It doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe he wants some attention."

A new book and film by Joel Gilbert claims that false evidence was used in the 2012 Martin trial, spurring Zimmerman to file the new lawsuit, Crossley noted.

"[Gilbert] directed a film which says the whole case was a hoax," she said. "This reminds me very much of those people running around saying the kids at Sandy Hook weren't killed."
https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2019/12/09/callie-crossley-george-zimmermans-lawsuit-against-trayvon-martins-family-doesnt-make-any-sense

Oh fuck off. Oh and fuck Infowars for helping this monster. But there is some good news is that this lawsuit most likely wont get very far, if anything it would get laughed out of court at the very least, provided we have a competent judge at the helm of this farce. Let’s ask an actual legal analyst what they think of the situation.

George Zimmerman has filed a $100 million lawsuit in Florida state court. The 36-page lawsuit, which reads like a conspiracy novel, alleges that Zimmerman is "the victim" of malicious prosecution, abuse of process, civil conspiracy and defamation.

He names the parents of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and the Martin's family attorney Ben Crump along with a number of other defendants. In a nutshell, Zimmerman's lawsuit claims that there was no legitimate basis for his prosecution. Instead, he asserts that prosecutors conspired against him to fabricate witness testimony and that a new book by Crump contained false claims about him.

Crump, along with Trayvon's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, denied the allegations. "This plaintiff continues to display a callous disregard for everyone by himself, revictimizing individuals whose lives were shattered by his own misguided actions," Crump said in a statement issued on his and Travon's parents' behalf.

How astonishing that Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon on February 26, 2012, can now claim to be the victim. Martin's young life was taken by Zimmerman who incorrectly assumed that Martin was some sort of harmful vagrant. The truth, however, was that Martin was simply an innocent teen with a pack of Skittles in his pocket, who was having a visit with his dad. He represented no danger to the community at all.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/07/opinions/george-zimmerman-lawsuit-insults-trayvon-martin-jackson/index.html

[font size="8"]George Conway Vs Kellyanne Conway
[br] [/font] [br]

OK whew, let’s get the horrible and revolting stench of George Zimmerman and Infowars out of the room and get back to some good old fashioned idiocy. You know there’s a good reason why I post anonymously on Twitter – there’s some real douchebags out there, and I wouldn’t want them getting my name or home address. Plus, you also don’t want to take any chances on running into someone you know online while posting in hashtag games about Disney characters that drink too much, or adding an extra word to a movie to change the meaning of the title. The Big Lebowski Rises. Yeah let’s go with that. But that said, one person you should definitely not run into online is your husband or wife. Especially if you happen to be a prominent member of this insane administration. And you happen to have opposite political views, because that never ends well.

It's no secret that top presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway and her husband, a frequent Trump critic, don't see eye to eye on the president. On Monday, they duked it out on Twitter after conservative lawyer George Conway needled his wife about a Joe Biden tweet.

Kellyanne Conway had retweeted a brief video clip of the former vice president speaking to a crowd, along with a comment: “Sleepy Joe is Creepy Joe,” she wrote. “We need Ukraine’s help to defeat THIS guy?”

To which George Conway responded: “Your boss apparently thought so.”

Such online sparring has become a staple of the Trump presidency. Earlier this year, after George Conway suggested that Trump wasn’t mentally fit to serve, the president called him “a total loser,” “the husband from hell” and a “whack job.”

“You. Are. Nuts,” the lawyer responded on Twitter.

But speaking to Politico, Kellyanne Conway defended the president, saying he should be able to respond after a “non-medical professional accused him of having a mental disorder.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/george-conway-takes-swipe-wife-kellyanne-conway-twitter-n1094626

Yeah so an online feud never looks good for everybody, but this program is based on an online feud between liberals and conservatives, so you never know! I really wonder what Thanksgiving is like at their house. Especially when Kellyanne gets paid to support literally everything this administration does, and George does not. But this isn’t the first Twitter clap back between the two.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway confronted CNN's Wolf Blitzer on live television Thursday after he played footage of her husband criticizing President Trump and Republicans as part of MSNBC's coverage of the impeachment hearing the day before.

Conway accused CNN of "embarrassing" itself by playing the remarks from frequent Trump critic George Conway, suggesting it was only doing so in a bid to drive ratings and make her look bad.

"It's the same stuff all the time. What you just quoted is said every day by other voices but you wanted to put it in my husband's voice because you think somehow that that will help your ratings or that you're really sticking it to Kellyanne Conway," she said after the clip was aired.

The incident came toward the end of an already contentious segment during which Conway and Blitzer sparred over the impeachment hearing.

Blitzer then told Conway he had a “final question” for her.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/470433-kellyanne-conway-after-cnn-plays-george-conway-remarks-im-embarrassed-for-you

Oh boy pass the popcorn because dis gonna be good. You know how we have often talked about how much the Trump presidency is resembling a cult? Well, let’s ask someone who’s not only in the cult, but only a few tiers below Dear Leader, and not only is the Trump administration a cult, it’s very closely resembling Scientology at this point. Just replace Xenu with Jesus and you’ve pretty much got the same thing, only without the e-meters.

Things are apparently getting even more tense in the Conway household. As impeachment hearings heat up, the relationship between George Conway and his wife Kellyanne Conway have “become increasingly distant,” writes Gabriel Sherman in Vanity Fair. A Republican who speaks frequently with George Conway claims that he “tells people she’s in a cult.” The word cult is apparently bandied about quite a bit in George Conway’s circles. “It’s not going to get better until she’s cast out of the cult,” a “person close to George” told Sherman.

Rather than confront them, the couple appears to largely ignore their differences of opinion and act as if they don’t exist. That is made easier by the way in which George Conway is spending lots of time working in Manhattan. When they see each other, they really avoid the whole Trump issue but they apparently can’t avoid some “passive-aggressive digs” here and there.

George Conway’s constant attacks on the administration don’t just bother his wife though. It seems Donald Trump himself is not too happy with the situation and has blamed Kellyanne for the situation: “George gets all his power from you,” he reportedly told her recently. The situation is so bad that Jared Kushner is pushing for Kellyanne Conway’s ouster but so far Trump doesn’t seem convinced.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/george-conway-tells-people-kellyanne-conway-in-cult.html

If there’s one thing you need to know about a cult is that you never, ever question Dear Leader or there will be some consequences! Also if there’s one thing you don’t do either, it’s get between a couple who has dueling political differences. I’m just saying you don’t want to be that guy because it could get really ugly for everyone involved, especially you. Think of it like drinking that mysterious green liquid thinking it’s Mountain Dew but it really is radioactive toxic waste. Actually, radioactive toxic waste and Mountain Dew pretty much have the same color. I’m rambling again.

George Conway slammed President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, after the official issued a personal attack against the husband of White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway.

Parscale's initial criticism came in a tweet commenting on a sarcastic post by George Conway. In his tweet, the attorney and staunch Trump critic shared a post highlighting the book cover of The Toddler In Chief, which includes an image of the infamous Trump baby balloon. Conway quipped, "Who cares if there's any text."

Trump's campaign manager then retweeted Conway's post, describing the attorney as "irrelevant" and a "lost puppy."
https://www.newsweek.com/george-conway-hits-back-after-trumps-2020-campaign-manager-invokes-wife-kellyanne-twitter-spat-1475729

[font size="8"]Evil Corporation
[br] [/font] [br]

This is some next level James Bond shit come to life. Remember the Pierce Brosnan flick Goldeneye? In the movie, a group of Russian hackers planned to take over the Bank Of England by using a satellite to fry the bank servers. Eh. In 2019 all they need now is your login information and bank account password and they can get in that way. You don’t need to fry servers and use expensive satellites, either, it would be too hard on your profit margins. In real life, while you were sleeping last week, the FBI nailed a Russian hacking group called “Evil Corporation” – yes, that’s the name, and it’s not at all obvious what they are up to. They’re out to steal your identity and your money. Now if only we had someone as charismatic as Pierce Brosnan to stop them!

The US Treasury Department announced new sanctions Thursday on a Russian-based cybercriminal organization called "Evil Corp" for using malware to steal more than $100 million from hundreds of banks and financial institutions.

Specifically, Evil Corp used the malware known as Dridex to "infect computers and harvest login credentials from hundreds of banks and financial institutions in over 40 countries, causing more than $100 million in theft," according to the Treasury Department.

US banks were a prime target, a senior administration official said Thursday.

"Treasury is sanctioning Evil Corp as part of a sweeping action against one of the world's most prolific cybercriminal organizations. This coordinated action is intended to disrupt the massive phishing campaigns orchestrated by this Russian-based hacker group," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

"OFAC's action is part of a multiyear effort with key NATO allies, including the United Kingdom. Our goal is to shut down Evil Corp, deter the distribution of Dridex, target the 'money mule' network used to transfer stolen funds, and ultimately to protect our citizens from the group's criminal activities," he added.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/05/politics/us-sanctions-russian-evil-corp/index.html

Come on, you really need to place sanctions on a group that calls itself “Evil Corporation”? That will only encourage them further. It’s like giving Neo Nazis a safe space. Oh wait, we actually do that. But here’s the scary thing is that we actually may not know the true damage of what Evil Corp has been up to and the hacks could be going back decades! I am sure their boss Vladimir Putin is pleased!

The U.S. unveiled criminal charges and sanctions against members of a group that calls itself Evil Corp, which authorities blame for some of the worst computer hacking and bank fraudschemes of the past decade.

The Justice Department, working mainly with the Treasury Department and British authorities, brought conspiracy and fraud charges against members of the group. It said the group “has been engaged in cybercrime on an almost unimaginable scale,” using malware to steal tens of millions of dollars from customers doing online banking. Treasury said on Thursday it would sanction Evil Corp and its leaders for cyber-thefts committed at hundreds of financial institutions around the world.

The organization’s alleged leader, identified as Maksim Yakubets, also worked for Russia’s Federal Security Service intelligence agency, according to the Treasury Department. Yakubets was directed to work on projects for the Russian state starting in 2017, it said. The Russian ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, called the accusation “groundless.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-05/u-s-sanctions-evil-corp-blamed-for-100-million-cyber-theft

Yeah where is that guy when you need him? And speaking of James Bond, if you’re picturing this group to live the life of a lavish James Bond villain, well, you’re not that far off. These guys really do live in giant mansions with moats surrounded by sharks. They probably have giant laser beams attached to their heads, too. This is where it gets really weird. Because why wouldn’t it?

The millionaire leader of what authorities have called "the world's most harmful cyber crime group," Evil Corp, lives a life full of luxury items and exotic animals.

Maksim "Aqua" Yakubets, a 32-year-old Russian man, was indicted on Thursday by US authorities. He's charged with carrying out "two separate international computer hacking and bank fraud schemes" across the past 10 years, siphoning millions of dollars from UK citizens into the coffers of Evil Corp, the UK's National Crime Agency said.

Since Yakubets resides in Russia, the indictments won't affect him unless he leaves the country. "If Yakubets ever leaves the safety of Russia," the agency said, "he will be arrested and extradited the US."

For now, Yakubets still lives in Russia and is apparently living it up alongside his cohorts. When they're not driving his custom Lamborghinis or taking videos of a lion cub roaming an ornate rug, they're posing for photos with wads of cash.

Take a look.
https://www.businessinsider.com/millionaire-russian-hackers-evil-corp-car-pictures-video-2019-12

Yeah so if this seems like a James Bond movie – there’s fast, ridiculously equipped cars, giant villain like mansions and tons more. Now we just need an uber spy who is capable of taking them down, but at the very least we have the FBI. And you know how they got caught? You know in those movies how there’s a plan how the villain always has a test control before carrying it out on a massive scale? Well that’s how they got caught.

A high school, banks and a handful of businesses in Western Pennsylvania were victims of cyber crimes by Russian hackers, federal authorities said Thursday.

After a 10-year investigation, Russian nationals Maskim V. Yakubets and Igor Turashev were indicted in Pittsburgh and accused of distributing financial malware as part of a conspiracy involving computer hacking, wire fraud and bank fraud schemes.

The two allegedly stole about $70 million and attempted to steal about $200 million from at least 300 victims around the world, investigators said.

The first victim in the area was Mercer County’s Sharon High School, said Scott Brady, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/feds-allege-russian-hackers-targeted-school-banks-businesses-in-western-pa/

[font size="8"]Toilet Gate
[br] [/font] [br]

There’s two things that are perfectly clear here. The first is that the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump, doesn’t know how babies work. The second is that he also doesn’t know how toilets and lightbulbs work. We also get the suspicion that he spends way too much time in the bathroom depending on how many Big Macs and Diet Cokes he eats in a given day. But you know what? Before we delve into this story, we need to roll the tape on it. Because the entire rant is just… spectacular to say the least. Well, spectacularly stupid to say the least. Hit it!

What the fuck is he talking about? And how can anyone not see this as the ramblings of an absolute mad man?

President Donald Trump on Friday had a lot to say about toilets, sinks and showers.
The President claimed Americans are flushing their toilets "10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once" and argued that they are having difficulty with washing their hands in what appeared to be a tangent about low-flow sinks and toilets.

"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 -- and in areas where there's tremendous amounts of water, where the water rushes out to sea because you could never handle it, and you don't get any water," the President said during a roundtable with small business leaders about deregulatory actions.

"You turn on the faucet and you don't get any water. They take a shower and water comes dripping out. Just dripping out, very quietly dripping out," the President continued, lowering his voice as he spoke about the drips. "People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once."

It wasn't entirely clear what he was talking about but it appeared to have to do with bathroom fixtures with low-flow appliances. He said the Environmental Protection Agency was looking into the issue on his suggestion.

"They end up using more water. So (the) EPA is looking at that very strongly at my suggestion," Trump said, though he did not give details on what suggestions, if any, he made. Video of the President's comments has been viewed more than a million times online.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/07/politics/trump-americans-flushing-toilets-intl/index.html

I'm pretty sure that's a live look in at what Trump thinks people actually do in the bathroom! And to be fair, Trump is setting the American Standard for presidents! I wish I could take credit for that joke, I found it on Twitter. But there is a lot to unpack here and it is the stuff of pure insanity. Oh yes these are the thoughts a completely rational, sane person here. And by the way in case you’re wondering where this nonsense comes from, leave it to the libertarians to install some bad ideas:

In a 1998 20/20 segment, in what might be his magnum opus, libertarian icon John Stossel laid waste to the very same toilet regulations that Trump complained about on Friday. He interviewed toilet pressure enthusiasts who were so bummed out by new regulations on the amount of water that could be used for flushing that they searched junkyards and traveled to Canada to find high-powered commodes.

Stossel appears to be pretty into toilets in general. In 2013, he epically owned any moron who was stupid enough to prefer public provision to private. He tweeted: “It’s intuitive to think public is better than private. #ThinkAboutThis: public toilets.”

More recently, Stossel in 2017 eviscerated New York City public officials for spending too much money on public bathrooms and doing oppressive things like allowing the public to comment on how taxpayer funds are spent.

But the cause’s most eloquent exponent is surely Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). In 2011, during an appliance efficiency hearing, Paul told Kathleen Hogan, then the US Department of Energy deputy assistant secretary on energy efficiency, what we’ve all been thinking: “Frankly, the toilets don’t work in my house. And I blame you, and people like you who want to tell me what I can install in my house, what I can do.” The video of his rant was blasted out to his father’s email list, Good noted, and Rand Paul was praised for “taking the fight to the statists.” Howard Roark crapped.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/12/trumps-weird-toilet-rant-is-actually-a-crappy-old-libertarian-hobbyhorse/

Yeah I just needs to check inside ya asshole…. Because I mean really who flushes 10 times when they go to the bathroom? Either they have a defective flusher or they have been eating some shit, both literally and figuratively! And this wasn’t the weirdest thing Trump has said either. I’d show what he said about childbirth but surprisingly there’s a lack of articles on it. Does anyone ever tell him to shut up? But he really needs to at some point because every time he opens his mouth he looks foolish, and that’s saying something considering he used to be on a reality show.

President Trump is no stranger to ranting, whether it’s on Twitter, in the White House, at a rally, or on the phone with Fox & Friends. He’s ranted about “fake news,” Hillary Clinton, and the alleged need for a border wall. But his latest tirade made it clear the president has his head in the gutter. And that’s not just a figure of speech.

At the White House on Friday during a meeting about small businesses, the president of the United States took a break from denouncing the impeachment inquiry to order a federal review of water efficiency standards. In his view, current conservation standards are taking a toll on the public. “People,” he said, “are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once.”

He didn’t stop there. New homes, Trump said, have become so environmentally friendly that “you can’t wash your hands, practically.” As a result, he said, he’s “looking very strongly at sinks and showers.” He said he directed the EPA to “open up the standard,” though it’s unclear which specific water efficiency standard he was talking about.
https://grist.org/article/we-investigate-trumps-claim-that-people-are-flushing-toilets-10-times-15-times/

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Beer Mystery
[br] [/font] [br]

It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 Investigates!

Corporate takeovers are a story as old as time. Usually it’s the larger corporations that take over the smaller corporations. But this is a head-scratching merger that has people talking and is turning an entire industry upside down. In the craft beer world, one of the largest names and most easily recognizable is a brewery from San Diego called Ballast Point. In recent years the Ballast Point name has become big business after a merger with mega brewing conglomerate Constellation Brands. So how does one of the largest breweries get taken over by a small brewery from Chicago? This is a merger for the ages.

It's a reversal of the familiar scenario in which a big-name craft brewer is bought out by a multinational "big beer" consortium. This time, the brewer has been bought back from an international consortium.

On Tuesday, Kings & Convicts Brewing Co. announced they had purchased Ballast Point Brewing Co. from Constellation Brands. Constellation is a Chicago-based company that owns American rights to Mexican brands including Modelo, Corona and Pacifico. Ballast Point, founded in 1996, was a darling of the California craft brewing scene, known for their line of Sculpin West Coast IPAs, and was bought out in 2015 for $1 billion. The mythical "synergy" of the merger never materialized, and Constellation began cutting personnel and closing locations.

Kings & Convicts was founded in 2017 by CEO Brendan Watters, a native of Australia, and brewmaster and COO Chris Bradley of Great Britain. It's estimated they will have produced 660 barrels of beer by the end of 2019, while Ballast Point will have made 200,000 barrels at several production breweries and taprooms. If closed, the deal will include Ballast Point's taproom on Chicago's Fulton Market District, and California facilities in Downtown Disney/Anaheim, Long Beach, Miramar, Little Italy, and San Diego.

“We look forward to engaging the community and getting a connection back to the local markets through our distributor partners, on and off-premise retailers and our dedicated salesforce ambassadors,” said Bradley in Kings & Convicts' news release “Ballast Point has well-established R&D programs and we want to continue fostering that innovation and experimentation by listening to our consumers and serving specialty and local beers in each market.”
http://www.chicagonow.com/the-beeronaut/2019/12/surprise-kings-convicts-buys-ballast-point-from-constellation/

Except there’s no such thing as free beer sir. The Ballast Point Brewery has tasitng rooms all over the country including a shiny new one at the Disneyland resort in California. So how did an upstart brewery usurp one of the largest breweries in the world? And also how did they have a billion dollars to throw at it when nobody has ever heard of them?

Fresh off a family trip to Rome, Chris Bradley sat down with Brendan Watters, his partner at Kings & Convicts, a little Illinois brewery. Anything happen, Bradley asked, during his vacation?

“We’re buying Ballast Point,” Watters announced.

“What?” Bradley sputtered. “How?”

That exchange occurred in a Chicago suburb this summer. Similar scenes played out across the U.S. last week, when Constellation Brands — Ballast Point’s current owner — and Kings & Convicts announced the deal. Really? How could an obscure two-year-old brewery from Highwood, Ill., (2018 production: 550 barrels of beer) land an industry icon (2018 production: 320,000 barrels) once worth $1 billion?

The full answer is cloaked in nondisclosure statements, but a partial explanation involves 9/11, golf and a desperate seller. New York-based Constellation was eager to dump Ballast Point, with its plummeting sales and a trademark value — a measure of its worth outside of its assets — in free fall, cratering from $223 million in January 2018 to $17 million in October 2019.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/beer/story/2019-12-08/ballast-points-rise-fall-and-re-sale-unpacking-craft-beers-most-baffling-deal

Yes, “what” and “how” are two very valid questions. But neither of them are answered here, and they most certainly won’t be for the foreseeable future. Mega mergers in the beer industry are nothing new – look at InBev and MillerCoorsSBA and all of their various mergers and acquisitions. But usually this type of thing happens in reverse. The bigger brands are usually the ones who takeover the smaller brands.

Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) chief executive Andy Thomas likes to use metaphors when explaining complicated scenarios.

For proof, look no further than this week’s announcement that Anheuser-Busch InBev had agreed to wholly-acquire the Portland, Oregon-headquartered maker of Kona, Widmer, and Redhook beers, among others.

Speaking to Forbes, Thomas likened the two companies’ 25-year history to a somewhat complicated long-term relationship.

“We’ve all been through ups and downs in a relationship,” he said. “Sometimes, you get so used to each other and you don’t realize what makes the relationship unique.”

Before we dive into the backstory of these two companies, let’s examine some of the highlights of this week’s merger announcement.

As part of the cash transaction, which is expected to close in 2020 following a mandatory federal antitrust review, A-B will purchase the remaining 68.8% of CBA that it doesn’t already own for $16.50 per share. That works out to approximately $221 million, excluding about $130 million in liabilities that A-B will also be responsible for.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisfurnari/2019/11/14/examining-the-history-behind-anheuser-busch-inbevs-221-million-purchase-of-craft-brew-alliance/#2fc6755f2304

That is a really large beer there, sir! But with such mega mergers as Ballast Point, and recently Boston Beer and Dogfish Head, and Anheuser Busch’s purchase of Platform Brewery, it seems that the pocketbooks are opening back up for craft brewery, and just like the recent mega mergers, this could be a game changer for the industry once again. Just ask craft brewery insides.

When I paid a visit to Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in early 2016, one of the questions I asked founder Sam Calagione was why so many of his beer peers were selling out to large conglomerates like Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson Coors. His response: “It was inevitable.”

“The patriarchs and matriarchs of our [craft] movement are coming to retirement age,” said Calagione, as we stood in his brewery in Milton, Delaware. “I don’t fault those that are choosing to sell the majority or all of their company.” Calagione had sold a 15% stake in his company to private equity firm LNK Partners in 2015 to bring more business acumen to Dogfish, but told me that he was holding out on a full sale so his children—then aged 13 and 16—could one day potentially run the business he and his wife Mariah built.

Inevitability came earlier than Calagione anticipated. On Thursday, Dogfish Head announced it would merge with Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer Company in a $300 million cash-and-stock transaction, combining two of the nation’s top 15 craft brewers to better take on competition from Big Beer and a crowded craft beer landscape that’s put pressure on the smaller players’ sales. Calagione has agreed to take a seat on Boston Beer’s board of directors.
https://fortune.com/2019/05/10/dogfish-head-boston-beer/

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

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
[br] [/font] [br]

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Palo Alto! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

My fair congregation! Is it OK to mock someone’s faith? Well I do ask because we are an entity that essentially is designed to mock faith. But we only mock faith in general. We never attack or question one specific person’s faith. Because our brothers and sisters do it on the right all the time, which makes them horrible people. We don’t question or attack, we just mock the shit out of them! And we also mock their unrelenting faith in the unholy, ungodly Dark One, who currently holds the highest office in the land, and whose name shall **NOT** be spoken in my church! But really the people who hold such strong beliefs in favor of the Dark One are those who should be mocked and ridiculed profusely! People like this guy:

End Times broadcaster, rabid anti-Semite, and radical right-wing conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles kicked off his “TruNews” broadcast last night by announcing that he has begun stockpiling ammunition in response to yesterday’s announcement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that the House would begin drafting articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

Wiles, who recently warned that “there is going to be violence in America” if Trump is removed from office, said that Pelosi’s announcement has forced millions of Americans to start preparing for the possibility of civil war.

“Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Eliot Engel, Brad Sherman, and Charles Schumer are compelling calm, law-abiding, middle-class American citizens to prepare for the unthinkable: a violent civil war in America fought between the pagan left and the religious right,” Wiles said. “Their actions are compelling me and others to immediately get ready to defend our families, our personal lives, and our properties if violence erupts in America over the impeachment and ouster of President Trump.”

“The Democrats are forcing me to stockpile ammunition, food, water, and medical supplies to defend my family, home, and church,” he added. “This is a bad dream that won’t end, and it’s brought to you by the Trump haters.”

“I strongly encourage you to take immediate action to prepare your home and family for the worst,” Wiles advised his audience. “Don’t foolishly dismiss my warning that a revolution could erupt, or widespread civil disruptions, even civil war.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-says-hes-stockpiling-ammunition-to-prepare-for-a-violent-civil-war-between-pagan-left-and-religious-right/

Now I know that in our good book it says that “JUDGE NOT LEST YE BE JUDGED!”. Well, since all these people do is judge others, then we will do the same! If you watch the news right now, you know that impeachment is all over the TV and the right really needs to pull their heads out of their asses. And since they pick the pettiest battles to fight, is it any wonder why we’re in the mess that we’re in?

A group of President Donald Trump’s evangelical cheerleaders worshiped at the White House and prayed with Trump in the Oval Office Friday. Among the attendees were White House spiritual adviser Paula White, pastor Robert Jeffress, and congressional candidate Sean Feucht.

Jeffress appeared on Lou Dobb’s Fox Business show Friday evening to rave about Trump. “I’ve never seen the president more upbeat or positive or focused than he was today,” Jeffress said. “And look, this impeachment farce, it isn’t paralyzing the president⁠. It is energizing him.” Jeffress said that “the longer the Democrats want to drag out this impeachment farce, the larger his margin of reelection is going to be in 2020. The American people are with this president.”

Dobbs asked Jeffress about the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi citing her Catholic faith in her response to a reporter from the right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group who asked if she hated Trump. While Dobbs listened with a smirk, Jeffress mocked Pelosi’s faith:

Dobbs and Jeffress went from suggesting that Pelosi isn’t Catholic enough to slamming Pope Francis for comparing Trump to the biblical character King Herod, which Dobbs said was “pretty nasty stuff.”

“Herod wanted to extinguish Christmas by getting rid of Christ before the first Christmas,” said Jeffress. “President Trump celebrates Christmas, has brought it back to the forefront of our country, and that means bringing Christ back as well.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/robert-jeffress-mocks-pelosis-faith-says-trump-has-brought-christmas-christ-back-to-u-s/

Really, the unholy Dark One celebrates Christmas? He’s a real life Ebaneezer Scrooge! And really enough with that “Keep Christ In Christmas” crap, it’s been beaten to death by now! If you guys want to fight a war, you’re going to be the only one who’s fighting it. Really because with friends like these, who really needs enemies?

Pastor Augusto Perez of The Appearance Ministries appeared on Sheila Zilinsky’s podcast last month, where he declared that anyone who opposes President Donald Trump must engage in fasting and prayer “because something is wrong in you.”

“This is not political, this is spiritual,” Perez said. “If you hate this man, if you hate this president, if there is something in you that you hates this man, I strongly counsel you to go on a fast-and-prayer and seek the Lord with all your heart because something is wrong in you. You have been deluded, you have been blindfolded, and the enemy is having his way with you.”

“If you still hate Trump, forget about the man himself—the personality—forget about that and focus on what he stands for and what he has done and what he is doing,” Perez added. “He is doing our Father’s agenda. He is tearing down the pedophile rings, human trafficking, drug smuggling. He is also coming against abortion, he wants to get rid of abortion, all of it. He has already defunded Planned Parenthood and they are fighting him tooth and nail. He has appointed many constitutional judges and two Supreme Court justices. He is bringing this nation back to righteousness, or he is trying to. He has given Christians a voice, he is protecting the Christians, he’s protecting the churches. He is stopping all these Muslim terrorists from coming in. He is doing the will of the Father in this country.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/augusto-perez-if-you-oppose-trump-you-need-fasting-and-prayer-because-something-is-wrong-in-you/

Yes, humbug indeed! The people whoa re indoctrinated into the cult couldn’t be any crazier especially in this time of year. Really, who watches stuff like this? It’s bad enough that we have to put up with these people here, I can’t imagine running to them in real life. History existed before the unholy Dark One and it will most certainly exist after. The sky is not falling like they would have you believe.

Pastor Johnny Enlow, a leading proponent of Seven Mountains Dominionism, appeared on a MorningStar Ministries webinar last week, where he recounted a vision in which he claims that God told him that he was going to use President Donald Trump as “a hinge of the ages” to break human history into two eras: “Before Trump” and “After Trump.”

Enlow said that prior to the 2016 election, he asked God who would win, at which point God showed him a vision of Trump wearing a red, white, and blue bandana while sitting on a Triumph motorcycle on the top of a mountain.

“So, in an instant, it wasn’t hard for me to figure out what was being said,” Enlow said. “The first thing [God] said is, ‘He is going to save you from things you don’t know you need to be saved from yet.’ And then the Lord progressively began to speak regarding that and he said, ‘His time in the presidency is going to be a hinge of the ages and it’ll be known as Before Trump and After Trump because of the way I am going to use him. I’m using him as a trump card, but I’m the trump card player. Your nation will be known as Before Trump and After Trump.’ And he said, ‘The nations, the whole world will be known as Before Trump and After Trump.’ The Lord said, ‘I’m really not interested your all’s vote this time, I’m doing it. I usually give you all that option, this time I’m not. This is a rescue operation from Heaven.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/johnny-enlow-god-is-using-trump-to-separate-history-into-before-trump-and-after-trump-eras/

I just can’t… words cannot express how insane they are. There you go. Next week we’re going to delve into the right wing War On Christmas and look forward to what we have in store for 2020~! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Unpopular Opinions: Billie Eilish & Van Halen
[br] [/font] [br]

Look people, stop freaking out about the fact that Billie Eilish doesn’t know who Van Halen is. Hell at this point I’m not even sure that Eddie Van Halen knows who Van Halen is. Hey I watched The Dirt! Yeah that’s what a lifetime of hookers and blow will get you. Watch any movie from the 80s, doesn’t matter if the references are from Ferris Bueller or Beetlejuice, you will find plenty of dead references that don’t apply to a society in 2019. Dead references are as old as time itself. Popular culture comes and goes. There's people being born today who will have no idea what the hell a Sears or a K-Mart are! The people who are freaking out about Billie Eilish not knowing who Van Halen is, are probably coming from the same parents who started freaking out when their kids didn’t know who Led Zeppelin was. But here’s the thing – Billie Eilish is 17! It’s OK for 17 year olds not to know 40 year old bands! Can we calm down and pull each other’s heads out of our collective asses please?

Is there anything more tedious than a music snob? Apparently not, given the rush to pile on 17-year-old Billie Eilish earlier this week, and all because she hadn’t heard of the rock band Van Halen.

The revelation took place on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where the late-night host decided to quiz Eilish on whether she’d heard of artists such as Madonna (she had) and Van Halen (she hadn’t). Upon learning she was blithely unaware of the Seventies rockers, Kimmel’s reaction was one of horror, despair, and glee. “I’m gonna start crying,” he exclaimed, perhaps acknowledging that Eilish’s knowledge gap was actually highlighting his own age. “You’re making me look so dumb,” Eilish fretted in return.

While this was an innocent enough exchange that riffed on the age-old tradition of intergenerational repartee (“young people don’t know how easy they have it”, “old people don’t understand technology”, etc), the comments about Eilish online were harsher. There’s a particular type of person who relishes any opportunity to highlight the perceived ignorance of younger generations. Yet there’s absolutely no reason why Eilish, or anyone her age, should give a fleeting moment’s thought to a rock band who carry little to no weight in the 21st century. Why does she need to prove herself, when she’s become the biggest success story the music industry has seen in years? Clearly, she knows something these older critics don’t.

Besides, had Eilish told Kimmel she was a massive Van Halen fan, hardcore fans would likely have revolted, insisting there was no way she could be serious – she’s too young. There was a similar reaction when Justin Bieber was spotted wearing a Metallica T-shirt in 2015. He had no right to like them, hardcore fans decreed.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/billie-eilish-van-halen-jimmy-kimmel-rock-music-spotify-a9234371.html

Shut up!!!! Take that article’s advice – there’s nothing worse than a snob! These are the same kinds of people who blame bands for being too political in 2019 when they’ve been political since the early 1990s! Like Anti-Flag or Pearl Jam, hey there was a time before Trump and social media existed. But you know what enough of my rambling let’s play the clip.

And here’s where there’s nothing worse than being a snob. I’m a Gen Xer, and I’m totally OK with all of this. But here’s where music snobs need to shut the hell up. People get old it happens. When the young generation doesn’t know the old generation’s music, it’s OK! Be lame and be proud of it! Until then shut up!

Today in “can we all please leave Billie Eilish TF alone,” the 17-year-old singer is being dragged by boomers for not knowing who the band Van Halen is. Which, no offense to Van Halen, but WHY DOES ANYONE EVEN CAAAAARE.

The moment in question went down on Jimmy Kimmel Live when Jimmy asked Billie to “name a Van Halen” and she responded, “Who?”

The audience was shook that Billie doesn’t know who the famous band is (again, she is only 17!), and Twitter wasted no time dragging her. But those tweets are lame, so here’s a couple from everyone mocking them instead:

Meanwhile, Wolf Van Halen chimed in, writing, “If you haven’t heard of @BillieEilish, go check her out. She’s cool. If you haven’t heard of @VanHalen, go check them out. They’re cool too. Music is supposed to bring us together, not divide us. Listen to what you want and don’t shame others for not knowing what you like.”

And Nine Inch Nails art director Rob Sheridan also chimed in, saying, “RE: This Billie Eilish/Van Halen thing, honestly, it’s extremely good that hair metal finally doesn’t matter anymore. We worked extremely hard to kill hair metal in the ’90s, thank you teens for giving it an unceremonious ‘okay, boomer.’ Imagine being a teen in the ’90s and people being shocked that you didn’t know or care about Perry Como. Because THAT’S HOW OLD VAN HALEN IS NOW.”
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a30101300/billie-eilish-van-halen-clip-response/

OK boomer. And yes thank you Rob Sheridan for saying what needed to be said on this subject! Hair metal is a dead genre! The days of doing gratuitous amounts of coke and blow off hookers’ stomachs is no longer a thing. Yeah if you want to relive your glory days then go listen to SiruisXM’s Hair Metal station and leave the rest of us alone! Shit, even Eddie Van Halen’s own son supports Ms. Eilish’s claims!

Don't shame people who don't know Van Halen.

That's the message straight from Eddie Van Halen's son.

Wolfgang Van Halen, who also plays bass in his dad's band, is taking up for current music phenom Billie Eilish.

Eilish, 17, caused a stir recently during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Kimmel asked her to name some members of the famed band.

"Who?," she said. "No, who is that?"

"I'm gonna start crying," Kimmel joked.

The internet also had feelings.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/03/entertainment/van-halen-billie-eilish-trnd/index.html

Yeah seriously stop talking. Even Eddie Van Halen himself has defended Billie Eilish in saying that it’s totally OK – and as I’ve said dead references are dead references. Doesn’t matter the time or the place, and I’m sure your grandparents freaked out when you didn’t know who Dean Martin was. What? He’s the guy who sings “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie”. Nobody? Well, you’re not alone! I must say though I do love Smash Mouth’s response:

Billie Eilish has been defended by Van Halen after the singer acknowledged she hadn't heard of the popular 1980s rock band.

Jimmy Kimmel asked the "Bad Guy" singer on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on November 22 whether she could name a member of Van Halen, to which a puzzled Eilish responded, "Who?"

On Twitter on Monday, the band's 28-year-old bassist, Wolfgang Van Halen, the son of the founding member Eddie, told fans to check out the 17-year-old singer.

"If you haven't heard of @billieeilish, go check her out. She's cool. If you haven't heard of @VanHalen, go check them out. They're cool too," he tweeted.

Wolfgang Van Halen also told people who had criticized Eilish after the Kimmel interview not to "shame others for not knowing what you like."

The '90s rock band Smash Mouth, popular for its songs "All Star" and "I'm a Believer," also defended Eilish, tweeting: "We grew up listening to #VanHalen and we're old as fck so why would @billieeilish know who they are? #NoDiss."
https://www.insider.com/wolfgang-van-halen-defends-billie-eilish-not-knowing-the-band-2019-12

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
[br] [/font] [br]

Hey everyone we’re almost done for the year and I really need a drink!

So of course you know by now that the idea of this segment is that we know never to mix politics and alcohol, and we need a break from all the insanity, and also inanity, that’s going on in the world. And while we’re imbibing, the idea is to talk about anything other than politics. This week – we’re going to talk about a really traditional German holiday that goes back to the 14th century. And thanks to a movie that came out a few years ago, it’s gaining traction. That holiday is called “Krampus”. And thanks to the movie it’s being celebrated all over the world. And since everything sounds more sinister in German, Krampusnacht, is now a thing. So tell me bartender, what goes well with Krampus? Egg nog with the blood of a sacrificial goat? Eh… I think I’ll just take some regular egg nog thanks! And don’t skimp on the brandy! What is Krampus? Let’s start off with this story.

Be careful this December. Santa’s not the only one watching.

Krampus, Santa’s evil twin, is watching too.

What’s up with that?

Krampus is the horned, hairy demonic beast of European folklore who punishes naughty children at Christmastime. Instead of a bundle of toys, he has birch sticks to swat the misbehaving rascals he hauls down to the underworld.

Dec. 5 is Krampus Night, or Krampusnacht as they say in Europe, where the creepster is a fixture on greeting cards, candy tins and at yuletide events. It’s an excuse for grown men to dress up as Krampus, drink a bunch of alcohol, and run through the streets frightening children.

Around here, sightings are rare.

Krampus was in the fur in November at Oddmall: Emporium of the Weird, a bazaar of the bizarre held twice a year at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/meet-krampus-if-youve-been-bad-this-evil-santa-is-for-you/

Well it’s like Christmas, except everyone is watching horror movies, everyone’s on the naughty list, and everyone is OK with that! And also if your December music soundtrack is missing some good old fashioned death metal, don’t worry because Krampus has you covered! Come on, this is the holiday that has even the most hardcore death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse singing some good old fashioned holly jolly Christmas magic!

For plenty of people, Christmas is more a burden than a joy. While the message of the season is supposed to be one of generosity, togetherness, and warmth, the commercialization of the holiday and the way many devout believers behave during the Christmas season make the holiday an exhausting farce. This is especially true of metal fans, whose love of old pagan traditions and extreme imagery usually feels at odd with the Coke-guzzling Santas and all-white nativity scenes present during Christmas time. More than one hesher has received a sweater with a snowman on it from their disapproving parents and wished the whole holiday would burn to the ground.

But now, an ancient spirit of has returned to the public eye: Krampus, the Bavarian Christmas demon and companion of Santa Claus, who lashes and terrifies naughty children. A leering, goat-legged reflection of jolly old Saint Nick, Krampus represents the draconian seriousness with which Christmas was once celebrated. And now, as a pop-culture figure, he’s given metal fans a new icon with which they can blaze into the holidays.

It’s only fitting that Christmas has a demonic entity of its own. Most of the traditions we consider synonymous with the holiday — decorating trees, garlands of holly and pine, gathering around the hearth — are pagan in origin, borrowed from the Germanic festival of Yule. In fact, Christ’s birth is believed to have actually happened in May, but its celebration was moved to combat, and eventually assimilate, the lively pre-Christian festivals that threatened to keep pagans from converting to the church. The gods of these old religions, meanwhile — figures like Pan, Odin, and Hecate — were recast as demons and monsters. One of those, the archaic forest spirit that Wiccans refer to as the Horned God, eventually evolved into the figure we now know as Krampus.
https://www.kerrang.com/features/how-krampus-saved-christmas-for-metalheads/

Mmm that’s some good egg nog there, Steve! Steve is my bartender and he’s been the bartender since we started doing this segment. Well if we extrapolate this, this means that Krampus is a lump of coal in your stocking. But since everyone who is celebrating the holiday, is doing so voluntarily, do we even really need that naughty list? And if you want to celebrate Krampus there’s celebrations all over the world now!

Terra Blue looks to establish a new downtown Greensboro holiday tradition, for the pagans and the persecuted, with a visit from Krampus on Dec. 7.

“Krampus thinks he hasn’t been given a fair shake and he’s demanding his job back. Come and support him in his effort, and get a photo with him, too,” reads the event description.

Terra Blue, a shop for “coffee, beads and otherworldly goods,” is owned and operated by married-duo Sarah and Allen McDavid, and serves as an outlet for pagan cultures and new age practices, hosting daily readings and astrological events.

Following the success of their Samhain Soiree in October (a public component of their three-day pagan conference called “the Gathering”), Terra Blue hopes to establish more recurring traditions with a nontraditional flare.

“This will be our first year hosting Krampus,” said Allen McDavid, the man behind the various Ribfests throughout the state and the Carolina Caledonian Scottish festival in Fayetteville.

“I’ve wanted to do it for a long time, but the other events I produced kept me swamped,” he explained. “Since learning of Krampus, I’ve been interested in the cultural and religious significance of the character. From my perspective, it seems clear that he is ‘The Horned One’ from the European Pagan Pantheon, demonized by the Christian Church, as has been the case for pagan deities for the last 2,000 years.”
https://yesweekly.com/you-better-watch-out-krampus-is-coming/

Chug! Chug! Chug! Basically, think of Krampus as Christmas, but celebrated by the Addams Family and the Collins family from Dark Shadows. You still got your holly jollys and your ho ho hos, only they’re carefully balanced out with some demons and monsters, Annabelles and Chuckys. It’s part the holiday you know and love, and part horror show. But if you’re going to celebrate, just don’t do it the way the Austrians do. It’s meant to bring, um… joy (?) to people, not scare the children!

Goat-horned half-demons with scraggy coats of fur, lolling tongues and threatening bundles of birch branches are no one’s idea of a welcome guest on a winter’s night.

In Austria, however, the figure of the Krampus has been part of pre-Christmas folklore for centuries, with men in costumes roaming the streets to scare children and grownups from the end of November to the middle of December.

Yet in recent years the Krampus has developed to become an altogether very modern bogeyman, with a rising number of complaints about the demons acting in a drunkenly and disorderly fashion once they have donned their fearsome masks.

In Carinthia, police recorded a number of violent incidents this year in the run-up to the official “Krampus day” on 5 December, with one person being hit in the face with a birch and an 11-year-old child being left with bloody cut on their thigh.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/08/austria-struggles-with-marauding-krampus-day-demons-gone-rogue

[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep. 17: Goodbye Kamala
[br] [/font] [br]

Welcome back to our 2020 voters’ guide Keeping Up With The Candidates! The next election is shaping up to be about as messy as the impeachment trial is going. We have promised to take a look at all the candidates, issues, ups and downs to keep everything relevant about the 2020 election going into it, and we are approximately 3 weeks away from it officially being the calendar year 2020. Which means that it is going to be an election year. Which means that conservatives are going to be flinging mud faster than you can bat an eye. And it’s also a leap year so we get an extra day of this madness! Yay! But first, sadly, the Kamala Harris campaign has come to an end. No this isn’t Trumper Games because that madness happens on the other side. This is goodbye.

Sen. Kamala Harris ended her 2020 presidential campaign on Tuesday, an abrupt departure for a candidate who was once seen as a leading contender for the Democratic nomination.
The California Democrat told her senior staff of the decision Tuesday morning, and later sent an email to supporters and released a video on Twitter.

"To you my supporters, my dear supporters, it is with deep regret -- but also with deep gratitude -- that I am suspending our campaign today," Harris said in the video.

