Deadbeat Don Keeps Getting Deader

Trump Is Deadbeating On His Campaign Debts By Refusing To Pay His Own Pollster:

It has begun. Donald Trump is refusing to pay one of his pollsters the $767,000 owed for services performed. Deadbeat Donald is not only losing the campaign, but he is already not paying his bills...

The Russia Server

Was a server registered to the Trump Organization communicating with Russia’s Alfa Bank?:

...What the scientists amassed wasn’t a smoking gun. It’s a suggestive body of evidence that doesn’t absolutely preclude alternative explanations. But this evidence arrives in the broader context of the campaign and everything else that has come to light: The efforts of Donald Trump’s former campaign manager to bring Ukraine into Vladimir Putin’s orbit; the other Trump adviser whose communications with senior Russian officials have worried intelligence officials; the Russian hacking of the DNC and John Podesta’s email.

We don’t yet know what this server was for, but it deserves further explanation.

Cancel The Election!

Geary Yelton adds video to his new song.

Comey Covering For tRump

FBI's James Comey Opposed Naming Russia As An Election Meddler, Source Confirms | Huffington Post:

FBI Director James Comey privately argued against having his bureau sign onto a statement saying the Russian government was meddling in the U.S. election, CNBC first reported on Monday, citing “a former FBI official.”

A source familiar with the interagency discussions confirms to The Huffington Post that Comey declined to do so because, specifically, he was concerned the statement was coming too close to the election. The source who spoke to HuffPost is not a former FBI official and spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters...

tRump The Doc Destroyer

Donald Trump’s Companies Destroyed Emails in Defiance of Court Orders:

...This review of Trump’s many decades of abusing the judicial system, ignoring judges, disregarding rules, destroying documents and lying about it is not simply a sordid history lesson. Rather, it helps explain his behavior since he declared his candidacy. He promised to turn over his tax returns and his health records—just as he promised to comply with document discovery requirements in so many lawsuits—then reneged. As a result, he has left a sparse evidentiary trail that can be used to assess his wealth, his qualifications for the presidency or even his fitness. Should voters choose him to be the next U.S. president, he will enter the Oval Office as a mystery, a man who has repeatedly flouted the rules. He has solemnly told the country to trust him while refusing to produce any records to prove whether he speaks the truth or has utter contempt for it.

Comment Of The Day: Comeygate Edition

No More Mister Nice Blog: COMEYGATE: AN ERIC GARNER CONNECTION?:

Danp said...

James Comey has emails on his computer that may be about to be published by Wikileaks amid speculation that he accepted money from a reputed drug lord. It may take a long time to uncover the entire truth, as the only thing we know for certain is that there are emails. There, now my conscience is clear.
6:26 AM

Stayin' Classy In OH

Manure dumped in parking lot of Democratic headquarters | WAVY-TV:

A truckload of manure was dumped outside of the Warren County Democratic Headquarters.

It happened just after midnight Saturday in the parking lot of the building located in the 1900 block of US 43 in Lebanon...

No More Kidding With These Traitors

Where Does Trumpism Go After Nov. 8 - BuzzFeed News:

...But if he loses, Whitted said, “I think it’s going to fire us up even more and try to push Hillary out. Get her in prison. Just kidding...”

Over the years I've put up with a lot of crap from Obots, Bushies, and now, tRumpians, and I think I can speak for a good many Americans when I say we are the ones who are fed-up with your treasonous lying; we're disgusted by your cozying up to Putin and the mobster side of Russia; and this time we're going to do something about all the bullies. Oh. Just kidding! No harm! No foul! Just kidding! Sorry guys, but saying you're just joking is no longer a sufficient excuse for your calls to overthrow the elected government of this country, whether it is through some AR-15 pipe dream or through having your lap dogs in Congress gum up the works so the nation can't function. Enough! The majority needs to slap this minority down before they burn down the Constitution. They have gone far beyond the honorable stance of the Loyal Opposition and have moved into the poisonous territory of Seditious Minority.

tRump And Bankruptcy

In case missed these important points, here's a  good summary of tRumpian financial chicanery.

Daily PUMA: Donald Trump's insane banter about the Clinton Foundation continues.:

...It is also important to note that when Donald Trump received close to 2 billion dollars in debt forgiveness back in the 90's, (around 900 million from the IRS and 900 million from his investors desperately trying to salvage some of the Trump properties that were headed for bankruptcy), that to actually pay back that almost 2 billion dollars in debt would have required AT LEAST another 1 to 2 billion dollars in interest rate charges and perhaps 5 to 10 years to pay back that debt. So in total, Donald Trump received at least 3 Billion dollars in debt forgiveness.

It also important to note that bankruptcy laws were changed and significantly toughened against consumers, and one wonders if there is a smoking gun pointed at Donald Trump's excesses that led to the clamping down on the consumer!...

tRump Has A Vision

My bold.
Donald Trump Is Fulfilling His Destiny with 10 Days Left:

...OK, so that last part owes more to Nuremberg than it does to Patmos, but as the campaign grinds to its end, and as James Comey drops a Halloween treat into his bag, Donald Trump has stumbled into an actual vision of the Kingdom of Don, where the water flows like crystal, a heaven with only all the top people, the best people. And a white grand piano in the lobby. And, most likely, stiffing the angels who sounded the trumpets.

tRump Foundation Makes Biggest Payout To tRump

REVEALED: Trump Foundation’s largest payout ever was $264,631 — for renovations at a Trump hotel:

In a report issued Saturday afternoon, The Washington Post is reporting one recipient receiving over a quarter of million dollars in charity funds — Trump’s Plaza Hotel for the restoration of a fountain out front.

According to interviews with various groups and organizations who have sought donations from Trump, the New York developer was quite happy to show up at charity events only to walk away without leaving a check...

VladiLeaks Finally Produces Something Interesting

WikiLeaks Documents Reveal United Nations Interest In UFOs | Huffington Post:

Revelations in a set of hacked emails released by WikiLeaks earlier this month have sparked new conversations about UFOs and speculation that extraterrestrials have been visiting Earth. But a very significant ― and possibly overlooked ― group of WikiLeaks items relevant to the topic was released on May 18, 2015...

Give It! Give It!

Just cancel the election and give it to tRump! (music file)

An Actual Arrest For Voter Fraud!

Someone Was Actually Arrested For In-Person Voter Fraud. She's A Trump Supporter. | Huffington Post:

...But they do happen. Case in point: Police in Des Moines, Iowa, said Friday that they had arrested Terri Lynn Rote, 55, on suspicion of voting twice in the general election.

Rote, a registered Republican, allegedly submitted ballots at two different early-voting locations in Polk County, Iowa, according to local media reports. She has been charged with first-degree election misconduct, a felony...

A Sad And Uplifting Voting Story

The Last Thing My Mother Did Before She Died Was Vote for Hillary Clinton | Glamour:

"How did Hillary do?" Mama asked me on Monday, 15 days before the election.

At 94, bedridden in my home in Raleigh, North Carolina, Mama was going down quickly. Her heart was beating irregularly; just days before, she had lost the ability to walk. When she turned away her favorite strawberry rhubarb pie, I knew it was only a matter of time...

Nothingburger Fatigue

FATIGUE: Clinton's emails have been covered for 600 days and Americans are exhausted - Shareblue:

...Our team went back and looked at coverage since the story broke in March, 2015. We found that the emails have been mentioned in the major news media virtually every single day since then, 600 in total. This exceeds coverage of Watergate, Mitt Romney’s 47% comment, Kerry’s swiftboating, Donald Trump’s countless transgressions, and every other major political story of the modern era.

It is vastly disproportional to the importance of the issue. Polls show that the majority of Americans are tired of hearing about this issue, one that doesn’t directly affect their daily lives. So no matter how ecstatic Trump may be, he isn’t factoring in email fatigue.

