Politics – Page 895 – Politics Plus

Everyday Erinyes

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:10 am Politics

Aug 132016

I have a few items today which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."

First, though, before handing off to the Furies, I want to follow up on July 30's story about "National Whistleblowers Appreciation Day." You may recall I quoted from John Kiriakou and Tom Drake, and mentioned Jeffrey Sterling not being available as he is still locked up. I have since received an email forwarded by Roots Action from his wife, Holly. She states that he has served a bit over one year of his three-and-a-half year sentence, and there are a few things we can do ourselves.

The need is threefold. First, he is not getting appropriate attention for serious cardiac medical issues. He has a history of atrial fibrillation (in the past he has been hospitalized for it) and is now experiencing chest pains, shortness of breath, and dizziness. Holly has written to the Warden about his medical conditon, and has received no answer. She would really appreciate if anyone who can would contact the prison warden, Deborah Denham, to advocate for medical attention for Jeffrey. The email address is ENG slash ExecAssistant at bop dot gov (I'm spelling it the long way to avoid a link that's not to a site) and the phone number 303-763-4300. (Personal note from me: if I can come up with any more accuracy or other alternatives I will add it/them in a comment.)

Second – I vividly remember when John Kiriakou was incarcerated how the family, his wife and three little girls, were up against the wall just to try to make the mortgage payments, and on top of that, they did not put him in the nearest prison, so that visiting was a challenge both in terms of energy and financially. (They also threatened "diesel therapy" – a creative term for moving him between prisons without notice.) Firedoglake was collecting for John, and, with help, they did not lose their home. The Sterlings have a Sterling Family Fund set up for them on GoFundMe. They want to appeal his conviction, and Holly would like to make the 800-plus mile trip to visit him once in a while, and both require money. (There's also more background information there, should you be interested.)

Third, for those of us who are not locked up, it may be impossible to realize how much words of encouragement can mean. Even if it's just a card. He can receive snailmail at

JEFFREY STERLING, 38338-044
FCI Englewood
Federal Correctional Institution
9595 West Quincy Avenue
Littleton, CO 80123

And, yes, there is a petition . It also has more background.

Now, moving right along, I'll whip quickly through a few stories of jaw-dropping – something. First, let's go to Indiana, specifically to South Bend, where, in 2012, Vivian Franklin awakened to loud pounding on her door between three and four in the morning. Three (warrantless) police officers shining a flashlight in her eyes barged in. They were looking for Dan, Vivian's older son, who was not there. This did not stop them from hauling her younger son, DeShawn, 17, out of bed and assaulting him with fists and tasers. In the process, a taser probe got stuck in DeShawn's side; the officers were unable to remove it and had to call an ambulance and EMT's to do so. (I am restraining my snark here.)

Where the incident goes right through the Looking Glass is that, while DeShawn was shouting he was not Dan, and Vivian was shouting DeShawn was not Dan, and the officers were insisting Dan must be there because they had trailed him to the home – Dan showed up. Whereupon the officers opted not to arrest him.

So in March, 2013 the Franklins reasonably filed suit. Named in the suit were the three officers, the city, the mayor, and the police chief. Finally, this year, the suit was adjudicated in Fort Wayne.

The jury found that the Franklins' constitutional rights had been violated. They awarded damages of ONE DOLLAR. Yes, you read that right. One dollar.

Grudging, I would say. Megaera, I woudn't stop with the officers, the city, the mayor, and the police chief. I'd definitely follow up with that jury. Perhaps Indiana, or at least South Bend, really did deserve Mike Pence.

Let's now go to Watauga, Texas, where an unidentified man made a threat in a phone message to a local mosque, in which he threatened to decapitate Muslims who attended it.

The caller identified as a "Christian." Police in Watauga are investigating but aren't treating it as a direct threat at the moment. the FBI has also been notified.

Of course, Tisiphone, you will want to find this person. But almost more chilling was the remark that "a caller made explicitly violent threats that went well beyond the kind of verbal abuse callers normally level against the mosque."

It should NOT be "normal" for callers to "level verbal abuse" against ANY person or group. And it is un-American that this happens.

So you may be digging out a long, long list.

