Clinton Flogs tRump Over Vets

Clinton: ‘It Took A Reporter To Shame’ Trump Into Coughing Up Donation To Vets:

Hillary Clinton dismissed her Republican opponent’s “stunt” to raise money for veterans in a Tuesday CNN interview, saying it proves “the difference between what Donald Trump says and what Donald Trump does.”

“He's bragged for months about raising $6 million for veterans and donating a million dollars himself,” Clinton told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “But it took a reporter to shame him into actually making his contribution and getting the money to veterans. So look, I'm glad he finally did but I don't know that he should get much credit for that...”

Hoping This Poll Holds Up

Hoover Institution Golden State Poll: Clinton 13 Over Sanders; Harris, Sanchez Lead Senate Field | Hoover Institution:

With California’s June 7 primary only a week away, a new Hoover Institution Golden State Poll finds Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump with large leads in their respective primaries but cautionary signs lay ahead and good news for Democratic U.S. Senate hopefuls Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez.

Hoover’s Golden State Poll, administered by the survey research firm YouGov and designed in conjunction with Stanford University’s Bill Lane Center for the American West, finds Clinton holding a 13-point lead over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (51 percent to 38 percent)...

Clinton And The Health Care Vampires

Hillary Clinton and Progressives: Why Does the Left Hate Hillary? - POLITICO Magazine:

...Democrats younger than 30, 70 percent of whom voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders, were not yet teenagers during the Bill Clinton presidency. A college student today had not been born when Hillary was going 10 rounds with the health insurance lobby. Their political awakening stems from the 2008 market crash and the Iraq War debacle, and their introduction to Hillary Clinton was her war vote and her husband’s repeal of Glass-Steagall. While older voters see her as left-of-center figure weathering decades of brutal attacks while valiantly navigating the realities of Washington, younger voters are quick to tag her as the embodiment of everything that’s wrong with the current political system.

If younger Democrats were more aware of the enmity Hillary Clinton and the health insurance lobby once had for each other, they still probably would have felt the Bern. They still would have rejected the notion that the corrosive nature of big-dollar fundraising was worth stomaching to win elections. They still would loathe Wall Street deregulation and the Iraq War vote. They still would believe only a revolution could change Washington...

tRump The Fool

The Main Problem with Donald Trump: He's a Fool:

By calling Donald Trump a fool, I do not wish to engage in mindless name-calling. Borrowing from the Oxford Dictionary, which defines a fool as “a person who acts unwisely or imprudently,” I merely wish to say that Mr. Trump often demonstrates unwise behavior...

Bros Attack Brown

California Governor Jerry Brown Gives Hillary Major Endorsement - BNR:

...Already, Brown is getting an enormous amount of pushback on social media from Bernie supporters for endorsing Hillary over Bernie. For those who weren’t alive, or don’t remember, or weren’t paying attention in 1992, suffice it to say that Brown is hardly unsympathetic to or insufficiently supportive of the ideas Bernie has presented in his campaign.

But now Brown will be summarily dismissed like Tom Hayden, Dolores Huerta, Planned Parenthood, John Lewis, Barney Frank, and an ever-growing list of progressives who are written off as shills, sell-outs, know-nothings, and don’t-matters, all because they have chosen to support Hillary over Bernie.

As Peter Daou wrote: “That these progressive icons should endure insults and attacks for supporting Hillary—or not endorsing Bernie—is a travesty...”

Horror At Vet Center

Report: 'Failure' to release Tomah details 'compromised veteran care' | WLUK:

...Some highlights from the report, which frequently mentions the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG):

"From at least 2007 to 2015, serious problems of over-prescription and abuse of authority existed at the Tomah VAMC, resulting in at least two veterans' deaths and the suicide of a staff psychologist..."

The Daily Flashback: Bush Email Edition

Bush White House email controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Bush White House email controversy surfaced in 2007 during the controversy involving the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. Congressional requests for administration documents while investigating the dismissals of the U.S. attorneys required the Bush administration to reveal that not all internal White House emails were available. Conducting governmental business in this manner is a possible violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, and the Hatch Act.[1] Over 5 million emails may have been lost.[2][3] Greg Palast claims to have come up with 500 of the Karl Rove emails, leading to damaging allegations.[4] In 2009, it was announced that as many as 22 million emails may have been lost.[5]...

Definition Of A Typical Clinton Supporter

A Landslide will bring it down | The Confluence:

...Let me make this absolutely clear about where we stand to those of you Bernie Bros (and right wing trolls) who can’t help throwing out word salad nonsense in our comments sections. The people on this blog are some of the most pragmatic voters you will ever meet. They have a set of standards and they challenge their candidates to meet them. They are enthusiastic about Clinton but they are also not carried away by emotion. You can’t win us over by the breathless panic you feel when the demon, female incubus mind controls us to vote for her. I assure you, we did this all on our own by researching the issues and weighing the pros and cons of both candidates. There was no electronic signal to the chips embedded in our brains...

Vote Science

On Cutting-Edge Voter Data, Trump Critically Behind Clinton - The New York Times:

Donald Trump trails Hillary Clinton by months, even years, in using fast-evolving digital campaigning to win over voters, data specialists working with the GOP say...

tRump Flips Over Third Party

Trump unleashes tirade against Bill Kristol over independent bid.:

Donald Trump did not wait to reply. Less than two hours after Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol sent out a tweet that said there would soon be news of an “impressive” independent presidential candidate, the presumptive Republican nominee went on the attack. In a series of tweets, the real estate mogul called Kristol a “dummy” and an “embarrassed loser.” He then said Republicans can “say good bye to the Supreme Court” if an independent contender does materialize...

Odd. He's pushing Bernie to run as a third party. Hmmm...

Epic Bernout Whining

Oh the pain! Sanders supporters are crying to the heavens over the Burlington College kerfluffle and Jane Sanders getting caught under the shade tree. As a Clinton supporter, and someone who is beyond fed-up with the Bernie Bro and their Purity Ponies, karma has come calling. Crooks & Liars has always been a CDS echo-chamber and nothing has changed, but oh, the children, think of the children! Vermont Right-Wingers Threaten Bernie Sanders With 'The Legal Letterhead' | Crooks and Liars

Hope For America: A Republican With Principles

‘I Will Not Give Up My Principles’: Young Republicans Official Resigns Over Trump | Mediaite:

...After calling Trump a “hateful fascist” and pointing to his list of controversies, Jorgensen bemoaned how the mogul’s ascendance has placed traditional conservatives in an impossible dilemma that compromises all their principles. Jorgensen explained that even if Young Republican clubs only focus on other conservative causes, they will support Trump by default whenever any action falls short of a full denouncement of him...

Facts On CDS And Emailgate

Rather long, complex, but complete with many links. 

Spitfire List | FTR #906 The Destabilization of Hillary Clinton:

Introduction: CIA headquarters is named for George Herbert Walker Bush, who was defeated for re-election by Bill Clinton in 1992, something for which we feel major elements of the Agency have never forgiven the Clinton family. Much of the negative “buzz” surrounding the e-mail server investigation has come from Fox News, headed by Roger Ailes, who was George H.W. Bush’s campaign manager.

While you're looking through the post, you might also want a dose of Bernie realism. In Bern This! Why is Karl Rove a “Bernie Bro’?, Spitfire List points out that Sanders has been receiving money from Karl Rove's PAC, American Crossroads. He also lists a few of Sanders' negatives such as fathering a child out of wedlock. (I'll echo the sentiment that I could care less but the GOPer attack machine can make a red meat mountain of this particular fact. There are many others at the link.)

Pentagon Bucks Hitting Wrong Place

Tomgram: William Hartung, How to Disappear Money, Pentagon-Style | TomDispatch:

...This was great news for Lockheed Martin, which needs a shot in the arm for its troubled F-35 program, already slated to be the most expensive weapons system in history, and for Boeing, which has been lobbying aggressively to keep its F-18 production line open in the face of declining orders from the Navy. But it’s bad news for the troops because, as the Project on Government Oversight has demonstrated, the money used to pay for the unneeded planes will come at the expense of training and maintenance funds.