A Clean Political Ad

This is my favorite political ad for this election:

White Privilege And The Dakota Protest

When You're a Protester, the Color of Your Skin Is All That Matters:

...Yes, there is a cruel, stupid irony about living in a country when, on the same day, a bunch of gun-toting rubes who have less understanding of the Constitution than a wombat does of nuclear fusion get acquitted after an armed takeover of federal property in Oregon while, half a country away, peaceful protesters doing nothing but praying on land to which they have a right guaranteed by treaty get rousted, roughed up, and hauled away by a militarized police force acting largely at the behest of a private company. For those of you who are sorry you missed the last Gilded Age, hang in there. You're going to get your wish fairly soon...

Making The Post Office Solvent

The Post Office should also be allowed to turn a regulated profit on these transactions. Maybe a new item for Clinton's to-do list.

'Underbanked' Report Shows Need For Postal Banking | Crooks and Liars:

...If We the People could be allowed to have a simple bank account at our Post Offices this would solve a problem for millions upon millions of Americans. This would help people. It would keep people away from the debt-trap clutches of the predatory payday lending industry.

This is not an out-of-the-mainstream idea. Lots of countries do it. This country used to do it. In fact, the Postal Service still issues money orders.

Crazy In NC: Still Vote Suppressing Edition

North Carolina Republicans try to stop 100-year-old Grace Bell Hardison from voting:

A lifetime of residence in North Carolina, a quarter of a century of never missing a vote is not enough of a history for Republicans there, so they tried to keep this voter out of the polls...

The Orgins Of Obstruction

Why McCain Wants to Leave the Supreme Court Hanging:

...The majority leader of the House of Representatives was telling members of his conference that their constitutional responsibility to begin the process of removing an elected president from office was a required party-line vote.

Newt Gingrich’s politics of destruction was a prelude to this moment, but once Tom DeLay defined the impeachment of a president as a political act rather than a grave constitutional responsibility, for the Republican Party there was no turning back.

Eighteen years later, John McCain is playing by Tom DeLay’s rules.

GOPer Women Worried

A new ‘war on women’ breaks out. This time, it’s inside the Republican Party. - The Washington Post:

A growing number of prominent Republican women are worried that as members of their male-dominated party step up to defend Donald Trump against accusations of sexual assault, they are causing irreparable damage to the GOP’s deteriorating relationship with female voters...

This Day In Election Fraud: FL

BREAKING: Florida Governor Busted Attempting To Toss Thousands Of Mail-In Ballots (DETAILS):

Florida Governor Rick Scott declared war on Florida voting rights. He tried to throw out tens of thousands of mail-in ballots this election, but a federal judge blocked the action, then reprimanded him. Saturday U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a blistering caution to the Scott’s top election official on a lawsuit about vote-by-mail ballots...

Moore Amused By tRump Endorsement

Michael Moore mocks Donald Trump Jr. for thinking ‘Trumpland’ documentary is pro-Trump:

...Moore gleefully responded to Trump Jr.’s endorsement, tweeting, “Hey everyone – Trump, Jr. & right wing thinks my movie called “TrumpLand” is pro-Trump! Haha. Pls don’t tell them otherwise! #satire #irony...”

The Daily Flashback: ACORN Edition

The Republican Party knows something about "rigging" elections - Shareblue:

...Despite the organization’s exoneration, and a host of scientific research to dispute the existence of widespread voting irregularities, the seed of distrust was already sown, and has led to numerous attempts, many of them successful, at voter suppression. The GOP’s mendacity has been so fruitful that even though ACORN hasn’t existed since 2010, 40 percent of Trump voters still believe it will steal the election for Clinton in 2016.

Moreover, the very success of groups like ACORN, and the historical barrier broken by the election of the nation’s first Black president, were used as justification for the Supreme Court’s dismantling of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. In other words, voter suppression and loosening of voter protections suddenly became necessary when historically disenfranchised voters mobilized to elect one of our own...

Not Panic Time

Still Tight in Florida:

...Put that all together and the PollTracker Average (our trend estimate) shows Clinton 1.7, which places Florida in the Toss-Up category (any lead under 2 percentage points.) On balance, given the two other polls released today with Clinton 3, Selzer/Bloomberg looks like an outlier that is simply off the trend. But time will tell.

Is Fixing CDS Possible?

The linked post doesn't really address that issue, but I wish some of the "big thinkers" from the A-List blogs would contemplate it. Surely, if the Z-listers like me wonder about these various issues and ideas, someone with high traffic can do it, too. I'm confident they troll through the "little blogs" looking for material, so go for it guys and gals, give us the big liberal thoughts that no one else has had.


They're already trying to erase what they did to Hillary Clinton - Shareblue:

...The colossal imbalance of the coverage of the candidates in this election is absolutely worth exploring, especially by members of the media who facilitated that imbalance. But the exploration will be worth nothing at all if it excludes accountability for the dreadful coverage of Clinton.

tRump And The Body Snatchers

Former Cruz Aide Shocked Senator 'Succumbed' To Pressure To Back Trump (VIDEO):

Amanda Carpenter, former communications director for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post Tuesday describing her disappointment that so many Republican leaders, including her former boss, have backed Donald Trump as the GOP nominee.

"Ever since Trump announced his candidacy 17 months ago, it’s been like watching political body snatchers take over the party, replacing previously respectable men with dead-eyed zombies who readily salute 'Mr. Trump,'" Carpenter wrote...

Delusional Donald

Donald Trump Goes Poll Truther - BuzzFeed News:

...Over the course of the day on Monday while campaigning in Florida, Trump has insisted several times that he is actually ahead.

“I believe we’re actually winning,” Trump told a farmers roundtable at a farm in Boynton Beach. “If you read the New York Times and if you read some of these phony papers — these are phony, disgusting, dishonest papers — but if you read the stuff, it’s like what are we doing?”

“The truth is I think we’re winning,” Trump said...

It Was All Fine With The GOP

70 Trump disgraces that were perfectly acceptable to the GOP - Shareblue:

Until he was heard on a recording condoning sexual assault, Donald Trump had the support of a wide array of Republican officials. Their ranks have thinned, but it's worth taking another look at what they deemed acceptable for the duration of the 2016 campaign...

Leftist Gloom And CDS Are Still With Us

Donald Trump, domestic terrorist: The man who tried to kill democracy — and why we had it coming - Salon.com:

...Calling Donald Trump a domestic terrorist isn’t even a metaphor. A terrorist seeks to provoke a society’s worst impulses and expose its hidden weaknesses, and Trump’s terrorist assault on our so-called democracy has done that brilliantly. He’s like a funhouse-mirror reflection of America’s overweening pride and vanity, deadly sins for which we are now being punished. He is the ugliest possible American caricature, made flesh. We told the world we were a free-enterprise meritocracy where talent rose to the top, and that guy became rich and famous. We told the world we were the exemplar of democracy, a light to all the nations, and that guy almost became president. We deserve Donald Trump, and we have an opportunity to learn from him. But if we believe that stopping him just short of the White House can make the problem he so vividly embodies go away, we will deserve whatever comes next.

GOPers Wanna Sue Over Their Nominee

Republicans Threaten Lawsuits Over TV Ads Linking Them To Donald Trump | Huffington Post:

Some Republicans are running so far away from their party’s nominee that they are threatening to sue TV stations for running ads that suggest they support Donald Trump...

Russia Knew About VladiLeaks Story Before It Was Released

Russia scoops Wikileaks on new Podesta emails - things that make you go hmm - AMERICAblog News:

Russia’s state propaganda organ, RT (previously known as “Russia Today”), scooped Wikileaks yesterday on Wikileaks’ own story.

On October 22, at 8:20AM Eastern Time, the Russians tweeted a new story of theirs about the Wikileaks Podesta emails.

Then, 30 minutes later, at 8:50AM ET, Wikileaks announced its new Podesta emails to the world.

In other words, the Russians broadcast the Wikileaks story to the world before Wikileaks itself, and the Russians even had enough notice to write a story about it...

tRump Is Not Beating Himself

Donald Trump’s collapse was caused by one big factor: Hillary Clinton - Salon.com:

...But it’s a mistake to discount the huge effect of the debates, well beyond Trump’s predictably ridiculous performance. These were the first occasions since the Benghazi hearings for people to see what Clinton is made of, and it reminded them of the characteristics that make her a formidable leader. When she stood there, face-to-face with Trump, it was clear that one of them was a president. And it wasn’t him.