Finally for this week, this happened in Punta Gorda , FL (one of only a few states we might expect it in). I'll just quote:

A woman, identified as Mary Knowlton, was selected to participate in a “shoot or don’t shoot” training exercise at the Punta Gorda Police Academy. She was selected at random from a group of 35 citizens who were participating in a two hour Citizens Academy—a program created to teach local civics to civilians.

Mary Knowlton, 73, was shot during a role-play scenario in which the Punta Gorda police officer was playing a “bad guy” and fired several times at the woman who was supposed to be playing the victim, according to Sue Paquin, a photographer who was covering the event for the Sun and witnessed the incident.

Knowlton was transported to Lee Memorial Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Mrs. Knowlton was originally from Austin, Minnesota and was retired in Punta Gorda. She had been a librarian in Scott County, Minnesota.

This incident may reflect more stupidity than malice (and once again I need to restrain my snark/sarcasm). But things like this happen all the time. Alecto, maybe you can inject some sense here. I certainly hope so.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/4004933

Friday Fun – What’s Red, Yellow, Green, Brown & 75 Years Old?

Posted by SoINeedAName at 2:09 pm Politics

Aug 122016

If you guessed M&M’s – you win!

This year the Mars Candy Company, maker of M&M’s, is celebrating its 75^th Anniversary in a big way – with many different options available to “Celebrate With M”. But let’s take a look at its history and some fun facts.

It’s a fairly well known fact that M&M’s began their existence as an exclusive military ration – yep, ration – for soldiers during World War II at the government’s request. And that’s because, as their slogan goes, “They melt in your mouth – not in your hand!” Although that slogan actually wasn’t introduced until 1954 – the same year they introduced Peanut M&M’s. (Trivia Tidbit: Forrest Mars – M&M’s inventor – was allergic to peanuts, so he never got to taste one of his Peanut M&M’s.)

When the military contacted Mars about supplying the candy, they were originally packaged in cardboard tubes. They were easier to ship, more durable to carry around and easier to pour and reclose out in the battlefield.

The cardboard tubes gained a large and loyal following with the GIs, but Mars didn’t switch over to the familiar brown bag until 1948. And in celebration of their 75^th, some stores now carry 12 different types of the retro-packaging (but I haven’t seen it).

But how did they actually come into being? It all started back in 1911 when Frank C. Mars made his first Mars confections in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen. Then in the 1920s his son, Forrest E. Mars, Sr., joined his father in business. But they had such a falling out that in 1932 Forrest moved to England to try going it alone. On a visit to Spain during that country’s civil war, he observed soldiers eating chocolate candies encased in a hard, sugary shell.

Forrest Mars was well aware that chocolate sales always drastically dropped in the heat of the summer months – for obvious reasons. And in addition to observing the Spanish Civil War soldiers enjoying their coated chocolates, when he got back to England he noted the British candy maker Rowntree’s of York had come out with Smarties, a similar hard-shelled chocolate candies. So borrowing both the inspiration and the actual product, Forrest Mars developed a manufacturing process for M&M's Chocolate Candies, moved back to the States, patented it, and in 1941 began making them in a factory in Newark, New Jersey.

So what does M&M actually stand for? Well, “Mars” would certainly be one of the Ms. And the other is for “Murrie”.

After Mars came up with his patent for M&M's, he approached Bruce Murrie who happened to be the son of Hershey’s Company president William Murrie, about a joint business venture. Not only was Murrie good for the money, but he was also a strategic partner for Mars since Hershey’s had major control for the production of rationed chocolate during World War II. And for the first few years M&M's were made using Hershey’s chocolate. But Forrest Mars, as with his father, had another falling out, and so in 1949 Mars bought out Murrie for $1 million and took control of the company.

Later, Mars moved his main manufacturing to its current site in Hackettstown, NJ in 1958 – and the plant is HUGE! It encompasses over 460,000 square feet and its 1,500 employees produce about half of all the M&M’s made in America. Two other plants (Cleveland, TN and Topeka, KS) make the rest.

The New Jersey factory – the company’s largest – produces 2 billion M&M’s every eight hours … or more than 4 million made every minute … or 69,000 every second. And it takes about 8 hours to make just one! Most of the time is spent tumbling in the shell-coating vat where they are constantly sprayed for 5-7 HOURS.