This is, by the way, the height of hypocrisy at a time when the House Armed Services Committee is routinely sending out hysterical missives about the country’s supposed lack of military readiness. The money to adequately train military personnel and keep their equipment running is, in fact, there. Members of Congress like Thornberry would just have to stop raiding the operations budget to pay for big ticket weapons systems, while turning a blind eye to wasteful spending in other parts of the Pentagon budget...

Cons Going Contrarian About tRump

WSJ editor: Trump needs to be destroyed in the November election to teach GOP voters a lesson:

... Pressed by host Fareed Zakaria if he was going to get behind Trump as the Republican nominee, conservative columnist Bret Stephens got right to the point.

“I most certainly will not vote for Donald Trump,” Stephens began tersely. “I will vote for the least left-wing opponent to Donald Trump and I want to make a vote that makes sure he is the biggest loser in presidential history since, I don’t know, Alf Landon...”

Hypocrisy Rumbles Like Thunder

Draft Dodger Donald Trump Gets Hero’s Welcome at Rolling Thunder - The Daily Beast:

Despite the fact he has lied to veterans and insulted POWs over the course of his campaign, Donald Trump was welcomed with open arms at Sunday’s Rolling Thunder biker rally...

Comment Of The Day: GOPer Dalek Edition

Keep yer shirt on, Hillary’s got this | Uppity Woman: William, on May 29, 2016 at 12:57 PM said:

The Republicans are so spineless. Less than a month ago, we were heaing things like “Trump is a con man,” “Trump is very dangerous,” “Trump is a pathological liar.” Now everyone is falling in line, because they are being ordered to, and because ulimately it is all about getting those big campaign contributions. Rubio is pathetic. “Yes I. will. support Mr Trump. And if. he wants. me. to make speeches for him, of course I would be happy to do that. We cannot let Hillary Clinton be elected. LIke some kind of automaton, or someone who was brainwashed in a science fiction novel.

Besides the moral banktruptcy being shown here, the public gets another lesson in politics just being a big carnival show, like WWF, where people threaten to kill each other, and then go out to dinner together, with the profits they have made from conning the public. One admires the few Republicans like McCain’s ex-aide, or Max Boot, the foreign policy expert, and a few others, who will not support Trump. But all the political figures are going to. The Republicans are like the Daleks, they have only one purpose, to exterminate Democrats. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is always full of people who disdain the candidate, who would prefer to lose ten elections in a row. just to get their perfect candidate, who is usually someone who gets routed, but makes them feel virtuous while it happens. No one should make the mistake of ever thinking that the Republican Party has come to its senses, or that there is some level of candidate who ultimately is too abhorrent and extreme for even them to tolerate. That is really the great lesson of this election so far, not that most of us needed to see it emphasized once again.

Some Good Advice For Clinton

The Rude Pundit: Ending Trump Quickly (Profanity-Free for the Kiddies):

...Clinton isn't going to wallow in the mud with Trump. Instead, she needs a clear, concise message that can be repeated so often that crowds can call it back to her, like they do with Trump or Sanders, like they did with Obama.

It's very, very simple: "Show me the money, Donald." That's it. You can hashtag it. You can bumper sticker that up. You can chant it. For many people, it's even got a certain cultural vintage to it...

Now Bernie Wants To Pick VP

Sanders warns Clinton against moderate as VP - CNNPolitics.com:

Bernie Sanders is warning Hillary Clinton against picking a moderate Democrat as her running mate...

Crazy In NC: HB2 Klan Edition

KKK HB2 recruitment fliers spark concern in Roxboro | abc11.com:

...Wilhelm said using HB2 as a KKK recruiting tool conjures up bad memories of racial tension and division. Memories she does not want passed to her grandson...

PC And Manners

Trump Supporter Thrilled Trump Will Make America Great Again, For A-Holes | Wonkette:

...As a collector of antique etiquette books, I can actually assure you that this is not true. Far from it! Actually, there has never really been a point in American history, or practically any history I can think of, where it was not considered rude to “offend” people. I mean, my god, people were offended if you introduced people in the wrong order back in the day, so it is quite untrue that we have somehow become more “sensitive” as a society. Being considerate of other people’s feelings and comfort is a major, major theme in most of these etiquette books. In fact, it is the whole point of manners! Chewing with your mouth open isn’t rude for no reason, it’s rude because it makes other people sick to look at it. Similarly, it’s not generally acceptable to have racist, bigoted or fascist feelings because of some rule the PC POLICE made up, but because people rarely take kindly to being insulted or, if they have empathy, seeing others be insulted...

Media Stuck In CDS

I Read The Media Doomsaying Then I Imagine Hillary and Obama Campaigning Together - BNR:

...There’s something incredibly surreal about the national media’s pathological need to slam Hillary — it’s as though they have only one speed: 100 MPH against Hillary.

Sure, there’s the occasional nod to reality, like NBC News admitting that she is still the favorite to win in November. But almost to a person, corporate journalists and pundits are stuck in Hillary attack mode and are physiologically incapable of getting out of it...

Journalists Discover A Truism About The Rich

Maybe the monstrous Silicon Valley PR machine which has anointed several CEOs as genius savors of the American Way and great and worthy men that we should all emulate has finally got some grit in its gears. From the early years of Steve Jobs and his poor treatment of the peasants to Bill Gates trying to get a cop fired over a speeding ticket, the tech bunch has been given a pass they never deserved. Their bad behavior was glossed over because they were "geniuses." Even if that were true, so what? I guess it all goes back to Thomas Edison's shameless self-promotion of his own "genius." Now, with all their power and money, they are prepared to exert their fragile ego needs into the First Amendment.

What Silicon Valley’s billionaires don’t understand about the First Amendment:

...Each of these investors – and many of those writing in a massive wave of local support for Thiel – add caveats that they’re happy to see “clickbait” or “gossip” journalists suffer but that they fully support “real” journalists. As Kholsa made clear by putting the New York Times on the side of clickbait, many Silicon Valley investors see most press as suspect.

After six years as a reporter in Silicon Valley, I’ve found that a tech mogul will generally call anything unflattering I write “clickbait” and anything flattering “finally some real journalism”...

I guess tRump is not the only buffoon with an abundance of money and a scarcity of good judgment.

tRump And Enduring Hate

GUEST POST: Any support for Trump is support for bigotry, misogyny, racism, and sexism and deserves to be shamed | Eclectablog:

...I just got off the phone with a Republican friend who said: “It’s what politicians do. They say wild things in primaries and then tack back to the middle during the general. He’ll moderate.” No! I reject this. You can’t walk back hate. It must remain unacceptable to mainstream racism and bigotry. Our country was founded on the premise that we were all made equal by our creator and our political system was built upon this foundation. Any attempt to normalize the notion in politics that we are not all equal is an existential threat to our democracy.

Words have meaning and power. When it becomes acceptable to assign inferior status to a group of people because of their sex, race, religion, or heritage when it’s politically expedient and then to simply “tack back”, we have entered uncertain and dangerous waters for our Republic...

Bernie And Schrodinger's Boom Box

This is a really strange story. I don't know what to make of it. 

Sanders supporter admits to faking "shoot the gays" video - AMERICAblog News:

UPDATE: A Sanders supporter has admitted to faking the video of Bernie Sanders arriving on stage in California earlier this week to a homophobic rap song about killing gay and trans people...

Where The Anti-Abortion Fever Was Borne

...or how to start a flame war on Facebook. It's hard to have a reasoned conversation with people so sanctiminous in general (they remind me Bernouts) but if it were possible, I'd point out that, once again,  they have been programed. I'll probably add snippets to this post later.

The Not-So-Lofty Origins of the Evangelical Pro-Life Movement | Religion Dispatches:

...In other words, as Randall Balmer has succinctly put it: “the religious right of the late twentieth century organized to perpetuate racial discrimination...”

Voting For Clinton, Part 3

Erica Jong: Why I trust Hillary Clinton - CNN.com:

...When people complain that Hillary Clinton is "shrill" I think they're worried about their mothers. I'm not. When they call her a hawk, I'm also not worried. Grandmothers don't go to war unnecessarily. That's why Native Americans often used a council of grandmothers to decide on war and peace.
I'm totally comfortable with Hillary Rodham Clinton. She understands the nuclear threat. She fought against proliferation when she was secretary of state. She understands the Supreme Court and why we need more Ruth Bader Ginsburgs sitting on it...

