1/ I think we are at the point now after the first debate that we can conclude Trump supporters, including your neighbors with yard signs or bumper stickers on their trucks, are either stupid, racist bigots or both.
The bigots have been suppressing their hate for decades because open discrimination against minorities has been unacceptable in middle class society, but Trump has unleashed these people and they are now out in the open, unashamed....
The Republican Party, which has been using racial dog whistles for many years, is now captured by the bigots.
It will be the key question of the next few years where this ends up......
Donald Trump supporters at a campaign rally at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida, August 11, 2016. (Credit: Reuters/Eric Thayer)
There has been a lot of talk over this presidential campaign about the lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton compared with the excitement and energy among Donald Trump’s followers. It is a bit overblown; there are plenty of highly enthusiastic Clinton fans who are very excited to see the first woman president.
But it is nonetheless true that Trump has inspired a group of remarkably passionate and committed followers. And while many of these people have legitimate economic gripes that are finding expression in Trump’s “angry outsider” populism, what electrifies many of them is something else entirely.
They chant, “Build that wall!” and “Lock her up!” They cheer wildly when Trump says he will ban Muslims and send refugees back where they came from. They catcall the media and shove and hit protesters while Trump cheers them on from the stage. They enthusiastically endorse his promise to torture terrorist suspects and “take out their families” and cheerfully back his calls to let the police take the gloves off to restore law and order. They wear overtly misogynist T-shirts that say “Trump That Bitch” and “Hillary Sucks, But Not Like Monica.” (A new slogan has recently been added to the collection: “I wish Hillary had married O.J.”)
2/ The Presidential debate from SNL with Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon......eight amusing minutes.....
Former 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin helped Saturday Night Live kick off its 42nd season by portraying Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in a cold open that satirized this week’s first presidential debate, but along with Kate McKinnon‘s dead-on Hillary Clinton impression, Baldwin and company mostly re-enacted the surreal debate almost exactly as it happened.
Baldwin nailed many of Trump’s mannerisms, including an observant bit on the real estate mogul’s pronunciation of “China,” and McKinnon capably portrayed Clinton’s polished delivery and coolness under Trump’s self-inflicted fire.
3/ Mary found this amazing letter in the comment section of Salon, under a story on Sean Hannity.......read it and ponder the story just above [#1].....
Dear Mr. Trump,
It’s taken me a while to realize this and to admit it, but I’m grateful to you.
For the past few months I’ve spent a good deal of time lamenting your campaign and the poison it has so effortlessly generated. I’ve watched our country imploding, our public discourse become polluted, our political climate grows ever more corrosive, and wrongly assumed you were to blame.
It’s only lately I’ve come to understand that you haven’t manufactured our current national ugliness—you’ve simply revealed it.
By saying the irresponsible, mean-spirited, ignorant things you say so freely and so frequently, you’ve given other like-minded people license to do the same. You’ve opened up the floodgates for our corporate sewage to flow fully. People no longer conceal their vile mess, they now revel in it, they broadcast it and retweet it.
You’ve made bigotry and racism socially acceptable again and that has been a kind of twisted gift because it’s allowed me to really see people; not as they pretend to be on the surface—but in the very depths of their wounded, weaponized hearts.
Over and over as your campaign has persisted, your supporters would tell me that they like you because you “speak your mind”. It wasn’t until recently that I’ve realized that you speak their minds. You’ve given credence to their prejudices and made those prejudices go mainstream.
Thanks to the terrible ground you’ve broken, politicians, pastors, friends, and strangers, both in person and on social media now regularly out themselves as hateful, intolerant, and malicious—and they remind me just how close they are to me, just how deep the sickness in us runs, and just how far we have to go together.
You’ve emboldened people to be open about things they used to conceal for the sake of decorum, and though it turns my stomach, I know that this is the only way we can move forward; to have that cancerous stuff exposed fully so that it can be dealt with. Our progress as a nation is predicated on authentic dialogue, no matter how brutal and disheartening that dialogue is.
In other words, you’ve let us know what we’re really dealing with here and while it’s been rightly disturbing, it’s also been revelatory. That’s the thing about that kind of harsh light: you’re forced to see everything. Beauty and monstrosity equally illuminated.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think you’re the least qualified, least knowledgeable Presidential candidate we may ever have had participate this far into the process, and if you somehow were elected I’d fear gravely for the world my children would inherit—should it survive your Presidency at all. I believe you’re reckless, bitter, and completely reprehensible; the very worst kind of bully.
But whether you win or lose, you’ve already allowed me the blessing of Truth; about me, about you, about other candidates, about our nation.
And in the process you’ve also shown me that I am not alone in resisting you and this ugly thing you’ve revealed about us.
