Basket of Deplorables

To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the 'basket of deplorables'. Unfortunately there are people like that, and he has lifted them up.

Hillary Clinton said this at a LGBT fundraiser in NYC where tickets were reported to start at $1,200 and go up to $250,000. The event was announced by an email saying "We will come together on Friday evening September 9 in New York to celebrate equality, build support for our campaign for a stronger America and aim our focus squarely on continued progress by sending Hillary to the White House."

We want to celebrate equality...except for those deplorables.

Fuck America

He was arrested for public benefits (food stamp) fraud and burglary, but, somehow, it's America's fault. How entitled do you have to feel in order to come to that conclusion?

The family just likes giving people the finger. Ahmed Alshami, the man who was arrested, posted a Facebook rant last year where he accused others of trying to shut down his store. He included a photo of himself giving the finger along with his rant.

His 'they're all drug users' rant must come under "it takes one to know one" because Alshami was also arrested in 2015 for criminal possession of a controlled substance (crack cocaine).

We Begin Bombing (Russia) in 5 Minutes

The title of the post refers to a joke President Reagan made during a sound check before a radio address when he was running for re-election. What was once a joke is now a serious suggestion made by another candidate.

As president, I will make it clear that the United States will treat cyberattacks just like any other attack,” the Democratic presidential nominee said. “We will be ready with serious political, economic and military responses.

That's right, Hillary Clinton wants to use the US military to get revenge because she believes they hacked the DNC. The woman who cared so little about cyber-security when she was Secretary of State now wants people to die because someone in Russia may have done something. Note that our government has not officially accused anyone of the hacking, all the accusations have come from the Clinton team.

We Deserve...

They deserve protection. You don't.

Republican Delegates Sabotage Trump

Dozens of Republican convention delegates are hatching a new plan to block Donald Trump at this summer’s party meetings, in what has become the most organized effort so far to stop the businessman from becoming the GOP presidential nominee. 

The moves come amid declining poll numbers for Trump and growing concern among Republicans that he is squandering his chance to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The refusal of party members to get behind the nominee is more harmful than anything Trump is doing. They accuse him of squandering his chance while they sabotage it.

There's a Lack of Self-Awareness Here

Romney rips 2016 also-rans for losing to Trump

Romney's perceived unwillingness to fight to win in 2012 is one reason people are supporting Trump now. I think that Romney would have been an excellent president but during the election he seemed more interested in being seen as a nice guy than as a winner. Now there's a candidate who's more interested in being a winner than being seen as a nice guy.

As he has on previous occasions, Romney warned that a Trump presidency could have disastrous repercussions for the country.

He should have worried about what another four years of Obama would do to the country. Romney is just sounding like a bitter loser at this point, but perhaps I should have some sympathy for him. It must be hard being a professional politician watching the Trump train.

I Think She's Disgusting

In a roundtable on CNN Friday, commentator and GOP strategist Ana Navarro launched into an impassioned rebuttal of Donald Trump's recent comments against Latinos including his continued allusion to the Trump University judge's "Mexican" heritage.

Navarro warned Trump's comments will have consequences on election day. 

"What he's doing is disgusting. I'm livid about it, and if this is his strategy to win over Hispanics, he's got a hell of a wake-up call coming to him come November," Navarro said on CNN.

I don't have any particular reason for calling her disgusting, but I don't think she's got a legitimate reason for saying that about Trump either.

First, should people involved in a law suit be forbidden to speak about it? Should they be banned from disagreeing with the judge?

"This man was born in east Chicago. He's an American citizen. He's just as American as Donald Trump."

Sure, if Trump had grown up speaking a foreign language and has joined groups and organizations for that ethnic group. He's a member of the of the La Raza Lawyers of San Diego and, through them, has awarded scholarships to illegal immigrants.

Is is unreasonable for anyone to think that someone heavily involved with the immigrant community, possibly with some of the people who wave Mexican flags and riot outside of Trump rallies, should have recused himself from the case?

If a judge spends some of his time helping one group of people and they are violently opposed to a person being sued in his court, wouldn't any reasonable person think it would be very hard to maintain an impartial viewpoint?

Presidential Candidates Shouldn't Criticize Judges

Donald Trump Blasts “Mexican” Judge in Trump University Case

You know what’s presidential? Using 12 minutes of a campaign rally to criticize a judge who is overseeing civil litigation against your failed “education” venture. And that’s exactly what Donald Trump did in San Diego when he seemingly bored his audience with details about the ongoing case, specifically attacking U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel for being a “hater” and even speculating about what his ethnicity might be.

 I remember when criticizing judges was presidential.

Is This Racist?

People who find this Chinese commercial offensive sure are complaining about it online. Weirdly enough*, more commenters found this similar Italian commercial funny.

That's Her Story and She's Sticking To It

What Hillary got wrong (lied about) in her latest statement about her emails:

"Um, just like previous secretaries of state I used a personal email. Many people did. It was not at all unprecedented."

Yes, they had private emails, no they didn't use them exclusively to conduct State Department business.