For Those Who Serve And Served

Yesterday

Sanders Overreach Continues

Sanders to DNC: Remove Clinton backers from convention committees - CNNPolitics.com:

Bernie Sanders' campaign wants the Democratic National Committee to remove two Hillary Clinton supporters from key convention roles, accusing them of being "aggressive attack surrogates..."

Sanders Has Paid Millions To Chuck Todd Family

Chuck Todd's wife owns Maverick Strategies & Mail, which has received $1,342,239, presumably not in $27 increments from Sanders.  Expenditures Breakdown, Bernie Sanders, 2016 Cycle | OpenSecrets: Maverick Strategies & Mail

Hero Business Mythism

Hullabaloo "The bogus businessman":

Krugman has a good column today about the alleged business acumen of Donald Trump which seems to have convinced more Americans that he would be better for the economy than Clinton or Sanders. Krugman points out that Republicans inexplicably always fare better in polling on this issue despite the fact that the constantly crash the economy and leave a gigantic mess for Democrats to clean up...

Everything You Need To Know About Emailgate

Media's Epic Email Fail | Crooks and Liars:

...That procedures at State regarding email were not clear, or well known, just drives out the necessity of the OIG report. Though it isn't as comprehensive, or as balanced, as one would hope, the report did cover what State needs to do to ensure the events related to Clinton's emails don't happen again.

Then, in the future, we won't be subjected to what we're being subjected to now: story after story after story about Clinton's emails—the majority of which are either deliberately incendiary or confused. Instead, we could be focused on more important facts. Facts, like how on earth could someone like Trump become an actual Presidential nominee.

Another Dawning Day In CDS

Trust Me, Hillary Supporters: The Media Will NOT Be Your Friend In 2016 - BNR:

Hillary supporters: I woke up today and turned on cable news. The first thing I saw was Donald being given a pass for abusive, bigoted comments, while Hillary was being raked over the coals for an email server. This pattern is repeated everywhere — and it will be that way for the remainder of the 2016 race. A few days ago, I shared my approach to dealing with the incessant media hostility toward Hillary and toward you, her supporters. The full text is reposted below...

GOPer Fantasy Meets Gay Sci-Fi

Louie Gohmert Puts His Foot Down, Says No To Gay Space Colonies | Crooks and Liars:

Remember when Louie Goober Gohmert argued on the House floor that gay rights is wrong and so is same sex marriage because if there was a gay island everyone would die off? Well now he's got a new spin on that old story.

Goober upped his game a bit on Thursday when he argued on the house floor that not only would we not have gay islands, but we also wouldn't send gay couples or gay animals into space to start a new colony on a distant planet...

A Bill To Disrupt tRump

If Wyden's Tax Return Disclosure Bill Passes, Trump May Decide Not to Run, Saving the Republican Party... and the Free World:

...But, he cannot abide the world seeing the likely disclosures in his returns: wealth not close to what he claims, debt, absurd deductions (anything remotely connected to enhancing the Trump name, possibly Melania’s wedding gown), his hairdos, offshore tax havens, amnesty, unsavory business partners.

Hence, if the Wyden bill passes, Trump may bow out. The Republican Convention would truly be open and it is anyone’s guess who would emerge [although I would bet on Paul Ryan, (R-WI).]...

Comment Of The Day: tRump Summation Edition

Trump Advisor Exposes The Bankruptcy Of His Campaign | Crooks and Liars: maxdi

Trump is the logical conclusion of how Repubs have debased politics with the stridently artificial: an actor as politician (Reagan); ketchup as vegetable; invading the wrong country for the wrong reason and then screwing it up royally; astro-turf strategies poisoned by corrupting money; religion/social values invented to inflame less-educated voters; agitprop from a RightWing Noise Machine; disenfranchisement in the name of non-existent voter-fraud; and on and on. A serially bankrupt, narcissistic, know-nothing businessman with some reality-tv experience and facility for lying and flip-flopping is the best next step they cancome up with. One shudders to think what comes after Trump.

Clinton Winning In Midwest

Bloomberg Politics Rust Belt Poll - Bloomberg Politics:

Donald Trump trails Hillary Clinton by 7 percentage points among middle-income voters in the Rust Belt, a key demographic he almost certainly needs to become president...

I hate the term Rust Belt; it denigrates an entire region and people. 

There Will Be More Of This

Man Says He Was Punched For Taking Daughter Into Walmart Men's Restroom:

A Utah man says he was attacked Sunday at his local Walmart by another man outraged that he’d taken his five-year-old daughter with him into the restroom, local TV station KSL reported...

The GOP has given the haters a new reason to hate, and the bullies a new justification for bullying.

Clinton Email Bottom Line

Hillary, Diana and Journalists | The Confluence:

...In any case, there were no laws broken, she didn’t send email that she knew ahead of time was classified and the server was never hacked, unlike the other state department servers. This is simply a case of a woman who knows that everything she thinks, writes and says is has the potential to become twisted and misused for political purposes or just for fun, as Emily Bazelon and John Dickerson admit...

The Lameness Of The "Lesser Evil" Argument

Robert Reich is still trying to talk some damn sense into Bernie supporters and it’s still not going well:

...And now here comes the part that is gonna “bern” their britches:

“Finally, some of you say that even if Hillary is better than Trump, you’re tired of choosing the ‘lesser of two evils,’ and you’re going to vote your conscience by either writing Bernie’s name in, or voting for the Green Party candidate, or not voting at all. I can’t criticize you for voting your conscience, of course. But your conscience should know that a decision not to vote for Hillary is a de facto decision to help Donald Trump.”

Whomp...

Listen up, people! Any final decision you make about anything anytime anywhere always comes down to the "lesser of two evils." And I don't care if you're getting an appendectomy, buying a car, or proposing marriage, the process is always the same. The last computer I bought was the product of a spreadsheet of specs boiling down to three choices from a matrix of 16. Then it was down to two--- both of which were terrific spec-wise, but I settled on a Falcon Northwest because of its tech support reputation, which turned out to be well-deserved. But it did come down to the "lesser of two evils"; in this, case the evil was choosing the more expensive computer. Choosing someone to vote for is no less, or should be, no less the same process. Thus, in the end, if you don't vote for Clinton and stay at home or vote for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein, you are voting for tRump, the most odious, and organgest, demi-human seeking the White House since Skippy Bush rode his daddy's money and rep into the Oval Office.

Giddy With Voter Suppression

Exposed: Wisconsin GOP Staffer Testifies Yes, Voter ID Law Was Meant To Block Democratic Votes - Blue Nation Review:

...In a federal voting rights discrimination lawsuit against Wisconsin brought by liberal groups, the key witness is Todd Allbaugh, former chief of staff to then-State Sen. Dale Schultz.

Disclosing the details of a 2011 closed-door meeting, Allbaugh has testified that Republicans specifically wanted a voter ID bill to suppress votes and help Republicans win elections.

Allbaugh, who Hillary has commended for speaking out, said some Republican lawmakers — including Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Brookfield, and former Sen. Randy Hopper, R-Fond du Lac, appeared downright “giddy” at the idea of suppressing votes in heavily Democratic areas like Milwaukee, home to many of the state’s black and Latino voters...

tRump Roasts Another GOPer

The Daily 202: Trump’s attacks on the GOP’s most prominent Latina, Susana Martinez, should alarm Republicans - The Washington Post:

During a 65-minute speech in Albuquerque last night, Donald Trump laced into New Mexico Republican Gov. Susana Martinez. He blamed her for the state’s economic problems, for the growing number of food stamp recipients and for not doing more to reject Syrian refugees. The billionaire even mused about moving to the state to run for governor himself.

“She’s got to do a better job,” Trump told thousands of supporters, per Jenna Johnson. “She’s not doing the job. We’ve got to get her moving. Come on: Let’s go, governor...”

A Blast From The Past

Rigging Hurt Clinton

Cannonfire "The REAL rigger":

...Proof one: Hillary won the primary in Washington state. Unfortunately, the primary is non-binding. The delegates are based on the caucuses, which the BernieBullies were able to game -- he got nearly 73 percent of the caucus votes to Hillary's 27 percent.

Proof two: Nebraska. Same story. Clinton won a non-binding primary, 61-39. But she lost the caucus, 58-42...