You’ve generated an equally loud, equally passionate response to it and this is where I find my hope these days.
I find it in those for whom equality isn’t just a cheap buzzword, it’s the most precious of hills to die on.
I find it in those people who refuse to be silent in the face of our impending shared regression.
I find it in those willing to be bolder in defending the inherent value of all people.
I find it in the growing army of those who will not tolerate hatred as a core American value.
I find it in those who reject violence as our default response to dissension.
I find it in the ever rising voice of people who will not let malice and bitterness represent them in the world.
I find it in those people who refuse to be silent in the face of our impending shared regression.
I find it in those willing to be bolder in defending the inherent value of all people.
I find it in the growing army of those who will not tolerate hatred as a core American value.
I find it in those who reject violence as our default response to dissension.
I find it in the ever rising voice of people who will not let malice and bitterness represent them in the world.
Today I find my hope in those who, like me, will not be complicit in allowing bigotry and intolerance to become a source of national pride, because we’ve seen where that leads.
Yes, Mr Trump, you’ve unearthed our hidden sickness and you’ve allowed it to go viral.
You brought every awful thing about us out into the open.
You brought every awful thing about us out into the open.
You will NEVER Get My Vote!
4/ Bill Maher with a pretty good "New Rules"
Maher also had a message for those who were considering voting for Donald Trump: Remember the basket of idiots that will come with him.
Maher pointed to a time Trump said that people should surround themselves “with unsuccessful people,” and came to the conclusion that’s exactly what Trump is doing — from once-popular Rudy Giuliani to Trump’s sons, “Uday and Qusay,” to campaign spokesman “someone’s crazy ex-girlfriend” Katrina Pierson, who wears a necklace of bullets “from the Chanel ‘Don’t tread on me’ collection.”
But Maher’s favorite surrogate is Michael “Says who?” Cohen, the lawyer responsible for suing Maher after the comedian offered money to prove Trump’s mother had sex with an ape.
“So he went into court — this happened — and produced his birth certificate as if it were going to say ‘orangutan’ on it. Yes, I made Donald Trump produce his birth certificate and I’m very proud of that. Very proud of that.”
5/ The saying below floats around Facebook now and then, and it's amusing but it turns out there is a name for this syndrome of not knowing you are stupid - it's called the Dunning-Kruger effect, and in this fascinating story from Salon Chauncey Devega thinks it applies to Trump......see if you disagree with his arguments.....
(Credit: AP/John Locher)
Donald Trump is a political brawler. He is also a raconteur, a self-styled maverick, a political “outsider,” an adult male adolescent and the drunk guy at the local bar who picks fights with strangers by yelling racial and ethnic slurs or harassing women.
As I watched Hillary Clinton pummel Donald Trump during Monday’s debate, it occurred to me that beyond being merely unprepared to be president of the United States — see also Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and his inability to answer basic questions about international politics — that Trump is, in fact, supremely confident in his ignorance and sense of intellectual superiority over other people.
This is the psychological concept known as the “Dunning-Kruger” effect — put very simply, when stupid people don’t know that they are stupid — in action.
Amusing meme......which applies to this excellent story ....
6/ Sam Bee's team interviews Trump supporters.....if you can keep from vomiting, it's amusing......about five minutes.....
Donald Trump already has an excuse if he loses the election in November: It’s rigged.
But do Trump’s supporters believe it? On Full Frontal, Samantha Bee sent her team to Trump rallies to find out. And it turns out they do believe the election will be rigged — but only if Trump loses.
Here’s one such exchange, between Full Frontal correspondent Amy Hoggart and a Trump supporter:
TRUMP SUPPORTER: The election is definitely rigged.HOGGART: Is that just protecting himself before the results in case he loses?TRUMP SUPPORTER: No. He won’t lose.HOGGART: So why would the election be rigged then?
7/ It's good to get other intelligent opinions about current affairs, and Thomas Frank has some ideas that challenge our thinking......like this story from the Guardian.....
An excellent analysis that should be read by every Democrat....
T
he puzzle that is currently frustrating the pundit minds of America is this: why is Hillary Clinton not simply clobbering Donald Trump? How is this ranting, seething buffoon still competitive with her? Trump has now stumbled through a series of the kind of blunders that break ordinary political campaigns – the sort of deadly hypocrisies that always kill the demagogue in old movies – and yet this particular demagogue keeps on trucking. Why?
Let us answer that burning pundit question of today by jumping to what will undoubtedly be the next great object of pundit ardor: the legacy of President Barack Obama. Two months from now, when all the TV wise men are playing historian and giving their estimation on where Obama ranks in the pantheon of the greats, they will probably neglect to mention that his legacy helped to determine Hillary’s fortunes in this election cycle. As a beloved figure among Democrats, for example, Obama was instrumental in securing the nomination for her. As a president who has accomplished little since 2011, however, Obama has pretty much undermined Clinton’s ability to sell us on another centrist Democratic presidency. His legacy has diluted her promise.