No One Wants AT&T Acquisition

Washington Monthly | The Left and the Right Agree: Stop the AT&T / Time Warner Merger:

...One heartening example of this bipartisan populism is the response to the proposed acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T. The deal would be a huge boost to AT&T in consolidating power not only over mobile devices but the content played on them...

In The Godfather novel Mario Puzo made the point several times that Vito Corleone really liked monopolies because they are obviously more efficient than competition. True-- if you own the monopoly. But AT&T wouldn't act like the Godfather, right? Right? 

Once A Jerk...

Donald Trump Made ‘Apprentice’ Staff Work Through Hurricane Sandy Chaos - The Daily Beast:

As New York City called for a state of emergency during Hurricane Sandy, which left 53 people dead, Donald Trump forced staff to come to Trump Tower to shoot The Apprentice a few floors below his apartment—in between tweets challenging the president to produce his birth certificate...

Clinton Is The Best

The Leftist Case for Clinton – Medium:

...If that sounds a little strong, consider this: Clinton supporters have been stuck playing defense all year, swatting away criticisms and scandals, hoping that once the fog cleared, everyone would see the formidable politician beneath. So no one’s really bothered to make the positive case for President Hillary Clinton.

This is my attempt.

The short version is this: If we play our cards right, historians will remember the sixteen years from 2009 to 2025 as a period of profound change in American society. That change will be largely credited to two outsize personalities — Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — and their progressive coalition of young voters, people of color, and urban whites with college degrees...

Don't Flog Opponents!

How to Build an Exit Ramp for Trump Supporters:

...If you want people to change course, you have to create an “exit ramp” for them. This entails creating the space and safety they need to acknowledge and pursue a better way forward. Here’s how you might go about doing that when the situation is emotionally or ideologically charged...

One of the first times I wrote about this was back in 2005, but not much has changed in the last eleven years. I have burned many pixels on this same subject, but the Great Liberal Smugness And Superiority Complex continues unabated. I read at least a half-dozen comments per day about "knuckle dragging Southern goobers" and the "leeching Red States" and the "cousin humping RWNJ" etc. If you try and engage any of these "liberals" in dialog, sooner or later it always comes back to "We kicked your ass in the Civil War" and Lincoln "should have executed all the traitors," "burned the South to the ground" and "salted the earth." Doesn't that just give everyone a nice warm and fuzzy? I want to convert the RWNJ and it can be done, but the invective has to stop. No one will ever come around to your point of view if you can never get them to listen to you because you are insulting them with every word you say.


I realize that it is hard to believe for some people, but your every word is not Holy Writ, and people are entitled to differing viewpoints, even if yours is the right one. I know far more RWNJs than you do. I am confident in that assertion because of where I was born, raised, and currently live. Nearly all of them are kind, decent people who are just trying to make their way through a world drowning in Hate Radio and Fox News, institutions they were taught to trust as children and are only now realizing that they have become propaganda machines. Give them a break. Extend a hand. With a smile, not a sneer.

Bad Polls For GOP

Election Update: Trump May Depress Republican Turnout, Spelling Disaster For The GOP | FiveThirtyEight:

...The problem for Trump is that taken as a whole, his polls aren’t very good — and, in fact, they may still be getting worse. An ABC News national poll released on Sunday morning — the first live-caller poll conducted fully after the final presidential debate — showed Clinton leading Trump 50 percent to 38 percent. Clinton’s 12-point lead in that poll is toward the high end of a broad range of results from recent national polls, with surveys showing everything from a 15-point Clinton lead to a 2-point Trump edge. But the ABC News poll is interesting given its recency and given why Clinton has pulled so far ahead in it — Republicans aren’t very happy with their candidate and may not turn out to vote:..

Good Advice For Loser tRump

Rigged election? Trump is just hanging himself out to dry - LA Times:

...Trump has said his father taught him that there’s nothing worse than being a loser. But that’s wrong. Most Americans don’t disdain the second-place finisher in a tough contest. What they dislike, instead, is a sore loser.

Hope For Racists

How a poster child for white nationalism changed his mind and his life - Shareblue:

It can sometimes seem like extremist views are impossible to change. But one man, born and raised within the white supremacist movement, offers a different story...

A Sad And Sorry Vet Shafting

Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses a decade after going to war - LA Times:

Short of troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade ago, the California National Guard enticed thousands of soldiers with bonuses of $15,000 or more to reenlist and go to war.

Now the Pentagon is demanding the money back...

Crazy In NC: Cheap Bribes Edition

A superior court judge in N.C. needed a favor. So he tried to bribe a federal agent with Bud Light. - The Washington Post:

The offer was simple enough.

Arnold Ogden Jones II suspected his wife was having an affair, and he needed a favor: access to some text messages on his wife’s phone, between her and another man whose number was from outside the state.

So last October, Jones — a sitting superior court judge in North Carolina — approached an FBI officer he knew to see whether he could obtain copies of the texts...

The Gloomy tRump

Donald Trump is in a funk: Bitter, hoarse and pondering, ‘If I lose. . .’ - The Washington Post:

...The gloomy mood has extended to his signature rallies, which Trump used to find fun. During the primaries, he would bound onto rally stages bursting with energy and a sense of excitement that intensified as the crowds chanted his name and cheered his every word. He would regularly schedule news conferences, call into news shows and chat with reporters, eager to spar with them. He would say politically incorrect things and then watch his polling numbers soar. He used to be the winner...

Maybe he needs to see Dr. Feelgood for a little lift, though there's probably not enough Xanax in the universe to shine this spittoon. There are other alternate choices (sniff, sniff), though.

tRump's Plan: Sue, Sue, Sue...

Trump Threatens to Sue Accusers, Lays Out Plan for First 100 Days in Policy Speech - NBC News:

Near the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg, Donald Trump laid out his strategy Saturday for the battle ahead. But what was billed as a "roadmap" to a Trump administration was a further escalation of the GOP nominee's scathing rhetoric against his foes in a presidential election that he has likened to a war...

tRump might have sued his way to "business success," but he'll find suing his way to political success a much trickier prospect. That's the gist of his big plan. Everything else is just rehashed talking points that everyone is familiar with. He says he's going after the votes now but Clinton plans "to run out the clock." Meanwhile, Clinton is running out the clock with eleven scheduled campaign events.

Hunting For tRumpians Via Email

Heritage Foundation Recruiting Via Email For Potential Trump Administration - BuzzFeed News:

The Heritage Foundation is cold-emailing potential candidates to serve in a potential Donald Trump administration, according to a copy of one of the emails obtained by BuzzFeed News.

The influential conservative think tank sent out a questionnaire to potential candidates without specifically mentioning Trump but instead referring to the “next presidential administration.” The email says candidates are being recruited as part of Heritage’s “Restore America Project...”

Right Cutting Off Nose

...to spite the "Face of the Republican Party."


Breitbart escalates war on Paul Ryan | TheHill:

A right-wing website closely tied to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is taking its war against House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to new levels.

Breitbart News on Saturday published as its lead story an article written by Julia Hahn, headlined: “He’s with her: Inside Paul Ryan’s months-long campaign to elect Hillary Clinton president...”

Don't Let The Door...

Many Trump Supporters Say They Won't Monitor Polls Or Take Action If He Loses - BuzzFeed News:

...Susan and a man next to her said they weren’t going to monitor polls or take to the streets if Trump lost. They only mused about doing one thing if Clinton becomes president.

“Move to Canada,” they said.

The tRumpian Values Rampage

The Fury and Failure of Donald Trump - Rolling Stone:

...In recent years it all went stale. They started to run out of lines to sell the public. Things got so desperate that during the Tea Party phase, some GOP candidates began dabbling in the truth. They told voters that all Washington politicians, including their own leaders, had abandoned them and become whores for special interests. It was a slapstick routine: Throw us bums out!

Republican voters ate it up and spent the whole of last primary season howling for blood as Trump shredded one party-approved hack after another. By the time the other 16 candidates finished their mass-suicide-squad routine, a tail-chasing, sewer-mouthed septuagenarian New Yorker was accepting the nomination of the Family Values Party...