Dems Not Sinking

Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community: "The Fake GOP Engagement Advantage"

...Gallup says a central challenge for Democrats is to fix this disparity in engagement, and that’s true. But, with two conventions in July, followed by four debates, and the fall campaign, voter interest will rise automatically, and the Democrats have a lot more disengaged voters who will be coming online without any effort by the DNC or the Clinton campaign.

There’s also a current advantage the Republicans are enjoying in that their nomination is now a settled matter, and they’re consolidating a little earlier than the Democrats. Bringing the Clinton and Sanders camps together will more difficult than usual and will probably be somewhat incomplete, but that schism is minor compared to the one on the Republican side where the Speaker of the House can’t even endorse his own party’s nominee...

GOPers Helping Screw Retirees

Never let the best interests of a customers get in the way of gouging a few more pennies out of the elderly and infirm. It's ok, according to them, to give retirement advice that is not going to benefit the retiree but will benefit the advisor. Huh. It's an AP so you can't see any of their precious words. Republicans block stricter rules on retirement savings - The Washington Post

Confessions Of A Naderite

A letter to a Bernie-or-bust voter.:

...To the Bernie voters who are disgusted with the process and disillusioned with the Democratic nominee, I hear you. But if you plan to stay home, defect to a third party candidate, or vote Trump in November, think back to the fall of 2000. It only took 100,000 ideological purists in one state to give our country away to a know-nothing nightmare of a president.

The Bitter Knitters Remember

I was a bitter knitter.

Invalidation or Why We Can’t Have Nice Things | The Confluence:

...Elections have consequences. We got the “liberal messiah” who wasn’t a liberal. And we got an very weak economic recovery and not one banker went to jail. And Clinton is stuck with an ACA that she can’t get rid of and can only tweak around the edges. Imagine how thrilled she is to take that on. And let’s not forget that there was no guarantee he was going to win in 2008. He wasn’t that far ahead in the polls, until the financial catastrophe in Sept 2008. He didn’t win the presidency in a landslide.

If there are people in the Clinton camp who are unsympathetic to the plaintive wails of the most persistent and aggressive Bernie supporters, it’s because they’ve been there before. These guys have no respect for Clinton or her voters. A Clintonista is a non-person. His or her votes are unimportant. They can be swept into the trash bin with impunity. The objections of a Clintonista doesn’t merit their attention. They are silly. The 2008 primary was so five minutes ago...

I am still a bitter knitter. Burn out, Bernie.

Comment Of The Day: GOP Planet Killer Edition

Elizabeth Warren Blasts Donald Trump In Commencement Speech

Ronald Bruce Robinson

Contrary to what MOST BernieOrBusters comprehend, Warren totally gets Noam Chomsky's assessment that the GOP "Is literally a serious danger to human survival" and that "Today's Republican Party is a candidate for 'Most Dangerous Organization In Human History'." As a result, she rightly focuses her attention on Republicans RATHER than on Hillary like BernieOrBusters want her to do.

The Daily Flashback: Boom Times Edition

Remembrance of Booms Past - The New York Times:

...What I want to do right now is talk about the lessons the Clinton I boom actually holds for a potential Clinton II administration.

First of all, it really was a very impressive boom, and in a way it’s odd that Democrats don’t talk about it more. After all, Republicans constantly invoke the miracles of Saint Reagan to justify their faith in supply-side economics. Yet the Clinton-era expansion surpassed the Reagan economy in every dimension. Mr. Clinton not only presided over more job creation and faster economic growth, his time in office was also marked by something notably lacking in the Reagan era: a significant rise in the real wages of ordinary workers...

Another Phony Scandal

VA Governor McAuliffe Reportedly Under FBI Investigation | Crooks and Liars:

CNN is citing unnamed sources who briefed "federal officials" who said that Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe is under investigation by the FBI...

What Has Bernie Done For Dems?

Katalusis: Sanders' problem in facing reality:

...What has Bernie done for the Democratic Party since it embraced him? Well, he sued the DNC for penalizing his team for hacking Hillary Clinton's files. He has repeatedly accused his newfound political home for rigging the election of its nominee in Clinton's favor, and among other things, he's threatened to depose Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC Chair, when he's elected...

Slut Shaming In The Drug Store

klutris: rudegyalchina: roseynopes: ... | Lady, That's My Skull:

...If an employee in a pharmacy makes a snide comment - Front store workers, pharmacists, or Pharmacy Techs give you shit? Gently (Or not so gently) remind them that the waiver they signed upon being hired legally binds them from commenting on your purchase, as it is a violation of privacy laws. Doing so is grounds for INSTANT termination and hefty fines.

Pharmacy workers (white coats) are legally obligated to ASK if you need an explanation of how medication works and any side effects, any medication conflicts etc. If you decline, THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED AT ALL TO MAKE SNIDE REMARKS OR FARTHER COMMENT ON YOUR PURCHASE. FRONT STORE EMPLOYEES CAN NOT AT ALL COMMENT IN ANY WAY, IN ANY STORE WITH A PHARMACY IN IT...

Words To Remember For The Clinton Voter

Strap In, Hillary People, It's Going to Be a Bumpy Summer - Blue Nation Review:

Hillary’s voters are the superstars of the 2016 presidential race. They have stood firm in the face of a withering assault against their candidate and a concerted effort to marginalize them. They should brace themselves for more turbulence in the months to come...

To Have And Have Not, Kinda, Sorta, Maybe

Trump: 'Teachers Should Have Guns In Classrooms' -- But 'I'm Not Advocating Guns In Classrooms' | Crooks and Liars:

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refuted Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton by insisting that he was "not advocating guns in classrooms," but at the same time argued that "teachers should have guns in classrooms..."

tRump's Gun Flip-Flops

A Brief History of Donald Trump’s Stance on Gun Rights:

Despite these recent statements on the campaign trail, Americans might remember that Trump wasn’t always such a strong supporter of gun ownership. Before he was a presidential contender, he called out Republicans who “walk the NRA line” and “refuse even limited restrictions” on firearms laws, in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve.

“I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I also support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun,” he wrote. At the time of his book’s publication, the real estate mogul was considering a bid for the presidency but hadn’t declared his intention to run...

Bernie v. Schultz

Bernie Sanders says he's backing DNC chair's primary opponent - CNNPolitics.com:

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday said he supports Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Democratic opponent in her August 30 primary, adding that if he is elected president, he would effectively terminate her chairmanship of the DNC...

tRump's Bud And Bill's Love Child

My Quest to Find Bill Clinton’s Love Child - The Daily Beast:

...Much of these flames have been stoked, naturally, by the authors of The Clintons’ War on Women, Roger Stone—a longtime Trump adviser—-and Robert Morrow, a full-time conspiracy theorist.

In February, I sat down in Des Moines with Morrow, who admitted he had never met Danney, to talk about the story. “They made it up!” he said of Star magazine’s DNA test. “It’s Clinton-disinfo. It’s a planted story—a fake planted story. There was no DNA test. Prove it! Where? Danney don’t know about it. Star magazine didn’t know about. Stone talks to the current people who own those magazines [and] they say, ‘what are you talking about?...’”

Burning The Bern

Face it, Bernie Sanders. It’s over - The Boston Globe:

I’ve had it with Bernie Sanders.

I’ve had with it his moral preening. I’ve had it with his simplistic, one-dimensional view of American politics. I’ve had it with his labeling anyone who supports his opponent as fundamentally corrupt and a handmaiden of the 1 percent. I’ve had it with his never-ending list of excuses for why he’s not doing better. I’ve had it with the exaggerations he tells his supporters about his chances of winning. I’ve had it with his refusal to demonstrate any leadership as these same supporters crudely attack Sanders’ political opponents...

The Fluff Reaches The Stratosphere

VIDEO: Megyn Kelly Repackaged A Year’s Worth Of Fox Interview Questions To Trump:

...But the interview not only featured a series of fuzzy, softball questions -- “Has anyone ever hurt you emotionally?,” “Are you going to stop [combatively tweeting] as president?” -- it also mirrored the way other Fox News hosts have engaged with Trump on air, shattering the illusion that Kelly is somehow different than her colleagues. A series of questions that Kelly tossed to Trump last night sounded conspicuously familiar, and for a good reason: they echoed questions that her colleagues have asked the presumptive GOP nominee over the past year...