"But I want to be clear with you: I am still very much in this fight," Harris continued. "And I will keep fighting every day for what this campaign has been about. Justice for the people. All the people."

Harris' exit from the race is a precipitous fall for a candidate who launched her campaign to high expectations. The senator has struggled for months to move her low poll numbers and said Tuesday that financial pressures led her to end her bid. The lack of support and money led to internal squabbling in the closing months of the campaign, campaign sources told CNN, all of which contributed to her inability to stay in the race.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/03/politics/kamala-harris-ends-presidential-bid/index.html

Well that’s probably how we should be saying goodbye to the Harris campaign. But how did we get here and what could this mean for the remaining candidates? We’re you know just a few short weeks away from Iowa and the straw poll, and Harris had a grand entrance but her campaign turned out to be a sparkler. The bad thing is the party of diversity is turning into the exact opposite of that going into 2020!

When California Senator Kamala Harris announced she was suspending her campaign for president on Tuesday, she was quickly met with an outpouring of support and admiration. Many praised the historic nature of her candidacy; she was seeking to become the first black woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination. Others mourned the loss of her particular perspective in the Democratic primary field.

It was just the kind of enthusiasm Harris had been struggling to find the day before—when she was still running for president. Harris’s surprising early exit from the race reflects the complicated racial and gender dynamics of the 2020 campaign: in a year when the Democratic Party says it wants to prioritize building a multi-racial coalition of voters to defeat Donald Trump, critics say it has largely overlooked primary candidates that represent that diversity to focus on almost exclusively white politicians before voting has even started.

In a moment that seemed to embody this dynamic, former Vice President Joe Biden appeared to forget about Harris when he claimed during the November debate that he had the support of the only black woman ever elected to the Senate, referring to former Senator Carol Moseley Braun. “The other one is here,” Harris shot back from her podium, before laughing along with the audience.

When the remaining Democrats next take the debate stage in Los Angeles this month, there’s a real chance that no people of color will be on it. While candidates like Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Sen. Cory Booker still have time to qualify, the situation is not where many Democrats hoped to find themselves, particularly in comparison to, say, the Republican debate at this time in 2015, which featured a woman, a black candidate and two Cuban-Americans.
https://time.com/5743759/kamala-harris-diversity-democratic-primary/

Sigh… I’m really hoping things will turn around for the election because we have to beat Donald Trump and send the GOP packing. But the election is turning out to be just as crazy as impeachment. So the question on the table is who could take over for California and the rest of the country now that Harris has dropped out? Well there’s plenty of possibilities.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said on Sunday that his loved ones were disheartened by Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-Calif.) decision to drop out of the 2020 presidential race, and he blamed money in politics for her departure.

“Kamala Harris stopped her campaign because of the campaign finance rules and the fact that she couldn’t do what we see billionaires do in this race, which is flooding ads to jack up their polling numbers and get in,” he told ABC News’ “This Week.”

“There are a lot of people hurt this week, including members of my family and friends who are supporting me,” Booker added, praising Harris as an “incredibly talented African American woman” who has “broken glass ceilings at every point of her career.”

Harris withdrew on Tuesday, leaving an all-white set of candidates who have so far qualified for the next debate on Dec. 19. None of the remaining candidates of color ― Booker, businessman Andrew Yang, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ― has yet made the cut.

In an email to supporters, Harris cited financial troubles as the death knell of her 2020 bid.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cory-booker-kamala-harris-2020-election_n_5ded223ae4b00563b852dd9c

But here’s the thing, Cory, don’t convince Kamala to stay in the election, if anything there might be something positive to come from this. What that is, we’re not sure. But the bottom line is that you can’t overlook this exit because as we’ve seen before, elections do have consequences. And we need to keep damn sure that we’re on top of things heading into the new year. Do you want another term of this madness? I know I don’t!

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said Iowa voters, not big money, should have determined whether Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was able to remain in the presidential race.

“Iowa voters should have the right to choose," he said on ABC’s “This Week."

The presidential candidate criticized the role “big money” plays in politics and how he said money forced Harris to withdraw from the race.

“And so, the Democratic Party which makes a right critique that this -- we should be stopping the influence of big money in politics,” he said.

Booker on Harris dropping out: 'Iowa voters should have the right to choose'
© Greg Nash

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said Iowa voters, not big money, should have determined whether Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was able to remain in the presidential race.

“Iowa voters should have the right to choose," he said on ABC’s “This Week."

The presidential candidate criticized the role “big money” plays in politics and how he said money forced Harris to withdraw from the race.

“And so, the Democratic Party which makes a right critique that this -- we should be stopping the influence of big money in politics,” he said.

Booker, making a historical comparison, said John Kerry was able to save his campaign in 2004 by loaning himself $5 million while Harris did not have that option.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos pushed back on Booker’s claim of billionaire influence in the race saying the four frontrunners, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, are billionaires.
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/473564-booker-on-harris-dropping-out-iowa-voters-should-have-the-right-to

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

For our final Keeping Up With The Candidates of 2019, we’re going to take a look at what you can expect going into the new year and it’s an election year!

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]The Hu[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest is a really awesome band hailing from Ulanbataar, Mongolia. Their debut album is called “The Gereg”. Playing their song “Shoog Shoog”, give it up for The Hu!

Thank you USC! We are finally wrapping this whole thing up with our 2019 year in review! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: Shrine Auditorium, USC, Los Angeles, CA
Special Thanks To: USC
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: USC Choir Club, Los Angeles, CA
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
The Hu Appear Courtesy Of: Eleven Seven Music
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
New! Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

December 7, 2019

Preview For This Week's Top 10 Conservative Idiots

I'm pretty sure that's a live look in at what Trump thinks people actually do in the bathroom! And to be fair, Trump is setting the American Standard for presidents!

**audience laughs and applauds**

This week it's our next to last Top 10 of 2019! We delve into Louis Gohmert's head scratching impeachment statement, George Zimmerman sues the Martin family, George Conway fights his wife on social media, we introduce you to a hacker collective known as "Evil Corp", and we tell you why it's OK for Billie Eilish not to know who Van Halen is! Plus in our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates, how did an upstart brewery from Chicago with 10 employees manage to take over one of the largest craft breweries in the entire world? We will dig past the headlines to find out! Also in our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", is the Christian right gas lighting this administration? As they seem bent on going full fascist, our resident pastor is going to tell you why you should be terrified of these people. We also have a new "I Need A Drink" in which we're going to get drunk and celebrate the annual German holiday known as Krampus! If you are tired of the Christmas advertising blitz, have we got a holiday for you! Plus in our 2020 voters' guide Keeping Up With The Candidates, we must say goodbye to the Kamala Harris campaign. Another one bites the dust. All this plus some live music from Mongolia's The Hu! Wed at 2:00 PM.

**SUBJECT TO CHANGE**

December 4, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-21: He's The Bad Guy, Duh Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-21: He’s The Bad Guy, Duh Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up Stanford? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! So we’re almost wrapping up the 2019 season! How about that? Our penultimate show of the year is happening Dec. 11th at USC, then we’re wrapping things up with a nice neat little bow with our 2019 Year In Review edition happening on Dec. 17th at UCLA. So that said, do we have time for the thing? Good. Yeah, is this something we really need right now? So Johnny Depp is producing a musical based on Michael Jackson’s glove. I mean… did he not see Finding Neverland? Is he not aware that this could potentially be an incredibly bad idea? I mean we’re living in a world right now where the truth is being told about people we once regarded as heroes… although let’s face it, Michael Jackson never really was a hero. But did he really think this was a good idea? And I can’t believe any sane producer would allow this to go through. Even worse is the name – “For The Love Of A Glove”. Yes, that’s the title they went with. You can’t fault them for putting out a product and this will probably fold faster than a sequined glove straight out of the dry cleaner, but really, we do have this new thing called “Google” that you could use to look up stuff based on Michael Jackson. Yeah that’s probably not a good idea either. OK enough of the intro. We have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first this is the time of year that really sucks because all our favorite talk shows are on vacation. So instead I will play this clip from the now defunct Jim Jefferies Show where he discusses online data privacy:

There’s a lot of insane interviews this week, and we do mean a lot. In the number one slot this week is of course the guy who we currently call president, @realDonaldTrump (1). And he has taken ICE to some dangerous and scary new levels, especially when he sets up a fake university in Michigan for the purpose of rounding up illegal immigrants, that also surprisingly doesn’t have his name on it. In the second slot this week is also @realDonaldTrump (2) and while he was going off on his, well, whatever passes for “physique” in Miami, Lisa Page was giving an interview that could potentially be a huge hit to the Trump train. At slot #3 is the #BeBest Campaign (3) which is falling apart at the seams. Melania got booed in Baltimore for promoting her #BeBest campaign, while Donald Trump Jr. is throwing a temper tantrum over his book, ironically titled “Triggered”. In slot #4 this week is Kid Rock (4), or should we call him at this point “Kid Rock Bottom”. Ah, see what I did there? And you can’t tell me that he didn’t hit rock bottom after getting kicked out of his own bar this week. In the fifth slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates, and while the rest of the country takes off Thanksgiving, retail is hard at work bringing you the Black Friday bargains that you blow your money on, but what’s it like working when the rest of us have it off? We will find out! In the sixth slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and is the President really the chosen one? Our resident pastor breaks down Rick Perry’s bizarre interview, and well, he’s got some thoughts. Taking the 7th slot this week is a new “Beating A Dead Horse” – actor Sascha Baron Cohen (“Borat”) claims that if the holocaust happened today, Facebook and Twitter would help escalate the propaganda, and well, we’ll say that he’s not wrong. At slot #8 this week is a new edition of “NO!” – so John Schnatter (8), the Papa John behind Papa John’s, gave a greasy, cheese filled interview with the Fox affiliate in his hometown of Louisville, and let’s say that he has an extremely terrible case of the meat sweats! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is our special Black Friday edition of People Are Dumb, because idiocy doesn’t take a holiday and neither do we! Finally this week in our 2020 voters’ guide “Keeping Up With The Candidates” (10), is Pete Buttigieg a racist? After an insane Op Ed appeared in the Washington Post, we will break it down to find the truth! And the palate cleanser for all this, we have a live performance from the legendary Pixies! Buy their new album “Beneath The Eyrie” or you are no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]Donald Trump
[br] [/font] [br]

It’s no secret that hate and white nationalism are fueling Trump’s immigration policies. We covered this a few weeks ago when one of Trump’s favorite punching bags, Minnesota rep Ilhan Omar, called out Stephen Miller for his white nationalism (see: [link: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212711400 | Top 10 #7-20] ) and they found out that he is indeed a Nazi. Well, this might be a step toward going full Nazi, and you never, ever go full Nazi. It turns out that the Trump administration – in a no way at all shocking move, but a certifiably one at that, setup a fake university with the sole intent of rounding up immigrants. Yes, just remember that when you see the Springfield Heights Institute Of Technology, it’s not a university that you should be applying for!

Undercover US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been operating a fake university designed to lure in immigrants seeking to obtain student visas fraudulently — but the students are claiming they are the ones who have been deceived.

ICE has arrested about 250 students at the University of Farmington in Farmington Hills, Michigan, for violating the terms of their visas, which mandate that they be enrolled full-time at a federally accredited educational institution while they complete their studies, an ICE spokesperson said Wednesday.

The University of Farmington, which ICE agents opened in 2015 to weed out fraudsters, did not qualify because it wasn’t a real educational institution: Although ICE advertised the university as offering graduate STEM courses, it did not have any teachers, curriculum, classes, or other educational activities. Its primary selling point, prosecutors say, is a ticket to an F-1 student visa — at the cost of $2,500 per quarter for graduate programs, plus an average $1,000 per month in fees, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Students on F-1 visas can remain in the US legally while they complete their studies and travel freely outside the country. After graduation, those students are eligible to apply for H-1B skilled worker visas if an American employer offers them a job in certain fields.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/27/20985644/ice-fake-university-farmington-michigan-student-visa-fraud-us-immigration-customs-enforcement-sting

Well that may be, but Trump has no remorse or dignity, or anything that makes him human. He’s the bad guy, duh!! Ah yes, my second Billie Eilish reference in more than a couple of weeks! And in case you’re wondering – oh it gets worse! So much worse! So it turns out that the people who ICE hired to catch the fraudsters were in fact fraudsters themselves! Can we really pretend to be shocked by anything this administration is doing at this point? Anything?

As has been widely reported, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) set up a fake university to snare foreign students they believed were trying to stay in the country illegally. The fake university, The University of Farmington in Michigan, collected thousands of dollars in tuition from the students but held no actual classes. The students had come into the United States legally under F-1 visas and needed to stay enrolled in school to keep those visas.

ICE recruited hundreds of these students to Farmington and then arrested them for violating the terms of their visas, which mandate that they be enrolled full-time at a federally accredited educational institution while they complete their studies. The tricky part is that it is unclear why the students were enrolling in Farmington instead of a legitimate university.

The federal government says that the sole purpose of the students was to commit immigration fraud. Since the school offered no actual classes, the students must have realized that Farmington was fraudulent. The students say they were entrapped. The university appeared on the Homeland Security website as a legitimate university. And, while Farmington was created under the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration upped the ante by actually paying recruiters to pitch Farmington to students in danger of deportation.

As for the government’s argument that the students should have realized that the university was fake since there were no classes, it turns out that at least some of the students were suspicious and were trying to find out what was going on. But they were given the run around by the Farmington “administration.” But who were the “administrators?” Government agents! Furthermore, even students who were only enrolled at Farmington briefly were still arrested by ICE, and held in detention centers sometimes with violent offenders.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2019/11/30/understanding-the-bizarre-ice-fake-university-sting-operation/#1c8630af553e

That’s one thing that puzzles me about this story – how could the students be so easily duped? Were they that desperate for a degree that they’d apply anywhere? I mean if there’s no classes shouldn’t that be an automatic red flag? I mean the only place that could possibly get away with that is the University Of Phoenix. And that’s of course assuming you have a bad Wifi connection. But this is evil taken to a whole new level.

About 90 additional foreign students at a fake university in metro Detroit created by the Department of Homeland Security have been arrested in recent months.

A total of about 250 students have now been arrested since January on immigration violations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a sting operation by federal agents who enticed foreign-born students, mostly from India, to attend the school that marketed itself as offering graduate programs in technology and computer studies, according to ICE officials.

Many of those arrested have been deported, while others are contesting their removals. One has been allowed to stay after being granted lawful permanent resident status by an immigration judge.

The students had arrived legally in the U.S. on student visas, but since the University of Farmington was later revealed to be a creation of federal agents, they lost their immigration status after it was shut down in January. The school was staffed with undercover agents posing as university officials.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/27/university-farmington-ice-arrests-more-fake-michigan-college/4317788002/

Really I don’t even think Bane could get away with something this evil. But if there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about scam foundations, it’s the guy who we currently call president, @realDonaldTrump, he knows scammers, scam businesses, scam universities, because, well, he’s a scammer himself. If you want to see fraud in action, look no further than Trump himself.

Remember Donald Trump’s scam charity? Back in June 2018, the New York attorney general’s office sued the president, all three of his adult children, and the Donald J. Trump Foundation, accusing the charity of “functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests,” and of engaging in “a shocking pattern of illegality.” The allegations in the suit included claims that:

$10,000 was spent on a portrait of the president, later found on display at a sports bar at the Trump Doral;

$100,000 was used to settle a legal dispute with the city of Palm Beach, which Trump resolved by contributing the amount to the Fisher House Foundation;

$258,000 was used to settle lawsuits against Trump and his businesses, including $158,000 to the Martin Greenberg Foundation, whose founder sued the Trump National Golf Club after it failed to pay him a promised $1 million for scoring a hole-in-one at a charity golf tournament;

$5,000 was used to advertise Trump Hotels.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/11/donald-trump-charity-scam

[font size="8"]Donald Trump
[br] [/font] [br]

As long as Trump keeps conveying his rah rah MAGA hate rallies, we’ll keep covering them because this is where he unloads his frustrations in front of his adoring fans. Worshipping dear leader is one of the hallmarks of a good cult leader. But why is this being billed as a homecoming rally? Trump is only moving to Florida for the same reason that OJ did and that’s because Florida is one of the few states that doesn’t have asset forfeiture laws. Now save your boos for later. But you can always count on a Trump rally to go off the rails and boy did this one.

President Trump’s raucous Tuesday night rally near Miami, billed by his campaign as a “homecoming” extravaganza, followed his recent decision to move his formal residence from New York to Florida — and underscored the state’s importance to his reelection efforts as he grapples with the impeachment proceedings that threaten his presidency.

Florida is now not only Trump’s home but also what Republicans hope is an emerging GOP bastion. His strategy in the state reflects his broader push to galvanize his core voters ahead of next year’s election by unleashing an incendiary defense of his conduct, be it on Twitter, cable news or in front of thousands.

By rallying a capacity crowd at the 20,000-seat BB&T Center on Tuesday night, Trump tried to demonstrate broad and determined opposition to his impeachment.

The president spoke extensively from center stage about the congressional inquiry, delivering a theatrical play-by-play of this month’s bombshell testimony, mocking former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and bemoaning the proceedings as “a scam,” “a terrible hoax” and “a witch hunt.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-homecoming-rally-illustrates-importance-of-florida-to-his-reelection-effort/2019/11/26/fe8715c2-0fce-11ea-b0fc-62cc38411ebb_story.html

New shit has come to light man! Oh yeah if you want to see it really go off the rails, wait until you see what he said about his recent health crisis which resulted in him taking a trip to the Walter Reed Medical Center in Virginia. This is where it starts to get really insane. Oh and where’s the Big Lebowski when you need him?

President Donald Trump railed against news media coverage of his recent visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at a rally in Sunrise, Florida, claiming it had been reported he'd had "a massive, unbelievable heart attack" -- and then adding he has "a gorgeous chest."

The president doubled down on the "gorgeous chest" claim Wednesday morning, tweeting a photo-shopped image of his face superimposed on what appeared to be the chiseled body of fictional boxer Rocky Balboa.

At his "homecoming" rally Tuesday night, Trump assured the crowd of supporters that his unannounced Nov. 17 visit to the medical facility was for a "a very routine physical." But the visit was not disclosed ahead of time, prompting questions about his health.

"They [the media] said he wasn't wearing a tie; this is a sign of a massive heart attack," Trump said, apparently referring to reporters noting he was not wearing a tie, as usual, as he got into his motorcade. "They said, he went into the hospital -- and it's true, I didn't wear a tie -- why would I wear a tie if the first thing they do is say take off your shirt, sir, and show us that gorgeous chest?"

Trump said that he hadn't worn a tie to Walter Reed because he knew he would've been asked to remove it, before continuing to mimic the supposed interaction with his doctors.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-denies-heart-attack-praises-gorgeous-chest-florida/story?id=67347844

I’m pretty sure that’s a live look in on how Trump sees himself! I mean doctors wouldn’t praise his “gorgeous chest”, they’re probably wondering what they can do to get in his heart in the event that he has a massive coronary! Which at this point is more likely to kill him than an assassin ever could. Yes, that went south so fast! Now here’s where you can boo. He of course blames everything on what else? The democrats.

The two diametrically opposed world views of President Donald Trump came together in one place Tuesday: the BB&T Center, where Trump held one of his signature rallies.

Inside, a devoted crowd welcomed home the president, who recently declared himself a Florida resident. Outside, protesters displayed scorn and fury, along with the Baby Trump balloon, the orange-haired inflatable infant clad in a diaper and clutching a cellphone.

Trump didn’t hold back. He whipped the crowd into a chant of “bullshit” when discussing the impeachment charges against him. He took shots at “Sleepy Joe Biden.” He railed against the “corrupt” media. He played up crowd favorites, declaring that he was building his wall. He addressed his health telling the crowd his “gorgeous chest” is just fine.

At one moment, he said he would defend Thanksgiving from anyone who would want to change its name, and he assured his fans he would easily win a second term.

“The crazy Democrats are going down in a landslide and that landslide is going to start right here in the great state of Florida," Trump said.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-donald-trump-sunrise-rally-homecoming-20191126-i2mgbnalprdkzfep55ulcohcfq-story.html

Wait, the democrats are the crazy ones? What are you smoking here, chief? I suggest that you take a look in the mirror. Because here’s the thing – Trump’s violent rhetoric is leading to real life violence and is actually becoming a public health hazard. Yes, Trump’s rallies are actually becoming a danger to not only your sanity, but to the greater good of public health!

Trump's violent rhetoric on the campaign trail breeds real-life violence, leading to a spike in assaults wherever Trump makes an appearance.

That's the conclusion of a new study, which found that cities experienced an increase in assaults on days when they hosted a Trump campaign rally. There was no corresponding link between the incidence of violence and rallies for Hillary Clinton.

"It appeared to be a phenomenon that’s unique to Donald Trump’s rally,” said Christopher Morrison, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and lead author of the study.

The study, published in the journal Epidemiology, looked at data on assaults surrounding 31 rallies in 22 cities for Trump, and 38 rallies in 21 cities for Clinton.

Comparing the number of assaults on the day of the rally to the number on the corresponding day of the week for the four weeks before and after the rally, the researchers found that cities had an average of 2.3 more assaults on the day of a Trump campaign rally than on a typical day.
https://americanindependent.com/trump-campaign-rally-violence-public-health-threat/

[font size="8"]Melania Trump
[br] [/font] [br]

Here’s my whole thing – if you are one of the biggest bullies on the planet, you might want to refrain from launching an anti-bullying campaign. Or it could come back to bite you in the ass. And especially when you hold such an event in a city that your husband has attacked relentlessly because reasons, and also racism. But yeah let’s go with racism. And what’s even weirder is that this was billed as an “anti-opioid” event but my favorite part is when they called this a “fight”. Really? What are they fighting and when have they ever given any indication that this is a fight?

Melania Trump was booed by a roomful of students in Baltimore on Tuesday when she took the stage to give a speech about youth opioid use, one of the pillars of her “Be Best” initiative.

A vocal crowd of middle school and high school students erupted in a mix of loud boos and some cheers as the first lady strode across the stage at the B’More Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness.

Mrs. Trump smiled through the unpleasant welcome, even as members of the crowd talked over her speech. “I’m in this fight for you, and I’m fighting for you,” Mrs. Trump said. “If you are struggling with addiction right now, reach out for support.” She encouraged the students to “talk to an adult in your life that you trust. It is never too late to ask for help.”

Mrs. Trump’s visit to Baltimore came just four months after President Trump dismissed the city as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.” He had maligned the city in a Twitter diatribe aimed at former Representative Elijah E. Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland who was a leading critic of the president. (Mr. Cummings died in October.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/us/politics/melania-trump-booed-baltimore.html

And no they are not yelling “boo urns” in this, they’re just straight up booing you! But also why combine your anti-opioid event with your anti-bullying event? I’m not saying both causes shouldn’t be worth fighting for but at least pick one event and stick with it. The message gets lost when you start combining things. Kind of like when you get a subscription service that has Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV. Ooh, I get Apple TV too!! But really here’s where it gets weird.

Melania Trump was loudly booed on Tuesday, as she addressed an event in Baltimore as part of White House attempts to fight America’s opioid abuse epidemic.

Donald Trump angered many in Baltimore this summer when in attacking the Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings, he referred to the city as a “rat and rodent infested mess”.

That prompted the Baltimore Sun newspaper to tell the president: “Better to have some vermin living in your neighbourhood than to be one.”

On Tuesday, the first lady attended the B’More Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness at University of Maryland Baltimore College.

She was introduced as “somebody who has made it their personal mission to use their platform to make a difference in this particular area, with wellness and addiction and particularly the opioid crisis that we’re living through right now”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/26/melania-trump-booed-opiod-summit-baltimore

Really Trump, you ought to take a look at your own resorts before you go off and criticize others for personal faults. I mean do we really need to point out how many times Mar-A-Lago has been plagued as a rat-infested shithole? I don’t think so! But really? Drugs will only slow you down? I mean have you seen modern professional baseball players? They take performance enhancers! Of course I miss the glory days of baseball when they took performance hinderers, but that’s a different story.

A crowd of students booed first lady Melania Trump as she was introduced Tuesday at a Baltimore youth summit on opioid awareness, where she told them that “drugs will only slow you down.”

The loud boos drowned out the cheers and applause of some in the crowd at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Event Center, but Trump smiled through it.

“I know each of you has hopes and dreams for the future, whether it’s college, joining the military or playing sports,” she told more than a thousand middle and high school students. “Your future will be determined by the choices you make. Using drugs will only slow you down.”

Trump was introduced by Jim Wahlberg — the brother of actor Mark Wahlberg — at the B’More Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness. The educational event was sponsored in part by the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, which raises funds for youth programs.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-melania-trump-baltimore-20191126-ij624bnau5drjkiyu6h36sa2bq-story.html

Well, at least Melania is a bit more sane than her husband, and that’s something about that family that we don’t say very often. But positive thinking is definitely not something these people should be preaching, have they heard themselves lately? This is absolute insanity. However, Donald could learn a lesson from his current wife on how to deal with his opponents.

[font size="8"]Kid Rock
[br] [/font] [br]

Normally this is the kind of thing we’d reserve for a “Beating A Dead Horse” segment but since this horse has been beaten to death so much that vultures are pecking at what little flesh is still on the bones of its’ rotting carcass, we must move on, damn it!. Yeah that description did get a bit too graphic. But the “dead horse” in question is that conservative white guys – in 2019 – still feel threatened by Oprah. I mean yeah that’s a thing. But how do we deal with this sort of thing? There’s no one in the world who’s a bigger snowflake than a conservative white Trump supporter. And no one more on the MAGA Trump train than Kid Rock.

Kid Rock was removed from the stage last week at his bar in Nashville after going on a drunken, profanity-laced rant against Oprah Winfrey.

In a video from TMZ, he also called out Joy Behar and Kathy Lee Gifford.

"I'm not a bad guy. I'm just an honest guy that says, 'Hey, I don't like Oprah Winfrey or Joy Behar. They can suck d*** sideways,'" he said. "Sorry, mom.... F*** Oprah. F*** Kathie [Lee] Gifford.... I'm not the bad in the equation. I'm the f***in' guy you want, like, 'Hey, he's pretty cool.'"

"Oprah Winfrey is like 'Hey, I just want women to believe in this s***.'" Rock said. "F*** her. She can suck d*** sideways. And if you say that, people say, 'Hey, I'm pretty sure Kid Rock's a racist.' I'm, like, 'Okay, fine. F*** off,'" he's heard in the video saying.
https://www.wxyz.com/news/kid-rock-goes-on-drunken-profanity-laced-rant-about-oprah

Really this might be what you would call “rock bottom”. Guess you could say that he’s changing his name to Kid Rock Bottom? I’ll show myself out. But of course this is one of those things where if you try to talk yourself out of it, you’ll only make things worse. Really, the less said, the better. But what do what’s left of Kid Rock’s fan base still think of this rant? Won’t somebody please think of Kid Rock’s fans!!!!! 2002 called, they want their talking point and their crappy nu-metal back!

Kid Rock tried to explain himself after a video surfaced showing him crudely ranting about Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities, but not all his fans are forgiving him. The "Bawitdaba" and "All Summer Long" singer was recorded at his Nashville bar, Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N' Roll Steakhouse, saying Winfrey and The View co-host Joy Behar "can suck d— sideways," among other insults such as one toward Kathie Lee Gifford. Kid Rock then attempted to explain himself on Facebook, to mixed reactions.

"My people tried to get me to do The Oprah Winfrey Show years ago and her people wanted me to write down 5 reasons why I loved her and her show... I said f— that and her. End of story. I am just saying what a lot of people think. Not saying I should be, but sometimes I just do. Oh well," he wrote. "I have a big mouth and drink too much sometimes, shocker! I also work hard and do a ton to help others out but that’s just back page news because the press hates [that] I love Trump, f— them too. I am what I am, I ain’t what I ain’t!

"PS And you haters and internet trolls can check my touring numbers and shut your ignorant asses up! Boom! PSS I did not get removed from MY OWN BAR (fake news) if anything I was leaving and the cops were helping me out…Hey, at least I don’t drink and drive!!"

He concluded by adding, "PSSS. Was it racist when I said "F— Joy Behar"??? and by the way... I love Kathy Lee Gifford (sic)."

When looking at the comments of the Facebook post, it's clear that many of the "Picture" and "Cowboy" singer fan's could not really care less about what he said. Many even agreed with him and praised him for "saying it like it is." Some also noted his charitable efforts.
https://popculture.com/country-music/2019/12/03/kid-rocks-fans-weigh-defense-heated-oprah-winfrey-rant/

?noredirect

Did he just go full Yosemite Sam on us? I ain’t what I ain’t???? What the hell kind of rootin’ tootin’… oh wait, this is Kid Rock we’re talking about here. I don’t think Kid Rock has a grasp of what constitutes popular culture since about 2003. And oh yeah he’s not currently part of the pop culture landscape except in the fantasy world of the MAGAs, which have incredibly poor taste in Z grade celebrities as we have come to know.

Rock's statement comes after a patron at his Nashville honky tonk captured video of him in a profanity-laced rant about Oprah Winfrey and others.

TMZ posted the video early Friday morning of Kid Rock swearing and slurring his words on stage, especially calling out Oprah, but also Joy Behar and Kathie Lee Gifford. This apparently occurred last week.

The "Cowboy" singer defended his tirade, saying, "I'm not the bad guy" and "I'm just an honest guy," while an onlooker can be heard calling him racist.

The video ends with him singing "Proud Mary," before security tends to him.

This time last year, Kid Rock was kicked out of the Nashville Christmas parade for calling Behar an expletive. However, he also paid off layaways for hundreds of families in Nashville.
https://fox17.com/news/local/kid-rock-responds-to-disparaging-oprah-remarks

That’s kind of how I would expect a conservative apology to go at this point. Yeah dude you were kicked out of being the grand marshall at the Nashville Christmas parade for this shit. When you’re in a hole, you know the first thing to do is stop digging! The more that you dig, the worse the hole gets, and really the only way to get out is to dig your way out. And this is someone who Trump admires, people!

"My people tried to get me to do The Oprah Winfrey show years ago and her people wanted me to write down 5 reasons why I loved her and her show. I said f--k that and her. End of story," Rock writes in a Facebook post. He adds that he was "just saying what a lot of people think."

"I have a big mouth and drink too much sometimes, shocker," Rock continues. "I also work hard and do a ton to help others out but that’s just back page news because the press hates I love Trump, f--k them too. I am what I am, I ain’t what I ain’t!"

Rock also feels that footage of security guards getting involved during his rant against Winfrey, which was first shared by TMZ, is being misinterpreted. "I did not get removed from MY OWN BAR (fake news)," the artist says. "If anything I was leaving and the cops were helping me out … Hey, at least I don’t drink and drive!"

During his rant, Rock also railed against The View host Joy Behar. In late 2019, Rock called Behar "a b---h" during a Fox News appearance, also suggesting that "people need to calm down [and] get a little less politically correct." He was subsequently removed as grand marshal of the 2018 Nashville Christmas Parade because of his comments.

Read More: Kid Rock on Oprah Rant: ‘I Have a Big Mouth and Drink Too Much' | https://theboot.com/kid-rock-oprah-rant-statement/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Working On Thanksgiving
[br] [/font] [br]

It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 investigates!

What’s it like to work on a national holiday when everyone else has the day off? As stores prepare for one of the biggest retail days of the year – that becomes a much greater challenge when the crowds being drawn to the sales get bigger and bigger every year. In fact the sales on Black Friday have started to spill over into the day before – Thanksgiving. And some aren’t having any of it, mainly the employers and what they have been putting their employees through. But this is where we come in. How were retail employees spending their day off? By working overtime with hardly any pay. This should not come as a shock to people who know giant retail chains like Wal-Mart and Kohl’s.

Some Walmart shoppers on social media are threatening to boycott the store after reading reports this week which say employees were offered discounts instead of overtime.

Walmart offered employees 10% and 15% discounts to use in the store instead of giving them holiday pay for working during the holiday, the Guardian reports.

The 15% discount is reportedly only available for employees to use over two days in December.

Walmart told Business Insider that the store policy of not offering holiday pay to employees is not new. The policy has been in place for multiple years.

“We simplified our paid-time-off policies in 2016 to combine vacation, holiday, sick and personal time into one bucket,” a Walmart spokesperson said. “As part of that change, we no longer offer holiday pay.”
https://myfox8.com/2019/11/30/walmart-faces-backlash-boycott-over-offering-employees-discounts-instead-of-holiday-pay/

No, you really don’t. While that seems like an almost certainly evil human resources move to make because it pleases the CFO, in reality, it makes workers miserable. And the Wal-Mart Corporation is not the only big box chain pushing this narrative. But they’re not the only chain questioning whether or not they should remain open during the one day every American has off. Or they should have it off anyways.

As retailers and malls battle for shoppers during the holiday season, they face a tricky decision: do they keep their doors open on Thanksgiving Day, or close to give their workers the holiday off?
Bolstered by low unemployment, rising wages and strong consumer confidence, retailers are preparing for a busy shopping weekend from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.
An estimated 165 million people are likely to shop over the five-day stretch, according to a survey by the lobbying group National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, a consulting firm.
And about a quarter of them say they will make their purchases on the holiday itself this week, up from both 2017 and 2018. "We expect the biggest increase in potential shoppers for Thanksgiving Day this year," said Phil Rist, executive vice president of strategy at Prosper Insights.

"Customers have shown that they want to shop on Thanksgiving evening," a spokesperson for Best Buy said. "We want to be there to serve those customers and need to be open for that to happen."
Shopping on the holiday has risen in recent years because so many stores are crammed with customers scrambling to take advantage of Black Friday doorbuster sales, experts say.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/27/business/thanksgiving-stores-open-walmart-target-best-buy/index.html

No actually, he has money. It’s the ones who don’t who are doomed for all eternity. So with this rather Scrooge-like move, Wal-Mart is basically telling its’ employees where they can stick it. And if you’re not getting paid why bother to work? Because you’ll get fired when you don’t show up. And that’s a win for the CEO. After all he’s the one who is sitting comfortably in his ivory tower. Advertising is making everything worse and we’re the ones stuck with it.

The holidays are around the corner, and retailers across the country are gearing up for the shopping mayhem.

To encourage workers during what is historically a high-pressure time for retail, companies use different motivational techniques and perks for their employees.

For Walmart, employees who work on Thanksgiving get a free dinner, a spokesperson for the company confirmed. Additionally, Walmart employees who work from November 27 to November 30 get 15% off a variety of products on top of their usual 10% employee discount. Black Friday falls on November 29 this year.

Walmart stores will operate regular hours on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, though the retailer is closed on Christmas.

The Walmart holiday dinner varies from store to store. The company's more than 4,500 store leaders execute the dinner in a way that makes it unique for each store and team, a Walmart spokesperson said.
https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-employees-get-thanksgiving-meal-holidays-2019-11

That may be but nobody wants to be on the receiving end of an employee uprising. And we’re not sure how this has not happened just yet. But this is one time of the year that brings out the calls for a Black Friday Boycott. However, that’s not going to happen. There’s always going to be someone to need to have that $299 mixer or that $699 television. And for those people we must suffer until the end of time.

Every year, calls go out to boycott Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when some stores offer deep discounts. Struggling to compete with internet retailers, brick-and-mortar stores — according to Good Housekeeping Magazine, Kohl's, Macys and Best Buy, among others — have started opening on Thanksgiving Day, drawing still more ire, mostly from folks who weren't planning to shop that day anyway.

Many retail boycotters show little interest in getting input from the people who actually have to work those hours. Many of these, no doubt, would rather be with their families; others may need the time-and-a-half most employers pay on holidays.

We can all agree that some essential services — hospitals, police and fire departments, gas stations, utility companies — need to be open on holidays.

Clearly essential services don't, or shouldn't, include retail. Or football, even if you really like watching it.

But we never seem to examine the other industries that violate our sense of holiday propriety.
https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/nancy-kaffer/2019/11/26/working-thanksgiving-holiday-pay-shopping/4298521002/

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

My fair congregation! I come before you today to ask you the question that has been plaguing us since we started this thing. Is the person who ascends to the highest office in the land the proverbial “chosen one” as depicted by my brothers and sisters on the right? Well, many on the right, now, are claiming that the president is chosen by GAWD! So does that mean that if the president is an asshole that GAWD is also an asshole? If they support the unholy, ungodly Dark One, then my prophecy stands true! So why don’t we ask his spiritual advisor, Ms. Paula White!

Paula White, a prosperity gospel preacher who has been a key spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump for years and who recently joined the White House staff, appeared on “The Exceptional Conservative Show” last week, where she said that she continues to stand by Trump despite his pathological lying, misogyny, and complete lack of morals because abandoning him would reflect poorly on her own character.

When White was asked why she supports Trump even though he brags about sexually assaulting women, she insisted that Trump’s comment about his behavior was an anomaly and that, as his pastor, she was obligated to stand by him.

“It wasn’t a habit. It wasn’t a lifestyle, but all of us have parts of our life that we wish the whole world didn’t know,” White said. “When Mr. Trump was watching Christian television, a relationship developed and I became his pastor. So now, when he gets into politics—I mean, think about what this would say about my character? Because it’s not comfortable, now I am going to abandon you because it’s not convenient for me? Because people think you’re something that you’re not and they try to get you in a soundbite and you are a New York brash businessman, what, I’m going to abandon this now? What would that say about who I am?”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/paula-white-thinks-abandoning-trump-would-reflect-poorly-on-her-own-character/

Well now that may be good sir, but who is the DAYVIL in this case? Now we all know that the unholy, ungodly Dark One’s name must never be uttered in my church, for he is the ungodliest of all, and that’s the one rule that we have here in the house of the LAWRD JAYSUS! And we musn’t shun those who are indoctrinated in the beliefs of the Dark One, no! But that said, we will never claim that he is the chosen one!

Fox News' Fox & Friends show on Sunday showed a preview of an interview in which soon-to-depart Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said Donald Trump was God's "chosen one" to be president of the United States.

In the interview conducted as Trump faces an impeachment inquiry, Perry implied that Trump is imperfect and that is fine.

"God's used imperfect people all through history," Perry said, naming several Biblical figures. "King David wasn't perfect, Saul wasn't perfect, Solomon wasn't perfect."

Perry added that he gave Trump "a little one-pager on those Old Testament kings" about month ago.

"I shared it with him and said, 'Mr. President, I know there are people that say you said you were the chosen one and I said, 'You were,'" Perry remarked. "I said, 'If you're a believing Christian, you understand God's plan for the people who rule and judge over us on this planet in our government.'"

That was the end of the preview clip and Fox News chief national correspondent Ed Henry claimed that fewer people on the left attack Perry.
https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-rick-perry-trump-god-1473773

No! That is not what we are saying at all! I mean really Brother Perry, why would you go ahead and make such a claim? And shame on you Fox for peddling LIES!! So many lies!!! Those who do in fact support the unholy Dark One are more in tune with a doomsday cult. And it is a doomsday cult because they do believe that the world is ending, and it is ending soon!

The Reverend Franklin Graham has described opposition to President Donald Trump as being “demonic” in a recent interview with author and radio personality Eric Metaxas.

In an interview with Metaxas posted to YouTube last Thursday, Metaxas asked Graham his opinion on the current political climate, especially those opposed to President Trump.

“What do you think of what is happening now? I mean it is a very bizarre situation, to be living in a country where some people seem to exist to undermine the president of the United States,” asked Metaxas.

Graham described what Metaxas was talking about as “almost a demonic power,” which led the radio host to interject and say that he did not believe the term “almost” should be included.

“It is a spiritual battle,” agreed Graham, who then touted the Trump administration’s handling of the economy, saying that the nation has “an economy that is just screaming forward.”
https://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-labels-trump-opposition-demonic-rick-perry-labels-trump-chosen-one.html

Well we should be getting some money, but the only GAWD that you know Rev. Graham is the almighty dollar! So why are these people so obsessed with making the unholiest among us into the godliest among us? It’s like the woman who’s in an abusive relationship who refuses to give her boyfriend / husband the heave ho. You can’t change someone like that, and we know, for we have tried. Oh LAWRD we have tried!

Yeah that’s probably a poor choice of words there Reverend. But before you go this week, why are they so obsessed with sexual perversion? That is what we need to discuss! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Cancel Culture
[br] [/font] [br]

Here’s the question on the table – if Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube were around during World War II, do you think we would be living in a world controlled by the Nazis? Hate and nationalism, the kind that Hitler peddled back in the day, are as popular as they’ve ever been, and they are toppling whole governments, flipping others to the ultra far right, and leaving things as skewed and divided as they’ve ever been. But that said, that hypothetical situation is more relevant today than it’s ever been. Leave it to the one actor in Hollywood who’s not afraid to call out bullshit, and that’s Sascha Baron Cohen (“Borat”, “Talladega Nights”), for shedding some light on the subject. But is he right or wrong? Well this interview is a tough pill to swallow, but he said exactly what needed to be said.

The "Borat" actor Sacha Baron Cohen launched a full-throated attack against tech companies and accused them of allowing hate speech to proliferate on their platforms in a 25-minute speech to the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday night.

Cohen said a "handful of internet companies" were facilitating "the greatest propaganda machine in history."

Though Cohen mentioned Google, Twitter, and Facebook in his speech, his sharpest criticism was reserved for Mark Zuckerberg.

Cohen referred to a speech Zuckerberg gave at Georgetown University last month outlining where he thinks Facebook should draw the line on regulating free speech on its platform. Cohen dismantled Zuckerberg's speech point by point.

"First, Zuckerberg tried to portray this whole issue as 'choices around free expression.' That is ludicrous," Cohen said. "This is not about limiting anyone's free speech. This is about giving people, including some of the most reprehensible people on earth, the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet. Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach."

The comedian added that while the First Amendment prevents the government from limiting free expression, private companies have control over what they allow.
https://www.businessinsider.com/sacha-baron-cohen-adl-speech-mark-zuckerberg-silicon-valley-2019-11

No that’s not the question that we’re asking here. See the thing is whenever a conservative says something racist or sexist, and they go to “Twitter Jail” for saying something racist or sexist, then they are quick to call shadow banning, and they’ve held almost as many Congressional hearings on the subject as they did on Benghazi. But Mr. Cohen is definitely not wrong here.

Sacha Baron Cohen used an analogy involving a restaurant owner and neo-Nazis to tear into Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s claim that the social media platform champions freedom of expression.

The British actor and comedian posted a scathing thread on Twitter in which he dubbed Zuckerberg’s speech at Georgetown University on Thursday “disingenuous” and reminded the billionaire that “he is not the government, but the owner of a private business and not subject to the 1st Amendment!”

“If he owned a fancy restaurant and 4 neo-Nazis came goose-stepping into the dining room and were talking loudly about wanting to kill ‘Jewish scum,’ would he serve them an elegant eight-course meal? Or would tell them to get the f**k out of his restaurant? It’s the same thing,” added the “Borat” star.

“He has every legal right, indeed a moral duty, to tell them to get the f**k out of his restaurant,” concluded Cohen, who last year pranked numerous political figures with his satirical Showtime series “Who Is America?” and most recently portrayed real-life Mossad agent Eli Cohen in Netflix’s thriller “The Spy.”

Zuckerberg’s address also drew criticism from Bernice King, the daughter of the late civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. Zuckerberg in his speech alluded to the role of freedom of expression in the civil rights movement.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sacha-baron-cohen-facebook-mark-zuckerberg_n_5da98d5be4b0e71d65b73a67

Now that is a good point – do you serve a group of Neo Nazis or do you tell them to get the fuck out and never come back? It’s a simple matter of common courtesy. But yeah, we’re on the side of fuck Nazis, and always have been, and always will be. But is social media the greatest propaganda machine in the history of the world? Yeah probably. I mean it’s either that or Josef Stalin’s propaganda network, and he’s the guy who invented it!