While plain M&M’s are the #1 selling candy in the world, the peanut variety are #2 in the US, behind Reese’s Pieces, with Snickers (also a Mars product) #3 and plain M&M’s #4. And M&M’s account for over $1 billion in sales of Mars’ $33 billion annual sales take. (Mars does make a lot of other things besides candy.)

And M&M’s might not be second to Reese’s Pieces if they hadn’t blown their chance for cinema placement stardom. While preparing to film his movie “E.T.”, Steven Spielberg first approached Mars to see if he could use M&M's in the scene where Elliott tries to lure the shy alien out from the forest with candy. For whatever reason (and it’s not clear exactly why), Mars turned down the offer. BIG MISTAKE! So Spielberg then went to Hershey’s, who pounced on the opportunity. But Spielberg had actually wanted to them use Hershey Kisses – but the Hershey’s insisted he use its new Reese’s Pieces candies. The result, as they say, is history.

But while Mars missed a major promotional opportunity with “E.T.”, they did recover a bit with “Candy the Cow” – an M&M cow made of 67,000 M&M's, all of which were painstakingly individually placed by hand. “Candy the Cow” made her debut at the 1990 Erie County Fair, and even appeared on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.

The original M&M's colors were red, orange, yellow, green and violet. But the now-iconic signature “M” wasn’t stamped on the candies until 1950 – nine years after its inception. And originally it was in black rather than white – the change to white happened four years later, in 1954.

Forrest Mars demanded that the “M” appear perfectly in the center of each candy, and would go around buying bags to ensure his demand was carried out. His employees speculate that his split with Murrie just one year earlier is the reason why there is just one “M” on each piece.

Back in the early ‘70s, there was a Russian study that link the red food dye amaranth (popularly known as Red No. 2) to cancer in humans. Before subsequent testing showed the results to be erroneous, the Food and Drug Administration “out of an abundance of caution” decided to ban its use in America in 1976. And although red M&M's didn’t actually even use Red No. 2, the company pulled the color and replaced it with orange to avoid any confusion. For an entire decade the favored red M&M stayed on the bench, until reintroduced in 1986.

In the mid ‘90s, Mars concluded that there was no need to have both a tan and brown M&M. so the tan ones were eliminated. But to counter the disappointment, they decided to have a contest for its replacement with selection between pink, purple or blue where customers got to vote for the winner. It was a huge promotional success, and blue won.

Many of us are familiar with Van Halen demanding that there be lots of M&M’s available at their concert venue – but NO BROWN ONES! He’d check, and if he found a brown one, he’d cancel the concert. But I wasn’t aware of this tidbit, and no one know how or why, but a rumor began circulating that the green ones had aphrodisiac properties. Taking advantage of this apocryphal story, Mars launched a limited-edition run of all-green M&M’s for Valentine’s Day in 2008.

Interestingly, Google headquarters had a unique problem with M&M’s. Google provides LOTS of perks to their employees, and one of them was an unlimited and ubiquitous supply of M&M’s. And their employees were eating too many of them … costing them a fortune! So in true to Google-mode, they brought a team of PhDs in to look into the problem, and they concluded that it was all a matter of easy access. You could hardly travel anywhere in their offices without running into an attractively displayed bowl of M&M’s. So they cut back on the opportunity for easy-snacking, put them in opaque bowls and started offering fruit as an alternative. And amazingly enough 3.1 million fewer calories were consumed over a seven-week period among the New York office’s 2,000 employees!

It’s mind-boggling the variety of M&M products available. According to the M&M’s website the list includes: Peanut Butter, Crispy, Pretzel, Dark Chocolate, Almond, Dark Mint, and Dark Chocolate Peanut varieties, as well as an M&M’s Chocolate Bar and M&M’s Mega, marketed as “The World’s Biggest M&M’s” with three times more chocolate than usual. There are also the M&M’s Minis, White Chocolate, Triple Chocolate, Coconut, Orange Chocolate, Raspberry, White Chocolate Candy Corn, Wildly Cherry, Mocha, Cinnamon Milk Chocolate, Razzberry Chocolate, Strawberried Peanut Butter, and Raspberry Almond varieties, among others. And just last August, M&M’s unveiled Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Spice Latte M&M’s for the fall season.

But if you didn’t think there were enough combinations and permutations already available, to help “Celebrate the M” for its 75^th, they had another consumer contest this spring that closed June 17 to select a new flavor between Chili Nut, Honey Nut and Coffee Nut. And Coffee Nut won. (Has anyone tried any of these?)