8/ I love Kate McKinnon from SNL.....here she is as an 80 year old actress.....a very funny four minutes....
Kate McKinnon recently starred in the all-female Ghostbusters reboot that was so heavily controversial for being, well, all-female. Last night during Saturday Night Live‘s big season opener, she did something else to stick it to sexism in her own way: She played the part of an old MGM actress whose life experiences put modern day industry issues into perspective and showed just how long Hollywood’s women have been fighting for equality.
In doing so, she made host Margot Robbie break character. Oops!
9/ Politicians are taking the nuclear industry's money from their lobbyists try to argue nuclear power is good for the environment and climate change, but it's complete BS as this excellent story points out.....
How Nuke Power Causes Global Warming
Supporters of nuclear power like to argue that nukes are the key to combatting climate change. Here's why they are dead wrong.
Every nuclear generating station spews about two-thirds of the energy it burns inside its reactor core into the environment. Only one-third is converted into electricity. Another tenth of that is lost in transmission. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists:
Nuclear fission is the most water intensive method of the principal thermoelectric generation options in terms of the amount of water withdrawn from sources. In 2008, nuclear power plants withdrew eight times as much freshwater as natural gas plants per unit of energy produced, and up to 11 percent more than the average coal plant.
Every day, large reactors like the two at Diablo Canyon, California, individually dump about 1.25 billion gallons of water into the ocean at temperatures up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the natural environment.
Diablo's "once-through cooling system" takes water out of the ocean and dumps it back superheated, irradiated and laden with toxic chemicals. Many U.S. reactors use cooling towers which emit huge quantities of steam and water vapor that also directly warm the atmosphere.
10/ John Oliver with another great bit of comedic reporting, this time on the "bad apples" excuse for police shootings.....16 very good minutes.....
On Sunday's Last Week Tonight, John Oliver proved why dangerous cops in America aren't just "bad apples" misrepresenting the profession. The host argued that metaphor was too simplistic for the complex issue. Instead, he held America's police and judicial systems responsible for disallowing positive change.
"The phrase isn't 'it's just a few bad apples – don't worry about it,'" Oliver said. "The phrase is 'a few bad apples spoil the barrel.' And we currently have a system which is set up to ignore bad apples, destroy bad apples' records, persecute good apples for speaking up and shuffle dangerous, emotionally unstable apples around to the point that children have to attend fucking apple classes. You cannot look at our current situation and claim that anybody likes them apples."
Seventy-seven officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter since 2005, and only 26 to date have been convicted, according to CNN.
11/ I watched this full 16 minute video, and it made me sick to my stomach.....if you ever wonder why black people are angry, this is why. It's body cam footage of two North Carolina cops arresting a polite, non threatening young black man for sitting on his mothers porch.......
It's blatant racism, awful and depressing.....and kind of confirms John Oliver's point....
City council members in Greensboro, North Carolina voted this week to strip the law enforcement credentials of a police officer who is accused of violently arresting a man sitting on his porch after body camera footage of the arrest was made public.
The council voted unanimously Monday to permanently sanction Officer Travis Cole for using excessive force during the June arrest. The body camera footage shows Cole roughly throwing Dejuan Yourse to the floor of the porch and punching him as Yourse waited for his mom to come home and let him into the house, according to local news WREG.
The council pushed for criminal charges against Cole, but the district attorney refused, saying he wouldn’t “rehash the same evidence,” the Greensboro News & Record reported.
Cole and another officer approached Yourse’s house after they were dispatched to investigate a possible break-in on June 17.
YOUTUBE
As seen in body camera footage from both officers, combined below, Yourse explains that he’s waiting for his mom, who has lived in the neighborhood for 10 years, and visits her house every day.
12/ Bill Maher with a great piece on magazines that have endorsed Donald Trump.....a pretty good four minutes.....
Bill Maher took a hilarious look at some of the lesser known (imaginary) magazines that are backing Donald Trump for president on Friday.
As traditionally conservative newspapers such as The Arizona Republic, The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Detroit News and the Dallas Morning News snub the Republican candidate for the first time in decades, the “Real Time with Bill Maher” host said it was important to see who was endorsing the brash businessman in the interests of “equal time.”
The comedian then revealed a bunch of fictitious publications who he said were throwing their non-existent weight behind the former reality TV personality. Unpopular Science, anyone?
13/ We try to find decent TV you may have missed, and here are some cancelled series on Netflix you might enjoy.....