The Empty Shell Of His tRumpiness

A competent, qualified woman debated a blustery, clueless man. Again. - Vox:

...Over the course of the series of presidential debates, he’s shown that he’s tall, he’s pretty good on television, and he carries himself with the distinctive confidence of a mediocre white man.

Beyond that, he’s got nothing...

tRump Doesn't Like Teachers Either

Donald Trump’s disregard for teachers:

In a 1997 legal deposition, Donald Trump argued that educators lack intelligence, saying that teachers are “very stupid...”

O Flames GOPer Media

President Obama scorches Republicans over years of "toxic" politics - Shareblue:

...And here’s the thing: Trump didn’t come out of nowhere, now. For years, Republican politicians and far-right media outlets have just been pumping out all kinds of toxic, crazy stuff. I mean, first of all, there was the whole “birther” thing. Then they start saying climate change is a Chinese hoax. And according to them, I’m power enough to cause these hurricanes and I’m about to steal everybody’s guns in the middle of the night and declare martial law, but somehow I need a teleprompter to finish a sentence...

Wallace Is Still A Hack

Chris Wallace And The Banality Of Conservative Dishonesty:

...But Wallace also exposed his audience to a large dose of right-wing misinformation:

His question about the economy began with the false premise that President Obama’s 2009 stimulus plan damaged the economy.
His question about immigration took Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s 2013 comments about “open borders” grossly out of context.
His question about abortion access invoked the right-wing myth of “partial-birth” abortion, a non-medical term invented by anti-abortion groups.
His question about the national debt falsely alleged that programs like Social Security and Medicare are going to run out of money and add to the debt absent short-term cuts, echoing Republican talking points about entitlements.

Wallace also failed to fact-check Trump’s frequent falsehoods -- following through on his promise not to be a “truth squad” during the debate...

Deplorables Making Threats In NM

New Mexico Republicans Send Ominous Flyer to State Voters : snopes.com:

The New Mexico Republican Party has confirmed they sent a flyer ominously suggesting that residents' presidential election votes could be tracked and made public.

The flyer, which was discovered in Alburquerque, read: "When the Democrats win the election and you didn’t do your part ... your neighbors will know." It garnered attention online when it was posted to Reddit:..

tRump Has New Excuse

Kinda hard to believe Fox News would rig the debate for Clinton. Donald Trump Claims Hillary Clinton Saw Debate Questions Ahead Of Time | Huffington Post

My Favorite Tweet From Last Night

Dan Saffer Verified account ‏@odannyboy

HILLARY THE WHITE: I did not pass through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm.

Abortion At The Debate

Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Third and Final Presidential Debate Recap - The Worst Hombre:

...Trump was foggy on the specifics—if he knows what the Supreme Court's Heller gun-control decision actually is, I'll eat the 14th green at Turnberry—but he was at least coherent and resolute in his position. On abortion, it's clear he's gone all in with the anti-choice crowd, talking again and again about ripping babies from the womb and pivoting (as they all do) to the argument that the law in this area should devolve back to the states. (A very bad idea, but an idea nonetheless.) Meanwhile, HRC gave the clearest and most definitive statement of support for the rights codified in Roe v. Wade that I've ever heard. No more "safe, legal, and rare" dodge, HRC spoke forthrightly about the efforts out in the states to curb those rights piecemeal...

Rather On Clinton

Dan Rather's Latest Debate Analysis Should Be Read By EVERY American:

...Hillary Clinton has been judged the winner of the first two debates. Tonight, many felt Trump needed a knockout to get back in the race. But I think this was Clinton’s best performance – perhaps by far. I think she wanted this to be a preview of her presidency. Her tone was the most straightforward and direct I have yet seen. She didn’t try to run away from her policy expertise. She embraced it. It was as if she was saying, “I am here. I am smart. I am qualified. I will not be intimidated or silenced. And I am ready to be president...”

Clinton Tax Zinger

'Game Over, Donald': Our Latino Panel Rates the Debate - NBC News:

It was a good thing that, at this debate, immigration finally came up. However, the discussion went awry quickly, and will probably only be remembered for Trump calling undocumented immigrants "bad hombres." Kudos to Clinton for pointing out that many undocumented immigrants likely pay more in federal income taxes than Trump does...

No Love Between Pervs

Roger Ailes breaks away from ‘waste of time’ Trump just before the final debate:

Ousted Fox News head Roger Ailes and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have fallen out and are no longer speaking, sources say.

Emily Jane Fox of Vanity Fair reported on Wednesday that New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman and Vanity Fair editor Sarah Ellison have both been informed that the longtime friends Trump and Ailes are no longer on good terms, but the reasons for the parting of ways vary according to who you ask...

The Thirsty Cuban Warns About VladiLeaks

Marco Rubio: Don't 'Indulge Wikileaks' - It's A Foreign Govt Interfering In Our Election | Crooks and Liars:

Sen. Marco Rubio told ABC News that Republicans and Donald Trump are making a mistake by "indulging Wikileaks' and jumping on the alleged hacked emails because it's an attempt by a foreign government to influence our election process.

The Florida Senator also is worried the the next round of hacks could expose Republicans next...

Were Fraudlent Ballots Burned In GOP HQ Firebombing?

Thanks to commenter Anonymous for the tip on this fiasco. I missed the follow-up, and Anon is right, it keeps getting weirder and weirder.

North Carolina GOP admits it illegally stashed completed absentee ballots in firebombed office [and now denies it] 

In the hours since a North Carolina Republican Party office was firebombed while no one was in it, reactions have been flying from all sides. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton offered words of support, while Republican nominee insisted (without a shred of evidence) that Clinton’s supporters were behind it. Trump’s suspicious response has led to the question of whether he himself was behind it. But now comes a shocking revelation of a different kind: the GOP was illegally stashing completed absentee ballots in that office...

The tale of the absentee ballots is one those when was she lying--- now or then--- scenarios that is very difficult to sort through. One thing for sure--- a high level GOP official should know that absentee ballots, especially completed ones, are not stored in any political office. So did they have a load of completed ballots on-hand? I've heard rumors about this for years. Since NC is has such a large military population, overseas absentee ballots are very common and would certainly be an easier way to cheat in an election that the old toothpick-in-the-counter trick that was common with mechanical tabulators. Things will get really interesting if a forensic examination happens to turn-up some completed ballots.


If anyone hears anything on this, let me know; I'm open 24/7 365. (Yes, it's true. I don't have a life.)

Could I Get My UFO Wish?

If Clinton can give tRump a "Please Continue" moment while he is riffing about alien breeding programs, he will have hit the wingsnut grand slam and drool will cover all the land and local droughts will end and cats and dogs will live together in peace and harmony.



Hillary Clinton Is Ready And Willing To Talk About UFOs On Television | Huffington Post:

...But it would be interesting to watch a UFO question unfold. Because if debate moderator Chris Wallace asks Clinton her thoughts on otherworldly visitors, regardless of how she answers, Trump would undoubtedly be allowed to respond.

Anyone out there have a direct line to Wallace before Wednesday’s debate?

Winning The Argument

More than 101 Stupidparty Myths Debunked: How to Destroy Every Single Deplorable Trumpeteer Argument (For They Have Nothing)! - Stupidparty Math v. Myth:

...I am so excited because today we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to cure StupidParty.

On the other hand, if Trump wins—we will know precisely what America has become. I am excited because I am just so fed up with the enemy hiding amongst us, acting as if all is copacetic. No, it never was. Will this be the end of days or the dawning of a new age? I happen to be optimistic, not just because of Trump but because mankind is on the cusp of being able to save itself from its own myopia via technology. I see the end days for oil (the root of America’s problems), the end days for ISIS, and the end days for StupidParty...

You can look up every right-wing argument on this website and find a handy counterargument almost immediately, and the neat thing about these counters is that they are based on facts, that little known and little understood principle of human life. The list is beyond comprehensive. It is probably all inclusive.