Of course, it is a crap interview, but lest we forget--- media fluffing can be bi-partisan. Obama, that I can recall, was never subjected to a tough interview--- the kind Clinton gets 90% of the time. Every interview I remember consisted mostly of  "How does it feel to be the first black man to <insert whatever>." Poor old Sarah Palin had to play Foreign Policy Jeopardy just about every time she was interviewed. "Who is the third Undersecretary of Agriculture of Uzbekistan? And what color is his underwear?" The difference between all of them and Clinton is that Clinton could answer the Undersecretary questions.

tRump Pays No Taxes

BOMBSHELL REPORT: Donald Trump Previously Paid ZERO Income Taxes:

...The release of tax returns for a presidential candidate tells Americans what kind of person, financially, hopes to be the chief executive of the most important country in the world. Do they follow the laws and pay their fair share of taxes to keep the country running, as most people do, or do they use their wealth and privilege to avoid their responsibilities and enrich their own pockets?

Donald Trump has gone on the record in saying he likes greed, supports greed. He doesn’t give much to charities, and when he does its to pump up his own name. He’s not a good man who supports his country, and his taxes – and his attempt to avoid revealing what he pays and for what – are more evidence that he is crooked.

Races Rigged For Bernie

Shakesville: It's Pretty Rich for Bernie Sanders to Complain about Democratic Party Favoritism:

...There's definitely someone in this race who is used to showing up and getting a coronation from the Democrats. Someone who is totally out of their depth when faced with a very liberal opponent who is not taking this for granted. Someone who is acting hugely entitled and freaking out because they actually have to follow the rules of the party whose nomination they want.

And that Someone is not named Hillary Clinton.

Clinton For The Win

Hillary Clinton says race against Bernie Sanders is 'done' - BBC News:

US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has said her primary race against Bernie Sanders is effectively over.

"I will be the nominee for my party," she told CNN in an interview. "That is already done, in effect. There is no way that I won't be..."

On tRump's SCOTUS Lists

Trump Supreme Court Shortlist - Argument Against Bernie or Bust Movement:

...Reaction has been mixed. Senator Charles Grassley—he of the #NeverGarland movement—is over the moon about the list, which should worry any thinking person. Other conservatives seem to be taking the list as another one of Trump's "suggestions," this one more elaborate than most. As you can imagine, the choices themselves are fairly horrifying; Pryor and Gruender are fanatical anti-choicers. Sykes is on the record as supporting the right of organizations to continue to receive government funding.

But, as I said, these are probably just suggestions, as so much of He, Trump's positions are. But the list does serve three purposes: 1.) It gives us something new to talk about 2.) It is a sop to the saps in what we laughingly call the Republican Establishment and 3.) It eliminates any rational justification for the Bernie Or Bust movement...

Flogging Bernie Over Violence

Get Control, Senator Sanders, or Get Out:

Violence. Death threats. Vile, misogynistic names screamed at women. Rage. Hatred. Menacing, anonymous phone calls to homes and offices. Public officials whisked offstage by security agents frightened of the growing mob. None of this has any place in a political campaign. And the candidate who has been tolerating this obscene behavior among his supporters is showing himself to be unfit for office.

So, Senator Sanders, either get control of what is becoming your increasingly unhinged cult or get out of the race. Whatever respect sane liberals had for you is rapidly dwindling, and the damage being inflicted on your reputation may be unfixable. If you can’t even manage the vicious thugs who act in your name, you can’t be trusted to run a convenience store, much less the country...

On The GOP Deathwatch

R.I.P., GOP: How Trump Is Killing the Republican Party | Rolling Stone:

...But his son Mitt wasn't. That sense of noblesse oblige disappeared somewhere during the past generation, when the newly global employer class cut regular working stiffs loose, forcing them to compete with billions of foreigners without rights or political power who would eat toxic waste for five cents a day.

Then they hired politicians and intellectuals to sell the peasants in places like America on why this was the natural order of things. Unfortunately, the only people fit for this kind of work were mean, traitorous scum, the kind of people who in the military are always eventually bayoneted by their own troops. This is what happened to the Republicans, and even though the cost was a potential Trump presidency, man, was it something to watch...

Expect More Job Creation

Obama Is Bringing Overtime Pay To Millions Of Workers:

The Labor Department announced Tuesday that it completed one of the most ambitious economic reforms of the Obama era, finalizing a new rule that will extend overtime protections to millions of additional workers.

The administration will accomplish that by raising what’s known as the overtime salary threshold. Nearly all workers earning salaries beneath that threshold are entitled to time-and-a-half pay whenever they work more than 40 hours in a week.

The current threshold is just $23,660. The White House will be doubling that number, to $47,476, guaranteeing overtime rights for salaried workers earning less than that. The Labor Department will now update the threshold every three years to make sure it keeps pace with inflation...

Various thieving employers have used forced overtime with no compensation for years as another tool in the screw-you box to keep from hiring additional workers. If these rules actually get enforced, then employers will probably hire more low-cost entry level workers rather than pay the real value of overtime. Of course, the downside is they will probably be demanding to import those workers from the Third World.

Bernie Owns It

Bernie Sanders can’t afford to stay silent any longer | The Sacramento Bee:

...Sanders can’t be expected to control the behavior of every single supporter. But when violence breaks out in his name, when his supporters start making death threats and resorting to sexist taunts over social media, Sanders can and should be expected to condemn such behavior – swiftly, visibly and unequivocally.

That is leadership, just as leadership also is standing up to the mob, not encouraging it. Doing anything else falls far short of the kind of president we need.

Limerick Of The Day

I sense a regular feature coming on. Wonkette has several more limericks at the link.

Trump Claims Ad Directly Quoting Him Is Misquoting Him | Wonkette

mailman27
Misty Malarky Ying Yang
21 minutes ago

There once was a fellow named Trump
Who was running for boss of this dump
His ideas were bold
All plated with gold
And he pulled them straight out of his rump

They Are Crazier Than You Thought

Alex Jones: 'Michelle Obama Is A Man' Who Murdered Joan Rivers To Cover It Up | Right Wing Watch:

InfoWars broadcaster and Donald Trump ally Alex Jones is back to claiming that First Lady Michelle Obama is secretly a transgender woman, but this time he’s adding a new twist to his conspiracy theory: that Obama had comedienne Joan Rivers killed after she joked about the first lady being trans...

A Sample Of BernieBro Hate Tweets

Cannonfire has a small sample of BernieBro hate tweets and threats at the front of this post, plus a revealing link to Sanders tacitly approving the violence. Cannonfire "Party Unity My Ass: Never Bernie"

Comment Of The Day: Recycling Eugene Debs Edition

Bernie Sanders Abruptly Ends Interview After Reporter Asks About Nevada Chaos | Mediaite

TBR78 A Talking Cat!?!
18 minutes ago 

Sigh. They're flip sides of the same coin unfortunately. Angry populists peddling rage and distrust. And I'm not so sure recycling early-1900s stump speeches by Eugune Debs should qualify as "someideas." (sic)

Clinton And The Foundation

Attacks on the Clinton Foundation Are Designed for One Purpose - Blue Nation Review:

...We are facing countless problems around the planet, from food insecurity to climate change to preventable disease—just a few of the many issues CGI seeks to help address—and countless problems here at home, for which Hillary has detailed plans for improvement while her likely opponent in the general election has naught but empty promises that will make those problems worse.

The sort of unfounded smear being peddled by the Wall Street Journal is not part of a game. This presidential contest is serious business with serious consequences for millions of people. Lives hang in the balance.

Hillary deserves better than this, and so do we all.

When Degradation Is Policy

Why do Deb Fischer and the Nebraska GOP Approve of Degrading Remarks about Women and Minorities? | RedState:

...So in order to demonstrate loyalty to Trump, apparently you have to declare that you are not opposed to degrading remarks towards women and minorities.

This is your new GOP, with its new leader and its new loyal henchmen. And, I guess, henchwomen.