The perfect television binge is an underrated form of leisurely art. For example, with so many of my favorite shows returning with new episodes this month, it would be borderline reckless to launch an all-out binge of The Good Wife. That’s seven seasons and 156 episodes of Julianna Margulies! I love myself some Margs, but that is a major time commitment. A soup to nuts binge would take weeks! I can’t take on that level of responsibility while in the midst of Peak TV. There’s just too much television to watch and too many books to read… about television… to spend that much time on one series.
Enter the weekend binge: a viewing experience that allows you to fully immerse yourself in a series while still maintaining some semblance of a social life. I’ve curated a list of seven shows currently streaming on Netflixthat have lasted only one season. Don’t let the “one season stigma” startle you. It’s not the length of the series order; it’s how you use it. Just because a series fails to reach the vaunted 100 episodes or “Six Seasons and a Movie”plateau, doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching.
Here are seven of the very best one and done shows on Netflix!
14/ The lovely Katy Perry with her new music video "Rise", which involves La Perry with a parachute and many uncomfortable situations......
"Rise" is a song by American singer Katy Perry. She co-wrote the song with Savan Kotecha and its producers Max Martin and Ali Payami. Capitol Records first released it on July 14, 2016, as a standalone single. "Rise" is a mid-tempo electronic song with lyrical themes of victory and rising above one's opponents. After an Olympics-themed promotional video was released the following day, an official music video debuted on August 4, 2016.
Commercially, the song has reached number one in Australia, the top five in France and Scotland, the top ten in Hungary and Luxembourg, the top twenty in Argentina, Canada, Lebanon, Switzerland, and the United States, and the top thirty in Austria, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
15/ And another POV from Todd Van Der Werff.....
T
he 18 best TV shows airing right now
Need something new to watch? These are the 18 best shows airing new episodes on television right now.
This list is updated once a week, holidays and vacations permitting, and is organized alphabetically.
Shows are eligible while they're on the air — and for one week after their finales. After that, we kick them off until they begin airing new seasons (whenever that happens). We make an exception for streaming shows that release all episodes at once; those shows are eligible for six weeks after their launch date. (Amazon's Fleabag, for instance, released its premiere season September 16, 2016, so it is eligible for our list through October 28, 2016.)
The list is curated entirely by Todd VanDerWerff, who watches more TV than you do (probably). In the event that you don't trust what he has to say, we've also included Metacritic scores and links to other reviews of note.
Todays video - the full collection of "Trunk Monkey" commercials......hilarious....
Todays moral dilemma joke....
A moral dilemma for our times…
At the end, this test only has one question, but it's avery important one. By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally. This test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which you will have to make a difficult decision.
Only you will know the results, so remember that your answer needs to be honest.
THE SITUATION:
You are in Florida, Miami to be specific.
There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding.
This is a flood of biblical proportions.
You are a photojournalist working for a major newspaper, and you're caught in the middle of this epic disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless.
You're trying to shoot career-making photos.
There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing under the water.
THE TEST:
Suddenly you see a man in the water.
He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken down with the debris.
You move closer.
Somehow the man looks familiar.
You suddenly realize who it is.
It's Donald Trump!
At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him under forever.
YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS:
You can save the life of Donald Trump or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the world's most powerful Republican men hell bent on the destruction of America.
THE QUESTION:
Here's the question, and please give an honest answer.
"Would you select high contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?"
Todays French joke.....
Todays little girl joke....
Here's a truly heartwarming story about the bond formed between a little 5-year-old girl and some construction workers that will make you believe that we all can make a difference when we give a child the gift of our time.
A young family moved into a house, next to a vacant lot. One day, a construction crew began to build a house on the empty lot. The family's 5-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in the goings-on and spent much of each day observing the workers.
Eventually the construction crew, all of them 'gems-in-the-rough,' more or less, adopted her as a kind of project mascot. They chatted with her during coffee and lunch breaks and gave her little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important. At the end of the first week, they even presented her with a pay envelope containing ten dollars. The little girl took this home to her mother who suggested that she take her ten dollars 'pay' she'd received to the bank the next day to start a savings account.
When the girl and her mom got to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her very own pay check at such a young age.
The little girl proudly replied, "I worked last week with a real construction crew building the new house next door to us."
"Oh my goodness gracious," said the teller, "and will you be working on the house again this week, too?"
The little girl replied, "I will, if those assholes at Home Depot ever deliver the fuckin' sheet rock."
Kind of brings a tear to the eye - doesn't it?
"Oh my goodness gracious," said the teller, "and will you be working on the house again this week, too?"
The little girl replied, "I will, if those assholes at Home Depot ever deliver the fuckin' sheet rock."
Kind of brings a tear to the eye - doesn't it?
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