Sacha Baron Cohen has had it with social media.

Speaking at the Anti Defamation League's International Leadership summit, where he was accepting an award, the actor and comedian criticized social media — especially Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube — as "the greatest propaganda machine in history."

Baron Cohen blamed the tech companies for stoking the fires of bigotry and enabling the spread of dangerous conspiracies, often fueled by algorithms designed to keep consumers hooked.

As just one example, the actor cited Facebook's recently unveiled news section, which includes the far-right website Breitbart as one of its sources.

As another, he pointed the finger at social media companies for the way they provided far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his fringe media outlet InfoWars with platforms and millions of views until banning him amid a wave of criticism last year.
https://www.channel3000.com/entertainment/sacha-cohen-social-media-greatest-propaganda-machine-in-history/1145255205

Well this is a comedy show, sir! Of course we’re joking! But the most interesting part of all of this was that this was said in front of a speech at the Anti-Defamation League, a group whose mission it is to fight anti-semitism. And we have people like that in the White House and working all around the world right now, and it’s scary to think what is happening. People are developing a preference to live under dictators, and that will not end well in any situation. So was Mr. Cohen right or wrong? We will see!

Sacha Baron Cohen accepted the International Leadership Award at the Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now summit on anti-Semitism and hate Thursday. And the comedian and actor used his keynote speech to single out the one Jewish-American who he believes is doing the most to facilitate “hate and violence” in America: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

He began with a joke at the Trump administration’s expense. “Thank you, ADL, for this recognition and your work in fighting racism, hate and bigotry,” Baron Cohen said, according to his prepared remarks. “And to be clear, when I say ‘racism, hate and bigotry’ I’m not referring to the names of Stephen Miller’s Labradoodles.”

Baron Cohen went on to acknowledge the incongruity of the man who popularized the phrase “throw the Jew down the well”—as the anti-Semitic Kazakh character Borat—accepting an award from the ADL. “At times, some critics have said my comedy risks reinforcing old stereotypes,” he admitted, defending himself by explaining, “as a comedian, I’ve tried to use my characters to get people to let down their guard and reveal what they actually believe, including their own prejudice.”

But as he laid out with examples from Da Ali G Show and his more recent Showtime series Who Is America?, his humor only works when the majority of viewers “share the same facts.” For instance, he said, “When Borat got that bar in Arizona to agree that ‘Jews control everybody’s money and never give it back,’ the joke worked because the audience shared the fact that the depiction of Jews as miserly is a conspiracy theory originating in the Middle Ages.” Social media has changed all of that.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sacha-baron-cohen-uses-adl-speech-to-tear-apart-mark-zuckerberg-and-facebook

[font size="8"]No!: Papa John’s Greasy Interview
[br] [/font] [br]

Who doesn’t love a good pizza? It’s crunchy, it’s cheesy, it’s saucy. It has all the properties of what one might call the perfect food. But with one of the best foods known to man, there’s also a lot of crap. And that’s where our old friend John Schnatter, aka Papa John comes in. Yes, we’ve talked at length about Papa John’s foray into white supremacy (see: Top 10 #5-5 and Top 10 #3-21 ) but he never seems to shut up or go away. So what’s he got into this week? Well, Papa John admits that he might have overdosed on his own product. But as eating as much pizza as he did won’t kill you, it will just give you a case of the cheese fat and meat sweats. And we’re not going to play one of our usual hilarious memes or clips, we’re just going to sit back and let the interview do the talking.

Papa John’s founder and ousted chairman thinks the pizza chain has changed its recipe.

“I’ve had over 40 pizzas in the last 30 days, and it’s not the same pizza, it’s not the same product,” John Schnatter said in an interview with Fox affiliate WDRB in Louisville, Kentucky.

After Schnatter built the company on “better ingredients, better pizza,” Papa John’s ousted him as chairman in July 2018, leading him to file several lawsuits against the company. He dismissed his claims as part of a settlement with Papa John’s and has been selling off his stake in the chain.

Schnatter’s resignation had followed his use of a racially charged word on a conference call in May 2018.

In the interview, Schnatter said former CEO Steve Ritchie, who resigned from Papa John’s in August, and the board of directors used the incident to “steal the company.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/26/papa-johns-founder-says-the-pizza-tastes-different-after-eating-more-than-40-in-30-days.html

"I never dreamed that people that I cared about, that I loved, that I made multimillionaires, would do what they did," Schnatter said.

In an exclusive interview with WDRB News, Schnatter said the May 2018 conference call that started it all was made up.

"They fabricated it," he said. "Shame on them."

Schnatter admitted he used the "N word" during an internal conference call on diversity training. But he said he did it to convey his hatred of racism and was quoting another famous founder.

"This is all a farce," he said. "Nothing sells like the truth, and the truth, sooner or later, all comes out."

He said insiders used that as an opportunity to push him out.
https://www.wdrb.com/news/as-papa-john-s-moves-on-without-its-founder-john/article_b249cd6a-0fd0-11ea-98be-57e90d623b95.html

Here’s the thing, Papa John, you can’t be racist to condemn your hatred of racists. You see time and time again we’ve gone over how you just can’t say “I’m not racist, but…” to prove you’re not a racist, because it doesn’t prove that you’re a racist! It’s kind of like when a prominent black celebrity dies and Fox News posts a picture of somebody else who’s not them. But really you can’t say racist shit and then make a stupid claim like that.

Schnatter resigned as Papa John's chairman in 2018 after admitting to using the N-word during a company conference call earlier that year. The Papa John's founder had stepped down as CEO in December 2017 following backlash for his criticism of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem before games to protest police brutality.

In the WDRB News interview, Schnatter described his ousting as a "farce." He slammed Papa John's new leaders, including Steve Ritchie, who replaced him as CEO, and the board members Olivia Kirtley and Mark Shapiro, both of whom Schnatter said "should be in jail."

"They stole the company, and now they've destroyed the company," Schnatter said.

Schnatter told WDRB News that he believes the truth about his ousting has yet to emerge.

"The day of reckoning will come," Schnatter said.

Papa John's did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The interview went viral after the writer Timothy Burke tweeted a clip in which Schnatter's voice appears to have been slowed down.
https://www.businessinsider.com/papa-johns-ex-ceo-john-schnatter-slams-pizza-chain-2019-11

Well of course anything is funnier when it’s in slow motion! Especially when the subject at hand has his heart literally clogged with grease and a bad case of the meat sweats! And also “the day of reckoning will come”? WTF? Is he in Game O f Thrones or something? But the real take away from this interview is come on, 40 pizzas in 30 days. I mean just… damn. Really, is it getting old to your taste buds at that point or is the fat going straight to your head? And by the way if you’re trying to get back in with the company you founded that you got fired from, maybe slamming them isn’t the best way to go about doing things.

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter is speaking out over a year after he resigned in July 2018 following backlash over his use of the N-word on a conference call.

In a recent interview with WDRB, Schnatter, 58, claimed that his ouster was “a set-up” and a “farce,” and slammed both the company and the taste of its pizza.

“I’ve had over 40 pizzas in the last 30 days, and it’s not the same pizza,” he said. “It’s not the same product. It just doesn’t taste as good. The way they’re making the pizza is just not fundamental to what makes a Papa John’s pizza.”

Schnatter added: “I feel so negative and pessimistic about the company that I’ve sold a lot of stock.”

As for the call that sparked his resignation, Schantter said in the interview that he “didn’t say anything that was racist.” (Schnatter was reportedly quoting KFC founder Colonel Sanders on the call, but he has not previously denied that he used the N-word.)
https://people.com/food/papa-johns-founder-john-schnatter-slams-the-company/

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
[br] [/font] [br]

Hit it!

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, and they just seem to rack up don’t they? And I want to do something a bit different this week, I want to start with some history. Well they say that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it right? Well, I hate to break it to you, but stupid people existed during World War II. In fact one of the best victories from the allies happened not because they managed to defeat a technologically advanced German sub, but that the sub defeated itself. How you might ask? I answer you – it was poop. Yup, a toilet flushing under heavy underwater pressure managed to sink itself.

One of the most spectacular, albeit minor, Allied victories of World War II had absolutely no Allied involvement whatsoever.

It came in the form of the Nazi submarine U-1206. The Type VIIC boat was a technological marvel armed with two anti-aircraft guns, five torpedo tubes, and most impressively, a complex toilet that could flush waste into the ocean from deep below the surface.

So complex was the sub’s plumbing apparatus that each crewman of the U-1206 needed to be specially potty trained on its operational capabilities prior to its April 1945 launch from Kristiansand, Norway — a matter of weeks before the war in Europe ended.

The boat was just eight days into its maiden patrol when its captain, 27-year-old Karl-Adolf Schlitt, heard nature’s call to expel the sort of bodily ordnance that rhymed with his name.

The captain’s constitutional relief, however, soon turned to psychological stress when the complicated flushing mechanism proved too difficult for the young officer to operate.

Schiltt summoned an engineer for help, but when the crewman confidently turned an incorrect valve, a mixture of sewage and seawater burst through the compartment and spread to other parts of the submarine.
https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2019/11/26/this-nazi-sub-was-sunk-when-its-captain-took-a-dump/

Well to be fair, it *WAS* their first day. Next up – we go to the great state of Wisconsin. And for this one, you can make all the “happy to see me” jokes you want, but I don’t think any ER doctors out there would want to admit that they’ve found this up the place where the sun don’t shine.

A would-be shoplifter used a rather strange tactic in an attempt make off with some merchandise, said the shop owner.

They said surveillance video at their store, Voigt Music Center in downtown Janesville, caught the cheeky thief in the act. In the video, you can see the man has a massive flute sticking up out of his pants.

“That was shocking, that part. I couldn’t help but laugh about it,” said Tony Farrell, owner of the music shop.

Farrell says the man milled around the store for a bit before zeroing in on the flute.

“He took it right off the wall and walked right over here with it in his hand,” said Farrell. “He went right behind where a camera is and put it down the back of his pants. It was just so ridiculous. I just would not expect someone to be so stupid that they would hide something right in front of a security camera."
https://www.wwnytv.com/2019/10/07/man-tries-steal-flute-by-sticking-it-down-back-his-pants-shop-owner-says/

OK Mark Cuban is giving you the facepalm! Speaking of being worthy of a Mark Cuban facepalm, here’s the thing people. You should never, ever use your phone while driving. Doesn’t matter if you’re finding a good song to play or tweeting or just about anything else for that matter. But one thing you should never do? Watch TV while you drive. That’s right. This happened.

A man was arrested by a sheriff's deputy on Monday morning after he was stopped for allegedly watching a TV show while driving, according to a court filing.

Griffen Vogelgesang-Maurer, 18, of Iowa City, was arrested and charged with first-offense operating while under the influence and first-offense possession of marijuana. Both charges are classified as serious misdemeanors.

At around 7:11 a.m. on Monday, November 18, a Johnson County Sheriff's Office deputy said he spotted Vogelgesang-Maurer watching South Park on his smartphone while driving, leading to him pulling his 2003 Oldsmobile Alero near the intersection of E Jefferson Street and N Dodge Street.

The deputy stated in a criminal complaint that the vehicle Vogelgesang-Maurer was driving smelled strongly of marijuana. He allegedly admitted to recently smoking and handed over the drug along with a pipe and a grinder. He showed signs of impairment during field sobriety tests and submitted to a breath test which registered a .00 BAC, leading to the deputy to believe that he was under the influence of marijuana.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/110317205

Next up – we of course can’t do a People Are Dumb segment without mentioning America’s most penis-shaped state. The state of Florida, the Sunshine State. Which of course is home to some of the craziest people on the planet. Really, what are they putting in the water in Florida? Well they’re definitely putting something in the drinking supply – and the drinking supply!

A Florida Man whose Ford truck carries a “Don’t Drink & Drive” bumper sticker was arrested Friday night for drunk driving after he “rear ended a stopped vehicle in front of him,” cops report.

Sergio Ferreira, 56, was driving “about 35-40 mph” when he slammed into a car at an intersection near his home in Largo. The impact caused the second vehicle to go forward and strike another car.

The occupants of the other autos did not require hospital treatment.

When contacted by police, Ferreira “staggered as he walked, swayed as he stood” and smelled of alcohol. Seen above, Ferreira, who refused to provide a breath sample, was arrested after performing poorly on a series of field sobriety tests.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/bumper-stickers/dont-drink-sergio-652098

Finally this week for People Are Dumb – once again sticking with the Sunshine State and also stupid people doing dumb things, never, ever under any circumstances impersonate a cop. It will just plain not end well for you. And this happened.

A man from Plant City, Florida, wanted to be a police officer so much that he had a siren box, light set-up and even a band radio installed in his black Crown Victoria vehicle.

But Barry Lee Hastings Jr had one thing missing - a badge stating that he was the real thing.

As an example of how into his character he was, the 35-year-old pulled in behind a vehicle heading east on Interstate 4 and even flashed at him to pull over, Fox 13 reported.

It turned out he had picked the wrong car because its driver happened to be an off-duty Lee County deputy.

After Hastings had told him that he needed to "slow down", the real officer was suspicious and asked him for his credentials.
https://www.newsweek.com/florida-man-impersonating-cop-hastings-plant-city-1447749?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep. 16: Buttigieg A Racist?
[br] [/font] [br]

Welcome back to our 2020 voters’ guide Keeping Up With The Candidates! Now we are almost at the end of this first season of a very long election year. Now my original intent with this guide was that we were going to discuss all 24 of the candidates who are running to become the 46th president of the United States and unseat @realDonaldTrump. But since the numbers are being reduced drastically, we have instead decided to make it about the issues that matter most. And the issues that matter this week you might ask? Is Pete Buttigieg a racist? Well as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, he has certainly seen a lot of very troubling scenarios rise. So you might be asking how did this start? Well I answer you it started with a photograph. No, don’t cue Nickelback.

Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign responded Monday to criticism over its use of a stock image of a Kenyan woman on a campaign webpage promoting the South Bend, Indiana, mayor's plan to address racial inequality.

Buttigieg spokesman Sean Savett said in a tweet that the photograph was taken down "months ago as part of a regular update."

"We apologize for its use and for the confusion it created," Savett said, noting that the use of stock photos is "standard practice across many campaigns." He said that the image was selected by a contractor and that the website it was taken from did not make clear that the photo was taken in Kenya.

In July, Buttigieg unveiled "The Douglass Plan" – named in honor of abolitionist hero Frederick Douglass – which his website describes as "a comprehensive and intentional dismantling of racist structures and systems." To achieve that goal, it promises changes to the criminal justice and health care systems, as well as an expansion of investment and credit in black communities.

The Intercept reported Friday that three politicians, who were included in a list that was promoted by the campaign of more than 400 South Carolinians who support the plan, said they had been mischaracterized as endorsing Buttigieg. Johnnie Cordero, chair of the state party’s Black Caucus, said he never backed the plan, which he called "entirely presumptuous."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/11/18/pete-buttigieg-campaign-stock-photo-kenya/4229836002/

God damn it. But doing some deep diving on this subject it appears to be more than just a photograph but that’s where we are at in 2019. It turns out there’s some very troubling things that are a foot in Pete’s district. But then again what’s happening with police isn’t just happening with them in the city of South Bend, Indiana, it’s happening all over the country!

Pete Buttigieg wasn’t much of a pot smoker in college. But coming home from a party one evening, he bumped into a friend of a friend smoking a joint. Buttigieg later recalled that he acted out of curiosity. “Oh, is that — ?” the young Buttigieg said. “And she handed it to me.”

At precisely that moment, a police car pulled up. He quickly tossed the joint over his shoulder. Luckily for Buttigieg, it was a campus cop. Unluckily, he quickly found the roach on the sidewalk, berated Buttigieg, had him place his hands on the trunk, and searched him. Finding nothing more, he sped off, leaving Buttigieg with a story he still tells today of the first time he realized what it means to be privileged. “If I were not white, the odds of that having been something that would have derailed my life are exponentially higher,” he said at an event this spring. “It’s one of many reasons why I think we have to end the war on drugs and move towards the legalization of marijuana.”

It’s a theme Buttigieg returns to often. In July, at an event in Iowa, he shot down a racist question from an audience member by responding, “The fact that a black person is four times as likely as a white person to be incarcerated for the exact same crime is evidence of systemic racism.” When pressed by fact-checkers on his claim, he said that he was referring to the racial disparity in marijuana arrests nationwide, citing an American Civil Liberties Union study that found black people were 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for pot than whites.
https://theintercept.com/2019/11/26/pete-buttigieg-south-bend-marijuana-arrests/

Yeah you might as well have Chief Wiggum and his crew in charge of things! But here’s the thing in a time when everyone is divided, it seems that Mayor Pete is beginning to shoot himself in the foot on the subject of race. And that’s one thing that you don’t want to fall off the fucking cliff on when the other side embraces white supremacy and white nationalism! So why don’t voters trust Mayor Pete on the issues that matter?

When South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg first entered the race, to be honest, I was mesmerized. He struck me as young, but brilliant. He spoke with compassion for the least of these and, led by his faith, he invoked the kind of Christianity long missing from the national discourse—one that is inclusive, wrapped in love and equality, and that believes the test of us brings out the best in us.

That he is gay and married was of no consequence to me, although I knew it would be for some. I wanted to believe that he would be the sort of candidate who challenged us to higher ground, but met us at our point of need. He has spent nearly every day since proving me wrong.

I had continued to give him the benefit of the doubt until learning of his past attempt to build a coalition with Tea Party activists—a movement fueled by white supremacy, bigotry and xenophobia in the midst of the Obama administration—as he campaigned for statewide office in Indiana, rather than creating alliances with people of color. As the Tea Party pledged to “take America back,” setting the stage for Trump’s MAGA campaign, Buttigieg found them worthy partners.

Wednesday night, he will have to answer for that when the Democratic field of candidates convene in my city, Atlanta, to debate the issues of the day. They will assemble at Tyler Perry Studios, which is fitting when you consider that sprawling facility was built by a black man on land once commanded by Confederate forces. If there is a capital of black America, it is Atlanta.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-is-why-black-voters-dont-trust-mayor-pete-buttigieg

Yeah no Pete, you do not want to build a bridge to the Tea Party, they will burn it down and throw you under the bus which will then drive off a cliff. Because that’s the kind of assholes that they are. Instead you should be trying to build a bridge with the African American community. Which as we’ve proven, is something not to be screwed with, as there’s no such thing as a sure thing. I mean shit even Kanye is sporting a MAGA hat these days and we don’t want anyone to go to the Dark Side do we? Enjoy that surge in the polls while it lasts because you don’t know where it’s going to lead.

At a private fundraiser in California on Friday, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg suggested that black voters in South Carolina preferred former Vice President Joe Biden because of a perception of “familiarity,” even though Biden isn’t “the candidate with the best answers on the subject of race.”

Asked by a guest in attendance at a meet-and-greet event at Thunderbird Heights in Rancho Mirage how he anticipated “engaging the black community to get greater support,” Buttigieg said, “So what’s working for us best right now in engaging the black community is two things: First, substance. And secondly, engagement.” The private event followed a reception at the Andreas Hills Private Resort in Palm Springs, hosted by Rich Weissman, a former Bank of America executive.

On Biden, who has been leading the polls in South Carolina, Buttigieg said, “There’s one candidate who’s got a far and away lead in South Carolina. I actually don’t think it’s because it’s the candidate with the best answers on the subject of race. I think it’s because it’s the candidate who’s got the most familiarity.”

Over the last week, Buttigieg has surged in the polls in some early primary states. A poll last week from CNN and the Des Moines Register showed him with 25 percent among potential Democratic caucus attendees in Iowa, a 16-point jump from the same poll in September. He’s also seen a major increase in New Hampshire, where one poll released Wednesday has him pulling ahead of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Biden. While Biden is the overall frontrunner, with Sens. Bernie Sanders and Warren jockeying for second and third in recent national polls, the former vice president has recently lost ground in South Carolina and other early primary states, including Iowa and New Hampshire, in addition to Florida. According to a Quinnipiac poll released Monday, Buttigieg is polling at less than 1 percent among black voters in South Carolina, while Biden had 44 percent.
https://theintercept.com/2019/11/20/pete-buttigieg-black-voters-south-carolina/

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

Well next week we were going to discuss Joe Biden’s bizarre “No Malarky” slogan but instead we must bid adieu to the Kamala Harris campaign. Which sadly, is no more.

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]The Pixies[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest their latest album is called “Beneath The Eyrie”. You can see them on tour… oh they’re playing next week at the Troubadour! Playing their song “This Is My Fate”, give it up for the Pixies!

Thank you Stanford! This was fun! We’re back home at USC next week! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: Stanford Choir Club, Palo Alto, CA
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
The Pixies Appear Courtesy Of: BMG Rights Management
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
New! Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

December 1, 2019

Preview For This Week's Top 10 Conservative Idiots

Well yeah, you eat 40 pizzas in 30 days it's definitely not going to start tasting that good. That shit's going to start coming out of your pores! I don't think I've seen a case of the meat sweats that badly since I attempted the 2 for 1 Tuesdays challenge at Buffalo Wild Wings. Needless to say I don't see that happening ever again!

**audience laughs and applauds**

This week's Top 10 is live from Stanford University! Trump sets up a fake university sting operation, Melania gets booed promoting anti-bullying, Trump goes to Afghanistan for a photo op, we check in with our friends across the pond, Papa John gives a greasy interview, and Sascha Cohen claims that Facebook has gone full Nazi. Plus in our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates, as stores are opening earlier and earlier for the retail's "Black Friday", we find out what it's like to actually work on Thanksgiving. And in our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", is the president the chosen one? Our resident pastor has some thoughts on Rick Perry's insane interview. We also have a new People Are Dumb, because of course they are! And in our 2020 voters' guide "Keeping Up With The Candidates", is Pete Buttigieg a racist? After some claims are made in an insane op ed, we get to the bottom of it to find out what's up! Plus we have some live music from the legendary Pixies!

Top 10 Conservative Idiots: Wed at 2:00 PM /shameless self promotion

November 27, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #12: Thanksgiving Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #12: Thanksgiving Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Oh hello! I know, right? I can’t believe how fast this year is going. You know we are tidying up our mobile set while we prepare to go to Stanford for the home stretch. We have just three Top 10s left in the year before we cast aside this insane year that was 2019. And those dates are 12/4 at Stanford University, 12/11 at USC, and 12/18 at UCLA, which is also where we held the final for our 3rd annual Stupidest State contest. What can you expect for season 8? Well you can expect a whole lot of conservative idiocy plus all of our usual favorite segments and some new ones that will pop up. And since this is a year when we will hopefully elect the successor to @realDonaldTrump, the mud and feces (probably) will be flinging, and it will be coming very fast and very furious. Conservative idiocy will be amped up way past 10 and it will be on stage for the entire world to see. We will also be continuing our college tour for a bit into the better part of season 8, but season 9 we will be going international! Yes, you can expect us to go back to London and we will also be hitting Europe, Canada and we will be doing a show in Tijuana! Yes, Tijuana! No, there won’t be any donkey sex involved, sorry, Kevin Smith fans. But there will be plenty of insanity along the way. With that in mind, drum roll, here are the Top 10 season 8 tour dates!

- 1/8/20 – Syracuse, NY – Syracuse University (rescheduled from 8/28/19)
- 1/15/20 – Amherst, MA – University Of Massachusetts
- 1/22/20 – Washington, DC – Georgetown University
- 1/29/20 – Coral Gables, FL – University Of Florida, Miami
- 2/5/20 – Tallahassee, FL – Florida State University
- 2/12/20 - Nashville, TN – Vanderbilt University (Valentine’s Day Special!)
- 2/19/20 – Ann Arbor, MI – University Of Michigan
- 2/26/20 – Madison, WI – University Of Wisconsin
- 3/4/20 – Witchita, KS – Witchita State University (Stupidest State Selection Sunday)
- 3/11/20 – Dark
- 3/18/20 – Norman, OK – University Of Oklahoma (Stupidest State Round 1 Week 1)
- 3/25/20 – Albuquerque, NM – University Of New Mexico (Stupidest State Round 1 Week 2)
- 4/1/20 – Phoenix, AZ – University Of Arizona (Stupidest State Round 1 Week 3)
- 4/8/20 – Denver, CO – University Of Colorado (Stupidest State Round 1 Week 4)
- 4/15/20 – DARK (Best Of)
- 4/22/20 – Chico, CA – Chico State University (Stupidest State Round 2 Week 1)
- 4/29/20 – Corvallis, OR – Oregon State University (Stupidest State Round 2 Week 2)
- 5/6/20 – Seattle, WA – University Of Washington (Stupidest State Round 2 Week 3)
- 5/13/20 – Riverside, CA – University Of California, Riverside (Stupidest State Round 2 Week 4)
- 5/20/20 – San Diego, CA – University Of California, San Diego (Stupidest State Final Four)
- 5/27/20 – Irvine, CA – University Of California, Irvine (Stupidest State Championship)

There you have it, that is our completed tour schedule for season 8! Season 9 tour dates including our international dates (this is an election year, we have to get out!), will be unveiled in a future best of edition. OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first we have to play the John Oliver segment from a couple of months ago where he discussed compounding pharmacies:

&t=45s

So we have a lot for our Best Of Edition. In the first slot from Idiots #7-12 while the entire world is asking why Mitch McConell won’t pass any sensible laws regarding gun control, Trump (1) goes ahead and declares war on vaping because – wait for it – people might die from it. In the second slot, from Idiots #7-6, we finally learn the truth that the Seth Rich conspiracy theory (2) peddled by Fox News and the right wing smear machine was indeed a gigantic steaming load of BS. In the third slot, from Idiots #7-13, Mike Pence (3) took a whole motorcade to an island off the coast of Northern Michigan where cars haven’t been allowed since the invention of the car. What a snowflake! For the #4 slot this week, from idiots #7-18, Trump (4) celebrated Halloween in the most Donald Trump way possible – by building a wall in the White House, while he got booed at the World Series. In slot #5, from Idiots #7-11, our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates, takes a trip to Eastern Michigan where they are turning a local high school into a mass-shooting proof fortress, because that’s where we are at since we can’t do anything about enacting sensible gun legislation. Taking the 6th slot this week, in our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit”, the apocalypse is imminent and our resident pastor weighs in on some recent apocalypse theories and has a few of his own! In the #7 slot this week from Idiots #7-15, “Beating A Dead Horse” takes a look at China’s ridiculous international censorship over content production including their feud with the creators of South Park, and the NBA. In the 8th slot this week from Idiots #7-10, after threatening his employees who were attempting to unionize, we profile the owner and CEO of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy (8) in a new “This Fucking Guy”. At the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, from Idiots #7-17, we have one of our favorite “People Are Dumb” segments ever which includes one of the most insane Florida Man stories we’ve ever heard. Finally this week from our cancelled Idiots #7-2, is Part 2 of our “What’s Up With Texas” docuseries that takes a look at when we visited the Texas border town of Laredo to find out what whether or not they support Trump’s ridiculous wall or not. And to cap it all off, some live music from the time we had country music’s anti-hero Sturgill Simpson stop by! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]Donald Trump
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #7-12

Let’s talk about vaping. Or more importantly let’s talk about Vaping Death. Yeah it sounds like a Metallica song doesn’t it? Because Trump’s newly declared war on vaping is so insane that it almost sounds fucking metal. There’s plenty of reasons why vaping and excessive vaping is horrible but we don’t have that kind of time! Before we get into Trump’s ban, I want to talk about this lawsuit that emerged against the vaping compaul Juul, because this exposes the inherent dangers and risks of using vaping products.

Yeah it’s kind of like Patty & Selma but may be even worse. And of course like just about everything that Trump does, it’s not helping things. As we’ve seen time and time again, bans don’t work. Which means that every time you attempt to ban something there’s products that will appear on the black market which will be way worse than what you could buy previously. File this one under “you’re not helping!”.

President Trump's proposed ban of electronic cigarettes with anything but a tobacco flavor could kill a big part of the vape store business, but it may have a limited effect on curbing use by young people who can already flavor their own cartridges with readily available and attractive dessert tastes, industry experts say.

Trump's move came after new data showed teen vaping increased even as the availability of more kid-friendly flavors decreased. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb last year proposed restricting flavored e-liquids to vape stores that are age-restricted, but Trump's move would go much further.

The announcement came amid an outcry over the mounting death toll and hundreds of serious lung illnesses linked to vaping. Nearly all of the now-public cases involved young men who vaped both nicotine and THC oil.

On Sunday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a ban on the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes in the state through an emergency executive action.

Gottlieb told USA TODAY on Thursday that the deaths and illnesses and teen vaping concerns have been "conflated" and calls them "separate actions and separate public health concerns." On CNBC Monday, Gottlieb called for a "federal reckoning" and regulation of cannabis because of its link to most of the reported lung illnesses and deaths.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/09/14/trump-proposal-ban-vaping-flavors-amid-lung-illness-limited-impact-experts-say/2309607001/

And of course for those of you keeping score at home, there’s more reason to believe that Trump’s ban on vaping isn’t actually helping things. For one thing, many adults use vaping as a way of helping them quit actual cigarettes. But of course this is the Trump administration that we’re talking about here, facts don’t matter. Only outrage does!

Removing flavors is bad for adult smokers. There is little question that some adults will switch back to their Marlboros and Kools if their preferred flavors are no longer available. Surveys of adult smokers show the vast attraction of switching from cigarettes to a vaping device that uses nontobacco flavor.

As for youths, everyone agrees they should not vape. However, one of the biggest concerns — namely, that teen vaping leads to teen smoking through a so-called gateway effect — is greatly overstated.

Meticulous data analyses show that vaping is more of a “gateway” out of a smoking addiction for teens than it is a passage into a new habit for those who have never smoked. Support for this observation comes from the fact that teen smoking remains on a decades-long downhill slide.

Even if vaping is not a conduit to smoking, teen vaping is going in the wrong direction: Between 2018 and 2019 it rose by a third, from 20.8% to 27.5%. (At least, however, the trend may be slowing as the increase from 2017 to 2018 was steeper at 78%, from 11.7 to 20.8%).

In response, Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Ned Sharpless said in a news release that if there is further “migration to tobacco-flavored products by kids, we will take additional steps to address youth use of these products.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/09/13/dont-nontobacco-e-cigarettes-adults-more-danger-kids-column/2299006001/

Well, yeah they do call them cigarettes. But what is Trump talking about with a total ban? There’s no evidence to support a ban, and you have a greater chance of dying from a gunshot wound than you do from vaping so why does that matter? Oh and if you guessed that Trump most likely didn’t even read the CDC report and grossly misinterpreted results, you are correct!

(CNN)The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday there are 380 confirmed and probable cases of lung disease associated with vaping across 36 states and the US Virgin Islands. Six deaths have been confirmed in six states: California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, and Oregon.

That's a smaller number of illnesses than the agency had previously stated because it has updated the way it reports cases of lung disease associated with e-cigarette use. It's now reporting confirmed and probable cases, rather than possible cases or cases under investigation.
Last week, the CDC had reported that there are more than 450 possible cases of vaping-related lung disease across 33 states and the US Virgin Islands.

There are hundreds more cases under investigation around the country, according to a CNN analysis of numbers reported by state health departments this week.

The states and territory with confirmed cases are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia and the US Virgin Islands.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/13/health/lung-disease-vaping-cdc-new-numbers-bn/index.html

[font size="8"]Seth Rich: Origins Of A Conspiracy Theory
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #7-6

We’re going to do something a bit different for this entry. It turns out that… conspiracy theories are bullshit! If you’re shocked by this revelation, you’re in the wrong place, people. Yeah I love that one guy in the back who yells out “WOOOOOOOOOO!!!”. And one conspiracy theory that was being peddled by… *drum roll* Russian meme makers!!! Yes, Seth Rich was a Russian hit job! It was such pure, unbridled, unfiltered bullshit that even Fox News *AND* Alex Jones were forced to apologize for how much bullshit it was (see: Top 10 #3-8 ), and whew, it was quite the steaming pile. But you know what? It worked! It set out to do exactly what it was designed to do – turn the populace against the DNC. And the right wing media bought it hook, like and sinker.

Damn right, Bill Nye!!! And it’s a huge, steaming load of bullshit! And come on, we should know better that anything cooked up in the festering boil of the internet known as 4chan is going to be a huge, steaming load. So how did it go from the bottom of the barrel of the internet all the way to mass media and eventually the White House? Well let’s follow the shit train shall we? Worst train ever, by the way.

#HisNameWasSethRich and, no, he did not leak stolen DNC info to Wikileaks. A new report shows how Russian military intelligence fueled a conspiracy around the unsolved 2016 murder of the Democratic National Committee staffer, fooling right-wing talk show hosts, journalists, former NSA and CIA officials — to the point that Donald Trump ordered the head of CIA to investigate it.

The report, by investigative British journalist Duncan Campbell, was published on Monday by Computer Weekly, a professional IT online magazine. Campbell asserts that Russian military intelligence, the GRU, manipulated metadata in DNC files that it stole and then released to the public. The GRU’s goal in doing so: to give the false impression that the files were not hacked but copied from one computer to another by a DNC insider — Seth Rich — and then given to Wikileaks. The con job was good enough to persuade William Binney, a former technical director at the NSA, to conclude last year that the DNC files weren’t hacked at all, just stolen from the inside. Binney’s name and credibility helped to propel the conspiracy onto Sean Hannity’s show and then to the President and the head of the CIA.

To understand how the Seth Rich conspiracy made its way from the backwaters of 4Chan to Langley, you have to go back to June 2016. Cybersecurity company Crowdstrike had just reported that the DNC had been hacked and the culprit was likely Russian intelligence.
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/08/how-russian-hackers-amplified-seth-rich-conspiracy-until-it-reached-donald-trump-and-cia/150263/

Damn right! So this plot to frame the DNC for a crime it didn’t commit started in the bottom of the barrel of the internet and made its’ way all the way to the fucking CIA! Think of it like the guy who starts out bombing at the Chuckle Hut every night and then somehow makes his way to working full arenas despite saying only a few marginally funny observations. Oh wait, you don’t have to, that guy is Sebastian Manascalo. You know, this guy. So think of Seth Rich as the Sebastian Manascalo of conspiracy theories.

There’s been a lot of pointing and laughing at Hannity and Fox News in the past 24 hours. And it’s deserved. Hannity peddled this conspiracy for almost a year after Rich’s death, though eventually retired the gimmick — reluctantly — some time after Fox News retracted a story on the theory after sourcing fell apart.

But to say Fox News got tricked by Russian trolls, like this GQ headline serves up, is just wrong. Or, at least, it misses the point. Hannity didn’t have the rug pulled out from under him by some foreign trickster hiding behind a screen in a Moscow. He openly peddled a conspiracy without anything to base it on, and does so regularly. This is the world he lives in and the language he speaks.

Look no further than the recently released text exchanges between Hannity and Paul Manafort, which were made public by a federal court during the trial of Trump’s former campaign chairman (of which I read all 56 pages, because I’m a masochist with too much time on his hands).

Here’s one literal word salad the Fox News host threw Manafort’s way: “HRC, E-mails, Obstruction, Destroying emails, bleach bit, devices no sim cards, Uranium one, Ukraine interference… Intel Leaks Unmasking Potus conversations leaked. My God.”
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/enterthefray/la-ol-seth-rich-conspiracy-fox-news-20190710-story.html

That’s about putting it mildly. There’s a lot speculating that this theory of pre-meditated murder was the inspiration for tipping the election in favor of Donald Trump. But as we’ve seen, the bullshit meter is in fact a sliding scale. With one extreme end of the bullshit meter being Pizzagate, and the other extreme end being an actual pile of bullshit. Seth Rich is… somewhere in the middle.

It was one of the first prominent “fake news” conspiracy theories to metastasize from Internet rumor all the way to the White House: In the summer of 2016, stories began to circulate in various online forums that Seth Rich, a fairly low-level Democratic National Committee staffer who died in July of that year, wasn’t the victim of a botched robbery at all, but had actually been assassinated by a contract killer working for Hillary Clinton. Rich, the theory went, was actually the secret source who had leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks—a theory that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared to lend credence to when he offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the identity of Rich’s killer or killers. “Our sources take risks,” he said, even though the DNC emails were actually given to WikiLeaks days after Rich’s death.

As Reddit users, denizens of 4chan forums and even Fox News hosts such as Sean Hannity spread versions of this theory, suspicion arose that there were shadowy forces trying to promote the loony-sounding conspiracy. But it wasn’t clear who exactly these forces were, or what their intentions might be. On Tuesday, Yahoo News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff announced that he had tracked down the original source of the theory: A fake report concocted by the Russian intelligence agency SVR (short for Sluzhba vneshney razvedki Rossiyskoy Federatsii), a unit of the former KGB. The phony “bulletin,” designed to look like an authentic intelligence report, was released just three days after Rich’s death, Isikoff writes.

The idea that the Rich conspiracy theory was distributed by agents acting on behalf of the Russian government is not a new one. When information started to come out about the activities of the so-called Internet Research Agency during the 2016 election—which engaged in a sustained campaign of disinformation and outright propaganda on Facebook and other platforms—the Seth Rich assassination theory turned out to be one of the many pieces of fakery the IRA distributed as a way of destabilizing the Clinton campaign. But the agency was a privately run, arm’s-length entity (albeit one run by a close associate of Russian president Vladimir Putin). Until Isikoff’s report, it was not clear that this conspiracy theory originated from the highest levels of Russian intelligence itself.
https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/seth-rich-conspiracy-theory.php

[font size="8"]Mike Pence
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #7-13

So this next entry is for the Michiganders in the crowd. Do we have any people from Michigan in the audience here? Yeah I love the one guy in the back who yells “WOOOOOOOOO!!!”. Well, speaking of putting a tail pipe in a place where it is extremely uncomfortable to do so, Mike Pence can join Trump in participating in that activity. Great Photoshop there. What happened for him to deserve that? Well, the super tiny island in Michigan’s Lake Huron is home to Mackinac Island. And it’s pretty well known that vehicles haven’t been allowed on the island since the 1800s. But once again, in an episode of conservatives just being plain douchebags, Vice President Snowflake drove an 8 SUV motorcade through it, proving once again that bad guys drive black SUVs.

Vice President Mike Pence choppered onto a historic Michigan island that has always banned autos in favor of bicycles and horses and was shuttled to a campaign speech in a parade of eight official cars.

Tweeted one Michigander of the grand, gasoline-powered arrival at Mackinac Island’s famous Grand Hotel this weekend:

Most tourists reach the island by ferry, although small aircraft do come in and out, and the island does house a few emergency vehicles at all times. Secret Service for President Gerald Ford had a car waiting in case of an emergency when he and first lady Betty Ford visited in 1975, but the couple used the common mode of getting around during their visit, a horse-drawn carriage.

Pence was on the island to speak to the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference and had alerted officials there to his transportation plans, according to reports.

Michigan was a key state in the 2016 presidential election and is considered a major target for 2020. Pence has visited Michigan 10 times since 2017, the Detroit Free Press said. According to the Michigan Republican Party, Pence is the first sitting vice president to speak at the biennial conference, which has been hosted on the island — home to well-heeled summer people, retirees and fudge-seeking, tandem bike-riding tourists — for more than 60 years.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/michigans-historic-mackinac-island-bans-cars-the-pence-motorcade-used-8-2019-09-22

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Is nothing sacred to these motherfuckers? It’s almost like they try to come up with the wrong answer to everything? Hmm, let’s drive a car through a place where cars haven’t been allowed for 100 years! Yeah seriously, fail. And the residents of Mackinac Island are pissed and rightfully so. Are they trying to lose Michigan? This could probably do it.

Mackinac Island (pronounced "Mackinaw&quot

draws nearly a million visitors each year and is regarded as one of the most precious natural resources in Michigan. Just 450 people live on the small destination, and they get around by bike.

"Bikes are just our way of life," Mary McGuire Slevin, the executive director of the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau, told the sustainable-business news site TriplePundit. "They are like a part of our bodies, we don't even think about it. When I see a tourist go out for a bike ride around the circumference of the island, you can just tell the difference when they come pedaling back into town — they are more relaxed and have a big smile on their face."

Even Gerald Ford, the only president from Michigan, traveled by horse-drawn carriage when he visited Mackinac in 1975.

So when Pence broke with tradition over the weekend, controversy ensued. Several current and former Michigan residents reached out to Business Insider over email to share their thoughts.

&quot

This is) a true gem that has been assaulted in plain sight," Skaneateles, New York resident Bitsy Jennings Govern, who grew up in Michigan, told Business Insider.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-pence-car-free-mackinac-island-michiganders-react2019-9

Yeah probably. But seriously, Pence crossed a line that shouldn’t have been crossed here. It’s like nothing is scared to these guys. Yeah sure, the powers that be on Mackinac Island have bent the rules before but nothing like this. At least when Gerald Ford visited the island, he had the good sense to leave his car behind when he realized that it might have been a bad idea.

The U.S. Secret Service had an automobile smuggled onto Mackinac Island when President Gerald Ford visited in 1975 — but the car was kept hidden and was never used, says a former longtime Mackinac Island official.

Dennis Cawthorne, a Lansing lobbyist and Mackinac Island resident who served for more than 20 years as chairman of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, said Ford and his wife, first lady Betty Ford, rode a horse-drawn carriage during their Mackinac visit.

What wasn't widely known at the time, Cawthorne said, was that the Secret Service insisted that a vehicle be quietly brought to the island, so it would be available in case of an emergency.

Cawthorne disclosed the backstory to the Ford visit amid a controversy over whether Vice President Mike Pence will observe the century-old Mackinac Island ban on motorized vehicles when he visits Saturday to address the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/09/20/mike-pence-mackinac-island-motorized-vehicle/2386562001/

There literally is a Simpsons GIF for everything. By the way, my mom is from Michigan. I’ve been to Mackinac Island, I’ve eaten and stayed at the Grand Hotel. This is what one might call, a sacrilege. I mean seriously, he fucked up. And if you want to see why cars have been banned on the island, take a look at this photo gallery.

Michiganders are furious over Vice President Mike Pence's motorcade on the historic Mackinac Island — and for good reason.

As a native Michigander, Mackinac Island holds a special place in my heart. The quaint town barred vehicles in 1898 over health concerns for the horses that live on the island. Natives tend to bike everywhere, or travel by horse-drawn carriage.

Today, the vehicle ban adds to the "old-school" feel of the area, along with its Victorian architecture and the presence of horse-drawn carriages.

Here are 12 photos that show exactly why Michiganders are so furious with Pence driving on Mackinac Island:
https://www.businessinsider.com/mackinac-island-photos-before-mike-pence-motorcade-2019-9

[font size="8"]Donald Trump
[br] [/font] [br]

Is there anything that @realDonaldTrump doesn’t make weird or creepy? Let’s show what happened when kids trick-or-treating stopped by Trump and Melania for a visit:

https://twitter.com/loganclarkhall/status/1189209790502834176

They can’t even hand out Halloween candy right! And if this whole thing can’t get any worse, take a look at how Trump celebrated Halloween. It seems like he literally turns everything he touches to shit, and makes it about himself. Because he can’t stop placating his ego, he’s resorting to having children do his work for him. Maybe that’s why we haven’t seen Barron lately? Oh I’m kidding. Really, sir, that’s the joke you choose to walk out on? OK fine. But really we shouldn’t be subjecting our children to this monster, if anything he should be kept very far away from kids after this stunt:

A Halloween party on Oct. 25 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building featured candy, paper airplanes and — concerning for some attendees — a station where children were encouraged to help “Build the Wall” with their own personalized bricks.