And as part of their “Celebrate With M” (and unlike Trump) Mars is honoring its origin as a military ration during World War II by actually donating $750,000 of products to Operation Gratitude that will be placed in military care packages throughout 2016.

So pop an M&M of your favorite variety and in one of its TWENTY-FIVE available colors, and “Celebrate With M”

RESOURCES

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/03/03/mms-75th-anniversary/81173224/

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mms-turns-75-years-young-and-launches-year-long-celebration-for-fans-300230653.html

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/03/mms_turn_75_how_the_nj_candy_has_changed_over_the.html#0

http://mentalfloss.com/article/69163/15-melt-your-mouth-facts-about-mms

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/05/mms_mars_factory_hackettstown_nj.html

Personal Update – 8/12/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:14 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 122016

I’m about to leave for my routine appointment with Megan, my PCP. Now that she’s back from maternity leave, I won’t be the red headed step child, passed from hand to hand, anymore. I’m quite tired after yesterday, but it was great to get out for a few hours. Terry and Sandi tossed my power chair into the trunk, and we went to Denny’s for a chat, mostly about the unfair Parole Board practice that allows prosecutors and those opposing release unlimited witnesses to testify, but allows prisoners only one witness to testify for them. The prisoner can have only an attorney or a witness, not both. One of my guys went to the Board a while back, and his victim’s family were not allowed to speak on his behalf. JD, Terry returns your greetings. She also sends greetings to the gent with whom she spoke. I presume he needs a name. Portland is under an excessive heat warning, so I’ll wait to publish this until I return, so you’ll know I made it home safely.

I’m hone, hot, and pooped!! Hugs!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:00 (average 4:37). To do it, click here. How did you do.

Cartoon:

0812Cartoon-TCPooped

Open Thread – 8/11/2016

Posted by TomCat at 9:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 112016

I don’t know whether or not I’ll get this published before my prison volunteer friends get here. The plan is to fold up my chair, toss it in the trunk, and discuss plans over lunch. Tomorrow I go to my Primary Care doctor. Today’s high is forecast at 85° and tomorrow’s, 99°. There is no cool weather forecast through the 20th. I’m ready for Autumn, but not Winter.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:35 (average 4:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From KP Daily Funnies: Watch Trump Contradict Himself On Almost Every Issue

Barf Bag Alert!!

Rump Dump clearly gets a PhD in Bullshitology: Piled Higher and Deeper

From The New Yorker: The Republican nominee Donald Trump tore into the media on Thursday for what he called their “extremely unfair practice” of reporting the things he says.

“I’ll say something at a rally and I look out and see all these TV cameras taking every word down,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “No one in politics has ever been subjected to this kind of treatment.”

“It’s unbelievable and, frankly, very unethical,” he added.

At a rally in Florida, the candidate lashed out at a TV cameraman whom he caught in the act of recording his words for broadcasting purposes.

“Look at him over there, picking up everything I’m saying, folks,” Trump shouted. “Get him out of here.”

In his interview with Fox, Trump hinted that he might drop out of this fall’s televised Presidential debates if the media continues its practice of reporting the things he says.

Andy still hasn’t returned to satire.

From Daily Kos: This morning I received a message from one of our Coffee Party USA Newsroom monitors about a prescient message from one of our readers. The message touched me because unlike many notes that we receive and read in the social media ethos and listen to from a politically charged narrative, this message shows that candidates and the laws they support have a real, measurable socio-economic impact.

Following is the entire well-written note he sent us in its entirety.

A message to the millennial LGBT’s I see on my feed bashing Hillary on a daily basis by re spewing the republican lies and propaganda about her & vowing to vote for Jill Stein or write in Bernie….

My husband Steve & I have been together over 26 years now, & btw it’s been less than 3 years that I’ve been able to call him that, and though it’s about so much more than the money, we’ve saved over $42,000.00 in that short of time by being able to file taxes as a married couple, and by having him on my health insurance.

We’ve been waiting & fighting for that equality since before most of you were born.

Your third party or write in vote only helps elect Donald Trump, check your history books, when was the last time one of those won a presidential election?