Bernie Is Hurting Democrats

Is Sanders 2016 Becoming Nader 2000? - POLITICO Magazine:

...But even if Sanders isn’t deliberately trying to replicate the electoral trauma inflicted by Nader in 2000—when he probably cost Al Gore the presidency—Bernie’s lingering presence in the Democratic primary threatens to produce a similar result in November: delegitimizing the eventual Democratic nominee in the eyes of the left and sending many critics, if not to Trump, then to the Green Party’s Jill Stein or the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson...

tRump Qualified For A "Poor" Tax Break

Wait! What? Trump Only Makes $500k a Year?:

News comes today that Donald Trump is digging in his heels on not releasing his tax returns ever, telling George Stephanopoulos "it's none of your business" how much tax he pays or at what rate. But last night TPM Reader JJ sent in a link to a ... well, it's just a harrowing revelation that makes me think that actually releasing his tax returns could be like heading to the ego guillotine for Trump.

Some clever sleuthing by Crain's New York Business reveals that Mr Trump, as members of the entourage call him, qualified for a tax break that requires your income be less than $500,000 a year. Yes, if you make more than half a million dollars a year, you can't qualify. But Trump did qualify.

So here's the story. New York state has something called the Star program, the New York State School Tax Relief Program. For a married homeowner to qualify your income needs to be less than $500,000 a year. The benefit itself is pretty measly for a real high roller - just a $302 break on Trump's penthouse apartment in Trump Tower...

I'm sure Mr. Machi at Daily Puma and Mr. Cannon at Cannonfire will be interested in this little item.

Another Nail In The Benghazi Coffin

Trey Gowdy's Former Top Lawyer Undercuts The Benghazi Committee:

Shortly before the House Benghazi committee ramped up its battles with the Department of Defense in its probe of the 2012 terrorist attack, the committee’s own top lawyer admitted at least four times in interviews with military officials that there was no more they could have done on that tragic night.

That’s according to a letter obtained by The Huffington Post that was sent Sunday to the chairman of the committee, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), from the top Democrats on the Benghazi panel and the House Armed Services Committee, Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.)...

I'll be so glad when Ben Ghazi returns to snagging passes on the Jets' practice squad.

tRump Fails To Impress

Robert Gates Is Not Impressed With Trump’s Foreign Policy Approach:

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates didn’t have nice things to say about Donald Trump’s foreign policy, warning against the candidate’s brazen style and lack of consistency on Sunday.

In an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Gates said the presumptive Republican nominee for president “seems to think he has all the answers and that he doesn’t need any advice from staff or anybody else...”

But They Care About Clinton In the 90s

RNC Chair Says 'People Just Don't Care' About Reports Donald Trump Mistreated Women:

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday said voters don’t care about reports that the party’s presumptive presidential nominee has disrespected women and made unwelcome advances toward them in the workplace.

A New York Times investigation published Saturday included dozens of interviews with women and men who worked with Donald Trump over decades, detailing crude comments about the female form, disturbing workplace conduct and more...

Idiots Of The Left

Hullabaloo "Trump Authoritarian Watch":

I've been a little bit disturbed to see some civil libertarian types on my social media seem to take up Trump as the better choice in the upcoming election and it' s a little bit bizarre. This is the guy who openly endorses summary execution, torture, possible retaliatory beheadings, the targeted killing of wives and children of suspects, and greatly expanded police power...

tRump And The Imaginary

Reporter From 1991 Audio Recording Says Trump's Denials Raise Questions About Character - ABC News:

The former People Magazine reporter who interviewed Donald Trump's alleged spokesman "John Miller" in 1991 -- and immediately felt it was actually Trump himself -- says his denials that he masqueraded as his own spokesman raise questions about his character.

"It shows he's a liar right now. And that distresses me as the candidate running for the Republican party," Carswell said in an interview with ABC News' Mary Bruce. "If this is the kind of character that -- of a man that you're going to be voting for come November, I would be suspicious if he tells lies.

"I mean, he's punking me," Carswell said. "He's punking the country..."

Bernie Hoisted By Own (Campaign Finance) Petards

FEC releases damning 639 pages of violations by Bernie Sanders campaign:

...By the way these are problems that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump do not have at all. This is a uniquely Bernie Sanders problem, one that brings questions about his understanding of campaign finance laws, his team’s understanding of those same laws and whether or not there is a knowing plan to deceive the FEC in order to raise funds. This is why a Bernie Sanders campaign is dangerous because he and his team are making such rookie mistakes that it brings into question things that should not be questions. How can Bernie rally against Wall Street when it is clear he and his team have no clue how to follow existing laws. How can Bernie complain about money in politics when it’s obvious he and his team have no clue how to follow those existing laws. Or is Bernie saying money in politics, through any means necessary, is good for him but not for anyone else which is a similar stance from his campaign on superdelegates. Also while Bernie complains about what the Hillary Victory Fund and SuperPACs do with their money, he is actively violating campaign finance laws and the only question that remains here is is he doing it willing, is a member of his team doing it willingly and which person will fall on the sword when it comes time to answer questions about how much fraud is going on in the Bernie 2016 campaign...

The Real Reason Bernie Needs To Go

The Sooner Bernie Sanders Ends His Campaign, the Better | New Republic:

...A Clinton landslide would reverberate even further down the ballot. Republican governors and legislators have blocked the Medicaid expansion, imposed regressive taxes, cut funding for education, attacked unions, obstructed efforts to deal with climate change, and led revanchist attacks on voting, LGBTQ, and reproductive rights—all key issues for Sanders. Flipping control of state governments could help stop agendas being advanced by the Kochs and social conservatives at the state level. It may even open up possibilities to implement the progressive policies Sanders holds dear...

Comment Of The Day: Reasons To Vote For Clinton

How worried should we be about Donald Trump becoming president? - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money: Jay B says:
May 12, 2016 at 5:34 pm

No, studiously IGNORING what her supporters say they like about Clinton isn’t the same thing as people offering no defense. And since you’ve clearly never met a Green or their disastrous embrace of Nader in 2000, I’d love to hear your excuse for siding with a party with an honest cause that doesn’t tear their party apart.

Here’s why I, a supporter of Sanders, will support Hillary, unreservedly, in November:

She’s supports appointing Supreme Court justices who will move the court to the left and won’t support Citizens’ United.

She supports expanding pre-k solutions for families.

She’s solid on renewables.

She was a good Senator for New Yorkers when I lived in New York.

She supports choice, Planned Parenthood and LGBT issues.

She’s solid on voting rights (since you need to include the things you didn’t like about her husband’s presidency into your case against her, you should probably give a shit about his passing the motor voter bill).

She’s excellent on civil rights.

She’s smart.

She’s wonky enough to try and incrementally improve Obamacare.

She’s a median liberal Democrat to the left of center in her own party, which is my party, which makes this shockingly easy.

tRump Making More Friends

Trump: Amazon's Bezos Uses Washington Post to Avoid Taxes - ABC News:

Donald Trump says Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is using his newspaper to help the online retailer avoid taxes...

Abortions Down

Abortion rates hit historic low in developed world, report says - CNN.com:

...Abortion rates in the developed world have fallen to a historic low, the researchers say, but that's not the whole picture...

More tRump Fantasy

Donald Trump's Budget Bamboozle Continues With Surplus Promise | US News Opinion:

...But even the flip-floppy back and forth laid out above pales in comparison to the pronouncements of his campaign on Wednesday regarding the effect of Trumponomics on the federal deficit. And here, the campaign has definitively crossed the line from wishy-washiness on its economic policy to outright audacious lying.

According to Trump economic adviser Sam Clovis, Trump's economic agenda – including some conveniently unreleased elements – will generate budget surpluses of up to $7 trillion. Yes, the budget will not only be balanced on Trump's watch, his team claims, but will generate yuuuuge surpluses unheard of in modern times...

Reality Hits Politico

Bernie Sanders, the Zombie Candidate - POLITICO Magazine:

We already know Sanders isn’t going to win the Democratic Party’s nomination; Hillary Clinton has amassed more than 92 percent of the delegates needed to secure the nomination, and she’ll easily pick up the rest. So right now, Sanders’ campaign is the walking dead: a zombie. And having worked for John Kerry during the slugfest of the 2004 primaries, I’ve seen up close how much damage this sort of prolonged "zombie" candidacy can inflict on the eventual nominee—and what’s ultimately at stake for the country...

tRumper Wants To Murder Opponents

Trump's Long-Time Butler Calls For President Obama To Be Killed | Crooks and Liars:

...Just yesterday he posted: "To all my friends on FB, just a short note to you on our pus headed "president" !!!! This character who I refer to as zero (0) should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term...