Photos of the children’s mural with the paper wall were provided to Yahoo News.

The party, which took place inside the office building used by White House staff, included the families of executive-branch employees and VIP guests inside and outside government. Even though many of the attendees were members of President Trump’s administration, not everyone thought the Halloween game was a treat.

“Horrified. We were horrified,” said a person who was there and requested anonymity to avoid professional retaliation.

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building stands across from the White House and houses a large portion of the West Wing support staff and is home to the vice president’s ceremonial office. The “Build the Wall” mural was on the first floor, outside the speechwriter’s office and next to the office of digital strategy and featured red paper bricks, each bearing the name of a child.
https://news.yahoo.com/children-were-told-to-build-the-wall-at-white-house-halloween-party-153024720.html

Oh come on, this is the Donald J. Trump administration - if you're expecting someone who's kind, compassionate, and caring, you're in the wrong White House! But you know what? Let’s show the wall that kids built:

Now… don’t boo! I know that’s going to be your first instinct. But really don’t do it. Because rather than boo the wall, it’s time to start laughing at it. Because on Monday, Trump made the insane claim that the rebar being used to put up his see-through wall on the Mexican border was “impenetrable”. And which I never want to hear Trump use the word “penetrate” ever again. But that said, this happened:

President Donald Trump promised that a wall on the border would radically change undocumented immigration and customs enforcement. But it turns out newly built sections of the president’s wall aren’t as sturdy as he promised: Smugglers have been using a commercial saw to cut through it, according to the Washington Post.

Smuggling people and goods into the US is a profitable industry for criminal organizations, which is why they are motivated to innovate when it comes to breaching barriers. Of late, smugglers have reportedly been cutting through the wall — which is made of steel bollards that are partially filled with concrete — to make gaps large enough for people and goods to pass through.

To do so, smugglers are reportedly using a reciprocating saw that can be bought for as little as $100. The tool can cut through the wall’s steel and concrete in minutes when fitted with the appropriate blades, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have said.

After cutting the steel bollards, smugglers have taken to returning them to their original positions in hope of reusing the passage without being detected by border officials.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/2/20945336/trump-border-wall-smugglers-saw-us-mexico

I’m pretty sure that was Trump’s original intent with the wall! But in reality all it takes to cut through it is a $99 circular saw at Home Depot. Is that in the same section where they sell tiki torches? Anyway switching gears, congratulations to the Washington Nationals on winning their first World Series in franchise history. Houston Astros, you had a good run and you can rest assured that you don’t have to eat cheeseburgers with Trump . Because this happened:

Great use of the Marine Corps Marching Band by the way. I mean come on, you have the Marine Corps Marching Band playing fucking Baby Shark. Did Trump think that song was about him? Donny Trump do do do do do do, Donny Trump do do do do do, Donny Trump! That is kind of catchy. But there is some good news, while Kurt Suzuki and Ryan Zimmerman were wearing MAGA hats and trading high fives with Trump, there were a lot of Nationals players who declined to visit:

The Washington Nationals celebrated winning the World Series with a trip to the White House, and while several players felt the love, others didn't attend.

From the 25-man World Series roster, there were seven Nats players missing from the celebration: Anthony Rendon, Sean Doolittle, Victor Robles, Michael Taylor, Joe Ross, Javy Guerra and Wander Suero.

Reasons were not given for the absence of most of the players, though Doolittle cited "divisive rhetoric" from the administration in his explanation to the Washington Post; Guerra said he was preparing for his wedding on Saturday.

Manager Davey Martinez, General Manager Mike Rizzo and the Lerner family were all in attendance, though no one from the Lerner family stood up with the team.

President Trump shared a moment with Kurt Suzuki, when he highlighted the catcher's game-ending, three-run home run against the Mets back in September. Suzuki approached the podium, put on a 'Make America Great Again' hat, and President Trump gave him a hug.
https://www.wusa9.com/article/sports/mlb/some-nationals-players-didnt-attend-white-house-celebration/65-9fdf47ec-deff-4268-9bab-cd95ff359b59

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Inside Fruitport High
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #7-11

It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

Mass shootings are at an all time high. There have been over 200 this year and we’re only in the 9th month of the calendar year 2019. As such, mass shooting hysteria has been at an all time high. Which makes sense – nobody wants to die needlessly. And since banning guns flat out, or voluntarily disarming in this country is taboo subject matter, thanks to those in the National Rifle Association, new extremes are being taken to prevent what should normally be something that people shouldn’t have to worry about, but thanks to mass shootings America is resorting to extreme measures in the name of protection and safety. One such is the controversial $50 million building that will become Michigan’s Fruitport High School. It’s being designed with mass shootings in mind.

Curved hallways, protective "wing walls," impact-resistant windows, doors that lock with a touch of a smartphone.

These are some of the design elements Fruitport High School in western Michigan's Muskegon County will implement in its new building, set to open summer 2021.

Fruitport Community Schools Superintendent Bob Szymoniak said the measures, which were supplemented by a $404,707 grant from Michigan State Police, can potentially save lives in an active shooter situation.

"So often, we feel like we’re going to be hapless victims – that there’s nothing that we can do until after it (a shooting) happens," he said. "But what I’m learning is there’s a lot we can do on the front end."
Illustrations of concrete wing walls in the new Fruitport High School building. The walls are designed to allow for students to take cover and to cut down the line of sight of an active shooter.

Szymoniak said the idea to design the new building with non-traditional safety measures came after a group of parents in the community advocated for a new high school building to replace the one built in the 1950s. It was agreed that a new facility will be built around the old one, and to do this, the hallways had to be curved.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2019/09/06/fruitport-high-school-michigan-active-shooters/2213687001/

So, since banning guns is out of the question, constructing a $50 million school that resembles something of a correctional facility is just one of many possibilities. But is it really safe? Is having all this extra technology really going to help in the long run or is just a temporary solution to an even greater problem? Well the greater problem is guns but it’s much more complicated than that.

Engineers in World War I dug through the earth to build serpentine trenches borne from horrifically clear logic.

If enemy soldiers ever breached it, the zigzagging pattern would prevent them from shooting in a straight line down the length of the trench — leaving only a relative few exposed to gunfire or shrapnel.

That concept has been reinvigorated a century later, in a sense, for a western Michigan high school, to dampen the killing potential of a mass shooter.

A $48 million major construction project at Fruitport High School will add curved hallways to reduce a gunman’s range, jutting barriers to provide cover and egress, and meticulously spaced classrooms that can lock on demand and hide students in the corner, out of a killer’s sight.

“If I go to FPH and I want to be an active shooter, I’m going in knowing I have reduced sightlines,” Fruitport Superintendent Bob Szymoniak told The Washington Post about the curved hallways. “It has reduced his ability to do harm.”

The major overhaul of an existing building was driven by the ubiquity of mass shootings in the United States, Szymoniak said, citing the El Paso killings at a Walmart this month, along with notorious school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/08/22/new-high-school-will-have-sleek-classrooms-places-hide-mass-shooter/

Let’s examine the keyword in that sentence there – “reduced”. That does not mean “completely eliminated”. There’s no guarantee that a school designed to prevent mass shootings would actually do so, especially if you give away the floor plans via the Washington Post article! It’s almost like they’re inviting it. But really what kind of generation are we creating when we can expect more of this and are actually inviting it?

The K-12 team at TowerPinkster is aiming to physically slow down school shooters through its $48-million renovation and addition to Fruitport High School in Western Michigan. The 189,822-square-foot project recently garnered national headlines because of its push to enhance safety within the 64-year-old institution, which previously featured narrow corridors and cramped gathering spaces.

TowerPinkster, an architecture, engineering, and interiors firm with expertise in educational spaces, worked with the National Institute of Crime Prevention to learn the most effective ways to secure the school’s campus, which is slated to reopen in 2021. By building on 143,879 square feet of new space that connects to the older structure, the design team was able to create a two-story, curved academic wing designed to reduce the sightlines of a potentially armed attacker. Each teaching space was conceived with “shadow zones” along the door-side walls where students and faculty can hide without being seen. Shatter-proof safety film was specified to cover the few windows that do look into the classrooms. In addition, cement block “wing walls” were added to stick out next to all doors and act as further barriers.

Currently under construction, this build-out is the fourth attempt to update the school since its opening in 1963. TowerPinkster has envisioned a new set of offices, an auditorium, media center, woodshop, cafeteria, and common area for Fruitport HS as well. The entry experience is also changing. Located at the opposite end of the classroom corridors, and looking directly at the parking lot, a staff member at reception would be able to see anyone walking into the school at any given time. They would also have the ability to lock down all classrooms, the vestibule door to the office, and the office door to the school using a three-button system.
https://archpaper.com/2019/08/fruitport-high-school-towerpinkster-renovation/

And good luck remembering how that three button system works in a time of crisis like a mass shooting, where you might have literally a few seconds to think on your feet. It’s really scary to think that this is the new normal. That there’s nothing we can actually do about guns or mass shootings but to instead design ridiculously expensive buildings to prevent a few less casualties.

Amid reports indicating shootings are becoming more common at U.S. high schools, Bob Szymoniak says it's time to start designing school infrastructure to maximize the safety of students and staff.

Szymoniak is a school superintendent in west Michigan, where a $48-million US construction project is underway at Fruitport High School. The building is specially designed to make it harder for a potential shooter to get at their targets — and it's a type of school design that architects in other areas of the U.S. are starting to experiment with.

According to the Washington Post, more than 228,000 students have been exposed to gun violence since the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado in 1999.

Classes will begin at Fruitport High School on Sept. 3, but the construction is not expected to be finished until 2021.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.5261253/the-new-norm-high-school-designed-to-protect-students-in-potential-mass-shooting-1.5260035

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

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #7-16

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Oregon State! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

My fair congregation! Please, be seated! For the end of the world is upon us! Now, now, I should have lead you into it. But this is not that kind of church and this isn’t that kind of sermon. But if you listen to our brothers and sisters on the right, you would think that the world is going to systematically collapse and that we’re all going to die at any minute. Oh wait, we’re not gonna die. We’re going to get… raptured, at least half of us will get snapped up by the LAWRD JAYSUS. Wait, is he Thanos? Yeah I get those two stories confused. Now look, every religion has their own end of the world theories, even ours does! The difference is we don’t try to sell you $200,000 doomsday shelters.

Tucked into the the rolling Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, in a corner of the state brimming with churches and crosses in front yards, there is a hidden camp next to a quiet lake.

This private campsite is where over a thousand doomsday preppers gathered one weekend in late September for their annual Prepper Camp, a mash-up of a wilderness survival course-meets-summer camp for people who love guns, getting off grid, and God. The New York Times has referred to it as a "survivalist's Burning Man."

The group is made up mostly of gray-haired retirees and couples toting kids for a weekend away from home. They are nearly all white, staunchly conservative, and eager to share what they've learned about organic farming, raising livestock, tying ropes, fermenting cabbage, and filtering drinking water in the wild.

Yet this backwoods crowd makes it known that when the end of life as we know it arrives, whether by hurricane, flood, nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP), or exploding civil warfare, they won't be so friendly anymore. That's when they'll take to their predetermined secret locales, shoot would-be intruders, and do whatever it takes to protect their families and their stockpiled food.
https://www.insider.com/who-are-doomsday-preppers-preparing-for-the-apocalypse-2019-10

Oh wait, that was Terminator 3. So in North Carolina they are busy preparing for the apocalypse. But what are they preparing for? It’s not like there’s going to be a planet-destroying doomsday event any time soon. By the way if you want to see an actual doomsday cult in action, look no further than what happened at one of the hotels owned by the unholy, ungodly Dark One!

Last year’s American Priority conference held at a Marriott in Washington, D.C., was not very well attended, according to Politico. The conference’s organizer Alex Phillips said that security at the D.C. hotel was not as tight as the organizers would have liked.

“We didn’t find the area very hospitable and friendly to what we were trying to do,” said Phillips in an interview.

This year the group migrated south to the Trump property in Miami, which has been more receptive to its message, Phillips said. Of the hotels American Priority considered, Trump Doral was among the cheaper bids, he said.

This year’s preliminary agenda features a topic called “Is America in a Great Awakening?” — a slogan associated with the Internet conspiracy theory called QAnon, which alleges Trump is working with former special counsel Robert Mueller to take down a ring of “deep state” actors.

Phillips said the topic on the group’s website is a reference to a Trump speech in which the president called for a “great reawakening.”

QAnon was repeatedly referenced at the group’s 2018 event. Phillips likened followers of QAnon to people who are devoted to checking their horoscopes.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article233307232.html

That’s not how this works! And if you support the Dark One at this point after everything that we’ve been through in the last 3 years, you are clearly ignorant as to how this works! Thank you, I will take that one! And by the way recent signs of the end of the world point to… a math equation. That’s right – it’s a doomsday equation that has sent the believers of the apocalypse trying to find out what it means. But really, don’t ask the guy who created it how it works!

Despite wild claims from the Daily Express, the world isn't going to come to an end today (April 23).

Quoting conspiracy theorist David Meade, the Express said a passage in the Bible, Revelations 12:1-2, "suggests the end of the world is imminent, with Earth set to be destroyed on April 23."

Right in the middle of the NBA playoffs? How rude.

The Bible passage (which of course doesn't specify April 23 as Doomsday), also signals the start of the Rapture and the second coming of Jesus Christ, Meade said.

He also said the position of the planets and constellations is another harbinger of doom, but Space.com said Meade's predicted sky arrangement is totally wrong.

The wild theory mentions the planet Nibiru, aka Planet X, will appear on April 23. Meade claims it will then pass the Earth in October, causing the start of the Rapture with huge volcanoes and volcanic eruptions due to its gravitational force.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/04/13/no-world-isnt-ending-later-month-we-hope/515516002/

Well, of course the Daily Express is where one turns to for quality conspiracy theory based journalism, and what is it about the ultra radical right wing and conspiracy theories? We might have to do a deep dive on that subject in a future edition. But really when it comes to predicting the apocalypse or doomsday theories, just don’t. Save your brain waves for something more productive!

Score another accomplishment for the Trump administration: An increase in Doomsday Preppers. In your face, those of you who say he can’t get anything done.

The Washington Post recently featured a West Virginia survivalist camp where 100 people have already bought memberships so they will be able to ride out any of a number of horrific disasters. Sort of like an apocalypse timeshare.

They say they are prepared for the worst — famine, disease, chemical warfare, the New York Yankees winning the World Series.

Fortitude Ranch has won the endorsement of David Jones, whom the Post calls a “celebrity prepper” (which strikes me as being like a “celebrity hermit”) for his podcasts and television appearances. Like others, he worries that “the veneer of civilization is very thin.” Funny. He says that like it’s a bad thing.

Drew Miller, who runs the camp, says in an emergency, it can hold up to 500 people crammed together in buried culverts, feeding off of a stock of canned and dried foodstuffs.
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/opinion/tim_rowland/betting-on-doomsday/article_960d22f2-fe58-5345-96cd-dee7f788c618.html

There you have it folks, the Dark One has sparked an increase in people who are preparing for the end of days! As predicted in our Good Book and every other Good Book out there! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Support For Hong Kong
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #7-15

In what may be the most insane and direct case of life imitating art, one of my favorite shows, South Park, called out China on its’ censorship and got banned for it. So the question on the table here is, how far is too far when life imitates art? And what the hell is China doing? Both of those are perfectly good questions. Unless you’re living under a rock, you know that the people of Hong Kong are rising up and protesting non stop against the brutal Jianping regime. And that’s having people’s opinions on a particularly touchy subject like this. In fact the subject of whether or not you should be allowed to support China has been such a tricky subject that the Jianping regime has gone into some serious damage control on the subject.

As political tensions between Hong Kong protesters and the Chinese government grow, the animated comedy South Park once again finds itself at the heart of the conflict.

In the wake of reports that China has outright banned all South Park content from the Internet, protesters have found other ways of disseminating the episode "Band in China." As spotted by The Hollywood Reporter, protesters in Hong Kong's Sham Shui Po district screened the episode to an impromptu but very appreciative crowd.

While it's unknown who exactly organized the screening, THR writes, "the screening inspired considerable discussion on the online forums favored by the protest movement though. Many praised South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone as 'prophets,' and rare Western media figures willing to show 'strong backbone' in response to the Chinese government's efforts to stifle international free speech."

Word that China has completely banned South Park content first surfaced last week following the original airing of "Band in China." The episode repeatedly criticizes the Chinese government's crackdown on free speech, including referencing a current Internet meme comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh and showing Mickey Mouse censoring his fellow Disney and Marvel characters at China's behest. The series continued to reference the China controversy in its most recent episode, "Shots!!!"
https://nordic.ign.com/south-park-14213562/30083/news/south-park-band-in-china-episode-screened-in-hong-kong-streets-after-china-banned-series

By the way here’s what is awesome about Matt Stone and Trey Parker – the twisted minds behind South Park – is that they troll. And they troll pretty damn good. In fact if you want to see how you should apologize to a brutal dictator who has a fragile ego like Xi Jianping, just look no further than how they actually apologized.

The creators of "South Park" have issued an "apology" to China after the show's most recent episode mocked the country's censorship and Hollywood's reliance on its theatrical market for movies.

The official "South Park" Twitter account on Monday tweeted the comedic statement below:

OFFICIAL APOLOGY TO CHINA FROM TREY PARKER AND MATT STONE.

"Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn't look just like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn's sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?"

The statement came after The Hollywood Reporter on Monday reported "South Park" has been banned from the Chinese internet and that videos, mentions, and discussion forums for the Comedy Central animated series had been removed or shut down.
https://www.businessinsider.com/south-park-creators-issue-mock-apology-to-china-after-ban-2019-10

Now here’s the thing. You don’t fuck with a dictator with a fragile ego like Xi Jianping. In fact we probably got the Top 10 banned from China as we were putting this edition together! And you know what? I don’t give a shit! And you want to know how fragile an ego Jianping has? Just look at what he did to DJ Zedd for simply liking a tweet about last week’s episode!

Zedd, a high-profile DJ and music producer, has been permanently banned from China for liking a tweet from “South Park’s” official account.

On Friday, Zedd tweeted about the ban, and CNBC verified the claim with his publicist on Saturday.

“This is true, yes, but we don’t have anymore info to give you at this time,” Adam Guest, senior entertainment publicist at U.K.-based SATELLITE414 agency, told CNBC. It’s unclear at the moment whether this means that Zedd has a travel ban to China. As of Saturday, his music was still available on Chinese music streaming site QQ Music.

“South Park” stirred up controversy in the world’s second-largest economy with an episode called “Band in China” which pokes fun at the country’s strict censorship regime and ridicules American firms doing business there.

Beijing responded by heavily censoring content related to “South Park” on search engines like Baidu and other online services.

The tweet that Zedd liked on Twitter was one celebrating “South Park’s” 300th episode.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/12/dj-zedd-banned-in-china-for-liking-a-south-park-tweet.html

Holy shit! If you’re a celebrity, you can now get banned from China for simply liking a tweet relating to the most recent South Park episode! Which is why we also liked that tweet! In fact we followed the official South Park feed! Now if you’re Xi Jianping, how do you react to South Park? Well, you delete the whole fucking show from your country. It’s not enough to ban South Park, he wants every single mention of South Park ever banned.

South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker hit back at China after the government scrubbed the show from the Chinese internet.
The episode, "Band in China" is a critique of how Hollywood shapes its content to avoid offending Chinese government censors.
"South Park" has never been afraid to be offensive, which is why the show now virtually no longer exists in China. Every clip, any online discussion from Chinese streaming services, social media and even fan pages have been deleted by the government, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Stone and Parker issued an apology on Monday after China's crackdown -- well, kind of.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/07/us/south-park-apology-chinese-internet-trnd/index.html

And by the way, South Park wasn’t the only one who got this kind of insane treatment and censorship from the Jianping regime. Look at what they did to the Houston Rockets. It’s not enough to just ban that person, they’re banning the whole team and the league. The Jianping regime is doing some serious damage control right now and we may all get fucked!

Basketball fans attend a match between the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers at Shenzhen, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday. Photo: APBasketball fans attend a match between the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers at Shenzhen, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday. Photo: AP
Basketball fans attend a match between the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers at Shenzhen, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday. Photo: AP

Live broadcasts of the National Basketball Association’s preseason games have resumed in China – except for matches with the Houston Rockets – as Beijing cools its rhetoric on a controversial tweet by the team’s general manager in support of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.

Tencent, the NBA’s exclusive digital partner in China, streamed two games live with commentators – Chicago Bulls vs Toronto Raptors and Maccabi Haifa vs Minnesota Timberwolves – on Monday morning after skipping live broadcasts of two exhibition games in China last week.

Games featuring the Houston Rockets, who are next on court on Wednesday, have been taken off the schedule. Tencent last week offered subscribers who chose the Houston Rockets as their preferred games to change to another team or be refunded.

Monday’s live broadcast came days after Tencent’s announcement that it would not broadcast two of the exhibition games in China, which took place last Thursday and Saturday, after league commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA supported Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s right to exercise free speech.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3032849/nba-games-return-china-screens-houston-rockets-not-included

[font size="8"]Dave Portnoy
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #7-10

This week’s This Fucking Guy is the CEO of a company that you may have heard of called Barstool Sports, and that’s Dave Portnoy. You know Barstool – the company that’s been fueling toxic masculinity and sports bro culture since 2016. And of course you know that as the year that Trump took over and everything went to shit. Which has made Dave Portnoy lots and lots of money. If you’re the CEO of a company like that, you might want to follow the first rule of social media and that’s don’t be a dick. Also, don’t say anything you will regret later. But Dave Portnoy pulled his best Trump impression last week, said something ridiculously stupid on social media, and may have jeopardized his empire in the process. So how did it happen?

David Rosenfeld, a labor lawyer and self-styled “paid troublemaker,” saw the tweets as good old-fashioned union busting. He went to work. His mission: extract an apology from the man who had threatened to fire “on the spot” any employee who so much as discussed unionizing at his company.

But Rosenfeld’s opponent, David Portnoy, the architect and provocateur in chief of the polemical and fratty media company Barstool Sports, was aggressively unapologetic. Rosenfeld is hoping the National Labor Relations Board, which is now investigating charges against Portnoy and Barstool, will change that.

On Tuesday, Portnoy posted his threat to Twitter, responding to a man offering assistance to Barstool employees who may be considering organizing.

“If you work for @barstoolsports and DM this man I will fire you on the spot,” Portnoy wrote.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the country, condemned Portnoy’s comments, warning him they likely violated the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, the landmark law laying out workers’ rights and encouraging collective bargaining.

Portnoy was unfazed – gleefully defiant, even. Responding on Twitter to a user who wrote “I hope they unionize,” Portnoy said, “Me too. Just so I can crush it and reassert my dominance.”
https://www.boston.com/news/national-news/2019/08/17/barstool-sports-founder-railed-against-unions-now-his-threats-are-under-investigation

Dude seriously, you’re the CEO of a company that thinks women flashing their boobs on camera is funny, not the dictator of a third world country. Seriously, Kim Jong Un and Rodrigo Duterte get to exert their dominance. You toss the beads out to women at the tailgate party at the Super Bowl. And the last thing that you want to do is attract the attention of the Feds. I mean you’re already number one on Roger Gooddell’s shit list, and if you’re on that list, who’s not on it? Well this might be strike 2 if things get worse for the brand.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Tuesday criticized Dave Portnoy, the founder of sports blog Barstool Sports, after he threatened to fire any employee that was seeking advice on how to start a union.

In a tweet Monday, Portnoy criticized employees at The Ringer, a sports and culture website, for trying to unionize. Portnoy linked to an article he previously wrote in 2015 when Gawker writers tried to unionize.

"I hope and I pray that Barstool employees try to unionize," he wrote in the 2015 post. "I can’t tell you how much I want them to unionize. Just so I can smash their little union to smithereens. Nothing would please me more than to break it into a million little pieces."

Rafi Letzter, a staff writer for Live Science, replied to Portnoy's tweet on Tuesday, saying his inbox is open to Barstool writers who want advice on starting a union.

"If you work for @barstoolsports and DM this man I will fire you on the spot," Portnoy replied to the tweet.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, it is illegal for companies to fire or discipline employees for being involved with or trying to create a union.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/13/aoc-slams-barstool-sports-founders-threat-fire-unionizing-workers/2003902001/

Shit, Dave, I could have told you that and I’m no expert on labor! You know we give Boston sports fans a hard time and well they kind of deserve it because the rest of the world has to put up with them. But egregious labor law violations aren’t the only thing troubling Barstool Sports. As I said they’re a site that is fueling toxic masculinity across the web and around the globe. And this definitely isn’t hurting things.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is punching back at his critics.

The sports and culture blog has been under scrutiny lately by press coverage describing it as promoting sexual harassment and a trolling culture.

In July, The Washington Post reported that Portnoy disparaged a female employee's appearance on his radio show. Then in September, The Daily Beast published a story titled, "Inside Barstool Sports' Culture of Online Hate: 'They Treat Sexual Harassment and Cyberbullying as a Game.'" The next day, New York Magazine published a story titled, "What Fresh Hell Is Barstool Sports?"

All three pieces detail how Portnoy's Barstool makes a business out of harassing women and others who criticize the site, enlists its fans to do the same, and refuses to back down.

As Portnoy told it, Barstool is just defending itself against a small group of passionate "keyboard warriors" with "moral superiority" who use social media to attack him and would love to see Barstool go out of business.

"We never throw the first punch," Portnoy told Business Insider. "I really don't turn the other cheek. So when I feel like I'm being attacked, I don't back down. The easiest thing to say is, 'I'm sorry.' We don't do that."
https://www.businessinsider.com/barstool-sports-dave-portnoy-responds-to-accusations-of-toxicity-and-misogyny-2018-12

If you think that egregious labor laws violations, toxic masculinity and some hardcore sexism would be enough to sink Barstool, think again! They take online hate to a whole new level. Wonder why your son or grandson turned out to be a Nazi who spends most of his days owning the n00bs? Well check his browser history – if you see Barstool Sports come up and he’s got a Steam account, you might want to sit down for a little chat.

The other week, Dave Portnoy, the founder and chief of content of the sports blog Barstool Sports, did what he and fans of his site always do: ratcheted up an online spat to a fever pitch, transforming their collective rage at a perceived enemy into content. Even if it meant leaning into the type of social-media harassment and misogyny that Barstool is infamous for.

This particular roiling conflict dates back to October 2017, when ESPN announced it would be bringing in two Barstool personalities, Eric “PFT Commenter” Sollenberger and Dan “Big Cat” Katz, as hosts of a televised version of their wildly popular Barstool podcast, Pardon My Take. Sam Ponder, the host of ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, was less than thrilled.

She tweeted out screenshots of a 2014 Barstool blog post in which Portnoy called her a “BIBLE THUMPING FREAK” whose primary job requirement was to “make men hard.” In a podcast that same week, Portnoy went on a rant while Katz egged him on, calling Ponder a “fucking slut” who should “sex it up and be slutty” instead of talking about being a working mother. ESPN canceled the TV show, Barstool Van Talk, after one episode, thanks in part to an internal pushback by more than a few ESPN employees, according to Sports Illustrated.

On Sept. 11, Ponder added a new allegation: Portnoy had said in a video that her daughter should have been aborted. Further, she claimed to have never wanted the network to pull the plug and was willing to make an appearance on their now-canceled show. Portnoy vehemently denies ever having made the abortion comment—though he and Katz admit they made disparaging remarks about Ponder’s daughter—and both Katz and Sollenberger insist Ponder had no interest in speaking with them and very much wanted their show gone.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-barstool-sports-culture-of-online-hate-they-treat-sexual-harassment-and-cyberbullying-as-a-game

And to think that ESPN almost gave this guy two hours a day to say whatever he wanted! And if he hates women and anyone else that much, imagine what he’d do to his employees! That’s Dave Portnoy, this week’s:

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #7-17

Hit it!

Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. And this segment incorporates all walks of stupid – dumb criminals, dumb lawyers, dumb politicians, dumb students, you name it! And I also love these stories because they are all completely crazy and there’s enough of them that we could do these until the end of time! I want to start with this story out of Iowa – and yeah if you’re a guy you should *NEVER* expose your junk in public, no matter what the circumstances. But I love the excuse here – even though it’s not a good one, is that this guy who did the dirty deed claims that he saw it in a porno movie!

An Iowa man charged with exposing himself to a woman at a variety store told cops that he “had seen someone do it in a pornographic film” and thought the victim, who was accompanied by her minor son, might “respond to it sexually,” according to a court filing.

Nicholas Sheehy, 23, was arrested Friday afternoon at the Dollar General in Ottumwa, a city about 85 miles southeast of Des Moines. Sheehy, an Ottumwa resident, was charged with indecent exposure, a serious misdemeanor.

When confronted by police, Sheehy “admitted that he ‘whipped it out’ referring to his penis,” a criminal complaint alleges. “The defendant stated that he had seen someone do it in a pornographic film and believed that the female patron may respond to it sexually.”

Instead, the woman contacted cops, who reported that Sheehy “admitted that he exposed himself for sexual gratification.”
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/dollar-general-creep-639524

Next up – we go to *ANOTHER* story out of Iowa. Man, Iowa is bringing the crazy extra hard lately aren’t they? Well I mean there’s not much to do there so you got to get creative. But when you start turning to crime, a fresh coat of paint is definitely not the way that you want to hide the crime, and well, he got caught red handed. Or is it green handed? I’m not sure.

Police said a Dubuque man stole a trailer from a business and painted it black to keep anyone from recognizing it while he used it.

Malik J. Patterson, 20, of 17262 John Deere Road, No. 11, was arrested Wednesday morning on warrants charging second-degree theft and obstructing prosecution.

Police on Sept. 4 responded to Bicycle World, 1072 Central Ave., to investigate a report of a theft.

Business owner Parrish C. Marugg said he left the shop Sept. 3 and left his trailer, valued at $2,000, in the parking lot, according to court documents. When he returned the following morning, it was gone.
https://www.telegraphherald.com/news/tri-state/article_582e5118-2cd5-5d7d-b5b4-d79b9395264a.html?utm_source=thonline&utm_medium=click_source&utm_campaign=homepage_top_news_card_more_stories

That is a good question! Next up – we go to Las Vegas! I am really surprised that this doesn’t happen more often because people tend to go crazy when they start losing money at casinos. Maybe not so much on the Vegas Strip, but there’s plenty of off strip action happening all around the gambling paradise known as Vegas. But if you start losing money, it’s your own damn fault. Don’t blame the casino for it!

Police say a woman who was angered when she was kicked out of a Las Vegas-area casino intentionally drove her motorhome into the building, injuring a custodian.

North Las Vegas Police spokesman Eric Leavitt says the 50-year-old woman was ejected from the Cannery casino Friday morning and drove her Winnebago motorhome into the building.

Leavitt says the woman hit a 66-year-old custodial worker who was outside the building. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the worker was critically injured but is expected to survive.

Leavitt told KVVU-TV that the woman kept hitting the gas and her vehicle was stuck in the building’s entrance. Employees had to remove the woman to get her to stop.
https://kwwl.com/news/national-news-from-the-associated-press/2019/10/25/woman-drives-motorhome-into-casino-after-shes-kicked-out/

Next up we go to Minneapolis! Yeah the meth industry attracts some extremely strange people to it, not to mention some incredibly armed and extremely dangerous people to it. But last week we brought you that story about When Standing Your Ground Goes Wrong. Well, do 18th century cannons fall under the controversial Stand Your Ground law?

A Dassel couple is facing weapons and drug charges after authorities seized more than 50 grams of methamphetamine and more than a dozen weapons from their home, including a functioning cannon.

Bret Bruce Wakefield, 59, and Ramona Jean Wakefield, 56, are facing one count each of first-degree sale of a controlled substance, first-degree possession of a controlled substance and firearm possession.

According to the complaint, CEE-VI Drug and Gang Task Force agents served a search warrant Monday at the couple’s home on the 17000 block of Highway 15 South. Upon arrival, they immediately located the couple and had them detained while completing their sweep of the residence.

With a broader search of the property, agents recovered 12 firearms and a functioning cannon.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2019/10/22/dassel-couple-found-in-possession-of-drugs-weapons-including-working-cannon/

Next up - we cant get out of here without talking about America’s most penis shaped state, the great state of Florida. The Sunshine State always brings it every week, and we do want to thank the @Florida_Man Twitter account for keeping us up to date on these stories. While I do love Florida Man stories, I also love Doomsday Prepper stories, and none is more prepper than this, but really don’t build your doomsday shelter from stolen parts! That never ends well!

A Florida man preparing for the end of the world is under investigation for stealing vehicles and building a "doomsday bunker" in his backyard.

They found the trailer at the man's home, where he had apparently been stockpiling stolen vehicles and burying them in the backyard to create an underground shelter.

Though the man reportedly told police he did not have a prediction for when the world would end, chances are he wouldn't have survived the end times in his makeshift shelter even if he had gotten away with building it.

"A trailer is not structurally sound," Craig Holland, the city's development-services director, told the Orlando Sentinel. "I don't think it would have protected him from much."
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/florida-man-stole-trailers-food-truck-planned-bury-doomsday-bunker-police-article-1.1157841

That is a good point sir! And by the way that was a weird Google Image search! Finally this week this might be one of my favorite Florida Man stories in a while. Yeah so Florida Man was caught inside a Target store defiling stuffed animals, and… Olaf from Frozen. This is real! This happened! I laughed so hard when I first saw this story and well I had to include it. And the sad thing is they had to put Olaf out to pasture after this. And I’ll never hear “Let It Go” in the same way ever again!

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]What’s Up With Texas Pt 2: Visiting The Border
[br] [/font] [br]

This segment was originally supposed to air in Top 10 #7-2, but since that edition was cancelled at the last minute, we’re airing it now. Enjoy!

Texas has the 2nd most electoral votes in the country after California. This is due to the states’ sheer size and massive population. But the reason why we’re touring Texas is because for the first time since Eisenhower, Texas has a very real possibility of turning blue for the first time in over 60 years. So what could that do to the electorate? Well, it could make Florida’s votes irrelevant for one thing. So we decided to do this docuseries to tour the great state of Texas to find out what’s up? What makes this state so great? In Part 1 of our docuseries, we went to El Paso to hang out with the Beto O’Rourke campaign and we toured a facility that was housing immigrants. Yeah I.C.E. confiscated our cameras, unfortunately. But we’ve found towns and cities along the Texas border the border issue can be like a fine wine – tricky, convoluted but it can also unite people or divide them.

Most security experts agree that fencing is important to keeping order at the border, but, they emphasize, it is only one of many tools.

“A fence, standing alone, is not a strategy for controlling the border against illegal migration,” said Robert C. Bonner, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection under former President George W. Bush.

Bonner and other immigration experts say fencing is not meant to keep people out of the U.S. Instead, it is intended to slow undocumented immigrants down enough so that Border Patrol agents can apprehend them before they get to U.S. cities and blend into the larger population.

That’s why various types of fencing are used on different parts of the border, depending on a number of factors including terrain and proximity to cities.

Near urban areas, two layers of barriers can be particularly effective because Border Patrol agents can closely monitor the area and pick up migrants before they can cross the second fence.

Using the Pentagon funds, the Trump administration plans to build 55 new miles of secondary fencing, mostly near the border towns of Yuma, Arizona, and El Centro, California.

“In an area where once someone crosses, they disappear fast, [secondary fencing] is a huge tactical advantage,” said Blas Nuñez-Neto, a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation.

Some of the pedestrian fencing that currently exists on the border was made from Vietnam-era helicopter landing mats, which is easier to cut, climb over or dig under than the “bollard style” 30-foot-tall steel fencing the Trump administration is using to replace it.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/trump-administration-is-promising-a-new-border-wall-the-reality-is-less-clear

Well let’s hope it doesn’t come to that! But let’s keep in mind the harsh reality of Trump’s proposed wall, and that is before we go into the heart of it, let’s show you just how insignificant the wall being proposed in El Centro is:

That’s pretty tiny compared to how large the border between the US and Mexico really is. With that in mind, we took a trip down the border in Texas. Our first stop took us to the city of Juarez, a town so close to the border that it shares roads and municipal utilities with the city of El Paso. And of course what we found there is way different than what the news media would have you believe.

Down a bumpy neighborhood road in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico – a crime-ridden city in the state of Chihuahua with more than 1 million people – sits a migrant shelter for women who’ve been trapped in Mexico under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.

Under this policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have been illegally sending certain asylum-seekers back to Mexico to await their immigration court hearings. When returned to Mexico, migrants generally find shelter in flimsy tents or are forced to sleep on the streets of overcrowded and unsafe border towns like Juárez, which lies across the bridge from El Paso, Texas.

Here, the few women who’ve found shelter in a house hidden from the outside world consider themselves lucky. Tens of thousands of migrants have not found safe or stable housing. Unlike most asylum-seekers sent back to Mexico, these women have a roof over their heads. There’s room to sleep. They’ve found safety in a shelter run by another woman who cares for and feeds them and their children. They thank God for these small blessings.

But the blessings do little to undo the impact the harsh policy has on their lives.
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2019/11/19/no-way-out-tales-border

Unfortunately there’s no wall or door for many of these refugees from Mexico and South America under this administration. So while touring Laredo – which we were heavily advised against, we managed to go down there, which was also heavily advised against. And that was just for the Texas side. But apparently the Trump administration wants to give you a border wall whether you want it or not. And that’s just the beginning of a long and very strange fight.

When David Acevedo attended a meeting with officials from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in Webb County last month, he thought he would come away with more information about the Trump administration’s border security plans.

But Acevedo, whose family owns 180 acres of land near the Rio Grande in south Laredo, said the meeting only produced more questions about how the administration was going to move forward with plans it had for the swath of land that’s been in his family for generations.

“They didn’t tell us that they were doing a physical barrier,” he said. “They said, ‘It may be a wall, it may be that we just need lights, we’re going to put lighting up, it may be we just need a road.’”

The only thing he knew for sure was the administration wanted access to his land to conduct surveys and site samples for border security purposes. And in a letter dated Oct. 15, the government asked him to grant access for 18 months.

The government’s actions in Webb County are similar to the sporadic but hurried moves the administration is taking in the Rio Grande Valley as it fast-tracks construction of a border barrier ahead of the 2020 election. The administration moved ahead recently with construction of new barriers in the Rio Grande Valley, and NBC news reported last week that the administration is preparing court filings to seize more land in the area before the end of the month — without first telling landowners how much it will offer for their land.
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/11/21/texans-fight-government-plan-seize-land-border-wall/

I believe that’s what the Trump administrations’ intentions are with the wall, but apparently you can just paint over it and run really fast. But while our journey along the border was a long and frustrating one, with many times we got stopped with “Who are you?” and “What are you doing here?”, we did manage to talk to some actual freedom fighters. These people are actually fighting the drug cartels who are bringing the crime and drugs that Trump has talked so famously about. Yes, apparently the towns of Gary, Indiana, and the town of Laredo are now one.

One family is fighting a brutal battle against illegal drugs and cartels. Two brothers, separated by more than 1,300 miles, have one mission: find and stop deadly narcotics from hitting the streets.

Joe Garza is a Customs and Border Protection officer in Laredo, Texas. His brother Javier Garza is a Gary police corporal.

"I'm proud of what I do," said Javier Garza. "I'm proud of what he does. It's in our hearts."

Joe is with his team fighting drugs, guns, and people trafficking at the border with Mexico in Laredo. His younger brother Javier fights that same fight on the streets of Gary, Indiana. It's not an easy tas

"The amount of traffic we have for the port of Laredo is huge," Joe Garza said. "I mean it's huge. There's no way we can check everyone. But it something we're trying our best to stop."

There are four major bridges into Laredo from Mexico. Ten thousand people come by foot over the gateway to the America's Bridge every day. The other three bridges funnel thousands of vehicles to and from the border.
https://abc7chicago.com/from-gary-to-texas-brothers-battle-mexican-cartels-shipping-drugs-across-border/5681100/

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

For part 3 of our “What’s Up With Texas” docuseries, we’re going to Austin, the capital of Texas and music capital of the US, to hopefully score an interview with Gov. Abbott, but we’ll probably get told to fuck right off. And we’re OK with that.

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Sturgill Simpson[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen my next guest is country music’s anti-hero! His latest album is called “Sound And Fury”. Playing his song “Make Art, Not Friends”, give it up for Sturgill Simpson!
https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5d8d0e675d366d000838d1eb/1:1/w_320/sturgill_soundandfury.jpg

The Top 10 returns with a brand new edition live from Stanford next week, and our countdown to blowing up this crazy year that was 2019 commences! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: University Of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Special Thanks To: UNLV
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: Fremont St. Baptist Church Choir, Las Vegas, NV
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Sturgill Simpson Appears Courtesy Of: Elektra Records
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
New! Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

November 20, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-20: Wheel Of Corruption Presents Hobbs & Shaw Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-20: Wheel Of Corruption Presents Hobbs & Shaw Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up UC Berkeley? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! Can you believe that we have just 3 Top 10s left in 2019? And we will wrap everything up with a nice neat bow on it for our 2019 Year In Review edition on December 18th. But first we’ve got a lot of Top 10 news which will be unveiled on our… Best Of on the 27th. But since Christmas and New Year’s both fall on a Wednesday there will be no Best Of editions like we normally do, maybe a rerun or two. Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do, it’s my show. I make the rules, damn it! I mean despite what my producer says. So we’re beginning the home stretch of the regular NFL season and it’s time to talk playoffs. Do you have your Super Bowl plans yet? Well if you don’t and you’ve got some coin to blow, head over to Miami where our good friend Rob Gronkowski is throwing his first ever Gronk Beach Party! So let’s go over the options – the cheap tickets will run you $149 and can go anywhere to $499 plus you get open bar. Which is not too bad. Then you can throw in the meet & greet with Rob himself for $499. Oh sure I’ll take two! Now here’s where it gets weird, because of course you knew it was going to. so the VIP section ranges anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000. Like you can party at the Tiki Touchdown Table for $7500, or the Shake Your Tight End Table for $10K, or the Gronk Spike Table for $20K, or the Party Like A Gronk Star table for $30K, or you can get the whole “Ship” package for a mere $100K. Hey the alternative could be Trump’s party and you all know how excited they were to be there last year. I mean just look. OK that’s enough of the intro, but first John Oliver is back for the season finale and he reminds everyone why you shouldn’t fuck with the Census:

Hey everyone the famous Wheel Of Corruption is back for the last time this season!! Yay!!! Where do we begin this week? In the first slot this week is of course the guy who we currently call “president” and that’s Donald J. Trump. The impeachment hearings are not going well for him, especially on day 1 with Jim Jordan making a complete ass of himself. In the second slot this week is the White House (2) which is an absolute dumpster fire and they are not taking the impeachment trial very well. It will either be them or Trump but more likely Trump. Taking the 3rd slot this week is Stephen Miller and after Ilhan Omar puts in a request to the ACLU, the rumors are true and worse than we thought – Stephen Miller is indeed a white supremacist! For the 4th slot this week is Facebook (4). They are going hard trying to pass pro-conservative propaganda on controversial SCOTUS justice Brett Kavanaugh and silencing liberal voices on the subject. At slot #5 this week is our weekly investigative piece Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week the Center For Disease Control has issued a warning about bacteria-resistant superbugs that could possibly kill you! *cue horror music* At 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 is on the ground in Houston as Kanye West takes his Sunday Sermon concept to Joel Osteen’s controversial Lakewood Church – and – wait for it – it’s being televised! Shocker, I know. In the 7th slot this week is “Beating A Dead Horse” (7) – was the CEO of Uber right to make his statement about the gruesome murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoogi? We’ll let you be the judge! At the #8 seed this week is a new edition of “NO!” – the State Of North Dakota is declaring war on a very serious meth problem in their state, but does anyone really want to be remembered as the face of crystal meth addiction? NO! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a new People Are Dumb, because of course they are! And finally this week our 2020 voters’ guide “Keeping Up With The Candidates” (10) – with many candidates dropping out of the race at this point, why the hell is Michael Bloomberg just now announcing a run? We don’t need it, and billionaires are not your friends! Plus the palate cleanser this week for putting up with my bullshit – we have some live music from the legendary Alter Bridge! Buy their new album “Walk The Sky” or you’re no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]Impeachment Trial Update
[br] [/font] [br]

Hey everyone say it with me: It’s time for the WHEEL OF CORRUPTION! YAY!!!!!