You often quote that Hillary stated that she was against marriage equality, she did, but that was years ago when just about every other liberal politician had to say that too just to get elected, btw we’ve received more equality in just 7 years under our current president who also evolved on marriage equality.

Though you don’t hear about it much in the so called liberal media, Trump vows to appoint supreme court justices that will overturn marriage equality, says he’s ok with the anti LGBT law in North Carolina & other states & has selected the countries most hateful anti LGBT Governor as his running mate.

Often the younger generations thank Steve & I for helping pave the way for acceptance & equality, as we appreciate & thank the ones that came before us.

To see you, however inadvertently it might be, help pave the way back to the 50’s is just unfathomable to me, I’m closing in on 60 years old & really don’t want to have to start over from square one.

#lovetrumpshate Robert Hansen

Steve Schneider Oakbrook Terrace Illinois

I could not have said it better.

Cartoon:

How Trump Gets Away with Treason

Posted by TomCat at 2:46 pm Politics

Aug 102016

Seldom does a day go by that Rump Dump Trump or one of his close Republican Aides does not signal his followers to achieve through violence what he is unable to accomplish through his normal flood of hatred. But lately, he has been calling for the assassination of the President of the United States, if he is not elected. I learned how he gets away with treason.

Over half a century ago, Clarence Brandenburg stood before a small gathering of his fellow Ku Klux Klansmen dressed in full Klan regalia. “We’re not a revengent organization,” Brandenburg told the gathered bigots, “but if our President, our Congress, our Supreme Court, continues to suppress the white, Caucasian race, it’s possible that there might have to be some revengeance taken.”

On Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominee made a statement that was far more similar to Brandenberg’s than one would expect from someone who wants to become the Leader of the Free World. “If [Hillary Clinton] gets to pick her judges — there’s nothing you can do, folks,” Donald Trump told a campaign rally. Then he added an allusion to violence: “although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”

Both statements contained calls to violence against the speakers’ political opponents. And, at least under the letter of the law, there’s a plausible argument that Trump’s statement was illegal. One federal law provides that “whoever knowingly and willfully threatens to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon . . . a major candidate for the office of President or Vice President, or a member of the immediate family of such candidate” commits a federal felony. Another provides that someone who intentionally solicits another person to “engage in conduct constituting a felony that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against property or against the person of another in violation of the laws of the United States” may also face criminal charges.

But such a prosecution would be unconstitutional, thanks to a case that Brandenburg brought up to the Supreme Court. Donald Trump, arguably the most important racist leader in the United States for a generation, is the direct beneficiary of Brandenburg’s racist speech and the legal rule that emerged from it.

In the wake of his suggestion that “there might have to be some revengeance taken” against the president and other high officials, Brandenburg was prosecuted under an Ohio law that punishes individuals who “‘advocate or teach the duty, necessity, or propriety’ of violence ‘as a means of accomplishing industrial or political reform.’” But the Supreme Court ruled that, under the First Amendment, mere advocacy of violence cannot be a crime absent much more…

From <Think Progress>

In my opinion, Brandenburg v. Ohio was wrongly decided. The next President will likely choose four Supreme Court Justices. They will be chosen by Clinton or by Trump. There are no other possibilities. On the plus side, if we can break the Republican stranglehold on the Court, maybe we can challenge and overturn such miscarriages of justice. That is my hope.

Open Thread – 8/10/2016

Posted by TomCat at 2:46 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 102016

Wendy has returned to her day job as a Secretary in a school, so my Wednesday fluff, buff and stuff is moving to late afternoon/early evening. It’s also a grocery delivery day. They come early/mid afternoon. So the only time for a commando Lona nap was this morning, and I took it. Tomorrow I’m meeting with the gals with whom I do volunteer work in prison, and Friday I have an appointment with Megan, my PCP, who has finally returned from maternity leave. Therefore, it’s likely that I will publish only a Personal Update and send no links messages both days. The heat is returning. I was watching Olympics while eating breakfast this morning, and Australia was playing the Netherlands in Beach Volleyball. I thought of Lona and how that must be difficult for her.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 4:38). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From KP Daily Funnies: Daily Show: Donald Trump Predicts a Rigged Election

Click through to warch the video clip. The embed code is defective.

Of course it’s funny, but that’s because it touches on reality.