The Name Of The Nominee

Trump candidacy threatens MO's Blunt - Occasional Planet:

...Wanna know how lots of GOP politicians feel about their 2016 presidential candidate, Donald Trump? That’s easy. He scares the bejesus out of ’em.

How can one tell? As Slate‘s Jim Newell observes, many GOPers won’t even utter his name. Instead, he’s “the nominee,” as in “I support the nominee.” Alternatively, for those looking for even more degrees of separation, he becomes the “ticket,” which as loyal Republican foot soldiers, they’ll support...

A Plausible Explanation For tRump's Win

Here’s the Real Reason We All Underrated Trump -- NYMag:

Why did almost everybody fail to predict Donald Trump’s victory in the Republican primaries? Nate Silver blames the news media, disorganized Republican elites, and the surprising appeal of cultural grievance. Nate Cohn lists a number of factors, from the unusually large candidate field to the friendly calendar. Jim Rutenberg thinks journalism strayed too far from good old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting. Justin Wolfers zeroes in on Condorcet’s paradox. Here’s the factor I think everybody missed: The Republican Party turns out to be filled with idiots. Far more of them than anybody expected...

Give Us The Returns, Donald!

There are no good reasons for ‘Dodging Donald’ Trump to withhold his tax returns - MarketWatch:

Donald Trump is a liar and a fraud. He’s worth far less than he says he is. He owes far more. He uses every trick in the book to scam the public purse out of its due, leaving you and me to pick up the tab for everything from defense to border patrols.

Oh, yeah — and he hardly gives anything to charities and good causes, not even for veterans, despite all his pious claims to the contrary.

Those are the inevitable suspicions after Trump’s latest “ha-ha, fooled you!” moment. He has just said he won’t release his tax returns after all — or, at least, not until after the November election, when it will be moot...

Coward Nugent Promoting Murder Of Clinton

NRA’s Ted Nugent Promotes Fake Video Of Hillary Clinton Being Shot:

National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent, who will deliver a speech at the NRA’s annual meeting this month, shared a fake video that depicts Hillary Clinton being graphically murdered by Bernie Sanders with a handgun during a presidential debate...

Letting The Rabble Rouse In WV

Exit polls: Nearly half of W.Va. Sanders backers would vote Trump | TheHill:

Nearly half of the voters in the West Virginia Democratic primary who backed Bernie Sanders say they would vote for Republican Donald Trump in the fall presidential election, according to exit polls reported by CBS News.

Forty-four percent of Sanders supporters surveyed said they would rather back the presumptive GOP nominee in November, with only 23 percent saying they'd support Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. And 31 percent said would support neither candidate in the likely general election match-up...

When you let anyone vote in a primary, are you surprised when GOPers cross over to vote in the Democratic primary? And pick the weakest candidate?

tRump Priorities

Trump’s misogynist campaign: He’s successfully alienating every female voter he can — and Jan Brewer’s helping - Salon.com:

...Howard Stern “once asked Trump what he would do if Melania were in a terrible car accident” that mutilated her body, Julia Ioffe of GQ explained in a recent profile of Melania Trump. “Would Donald stay with her?”

Trump replied by asking, “How do the breasts look?”

Only after ascertaining that the breasts survived, Trump said he would stick by her, arguing, “Because that’s important...”

More Email Innocence

Hillary Clinton is going to be exonerated on the email controversy. It won't matter. - Chicago Tribune:

...That point about her intending to break classification rules is important, because in order to have broken the law, it isn't enough for Clinton to have had classified information in a place where it was possible for it to be hacked. She would have had to intentionally given classified information to someone without authorization to have it, like Gen. David Petraeus did when he showed classified documents to his mistress (and then lied to the FBI about it, by the way). Despite the enormous manpower and time the Justice Department has devoted to this case, there has never been even a suggestion, let alone any evidence, that Clinton did any such thing...

The Complete tRump Licker List

TPM's Elected Official Trump Endorsement Scorecard

The Original Same Sex Bathroom

It was good enough for your grandparents.

No To Park Naming!

No, no, no, no. Hell No! After the Federal government seized property from my ancestors and the Native Americans, I want no speck of commercial crap inside the parks. They are not only a refuge from the noise and pollution of modern life, but refuge from the constant nagging of advertising and branding. NO!

Yosemite, sponsored by Starbucks? National Parks to start selling some naming rights. - The Washington Post:

A Coca-Cola Visitor Center will still be off-limits, but an auditorium at Yosemite National Park named after Coke will now be permitted. Naming rights to roads are not up for grabs, but visitors could tour Bryce Canyon in a bus wrapped in the Michelin Man...

Crazy In NC: Ignorant McCroy Edition

McCrory's NC Bathroom Bill Dismantled Live on Fox News:

Running to the network typically sympathetic to far right demagogues, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory spoke with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday yesterday about today’s looming Justice Department deadline to offer a response on their determination that HB2 – the state’s transphobic so-called Bathroom Bill – is illegal. What he found were questions he couldn’t answer without dismantling his stance and little room to play the victim...

Voting For Clinton, Part 2

6 Big Reasons To Vote For Hillary -:

...And because Hillary has been in the public eye for so many years we have all seen her life play out before us. We’ve seen her accomplishments and her failures. We’ve also seen a Conservative movement attack her like no other. Yet somehow Hillary always remains standing. She is battle tested. There is nothing the Republicans can throw at her that hasn’t already been thrown. And Hillary has proven herself tough enough to handle anything.

That toughness will help her lead this country. I think one of the mistakes that Obama made early on in his Presidency was that he underestimated the hatred that the Republicans had for him. Those same Republicans will have an equal amount of hatred for Hillary…but she won’t make that same mistake...

tRump In The 90s

Revisiting Trump of the 90's - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime:

I forgot about this very long Vanity Fair profile of Donald and Ivana Trump by Marie Brenner in 1990. It's frightening how little he's changed, and how the media knew he was full of it but kept writing about him anyway...

Stay Away, Donald

Gov. Inslee tells Trump "Your hate is not welcome in our state" | KREM.com:

Governor Jay Inslee and other Washington Democratic leaders took aim at Donald Trump on the eve of his Washington visit.

“Your hate is not welcome in our state,” said the Governor at a news conference Friday afternoon held at El Centro de la Raza...

tRump Ignorance Is GOP Ignorance

The Making of an Ignoramus - The New York Times:

...None of this should be taken as an excuse for Mr. Trump. He really is frighteningly uninformed; worse, he doesn’t appear to know what he doesn’t know. The point, instead, is that his blithe lack of knowledge largely follows from the know-nothing attitudes of the party he now leads.
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Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, The Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world.

Oh, and just for the record: No, it’s not the same on the other side of the aisle. You may dislike Hillary Clinton, you may disagree sharply with her policies, but she and the people around her do know their facts. Nobody has a monopoly on wisdom, but in this election, one party has largely cornered the market in raw ignorance.

Karma Kalls Ken

Ken Starr Less Concerned with Alleged Sexual Assault on Baylor Campus Than Clinton Investigation:

... Well, as it happens, Ken Starr is now the president of Baylor University, where athletes allegedly keep raping women, and Starr's attitude towards sexual peccadilloes seems to have adjusted itself since the days when he was running amok in Washington. The man who relentlessly, ruthlessly (I wonder where Ruth is?), doggedly (Woof!) ran down a consensual sexual affair has gone radio silent on alleged sexual crimes that took place on his watch. The Dallas Morning News has noticed this as well, and it pretty much lit ol' Ken on fire over it...

Contrasting Clinton With Old Ferret Head

Clinton’s wonky policies of fine-grained complexity contrast with rivals’ grandiose ideas - The Washington Post:

...If Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, this may turn out to be the perfect election to be a wonk — because of who she’d be running against.

If Clinton treats policymaking like watchmaking — a lot of whirring, tiny, hidden gears — the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, is a man making parade floats. His ideas are attention-grabbing. Expensive. And often discarded...

tRump The Genderist Candidate

Hullabaloo "Misogyny Rising":

...And yes, Trump has been disgusting on virtually every level, with his attacks on immigrants, Muslims, African Americans, across the board. But choosing Donald Trump to run against the first woman nominee for president on a major ticket is a very specific slap in the face. Imagine how African Americans would have felt if the GOP had nominated David Duke to run against Barack Obama in 2008?...