Of course you know the rules by now – I spin the wheel and we have to talk about whatever it lands on. Of course if it lands on the guacamole option, you know that it costs $1.50 extra. So here’s what is on the wheel this week:

- Guns
- Abortion
- Crime
- Poverty
- Elections
- Buy A Vowel
- Sex
- Clip Without Context
- Death
- Greed
- Spying
- Walls
- Food
- Elections
- The Border
- Donald Trump
- Clip Without Context
- Chance
- 5,000
- Bankrupt
- Community Chest
- Top 10 Investigates
- A Random Tweet
- Something Random In The News
- ‘Merica!
- Golf
- 10,000
- Morally Bankrupt
- Guacamole
- Clip Without Context
- Talk Shows
- Holy Shit
- Beating A Dead Horse
- This Fucking Guy
- How Is This Still A Thing?
- Intermission
- 15,000
- People Are Dumb
- Keeping Up With The Candidates
- I Need A Drink
- Infowars
- Go Directly To Jail
- T-Shirt Cannon
- Lightning Round
- Bonus Spin

This is the last Wheel Of Corruption edition for this season. But it will be back for next year! OK let’s get this party started! Spin that shit! And hey it’s A Random Tweet!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1196159184431177729?s=20

To which I respond: “Where’s your sanity?”. Oh wait, he has none. Spin it again! And it lands on Donald Trump! Folks, I don’t need to remind you of how absolutely batshit crazy the impeachment trial is going, and the fact that Trump and his enablers like Steve Scalise and Alex Jones are trying to intimidate people means that the Dems are really getting under their skin. See, impeachment isn’t an instant fix like so many are clamoring for. Instead it’s a long burn, slow boiling process and there’s many layers to it, and it will take a long time before the dust settles. But one thing is certain is that the republicans haven’t read past the keyword “inquiry”.

Pelosi also defined the president's bribe: "The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections. That's bribery."

Bribery, she noted, is "in the Constitution attached to the impeachment proceeding."

On Wednesday, testimony from a career diplomat at the first public hearings of the impeachment inquiry opened new questions about what the president knew about the campaign to pressure Ukraine and when he knew it.

Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, relayed an account by a member of his staff, who said he overheard the president asking about "the investigations" one day after the now-infamous July 25 call between Mr. Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, then the newly elected president of Ukraine.

Taylor testified that the staffer recently told him about a phone call he overheard between Mr. Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland in July, one day after Mr. Trump urged the Ukrainian president to "look into" the Bidens.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/impeachment-hearings-testimony-bill-taylor-george-kent-ukraine-today-2019-11-14/

Yes, we can now add bribery to the growing list of crimes against Trump! As of right now it’s probably better to list the crimes he hasn’t committed. And really guys, can you shut up about George Soros already? Sheesh, that dead horse has been played out for the last 3 years. Even Trump used the 90 year old billionaire that conservatives think is a real life boogeyman. Give it a rest already!

Very wrong, Cartman, I know hippies who drive BMWs. But seriously you can now add “witness intimidation via Twitter” to the growing list of impeachable offenses that Trump has committed, even on live TV. Really, there’s no bottom. There’s no line they won’t cross, except of course for touching the 2nd amendment, that’s the infallible word of god don’t you know. And even the actual former ambassador to the Ukraine thinks Trump is full of shit:

Ukrainian officials arrived at the White House on July 10 expecting something approaching normal. They were in Washington for a scheduled meeting with then-National Security Adviser John Bolton with a plan to propose a new path for U.S.-Ukrainian relations under the umbrella of energy and security cooperation. All seemed to go well—until U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland stepped in. “That’s when things really went off the rails,” one person in the room said.

It’s been widely noted in testimonies by multiple House impeachment witnesses that Sondland interrupted the conversation between Bolton and the Ukrainians when he suggested that the Kyiv officials open investigations into Hunter Biden and the gas company he worked for if they wanted President Volodymyr Zelensky to land a White House meeting with Donald Trump.

Bolton immediately cut the get-together short, witnesses said, in an attempt to save what had until then been a normal meeting. But what’s been less clear—until now—is what happened moments later, when Sondland guided the Ukrainians into the White House’s Ward Room. Three individuals familiar with the conversation described what happened next.

Sondland continued to not just relay, but demanded ferociously, that the Ukrainians open the Biden investigations, saying it was the only chance for Washington and Kyiv to develop any further meaningful relationship, two individuals with knowledge of Sondland’s overtures said.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/impeachment-hearings-when-gordon-sondland-stepped-in-things-went-really-off-the-rails

So that happened. This administration is so incompetent that calling them a “dumpster fire” is definitely understating the situation. And instead since this administration is so reactionary, the appropriate thing to do is to just sweep it under the rug. No really, the White House is in full “move along, nothing to see here, please disperse” territory.

President Trump's public schedule next week is designed to keep him distracted from the televised hearings — and to counterprogram Week 2 of those hearings.

The big picture: Trump's schedule for the coming week shows him governing, promoting U.S. jobs and highlighting the arts and pop culture.

On Tuesday, as Democrats question Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Trump will be meeting with his Cabinet.
On Wednesday, as Democrats grill Trump megadonor turned EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland, Trump will he visiting Apple's manufacturing plant in Texas.
And on Thursday, after Democrats question Fiona Hill, Trump will be presenting the national medals of arts and humanities.

The bottom line: Trump, who'll cap the week by welcoming college athletes, will have built-in opportunities to address the cameras at all of these events. If he shows discipline, he can convey that he is carrying out the range of duties of the presidency while Democrats are focused on impeachment. But if last week is any guide, that's a big if.
https://www.axios.com/trump-public-schedule-impeachment-hearings-10abcd73-b26c-4618-b264-82ad86a3566f.html

[font size="8"]Roger Stone
[br] [/font] [br]

Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin shall we? And it lands on… wait for it… oh hey it’s one of our patented clips without context!

Dude, seriously, you're on trial for colluding with Russia. You probably should at least switch to a booze that isn't, I don't know, made in Russia! Go with Beefeater Gin, it not only makes for a better martini, it also makes you look less guilty! Spin it again! And it lands on… crime! Folks, this is seriously one of the best things to happen this year, but Roger Stone is GUILTY!!!!! Oh that felt good to say that, he is guilty as shit! And that means that last week when we reported on Alex Jones’ attempt to harass the jurors (see: Idiots #7-19 ) didn’t fucking work. Thanks for playing, tell them what they’ve won, Johnny!

Roger Stone is guilty, and now his future might rest in Donald Trump’s hands.

A federal jury on Friday found the longtime Republican provocateur guilty on all charges for thwarting a House investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference, opening up a political pandora’s box for a president already facing pressure from his conservative base to issue a pardon.

Stone’s fate was sealed after a trial that spanned just over a week, which concluded with unanimous guilty verdicts against Stone on five felony counts of lying to investigators, one count of obstructing a congressional probe and one count of witness tampering.

Stone stood and braced himself with his fingers on the counsel table as the seven guilty verdicts were read. He showed no visible reaction, but he put on his glasses to look at the jurors as the nine women and three men were then polled individually at the defense’s request to confirm their agreement with the verdicts.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/15/roger-stone-found-guilty-of-lying-to-congress-witness-tampering-071124

Damn right he’s guilty! Roger Stone can now go peddle his conspiracy theories to the wall of a jail cell and any other prisoners who might be listening. But what happens when a fellow conspiracy theorist joins the fray? Well you can expect the shit storm that’s already been brewing to become a Category 5, though their BFF Trump will definitely say that no such thing exists.

Roger Stone is precisely why 7.8% of Americans suffer from coulrophobia, or fear of clowns. You can add 100% of the jury in this case. Stone has insisted that what he does in politics is “performance art. Sometimes for its own sake.” However, this performance art seemed to work for not only its own sake, but for the sake of Stone, and ultimately Trump.

The most damaging was Stone’s warning to Randy Credico, who was called as a witness to speak to any effort of Stone's to obtain hacked emails from WikiLeaks. Referencing a character in “The Godfather: Part II," Stone told Credico to “Practice your Frank Pentangeli.” In the movie, Frank "Frankie Five Angels" Pentangeli committed suicide after lying to Congress to protect the mob.

The statement was vintage Stone: reckless, alarming, and, yes, entertaining. The problem with being a performance artist is when your performance is suggesting a criminal act.

Jones said that Stone was certain of his own demise before the verdict was returned. It was not hard to predict. Not only did Stone decline to testify but his team put forward a defense as opaque and convoluted as Stone himself.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/11/15/roger-stone-guilty-convicted-donald-trump-pardon-column/4204359002/

Seriously, this is like a Scorsese movie except everyone involved is an idiot. So if the president’s fixer is found guilty of crimes relating to the president, what does this mean? Well if you can guess that Trump is literally saying everything wrong about this trial that he possibly can, well, you win today’s “pretend to be shocked” award.

NBC News’ report added that Stone is scheduled to be sentenced in February, and he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Though Donald Trump was obviously not on trial in this case, the president was hardly on the periphery of the proceedings. Roger Stone is a longtime Trump ally who briefly worked for the future president’s campaign operation in 2015. Indeed, much of the case centered on Trump and Stone’s interactions between WikiLeaks and the Trump campaign.

Both Steve Bannon and Rick Gates – two top officials from Trump’s political operation – testified in the trial, and prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky explicitly made the case that Stone’s crimes were motivated by his belief that “the truth looked bad for Donald Trump.”

And speaking of the Republican president, Trump responded to Stone’s conviction in a decidedly Trumpian way.

“So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come,” the president tweeted. “Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn’t they lie?”

Trump added, “A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/following-roger-stones-conviction-trump-says-all-the-wrong-things

Seriously Trump wouldn’t know what a double standard is if it jumped up and bit him on the ass. These are rich old conservative white men here. They are the standard! But you know one person who we haven’t touched on in a while is our old Wikileaks friend Julian Assange, who has left the confines of the comfy Ecuadorian embassy in London (which he abused) and hasn’t been seen or heard from since, but he could be dragged back into the fray.

President Trump's friend and political adviser Roger Stone is set to go on trial Tuesday in a proceeding that could reveal just how close Trump world got to the Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Jury selection is scheduled to commence following months of unusual public silence from Stone, who has been gagged by the judge in his case following a flap this year over his posts on social media.

Stone pleaded not guilty in January after a grand jury in Washington, D.C., returned an indictment with one count of obstructing a proceeding, five counts of making false statements to Congress and one count of witness tampering — because prosecutors allege that he tried to persuade another witness to lie to Congress too.

Neither Stone nor any other Trump insider has been charged with colluding with Russia's interference in the 2016 election; former Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to bring a case of conspiracy.
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/05/776121411/roger-stone-trump-friend-and-alleged-tie-to-wikileaks-faces-trial-in-washington

[font size="8"]Stephen Miller
[br] [/font] [br]

Let’s spin the wheel and see where it lands shall we? Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop!!! Oh it’s one of our patented clips without context!

I’m pretty sure that Congress is the one who started impeachment of Trump. But if you’re hearing demonic voices suggesting this, I suggest you go see a psychiatrist ASAP. Spin it again! And it lands on… racism! So racism is one of the cornerstones of the Donald J. Trump presidency, and there’s no one in the administration more racist than Stephen Miller. Don’t boo yet. Because New York Congresswoman and future star of the eventual telenovela made of this whole insane show, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a favorite target of Trump, put in an inquiry with the Southern Poverty Law Center about just how racist Stephen Miller is. And the results are not only not at all shocking, but way more horrifying than you could ever possibly imagine!

A cache of emails revealed this week in which White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, in the run-up to the 2016 election, shared articles and websites affiliated with white nationalism has disturbed officials working in the Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department, who called the emails “sickening” and “proof” that Miller has been steering a racist immigration policy under President Trump.

The emails sent from Miller to editors of the far-right website Breitbart and obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center show Miller sharing a story from the white nationalist site VDare, pushing for Breitbart to write about a novel popular among white nationalists, and linking to a report detailing second-generation Muslims with the subject line “Huge Surge in US newborns named 'Mohammed.’”

The civil rights nonprofit said that after reviewing 900 emails, it was “unable to find any examples of Miller writing sympathetically or even in neutral tones about any person who is nonwhite or foreign-born.” In one such email chain, the SPLC said Miller directed Breitbart reporter Katie McHugh, who supplied the emails to the group, to aggregate information from American Renaissance, a white supremacist journal, for a story on crimes committed by nonwhite people.

“It’s sickening to know that someone with these viewpoints held a position of trust for a United States Senator," said one DHS official, referring to former senator and attorney general Jeff Sessions, "and now in the White House. Not that it wasn’t clear before — these emails just confirm what we all know. I’m disgusted that my venerable agency has turned into his personal tool for hate.”
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/stephen-miller-emails-dhs-officials-react-racism

I’m pretty sure that’s actual footage of Stephen Miller when he found out. But he really doesn’t look that far off from Hannibal Lecter. You know what? Forget about Hillary’s emails, I want to see Stephen Miller’s emails. After all, he’s going full Hitler, and you never, ever go full Hitler. So really just how racist is Stephen Miller? Well he’s pretty damn racist if you ask us!

White House adviser Stephen Miller on Sunday pushed back against those who believe President Donald Trump is a racist or is engaging in racist rhetoric, arguing the liberals use that label to censor their opponents.

"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace listed several of Trump's statements that have been decried as racist, including his recent suggestion that four congresswomen of color "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came," his unsubstantiated claims that former President Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen, his campaign announcement in which he said Mexicans "are rapists," his call for a "complete shutdown on Muslims entering the United States," and his assertion that there were good people on "both sides" of a clash between white nationalists and counterprotesters at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"Why shouldn't someone see all of that as racist?" Wallace asked Miller.

"I think the term 'racist,' Chris, has become a label that is too often deployed by the left, Democrats in this country simply to try to silence and punish and suppress people they disagree with, speech that they don't want to hear," Miller said.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/21/chris-wallace-stephen-miller-trump-racism/1790299001/

Damn straight! Just how racist was it? Yes…. .HOW RACIST WAS IT??? You know what? Let us know in the comments how racist that was. What’s really scary about this is that this guy is in the White House making policies. And don’t get me started on how someone is actually agreeing to marry this complete psychopath. However, if Trump has his back, well, just remember that you can always judge a person by the company they keep!

When the Southern Poverty Law Center’s blog Hatewatch revealed on Tuesday that Stephen Miller had pushed racist—and explicitly white-nationalist—content over and over again in 2015 and 2016, President Donald Trump’s senior policy adviser didn’t need any reassurances from his boss or his colleagues that his job was safe. Practically everyone in the building already knew it.

“Stephen is not going anywhere,” a senior White House official said on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the story started going viral. “The president has his back.”

Since then, six other senior Trump administration officials with knowledge of Miller’s standing with the president and top staffers have all individually told The Daily Beast that the story did not endanger Miller’s position, or change Trump’s favorable view of him. Two of them literally laughed at the mere suggestion that the Hatewatch exposé could have toppled or hobbled the top Trump adviser.

Katie McHugh, a disgraced former Breitbart staffer who provided Hatewatch with the trove of emails, told the blog that Miller had personally flagged for her in July 2015 an American Renaissance “article about crime statistics and race.” American Renaissance is a white-supremacist website beloved by fascists and alt-right adherents. McHugh added, “I responded in the affirmative because I had read it. Many of us [on the far-right] had read it. I remember being struck by the way he called it ‘AmRen,’ the nickname.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-miller-can-push-racist-crap-but-the-president-has-his-back

Just a little bit? He’s a full blown white nationalist, and Trump has his back! Yes, I will repeat that – Trump has his back! While there’s been many, many firings in the Trump administration, the fact that Stephen Miller still has a job is astonishing. This guy is making policy. He is directly advising Trump on immigration policies. You don’t want a racist in charge of immigration policies. That’s where we get… well, you know.

Miller was appointed senior policy adviser to the Trump campaign in January 2016 and later joined President Donald Trump’s transition team. He currently advises the president on immigration policy and is credited with spearheading Trump’s hard-line efforts on border security.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., tweeted a petition demanding Miller’s resignation.

“Stephen Miller must resign. Now,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “Each day we allow a white nationalist to be in charge of US immigration policy is a day where thousands of children & families lives are in danger.”

Other Democratic politicians made similar statements. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said Miller needs to step down. Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro called Miller and Trump “a shame to our nation.” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., tweeted that Trump should fire Miller immediately.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/democrats-call-stephen-miller-resign-after-leak-xenophobic-emails-n1081941

[font size="8"]Brett Kavanaugh
[br] [/font] [br]

Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin shall we? And it lands on… wait for it… NO!!!! A whammy!!!!

Spin it again. Sex! Once again, the most controversial justice sitting on the SCOTUS is no longer Clarence Thomas. Instead it’s Brett Kavanaugh. And in an instance of what one might consider to be extremely poor timing, Facebook – yeah you know that website that you use to hurl insults at your ex and find out which of your relatives has been posting angry diatribes against the government – bet you didn’t know it was Aunt Carol, did you? How could you, Aunt Carol? Facebook is owned by some predominantly right wing people. Led of course by Jessie Eisenberg impersonator Mark Zuckerberg. And I only assume that casting was because he shares the word “berg” in their last name. I’m getting carried away here. Facebook is courting Brett Kavanaugh by sponsoring the group he’s most commonly associated with – the Federalist Society. And it’s generating a lot of controversy. I mean a lot.

After hearing that Facebook is sponsoring a dinner Thursday night hosted by right-wing judicial advocacy group the Federalist Society honoring Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, progressive advocacy group Demand Justice launched an ad campaign targeted at the company's employees in Menlo Park, California.

Facebook is listed as a "Gold Circle" sponsor of the Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner. Kavanaugh is set to speak at the event, an arrangement which Demand Justice said makes Facebook complicit in "the rehabbing of Brett Kavanaugh's reputation" after Christine Blasey Ford testified under oath in 2018 that the judge sexually assaulted her when they were in high school.

While today Kavanaugh enjoys a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, Demand Justice senior counsel Katie O'Connor said in a statement, "Dr. Blasey Ford remains unable to resume a normal life after bravely coming forward last year. You can claim to respect survivors of sexual assault or you can pay for a celebration of Brett Kavanaugh, but you can't do both."

Targeted web ads will reach Facebook employees on LinkedIn and cell phone banner ads will display on phones near Facebook's headquarters.
https://www.salon.com/2019/11/17/ad-campaign-condemns-facebooks-sponsorship-of-federalist-society-dinner-honoring-brett-kavanaugh_partner/

Yeah this is the real life equivalent of a guy making a poorly timed joke about a tragedy and the room turns silent, and he follows it up with “too soon?”. It’s no secret that Mark Zuckerberg has predominately conservative leanings, yet he gets grilled every day by Congress about the bizarre concept of “shadow banning” like he’s some sort of conservative boogeyman. And don’t get me started on that. So Kavanaugh gets a lifetime to SCOTUS while Dr. Ford is living in hiding and getting death threats every day. Makes sense. Makes even more sense when Elizabeth Warren is slamming this nonsense.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has continued in her rebukes of Facebook after the firm sponsored a conservative event where Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh spoke.

The presidential hopeful accused the tech giant of trying to charm Republican lawmakers—even accusing it of corruption—while the firm undergoes four separate government antitrust investigations.

Legislators and lawmakers at state and federal level have continued to examine Facebook's role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the company's head of mergers and acquisitions faced questions about its role in the $1 billion acquisition of Instagram in Capitol Hill this week.

Warren's comments came as reports spread that Facebook was a "gold circle" sponsor of the Federalist Society's annual Antonin Scalia memorial dinner in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

"Facebook is spending millions lobbying the government as they face antitrust scrutiny," she said. "They're going on a charm offensive with Republican lawmakers. Now, they're sponsoring a din
https://www.newsweek.com/elizabeth-warren-facebook-federalist-society-brett-kavanaugh-corruption-1472004

Yeah seriously too soon. And the Trump train is a train you don’t want to be on. Trump Airlines went out of business and the SS Trumptanic has crashed into the iceberg. Speaking of which, this could be the iceberg for Facebook. Even Zuckerberg’s own employees are divided on this subject. Even after all the shit that the Trump admin has put us through, they still continue to divide us.

Facebook is sponsoring an event at which US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is speaking — a move that risks employee unrest, and that has sparked immediate protests from activist groups.

On Thursday, political newsletter Popular Information reported that Facebook will be a "gold sponsor" for an upcoming convention by conservative law group The Federalist Society, at which Kavanaugh will appear as the keynote speaker on Thursday.

After being nominated by President Trump, Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court in October 2018 following a bitter political battle and multiple allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him, which he denied. The fight inflamed Facebook's largely-liberal employee base after Joel Kaplan, Facebook's VP of global public policy, appeared in the audience at the hearing in support of Kavanaugh. Kaplan previously worked at the White House under the George W. Bush administration, and he and Kavanaugh are personal friends.

Some employees were outraged, calling his appearance "inappropriate."
https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-sponsors-federalist-society-event-brett-kavanaugh-speaker-2019-11

Yes it is sir and thank you for pointing that out. It is totally inappropriate. But thankfully at least we have advertising on our side. I mean it’s really sad when that’s your last line of defense, because let’s face it, nobody pays attention to the ads anymore. But even the ads are being critical of Brett Kavanaugh, at least somebody is!

An advocacy group is targeting Facebook employees with ads on LinkedIn, objecting to the company’s support of an event honoring Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh. The group, Demand Justice, has a clear message for employees: “Tell Facebook: stop funding the fight to normalize Brett Kavanaugh.”

Facebook is the only tech company listed as a “Gold Circle” sponsor for a Federalist Society event to be held in Washington, DC. On November 14th, Kavanaugh will give a speech at the Antonin Scalia memorial dinner as part of the group’s annual convention.

Other tech companies, such as Google, have sponsored Federalist Society events in the past, but Facebook has a complicated history with Kavanaugh. Last year, a company executive sat behind the then-Supreme Court nominee as he testified before Congress, attempting to rebut the allegations that he had sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when they were both in high school. Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, said he had known Kavanaugh for more than 20 years and considered the man a close friend.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/14/20963865/facebook-ads-brett-kavanaugh-federalist-society-employees

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Bacteria Resistant Super Bugs
[br] [/font] [br]

Now entering the spin cycle! No whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop! Ah it’s another clip without context!

To which I say I don’t think Tom has seen a single episode of Gossip Girl! Spin it again! Hey it’s time for Top 10 Investigates! It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 Investigates!

The biggest threat to your personal safety isn’t Al-Qaeda or ISIS. It’s not terrorism. The biggest threat to your safety is germs. And recently these viruses have grown, mutated and evolved to the point where they are resistant to anti-bacteria agents. Because there’s not enough things that can kill you, we need more of them. The Center For Disease Control calls this phenomenon a “super bug”. And we can’t be the only ones afraid when the virus sounds like it could take on Mecha Godzilla. So just how deadly is the latest strain of superbugs that are infecting the masses? They are a lot deadlier than you might think, and something that you should be afraid of. Very afraid of.

A drug-resistant fungus infection called "a serious global health threat" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been confirmed in Georgia for the first time. New federal health data was released this week about a dangerous, drug-resistant fungal infection that's risen in 14 states, including Georgia, over the past seven months. Cases of "Candida auris" are a sometimes fatal fungal infection that is emerging globally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of late October, one confirmed cases of the infection have been confirmed in Georgia.

New York has confirmed 388 cases of Candida auris infection, followed by 227 cases in Illinois and 137 cases in New Jersey. Nationwide, more than 800 cases have been confirmed, along with 30 probable cases.

A CDC report released on Wednesday placed Candida auris among five "superbugs" that are considered "urgent threats" to the United States, killing someone in the United States every 15 minutes. The same report says more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the United States each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result.
https://patch.com/georgia/atlanta/deadly-superbug-case-confirmed-georgia-cdc

Yes, holy shit indeed. This could be a serious problem in the long run especially if there’s no drugs that can be developed prior to an outbreak of the disease. But it gets worse. Oh it gets so much worse. In fact the super bugs could kill as many as 35,000 people per year if not treated properly. And it’s not some post apocalyptic, head for the basement bunker level of fear mongering. This is something that you should prepare for now.

A new report has revealed that drug-resistant “superbugs” are deadlier than originally thought.

The new antibiotic resistance threats report comes from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and highlights the increased threat of these drug-resistant infections. According to the report, nearly 2.8 million people suffer infections from these “superbugs” every year.

Of those, 35,000 people die from these stronger infections.

The report was formulated by looking at bacteria and fungi, finding 21 different infections and categorizing them as “urgent threats,” “serious threats,” “concerning threats,” and “watch list.” However, it does not include parasites or viruses like influenza or HIV.

The results of the 2019 report are also higher than in the previous AR threat report published in 2013. It was found at the time that around 2 million people suffered from drug-resistant infections, with nearly 23,000 dying from said infections.

“Germs continue to spread and develop new types of resistance, and progress may be undermined by some community-associated infections that are on the rise,” the report says. “While the development of new treatments is one of these key actions, such investments must be coupled with dedicated efforts toward preventing infections in the first place, slowing the development of resistance through better antibiotic use, and stopping the spread of resistance when it does develop to protect American lives now and in the future.”
https://www.ibtimes.com/superbugs-rise-new-cdc-report-finds-threat-has-increased-previous-report-2013-2865723

Yes it is terrifying. Cue the horror music. In fact you might be asking “how deadly is this new strain of bacteria” that is infecting more than you can count? Well… HOW DEADLY IS IT? It is so deadly that it kills someone every 15 minutes. And you were expecting a punchline there, weren’t you? Well, unfortunately we got nothing. And it’s very difficult to put into words the seriousness of this potentially deadly problem.

Every 15 minutes, someone in the United States dies of a superbug that has learned to outsmart even our most sophisticated antibiotics, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That’s about 35,000 deaths each year from drug-resistant infections, according to the landmark report.

The report places five drug-resistant superbugs on the CDC’s “urgent threat” list — two more germs than were on the CDC’s list in 2013, the last time the agency issued a report on antibiotic resistance.

Genetic research shows germs have become especially adept at teaching each other how to outwit antibiotics.

“Some miracle drugs no longer perform miracles,” according to the report.

The report also notes that while superbug infections in hospitals are down, some infections caught elsewhere — anywhere in the community — have increased.
https://fox59.com/2019/11/16/cdc-drug-resistant-superbug-kills-someone-every-15-minutes/

That’s probably live footage of tests that they had in the lab when detecting this new killer strain of super bugs and there’s some good news. Is that while the CDC is stating that the infections may set medicine back a century or more, the good news is that less people are dying from it. And by less, we mean that’s the operative keyword there. There’s still people dying from these diseases but you’re less likely to now.

Drug-resistant “superbug” infections have been called a developing nightmare that could set medicine back a century, making conquered germs once again untreatable.

So there’s some surprising news in a report released Wednesday: U.S. superbug deaths appear to be going down.

About 36,000 Americans died from drug-resistant infections in 2017, down 18% from an estimated 44,000 in 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated. The decline is mainly attributed to an intense effort in hospitals to control the spread of particularly dangerous infections.

“We are pushing back in a battle we were losing,” said Michael Kirsch, a pharmacist at AdventHealth Tampa, a Florida hospital that has seen lower superbug infection rates. “I would not by any means declare success.”

Indeed, though deaths are going down, nonfatal infections grew nationally from 2.6 million in 2013 to 2.8 million in 2017. Some worrisome new germs are emerging. And superbugs are appearing much more often outside of hospitals, the report says.
https://www.wsfa.com/2019/11/13/us-superbug-infections-rising-deaths-are-falling/

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

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
[br] [/font] [br]

Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin shall we? And it lands on… no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop ! Intermission! I’ll just sit here and amuse myself with my phone. Go, play the music!

OK we’re back! Spin it again! Oh hey it’s time for Holy Shit!

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of UC Berkeley! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

My fair congregation! So we went to Houston over the weekend. I know we were just there, but we had to go back. Why? Well apparently Kanye is dabbling into the world of televangelism by meeting with prosperity gospel preacher Joel Osteen and his stadium filling Lakewood Church. Yes, we have talked a lot about Kanye’s journey into religion. But in the interest of being fair – we’re wondering if he’s doing it because he’s actually a man of GAWD or is it because his GAWD happens to be the almighty dollar? Well Ye definitely has a lot of studying to do before he is to be called a man of GAWD because he clearly doesn’t get the message.

Kanye West is opening up about his faith.

The Jesus Is King rapper, 42, stopped by pastor Joel Osteen‘s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, on Sunday, where he spoke a little about his spiritual journey.

“I know that God’s been calling me for a long time and the devil’s been distracting me for a long time,” he said while standing with the pastor in Osteen’s megachurch.

“When I was in my lowest points, God was there with me and sending me visions and inspiring me, and I remember sitting in the hospital at UCLA after having a mental breakdown and there’s documentation of me drawing a church and [wanting to] start a church in the middle of Calabasas,” he added, referring to his 2016 hospitalization during his Saint Pablo tour.

West, who has spoken at length in recent months about his faith, went on to share despite “all of that arrogance and cockiness that y’all have seen from me” in the past, “God is now using him.”

“Because every time I stand up, I feel that I’m standing up and drawing a line in the sand and saying, ‘I’m here in service to God and no weapon formed against me shall prosper,’ ” he said.
https://people.com/music/kanye-west-calls-himself-greatest-artist-that-god-has-ever-created/

Yes, Ye, it’s pretty bad when JAYSUS does it! And I mean come on can you really call yourself a man of GAWD if you appear before a certified huckster like Joel Osteen? I mean come on it’s in the Good Book – well at least our Good Book anyway! JAYSUS doesn’t want your big sermon or rock opera, he just wants you to praise him. Can I get an amen??? And would anyone be surprised that there were long lines and the show started late? I am not.

The “greatest artist that God has ever created” — that would be Kanye West’s new, self-given title — brought his Sunday Service Experience to Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church on Sunday night.

After a morning chat with Osteen and his megachurch congregation — during which the rapper declared himself the “greatest artist...” — West returned with his gospel for a performance, which was also livestreamed, like every service is, on Facebook, YouTube, the church’s website and on Joel Osteen’s SiriusXM’s radio channel. While it started late, due to long entrance lines, he West did complete the show, which doesn’t always happen, and it was largely enjoyed.

The lines to get in were “ridiculous.” West appeared at the 11 a.m. service with Osteen for a conversation about faith and his fabulousness, at which wife Kim Kardashian was front and center. While he then had hours before his Sunday Service Experience performance was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. that night, people began lining up right away in hopes of getting a good general admission seat to the show, leading to some chaos. There was a lot of griping about the lines on social media, and local news station KTRK said the issue had to do with the extra entry security, including each person going through a metal detector. Some concertgoers, still in line when the show started, streamed the show on their phones as they waited.

People rushed the venue to grab seats. Once inside, people raced to their seats, creating even more of a frenzy. We know that while the tickets were free, many were snatched up and resold — some for $300 each — and people clearly wanted to get their money’s worth.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kanye-wests-sunday-service-at-joel-osteens-megachurch-has-a-chaotic-start-strong-finish-164910651.html

Yes, even the good LAWRD thinks this is ridiculous. Well I will give Ye the benefit of the doubt here in that his music is bringing people together. I mean who thought that dueling Texas reps from different parties would be sitting right next to each other front row center at Lakewood last Sunday? I mean that is something that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would actually want!

Who says bipartisanship doesn’t exist?

Texas Reps. Dan Crenshaw and Sheila Jackson Lee proved us wrong at Kanye West’s highly talked about Sunday Service at Lakewood Church in Houston, per Crenshaw’s Instagram.

[California ice cream shop milks D.C. impeachment hearings]

Crenshaw, a Republican, and Jackson Lee, a Democrat, appear next to each other in the front row — or close enough to feel any sweat (or holy water) that could fling from Kanye and his gospel choir.

Crenshaw shared videos on Instagram from his evening. Kanye’s wife Kim Kardashian West and daughter North briefly appear in one video, moving swiftly past the congressman to the side of the stage.

Ahead of the artist’s Sunday performance, he and his choir sang for inmates at two Houston jails, prompting praise from Crenshaw and Texas governor Greg Abbott.
https://www.rollcall.com/news/hoh/reps-dan-crenshaw-sheila-jackson-lee-front-row-kanye-wests-sunday-service

No sir, JAYSUS is the best! But that said I still don’t think that Ye quite gets the message that JAYSUS is trying to convey. No, we don’t need him running for president. And no, we definitely don’t need him changing his name to Christian Genius Billionaire. I mean really, if you have to tell me you’re all 3 of those things, especially in your own name, then my friend, you aren’t any of those things!

Kanye West was recently named one of the world's wealthiest hip hop artists by Forbes, with the publication estimating his net worth at $240 million. West, however, wants you to know he's not a millionaire — he's a billionaire. The rapper floated the idea of legally changing his name to "Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West," just so everyone knows it.

"Martin Luther King didn't get killed because he had a dream; he had something else he was gong to talk about. He talked about black empowerment, economic empowerment," West said at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR). "When I did Forbes, I showed them a $890 million receipt and they still didn't say 'billionaire.'"

"They don't want us to know that we can buy land; they don't want us to have the 100 percent ownership [that] I have at Yeezy," West continued, referring his fashion line, which Forbes did estimate would top $1.5 billion this year. "When people say it's crass to call yourself a billionaire, I say I might legally change my name to Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West for a year until y'all understand exactly what it is… It will be on the license plate."

If West does stick with the name change, we could be seeing "Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West" on the 2024 presidential ballot. The Chicago native also addressed that prospect during the Fast Company talk. "When I run for president in 2024 —" he started, before laughter from the audience interrupted him. "What y'all laughing at? We would create so many jobs!"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kanye-west-christian-genius-billionaire-wants-to-change-name-run-for-president-of-the-united-states-after-jesus-is-king/

Yes sir, this is fame! But no, I do not want to see a president calling himself “Christian Genius Billionaire” Kanye West. Even JAYSUS would be smiting him! Can I get an amen? Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Uber Vs Khashoogi
[br] [/font] [br]

Hey everyone let’s give the wheel a good strong spin shall we? And it lands on… wait for it… oh hey it’s another one of our patented clips without context!

I’d be willing to go out on a limb here and say that these two have probably never actually read Dante’s Inferno, because I’m pretty sure that we’re living in hell now. Thank you! spin it again! Oh hey it’s time for Beating A Dead Horse!

You know we live in an unusual time where people will often times, shall we say, barf their brain, like what our president currently does on his Twitter feed. Except that the difference between your average citizen and @realDonaldTrump is, Trump says the most vicious shit imaginable and he does not apologize for any of it. Now here’s the thing – this is the year 2019 here. We have access to this thing called “social media”. And when you say something that might be misconstrued in a certain context, well, people get mad. Then you add social media, and people get really mad. Take for instance, Uber CEO, and I hope I’m pronouncing this correctly – Dara Khosrowshahi, or as Deadpool says I’m not even gonna attempt that. We’re all still trying to figure out how the gruesome state-sanctioned murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoogi was allowed to happen, and here’s one of those situations where you should probably think before you speak.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is being criticized for calling the murder of a Washington Post columnist "a mistake" and comparing it to the death of a pedestrian struck by one of the company's autonomous vehicles.

Khosrowshahi later said he regretted his comments, made during an interview with Axios on HBO. He tweeted Monday that there's no forgiving or forgetting what happened to the journalist Jamal Khashoggi and he was wrong to call it a mistake.

Critics say Khosrowshahi is downplaying Khashoggi's grisly murder to placate one of the company's biggest investors.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, known as The Public Investment Fund, holds about $1.9 billion worth of Uber stock, making it the company's fifth largest stakeholder. Its managing director, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, sits on Uber's board.

Officials with the U.S. and the United Nations suspect that Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman played a role in Khashoggi's slaying. Prince Mohammed has said he takes full responsibility but denied ordering the killing, calling the slaying "a mistake" in an interview in September.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/uber-ceo-walks-back-saudi-170058996.html

Holy shit, indeed, sir! And yeah damn right it was a mistake. I mean do you see how much money Uber pulls in a year? You know how many customers you could lose with that kind of comment? Here’s the thing – the state-sanctioned murder of Jamal Khashoogi was not just a “mistake”. A mistake is drunk dialing Uber after a concert and coming home and discovering that your bill was $200 thanks to the surcharges, that is a fucking mistake! Believe me I’ve been there. No, this was a colossal fuck up, a state sanctioned murder and a total conspiracy to cover up exactly how horrifying it was. Just… what the fuck!

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is under fire for calling the murder of a Washington Post columnist a "mistake," despite his attempts to curb the damage from his comments.

Khosrowshahi, who also compared the slaying of Jamal Khashoggi to the death of a pedestrian hit by one of his company's autonomous vehicles, on Monday said he regretted the comments, made during an interview with Axios on HBO. He tweeted that there's no forgiving or forgetting what happened to the murdered journalist and he was wrong to call it a mistake.

Still, #BoycottUber began to trend Monday on Twitter, with some critics taking to social media to bash Khosrowshahi's words while suggesting that they were meant to downplay Khashoggi's grisly murder in order to mollify one of the company's largest investors.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, holds about $1.9 billion worth of Uber stock, making it the company's fifth largest stakeholder. Its managing director, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, sits on Uber's board.

"This is what happens when you're a greedy CEO and a murderous regime is your 5th largest shareholder," said one Twitter user in urging a boycott of the ride-hailing company.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boycott-uber-2019-faces-boycott-threats-after-ceo-calls-jamal-khashoggis-murder-a-mistake/

Actually, Kanye, yes, we are serious. And I love that the first response to something like this is always to boycott, because we’ve seen time and time again on this program just how well that works out. Because this is 2019 and everyone is looking for the quick fix which is, just go away. Here’s the thing though, you can’t make the government of the wealthiest, most powerful and most evil countries on earth simply disappear. Unless that is…

I mean seriously you know your country is evil when your capital city has a building in their skyline that looks like the Eye Of Sauron!

Well getting back on topic, those words could have egregious consequences for Uber:

"I said something in the moment I don't believe. Our investors have long known my views here & I'm sorry I wasn’t as clear on Axios."

Khashoggi's killing sparked a global uproar, tarnishing the image of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The CIA and some Western governments have said they believe the crown prince ordered Khashoggi's killing. Prince Mohammed has denied that but said he bore ultimate responsibility as the country's de facto leader.

Asked about the CIA's assessment of the crown prince's involvement, Khosrowshahi said: "I didn't read that part of the CIA report ... but I think from a Saudi perspective, they're just like any other shareholder."

Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF acquired a 5% stake in Uber in 2016 worth $3.5 billion. Its chairman sits on the board.
https://news.yahoo.com/uber-ceo-says-wrong-call-165633499.html

Yeah seriously. I mean he wasn’t clear? That was a mistake. The state sanctioned murder of Khashoogi wasn’t a mistake. By the way in case you’re wondering what Uber’s real intentions were, the reason why Mr. I’m not even gonna attempt that, is in charge of Uber, it’s because their CEO decided to bail and profited very handsomely from Saudi investments following Khashoogi’s murder.

Uber co-founder’s newest startup received $400 million from Saudia Arabia’s PIF 11 months ago.
PIF’s investment in Uber is over $1 billion in the red since the IPO.
The report comes just over a year since the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Despite Uber’s poor showing, Saudi Arabia’s appetite for investing in U.S. startups shows no signs of waning with the country now adding a kitchen rental startup to its portfolio. This is despite the negative press the country received following the murder of Washington Post columnist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) invested $400 million in CloudKitchens in January. This makes the kitchen rental startup, which was formed by Uber founder Travis Kalanick, the earliest beneficiary of the cash-flush fund following the Khashoggi killing.

The startup is currently valued at around $5 billion. PIF’s investment in CloudKitchens now exceeds what Kalanick himself has put in ($300 million).
https://www.ccn.com/uber-founder-cut-400-million-deal-with-saudi-arabia-after-khashoggi-chopping/

[font size="8"]No: The Face Of Meth Addiction
[br] [/font] [br]

Let’s spin the wheel shall we? And it lands on… wait for it… Donald Trump.

Damn you auto correct!!! That happened. When I see Trump misspelling a word trending on Twitter, the first thing I can think of is that joke from the Simpsons where Homer tries to dial his phone only to hear “The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, press 1 now.” Spin it again! And it lands on… NO!

Meth is a hell of a drug. And – shocker – people can get addicted to it very easily. But does anyone want to be remembered as the face of meth addiction? That’s what the state of South Dakota is doing betting on an advertising campaign to bring awareness to the problem. Of course like most anti-drug awareness campaigns it only has the reverse effect in that it’s going to raise people’s self awareness of the drug itself. What? You mean we can inhale smoke that tastes like vanilla ice cream? Cool! And in case you’re wondering what I’m getting at, before we get into the meat of the story, let’s check out what happened when Florida Man’s brother, Arkansas Man, attempted to break into the meth business. And unlike Walter White, these guys didn’t exactly fail upwards.

Terry David Bateman, 45, and Bradley Allen Rowland, 40, both associate professors of chemistry at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, were taken into custody Friday afternoon, the sheriff's department said in a news release. They face charges of manufacturing methamphetamine and using drug paraphernalia.

A university science center was closed October 8 after someone reported a chemical odor, Tina Hall, the university's associate vice president of marketing and communications, said in a statement.

The building was reopened October 29 after the on-call environmental service completed remediation work that included air filtering systems and temporarily removed some windows to help ventilation, Hall said.

Hall would not elaborate on what was found following the report of a chemical odor, nor would she confirm whether the professors were suspected of making meth inside the school.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/16/us/arkansas-professors-arrested-meth/index.html

Come on, they haven’t seen Breaking Bad? I wonder which one of them is the one who knocks? But seriously these are the kind of people who inspired this campaign and why we need it. However, the ads aren’t exactly what one would call “flattering”. Let’s show one.

Oh not the football team come on, man! And kids, wouldn’t you know that meth isn’t exactly what one would call a “performance enhancer”? If anything it’s a performance hinder. But here’s how much that campaign is backfiring.

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem unveiled her state's new anti-drug campaign on Monday, but many are criticizing the program's name, "Meth. We're On It."

The Argus Leader reported that the state spent $449,000 on the program, which includes television advertising, billboards, posters and a website.

Noem released a video today where she introduces the campaign. In it, she says "South Dakota's meth crisis is growing at an alarming rate. It impacts every community in our state, and it threatens the success of the next generation" and asks South Dakotans to call a toll-free number to report meth-related behavior or people who need help getting off the drug."

The new campaign is only a part of Noem's attempt to address South Dakota's drug program. When she presented her state budget in January, the governor carved out $4.6 million towards anti-methamphetamine efforts.
https://www.newsweek.com/meth-were-it-south-dakota-campaign-1472505

Whoa, whoa, whoa. OK it’s cool. But really while drugs are a serious problem in the rural areas, is this something that we really need right now? When it comes to drugs, the biggest drugs circulating in the rural areas are meth and fentanyl. While most call fentanyl the deadliest drug in the world, it’s actually the meth that kills more. Both by use, and by collateral. I mean we’ve all seen Breaking Bad, right?

Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug in the United States. But in some areas of the country, methamphetamine kills more people.

A new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics found that fentanyl is the drug most commonly identified in fatal overdoses. In 2017, fentanyl was associated with 38.9% of all drug overdose deaths, an increase from 2016, when it was associated with 29% of all fatal overdoses. This is the second year that CDC analyzed fatal overdoses in this way.

In 2017, heroin was associated with 22.8% of all fatal overdoses. Cocaine, a stimulant, was involved in 21.3% and methamphetamine, also a stimulant, was involved in 13.3%.

Other drugs linked to overdose deaths were benzodiazepines; diphenhydramine, an antihistamine; and gabapentin, an anticonvulsant.
https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2019/10/25/fentanyl-is-the-deadliest-drug-in-the-us-but-in-some-places-meth-kills-more/

OK we get it, dude! Chill! But you got to hand it to social media though. Even though there’s some who feel they should be the face of meth, at least Twitter is showing that they at least have a sense of compassion. Which is weird because I usually get called a pedophile. Hey, this is 2019 for you, everyone is a pedophile or a boomer. OK boomer. Ah I’m rambling again.

"The mission of the campaign is to raise awareness – to get people talking about how they can be part of the solution and not just the problem," Noem told the Argus Leader Monday afternoon. "It is working."

South Dakota's meth crisis is "growing at an alarming rate" and affects every community in the state, Noem said in the campaign's public service announcement.

"This is our problem, and together, we need to get on it," Noem said.

Noem called the new campaign a "bold, innovative effort like the nation has never before seen."

In the coming weeks, South Dakotans will see the campaign in various media from TV to billboards to radio spots. The goal is to reach everyone in the state and educate them on signs of addiction, resources available to fight addiction and strategies to engage communities in recovery, Noem said.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/19/meth-were-it-south-dakota-campaign-working-kristi-noem-says/4236383002/

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
[br] [/font] [br] B

You are now entering the spin cycle! And it lands on… no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy stop! Oh hey it’s another Clip Without Context!

Uh who are the enemies of humans, Pat, other humans? That’s about it really. Spin it again! it’s time for People Are Dumb! Hit it!

Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. It’s been a while since we have done this feature. And there’s no shortage of idiots. I love this feature because I feel like you could take any one of these stories and interchange it with another story and you could create your own Mad Libs article based on it. “Florida Man Who Believes Earth Is Dumb Makes A Stupid Meth Rocket”. That might be a real headline, you don’t know! As Deadpool said, all great stories start with a gruesome murder, and what could be more gruesome than killing someone and then covering them with chili? I mean you got to feel bad for the chili in this case:

Jacob Stanton, 26, always claimed that he had been with victim Jacob Giarrusso the day of the murder, but had been dropped off at home and didn’t know who killed his friend.

The jury found that Stanton flew into a rage at Giarrusso’s grandmother’s house Nov, 18, 2017, in Salina, cracked his friend’s skull with a blunt object and then stabbed him numerous times, the kitchen knife blade breaking off in Giarrusso’s back.

Stanton then loaded his friend’s body into a car, along with other bloody items from the scene, and haphazardly threw grandmother’s chili -- which she left simmering in the kitchen -- across the bloody living room floor. He then drove the car to an apartment complex off Morgan Road and left it there.

It’s unclear why Stanton and Giarrusso, longtime friends who apparently did drugs together, ended up at odds.
https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2019/11/man-guilty-of-murdering-buddy-stuffing-him-in-trunk-and-covering-scene-with-chili.html

Oh poor Kevin, all he wanted was for his coworkers to get to know each other in the pot. Next up we go to France. And yes cue Weird Al here but this one is a total head scratcher. Or maybe not – I mean what are the odds that a guy who is an expert on the brutal French dictator Napoleon would wind up emulating his hero? Let’s just hope that trend doesn’t continue!

A well-known Russian historian has confessed to murdering his lover - a former student - his lawyer says, after he was found in a river with a backpack containing a woman's arms.

Oleg Sokolov, 63, was drunk and fell into the river as he tried to dispose of body parts, local media said.

Police then found the decapitated body of Anastasia Yeshchenko, 24, at his home.

Prof Sokolov is a Napoleon expert who has received France's Légion d'Honneur.

"He has admitted his guilt," his lawyer Alexander Pochuyev told AFP, adding that he regretted what he had done and was now cooperating.

Prof Sokolov reportedly told police that he killed his lover during an argument and then sawed off her head, arms and legs.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50365124

Next up - fast food. OK people what is it about the Popeye’s chicken sandwich? It’s a fucking piece of breaded chicken on a bun with some sauce and some pickles. Anyone can make it. Well in Wisconsin there were people who did, and I get workplace tensions. Nobody understands it more than I do, but there’s no need to fight! Don’t lay down fisticuffs over crappy fast food!

Seven workers are out of a job after a brawl at a Popeyes was caught on camera.

"It was just out of control. That was the first thing that went through my head, like this is out of control,” Richard Fourté said.

A quick trip to Popeyes turned into anything but quick for Fourté on Wednesday night. Trying to avoid the long line at the drive-thru, Fourté went inside.

"I said to myself, ‘Wow, there's a lot of people working here,’" he said.

A lot of people soon turned into a lot of chaos.

"I heard one of them yell, ‘It's a fight!’ They ran to the back by the grills, okay. Now, there was a fight back there. I didn't get that one on tape,” Fourté said.
https://www.wave3.com/2019/11/16/seven-popeyes-employees-were-fired-after-brawl-inside-restaurant/

Next up – we go to the State of Florida. The Sunshine State. America’s most penis-shaped state. What are they up to this week? Well we go to the city of Port Charlotte. And this is yet another one of those instances where you give an idiot a gun, don’t be surprised if they do something stupid with it.

A woman was shot by a homeowner after breaking into a house on Strasburg Drive in Port Charlotte, according to deputies.

Jessica Gutzler, 40, broke into the home around 7 p.m. then started fighting the homeowner, Robert Lafata.

During the fight, Lafata said he shot Gutzler in her butt.

He said Gutzler used to date one of his female friends.

Gutzler then ran away, but later called 911 asking for medical assistance.

Deputies found her near Strasburg Drive and Seaton Avenue, then took her to a to Lee Memorial as a trauma alert.

She was treated, released and booked by the Lee County Sheriff's Office on the out-of-county warrant from Charlotte.
https://www.nbc-2.com/story/41324669/florida-woman-breaks-into-port-charlotte-home-gets-shot-in-butt

Ah thank you minions! Finally this week, don’t you think for a minute that I’m not going to get out of here without mentioning Fartgate. Yes, this is definitely People Are Dumb fodder especially when you consider all the conspiracy theories that have arisen from the 11 second clip. Let’s roll it first.

https://twitter.com/seankent/status/1196621899146702848

Yup, that appears to be a fart. And let’s face it no matter who you are, we can all appreciate a good fart joke! And I love that they had to say that it wasn’t them. He who smelt it dealt it!

There is so much that divides us. Science has somehow become partisan; truth itself is up for debate; America is split down the middle when it comes to deciding whether or not literally asking a foreign leader to interfere in an election is an impeachable offense.

But there is one thing we can all agree on: Farts are funny.

And on Monday night, Twitter users from every point on the political spectrum were delighted to find themselves engrossed in #fartgate.

During a live cross on MSNBC's Hardball, where host Chris Matthews was discussing the latest impeachment hearing developments with Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democratic congressman and briefly a presidential candidate who made so little impact on the race that I typed his name as Tim even though I've been watching this video of him for the last 45 minutes.

As Swalwell was mid-sentence, there was a noise.
https://mashable.com/article/eric-swalwell-chris-matthews-fartgate-memes/

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep. 15: Bloomberg WTF

[br] [/font] [br]

Let's spin the wheel one last time this week! Actually for the year since we only have 3 Top 10s left after this! And it lands on... Ph it's another clip without context!

No matter how many times I see that it's still funny. Spin it again! And hey it's time for Keeping Up With The Candidates!

Welcome back to our 2020 voters’ guide to the 2020 mother of all elections to end all elections that will decide the fate of the United States once and for all! Or maybe not. It will once again divide us and reassure that your creepy uncle voted for Trump again. In the last few weeks we’ve covered the 2019 election results which are very surprising, Georgia’s massive and terrifying voter purge, Beto O’Rourke’s controversial gun buyback program, and the Tulsi Gabbard SNAFU. This week – while the crowd in the candidates is thinning like the hair on your creepy uncle’s head, one guy has decided to throw his hat into the ring and that’s former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

If Michael Bloomberg is looking for evidence that a late entrant can win a presidential nomination, all he has to do is look back. About seven decades.

It happened in 1952, when Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson—after repeatedly refusing President Harry Truman's requests to jump into the race as Truman's Democratic successor—waited until the convention began to declare himself a candidate. Stevenson gave an acclaimed welcoming speech to delegates in Chicago, changed his mind, and won the nomination on the third ballot.

Bloomberg's surprise late entry into the 2020 race is a familiar story: The candidate who casts himself in the role of The Savior Who Is Waiting in the Wings is a quadrennial feature of presidential campaigns. For decades, Democrats and Republicans alike have persisted in looking beyond the field of those desperate few who have spent months, if not years, racking up frequent flier miles; eating indigestible food; begging for money; and crowding into coffee shops, union halls and living rooms trying to build a constituency. Right around this time of the cycle, these voters and pundits and party operatives reliably hit the panic button, certain that somewhere above the fray stands a candidate free of the now-obvious flaws that burden the rest of the field. It’s a yearning that invites comparison to the Groucho Marx quip about refusing to join any club that would have him as a member: “I refuse to support any candidate who overtly is seeking my vote.”

There’s one pesky fact about these late-entry candidacies: They never succeed. Only once have they even materially affected the outcome of a fight for the nomination.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/11/11/michael-bloomberg-2020-history-229913

That is a good question sir. Apparently nobody does because they are too focused on winning the election, and no one cares about a new candidate this late in the game! Even the biggest contenders of the 2020 election – Warren, Biden, and Sanders are all scoffing at this incredibly lame and very poorly timed move.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was campaigning with one of his key surrogates — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — in Iowa, told supporters, “You’re not going to buy this election by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on media in California.”

Ocasio-Cortez later told reporters, “They’ve got class solidarity. The billionaires are looking out for each other. They’re willing to transcend difference and background and even politics.”

And Sanders echoed that sentiment, saying, “Jeff Bezos, worth $150 billion, supporting Mike Bloomberg, whose worth only $50 billion, that’s real class solidarity.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has called for taxing assets over $1 billion at 6 percent, also skewered Bloomberg following reports of the call, writing on Twitter, “One billionaire calls another billionaire and asks him to run for president—I’m shocked!” She also linked to a wealth calculator showing how much billionaires would pay under her proposed wealth tax (there’s a button where visitors can choose to be Bloomberg, among others).
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/10/20957773/bloomberg-run-president-trump-sanders-warrent-poll

Thank you! You and me both! And there’s no way anyone is going to touch California, my state is pretty much a solid lock on the democratic candidate and that’s probably why the GOP hates us so much. So with that in mind, let’s talk about why Bloomberg shouldn’t be president. What is it with billionaires being creepy sex perverts? Bloomberg is a sex pervert, Epstein was a sex pervert, Trump is a sex pervert, Steve Wynn is a sex pervert, I could go on and on.

Now that Michael Bloomberg has entered the Democratic presidential primary, it’s worth imagining the 2020 general election that could come to pass: the Republican who said into a hot mic that he liked to grab women “by the pussy” versus the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat who reportedly admitted he’d said, of multiple female employees, “I’d do her.”

Read Bloomberg’s collected comments about women and you’ll marvel at how presidential they sound by the standards of the 45th president. Like Donald Trump, the former New York City mayor has made repeated remarks about the physical appearance and sexual desirability of women in his workplace. Like Trump, Bloomberg has allegedly complained about employees getting pregnant. Like Trump, he’s bragged about his sexual escapades and dismissed women who’ve accused him of harassment as money-grubbing liars.

The “I’d do her” admission comes from a deposition in a sexual harassment suit filed by Sekiko Sakai Garrison, one of four women who filed harassment or discrimination suits against Bloomberg LP, the company founded by the former mayor, in 1996 and 1997. Garrison alleged that, when she told Bloomberg she was pregnant, he replied, “Kill it!” and grumbled that she was the 16th pregnant employee at the company. She also said Bloomberg and other company leaders made unwanted sexual overtures and engaged in regular sexual commentary about the women they worked with. After Garrison got engaged, she said, Bloomberg asked her of her fiancé, “What, is he that good in bed, or did your father pay him off to get rid of you?”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/michael-bloomberg-democratic-campaign-sexism.html

Good question, I know I don’t! And here’s why it might be doomed from the start. Michael Bloomberg may have stepped in it big time, and like diving on a giant pile of coins Scrooge McDuck style, he doesn’t know how to test the waters before diving in head first. And it’s going to spell disaster. It will be more Peter Griffin than Scrooge McDuck.

Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire media mogul and former New York mayor, is preparing to join the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, The New York Times reported Thursday.

This comes eight months after the politically moderate, former Republican announced he would forgo a run for president in 2020.

Bloomberg wrote in a March 2019 op-ed that he'd rather spend the next 18 months working on issues like climate change and gun control than spend his time and money on a primary bid he said would be challenging.

"I've come to realize that I'm less interested in talking than doing," he wrote. "And I have concluded that, for now, the best way for me to help our country is by rolling up my sleeves and continuing to get work done."

Many Democrats believe Bloomberg's virtually unlimited campaign cash, loyal staffers, and philanthropic record would make him a formidable presidential candidate.
https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-bloomberg-reasons-he-didnt-run-for-president-2019-2

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

We’re going to South Bend, Indiana where we’re going to hang with a surprising front runner of the campaign so far - Pete Buttigieg!

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Alter Bridge[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, returning to the show, my next guest is an awesome band out of Orlando, their latest album is called “Walk The Sky”. You can see them on tour this February. Playing their song “Pay No Mind”, give it up for Alter Bridge!

Thank you UC Berkeley! This was fun! We are off next week, we’ll be running a best of which will have our much talked about but will finally be seen Pt. 2 of our What’s Up With Texas docuseries plus we’re announcing our tour dates for season 8! We’re back on 12/4 with a new edition live from Stanford University! See you in two weeks! Happy Thanksgiving!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: UC Berkeley Student Commons, Berkeley, CA
Special Thanks To: UC Berkeley
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: Redemption Church Band, Berkeley CA
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Alter Bridge Appear Courtesy Of: Napalm Records
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
New! Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

November 13, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-19: No Country For Old Snowflakes Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-19: No Country For Old Snowflakes Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up Boise State? How are you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! We have just four more shows left here in this bizarre year that was 2019, and our university tour couldn’t have been more awesome. In fact we’re going to continue it for a part of next year. We will announce the dates and details in our Thanksgiving best of! Now do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! So I do love talking about music, and this week the Drake Curse which we have previously discussed may have reared its’ ugly head again. It was at the 2nd annual Camp Flog Gnaw festival at Dodger Stadium. What happened was headliner Frank Ocean bailed and couldn’t be at the show. So they brought out Drake and basically all hell broke loose. The festival organizers didn’t let the crowd know that Mr. Ocean couldn’t be there, and the people who paid to see him were not exactly what one would call having any of it. Oh yeah they booed and heckled him off stage. Can we show that video clip for a minute? Ha ha, I love the one guy who yells out “NO!”. But the guy who started the festival, Tyler The Creator, isn’t having any of it either. And this was the 2nd time they have done this festival. I can guess they won’t be back for a third? So Drake got booed and Trump Jr got heckled off stage by his own supporters. Ah, 2019 is a great year to be alive! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver celebrates the dropping of his lawsuit from Bob Murray in the most John Oliver way possible!

&t=29s

Where do we begin this week? Well the election has come and gone and there’s no bigger sore loser than Kentucky’s now former governor Matt Bevin (1). Did he lose or is he going to try to steal the election from winner Andy Beshear? We will find out! In the second slot this week, is Alex Jones. Remember when Sean Hannity committed multiple felonies on the air last year? Well Alex Jones (2) is saying "hold my beer!". In the third slot this week, after Trump is taking on a viral challenge, we're going to tell you just how cringy it is by taking a look at the best (worst) winners of the #MAGACHALLENGE (3) so far and why it might single-handedly derail the first lady's #BeBest campaign! In the fourth slot this week, is Donald J. Trump (4). He went to the Alabama - LSU game and everywhere he goes, chaos is almost always guaranteed to follow, and we will also introduce you to his new BFF who is fighting for - wait for it - good and evil! Oh the irony! Taking the 5th slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5), and is your airplane water safe to drink? After an alarming study was published, you might want to think twice before asking your flight attendant for that extra cup of water. At slot #6 is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week the Dark One’s spiritual advisor Paula White has become an official White House employee, and our resident pastor is here to remind you why that is terrifying! In slot #7 is our segment “Unpopular Opinions” (7) – and this might be one of the creepiest stories in a while as you don’t want to know why rapper T.I. accompanies his daughter on her annual visit to the OB-GYN. Taking the 8th slot is a new "How Is This Still A Thing" (8) and this week after a series of colossal disasters, we're going to find out why gender reveal parties are still a thing. In slot #9 (NEIN!!!) this week is “I Need A Drink” and we’re going to get drunk and talk about cell phones - so the band Tool is cracking down on cell phones in their shows, and if you use one, you might just be a tool yourself. Finally this week in our 2020 voters’ guide “Keeping Up With The Candidates”, the 2019 elections yielded some surprising and shocking results and we will go over some of the juicier ones! Plus we have some live music from one of the hottest bands in the world right now, the legendary The 1975! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]Matt Bevin
[br] [/font] [br]

Hey everyone! Great news! Kentucky finally gave one of the worst governors in the country, and one of the worst in the states’ history his much deserved pink slip! I think we can all agree that he had it coming. We previously profiled former Gov. Bevin in Idiots #4-16 in our segment “People Who Somehow Got Elected”. And he definitely doesn’t disappoint in that area because he has gone ultra hard Christian nationalist right, and his policies definitely reflect that. But now that California has elected its’ first democratic governor in several decades what does that mean for now outgoing governor Matt Bevin? Oh that’s right, he’s refusing to accept the loss!

by Gov. Matt Bevin. Jeff Faughender, Louisville Courier Journal

Conservative political activist Frank Simon, a longtime supporter of Gov. Matt Bevin, is sending robocalls asking Kentuckians to report suspicious activity or voter fraud to the State Board of Elections before Nov. 14 — the day of Bevin's requested recanvass.

Bevin finished 5,189 votes behind Democrat Andy Beshear in Tuesday's gubernatorial election but has refused to concede the race, requesting a recanvass of the vote, which is essentially a review of the vote totals in each county.

The governor has also made allegations of widespread voting irregularities and fraud on Election Day, but he hasn't provided any evidence to back up those claims.

According to a voicemail of the robocall sent to a Republican in Western Kentucky, Simon identifies himself and says, "If you or anyone you know has information regarding suspicious activity at polling locations, please report suspected voter fraud to the state department of elections by calling 502-573-7100."

He also asked that those calls to the State Board of Elections phone number take place by Nov. 13 — the day before each county board of elections conducts the recanvass.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2019/11/08/kentucky-governor-race-activists-robocall-seeks-voter-fraud-reports-before-recanvass/2528098001/

Yes the GOP is resorting to their age old tactic of accusing their opponent of – wait for it – if you had “voter fraud” on your Bingo card, you are the winner! Tell them what fabulous prizes they won, Johnny!!! So what does this mean for the Kentucky governor? Well aside from the obvious that Matt Bevin got “Art Of The Deal’d”, there’s plenty of reasons why you should be popping the champagne and celebrating. But then again let’s not blame Bevin’s loss on him, let’s blame it on oh yeah teachers!

A notable Kentucky politician has weighed in on the apparent defeat of Republican incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin to Democratic challenger Andy Beshear in last week's gubernatorial election.

Appearing on "Meet the Press" Sunday, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said that the "teachers' anger came out" in the election and swung the election in favor of Beshear.

The Kentucky senator was referring to Bevin'slongstanding dispute with teachers across the commonwealth, which was sparked by the governor's overhaul of the pension system.

"I think the teachers were very unhappy," Paul said. &quot

Bevin) tried to fix the pension, but got crossways with the teachers. And I think the teachers' anger came out."

'I knew he was in big trouble': An inside look at 24 crazy hours in Bevin vs. Beshear

Paul said that Bevin "was trying to do the right thing" with pension overhaul. But the governor's lack of popularity with teachers runs much deeper than policy differences. Bevin repeatedly criticized educators who opposed his efforts and said teachers' decision to protest en masse at the state Capitol one day in April 2018 led to children being sexually assaulted or otherwise harmed.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/rand-paul/2019/11/11/rand-paul-teachers-anger-cost-bevin-kentucky-governor-election/2560458001/

Really. Rand? Really? He was trying to do the right thing? Then why do teachers hate his guts? Maybe you might want to take a look at yourself in the mirror. The people are turning on the republicans, everything since 2016 has been an absolute disaster. But that said, we’re going to take a look at what a recount could specifically entitle for Kentucky.

Bevin said he "wanted the process to be followed" under law before he made a concession, referring to unspecified "irregularities" that were "corroborated."

The first step in that process under Kentucky law, when it comes to election results that are contested, should be as familiar to Bevin as anyone else in the state, as he won a razor-thin victory in the Republican gubernatorial primary of 2015 by margin of just 83 votes over now Rep. James Comer.

The first step under Kentucky law is a recanvass of the vote, which is a review of the vote totals by each county clerk — counting absentee votes and checking printouts to make sure the numbers they transmitted to the State Board of Elections were correct.

State law allows for a recanvassing if a county clerk or a county board of elections notices a discrepancy, or if a candidate makes a written request to the secretary of state.

Comer requested a recanvass of the vote totals in that 2015 race, but the results were unchanged. He declined to request the next possible step in the process under Kentucky law — a formal recount that includes a physical examination of the ballots.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/11/05/bevin-beshear-recount-what-happens-next-in-kentucky-governor-race/4174894002/

Yeah so rather than going quietly, Bevin is choosing a much more opposite and extremely scary direction – that is, he’s not going quietly. And is instead choosing to potentially waste a ton of time and a ton of tax payer money just because he’s a conservative snowflake. This is where we’re at in 2019. And if this is any indication of what’s going to happen in 2020, our presidential election could potentially go this way no matter how unpopular Trump is! Shit, the last time this happened, it was in 1899 and the governor was killed, and Kentucky nearly descended into chaos. Yeah we can’t let Bevin get away with this.

Trailing in the vote tally for Kentucky's governorship by about 5,000 votes, incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin decided last week to play what's becoming a familiar card: He questioned the election's legitimacy.

"What we know is that there really are a number of significant irregularities," Bevin said Wednesday in front of the governor's mansion, "the specifics of which we're in the process of getting affidavits [about] — and other information that will help us to get a better understanding of what did or did not happen."

Bevin declined to take questions from reporters or give more specifics, other than saying that "we know there have been thousands of absentee ballots that were illegally counted."

No Kentucky election official, including Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, has corroborated that claim in the days since Bevin made it.

Critics and elections specialists are calling for Bevin to provide evidence of the dramatic claim or retract it.

"Gov. Bevin really needs to put up or shut up. Give us the evidence, or stop making these claims of voter fraud that have no evidence behind them," said Josh Douglas, an election law professor at the University of Kentucky
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/10/777300611/skeptics-urge-bevin-to-show-proof-of-fraud-claims-warning-of-corrosive-effects

[font size="8"]Alex Jones
[br] [/font] [br]

Remember last year when Sean Hannity committed what might be one of the biggest news fails of the decade? He might have committed multiple felonies while on the air talking about his BFF Trump, and then cut away to a “sovereign citizen” in a shootout with Phoenix police (see: [link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210729356 | Idiots #5-1) . Well, last week, Alex Jones saw that and said “hold my beer”. Because now that Trump is facing an impeachment inquiry and investigation, Alex Jones is doing everything in his power to stop it. Oh yeah and he also has very little power since he got banned from social media and Youtube. But here’s what happened.

Yeah that is batshit fucking crazy! Alex Jones was literally trying to out one of the jurors on the Roger Stone trial while on the air. Do these people not knowing what they are doing? Oh wait, they are trying to do everything wrong at this point. What Alex Jones did is jury tampering and possible intimidation, and both of those are serious crimes. He could possibly be going away for a long time. And in case you had this on the Bingo card – they blamed Obama for it! Really guys? Your schtick is getting old now.

A little crazy? Get two batshit insane conspiracy theorists in a room and this is the kind of thing that you come up with! Yeah let’s tamper a jury and then blame the previous president for it. I mean really, Alex Jones is a few minutes short of a news cycle. And by the way in case you’re wondering how the judge is responding to all of this, he’s responding about as well as the judge in My Cousin Vinnie.

Stone is known for his brash style and crass language. So it really shouldn’t be a surprise that his trial is already full of expletives and hissed threats.

The curse words came quickly as the government prosecutors started making their case, quoting extensively from Stone’s text messages and emails.

There was this Aug. 16, 2016, email Stone sent to Bannon about the prospect of more damaging documents released about the Clinton campaign, which Zelinsky read aloud in court: “I have an idea ... to save Trump’s ass.”

There was also this Oct. 3, 2016, text message exchange that an FBI agent on the witness stand helped narrate, illustrating Stone’s attempt to calm down Randy Credico, the therapy dog-toting liberal talk show host who thought Stone was using him to advance a false narrative.

“No one is using your name stop being an asshole,” Stone wrote in one message. Later on in the same exchange, Credico replied with a reference to a character from the Godfather movies, calling Hillary Clinton “a scary serious and dangerous person who will kill without conscious the same way Luca Brasi did.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/06/takeaways-roger-stone-court-067133

[font size="8"]MAGA Challenge
[br] [/font] [br]

As you all know right now, first lady Melania Trump has been on a sort of anti-bullying crusade that they have dubbed, in true Trump fashion “Be Best”. And as you can guess, in true Trump fashion, Be Best has had the reverse effect – people are getting meaner and nastier. But here’s my whole thing – you can’t run an anti-bullying program when you’re the biggest bully on the planet. That is what I would call the very definition of “hypocrisy”. Oh and it gets worse – so a Soundcloud rapper started a hashtag called the “MAGA Challenge”. By Trump retweeting this and inviting the winners to the White House, he single handedly killed his anti-bullying initiative. But then again that’s par for the course at this point.

In September, Bryson Gray, a rapper who performs under the name B. Surius, created the "#MAGAChallenge" to advertise his song "Black Not Democrat." The online campaign received President Donald Trump's seal of approval Friday, when he retweeted Gray's post along with an announcement that winners of the #MAGAChallenge will be invited to meet with him at the White House.

With the MAGA Challenge, Gray joins a long list of other would-be internet influencers who have tried to recreate the viral success of internet fads such as the Mannequin Challenge and the "In My Feelings" Challenge to spread their own content. As of November 8, the post has been retweeted more than 6,000 times.

The clip Gray posted to announce the challenge in September featured Gray wearing an oversized Make America Great Again hat and lip-syncing lyrics like "Why these white liberals try to tell me who I am?" and "I said I wasn't a Democrat; I lost a few friends."

To participate in the challenge, Gray told Trump supporters to rap over the beat and share their enthusiasm for the president. "I want y'all to your own rap to it too then tag me! Let's make liberals cry!" Gray captioned the post.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-shares-viral-magachallenge-inviting-winners-white-house-1470719

And that folks, is a lesson on how you can single handedly kill an entire First Lady campaign. Be best! But what are the ramifications of Trump placating to his base by promoting something that goes against what he’s supposed to stand for? Well, considering Trump doesn’t do much standing to begin with, there is going to be some serious problems with this. Don’t worry we’ll get to the best (or worst) in a minute.

President Trump is reportedly already in talks with Apprentice producer Mark Burnett to develop a post-presidency version of the show, but he’s not waiting until he leaves the White House to indulge his inner (outer) reality show host.

On Friday, Trump tweeted plans to announce winners of the #MAGACHALLENGE — a social media trend in which pro-Trump rappers film themselves spitting their affection for the president — and invite them to the White House to perform, effectively opening a fresh portal to hell by promoting what is soon to become one of the most cursed hashtags in Twitter’s history to his 66.6 million followers.

The #MAGACHALLENGE began with the September 14th tweet Trump quoted in his announcement, in which amateur rapper and noted Trump fan Bryson Gray calls for the president’s supporters to rhyme over his beat and “make liberals cry.” The hashtag blew up, with countless fans awkwardly rapping about their allegiance to Trump and hatred of liberals and the media. “I think the MAGA challenge is doing what everybody expected Kanye West to do for the [Trump] campaign,” Gray told the Daily Dot last month, adding that it is “easing the tensions in the culture and helping get the word out about Trump,” while proving “not all Trump voters and GOP are stick ups.”

Here’s one potential way to spend the next 7 minutes and 50 seconds of your life. You will not get that time back.

Even Isaiah Washington, the former Grey’s Anatomy actor who was fired for assaulting a coworker and using a homophobic slur, chimed in with what under an extremely loose definition of the term could be called “bars.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-magachallenge-rap-contest-910041/

By the way I’m not at all shocked that Isiah Washington is a MAGA supporter. Not at all. And I’d post a few videos from the MAGA challenge but we don’t want to support these people or give them any recognition. Ah fuck it, one tweet.

https://twitter.com/mjfree/status/1193614539218014209

OK maybe one more.

https://twitter.com/PaulLidicul/status/1193451916811894784

Because the garter belt really adds some class doesn’t it? And come on, how is it possible that rappers not named Kanye are in on this? I mean come on people, you’re on Soundcloud! You most likely recorded these videos in between serving angry customers lattes! I could do this all day. I’ve got time.

The post Trump’s #MAGAChallenge is absolute cringe appeared first on Consequence of Sound.

Already in talks for The Apprentice: White House, America’s reality show president is now encouraging his loyal followers to participate in the #MAGACHALLENGE.

The challenge was initially launched back in September by a pro-Trump rapper named Bryson Gray, who encouraged fellow MAGA thumpers to post rap videos in dedication to their supreme leader. “I want y’all to your own rap to it too then tag me!” Gray tweeted. “Lets make liberals cry!”

On Friday, Trump amplified the challenge by announcing that he’d be inviting the winners to perform at the White House.

As one might expect, the resulting videos are proving to be peak cringe. (Note: We’re still waiting for Kanye’s entry.)
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/trump-magachallenge-absolute-cringe-210458183.html

That is a good question sir! I mean this couldn’t possibly come at a worse time, especially when Trump is facing an impeachment trial and he got booed twice. Although if you’re really thinking of participating in the MAGA Challenge with the promise of a White House invitation, you might as well save the effort, because chances are good that Trump will stiff you on the win. Because this is not at all shocking, and you’ll be the one who winds up crying in the end!

On October 22, an email from Donald J. Trump’s campaign to its subscribers read, “I just saw the most recent list of Patriots who have contributed to win a trip to meet me in Chicago on October 28th, and I noticed you STILL haven’t entered,” then followed up the next day with an email that said, “We’d hate for you to miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have lunch with President Trump himself at his FAVORITE hotel in Chicago.” This, like 14 other promotions by the campaign since 2018, promised one lucky winner travel, accommodations, and a meal if they signed up for the contest (some posts screenshot in the newsletter suggested that campaign donations increase odds of winning).

And yet, in nearly two years of these promotions, there’s yet to be evidence that any of these promised meals actually happened. This according to the newsletter Popular Information and sleuth Judd Legum, the founder of ThinkProgress and former research director in 2008 for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He asked the Washington Post’s pool reporter, who was traveling with the president at the time, whether the president had made a stop to lunch with the winning contestant in Chicago. She asked the campaign and the White House, but did not receive an answer. Popular Information asked a campaign spokesperson as well and did not receive an answer.

Which means, you know, who knows! It’s possible the president went to these meals quietly. Maybe Trump grabbed a nice dinner at some little hole in the wall before he boarded his whirlybird and took to the sky. Trump must be over having his photo taken by now. You can almost hear him yell, “Can’t I get lunch with some random person in peace!” Yes, he seems like the type to really know when it’s time to stop mugging for the camera and focus on quality time. But campaigns demand these kinds of wholesome photo ops; even though Trump surely didn’t want a picture, a picture would have to be shared.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/11/donald-trump-meet-and-greet-contest

[font size="8"]Donald J. Trump
[br] [/font] [br]

Donald Trump is a man who needs an audience. He went to the World Series hoping for applause and admiration, and to steal the spotlight from the Nationals and Astros. Strike one! Then he went to UFC 244, hoping to earn admiration and applause. Strike two! What a snowflake at that. Come on, Trump, this isn’t no country for old snowflakes! So when your ego’s taken a massive hit like that, where do you go? I know – go to places where people love you. They still love you in Alabama, right? I mean they’re the state where Roy Moore is going up against Jeff Sessions. Yes, I did say Roy Moore, because he won’t go away. So what happened at the Alabama – LSU game? Oh wait, we have to tell you about the SNAFU from the Alabama Student Union first.

Alabama will not punish students who boo President Donald Trump at Saturday's game against LSU at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the university's Student Government Association said an earlier message that threatened to revoke seating at future games for "organizations that engage in disruptive behavior" had been taken out of context.

"The SGA strongly affirms its belief in free speech and the rights of all students to express their opinions," the statement said. "Today’s report erroneously assigned a political context to a message meant only to remind students about heightened security and the consequences of altercations or other behaviors unbecoming of a University of Alabama student."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2019/11/04/donald-trump-attending-alabama-lsu-game-in-tuscaloosa/4159424002/

Yeah so the Alabama SGA threatened to revoke certain privileges for students who were going to protest Trump’s visit. I mean come on, Alabama! You should know that you don’t have to threaten frat boys – they’re a large part of Trump’s base! They only appointed one to SCOTUS last year! But that said wherever Trump goes, chaos is sure to follow. Just look at what happened to the world famous “Baby Trump” balloon.

Hoyt Deau Hutchinson, the Alabama man accused of slashing a Baby Trump balloon in Tuscaloosa last weekend, defended his actions during a Monday morning call to the “Rick & Bubba Show.”

Hutchinson is charged with felony first degree criminal mischief in relation to the slashing of the Trump balloon that was in town for the Alabama/LSU game and a presidential appearance by Donald Trump.

In his call to the syndicated program, Hutchinson, 32, said he drove past the Baby Trump balloon on Saturday and yelled at the protesters.

“I got so fired up when I rolled by the balloon and I rolled down the window and I said something to them and I figured they saw me. I figured only way I was going to get close enough to that balloon was to blend in. (I) went and bought me an Alabama shirt and walked up like I was walking to the game and like I was going to take a picture with (the Trump balloon).

“I was so fired up. I was shaking I was so mad,” he said.

When host Rick Burgess asked what his motivation for slashing the balloon, Hutchinson replied:

“I’m not young but I’m not old. I’m sort of middle aged. I feel like a lot of people my age don’t keep up with the news and politics the way they should. I watch the news every night. I watch Fox News every night. Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity are my favorite two anchors.
https://www.al.com/news/2019/11/hoyt-hutchinson-alabama-baby-trump-balloon-stabber-calls-radio-show-says-it-was-good-vs-evil.html

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Oh come on, Hutchinson, admit it – your motivation was dolla, dolla bills y’all! What a snowflake by the way. And if you think you’re on the “good side” of good vs evil, I would really advise that you don’t know what “good” or “evil” means. Because stabbing the Baby Trump balloon is the very definition of evil. And in case you weren’t surprised at all what Mr. Hutchinson’s motivation for doing this was, let’s all remember that Go Fund Me exists.

Supporters of Hoyt Hutchinson, an Alabama man who has gained widespread attention after he was charged in connection with the knifing of a “Baby Trump” balloon used to protest the president’s recent appearance in Alabama, have raised thousands of dollars to help him pay legal fees.

A GoFundMe created Saturday that asks for donations to help Hutchinson “pay legal fees and restitutions” for the balloon has so far raised more than $30,000. The goal for that fundraising page was initially set at $6,000.

Another GoFundMe that aimed to “FREE HOYT” shortly after his arrest raised more than $12,000 during the same period.

Hutchinson captured headlines Saturday after he was arrested and charged with felony first degree criminal mischief for allegedly stabbing a “Baby Trump” balloon that was being used by demonstrators in Tuscaloosa to protest Trump’s appearance at a college football game.

According to AL.com, a group of protesters had inflated the balloon for a demonstration at Monnish Park, which is located near the Alabama-LSU football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium that Trump was attending. The balloon was reportedly stabbed shortly before the game started.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/469816-people-raise-thousands-for-man-who-allegedly-stabbed-trump-baby

And boo to Go Fund Me too! The guy is a crook. And I mean really, considering that there’s evidence that Trump has to wear real diapers, that depiction of him as a baby isn’t really that far off. But there is some good news. And I mean besides that Alabama lost to LSU. That Go Fund Me has declared the money raised for this douchebag to be invalid, which means that he potentially lost out on thousands of dollars.

Fundraising efforts for Hoyt Hutchinson, the Alabama man who faces charges in connection to the stabbing of a Baby Trump balloon in Tuscaloosa last weekend, have topped $40,000.

The GoFundMe, started by Hutchinson, had raised $42,039 as of Monday night. Donations - ranging from $5 to $25 – came from 1,800 people, blowing away the original goal of $6,000. Any money that wasn’t used for legal fees would go towards Donald Trump’s 2020 election campaign, Hutchinson said.

In a post on the page, Hutchinson said the page had been reported by “sympathizers” and he expected GoFundMe to issue refunds to donors and instead directed people to a Cash App address. GoFundMe confirmed to AL.com, however, that Hutchinson’s page was active and they were awaiting banking information to continue the processing.

The Facebook page of the People’s Motorcade, the organization that rents out the Baby Trump balloons, contains a link on how to report GoFundMe fraud. The link was posted Nov. 10, the day after the slashing.
https://www.al.com/news/2019/11/fundraiser-for-hoyt-hutchinson-alabama-man-who-stabbed-baby-trump-balloon-tops-42000.html

And by the way in case you’re wondering how the Roger Stone trial is going, it has been a colossal disaster from day one. In fact he’s taking this shit show on tour and even going so far as to sell his own merchandise to cover the nearly $3 million legal defense fund. This whole thing, calling it a “clown show” isn’t exactly making light of the situation. And you also got to feel sorry for clowns too, that’s unfair to them. Except maybe the Joker, because Roger Stone would make a great one.

Stone often brings merchandise, including T-shirts (“Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong) and autographed rocks (called “Roger Stones”), to his events. On Monday, he came only with a carton of one of his books, “Stone’s Rules How to Win at Politics, Business, and Style.” He sold most of them.

The Oktoberfest party, at the Josef & Joseph jewelry, watch and clock store on Federal Highway in Oakland Park, was sponsored by the Florida Atlantic Conservative Team, founded and run by three former officers of the Broward Republican Party.

It wasn’t a typical political event, although Stone offered some of his typically blunt political rhetoric during a nine-minute speech in which he praised Trump and assailed Trump critic Mitt Romney as a rat and a loser.

The famously opinionated political operative was quiet about one thing: his own case.

He’s under a strict gag order from the judge who will preside over his trial, and he declined to talk about the charges of witness tampering, obstruction and false statements about his interactions related to the release of stolen Democratic Party emails by WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential campaign. The charges were originally brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 5.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-roger-stone-trial-soon-legal-defense-20191029-mlnhduy2srdzzmwxohnlv4k4my-story.html

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Airplane Water
[br] [/font] [br]

Hey everyone it’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

People say that cleanliness is right next to godliness. But when you’re traveling it’s hard to be both, and it’s especially hard to be both. Made even worse by the fact that a new study has shown how horrendously unclean airplanes really are. And if you’re frightened by that, you should be even more frightened by what you’re consuming while you’re onboard a flight. If you think that the water or food that you consume is safe, you might want to think twice before you consume food, water, or even wash your hands on your next flight. Of course there’s no alternative when you’re 30,000 feet in the air.

A study released in September found that the quality of drinking water on most American-based airlines is such that it is not even suitable for washing one’s hands, let alone drinking. Out of 11 major and 12 regional airlines, only four were deemed to have relatively safe and clean water.

Crazy Facts About Airplane Food

The Airline Water Study, a joint endeavor by Diet Detective and the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, ranks the airlines, giving them a “Water Health Score” between 0 and 5, with 5 being the best score. An airline with a score of 3 or more is deemed to have water that is relatively safe and clean.

Of the major airlines in the United States, Alaska Airlines and Allegiant Airlines each scored 3.3, while Hawaiian Airlines received a score of 3.1. The only regional airline to pass standards was Maryland-based Piedmont Airlines, which scored 4.33. The major airlines with the worst scores were JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, each of which scored 1.

The Water Health Score was based on 10 different criteria, including positive E. coli and coliform water sample reports, fleet size, airline cooperation in answering water-quality questions and violations of the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR), a federal regulation implemented in 2011 to ensure that airlines provide their flight crew and passengers with safe and reliable drinking water.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/airplane-water-bad-shouldn-t-212658498.html

Sadly Peter’s boomerang might be a safer alternative than what lurks in your airline’s potable water supply. And if you think that’s bad even the flight attendants don’t drink the tap water on planes. Of course it is tap water. You most likely bring that $7 bottle that you bought at the airport convenience store. But when the flight attendants know something we don’t, that is something to definitely be made aware of.

For the last decade, Dr. Charles Platkin has studied airline food. But he moved from solids to liquids by first examining a sample of coffee brewed on airplanes.

What he found wasn’t good, so to him, it made sense to keep looking.

“It was kind of natural for me to look at this,” Platkin, the director of the Hunter College New York City Food Policy Center, told Healthline. “When I peeled back the first layer, it didn’t smell so good.”

His most recent bout of sniffing around included how well most commercial airlines were adhering to a law known as the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR).

As Platkin explains in his Airline Water Study 2019, ADWR has required all airlines to provide passengers and flight crew with safe drinking water since it was implemented in 2011.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-safe-is-the-water-coffee-tea-on-your-favorite-airline

Actually the martini is probably the cleanest thing on that flight. Oh but it gets worse, it’s not just a few airlines or single airplanes here and there. It’s every airplane that you’ve ever been on that has this level of dirtiness. Of course we’re not at all surprised that Spirit Airlines ranked among the worst for cleanliness since they’re pretty much the worst for just about everything.

While air travel is convenient, there's never any promise it will be particularly clean. Security checkpoint bins and airplane tray tables are notorious for harboring germs. In addition to being careful of what you touch, you need to be cautious about what you drink.

Air travelers have been warned in the past about the questionable water quality of major airlines. Owing to inconsistent water transport issues, storage methods, and lackadaisical monitoring, several studies and investigations—including a 2004 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—have found bacterial contamination and even insect eggs lurking in liquid served to passengers in the form of coffee and tea.

Unfortunately, the problem doesn’t appear to be getting any better. A new study on the quality of airline tap water conducted by the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center found E. coli, coliform bacteria, and other unpleasantries across 11 commercial and 12 regional carriers.