From Crooks and Liars: Joe Scarborough did some serious mansplaining this morning for Mika, saying her opinion meant nothing to Republicans who have to figure out what to do about Donald Trump.

Scarborough sure went into BS mode to cover his Republican sexism. For a minute I thought Mika, Joe’s submissive token Democrat, was actually growing a pair!

From Alternet: A recent analysis of more than 100 industry documents conducted by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, has revealed that the oil industry knew of the risks that their business posed to the global climate decades before originally suspected.

It has also long been assumed that, in their efforts to deceive investors and the public about the negative impact their business has on the environment, Big Oil borrowed Big Tobacco’s so-called tactical “playbook.” But, as these documents indicate, that infamous playbook appears to have actually originated within the oil industry itself.

If that is true, it would be highly significant—and damning for Big Oil—because the tactics used by the tobacco industry to downplay the connection between smoking and cancer were eventually deemed to have violated federal racketeering laws by a federal court. The ruling dashed efforts by Big Tobacco to find legal cover under the First Amendment, which just happens to be the same strategy that ExxonMobil and its GOP allies are currently using to defend the company against allegations of fraud. If the playbook was in fact created by the oil and gas industry and then later used by ExxonMobil, it ruins the company’s argument of plausible deniability, making it highly likely that the company violated federal law.

Bring it on!! Sue the bastards, recover the $billions, and invest them in green energy development!!

Cartoon:

5 Delusional Right-Wing Moments This Week

Posted by Lynn Squance at 1:43 am Politics

Aug 102016

Almost every week, Republicans join a competition to see who can say the most outlandish things, and in the process, they push the envelope on just how awful InsaniTEA can become. I trust that you will believe it, when I tell you that last week was no exception. Now that the RNC is over, the Trump team is ramping up the craziness! I wonder if Trump has figured out yet that there is no "I" in TEAM!

By no reasonable measure did Donald Trump have what is traditionally defined as a good week. As the candidate sunk to unforeseen new lows, speculation abounded about whether he might be mentally ill, Fox Newsians openly snickered about him and Republicans leaders began to publicly decamp.

But it’s been mighty hard to look away from the crashing and burning. Here are some of the lowlights from the Trump-o-verse during the week that was.

4. Sean Hannity apparently did not get the memo.

It’s hard to pluck out the most embarrassing thing Trump did or said this week given that he inhabits what has politely been called by the Poynter Institute a “post-fact world.” One excellent candidate for the booby prize was his claim to have seen a top-secret video of $400 million in ransom being taken off a plane in Iran to pay for hostages, a video which does not exist. Full stop. Over and out.

Uncharacteristically, faced with incontrovertible evidence, even Trump sort of admitted he was mistaken—that the plane he saw was actually in Geneva, that he saw it on TV and it was a "nice plane," and that it didn’t have money on it. And having set the truth bar so very low, Trump was even praised by some for making this brave and exceedingly rare admission that he may have gotten a few facts wrong.

But this did not prevent Trump fanboy and frontrunner for dumbest Fox Newsian Sean Hannity from continuing to perpetuate the myth of the Iran tape. In fairness, Hannity was still reeling from being called an idiot by Wall Street Journal editor Bret Stephens ("he’s the dumb ass,” Hannity retorted. Ooh, good one), so he may have missed Trump’s tweeted correction.

Having defended every other insane, racist and inflammatory thing Trump has said, Hannity swung into action to repeat Trump’s already retracted claim.

“You know, we now have video of the ransom that Iran is now showing," Hannity told a guest. "You know, for all the talk about how the president talked about, well, this great new Iranian deal, and we give them $150 billion, we give them $400 million in cash and I guess euros and francs, and we send it in an unmarked cargo plane and it’s on pallets and they get the cash.”

And that's going to be used for terrorism yada-yada.

Hannity, always putting his intellectual gifts on display for the sake of the republic.

From Alternet — Click through for the other four delusional right-wing moments from last week. It truly is amazing how the right-wing just keeps giving and giving. I expect we will be posting another article next week about the disgusting things said by Trump and Team Trump since it is reported that he is turning up the trash talk. Hey, when you have no ideas about policies that help the electorate, trash talk is all you have according to Trump.