Evangelical Women Leaving tRump Camp

Powerful Evangelical Women Split From Male Church Leaders to Slam Trump - The Daily Beast:

... Moore’s broken silence about the 2016 race—rooted in her own experience with sexual assault—signals a widening gender divide between evangelicals. Increasingly, moderate and conservative Christian women are speaking out about Trump’s brand of misogyny and divisiveness, and condemning support for the nominee or silence about him from male evangelicals...

Union And Confederate Veterans Together

This photo was taken on the steps of the Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville, NC a few years after the end of the Civil War. In the group are local veterans from both sides in the war. Liberals who auto-condemn anyone who lives below the Mason-Dixon line need to take a moment and study that photograph and contemplate what the immediate survivors of that war learned.

The Ghosts Of Benghazi Haunt Gowdy

...Gowdy and the republican Benghazi committee have been attacking by using a variety of government documents which have been heavily redacted to the point that it’s never been entirely clear just what context they would be in if not for all of the redactions and blackouts. After democrats asked the CIA to declassify the documents so that the public could see what was really being presented, the CIA responded by stating that it had never asked for anything to be redacted. When questioned under pressure, Gowdy admitted that he himself decided to redact large portions of the documents based on his own personal judgment of what information he did or didn’t want the public to know...

Lies. Lies. And more lies.

The Gang That Couldn't Campaign Straight

Trump Left Off Official Alaska Voter Guide After Missing Deadline:

Undecided Alaskan voters will be able to read about Hillary Clinton and Jill Stein in an informational pamphlet sent to them over the weekend, but not Donald Trump.

Trump’s campaign didn’t send the necessary materials to Alaskan election officials before the August 30 deadline, according a report from The Hill. Gary Johnson's campaign also failed to respond to Alaskan election officials in time...

Dem Offices Also Attacked

NC Democratic headquarters attacked on same night nearby GOP office was firebombed:

Democratic officials in North Carolina have asked law enforcement to step up protection of campaign workers after Orange County offices for both the Republican and Democratic parties were targeted on the same day...

This seems to have slipped by unnoticed.

About Those Death Threats

What To Do When Trump Supporters Threaten To Kill | Crooks and Liars:

...I also want to remind people that there are other exceptions to the First Amendment besides, "You can't falsely yell fire in a crowded theater." Threatening speech is NOT protected speech. It is essential to show the public that making true threats to others will have consequences.

After people are shot, killed or assassinated, pundits will wring their hands and say, "Nobody could have seen this coming!" Yes we can.

And before some concern troll starts talking about a chilling effect to political speech, I'm not talking about thoughtcrime or pre-crime. We've seen the threats, they are specific and they are happening now. We need to act to prevent violence now, instead of waiting for after the election to really take them seriously.

WikiLeaks Clinton Secret Revealed

Hillary Clinton Unleashes Comcast-Level Attack On Julian Assange:

...As the L.A. Times concludes, Assange’s SUPER OMG BREAKING NEWS leaks have revealed the shocking secret that Hillary Clinton is Hillary Clinton...

Democrats Help ReOpen GOP Office In NC

Democrats Raised More Than $13,000 To Reopen A Firebombed Republican Office - BuzzFeed News

tRump Starting Next Scam

Report: Trump's son-in-law contacted banker about starting TV network:

Donald Trump has taken a step closer to starting his own cable TV network, the Financial Times reported Monday.

The Republican presidential nominee’s interest in harnessing his political gains and populist appeal for a slice of the cable TV market has long been rumored. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been in contact with Aryeh Bourkoff, founder of investment bank LionTree, about starting a TV network if he's defeated in the presidential election in November, the FT reported...

A GOP Dirty Trick In Firebombing?

North Carolina GOP office attacked - POLITICO:

A North Carolina Republican Party office was firebombed overnight and threatening words painted nearby, party officials and local news organizations reported Sunday...

The only group that gains from this is the GOP, adding further fuel to their on-going rage fest. They had means; they had opportunity. They also had the only good motive. Please feel free to prove me wrong by finding the culprit.

Crazy In NC: Charlotte Observer Edition

Ruh-oh.


Citing HB2, Charlotte Observer Doesn't Endorse McCrory For 1st Time In 25 Years - The New Civil Rights Movement:

The Charlotte Observer has endorsed Democrat Roy Cooper over incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in the Nov. 8 election.

It marks the first time in McCrory's 25-year political career that the state's largest newspaper has declined to endorse him...

No Mandate Clinton

Ignoring for just a second, the ridiculous idea of a mandate to begin with, this post is arguing that if Clinton wins, say, a 10 point landslide victory, she will be without a rudder to steer by. Since every Republican after Abe Lincoln has claimed a mandate, even with the thinnest of margins, i.e. Skippy Bush, Clinton can claim a mandate if she wins by one vote. Poulos appears to think that people are voting to just keep a lunatic away from the White House. I've got news for you, bub, millions of people are voting for Clinton because they want the platform she is standing upon, which is quite simply the polar opposite of the way the GOP has been running, and ruining, the country since Nixon took us down the path of division and fear.


While Donald Duck will never have Hillary Clinton's intelligence, skill, or compassion, I would still vote for him over anybody pushing the GOP/Koch agenda.


Clinton could get a landslide but without a mandate - The Orange County Register:

...In fact, it’s not out of the question that Donald Trump’s increasing focus on fighting the GOP will drive so many Republicans to vote against him that Clinton enjoys no mandate at all — stuck with a hollow presidency and an America lacking utterly in unity or direction...

Clinton Looking To Heal Country

Clinton: I Take 'No Satisfaction' In Trump's Scorched Earth Campaign:

..."This election is incredibly painful. I take absolutely no satisfaction in what is happening on the other side with my opponent," Clinton said, according to the Times. "I am not at all happy about that because it hurts our country, it hurts our democracy, it sends terrible messages to so many people here at home and around the world."

At a time when the election seems to be more full of personal attacks than substance, Clinton urged her supporters not to "turn away". Instead she asked they "start looking after each other again..."

The Five Basic tRump Lies

A Readers' Guide To Trump's Five Favorite Sexual Myths | Crooks and Liars:

...But Trump's lies are not tall tales or entertaining fantasies; they are designed to land in the dead zones of American belief. Like fish kills and algae blooms, their existence is evidence of waste and irreparable damage; of greed, ego, and entitlement gone awry. Trump's myths are mainly put forward by surrogates. The top five (below) cast blame away from him for situations he created and articulated...

The On-Going Clinton Rules Effect

The Clinton Rules have been around seemingly forever and one would think that, given the circumstances surrounding the Orange Menace and His Army of the 12 Deplorables,  Clinton Derangement Syndrome, would be on the wan, but no; the corruption in the press and media continues to poison the body politic. Bunchanan's article is one of the best ever on the inner workings of this psychosis. 



Neil Buchanan: Why Is the Press Ganging Up on Hillary Clinton?:

...In both debates so far, the distorted media narrative was insufficient to cause people not to believe their own eyes and ears. But this default mode, in which political reporters miss the big picture and focus on "what might look bad for Clinton," is unfortunately alive and well.

There is still plenty of time for this media culture to do further damage to Clinton's candidacy, not by reporting anything that is truly bad about Clinton but by emphasizing the negative spin at all times. And the saddest aspect of this is that the people involved in this scrum surely think that they are not doing anything wrong.

"Crusaders" Busted

Three Kansas men calling themselves ‘Crusaders’ charged in terror plot targeting Muslim immigrants - The Washington Post:

Three Kansas men have been accused of plotting attacks targeting an apartment complex home, a mosque and many Muslim immigrants from Somalia, authorities said Friday...

Note: Kansas is not in the South.

It Was The Best Speech Of The Campaign

Women Needed to Hear Michelle Obama's New Hampshire Speech:

In this historic year for women in presidential politics, the most unapologetic and powerful feminist speech of the campaign was delivered not by the historic candidate but by the First Lady.

Michelle Obama, speaking in the swing state of New Hampshire, delivered the half-hour talk with furious precision. It was a speech about women — the woman running for the presidency, and the women around the country who have been badly shaken by the turn this election has taken, as reports have emerged that make very clear how Donald Trump talks and acts with regard to the bodies of women and girls...