The study ranked airlines according to water quality tests, and whether airlines were forthcoming in disclosing how they handle water transportation and storage for in-flight plumbing, using a scale of 1 to 5. While some airlines, like Alaska and Allegiant, scored well at 3.3, others (including JetBlue, Spirit, Delta, and United) ranked poorly in terms of delivering healthy, clean water, which is often sourced from local municipalities.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/602408/airplane-water-quality-getting-worse

Spirit Airlines: You’re here because there were no other flights available! But when you think about the quality of the food on the airline, it makes sense why the water on the airline might have something to do with how bad the food is. But before you order that cup of coffee or tea, or anything made with ice for that matter, you should consider that it was really surprising which airlines came out on top and which were the worst.

The ADWR, which went into effect in Oct. 2011, demands that airlines provide safe drinking water and requires them to routinely disinfect and flush aircraft water tanks, as well as test water samples for coliform bacteria. When airlines find coliform in water samples, they must test it again to determine if it contains E. coli and, if it does, shut off public access to the water system within 24 hours and disinfect and flush it out.

The Food Policy Center executive director and Diet Detective founder Charles Platkin believe the 24-hour requirement is too lax.

“Why not immediately? Pun intended, this just feels like a watered down version of what should be a regulation for airlines,” he told HuffPost.

While the study found that ADWR violations have decreased in recent years across all airlines, there’s a chance that this is due to a lack of enforcement by the EPA, which hasn’t issued many civil penalties in that time period.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/airline-water-quality_l_5d8152f7e4b03ec1bc96639b

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

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
[br] [/font] [br]

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Houston! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

My fair congregation! This week we’re going to talk about how my fellow brothers and sisters on the right have somehow managed to infiltrate the White House. Despite the fact that we’re supposed to have separation of church and state. Which is something that I am a big fan and proponent of – which is why you’ll never see me running for office. I respect boundaries. But there are some people who do not respect boundaries. You know what? before we get into it let’s roll the tape!

Yes, my friends, that is Paula White. The woman who acts as a spiritual advisor to the most unholy Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken in my church, is now in the White House!

A former White House adviser on faith affairs accused Paula White, the controversial pastor appointed to lead President Donald Trump's new faith office, of trying to profit financially from the role.

The Trump administration recently revealed that White, the current president's spiritual adviser and a wealthy televangelist preacher of the prosperity gospel, will head the Faith and Opportunity Initiative at the White House, founded by executive order last year.

White, who headed Trump's evangelical advisory committee, caught attention in 2018 when she told people to donate their first paycheck of the year to her ministries as a "first fruit" offering or face God's wrath.

Last week, White, whose church is based in Florida, suggested during a prayer for Trump that opponents of the president "operate in sorcery and witchcraft." suggested during a prayer for Trump that opponents of the president "operate in sorcery and witchcraft."

According to CNN, a White House spokesman said White, who is also known by her married name White-Cain, is a part-time special government employee and "permitted to maintain separate employment" to her official role.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-pastor-paula-white-cain-obama-faith-adviser-1471155

Yes, the devil walks among us, but I shall not say his name! In fact like a movie I was watching if you say his name 3 times, he might appear in front of you to do your unholy deeds! And by the way in case you’re wondering if Ms. White has toned down her increasingly hostile rhetoric, you will definitely not be surprised. Because I’m sure that this is exactly what our LAWRD JAYSUS would have in mind!

President Donald Trump has added Florida televangelist Paula White to his administration. She will be an adviser to the president’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison.

The New York Times calls the 53-year-old White “a quintessentially Trump figure: a television preacher, married three times, who lives in a mansion [and believes] that God wants followers to find wealth and health -- commonly called the prosperity gospel.”

Her beliefs have made her controversial even in religious circles. The Rev. William J. Barber II, a protestant minister who is also president of the NAACP’s North Carolina state chapter, called her message “a false gospel.”

“It is an attempt,” he said, “to interpret the gospel to be primarily about personal wealth and personal power, which is contrary to the theology of Jesus where the good news was always focused on caring for the poor, the least of these, the stranger, the sick.”
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/11/paula-white-donald-trumps-new-white-house-adviser-ratchets-up-fake-news-rhetoric-denouncing-demonic-networks.html

No it’s just Paula White. Though she could be a DAYMON!!! I mean just… where do we find these people, exactly? Really because the kind of gospel that Ms. White preaches, well, I am not exactly sure that she’s even read the Bible! Or at the very least our Good Book because it says nothing about what she preaches!

It was "Power Night" at the City of Destiny church on Sunday and Pastor Paula White was urging her congregation to pony up.

"I want you to hear from God. God already spoke to me what I'm going to write out. You're going to write your checks to Paula White Ministries," White preached. "If God tells you to give $12.99, do it. Whatever the Holy Spirit speaks to you. If you need to give by credit card, do so."
White regularly urges those in her pews to donate to her ministry, promising that God will bless them with wealth and "visions" in return. She sometimes warns her followers that their "dream will die" if they don't.

This time, the televangelist was doing it as a newly minted White House official.

White, President Donald Trump's longtime spiritual adviser, joined the White House staff last week to lead the Faith and Opportunity Initiative, a division of the Office of Public Liaison. Her role will primarily be to solicit input from religious groups on White House initiatives and to maintain Trump's strong ties to the religious leaders who support him.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/politics/paula-white-televangelist-white-house/index.html

Well except for the fact that this is a church where we do judge people! And we look for content of quality and character, of which Paula White doesn’t have any of those things! But really you might as well hire Joel Osteen. Or shit even Kanye West at this point? What? I’ve told you that we are allowed to swear in my church! Go ahead, let it out! And by the way in case you’re wondering why the Dark One selected Ms. White, well, let’s take a look at where she stands.

President Donald Trump's personal spiritual adviser, Paula White, launched a prayer effort alongside other evangelical Christian leaders on Tuesday, offering a prayer condemning the president's opponents, accusing them of being aligned with evil spirits and using sorcery.

The White House officially announced last week that White would spearhead the president's Faith and Opportunity Initiative. Trump and the wealthy televangelist have been friends for years ,and she has been a key religious supporter, rallying her Christian base to back the president.

Alongside fellow Christian leaders Cindy Jacobs, Dave Kabul and Dutch Sheets, White has launched the One Voice Prayer Movement, starting the initiative on Tuesday with a prayer for Trump. "Lord, we ask you to deliver our president from any snare, any setup of the enemy, according to Ephesians 6:12. Any persons [or] entities that are aligned against the president will be exposed and dealt with and overturned by the superior blood of Jesus," she said during her prayer in a conference call with other Christian leaders.

"Whether it's the spirit of Leviathan, a spirit of Jezebel, Abaddon, whether it's the spirit of Belial, we come against the strongmen, especially Jezebel, that which would operate in sorcery and witchcraft, that which would operate in hidden things, veiled things, that which would operate in deception," she continued. "We come against it according to your word."
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-spiritual-adviser-paula-white-prays-against-presidents-opponents-suggests-they-operate-1470197

Yeah probably! With friends like Paula White, who needs enemies? Well that’s it for this week, mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Unpopular Opinions!: T.I.’s Purity Tests
[br] [/font] [br]

OK I think before we go any further, we need a Parental Advisory warning on this entry:

Now that we got that out of the way, we got to talk about the seriously creepy situation involving T.I. and his daughter. I didn’t want to do this next entry, in fact I almost threw down fisticuffs with my producer on it. But we’re doing it anyways, because that’s how we roll! You know normally we’d reserve this kind of thing for “How Is This Still A Thing” but I just want to take this opportunity to trash these old school assholes who can’t handle a woman’s sexual identity. Really, it says more about him than it does about her. And in 2019 do we really need this kind of old school fire and brimstone kind of fucked up relationship badgery between father and daughter? Easy answer is a simple “Hell no!”. I mean T.I. might as well wear a “Dads Against Daughters Dating” shirt.

Ladies Like Us podcast hosts Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham have posted a public apology after rapper T.I.'s shocking comments about his teenage daughter's virginity prompted plenty of backlash.

On a recent episode of the podcast, the 39-year-old rapper told Mandi and Moham that he has "yearly trips to the gynecologist" with his 18-year-old daughter, Deyjah, "to check her hymen." The podcast episode has since been deleted. Mandi -- who's married to singer Miguel -- and Moham have received criticism online for laughing during T.I.'s comments, and in an apology posted on Instagram on Thursday, they explained it was a "knee jerk reaction."

"To everyone confused, angry and hurt by the recent episode of Ladies Like Us, we want to apologize for our knee jerk reaction to the uncomfortable topic," the statement reads. "We were completely caught off guard/shocked and looking back, we should have reacted much differently in the moment. The comments that were made and the reaction that followed are not in any way a reflection of our personal views on the topic. We support and love Women and feel that their bodies are theirs to do as they wish."

"There was absolutely no ill intent towards any party involved & feel deeply awful about the entire incident," the statement continues. "We are not perfect, take full accountability of our lack of action & are continuously learning along the way. We know an apology doesn't make this go away but we welcome the discussion -- that's what our podcast is about."
https://www.etonline.com/tis-shocking-comments-about-daughters-virginity-lead-podcast-hosts-to-apologize-and-delete-episode

Sorry Ladies Like Us podcast, whatever that is, but you just opened up a whole can of worms that will probably never be closed! See here’s the thing with DADD crowd is they are some angry and controlling motherfuckers. Which is why they want control of their daughters’ hymens, whatever that is. I’m a guy, I don’t have a hymen. But as insane and controversial as T.I.’s comment was, it has shed a light on a subject that is a global problem, and a very disturbing one at that. See, here’s one of those situations where it’s best to just let kids be kids, then when they grow up they can find out how fucked up the world is!

But while T.I.’s comments were certainly solid outrage-bait, they also pointed out to a more disturbing reality: virginity testing is widespread around the globe, and has historically been used as justification to punish, torture, or even murder young women.

Virginity testing usually takes the form of a two-finger test, which involves a physician inserting two fingers into a woman’s vagina to check whether her hymen is intact. Although an intact hymen is by no means a reliable indicator of virginity, as T.I. himself pointed out, it is viewed as such in various cultures around the world, such as in India, Turkey, Egypt, and South Africa. Although the test is most frequently associated with determining a woman’s eligibility for marriage, it has been used for other purposes as well; in Indonesia, for instance, the test is used to determine female applicants’ suitability for the police force.

The penalty for “failing” a virginity test can be steep. In Afghanistan, for instance, where premarital sex is a crime, until 2018 the law stated that women and girls could be incarcerated for up to three months for failing virginity tests. In some extreme cases, young women who have failed virginity tests have taken their own lives or been murdered by their own family members for violating their family’s honor.

While most coverage of virginity testing is with reference to the practice in other countries, as T.I.’s comments underscore, it would be misleading to suggest that virginity testing is just something that happens outside the United States. Even though physicians have decried the test as unethical, as Marie Claire pointed out in a 2019 investigation there is no federal or state legislation banning it, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has not issued any official guidelines with reference to the practice because it is neither medically indicated nor a valid medical procedure. “A ‘virginity exam’ does not exist,” Maura Quinlan, M.D., an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University and legislative chair for the Illinois section of ACOG, tells Rolling Stone. “It’s a myth that any type of medical exam can prove if a woman is a virgin.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/ti-gynecologist-virginity-test-908990/

That is a good point sir! This is beyond messed up – people (mainly women) can be jailed, assaulted, or even killed for this shit. For T.I. to bring this up on a podcast of all places sheds light on a subject that he probably should have kept to himself. And by the way the people that do this evil practice of “virginity testing” – are shady as shit! Why I never would have guessed!

In addition to being unethical and harmful, the tests are also based on flawed science: The state of a woman’s hymen isn’t a definitive indicator of whether or not she’s had intercourse. As Planned Parenthood notes on its website, some people are born with hymens that are naturally open, or it often tears or wears away as women age.

“The misconceptions that these tests have anything to do with virginity are unfortunately widespread, and our society continues to spread these myths as if they were based on scientific facts,” Brittany McBride, the senior program manager of Sexuality Education at Advocates for Youth, told the Cut. “This misconception that virginity can be tested is truly archaic and sexist and shames people with vulvas. Virginity is a concept that is completely personal and private — it is not a benchmark one is able to meet or not meet.”

Unsurprisingly, the tests can take a steep psychological toll: In a 2017 report from the National Institutes of Health, women who were subjected to them described them as painful and dehumanizing; one sexual-assault victim who was forced to undergo the procedure went so far as to equate it with “torture.”

In 2015, Laurence B. McCullough, an adjunct professor of ethics in obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical College, urged medical professionals to lead the effort to ban virginity testing, calling the policy “incompatible with professional obstetric and gynecological ethics.” As journalist Sophia Jones writes in Marie Claire, “When doctors legitimize virginity by conducting fake tests for it, they arguably uphold one of the oldest lies used to control women: that whether or not a woman has had sexual intercourse determines worth.”
https://www.thecut.com/2019/11/t-i-checking-daughters-hymen-is-abusive-virginity-testing.html

[font size="8"]How Is This Still A Thing: Gender Reveal Parties
[br] [/font] [br]

It’s time once again to ask:

This week: Gender Reveal Parties. How are they still a thing? The gender reveal party started way back in 2008 when a blogger posted about having a gender reveal party for their kid and, like a bad weed it just started spreading from there. With predictably disastrous results. You might remember when a gender reveal party started a hundred acre fire in Arizona last year. Well in case you think destroying 100 acres of brush was the worst thing to happen at a gender reveal party, well, it’s got worse. A whole lot worse. And in case you’re wondering whether or not you should go to your friends’ gender reveal party where a homemade explosive device might be used, just tell them “no” and send a gift.

Gender-reveal parties often involve plenty of ridiculousness, from dyeing lasagna unnatural colors to using animals like alligators and hippos to announce an unborn baby’s sex. While this fairly new concept has received criticism for various reasons, it can also pose a risk, as these parties often involve explosives. Unfortunately for a family in rural Iowa, a gender-reveal party turned lethal after a woman died from an explosion caused by the celebration.

According to NBC News, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at around 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 26, that a woman was seriously injured after flying debris from an explosion that was part of a gender-reveal announcement had struck her. Deputies arrived at the home — located in Knoxville, around 40 miles southeast of Des Moines — but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. There are no further details from the incident, such as what caused the explosion, and whether it involved Tannerite, a legal explosive commonly used for gender reveals.

When the concept of these parties was first introduced, they were a lot more simple, like baking a blue or pink cake that would reveal the baby’s sex once it was cut into. Over the years they evolved into more outrageous stunts that included over-the-top props and pyrotechnics. In Arizona in 2017, a gender-reveal party involving Tannerite caused a massive 47,000-acre wildfire, and in July of this year, Australian police charged a man with reckless driving after his vehicle caught fire during a gender reveal.
https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/gender-reveal-explosion-woman-died.html

Yes be afraid – because the next gender reveal party you go to might result in… *cue horror music * DEATH!! So if your gender reveal party doesn’t immediately kill you, there’s plenty of ways that it could go way south. But if you read beyond the headlines, which we encourage you to do here, that wasn’t just a mere explosive meant to reveal the baby’s gender. No, it was a pipe bomb. That’s right – they made a pipe bomb.

Authorities say an Iowa family’s attempt at a gender reveal party went horribly wrong when a homemade device that was meant to discharge coloured powder instead exploded like a pipe bomb, killing a 56-year-old woman.

The Marion County Sheriff’s office said Pamela Kreimeyer died instantly when debris struck her head Saturday before flying another 132 meters (432 feet), and landing in a nearby field in rural Knoxville, about 56km (35 miles) southeast of Des Moines.

Kreimeyer was 14 meters from the device when it exploded.

Family members had been experimenting with explosives in the hopes of posting a colourful announcement on social media, authorities said. They welded a metal cylinder to a stand and packed it with gunpowder that they thought would send the coloured baby powder aloft. But authorities say tape covering the top of the cylinder caused it to detonate like a pipe bomb.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/29/homemade-pipe-bomb-caused-accidental-death-at-gender-reveal-party

As if a homemade pipe bomb at a gender reveal party couldn’t be any scarier, take a look at what happened at a gender reveal party in Texas. You know the old saying how everything is bigger in Texas, and gender reveal parties are no exception. Just look at what happened when a crop dusting plane dropped a huge steaming load of gender reveal fluid onto a farm for a gender reveal party which could be among one of the biggest disasters to date.

A gender reveal party outside the town of Turkey, Texas went horribly wrong when an airplane hired by the celebrating couple stalled mid-stunt, causing it to crash and land upside down in dramatic fashion.

According to an official accident report filed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the pilot accidentally flew the aircraft too slowly as he was attempting to unload nearly 350 gallons of pink-colored water for the reveal. (It's a girl, yay!) The low airspeed resulted in an aerodynamic stall, causing the plane to tumble in the air and crash, landing upside down on what looks to be a crop field. As a result of the impact, the plane sustained considerable damage to its right wing and fuselage, according to the NTSB. Judging by the photo released, however, it looks a lot worse than that.

Thankfully, the 49-year-old pilot Raj L. Horan of Plainview, Texas survived and sustained only minor injuries. The NTSB also noted that the plane was likely overloaded with the 350 gallons worth of pink water and an additional passenger, which likely contributed to the crash.

The Air Tractor AT602 single-engine turboprop plane used and operated by Horan Spraying LLC. is a single-seat aircraft designed to house only one occupant: the pilot. The additional passenger also luckily survived the incident with only minor injuries. It's unclear at this time if the pilot is facing any charges or if he will be able to keep his pilot's license.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/30928/crop-duster-airplane-crashes-during-gender-reveal-party-gone-horribly-wrong

Yes, everyone should be very afraid. But with gender reveal parties, and especially gender reveal parties, comes age old stereotypes about gender. So why even have them at all when children don’t learn the concept of male and female until the age of 5? Well there’s plenty of theories that could suggest why having a gender reveal party can be a bad thing in this day and age.

In the past decade, gender-reveal parties have exploded from a mere parenting trend to becoming the new normal. But now that more of the population is rejecting the idea of gender norms, a pink or blue-themed party feels archaic. One of the trend’s trailblazers is even having second thoughts about her role in perpetuating it.

When Jenna Karvunidis was pregnant with her first child in 2008, she blogged about revealing the baby’s gender to her friends and family with a pink cake. It was “a milestone,” she tells The Guardian. “I had had several miscarriages. It was like, ‘Oh yay, I’m finally at a point in my pregnancy where I know if it’s a boy or a girl’ rather than ‘Let’s saddle this kid with a whole identity,’” she said, adding that she doesn’t think most people were really questioning that way of thinking back then. Word of her party’s theme spread, and she began noticing more would-be parents throwing gender-reveal parties of their own.

By 2019, the trend seemsed to have reached its breaking point due to over-the-top, embarrassing, and even dangerous consequences that ranged from disgusting-looking food to a 47,000-acre forest fire. Karvunidis says she started to feel guilty. “Then I started to realize that nonbinary people and trans people were feeling affected by this, and I started to feel bad that I had released something bad into the world,” she said. Her daughter, who had been the motivation for her party 11 years ago, doesn’t conform to gender stereotypes herself, opting for suits and blazers rather than dresses. “I’m letting her lead me,” Karvunidis said. “She has her opinions about there being many genders and she is informing me about things. She was biologically born a female and she is still ‘she’ and ‘her’ and says she’s a girl, but she is still doing things her way.”
https://www.thecut.com/2019/07/gender-reveal-party-inventor-feels-bad.html

So even the creator of the gender reveal party thinks it’s a bad idea. Combine that with car crashes, wildfires, pipe bombs, and plane crashes, and that’s enough to make you ask – gender reveal parties:

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
[br] [/font] [br]

Hey everyone I don’t know about you but I could really use a drink!

So of course by now the idea behind this segment is that we have a few cocktails, get drunk and talk about anything, literally anything in the news, as long as it doesn’t have anything to do with politics. And there’s a lot of dark shit in the world right now so we just get drunk and laugh at what is going on in the world. Tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about cell phones? The Tool Cocktail? Do I dare ask what’s in that? So it’s apparently just Maynard’s wine and a few glasses of tears. Then I will take my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the Double Jack. But what we are talking about is that Tool, the band, has decided to put the kibosh on people using their cell phones during their shows. That means you. I’m talking to you. No go on, finish your tweet. Find a funny GIF to go with it. Good.

If you get kicked out of a Tool show for shooting video on your cellphone, well, that's on you. The band is giving fans / psychedelic warriors ample heads up that this behavior is not permissible and will lead to an ejection with no chance of re-entry.

Maynard James Keenan has been outspoken in the past about his disdain for fans not living in the moment and soaking in the show. In his view, the use of a phone, and shooting keepsake videos in particular, only serves to "demystify" the experience. That's why Tool have implemented a "no camera policy" on their current tour supporting the recently released Fear Inoculum album.

One Reddit user, "nielmot," shared an email from the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse venue in Cleveland, Ohio, which outlined the policy in full, informing fans of the consequences of using their phone during the show.

It reads:

We respectfully request that you please watch and listen to the show, not your phone. You will be ejected from the show without the opportunity to return and without a refund if you violate this simple request and elect to take photos during the performance. In the event of a personal emergency, phone use may occur on the concourse away from the performance area.

Read More: Tool Warn Fans of Ejection From Show Over Cellphone Use | https://loudwire.com/tool-warn-ejection-show-cellphone-use/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

Yes so if you use a phone at a Tool show, well, not only are you a tool yourself, but you can get ejected from the venue. Do not pass go, do not collect $200! But this isn’t the first time that bands have argued about phone usage. I mean seriously you’re paying all this money to go out. And then you buy drinks and food and probably an overpriced t-shirt or two. So why the hell are you looking at your screen? Just don’t!

One of the most famous Tool fan pages on social media, ToolPusciferApc posted a recent announcement of Tool and shared their latest decision about their well-known mobile phone prohibition.

As you will read the announcement below, Tool will not allow the audience to use their mobiles for their upcoming two shows which will be held at Pepsi Center on October 15 and 16.

Here is the caption of the photo:

“Attention everyone attending the @toolmusic shows at the @pepsicenter in Denver.

The no phone policy will be enforced. @adamjones_tv #MaynardJamesKeenan #DannyCarey
#JustinChancellor #FearInoculum #Tool #ToolBand #ToolArmy #NoPhones”

Here is what’s written on the photo:

“For guests attending TOOL events this Tuesday and/ or Wednesday nights, please note that using your cellphone in any manner during the performance is strictly prohibited. Per the tour request, guests who fail to abide by the following cellphone restrictions will be immediately dismissed from the arena:
https://metalheadzone.com/tool-announce-a-crucial-smartphone-decision-for-upcoming-show/

Oh yeah. Go, finish your tweet. Me? I’m going to finish my drink and get another one! But Maynard first started ejecting fans during the last A Perfect Circle tour last year, which by all accounts, didn’t sell very well. Many stadiums were left half empty, which really sucks for both them and the venue. Because why go out at all if you’re just going to stare at your device all the time? Hey you! I’m talking to you!

While the music of Tool and A Perfect Circle may be different, their attitudes towards cellphone usage at concerts is very much the same, as evidenced by the former's current North American tour.

Ahead of last night's performance (November 6) at Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, attendees were sent an email outlining a prohibitive photo policy for the evening.

The email reads, "We respectfully request that you please watch and listen to the show, not your phone. You will be ejected from the show without the opportunity to return and without a refund if you violate this simple request and elect to take photos during the performance. In the event of a personal emergency, phone use may occur on the concourse away from the performance area."

Sharing the email on Reddit, user nilemot wrote, "'No cameras' is printed on the tickets, posted at every spot possible at the venues, posted by the fern, now I got a email reminding me no cameras. When is [frontman Maynard James Keenan] going to call me with a reminder?"
http://exclaim.ca/music/article/no_you_arent_allowed_to_use_your_phone_at_a_tool_show

Go ahead check your e-mail. It’s fine. I will wait. But Tool isn’t the only band who has a notoriety for people using their phones at concerts. Another one – and a good friend of the show – Jack White – is also a notorious phone hater. And if you use phones while seeing the Raconteurs this year then you should be prepared to face the consequences. Really, just leave your phone in your car and spare the trouble.

If you were lucky enough to get a ticket to the sold-out Raconteurs concert at the Rapids Theatre in Niagara Falls on Aug. 16, here's your reminder to leave your cellphone behind.

“We think you'll enjoy looking up from your gadgets for a little while and experience music and our shared love of it IN PERSON," a band statement from earlier in the tour read.

Here's what that means. If you bring your cellphone or any other photo- or video-capturing gadget (including that smartwatch on your wrist) into the Rapids Theatre, it will be secured in a Yondr pouch. You'll keep the phone with you but you won't be able to unlock the pouch, which is just a bit larger than the phone. If you have an emergency or need to use the phone, you can go to a designated area where it will be unlocked and then returned to the pouch when you are done.

If you don't want to put your phone in the pouch, then leave it in your car – you will not be able to bring it inside.
https://buffalonews.com/2019/08/15/what-the-no-cellphone-policy-means-at-the-raconteurs-show-at-rapids-theatre/

[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep. 14
[br] [/font] [br]

Welcome back to our 2020 voters’ guide Keeping Up With The Candidates! While our news may be a week behind, we have approximately 367 days until the next election so we have got to get ready, people!! And this guide is a handy way to keep information about all the candidates, news, and issues relating to the 2020 mother of all elections in one place! Last week we discussed the extremely frightening voter purge taking place in Georgia. No, wrong purge, damn it! This week, we’re going to go over some of the results of the 2019 interim election which the blue wave struck again! And in the least likely of places. We already saw how Kentucky kicked Matt Bevin to the curb. Now it did the same in Virginia!

Democrats won control of Virginia's General Assembly on Tuesday, returning the party to full power over the legislature and governorship for the first time since 1993.

Democrats, who had been slightly favored to win both chambers, flipped six seats and lost none of their own in the House and took a slim majority in the Senate.

"I'm here to officially declare today, Nov. 5, 2019, that Virginia is officially blue," Gov. Ralph Northam said to supporters in Richmond.

The election wins now clear the way for Democrats to pass a wide array of liberal policies, including gun control measures, increases to the minimum wage and ratification the Equal Rights Amendment.

"It wouldn't really be an exaggeration to say that we could have the most progressive regime we've had in Virginia's government history," said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball, which provides nonpartisan analysis on elections through University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/06/virginia-election-results-democrats-win-power-liberal-policies/4163840002/

That’s right – after decades of red state disasters, Virginia is finally turning blue! How about that, who wants a nice mug of conservative tears? I know I do! Mmmmmmmmmmm… man that felt good to drink that. Or maybe not. So what does this mean in the long run? We’re seeing a lot of previously short run elections finally coming around and flipping the right way. But allow me to drop the proverbial turd in the punch bowl here, republicans are blaming the election on – wait for it – voter fraud!

As Kentucky's Republican governor trailed by thousands of votes in his re-election bid and Democrats took the reins of the Virginia Statehouse, social media posts offered an unsubstantiated explanation for the Election Day results: voter fraud.

The messages seized on small-scale voting issues or pushed inaccurate reports to call into question all the election results.

Thousands of dead people voted, some claimed. So many Virginia voters were turned away or given misprinted ballots that the results were suspect, a conservative pundit speculated. One Twitter user suggested that the entire state of Kentucky had purchased new voting machines that led to sweeping errors.

The online responses provide a glimpse into the type of misinformation that could cloud next year's presidential race and might intensify if the election is close, said Charles Stewart III, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied public confidence in elections.
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-11-12/social-posts-blame-election-results-on-unsubstantiated-fraud

Yeah so that’s the reason why we can’t have nice things. Conservatives can’t play nice anymore, and is there any wonder why they’re losing on such a grand scale? Elections that were previously unflappable are now being flipped. But now we got to go to Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Yes, it’s near Philadelphia, a city with a notorious police horse punching problem. But Philly is overwhelmingly liberal and this happened.

The political forces that shaped last year’s midterm elections showed no signs of abating Tuesday, as voters turned on Republicans and establishment Democrats alike in races from Philadelphia and Scranton to the suburbs of Delaware and Chester Counties.

Outside Pennsylvania, voter unrest with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party he has taken over helped deliver victories for Democrats in Kentucky, where they narrowly took the governorship, and Virginia, where they seized complete control of the state government for the first time in more than a quarter-century.

Locally, Democrats will hold all five seats on the Delaware County Council, a Republican stronghold since the Civil War, and also assumed a majority on the legislative body in Chester County. In Bucks County, Democrats captured the Board of Commissioners for the first time since 1983.

And in Philadelphia, a third-party insurgent candidate weakened an already marginalized GOP by securing one of the at-large City Council seats reserved for minority parties — a seat Republicans have held for decades.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-2019-election-results-20191106.html

Well it is very niiiiice, sir! I mean this is absolutely historic. Now I can’t really find any turd to throw in the punchbowl here. Instead I’m here to tell you what the elections mean for the upcoming 2020 election. And I’m not going to get into Mississippi, who elected Tate Reeves. I’ll save that for another edition. But here’s what the results could mean going forward.

In many ways, the election results last week, specifically the races in Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, have noteworthy implications for Republicans and Democrats going into 2020. However, both parties must be wary before drawing absolute conclusions from these results.

In Kentucky, Democrat Andy Beshear appears to have defeated unpopular Republican Governor Matt Bevin, who still refuses to concede, by a thin margin of 5,000 votes. In many ways, this victory is indeed significant, particularly because Bevin ran a national campaign and consistently linked himself to President Trump. Not only did Trump make several statements of support for Bevin, but he also held an eleventh hour rally with the Kentucky governor in an effort to ensure this reelection.

However, given that Bevin is profoundly unpopular among the residents of Kentucky, Democrats need to proceed with caution and refrain from using this race as a bellwether for the electability and political weight of Trump. As governor of Kentucky, Bevin commissioned some wildly unfavorable policies. Earlier this year, he backed a reform that cut pensions for new teachers and funding for education, which resulted in massive teacher protests that closed down every public school across the state.

Further, Bevin also sought to add premiums, copayments, and work requirements to the state Medicaid program, all while threatening to cancel the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, which sought to expand health care to 400,000 individuals in Kentucky. Moreover, Republicans scored some wins in Kentucky, succeeding at flipping the attorney general and secretary of state positions.
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/469745-what-the-latest-election-results-signify-for-both-parties-in-2020

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

While most candidates are jumping ship, we’re going to talk about why Michael Bloomberg is entering the race this late in the game and what consequences that could have for already established candidates.

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]The 1975[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest is touring in support of their album “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships”, they also have a brand new album coming on Feb. 20th called “Notes On A Conditional Form”. You can see them at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas concert at Honda Center on December 8th. Playing their song “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME”, give it up for the 1975!

Thank you Boise State! We are off to UC Berkeley next! Just four shows remaining for the rest of the year! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: Houston Improv, Houston, TX
Special Thanks To: Improv Group
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: UCLA Choir Club, Westwood, CA
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Greta Van Fleet Appear Courtesy Of: Republic Records
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
New! Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

November 6, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-18: Do The Soviet Style Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-18: Do The Soviet Style Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up Gonzaga University? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! We are in the home stretch people. Just six more Top 10s before we sign off for this insane year that was 2019. And our college tour has been a great success so far! I know we keep meaning to do a best of – which we will for Thanksgiving, we will announce all the details for season 8! Plus we’re going international! Yes, we did that World Tour back in season 3, but we did it at the confines from our home theater at the UCB Theater Franklin St. But we are actually going to England and Canada later next year. We also have the 4th iteration of our Stupidest State contest to look forward to! OK do we have time for the thing? OK boomer. So we have to talk about Bill Murray. We were originally going to do a whole I Need A Drink on this but we couldn’t find enough articles. But anyway I love when people who play versions of themselves do exactly what you’d expect them to do. So Bill Murray, you know him as the legendary star of Ghostbusters, was at the Atlanta Airport and eating at the PF Changs in Terminal A. And then on his way out he grabbed an application and applied for a job. Oh could you imagine Bill Murray waiting on your table? Just be like “Yeah I’ll have the Kung Pow Chicken and could you also throw in a batch of green slime?”. And my favorite part of this story is that the corporate office of P.F. Chang’s was like “OK Bill Murray, when do you start”? I so badly want to fly out of Atlanta if that happens. OK boomer. OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. First though, John Oliver is back and he delves into why our voting system is the current nightmare that it is:

Well the impeachment trial is coming full swing everybody so strap in because it’s going to get really ugly. In the top spot this week is Steve Scalise (1). Because he, like many members of the Trump GOP cult, apparently has absolutely no understanding or comprehension of how the United States Constitution works and actually said the impeachment proceedings were “Soviet Style”. Nyet! In the second slot this week is “We’re All Gonna Die”. Keep denying climate change, assholes, because California is going up in flames while the Gulf Coast is drowning. No, we don’t want to die because of this shit. In the third slot this week is the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump (3). And Stupid Watergate II is in full effect as Giuliani creates a huge cybersecurity fail, while Trump is crying afoul at a “witch hunt”. In the number 4 slot this week is also Donald J. Trump (4). We have to talk about two Trump related items – the Nationals visiting the White House, and his epic Halloween border wall fail. In the fifth slot this week is our weekly investigative piece Top 10 Investigates (5) and one of the most popular menu items at Costco is their $4.99 rotisserie chicken. But to keep their costs low, Costco is resorting to some ridiculous and extremely frightening extremes. You might want to think twice before consuming that bird. Taking the sixth slot this week, is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit”, and Halloween has come and gone, but is it a holiday to practice some witchcraft? Our resident pastor is going to detail the battle for your soul, courtesy of your local ultra far right church. Speaking of Halloween, in the 7th slot is “Beating A Dead Horse” (7) – airlines are censoring the content on their in flight entertainment screens, but it is driving the producers of that content absolutely crazy. At number 8, representative Katie Hill was a victim of a conservative hit job, and as such we’re going to ask “Revenge Porn – How Is This Still A Thing?”. In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week we have yet another installment of People Are Dumb (9) because of course they are! Finally this week it’s a special “Keeping Up With The Candidates” (10) – Georgia is reportedly stated to purge some 300,000 voters from participating in the 2020 election. If you’re not frightened by this, we will tell you why you should be! And the palate cleanser after all this, we have some fresh new music from the man, the myth, the legend that is Beck! Pre-order his new album “Hyperspace” or you are no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]Steve Scalise
[br] [/font] [br]

Steve Scalise. You might remember him from that incident where he got shot by a crazy person while he was at batting practice for a Congressional softball game (see: Idiots #3-3 ). Since the shooting, Steve Scalise has made absolutely no question about where he stands politically. And that is, he’s a hardcore member of the Trump Cult. Which is not a good gamble these days. Trump’s popularity is slipping very handily. But that hasn’t stopped Scalise from showing people where he stands. And since the Trump Cult has been known to systematically rot many a brain, you tend to say batshit crazy stuff like this.

Uh… Mr. Scalise, you are aware that we have this thing called the Constitution of the United States and that the Democrats are following the impeachment guidelines as outlined in the Constitution exactly according to procedure? Oh but let’s not let your overdose of Covfefe cloud your judgement or anything. That is a hell of a drug and it tends to rot many a mind. But he’s not the only one overdosing on the Trump train lately.

Colorado’s House delegation split along partisan lines, as the state’s four Democrats voted to authorize the next stage of an impeachment inquiry over objections by the three Republicans.

“The House’s impeachment inquiry has exposed the truth and uncovered significant evidence that the president abused his power,” said Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette, in remarks on the House floor minutes before the vote.

Added Neguse: “To honor the oath to defend the Constitution that each of us took, we must move forward with this impeachment inquiry; for, as Thomas Jefferson once said hundreds of years ago, a sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principal, the sustaining energy of a free government.”

Before casting his “no” vote, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, railed against what he called “a Soviet-style kangaroo court, a star chamber,” in an appearance on KVOR AM 740.

“They just hate Donald Trump. They want to undo the election,” Lamborn said, referring to his Democratic colleagues.
https://gazette.com/news/rep-doug-lamborn-calls-impeachment-inquiry-a-soviet-style-kangaroo/article_e663fe9c-fc32-11e9-9bad-c78292667259.html

Nyet!! We do hate Donald Trump, but the election was 3 fucking years ago! We’re not trying to undo anything, we’re trying to prevent further abuses of power, which is what Trump has been doing since the election. The Republicans want to hand him a blank check to do whatever the hell he wants, but it doesn’t work that way. The GOP derangement for democrats is getting completely out of control, and expect the violent rhetoric to increase before the election. But then we’ll still have to put up with bullshit like this:

America will read exactly what two of the “three amigos” overseeing President Trump’s Ukraine policy told Congressional impeachment investigators.

The explosive testimony of Kurt Volker, Trump’s former special representative for Ukraine negotiations, and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, will likely inflict new damage on Trump’s ever-shifting impeachment defense as the full transcripts confirm details revealed after they testified last month.

Sondland’s testimony is likely to be particularly closely scrutinized because he made the dubious claim that he knew little or nothing about presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani ran a parallel campaign to bully Ukraine into opening bogus Trump-friendly investigations into Democrats.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Cal.), chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, told reporters on Monday to expect the transcripts to be made public the following day.

Impeachment witnesses have described Volker and Sondland, along with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, as the main officials implementing Trump’s Ukraine policy.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-trump-ukraine-impeachment-transcript-20191105-2ewd52ba3bdsjkwotldjmlfr4u-story.html

Hey everyone! If this impeachment proceedings seem like they’re “Soviet Style” could it be because Russia is involved? Let’s do the Soviet style!! Is that a dance or a punk rock song? Who knows! The thing is, once a talking point gets introduced into the conservative echo chamber, it’s like an ants’ nest – no matter how much bug spray you use to get rid of it, you’ll still find ants several weeks later! But they are at least running out of defenses for this mad man, and it’s starting to show:

It is a quirk of our current highly polarized political environment that a party can plausibly claim its opponents are acting in a partisan fashion by insisting upon doing so itself. It takes two to tango, but refusing to tango takes only one. And if Democrats and Republicans aren’t dancing together, then any action becomes a partisan action—and can be denounced as such.

And so it was last week that, confronted with a decision by the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives to authorize procedures for the public phase of consideration of the president’s impeachment, House Republicans voted as a bloc against the measure and thereby enabled themselves to decry the vote as partisan. The criticism was, of course, accurate. Unlike the House votes to authorize the impeachment inquiries of Presidents Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton, this vote came very nearly along perfect party lines—with two Democratic House members joining the Republicans and only a single former Republican, the now party-less Justin Amash, voting with the Democrats.

But the argument also elides the source of the partisanship. What is notable about the vote is not that Democrats, looking at the information available to the House, want to consider impeaching President Donald Trump. It is rather that Republicans, looking at the very same information, uniformly do not want even to consider it—that they purport to be outraged not by the president’s behavior but by the processes through which whistle-blowers complain about that behavior, by the means Democrats employ to consider such complaints, and by the expectation that a president will act on behalf of some vision of the public interest rather than putting national-policy tools at the service of his own personal and political interests.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/partisanship-isnt-enough-save-trump-impeachment/601330/

[font size="8"]We’re All Gonna Die
[br] [/font] [br]

Hey everyone guess what? We’re all gonna die!! Woooooooooooooo!!! Wooooooooooooooooo!!! Wooooo. Woo. Yeah I know I say it every time that we do this segment, but this time we really might, especially that my home state of California is on fire. And we have a maniacal man bay who hates my state in charge of the White House. And boy does Trump hate us. If you’re following the news, the fire departments run by the federal government have been doing a bang up job of being super fast to respond to the fires this year and Gov. Newsome has been praising them big time. But we have a man child who has been convinced that it’s poor forest management that was to blame for the fires. But can we tell him that’s not a thing?

Just days after Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the federal government for its response to catastrophic wildfires and power outages affecting millions, President Donald Trump on Sunday slammed the California Democrat — and threatened to cut off future federal funding to the fire-battered state.

Trump, in a spate of postings on Twitter, lambasted what he called Newsom’s “terrible job” regarding the state’s forest management practices, saying the governor should stop listening to environmentalist “bosses” and “clean” the forest floors. He also slammed Newsom for state water-management practices, suggesting that California must open up what he called “ridiculously closed water lanes.”

Saying Newsom had repeatedly requested federal funds, Trump threatened to cut him off.

“Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing—and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more,” the president tweeted.

He then tweaked Newsom’s leadership: “Get your act together Governor.”

The governor responded a short time later.

“We’re successfully waging war against thousands of fires started across the state in the last few weeks due to extreme weather created by climate change while Trump is conducting a full on assault against the antidotes,” he told POLITICO in a statement.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/03/trump-federal-aid-california-newsom-065045

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Let’s point out the irony here – the guy who does not have his act together at all and fires people like it’s a bodily function is telling someone else to get their act together on something he knows nothing about? What an asshole. But are we all gonna die from this? Well just wait until next year’s Santa Ana winds hit, they will get even nastier!

Just last week California Gov. Gavin Newsom lauded President Donald Trump as a "partner" in California's efforts to fight wildfires.

“Every request we made of the Trump administration has been granted, and I just want to thank them again for moving expeditiously as they have to support our efforts here," Newsom said Wednesday.

That was then, this is now.

“We’re successfully waging war against thousands of fires started across the state in the last few weeks due to extreme weather created by climate change while Trump is conducting a full on assault against the antidotes," Newsom said Sunday.

What changed appears to be a series of tweets earlier Sunday by the president, kicked off with this: "The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must 'clean' his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/04/trump-california-wildfires-newsom-lauded-him-once-now-they-clash/4154014002/

Oh calm down man, we’re not gonna die just yet! But let’s not let facts get in the way of our outrage because that’s how the news in 2019 works, damn it! Because if Trump had bothered to Google it, he would have stumbled upon this report from the San Francisco Chronicle – an actual journalist outlet, which said that poor forest management is true. But guess what? Not all of it is California’s fault!

“A century of mismanaging Sierra Nevada forests has brought an unprecedented environmental catastrophe that impacts all Californians.” That’s not a tweet from President Trump, but the opening line of a February report by California’s Little Hoover Commission investigating fire danger in the state.

“The immediate crisis is visible to anyone who has traveled recently in the Sierra Nevada, especially in its southern range where mountainsides are brown with dying and dead forests,” Commission Chairman Pedro Nava wrote in the cover letter for “Fire on the Mountain,” an 82-page report on the tinderbox nature of the state’s forests.

The report outlines factors that have led to the current forest crisis, including years of poor or nonexistent management policies, and the recent drought and a beetle infestation that killed an estimated 129 million trees across the state — trees that could go up in flames.

“The obstacles to progress are daunting and tremendously complex,” the report said.

Still, Nava was a bit taken aback by Trump’s Nov. 10 tweet blaming the state’s “gross mismanagement” for the fires.

“My first reaction is that he really needs better advisers — obviously they left a lot of things out,” Nava told us.

For example, the U.S. government owns nearly 60 percent of the forests that cover one-third of California and for the past 100 years federal policy has been to put out forest fires as quickly as possible rather than let nature take its course.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Trump-s-claim-of-poor-California-forest-13400503.php

No, no nobody is dying yet. But take a look at what the guy in the article said that Trump needs better advisers. Well guess what? He is his own adviser! Well besides when he watches Fox News late at night after Sean Hannity whispers sweet nothings into his ear on the phone, we’ll let you know that rage-watching Fox News that late is not good for your mental health! I mean would you be shocked to learn that he’s wrong on the subject? I’m not!

In 2018, a fire ripped through the town of Paradise, California, killing 85 people. It was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state’s history.

Liabilities from wildfires started by its powerlines bankrupted Pacific Gas & Electric, which cut off power to nearly one million homes and businesses last month to prevent wind from triggering and fanning fires.

Many blame climate change.“The reason these wildfires have worsened is because of climate change,” said Leonardo DiCaprio.“This is what climate change looks like,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

On Sunday, after President Donald Trump tweeted, “The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management,” Newsom tweeted back, “You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation.”