"I have turned over all my emails. … I have been incredibly open about doing that."

She turned over some emails almost two years after leaving office. She should have turned over all of them immediately after she left the State Department. She deleted 31,000 emails that she said were private before turning any of the others over. She got to decide what was private and what was not, there was no third-party oversight.

"I will continue to be open."

You can't "continue" something you haven't begun.

"It’s not an issue that is going to affect either the campaign or my presidency."

Optimistic, isn't she?

She, or her defenders, have used the excuse that the emails weren't classified at the time, some things got classified after the email conversation. First, the likelihood of information becoming classified at a later time is a good reason to keep all State Department business emails on the government system instead of a private server. Second, it's not a good excuse because it's the content that matters, not whether or not there's a label on the content. If the Secretary of State didn't know what had the potential to become classified, she wasn't qualified to do the job.

And just for comparison

 A Navy sailor entered a guilty plea Friday in a classified information mishandling case that critics charge illustrates a double standard between the treatment of low-ranking government employees and top officials like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and ex-CIA Director David Petraeus.

Tell It to a Jockey

Miss Universe 1996 has called Trump a bully for requiring her to work out when she gained a noticeable amount of weight after winning the beauty pageant - a pageant she chose to enter, knowing that she would be judged on her looks.

Jockeys who ride racehorses have to meet weight requirements set by the racetracks. The Kentucky Derby (Run for the Roses) has a weight limit of 126 pounds, which includes about 7 pounds of equipment.

Different jobs have different requirements. Beauty queens and jockeys need to watch their weight. These aren't the kind of jobs that someone just falls into because there was nothing else available. Both take determination and a desire to succeed at that particular thing. You make a choice, then you fulfill your obligation.

Does anyone think that she should get a pass just because she was a young woman? Teachers, doctors, tradespeople all have to take continuing education classes to be able to keep working. If your job requires a uniform and you won't wear it, you'll get fired. Come to work drunk or hung over and it would be reasonable to expect to get fired. All jobs have some rules you have to follow. She broke the rules. Instead of being replaced with the first runner-up, she was given a chance to come back into compliance and somehow that makes Trump a meanie. Yay, women power!

(This gets a "Hypocrites" tag because, seriously, if anyone else in a regular wage-slave job were told to adhere to the rules under which they were hired, it would be a non-story.)

Free Speech Wall

Several events for Ohio University’s Greek Week, an annual, weeklong event focused on philanthropy, have been canceled after some Sorority and Fraternity Life members painted “Build the Wall” on an area typically designated for graffiti last week.

 Graffiti is okay, but it has to be sanctioned graffiti.

Dennis Hastert and the Law

People seem to be in agreement that Dennis Hastert did bad, shameful things when he was a wrestling coach. (I don't know why anyone is surprised at any bad news about an Illinois politician.) One could argue that it was his shame that led him to pay one of his victims over a million dollars, but if both parties agreed to this, why should the government care?

He Also Denied Eating a Booger

☑ REKT

Cruz accused Trump of getting the National Enquirer to publish the story but The Daily Beast says it was being peddled by friends of Marco Rubio.

Organized Hatred

"Everybody feels, like, look, this is a university, we don't need a kind of organized hatred to be spilling onto our center." - Bill Ayers, co-founder of the radical, domestic terrorist group Weather Underground.




Should we expect another Days of Rage event, only this time against the Republicans?

As I Predicted

There are complaints that the Trump ad showing Hillary Clinton barking was taking her out of context. This post is getting the hypocrites tag because of how the same people didn't care that woman in Chicago giving the Nazi salute was taken out of context.

Trump is a Bully

Says the man who tried to rush the stage in Ohio.

I was thinking that I could get up on stage and take his podium away from him and take his mic away from him....

Wait, who's the bully?

Violent Words in Politics

1. "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."
2. “I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry. I’m angry.”
3. “I know they are gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: so am I.”
4. “If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard.”
5. "I want you to argue with them and get in their face."

1. Obama at a fundraiser in Philadelphia, June 2008
2. Obama, March 2009 talking about Wall Street bankers (after taking $16 million from Wall Street for his 2008 campaign - makes you think the rhetoric was just for the rubes)
3. Obama's radio and television address in February 2009
4. Obama's Chief of Staff Jim Messina speaking for the president to Senate Democrats, 2009
5. Obama at a rally in Las Vegas, September 2008

John Oliver Fixates on Donald Trump

I can't wait to see the show he devotes to trashing Hillary the same way. I won't hold my breath though. Last summer the HBO President of Programming, Michael Lombardo, hosted a fundraising party for Hillary Clinton. That makes me think that they have the kind of relationship that doesn't lead to one of them being trashed on a TV show.

Trump is a Threat to American Democracy

So says Larry Summers.

What will a demagogue with a platform like Trump’s who ascends to the presidency do with control over the NSA, FBI and IRS?

We've already seen what using the IRS for political purposes looks like. Or when the NSA violates privacy laws. But now it will suddenly be worse, because, Trump.