Squatch’s Open Thread 09/08/2016

Posted by Lynn Squance at 1:43 am Open Thread, Politics

Aug 102016

It has been about 2 weeks since I last posted an article. My laptop has been in and out of the computer hospital, and it is too difficult on my knees to be sitting at my desktop long enough to put a post together. But the laptop, Bella, is working great now. We had rain last night and this morning which was very welcomed. Temperatures have cooled, at least for a few days, which makes me very happy. The furbabes are happy about that too. I completed the dreaded task today, and I am in the process of cleaning out my clothes closet. Every time I open the doors, there are 3 babes that dart in getting fur all over everything! Have a good week.

Short Takes

Alternet — Donald Trump was out of the spotlight for a while last week, and that was very hard to abide. When people did talk about him, they were mostly saying not nice things. Imagine that! Things like, “That’s treason,” when he invited Russia to interfere with an American election. Things like, “How dare you not release your tax returns as every candidate for president has done in modern history?”

The Democrats had put on a good show with plenty of razzle-dazzle, and that hurt. When Trump awoke from his semi-subdued state, it was as if he was determined to prove every damn negative thing that had been said about him was true.

Temperamentally unfit to serve as commander-in-chief? “I’ll show you,” he roared!

Photo Credit: FlickR/IoSonoUnaFotoCamera

5. Confused Republicans seem not to understand the concept of acting.

It was bad enough that there were so many more truly A-list celebrities at the DNC in Philadelphia than at the RNC in Cleveland. Worse still, there were glamorous big celebs in the audience in Philly—who weren’t even speaking—whereas people in pinwheel hats, open carry nuts and followers of Alex Jones mostly graced Cleveland with their presence.CBC

One celeb in Philly in particular confused the hell out of conservatives. American Sniper Chris Kyle sat right there in the audience of the DNC. Well, not actually Chris Kyle, but the actor who portrayed him, Bradley Cooper. Same thing, right?

“Traitor!” tweeted some conservative idiots unfamiliar with the concept of acting. One called “USA Citizen” was enraged: “Bradley Cooper’s DNC appearance indicates his next role will be Jihadi John. Liberal piece of (emoticon of smiling pile of brown stuff.)"

We think we know which party is offering a steaming pile of shit this election season.

This is the fifth of 5 Stupidest Right-Wing Moments This Week from the week ending 31/07/2016. And just like the title suggests, stupidity reigns supreme with Republicans. Click through for the other four.

CBC — Canadians widely believe that President Donald Trump would be bad for Canada. Fully 78 per cent of respondents said that a Trump presidency would be "bad" or "very bad" for Canada, an increase of 16 points from when Insights West polled on this question shortly after Donald Trump entered the race for the Republican nomination a year ago. Only 13 per cent of respondents thought President Trump would be good for Canada.

While there is far less worry about what the Democratic nominee would mean for Canada (and given the choice between the two, Canadians would opt for Clinton in a landslide), opinions on the former first lady and secretary of state are still divided. Just under half, or 47 per cent, of those polled thought that a victory by Hillary Clinton would be good for this country, while 37 per cent thought it would be bad for Canada.

In a related CBC article, Éric Grenier, political analyst and pollster for the CBC, wrote on 01/08/2016

After closing the gap on Hillary Clinton in the polls, Donald Trump is closer to taking the White House today than he has ever been before. But there is one way the Democrats could virtually ensure their party's hold on the presidency — making Canada the 51st state.

That's obviously not going to happen. But Canadians would be among the most reliable Democrats if, well, they were Americans instead. …

Trump is deeply unpopular in Canada. The Mainstreet survey gave him a favourability rating of just 15 per cent, with 75 per cent of Canadians saying they hold an unfavourable view of the Republican nominee. Clinton, on the other hand, scored a favourability rating of 62 per cent, against 24 per cent unfavourable.

In another related CBC article, Grenier provides the following polling numbers from the US (interactive display at site)

**Presidential Poll Tracker – Electoral College at 07/08/2016**
Hillary Clinton – Democrat	Donald Trump – Republican
347 Projected Votes	191 Projected Votes
HIGH: 374	HIGH: 265
LOW: 273	LOW: 164

Of course, the only true poll is the one done in the polling booth. Let's hope that Éric Grenier is correct.

Youtube — And now, some truth in humour from John Oliver. I think he is the only one who can make the Republican National Convention seem humourous.

My Universe — Can you find the cat in the woodpile?

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