Jill Stein Commits Political Suicide

Internet excoriates Green Party's Jill Stein for calling Hillary bad mom - AMERICAblog News:

Green party presidential candidate Jill Stein celebrated Mother’s Day by calling Hillary Clinton a bad mother...

Dr. "Beat Us Over The Head With Her Resume" Jill Stein just ruined Mother's Day and herself in one tweet. I'm so glad I never got interested in Twitter--- a great technology for letting your id engage your mouth before the superego filters, and then putting the whole mess into the eternal memory of the Internet.

GOPer Civil War Escalates

Sarah Palin will work to defeat Paul Ryan in primary for Donald Trump stance - CNNPolitics.com:

Sarah Palin will work to defeat House Speaker Paul Ryan by backing his primary opponent in Wisconsin, the former Alaska governor told CNN's Jake Tapper...

Stone Wonders About Sanders And Acid

Sharon Stone How Much Acid Has Bernie Sanders Done | The Daily Caller:

During an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the 58-year-old actress — who is supporting Hillary Clinton — said Sanders seems “pretty old in general.” ...

“Some of his ideas are a little bit old,” Stone said. “He’s not young doing this, and he didn’t really work until he was 40 so I wonder, like, how much acid has this guy taken? I really do, that’s not a joke...”

Being Right And Wrong About Superdelegates

The right part is the current situation. The wrong part is the attempt rewrite the history of the '08 election. No matter how finely you dice the veggies, the '08 nomination of Obama was a rotten exercise in politics and democracy. Let's clear up some confusion about the superdelegates and Bernie Sanders - Vox

Berners Going Wild

OPINION: #FeelTheBS — SAC Media — Medium:

...This is where I saw the key difference. Despite the clean, fatherly image of Bernie Sanders, his supporters are vile, villainous, and downright hateful.
I know not all Berners are like that, but I can now honestly say that the ones I saw, are. Nowhere have we — and I mean the media — seen Clinton supporters act like this. To frighten a child is wrong, inhumane, and malicious...

There are some good videos of the rally at the site.

Proud GOPers Harrassing Disabled

GOP Should Apologize To President Clinton

Republicans, Apologize to Bill Clinton | The Resurgent:

...On the campaign trail, Trump was more a pathological liar than Bill Clinton ever was. He smeared his opponents, their wives, and their families. He embraced 9/11 trutherisms that George Bush was to blame for the attacks, he peddled malignant, false stories about Ted Cruz’s father, and few Republicans ever called on him to account. Many gave him passes on the lies they would never give to Bill Clinton.

Republicans owe Bill Clinton an apology for impeaching him over lies and affairs while now embracing a pathological liar and womanizer. That apology will not be forthcoming. In fact, for years Republicans have accused the Democrats of gutter politics and shamelessness. Now the Republicans themselves have lost their sense of shame...

tRump Plans To Destroy America

President Trump Promises Debt, Default And Depression | Crooks and Liars:

...There's no mystery as to why. Trump's combined promises to boost defense spending, deliver massive tax cuts for the wealthy and to eliminate the national debt in 8 years would necessarily require gutting federal spending by about 80 percent, reductions so draconian that the U.S. economy might never recover...

More Email Stuff: Clinton Innocent

US Officials Report No Evidence Hillary Clinton Broke The Law, Will Right-Wing Media Listen?:

U.S. officials say they have not yet found evidence that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton willfully broke the law with use of her private email or that her server was hacked, according to two new reports, undercutting the conservative witch-hunt for a bombshell in the Democratic presidential front-runner’s email setup.

Prosecutors and FBI officials “have so far found scant evidence that [Hillary Clinton] intended to break classification rules,” according to a May 5 Washington Post report. The article noted that “prosecutors are wrestling with the question of whether Clinton intended to violate the rules, and so far, the evidence seemed to indicate she did not”:...

Bernie--- Working Hard For The Donald

Hordes of Sanders supporters shut down Clinton event in LA: ‘She’s not with us!’:

Protesters chanting, “she’s not with us,” forced Clinton to cut short her scheduled speech to just 14 minutes — and signaled she may have a difficult time rallying Sanders supporters behind her campaign if she wins the Democratic nomination...

Perhaps Sanders is angling to be tRump's Veep. That's as close to the White House as he is ever going to get.

Crazy In NC: Anti-Bullying GOPers Edition

North Carolina Republicans Vow To Defy Feds On Bathroom Law:

Republican leaders in North Carolina on Thursday refused to back down from a law regulating which restrooms can be used by transgender people after the federal government told the state the law violated the U.S. Civil Rights Act.
The state’s leading Republican lawmaker, House Speaker Tim Moore, told reporters in Raleigh that North Carolina would not be “bullied” into meeting the U.S. Justice Department’s Monday deadline to change the law...

So if you're violating the law, and you're told you're violating the law, and you keep violating the law, shouldn't something bad happen to you and not your victims?

Language And Politics

The Rectification of Names: Poor Jonah:

...The language of classically liberal notions of limited government isn't for voters, it's for the donors who pay for the party and its ancillary activities including Jonah's paychecks from the American Enterprise Institute and the National Review and whatever other sinecures he inhabits, like an 18th-century English clergyman collecting an assortment of no-work "livings". When traditional American conservatives are speaking to voters, they're all about strength and winning and greatness. It's morning in America! That's what Ronald Reagan used, and George W. Bush after him, with notable success until Bush's personal loserhood got to be too desperate to deny...

Comment Of The Day: More Bernie Bucks Edition

Bernie Bros Made Me Finally Recognize Misogyny in America

Kay Allen ·Washington, District of Columbia

Matt
Hemingway Except, yes, Bernie does receive revenue from fracking operations due ot his investments. He does receive the benefit of Big Money - his campaign is being supported by 3 GOP super PACs (see Open Secrets) running Anti-HRC ads on TV, has been endorsed by Carl Rove and has been supported in the past by Goldman-Sachs, JP Chase and other major corporate firms both on and off Wall Street. After Sierra Blanca,
Sanders has no room to talk about how glorious and qualified he is especially since in all his years in Congress he never hired any people of color for his staff. Once Sanders voted for funding the Irq War, Lockheed-Martin rewarded him with the F35 program so when you talk about "sell-out' candidates, please include Sanders on your list. Thank you.

Selective Journalism

Showdown on Morning Joe: Rob Reiner Rips Into Joe and Mika For Letting Trump Off The Hook - Blue Nation Review: .

...Imagine what would happen if the media responded to Trump’s intransigence with breathless panels talking about “Trump stonewalling.” Imagine headlines blaring that “Trump refuses to answer questions.” Or “Is Trump hiding something?”

That is how Hillary is treated every day and the objective is to skew perceptions against her.

Maybe the problem isn’t just that journalists don’t do their jobs. It’s that they do their jobs selectively, and so much more eagerly when it involves undermining Hillary.

Another Flashback: Feeling The ReBurn

Financial Scandals Follow Socialist Millionaire Sanders

...On top of this scandal, The Washington Free Beacon has reported that Senator Sanders used campaign money to benefit members of his family, and that Jane Sanders directed six-figure sums from Burlington College to her daughter and the son of a family friend.

“Getting money out of politics” is one of the planks in Sanders’ presidential campaign platform.

Where Has The Wealth Gone?

I missed this earlier but the digits are important enough to be shared regardless of their being slightly dated:

The economic determinants of Trumpism - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money:

...Here are the numbers: between 1945 and 1974, per capita GDP in the U.S. grew from $17,490 to $27,837. That is an impressive improvement, but it pales in comparison to what has happened since: in 2014, per capita GDP was $55,185, i.e., almost exactly double what it was in 1974. In terms of economic output, the country is twice as rich per person now as it was then.

Where has all this money gone? The answer ought to shock anyone who cares about either economic opportunity or increasing inequality. The average household income of the bottom 50% of American households was $25,475 in 1974, and $26,520 in 2014. In other words, half the population has gotten essentially none of the extra $10 trillion dollars of national wealth that the American economy has generated over the past forty years...

Maybe we should try and get some of that wealth back?