Top 10 Conservative Idiots #17-12: We Need To Talk About Donny Edition

[Top 10 Idiots]

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #17-12: We Need To Talk About Donny Edition

Ed. Note - due to the recent disruption, this is the edition we meant to post on Halloween, now 3 days late! Enjoy!

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! BooooooOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOooo!!! What’s up Ann Arbor? First off congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers for purchasing the World Series. Yankees, you almost made it. But seriously, anyone who ties this to the election - stop it already! No, Kamala didn't make Aaron Judge bungle that play! WTF. Moving on. So how are my ghouls doing? Are you ghouls doing fucking good? Awesome! And man, did we pick the right city for our Halloween and the pre-election special, didn't we? It has been a white hot minute since we last set foot in Central Michigan, which was what, 2019? So yeah it’s been a while! Good to see everybody on the eve of the election to end all elections! Look, I cannot stress enough how important it is to vote and to get out the vote, because we could be staring down a dictatorship if we don’t get the foul stench of Donald Trump out of the entire country. So this entire edition will be dedicated to exactly that! Because, look, we cannot have a repeat of 2016. Because the second time around, it will be infinitely worse. And I mean infinitely. Just look up Project 2025. But come on, it’s Halloween! Let’s have some fun! In fact, if you notice, my costume is Donald Trump working at McDonalds, like what we reported on last week. Ba da da da da da… I’m *NOT* loving it! Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! Look, we’re in the post COVID era, and we know that COVID practically decimated the movie industry almost overnight in March of 2020. But this is one of those things where, we know that movie theaters are having a hard time staying open because of COVID and streaming. But Deadpool and Wolverine dominated the box office! You know what won’t dominate the box office? The Viewmaster movie. Yes, since the Barbie Movie became an unexpected box office phenomenon last year, Mattel has decided that every single toy that’s ever been made needs its’ own movie now. And how do you make a Viewmaster movie without it being a 2 hour infomercial? Well that’s basically what it is. The plot is described as “View-Master has inspired generations to embark on boundless adventures, offering a treasure trove of storytelling possibilities for this film”. So you don’t have a plot. We get it. At least He-Man has a plot. Ha ha ha ha, right? OK that’s enough of the intro. We have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first our buddy John Oliver is back, and this week he delves into the history of one of MAGA’s biggest cheerleaders, the God Bless The USA singer himself, Lee Greenwood:

So where do we begin this week? Well, as we said in our opening monologue, this entire edition is going to be dedicated to the election. And it’s truly insane that Fuckhead 45 could possibly be a coin flip away from the election. Holy shit, was this weekend a banner week for conservative idiocy or what? With that in mind, we’re going to dedicate the top slot of course, to the Slobfather himself (1). And while we normally don’t highlight his stupid rallies, the bullshit that was flying at his Madison Square Garden rally in New York City was quite the stuff of pure insanity! And for once, we actually agree with something Charlie Kirk said (don’t worry, we’ll explain later). In the second slot is Trump’s BFF Elon Musk (2). Yes, the Tesla / Space X / X / Boring Company / Starlink mad man may have been communicating with the enemy – premiere Russian warlord and dictator Vladimir Putin – prior to his hostile takeover of Twitter, which means it was nothing more than a political hit job. And speaking of hit jobs, two of the nation’s largest newspapers now run by psychopathic billionaires – the LA Times and Washington Post (3) – both failed to endorse Kamala, and were actually blocked by their owners. Yeah fuck both Patrick Soon-Singh and Jeff Bezos to the hottest of hells! In the number 4 slot this week is also unfortunately that guy who we inexplicably called president (4) and his rallys over the weekend in Traverse City, Michigan, and his appearance on the Joe Rogan show were the stuff of absolute disaster and the ramblings of a guy who is losing his mind on a daily basis. Which leads us to a lot of “what if” scenarios! In the number 5 slot is our segment that explores the never-ending world of relentless corporate greed in Late Stage Capitalism (5) – and this week, Disney is in some extremely hot water over a new push by corporate to move towards fully utilizing AI. Did we learn nothing from the 2023 Writers’ Strike? Of course we didn’t! In the number 6 slot this week is of course, our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, we’re going to answer the question “Why do people who claim to love the Constitution and the Bible get it wrong every single time?”. We don’t have a definitive, answer, but we can point fingers at the people responsible! Taking the number 7 slot, sigh… we really do have to bring back our segment that explains humor to those who still don’t get it in “Explaining Jokes To Idiots” (7) and look, that right wing “comedian” who spoke at the MSG rally? It’s not just a “joke”, it’s who they are. No. in the number 8 slot this week is our weekly venture into online tin foil hat nuttery in Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week, there’s an increasing number of right wingers, led by Mr. Brain Worm himself, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who are grasping onto a bizarre new theory that drinking raw milk is good for you. Spoiler alert! No, it is not! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, we have a new I Need A Drink (9) – is this the end of the once beloved supermarket chain known as K-Mart? The store that gave us the “Blue Light Special” and the “Attention K Mart Shoppers” mantra may finally be closing its’ doors for good. Finally this week, And finally, in our weekly roundup of election coverage in Road To The White House (10) - think this election is going to spared from 3rd party madness? Well you're wrong, and there's a couple of new faces who could wreak havoc at the polls! Have we learned nothing from 2016? No. Plus to cap things off, we have some live music from the legendary Knocked Loose! Buy their new album "You Won't Go Until You're Supposed To" or you’re no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don't forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Here we are. 5 days out from the fucking election. And let me tell you something – I am nervous as all hell. Yes, we need to get our shit together. The fate of the free world is at stake here. So for the sake of this piece, you know we love a good movie reference around here. And I can’t think of no better reference to use than the 2015 psycho mass murder flick “We Need To Talk About Kevin”. But in this case, let’s call it “We Need To Talk About Donny”. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… somehow putting Trump’s picture on that poster makes it look even more evil! Yes, we need to talk about Donny. While the official Top 10 stance is that we normally shy away from talking about Trump’s rallies and Fox News appearances, because day in and day out, he says some ridiculously crazy shit. But this clip from last Sunday’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden may have been one of the most extreme things ever said from any Trump rally in the last 8 years so far. But that’s extremely telling. And it’s who MAGA is. It’s what they’ve been building up to the last 8 years.