Crazy In NC: Burr Thinks tRump Is President Edition

Trump Leaves Intel Chair Stumped In His Own Debate | Huffington Post:

...“Jonathan, you know me,” Burr said. “I will help whoever is in leadership to try to bestow what I know and what I have learned as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and I’ve done that for the Trump administration.”

An Anti-Sleaze Strategy

Oh, The Irony: Trump Aide Spent Career Framing Bill Clinton As A Sex Predator:

...In the late 1990s, during his first round of Clinton trashing, Bossie was particularly incensed when he and his fellow anti-Clinton crusaders become the subject of scrutiny, with reports that a book about them was on the way. Bossie said that the sex life of his former boss Burton -- whom, it had been revealed, fathered a child in an extramarital affair -- should remain off limits.

Liberal pundit Bill Press, on a 1998 episode of Crossfire, asked Bossie, “Republicans open an investigation into Bill Clinton's sex life, can't they expect the same thing into their life and isn't that fair?”

“If they lie about it, absolutely,” Bossie said.

Thick As A Brick

Pence: 'I don't understand the basis' of Michelle Obama's claims - POLITICO:

Asked Friday morning to respond to the powerful rebuke of Donald Trump delivered a day earlier in a speech by first lady Michelle Obama, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said “I don’t understand the basis of her claim...”

Is Mike Pence really this stupid?

"The Sweet Meteor Of Death"

Trump implosion goes way beyond politics: Mastio & Lawrence:

...Inaugurating the first woman president was always going to change things in the United States, but the question was how much. Our first black president has changed America, but it is still the country I remember from 2008. That’s in part because Barack Obama’s presidential opponents were basically pretty decent guys. Donald Trump is not. What we are going to witness over the next few weeks is what Obama’s 2008 campaign would have been like if Obama had been running against unrepentant segregationist George Wallace and not maverick Sen. John McCain. The next few weeks may see the Sweet Meteor of Death bring the Masculicine Era to an end. What comes after will include far bigger changes in relations between the sexes than we saw in relations between the races from 2009 to 2016...

A Pod Of High End Deplorables

I guessed seven of the eight. You might do better.

8 Republicans sent into distant orbit by Trump's 2016 odyssey - CNNPolitics.com:

...Here are eight Trump allies and boosters at risk of seeing their futures erased and legacies tarnished by their proximity to the collapsing candidate:..

The GOP's Bad Faith With Women

Marybeth Glenn unloaded an awesome tweetstorm, which you should read at the following link, that precipitated the excerpt from Conor Friedersdorf.  The entire Atlantic article is excellent. Go read it.



Why Republican Women Are Calling on Men to Follow Suit in Denouncing Trump - The Atlantic:

...These sentiments felt so familiar to me. Then I realized why. It’s how I heard Catholic women of my mom’s generation talk after the church’s child molestation scandal broke. Learning about the predatory behavior was awful in its own right. But what really caused them to lose faith, what caused many of them to never return to the Catholic Church, were the religious leaders who failed to denounce the molestation; who dishonestly minimized it in hopes of saving the institution in the short term...

Nuke Button Men Say No tRump

These Nuclear Launch Officers Are Scared By The Idea Of A Trump Commander-In-Chief | Huffington Post:

If you’re not frightened by the thought of Donald Trump having his finger on the nuclear button, you should consider listening to these folks.

A group of former nuclear launch officers in the U.S. Air Force have signed an open letter saying they’re disturbed by the idea of Trump standing over what’s known as the “red button.” The letter, with 10 signatories, was first reported by The Washington Post on Thursday...

Clinton Policy Proposals

In the midst of mud-slinging and chaos, Clinton keeps rolling out smart policies - Shareblue:

...Campaigning with Al Gore in Florida, a state already feeling the effects of climate change, Clinton put out a detailed factsheet on her “Plan for Combatting Climate Change and Making America the Clean Energy Superpower of the 21st Century.” It is long on ideas, and short on tolerance for treating climate change as an issue that does not demand immediate attention.

Clinton also unveiled new details of a middle-class tax cut plan, which will “help lift families with children out of poverty.” It is an audacious plan, described by Vox’s Dylan Matthews as “arguably among the most important policies she’s announced during her entire presidential campaign...”

Best Line Of The Week!

My bold in Charles Pierce's fine piece of prose:  Society Will Survive What Trump Hath Wrought:

I finally went to bed on Tuesday night because I couldn't stay up late enough to see if CNN had found a busload of Carmelite nuns who revealed that Donald Trump had groped them all in a slot parlor in Laughlin, Nevada. Every time I got up from the work I was doing, and I passed the television set, there was another woman telling the same story about a grotesque encounter with the stubby fingers of the Republican party's nominee for president. They were trampling out the vintage where the Gropes of Wrath were stored, over and over again...

And A Child Shall Lead Them

I have a new found respect, and a strange sense of pride, in what a group of students at Liberty University has done. They have petitioned one of the, in my opinion, original evil evangelicals to stop supporting the candidacy of the orange menace. It is good to know that some Christians on the right actually do follow the teachings of Jesus.



Liberty U Students Break With Falwell Jr: ‘We Want Nothing To Do With’ Trump:

...We are not proclaiming our opposition to Donald Trump out of bitterness, but out of a desire to regain the integrity of our school. While our president Jerry Falwell Jr. tours the country championing the log in his eye, we want the world to know how many students oppose him. We don’t want to champion Donald Trump; we want only to be champions for Christ.

The Outlaw Jersey Whale Is Summoned

Judge Issues Summons For Chris Christie In Potential New Bridgegate Case | Huffington Post:

A New Jersey municipal court judge issued a summons for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Thursday, seemingly in relation to Christie’s alleged involvement to the closure of two lanes on the George Washington Bridge in 2013 in a supposed act of political retaliation...

tRump Said "No" To Self-Study

Everyone who is surprised by this raise your hand.

Trump Said to Block Campaign’s Requests to Do Self-Opposition Research - Bloomberg Politics:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump rebuffed political aides’ requests to research his past, people familiar with the matter said, a decision that contributed to his campaign being caught unprepared for the past week’s barrage of claims he mistreated women...

Crazy In NC: Traveling Burr Edition

Senator Tight With Special Interests Traveled The World On Their Dime | Huffington Post:

There used to be something very special in the air for North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr (R), and it had a lot to do with the interests he is now being pummeled for catering to in his increasingly tight re-election bid.

What was so special? Free travel, and lots of it...

Keep Digging, Donald

‘I want to puke’: Internet recoils in disgust over video of Trump skeezing on a 10-year-old girl:

In a 1992 interview with CBS News, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump leered at a pre-teen girl as she rode up an escalator at Trump Tower.

“I am going to be dating her in 10 years, can you believe it?” Trump said to the camera...

Insurance Losses Under tRump

25 million could lose health coverage under Trump, 9 million gain it under Clinton - Shareblue:

...Despite Trump’s contention that his plan is superior to Clinton’s, it is not. The Washington Post reported:

As many as 9.6 million Americans could gain health insurance under Hillary Clinton’s proposal to provide families a tax credit to help them pay for premiums, deductibles and coinsurance, according to a new analysis. For a typical family in the lower-middle class, the credit would reduce health-care expenses by roughly a third, but it would come at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $90 billion in the first year.

The Rand Corp. and the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund published the analysis of Democratic presidential nominee’s health agenda on Friday, along with a second document examining proposals from her Republican rival, Donald Trump. Trump’s proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s health-care law, would result in as many as 25 million Americans giving up coverage, depending on how the repeal is implemented...

Putin Continues To Play With Fire

Trump turns bitter - POLITICO:

...Clinton’s campaign has refused to acknowledge the authenticity of hacks, which the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and that Clinton’s campaign believes is a move by the Russians to control the outcome of November’s U.S. presidential election.

While Trump repeatedly touted the information disclosed by the WikiLeaks dumps and blasted the press for not writing about them, the GOP nominee suggested he has no ties to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin...

And Water Is Wet...

Billy Bush is part of a much bigger problem: Column:

...But I think what happened with him is symptomatic. The problem lies not so much with Billy Bush himself. It lies with NBC and other networks that blur news and entertainment and do the public a disservice...