But can the increase in fires in California really be blamed on climate change?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/11/04/why-everything-they-say-about-california-fires--including-that-climate-matters-most--is-wrong/#50e95c264cb6

[font size="8"]Stupid Watergate II
[br] [/font] [br]

It’s like Watergate but we have idiots in charge. Holy crap this thing continues to get stranger and stranger and stranger. We already covered Steve Scalise’s bizarre comparison of the trial to something “Soviet Style” (whatever that is). But that said there’s three key figures who are really needed further explanation with their involvement in Stupid Watergate. And that is Jim Jordan – who remember in the Ohio State scandal, Roger Stone, and Rudy Giuliani. Both of these guys are people who I wouldn’t want running an Etch A Sketch. But before we get into the Jim Jordan mess, let’s take a look at what happened when Roger Stone went before a jury.

Jury selection in the trial of Roger Stone, the longtime confidant and adviser to President Donald Trump, got off to a bizarre start on Tuesday as Stone left the proceedings due to what he said was food poisoning shortly after an observer was taken out of the courtroom on a stretcher after appearing to have a seizure.

The selection of the jury continued without Stone present, but because of the earlier delay stemming from the separate medical emergency, it is unlikely jury selection will be completed Tuesday. More than 80 prospective jurors arrived at federal district court in Washington, D.C., to potentially take part in the trial.

Stone, 67, is accused of lying to Congress and pressuring another person to do the same. Stone's case stems from former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Stone, a close friend of Trump's for more than three decades who briefly served as an adviser to his 2016 presidential campaign, has claimed innocence. He was repeatedly admonished by Judge Amy Berman Jackson this year to stop making public comments about his case that could influence a prospective jury, and was barred from using social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/roger-stone-leaves-jury-selection-his-trial-because-food-poisoning-n1076711

Maybe that was a little too graphic but I can assure you that his food poisoning probably went down something like that. But what a bunch of crybabies. Now for those of you playing at home, we have to talk about Rudy Giuliani’s involvement in this clusterfuck. Of course we’ve talked about Giuliani and his goons many times in the last few weeks but now the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place, and it’s quite the tangled web they weave.

Lev Parnas, the indicted Rudy Giuliani associate who helped the Trump team search for dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine, is now willing to comply with the House impeachment inquiry, his lawyer told Reuters.

Parnas helped Giuliani find dirt on Biden in Ukraine and lobbied a former Republican congressman to press President Donald Trump to oust an ambassador whom Giuliani believed was interfering with their efforts. He was later indicted along with fellow Giuliani pal Igor Fruman on campaign finance charges after prosecutors alleged that illegally funneled foreign donations into U.S. elections to gain influence, including a $325,000 contribution to a pro-Trump super PAC. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

After the indictment, the pair hired attorney John Dowd, who previously worked on Trump’s defense team in the Mueller probe. Claiming that the intention of Democrats was "to harass, intimidate and embarrass my clients," Dowd sent a letter to lawmakers saying that the two would not cooperate with their “overly broad and unduly burdensome” requests for information in the impeachment inquiry.

While Fruman will reportedly retain Dowd amid plans to keep stonewalling the investigation, Parnas apparently had a change of heart. He has fired Dowd, and his new attorney, Joseph Bondy, told Reuters that he was willing to comply with the investigation.
https://www.salon.com/2019/11/05/giuliani-henchman-fires-former-trump-lawyer-and-agrees-to-comply-with-impeachment-inquiry-after-snub/

This whole thing is certifiably insane. Now we got to talk about Jim Jordan’s involvement. See, the events of this whole thing – let’s compare it to a nice, hearty plate of spaghetti and meatballs. You’re not going to serve it without simmering the meatballs in the sauce for several hours. Because if you serve the meat before it’s cooked you’re gonna have a bad time. Even worse if you switch chefs in the middle of cooking it.

House Republican leadership is looking to load up the House Intelligence Committee with some of President Donald Trump’s top defenders, including Rep. Jim Jordan, as the panel has become ground zero for impeachment.

“If Democrats are going to turn Intel into the impeachment committee, I am going to make adjustments to that committee accordingly, for a short period of time,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told POLITICO.

Democrats have put the House Intelligence Committee solely in charge of the open hearings that could start as soon as next week even though a trio of committees have been conducting closed-door interviews with impeachment witnesses. That means some of Trump’s best attack dogs, like Jordan of Ohio, will be effectively sidelined when Democrats take their impeachment probe public.

But House Republicans want to temporarily add some of the president’s allies to the Intel panel, arguing that those members have been sitting in on all the depositions and could be well equipped to cross examine witnesses and defend Trump.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/05/house-republicans-jordan-intel-impeachment-065970

Yeah so they could switch Devin Nunes with Jim Jordan to carry out the rest of the conservatives’ side of the investigation. Now going back to our spaghetti and meatballs analogy – the meatballs (inquiries) are being warmed in the oven (Congress) as we speak. You don’t want to serve them prematurely. You want them to take the time to simmer. And pair with a fine wine which has taken time to ferment. But do you really want this guy serving your finely prepared dish? I know I don’t!

Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan tried to attack House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) for preventing certain questions from being asked during the current impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump but managed to admit — out loud — that he was trying to out the whistleblower, among others.

On Tuesday, Jordan spoke to reporters as Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was giving closed-door testimony in the impeachment inquiry, and said that Schiff of “has prevented the witness from answering certain questions we have during the deposition.”

He added that “Their witness has their counsel there, their lawyer there, they don’t need Adam Schiff being chairman and lawyer. But that’s an effect what happens today.”

Jordan then addressed the reason for Schiff’s objections, saying “The Democrats run out here and say ‘Oh, the Republicans are trying to figure out who the whistleblower is. We’re trying to figure out who a witness list is.”

But then seconds later, while deriding Schiff for his “sensitivity” to protecting the identity of the whistleblower, Jordan explicitly named the whistleblower among the names he would like to obtain.
https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-jim-jordan-admits-hes-trying-to-out-whistleblower-while-denying-hes-trying-to-out-whistleblower/

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: The High Cost Of $4.99 Chicken
[br] [/font] [br]

It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 Investigates!

One of Costco’s most popular and coveted food items is that $4.99 rotisserie chicken that they sell at the end of the display case. It retails for $4.99 but in order to meet that price point, there’s a lot that goes into that bird that you are consuming. But in order to continue to meet that coveted $4.99 price point, there’s a lot of very frightening genetic engineering that goes into it. In fact, Costco has gone to such extremes to meet that price point that there’s many, many trade-offs that are met before that bird hits the stores and you buy it and eat it.

At the back of Costco’s stores, past the televisions, jewelry, jumbo-sized ketchup jugs and tubs of mixed nuts, is one of the retailer’s most prized items: The rotisserie chicken that costs just $4.99.

Cheap Kirkland Signature rotisserie chickens aren’t only a quick way for families to get dinner on the table. For Costco, the chickens are a lure, pulling customers into stores and getting them to browse the aisles, adding sometimes hundreds of dollars worth of items to their shopping carts before they pick up that bird.

The chickens have become almost a cult item. 91 million were sold last year, double the number from a decade earlier. They have their own Facebook page with nearly 13,000 followers.

So Costco is willing to go to extreme lengths to keep its chickens at $4.99. For the past few years, it’s been recruiting farmers for this moment: The official opening of a sprawling, $450 million poultry complex of its very own in Nebraska.

It’s a highly unusual move for one of the world’s largest retailers. Costco will control the production process from farm to store, making key decisions down to the grain chickens eat and the type of eggs hatched. Costco has even put its socially-conscious corporate reputation on the line, fending off local critics who have rallied against the Nebraska operation.
https://www.wbtw.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-costcos-4-99-rotisserie-chickens/

Well you may regret buying that $4.99 bird later on. In fact it’s becoming a huge problem according to medical experts. But here’s what you may not want out of that chicken. Despite that it only costs you a $5 note, it’s also making you fat. Yes, that bird has genes that activate obesity in chickens in order to get as much meat on the bone as possible, and still allows Costco to meet the price point and their all-important profit margins.

Aside from its potential damage to the environment, the expanded production of Costco’s $4.99 chicken may also put more people at risk of health problems. CAFO-raised chickens have high levels of antibiotics and are exposed to bacterial contamination linked to drug-resistant urinary tract infection (UTI), according to Mercola.

CAFO chickens have also been associated with the obesity epidemic in the U.S. A report in 2012 showed that majority of commercially-available chickens contain the “obese gene.”

Chickens get such gene when they are forced to gain weight quickly for production. This increases the amount of potentially harmful fats in the food products consumed by people.

Another study suggested that CAFO chickens contain more fat and higher omega-6 while having lower amounts of protein and omega-3 fats.

Aside from health and environmental impacts, experts also raised concerns with chicken production’s unfair contract agreements. Robert Taylor, a professor of agricultural economics at Auburn University, said majority of American chicken farmers have a contract that “essentially makes the farmer an indentured servant” or “chicken house janitor.”
https://www.medicaldaily.com/costcos-499-chicken-becoming-big-problem-445136

Apparently not. Because while that massive chicken farm in Nebraska has legal and health issues associated with it, there’s also some shocking numbers involving trade. Costco’s chicken is having a significant impact on trade as well as all of the other violations that have arisen because they are attempting to take control of their chicken supply. But by doing so, it has a significant economic impact on the global economy.

That’s why Costco is seizing control of its chicken supply chain. Costco believes it can slash costs by bringing production in house, saving up to 35 cents per bird.

It has already done the same with hot dogs.
Costco now produces 285 million hot dogs at a plant in California.

Costco sold kosher hot dogs at food courts until 2009, but suppliers started to run low on beef. So it brought production in-house and switched to its own Kirkland Signature-brand hot dogs. Costco now produces 285 million hot dogs at a plant in California.

Costco picked Nebraska for the poultry plant because the area had grain, water and labor available. Those are the three biggest costs involved with chicken production.

Although Nebraska is not known for chicken production, corn prices have fallen in recent years, leading to interest from farmers looking for new opportunities. The United States’ trade war with China has also taken a toll on farmers.
https://whnt.com/2019/10/12/costco-builds-giant-poultry-complex-to-keep-its-rotisserie-chickens-at-4-99/

So with all that research should you pull the trigger on that $4.99 chicken when you see it on the shelves at your local Costco? Well there’s plenty of reasons for but there’s also plenty of reasons against. Just like the arguments for making your own food, Costco’s chicken along with many of their food items, is made to sell at a price point. And we’ve already covered the extreme lengths they go to in order to obtain that price point. And that comes with more stricter corporate regulations which as we’ve seen don’t really exist.

The arrival of a Costco chicken processing plant in Fremont, Nebraska, spurred the introduction of the state’s first industrial chicken farms in 2018. With the plant set to begin operations after Labor Day, some residents are pushing for stronger — or any — oversight of large poultry farms in the state.

Lancaster County, home to the state’s capital of Lincoln, has been the site of the most recent debate about how chicken farms are regulated. Last October and again in July, the county’s commissioners considered a moratorium on new poultry farms, prompted by residents’ concerns about water and air pollution.

Both times, the commissioners decided against the moratorium. But the county is now considering zoning changes that could address concerns about the minimal oversight chicken farms in Nebraska receive and how little is required of farmers before they being operations that can house tens of thousands of birds. A 10-member working group has been meeting regularly to debate and draft those changes, though there is no specific deadline for their recommendations.

Meanwhile, soon-to-be neighbors of one of the largest chicken farms ever in Nebraska are deeply concerned about their prospects if the farms continue to spread across the ag-friendly state.
https://thefern.org/ag_insider/with-costco-chicken-plant-set-to-open-nebraskans-want-more-oversight-of-poultry-farms/

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

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
[br] [/font] [br]

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Oregon State! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

My fair congregation! You know my favorite time of year has already come and gone and that is the annual tradition known as All Hallows Eve. Of course with that tradition, our brothers and sisters on the right can get a little, shall we say, batshit fucking crazy about the issue. Yes, sir, we are allowed to swear in my church! As long as it’s not at the LAWRD almighty, I am totally OK with that. As you should never take the LAWRD’s name in vain. So the question that I have for you on the table today is – is Halloween just an innocent party to honor all things spooky? Or is satanic witchcraft being practiced? I mean come on, this is the year 2019 here, and we’re still talking about witches? I mean these people. So we here at the Holy Church Of The Top 10 like to educate as well as entertain.

It’s tradition: As Americans dress up to celebrate Halloween, religious right figures warn that what seems like harmless fun is actually a dangerous participation in demonic activity and Satan worship. This year’s warnings seem a little higher-strung than usual given the ongoing religious right panic about President Donald Trump being targeted by witchcraft.

In recent days, the Trump-supporting media platform Charisma has repeatedly pitched “Why Christians Shouldn’t Celebrate Halloween,” a new ebook with nine “teachings” about Halloween. “The demonic realm is alive and active,” it begins.

The ebook’s author Katherine DeGraw writes that people often recognize that “evil forces” drive actions like mass shootings. “However, when it comes to the pagan celebration of Halloween, we somehow do not see it as having the same demonic and evil impact as those other tragedies,” she writes. “The effects of Halloween and human sacrifices are just as real. However, authorities—and the news media—simply don’t report them.”

She urged Christians to be on the “counteroffensive” against the “demonic realm” that is conjuring up “curses, spells, vexes and other evil practices” in the month before Halloween to “destroy Christians, uproot prophetic destinies and come against the plans of God.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/witchcraft-panic-fuels-trump-allies-war-on-halloween/

Always the ones you least suspect doesn’t it seem that way? Well so every Halloween there’s always this controversy. It’s always people like this that have to ruin it for everybody else isn’t it? And here’s the possible worst thing you can give to children on Halloween, maybe besides pennies. Take a look at Ken Ham, who wants to give children a reminder that they are going to HEYLL!!! Dude, don’t screw with children like that!

It seems like Halloween is continually becoming more controversial and difficult to enjoy with each passing year. Now we’ve not only had parents petitioning to change the date of Halloween, but it looks like creationist Ken Ham is suggesting people scare children on Halloween by threatening them with “eternal damnation.”

“One way you can make the most of this once-a-year opportunity is by giving gospel tracts to children and/or their parents, along with candy and treats,” he wrote on his website.

This includes items you can purchase through Ham’s own store, including fake $1 million dollar bills that he claims are “worth far more than a million dollars,” because they contain images of dinosaurs or Noah’s Ark bursting through the front. And, better yet, are the messages written on the back.

“Have you ever lied, stolen or used God’s name in vain?” a message on the back of one of the bills reads. “If so, you’ve broken God’s law. The penalty for your crimes against God is death and eternal hell because God is holy and just.”

The bills, which he intends for kids, even warn against things like lust which he compares to adultery. “God sees you as guilty of sin,” one of the bills read. “The penalty of sin is death and eternity in hell.”

And of course, creationist Ken Ham also has several other items available through his site that he suggests buying to pass around for Halloween. A lot of it is in an effort to promote what he calls reverse trick-or-treating. And of course, the purpose of that is to stop what he calls the “evils of modern-day Halloween.” Right.
https://www.screengeek.net/2019/10/22/halloween-creationist-kids-warning/

Well we pretty much all are, Mr. Devil! But apparently if you are a supporter of the almighty, unholy Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken in my church, the line between your support of the Dark One and hatred for his detractors, and SAYTAN all run together! That’s what happens when you sit in front of Fox News for 24 hours a day.

Donald Trump’s supporters are commemorating Halloween in a magical way: by claiming that Democrats are targeting him with witchcraft.

Anti-LGBTQ activist Michael Brown says “the spirit of Jezebel” is executing a “Satanic plot” to destroy America and Trump using feminism, LGBTQ rights, abortion, witchcraft and sex trafficking of kids — and that’s just the tip of the black-magical iceberg.

Related: Are witches & gays corrupting upstanding politicians in DC?

On his web show The MC Files, right-wing conspiracy theorist Chris McDonald said, “[Democratic] Rep. Adam Schiff is a pedophile and a Satanist who practices human sacrifice.” How does he know this? Because he “senses such a dark, demonic power on Schiff whenever he hears his speak.”

The group Intercessors for America recently urged its followers to pray for Trump to protect him from “occultic activity.” Just how deep is this witchy plot against the president, you ask? Let them explain:

“Spells and hexes. Curses and binding. Witches, warlocks, occultists, and resisters of President Trump are focusing their negative energy and spiritual power toward President Trump right now. Monthly rituals have been taking place since the beginning of his presidency. Now, all who call on the name of the enemy are actively ramping up their efforts and coordination in this heightened time of occult activity for a week of binding beginning the evening of October 25.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/10/trump-supporters-using-halloween-accuse-democrats-witchcraft-satanism/

?

That’s apparently what witchcraft is like in the year of our LAWRD 2019! And by the way, should you agree with the Dark One and that the accusations against him are the greatest witch hunt in modern history, let me lecture you on what an actual witch hunt is like. And remember we went through this in the 1600s, and we don’t want it coming back!

On a summer morning in 1692, Bridget Bishop, who was accused of being a witch, was hanged from an oak tree in Salem, Massachusetts, then dumped into a shallow grave. The thrice-married Bridget, 60, was decried for possessing dark powers by her stepchildren after her second husband’s death, in what may have been a bid to seize his property. She beat that earlier charge — but during the Salem witch panic, her luck ran out.

Out of the 16 falsely accused women of Salem and nearby villages who were either hanged or died in rat-infested dungeons awaiting execution, at least 13 were past their childbearing years, Jackie Rosenhek notes in “Mad with Menopause.”

In patriarchal societies — including our own — post-reproductive women have often been scapegoated as threats and burdens. But many scholars now believe that these women’s presence is not only a defining characteristic of the human species, but the very thing that enabled us to flourish. (One theory is known as the “grandmother hypothesis.”)

Scientists know of only five species in which females outlive the reproductive stage. Humans are special in this regard, along with killer whales — where older females ensure the species’ survival by guiding their pods to food sources. Until the last few decades, many researchers assumed that in humans, this trait was a useless quirk or the “unintended” result of some other adaptation.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/halloween-remember-witch-hunts-were-created-patriarchy-terrified-older-women-ncna1074236

There it is, folks! Halloween isn’t a celebration of demons and zombies, or a witch hunt! It’s just some mild and harmless fun! Of course our brothers and sisters on the right choose to ruin that fun. Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Offensive In Flight Entertainment
[br] [/font] [br]

Let’s talk some censorship. Come on everyone wants to be able to speak what they want to without consequences. Hell it’s a right guaranteed to us by the 1st Amendment in the Bill Of Rights. But there are some who won’t have any of it. There’s some out there that could say they hate the mere idea of freedom of speech. Those people are generally Christian conservatives. Now , that said we all get bored on airplanes, right? And airlines have come up with ways to give you some in flight entertainment which includes watching in flight movies on a tiny monitor built into your seat. So censorship and airlines – what do they have in common? Well Delta is editing the gay out of two of the gayest movies of the year on its’ flights. The first is “Booksmart” – about two high school over achievers who try to relive the fun they’ve lost in 4 years into one night. The second is of course “Rocketman” – the true story of how Elton John rose to become one of modern rock music’s most iconic figures. So how do these two movies fare with airline travelers?

Delta Air Lines is reviewing the process that allowed a lesbian sex scene to be cut from the film "Booksmart" after Olivia Wilde called out the censorship on flights.

Wilde, who made her directorial debut with "Booksmart," spoke out on the issue over the weekend while on the red carpet at the Academy's Governors Awards. In a Twitter thread Wednesday, Wilde said she learned the censorship went far beyond the sex scene and that airlines use third-party vendors to edit entertainment.

"I finally had the chance to watch an edited version of Booksmart on a flight to see exactly what had been censored," Wilde wrote. "Turns out some airlines work with a third party company that edits the movie based on what they deem inappropriate. Which, in our case, is ... female sexuality?"

The 35-year-old actor and director said the edited version of the film also cut the words "vagina" and "genitals," a female masturbation scene, an animated sequence where the main characters turned into naked dolls, and a scene where the two teenage girls watched porn.

"What message is this sending to viewers and especially to women? That their bodies are obscene? That their sexuality is shameful?" Wilde said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/delta-investigate-after-olivia-wilde-slammed-flight-censorship-booksmart-n1074926

Oh come on it’s OK if Maude Lebowski says it! So Booksmart is one side of the censorship coin after they removed all of the gay references and even went as far as to remove any references to female body parts, because you don’t know who is going to watch these movies! But here’s where it gets weird, this wasn’t Delta who was editing the third party content of these flicks. It was a third party!

A spokesperson for Delta airlines is denying reports that the airline asked for scenes to be cut out of Olivia Wilde’s acclaimed directorial debut Booksmart after several customers complained.

The issue was first brought up on Twitter when Wilde responded to a fan in shock after they said a lesbian kiss featuring one of the main characters was edited out of the airline cut of the film. While Wilde and the fan don’t mention Delta, several other users noted the same changes while watching the comedy on the airline.

In a statement to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for Delta explained that the airline hires a third-party editing company to provide its own edit of the movie along with the unedited version. If anything in the unedited version does not meet Delta’s guidelines, then Delta runs the third party’s edit regardless of whether parts of the film that don’t violate Delta’s guidelines have already been edited out.

“Delta’s content parameters do not in any way ask for the removal of homosexual content from the film,” Delta’s statement read. “We value diversity and inclusion as core to our culture and our mission and will review our processes to ensure edited video content doesn’t conflict with these values.”
https://people.com/movies/delta-says-it-didnt-demand-booksmarts-homosexual-content-be-cut-after-olivia-wilde-complains/

It’s people like that why we’re subjected to this nonsense. So Olivia Wilde herself got involved with Delta to help bring LGBT to light within the airline. But the censorship didn’t stop with Booksmart, apparently the Elton John biopic Rocketman got into the censorship mix. Oh man I hope whoever Delta hired hasn’t seen Bohemian Rhapsody yet because I can imagine the airline edit of that movie would only be about… 3 minutes long.

Delta Airlines have reportedly censored gay references out of the Elton John biopic Rocketman, and it's only the latest of many instances where critics allege airlines have made questionable anti-gay edits to in-flight entertainment.

Reports of changes to the 2019 film emerged after Entertainment Weekly digital director Shana Krochmal tweeted Wednesday about noticing the changes while on a Delta flight. Several other passengers have weighed in online to add that they have also noticed the edits.

"On @Delta today discovered that #Rocketman is stripped of almost every gay reference or scene that @eltonofficial fought to keep in the film's mainstream release, including a simple chaste kiss," tweeted Krochmal.

Airlines typically edit in-flight entertainment for content, but specifically editing out gay references that aren't otherwise explicit or objectionable appears to suggest that the airlines believe being gay is somehow wrong, indecent or an otherwise unsuitable concept for a wide range of people to be exposed to.

Rocketman is a musical biopic about the life of musician Elton John, and a central part of the film deals with the singer's sexuality and his coming to terms with being gay. In the airline-edited version of the film, comments suggest that while gay references were largely removed, scenes of violence and swear words were apparently left in.
https://www.newsweek.com/elton-john-biopic-rocketman-latest-film-passengers-claim-delta-removed-gay-references-1469092

I love that Family Guy clip – is that the first ever meta parody? I mean Willian Shatner singing Rocket Man was enough, but then Stewie goes and parodies the video of William Shatner singing Rocket Man is too much! But there is some good news on this front – it appears that Delta has learned its’ lesson and will bring back the full unedited versions of these movies for all to enjoy. Now to find out who did it so we can unleash the internet outrage machine on them! But you want to watch these movies unedited and uncensored? Just bring your own device and watch it that way!

Delta Air Lines will restore same-sex love scenes to its in-flight versions of the 2019 movies Booksmart and Rocketman, the company confirmed to BuzzFeed News.

The airline said that it was provided an "edited" version of each film, but only realized this week that those versions omitted key same-sex love scenes involving its lead characters.

“We are working to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Delta said in a statement.

The news broke after Booksmart director Olivia Wilde retweeted a viewer who complained that the hookup scene between one of the film's leads, Kaitlyn Dever, and actor Diana Silvers (Ma) had been cut from the film.

Two days later, an Entertainment Weekly editor tweeted that “almost every gay reference” had been cut from Delta's in-flight version of the Elton John biopic Rocketman, including a love scene between stars Taron Egerton and Richard Madden.

Delta says it never intended for these scenes to be cut, and a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News the airline is working directly with the films' respective studios on new edits that will restore the love scenes in question.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adambvary/delta-booksmart-rocketman-same-sex-love-scenes

[font size="8"]How Is This Still A Thing: Revenge Porn
[br] [/font] [br]

Time once again to ask:

This week – revenge porn. How is this still a thing? This week after California representative Katie Hill was forced to resign after some, not kosher photos of her surfaced, the topic quickly turned to why Ms. Hill was forced to resign: Revenge Porn. This wasn’t just a mere hit job, this was a carefully orchestrated takedown initiated by a group calling itself Red State. So the question that has turned to now is – was Rep. Hill held to a higher standard than her male counterparts? Well let’s ask Al Franken just how well that worked out. What? Too soon? Well the line between Katie Hill and the concept of revenge porn is a very fine one to toe.

Democratic Rep. Katie Hill of California, who announced her plans to resign from her congressional seat earlier this week, gave her final speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday, where she apologized to her supporters but said the forces that led her to leave Congress are larger than she is.

"I will never shirk my responsibility for this sudden ending to my time here," Hill said, "but I have to say more because this is bigger than me."

She went on to say, "I am leaving now because of a double standard. I am leaving because I no longer want to be used as a bargaining chip. I am leaving because I didn't want to be peddled by papers and blogs and websites, used by shameless operatives for the dirtiest gutter politics that I've ever seen."

Earlier this month, a conservative blog released intimate photos of Hill alleging she and her husband had a separate relationship with an unnamed female campaign staffer. That report included three photos of the congresswoman, including an explicit photo.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/31/politics/katie-hill-final-speech-resignation/index.html

Yes, while we have Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court and Donald Trump in the White House, Katie Hill was forced to resign, because, reasons. But let’s not overlook the main fact why she resigned – because of something called “revenge porn”. Katie Hill wasn’t the only victim of revenge porn shaming, let’s take a look at a similar story happening in Minneapolis.

A former intimate partner of Minnesota State Senator Scott Dibble distributed graphic photos of him to colleagues, just three weeks after former congresswoman Katie Hill went through a similar situation with photos that were dubbed "revenge porn."

Both Hill and Dibble's photographs fit into the category of what is colloquially called "revenge porn" and what experts call "nonconsensual pornography." This means explicit images of a person that may or may not have been taken consensually, but that are released to the public without the victim's approval.

In what was a surprise statement, Dibble said a "former friend" had been harassing him after a "brief intimate and consensual relationship with this person," reports the StarTribune.

"When I attempted to end the relationship, I was threatened with embarrassment as this individual attempted to coerce me into continuing the relationship," Dibble said.

"My resistance to his threats was met this morning with a communication that was sent to my colleagues with what had been private photos, videos, and text messages."

The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Caucus spokesperson, Ellen Anderson, confirmed that an unknown number of lawmakers received emails with attachments of the sexually explicit materials.
https://www.newsweek.com/minnesota-state-senator-second-elected-official-21-days-who-says-theyre-victim-revenge-porn-1469345

No we are definitely not amused by this. When you combine Katie Hill and Al Franken, you get a scenario in which anyone can be implicated in a scandal at any time if you have the pictures to prove it, and you may also get disproven for it. You know you could also solve this by – maybe – don’t take pictures of anything suspect!!! Because if you do it could almost certainly get you into trouble.

On Thursday afternoon, Katie Hill made her final floor speech to Congress, drawing her brief career as the representative from California’s 25th Congressional District to a close. Once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, Hill had been in the news recently for her personal life, with rumors, which she denied, that she had had an inappropriate relationship with a congressional staffer, while admitting that she did have one with a campaign staffer. A conservative blog and a British tabloid also leaked naked photos of her online, without her knowledge or permission.

As a freshman representative, Hill entered Congress as part of the most diverse class this country has ever seen. As one of 117 women elected to office in 2018, and one of the few openly queer women to ever hold national office, Hill offered a radically different idea of what American government could look like — and a radically different voice than many of those that had come before her. The attacks that ended her career were a painful reminder of just how vulnerable the change that many of us have been celebrating truly is.

For years, feminist activists have been sounding the alarm about nonconsensually publicized nude photos, also known as “revenge porn,” arguing that women are uniquely at risk of being targeted for public humiliation — and far more likely than men to suffer grave and punitive consequences after experiencing this sort of abuse.

With Hill’s resignation, that tragic prophecy has come true: The only other member of Congress who has publicly been the target of revenge porn was Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and he stayed in office after the news broke but retired at the end of his term, more than a year later. Yet a woman has been driven from office.

And Hill is not the first female politician whose sexuality people have tried to weaponize against her. In January of this year, Hill’s colleague Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was the target of a fake nude photo scandal, which luckily had relatively little impact.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/katie-hill-resigned-because-revenge-porn-smear-s-success-puts-ncna1075126

That is a good question. Why would anyone do this if you could get in serious trouble and it could have job-costing consequences? It’s no joke that conservatives are going after democratically elected women hard. OK that was a poor choice of words. But at least one state is taking measures to combat this horrendous practice. Yup, you guessed it, California. Hopefully they won’t be the last either.

Now former Rep. Katie Hill is quitting Congress —but she isn’t going down without a fight.

“I am leaving because I didn’t want to be peddled by papers and blogs and websites, used by shameless operatives for the dirtiest gutter politics that I’ve ever seen and (by) the right-wing media to drive clicks and expand their audience by distributing intimate photos of me—taken without my knowledge, let alone my consent—for the sexual entertainment of millions,” the San Fernando Valley lawmaker said in her final speech on the House floor.

Hill resigned after details of her sexual relationship with a campaign staffer—and a humiliating montage of corroborating photos—were posted online. Although she has apologized for her “inappropriate” relationship with the campaign aide, she is also taking aim at the conservative political blog RedState and the British tabloid the Daily Mail, which first published the photos. (She denies having an affair with a congressional employee, first reported by RedState.)

Hill’s legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Daily Mail, citing California’s so-called revenge porn laws, which make it a crime to share private, sexual images without a person’s permission. Sympathetic commentators and advocates for victims of cyber exploitation have also characterized the reporting as “revenge porn.”
https://www.dailynews.com/2019/11/03/and-now-the-legal-battle-can-katie-hill-really-triumph-in-anti-revenge-porn-crusade/

So only one state has the laws to combat this nonsense, and that’s the state that Katie Hill was representing in Congress. That’s enough to make you ask – Revenge Porn:

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
[br] [/font] [br]

Hit it!

Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. And I love these stories because they are all spectacular and all insane. And I’m glad that I am not involved in any of them, because I probably could be. Well, maybe not. Week after week stupid people never cease to amaze me with the seemingly bottomless pit of stupidity that seem to just get exponentially dumber. I want to start with this story out of Georgia. Remember way back in the 1st season of Idiots (see: Idiots #45 ) when creepy clowns were everywhere? You know what if you’re going to commit a robbery maybe don’t commit one dressed as the creepiest clown of all time – Pennywise!

A Georgia man who dressed up for Halloween as the demonic Pennywise was arrested last night after cops responding to a call about a creepy clown approaching motorists discovered that the costumed reveler was the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant.

Police in Conyers, an Atlanta suburb, received a call Thursday evening about an individual dressed in a clown costume and holding a red balloon (the calling card of Pennywise, who terrifies children in Stephen King’s “It” and the movie adaptations of the horror novel).

Around 7:15 PM, an officer contacted Jason Maugham, 39, who was standing on a Conyers street corner. As seen in the above screen grab, the officer's encounter with Maugham was recorded by a police body cam.

When the officer ran Maugham’s name through a Georgia Crime Information Center database, an outstanding warrant came back indicating that the laborer was wanted in a neighboring county for failure to pay child support.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/evil-clowns/creepy-clown-collared-385920

OK that’s creepy. Next up – dumb advertising. You know the sandwich chain Chik-Fil-A, which is famous for being closed on Sundays. Well, they had a promotion that backfired on them big time. The promotion was originally meant to promote National Sandwich Day, for which competitor Popeye’s was set to relaunch their famous chicken sandwich. But as many were quick to point out – National Sandwich Day was – wait for it – Sunday.

Chick-fil-A fans firmly have it ingrained in their minds – and stomachs – that the chicken chain is closed on Sundays.

But the Atlanta-based fast-food chain apparently forgot when it sent an email to some of its loyalty members this week.

"Calling all sandwich lovers," the email that also promoted the Chick-fil-A One program said, "Some prefer it grilled, others fancy the original. No matter which Chick-fil-A sandwich you love, order yours on November 3 for National Sandwich Day."

This year, the made-up food holiday held annually on Nov. 3 falls on a Sunday, which also happens to be the day that rival Popeyes' chicken sandwich – the one that prompted this summer's Chicken Sandwich War – returns to restaurants.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2019/10/31/chick-fil-mistakenly-promotes-national-sandwich-day-apologizes/4116358002/

Next up – we have a pair of Jesus related stories in the People Are Dumb files. First up – we go to the Texas city of San Antonio. Where a drunken argument got someone crucified. Well, not quite literally, but a crucifix was definitely used as a weapon. And a very strange choice of weapon at that.

A local woman is in police custody after attacking her mother with a religious object.

According to a report from News 4 San Antonio, Christian Lydia Martinez came home drunk during the weekend and began arguing with her mother. The argument escalated to the point that Martinez grabbed a heavy, 10-inch crucifix off the wall and struck her mother several times over the head with it.

Martinez reportedly hit her mother so hard that the victim suffered a fractured skull. The suspect fled the scene when she saw that her mother was bleeding, Telemundo San Antonio reports.

The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.

Martinez, 25, has since been charged with aggravated assault. Her bail has been set at $30,000.
https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2019/10/28/drunk-san-antonio-woman-attacks-mother-with-crucifix-during-argument

Yeah I can imagine the fight went down something like that. Next up – another incident involving religious symbols in the state famously known as the Sunshine State. You know it’s funny, I’ve read the Bible, I did not know that there was a passage where Jesus told his disciples to shoot first and ask questions later. I did not know that passage existed.

The Leon County Sheriff's Office says it arrested a 31-year-old man after a debate about the Bible with his brother escalated into a fight where gunshots were fired into the ground.

The incident on Wax Myrtle Drive happened on Sunday around 11:18 p.m., according to the arrest affidavit.

Michael Dean was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without the intent to kill, use of a firearm during a felony, criminal mischief property damage and harming a public servant or family member.

When deputies first arrived on scene, Dean's brother told them they drank several alcoholic beverages on the front porch and were in a heated debate about the Bible, the affidavit said. The brother then told deputies Dean choked him, but he broke out of it and a fight started.
https://www.wctv.tv/content/news/LCSO-Brothers-bible-debate-leads-to-fight-shots-fired-at-ground--564041171.html

&t=109s

Ah!!!! That’s the kind of thing that will haunt your dreams. Finally this week – we go to the city of New Smyrna Beach. Sigh… look, here my whole thing. If you have access to the internet for *ANY* length of time in 2019, you have to have heard of the phrase “jump the shark”. It’s defined as the moment where something happens in your favorite TV show that is so ridiculous it turns from good to crap almost instantly. And from here on out, you could say that Florida Man quite literally jumped the shark.

Florida headlines jumped the shark Sunday afternoon when a 27-year-old man was attacked by a shark that he accidentally jumped on in New Smyrna Beach, according to Volusia County Beach Safety.

The unidentified man was surfing and decided to jump off his board and into the water, said Av Jenkins, deputy chief of operations. The bad timing coincided with a shark that just happen to be swimming near by.

The surfer sustained minor lacerations and was treated on scene, Jenkins said.

The man drove himself back to Orlando after the incident.

Read more: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-new-smyrna-shark-bite-surfer-jump-20191028-d7hv3vg7h5cxbpy6pttmzgnygq-story.html

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep. 13: The Purge
[br] [/font] [br]

Welcome back to Keeping Up With The Candidates! This is our 13th week doing this and so far we’ve looked at the candidates, the issues, and everything else you need to get ready for the mother of all elections to end all elections 2020: The Quest For Curly’s Gold. Yes, we are pulling that reference out of our filing cabinet! But this week we’re going to talk about another film from another genre, and one that’s that much more horrifying: The Purge. And never mind that the actual slogan for The Purge: Election Year is also “Keep America Great”.

That’s real! That happened! And you know what’s even weirder? Is that if you live in Georgia, they are about to take your voting rights back to the stone ages. If Americans cared more about their voting privileges than they did about their guns, this would be an entirely different place! I mean this is 300,000 people we’re talking about here. That’s literally the size of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Georgia, a state where allegations of voter suppression dominated discussion of last year’s governor race, will conduct another purge of its voter rolls, the secretary of state’s office announced Monday.

This newest purge targets those who have not voted for several years—ostensibly because they have moved out of state—and could cause 330,000 voter registrations to be canceled.

Elections officials have justified it as a measure to clean up the rolls and simplify the election process. The state is obligated under a new state law to notify voters before their registrations are canceled. Officials said that the state would mail out the notifications early in November to an inactive voter’s last known address, and those voters would need to respond within 30 days (by returning the included form, re-registering online, or mailing in a separate paper registration form) or be removed from the rolls in December

Those who are “inactive” under this purge did not vote or update their registrations in the past five years. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, those who did vote but had their mail from county election offices returned as undeliverable could also be included in the category.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/georgia-election-purge-voter-rolls.html

No it’s not that kind of Purge. #SurviveTheElection. That said since this is the second time Georgia has attempted a massive voter purge in last year’s elections? Well it affected it a whole shitload, which is why you should be utterly terrified that they’re attempting to do it again. What happens when you show up to vote on the day of the election and you get turned away from the polls? It could happen to anyone at any time.

On Election Day 2018, James Baiye II drove to Lucerne Baptist Church in the same suburban Atlanta neighborhood where he’d been registered to vote for most of his adult life. He dropped his brother and elderly mother at the front door, parked the car and got in line. Though he’d been registered for years, the 31-year-old African American hadn’t been a frequent voter. He’d spent a few years playing football at a junior college in North Carolina. In 2012, Baiye says, he requested an absentee ballot, but there’s no record of it in the state’s voter file. In fact, he hadn’t cast an in-person ballot since 2008, when Barack Obama first ran for president.

This year was different. He’d become excited about candidacy of Stacey Abrams, the Democrat who was vying to become Georgia’s first African-American governor, and the nation’s first-ever black woman to lead a U.S. state. It wasn’t Abrams’ race that swayed Baiye, he said, but rather her pledge to run the government differently. “A lot of being there for the people,” he said. “I just wanted to see her succeed.”

But when Baiye finally reached the front of the line, there was a problem. Poll workers couldn’t find his name on their list of registered voters. This was puzzling: Baiye is a citizen, he wasn’t a felon, and he hadn’t moved.

What Baiye didn’t know was he’d been caught up in one of the most hotly debated campaign issues in Georgia. It turned out that a year earlier Baiye had been removed from the voter rolls in a purge led by the office of Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who was running for governor against Abrams.
https://www.wabe.org/how-a-massive-voter-purge-in-georgia-affected-the-2018-election/

No that’s the wrong Purge again damn it!!! This is why you need to register and vote, vote damn it like your life depends on it! If you don’t vote in the current election you could lose your right to vote in the next election. And that thought is fucking terrifying. Want to know how we get such incompetent politicians in charge? It’s because you don’t vote!

Georgia Election Officials could soon remove more than 300,000 inactive registered voters from the state’s voter rolls. Now, political officials here in our area say about 6,000 of those people are in Richmond County alone.

A new state law requires voters to receive a notice before they can be purge from the voter registry. However, some, including the Richmond County Democratic Party and the local NAACP, say people shouldn’t lose their right to vote just because they haven’t exercised that right recently. They said they fear the purging process will be prone to mistakes and held a news conference to inform folks about how to keep their voting status active.

“When you’re talking about 6,000 people right here from Augusta, that can affect any district. That can affect any election in Augusta from mayor down to dog catcher. So, it’s important that we understand that in this state 300,000 people are getting ready to lose their right to vote,” said Richmond County Democratic Party Chairman Jordan Johnson.

“If people have a question about whether or not they’re still registered, if they’ve got purged, we can help with that. You can come down, you can look on the website or we can get you re-registered,” said New Georgia Project of Augusta Office Manager Joy Johnson.
https://www.wfxg.com/2019/10/31/georgia-election-officials-remove-voters-states-voter-rolls/

Still the wrong purge, damn it!!! That’s the Purge: Anarchy. We’re talking about the Purge: 2020 Election, because it’s only 365 days away. That’s right – we have less than a fucking year to get ready and we have to be ready because there is going to be a barrage of anti-Democrat propaganda coming down the pike. Think it was bad in 2016? Hoo boy, what’s coming next year will make 2016 seem like chump change by comparison. But for now – register to vote and actually go out there and do it!

As Georgia election officials prepare to erase 313,243 registrations, several groups say they’re concerned that legitimate voters will be swept up in the purge.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia identified 70 people Monday who it says voted in November 2018 but are targeted for cancellation.

The ACLU based its findings on voting records from a month after the 2018 election, but a more recent state voting list obtained last month by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows that no voters who have cast ballots since September 2016 will be canceled.

“The voter registration of one Georgia citizen canceled in error is one citizen too many,” said Andrea Young, the executive director for the ACLU of Georgia. “We call on the secretary of state to stop removing citizens from the voter rolls and focus on serving the citizens of Georgia by ensuring access to the ballot and free and fair elections.”
https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-purge-list-scrutinized-for-voter-registration-removals/WCDFmhn9P9oFgnVKHAQHoJ/#

God damn it.

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

We’re going to talk about Beto’s unfortunate exit and who the current front runner is.

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Beck[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest needs no introduction! He is one of the best singer – songwriters in the country. His latest album is called “Hyperspace”. You can see him live at the KROQ Acoustic Christmas show playing Dec 7th at Honda Center. Playing his song “Saw Lighting”, give it up for Beck!

Thank you Gonzaga! This was fun! We’re off to Boise State next! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: Gonzaga University Student Center, Spokane, WA
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: Gonzaga Choir Club, Spokane, WA
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Beck Appears Courtesy Of: Capitol Records LLC
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
New! Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

Profile Information

Gender: Do not display
Hometown: California
Home country: USA
Current location: Southern California, North Orange County Area
Member since: Wed May 30, 2018, 12:44 PM
Number of posts: 596

About Top 10 Idiots

This is the official DU account for the new format Top 10 Conservative Idiots separate from the host account Initech. The new format Top 10 will launch June 13th, 2018 and all posts related to the Top 10 (promos, etc) will be posted from this account only. The Top 10 is posted once a week on Thursdays at 2:00 PM. There is a full archive of all past, present and future Top 10 editions that can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218599098\ Announcements for our current season schedule are posted in our Best Of editions that appear at the end of each season. Updates are posted regularly on the official Top 10 Mastodon account and the official Holy Shit Mastodon account. The Mastodon accounts are used to announce what's going to be in next week's edition, new content, advertising our segments, and so on. This account will post official Top 10 editions, and any related content including our spinoff series: Holy Shit The Sunday Sermons. If you wish to contact the Top 10 you may do so here: E-mail (all questions, concerns, suggestions, and hate mail welcome): Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com Follow the Top 10 on Mastodon: Top10ConIdiots@mstdn.party Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 on Mastodon: ChurchOfTop10@mstdn.party **This account will ONLY be used to post official Idiots editions, promos, and things related to the Top 10. No other posts will come from this account** Top 10 Wiki: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211322508

1 2 3 4 5 6 Next »