Putin Tootin' The Donald

Vladimir Putin Is Determined to See Trump in the Oval Office:

...Vladimir Putin, a ruthless authoritarian kleptocrat, is trying to influence an American presidential election, and he intends to employ all means, fair and foul, though mostly foul, to put the man he wants leading the United States in the Oval Office. In the case of Kurt Eichenwald, the attempts were clumsy and stupid, so the fine hand of the Russian oligarchs became exposed. We must assume that's the exception, and not the rule. Donald Trump has exposed American democracy as being far more fragile than we thought it was, and far more fragile than any of us should be comfortable with. He's had a lot of help, too.

About That Estate Tax

When Bigotry Becomes A Problem

Republican Bigotry Was Useful Until Donald Trump Risked Losing White Women | US News Opinion:

...The simplest answer is usually the best. Here's my guess: Bigotry can be useful as long as it does not impact your core constituents. With video showing Trump admitting to the crime of sexual assault, and doing so in the foulest language possible, bigotry has come full circle for congressional Republicans. The bigotry that the GOP courted for decades to create a coalition large enough to capture the White House is now alienating a reliable voting bloc: middle-class white women...

Clinton To Help Families

Hillary Clinton Proposes Doubling Tax Break For Families With Kids | Huffington Post:

Hillary Clinton often says she wants to help families struggling to pay for child care and other expenses that come with raising kids. Now she’s presenting a plan designed to do just that...

Will Boils tRump In Righteous Oil

Donald Trump is the GOP’s chemotherapy - The Washington Post:

...Today, however, Trump should stay atop the ticket, for four reasons. First, he will give the nation the pleasure of seeing him join the one cohort, of the many cohorts he disdains, that he most despises — “losers.” Second, by continuing to campaign in the spirit of St. Louis, he can remind the nation of the useful axiom that there is no such thing as rock bottom. Third, by persevering through Nov. 8 he can simplify the GOP’s quadrennial exercise of writing its post-campaign autopsy, which this year can be published Nov. 9 in one sentence: “Perhaps it is imprudent to nominate a venomous charlatan.” Fourth, Trump is the GOP’s chemotherapy, a nauseating but, if carried through to completion, perhaps a curative experience.

tRump Getting Talking Points Straight From Russians

This is the national security equivalent of pussgate: No excerpts. Please go read the article.

Report: Trump And Putin So Close The Kremlin Is Writing Trump's Talking Points | Crooks and Liars

tRump Really Doesn't Want To Be Alone With This Person

No, no, not this one--

Trump campaign manager's defense: We've been alone and he didn't grope me - Shareblue:

...Trump has not sexually assaulted her in seven weeks on the job, even though they have occasionally been alone together:...

...this one.

"You do remember that I'm a redneck from Arkansas?"

Herr tRumps Plans His Reich

Trump Shows His Inner Dictator - The New Yorker:

...“Because you’d be in jail,” Trump said. He drew out the last word—jay-ull—like an eight-year-old playground bully’s taunt. A Presidential candidate saying that his opponent should be behind bars—and will be, if he has anything to do with it—may be new and shocking in a Presidential debate. But it is not new in this campaign. It is, indeed, one of the most regular features of Trumpism; “Lock her up” chants are heard at almost all his rallies. That doesn’t make it less disturbing. The jail threat is jarring, in part, because it reflects what Trump understands the power of the President to be: he gets to lock her up. (Trump has a whole set of conspiracy theories based on the notion that President Obama is blackmailing Clinton with the threat that he will lock her up.) “Hillary for Prison” buttons are for sale on the Trump campaign Web site. And such threats are not new, sadly, in the world beyond America. The use of criminal law as a discretionary political tool is why, historically, some people have wanted to leave other countries to come here. Trump put an ugly smudge on that beacon...

On The tRump ReClensising

In The Abuser's House:

...Third, one notable thing is that there was that moment we've all been waiting for when Trump finally unloaded the whole oppo file on Bill. Again, that's part of the Breitbart/base GOP fantasy scenario. Indeed, in a very real sense this has been a dream moment for many on the American right for 25 years. And yet, my sense is that it basically fell flat and barely affected the rest of the debate. Like a stone falling into a pond never to be heard from again. He trotted out what all of us have been hearing from Trump and Trump surrogates for months. Indeed, it was what we've been hearing anti-Clinton critiques hitting for two decades. Did it matter? I don't think so. Saying on a stage and in front of Hillary didn't make it any newer or more consequential. It just fell flat and I don't think anyone cared...

No one who mattered really cared then; no one who really matters now cares either. The Deplorables are gonna to deplore and set their hair on fire. Sooner or later, someone will wander by and douse them with the cold water of reality.

A Little Bit On Pence

How Mike Pence defied Hoosiers and stripped Glenda Ritz of power - Shareblue:

...His positions are both contemptible and extreme, and his posture mixes the self-aggrandizing swagger of Donald Trump with the sanctimonious moralizing of Ted Cruz (whom he endorsed during the primary). In 2003, he responded to then-President George W. Bush’s proposal to send $15 billion to Africa to fight the AIDS epidemic thus: “The timeless values of abstinence and marital faithfulness before condom distribution are the cure for what ails the families of Africa. It is important that we not just send them money, but we must send them values that work.”

Under Pence’s “values,” Indiana has become a state in which the small town of Austin, with a population of 4,200, now has a higher rate of HIV than “any country in sub-Saharan Africa...”

WATB In MO

Election 2016: Misery in Missouri -- and everywhere else - CNNPolitics.com:

...Many Missourians also spoke out against the negativity in politics, both in politician and surrogates' discourse and in campaign advertising.
"I hate the ads," Hon said. "I hate it, all they do is cut each other down, and I don't think that should be part of politics. It wasn't that way when I was growing up and I think it's gotten out of control..."

Well, golly gee-whilikers, I wonder who started slinging the mud first? I guess Clinton is just supposed to sit passively on the side lines and take the endless crap flung at her from the GOP. "Lock her up! Lock her up!" Yes, you have reason to wring your hands. Who put it out of control? I believe we might can go back and look at Whitewater and blue dresses and discover the actual culprits who have lowered the level of political discourse in this country into the sewer--- and you won't find Democrats digging that hole.

Flaming tRump

An Open Letter To Donald Trump From Some Angry Women. | Drifting Through My Open Mind:

...And right now you’ve got a lot of angry women to contend with. And let me remind you, Mr. Trump… hell hath no fury like a pissed off woman who’s tired of this sexist bullshit...

Oh, I hope this fire burns bright. Women are the only hope to bring this world back from the brink of disaster. The entire planet needs nurturing now, not conquest and control, and the only way that is going to happen is if the power is taken from the miserable people like tRump and most of the GOP.

The GOP Pro-Rape Two Step

Mike Pence co-sponsored legislation that limited the definition of rape - Shareblue:

...Pence has built his career atop anti-choice measures, making Indiana one of the most unsafe places to be pregnant in the country — and now his party wants us to believe they’re horrified by Trump’s hostility toward women’s agency, even as they long for Pence to take his place.

The Republican Party’s position is essentially that sexual assault (forcing a woman to do something with her body she doesn’t want to do) is a Terrible Thing, but the denial of abortion (forcing a woman to do something with her body she doesn’t want to do) is a Moral Imperative...

Getting Them Off The Cross

Joy Reid Asks Michele Bachmann: 'So Is God Taking Down Trump?' | Crooks and Liars:

...And the American Evangelical movement is standing by Trump. That's disgusting.

Political scientist and author Corey Robin said it best:

....this tape shouldn't be used to delegitimate Trump; he's already done that six thousand times over, and I doubt anyone will be surprised by what he says here. What it should be used to delegitimate is the Christian Right, the overwhelming majority of which—according to the latest polls—is standing with this man who stands for everything they claim to oppose. Rather than discredit Trump, this tape should destroy that movement, its leaders, and the cottage industry of enabling journalists and academics who've told us for decades that we need to take "people of faith"—by which they mean the Christian Right—more seriously.

Scum And Tribalism

Paul Ryan Says Donald Trump Will No Longer Appear With Him In Wisconsin:

...But Ryan had – until this point– shown very little sign of outright distancing himself from Trump. Ryan spoke at Trump's convention and continued to voice his support for his nominee.

This is the strongest admonishment Ryan has given yet, however, he hasn't pulled his endorsement. The question of whether Ryan is finished with Trump is still to be determined.

It's the old "he is the scum of the earth," but "he is my scum of the earth" argument. It's hard to imagine that the leader of a tribe would continue to endorse such an obviously rotten member of the tribe, but I suppose membership is more important than ethics, common sense, and basic human decency, and that, in a nutshell, is the entire problem with the GOP. In no alternate universe can I imagine a tRump like Democrat still being touted by anyone in the party leadership. Of course, it is equally unlikely that anyone like tRump could win the Democratic nomination. 

Is The Guilt Sinking In?

The Rude Pundit  : "We Are In This Election..."

...We don't get here without the 25 years of right-wing demonization of Hillary Clinton. We don't get here without every fruitless investigation into something Clinton-related, all political retribution for Bill Clinton daring to be elected president and his wife daring to step out of the prescribed social role of First Lady. On NPR, the genuinely evil Michael Chertoff, who had various roles in the Bush II administration, said he was supporting Clinton this year. And while that is cause for alarm itself, here is what he said about how those investigations affected the safety of the country: "In looking back on that I realized that in the '90s we spent an enormous amount of time pursuing issues involving the Clintons' associations back in Arkansas in the '80s, Whitewater and other things, and we didn't spend nearly the same amount of time on what bin Laden was up to and others were up to in the region." This is the guy who led the probe into the Whitewater land deal, one of the earliest and longest-lasting fake Clinton scandals. He says that Clinton derangement syndrome diverted attention away from real threats...

Let's Not Forget The Other Evils

Paul Ryan's Budget Plan Should Terrify You:

...But, out in Youngstown one day, in a bar on Steel Street, an old union guy told me that this was a mistake. He remembered literally fighting the oligarchs of his day and he told me that, when they say what they want to do, they mean it. He was right.

Make no mistake when you vote this year. If they get the chance, Paul Ryan and the Republicans will do what they say they want to do. They are true believers, cult-like in their allegiance to the money power, and religious in their devotion to the alleged character-building benefits of poverty. They are not committed to building a viable political commonwealth. They are committed to something very much darker.

tRump The Vicious

Donald Trump and the Central Park Five - The Atlantic:

...Donald Trump disagrees. On Friday, he told CNN he still believes the Central Park Five committed the crime for which they have been exonerated.

"They admitted they were guilty," Trump said this week in a statement to CNN's Miguel Marquez. "The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same."

Trump’s statements are not a gaffe or a misunderstanding. They are policy. He has stood by this position for a quarter century. And, as is so often the case, he has chosen to focus his ire on racial minorities...

About That Hoodwink Of Clowns

I know where all the clowns are coming from! Remember back during the GOP primary when they had 16 candidates in the Clown Car? Well, little did we know that they actually had a big, old convoy of clown cars. It was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June when they first started escaping. Soon, they became feral clowns roaming the woods and sleeping under bridges, trying to find a mental health clause in Obamacare. Now, in desperation, they are trying to scare kids away from the polling places, many of which are located in schools. Film at eleven.

Corporate Tax Dodgers

Offshore Shell Games 2015 | CTJReports:

...Fortune 500 companies are holding more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore for tax purposes. Just 30 Fortune 500 companies account for 65 percent of these offshore profits. These 30 companies with the most money offshore have booked $1.4 trillion overseas for tax purposes.

Only 57 Fortune 500 companies disclose what they would expect to pay in U.S. taxes if these profits were not officially booked offshore. In total, these 57 companies would owe $184.4 billion in additional federal taxes. Based on these 57 corporations’ public disclosures, the average tax rate that they have collectively paid to foreign countries on these profits is a mere 6.0 percent, indicating that a large portion of this offshore money has been booked in tax havens. If we apply that average tax rate of 6.0 percent to the entirety of Fortune 500 companies, they would collectively owe $620 billion in additional federal taxes. Some of the worst offenders include:...

Young Clinton Defends Bunnies

Right Wing Blog Charges Young Hillary Was Fierce Protector Of Baby Bunnies | Crooks and Liars:

...Klein interviewed a grammar school classmate of Hillary's, who told "the story of being ordered by Hillary to guard a warren of baby rabbits, and not give any of them away to neighborhood boys. When he did, [the classmate] recalled, 'Hillary hauled off and punched me in the nose.'" Ed Klein concludes, "She’s been using people as punching bags ever since."

So let me get this straight. Grade school Hillary and a male classmate found a baby rabbits' nest, and Hillary admonished the boy to not grab baby bunnies from their nest and distribute them to neighborhood boys, and then he DID?...

Abortion And The Dems

Christian Post op-ed advocating Clinton for anti-abortion voters gains traction - Shareblue:

...Author Eric Sapp laid out the case that voters who care about the facts regarding abortion rates should look to Democrats, past and present, as leaders on these issues:...

tRump Courts The Dying

I will never say the words "This campaign can't get any weirder" because....

At Nevada Rally, Trump Woos The Terminally Ill Demographic | Crooks and Liars:

..."I don't care how sick you are," the Republican nominee said.

"I don't care if you just came back from the doctor and he gave you the worst possible prognosis, meaning it's over. Doesn't matter. Hang out till November 8. Get out and vote."

I guess if you're terminally ill and bitter you might consider a vote for Trump to be your final middle finger to the world. But I think most people about to meet their maker might think about what world they want to leave behind.

tRump Saved By Daddy's Money

Donald Trump's Tax Records: A Tale of Business Failures:

...That would be an inspirational and potentially effective comeback if not for one problem: Trump flopped long before his casino bankruptcies, causing huge losses that wiped out his tax obligations. And the primary way he avoided bankruptcy those times was not through any personal skill, but because of an accident of birth—his wealthy father, who set him up in business, bailed Trump out...

Clowning Around With Firearms

Congratulations, Adam Tingle! You’re Our 2nd Amendment Hero Du Jour | Southern Beale

Does my costume scare you?

Xians And tRump

Apparently, it's all about parts: ladies and babies, for this writer, who is the spokesmen for all Christians, or so one could infer from his writing. I'm a Christian, bub, and you don't speak for me. I think you can actually boil his whole long column down to the usual fear of losing power. Right now, Xians get their religion recognized over all others, including the growing number of atheists and agnostics who certainly aren't getting any holidays or mottoes recognizing their beliefs forced on the public. 

The uncomfortable truth about Christian support for Trump | Blogs | Lifesitenews:

The Left is sure that Trump would end the world as they know it. Christians fear that Clinton would turn the United States of America into a hostile nation for them to live in. And thus, the two sides will never see eye-to-eye.

Clinton Snags Another Major Endorsement

The Atlantic Backs Clinton In Its 3rd Presidential Endorsement In 159 Years:

The Atlantic has endorsed just three presidential candidates in its 159-year history: Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, and now, in 2016, Hillary Clinton.

Clinton, the publication’s endorsement reads, “has more than earned, through her service to the country as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state, the right to be taken seriously as a White House contender...”

LePage Was tRump Before tRump Was tRump

Yo, America: Maine Already Tried The Whole Trump Thing. It Didn’t Work.:

...Like would be the case with a President Trump, our Governor has been so busy tending to his chronic case of diarrhea of the mouth that he has been completely unable to govern the state. Not only has his governorship been functionally a disaster for our state, it’s made us a national embarrassment time and time again...

HuffPo Calls Pence A Liar

 And "Liar Liar Pence On Fire" is the best headline I've seen lately. Mike Pence To America: Trump Never Said Those Things He Said | Huffington Post:

Donald Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R), spent much of the first and only vice presidential debate Tuesday night doing his damnedest to get Americans to forget all of the offensive things Trump has said...

Fox Business Thinks tRump Is RayGun

Wow. "Blue collar billionaire" is one of the lesser bits of nonsense from this writer at Fox Business. There's much more if you can take it. Donald Trump: A President for All Americans | Fox Business