Tony Hinchcliffe, a comic and podcast host, was the first speaker at the New York City rally and delivered a routine that mocked Blacks, Latinos and Jews and called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.”

Pennsylvania, one of the battleground states where polling shows there’s a tight race between Trump and Harris, has the third-largest Puerto Rican population in the county, after Florida and New York. Puerto Rico is also home to over 3 million American citizens, many of whom migrated to the U.S. after Hurricane Maria in 2017. (Puerto Ricans who live on the island are not eligible to vote in the presidential election despite being U.S. citizens.)

Hinchcliffe has mostly made a name for himself in the comedy world for his jokes on "Comedy Central Roast." He’s faced backlash for his jokes before, notably in 2021, when during a standup set he used a slur about fellow comedian Peng Dang. Hinchcliffe was subsequently dropped by his talent agency.

His podcast, "Kill Tony," gets over 2 million downloads per episode, the Wrap reported in March.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/what-to-know-about-the-backlash-over-trumps-madison-square-garden-rally-192819001.html

Yeah, right? We’ve been covering Trump’s schtick for nearly 8 years now, and it’s insane as to what is going on. He’s been on what might call his “revenge tour”. Because if he doesn’t get elected president in the election next week, he’s going down. And he’s taking a lot of people in his camp with him, should Kamala assume victorious! But the closing arguments for the election are painting two drastically different pictures. Harris delivered one in the area of the National Mall in Washington DC known as the Ellipse, where Trump gave his speech in 2020 prior to the January 6th Insurrection. Her speech was filled with hope and inspiration. Trump’s on the other hand, well, very on brand for everything we’ve been seeing the last few months.

Former President Donald Trump should leave the meteorology to the professionals.

After taking jabs at Kamala Harris and his second debate moderators at a North Carolina rally Wednesday afternoon, Trump suddenly turned to Hurricane Helene, the category storm that devastated large swaths of the state earlier this month, leaving 130 people dead and damaging key infrastructure beyond repair.

“I must’ve been the first one, I followed that storm right in,” the former president said. “I saw the devastation, it was a travesty, it was viscous, it was water. The water was the worst we’d ever seen. It was a water hurricane, that’s what it was.”

This may have been a part of Trump’s usual meandering rally ramblings, or he may just be truly unaware of what a Category 4 hurricane entails. Either way, he spent an ample amount of time explaining how a hurricane works to a crowd that just experienced one of the deadliest hurricanes in two decades.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cognitive-decline-trump-goes-weird-195909091.html

Yeah, seriously, WTF. You know, at this point, if we were in a normal timeline, would be when some guys in white coats come and take Trump aside for a nice little chat. This definitely isn’t a Bluto from Animal House moment. This is the opposite of that. It’s a “what the fuck are we doing as a society” moment. And he can’t hire Fox News approved “doctor” Ronny Jackson to cheat and rig his way out of this one. Ronny Jackson got rewarded for rigging his cognitive test with a permanent job as a Fox News installed member of Congress. What the actual fuck! Rupert Murdoch does not own us. OK, rant over, stay on target! Yes, Trump’s decline is definitely a huge concern and we could be a Big Mac away from a JD Vance dictatorship! And who’s to say he won’t leave?

Democrats and the Harris-Walz campaign are again taking aim at former President Trump’s mental acuity following his 30-minute music and head-popping detour during what was supposed to be a town hall event in Philadelphia Monday night.

Harry Segal is a senior lecturer in the Psychology Department at Cornell University and in the Psychiatry Department at Weill Cornell Medicine. He says Trump’s awkward display at his rally was another clear sign of mental decline.

Segal says: “What’s alarming is how the rate of Trump’s bizarre speech and political decisions have been increasing. He gave an answer about childcare to the Economic Club of New York so incoherent that even his supporters were concerned. Last week he got cognitively lost in a rally and began to talk about the ‘eight circles’ that Biden filled up with journalists. No one on his staff has been able to explain the reference.

“Trump has shown evidence of dementia for the past year as indicated by his strange gait, phonemic paraphasia—when he begins a word and can’t finish it—and decline in the complexity of his words and concepts. This limited capacity explains his poor debate performance, but there are two more disturbing signs of his decline.
https://as.cornell.edu/news/trumps-abrupt-decision-play-dj-sign-accelerating-cognitive-decline-says-cornell-expert

Well, fucking duh! Where were you like four months ago when we could have, you know, done something about it? We are watching Trump in his last legs and he wants to be remembered for all eternity. Well, he will be. But not for the reasons he’s thinking about. He will be remembered for the hate and division he sowed and thrived on, as well as being the tyrannical dictator who overturned Roe V Wade out of spite, despite his minions in Congress lying under oath saying they wouldn’t. Not only is Trump looking more exhausted by the day, he’s also looking dehydrated and disheveled. But seriously, if Trump’s decline is such a concern, why wait until now? Oh yeah it’s because America’s billionaires are out to destroy the country and profit from it, that’s why.

Donald Trump’s racism, sexism, xenophobia and penchant for corruption have long made him unfit for any public office, let alone the presidency. But as he continues his bid for a second term in the White House, there is an unsettling and undeniable shift that is leading many experts, observers and even some Trump supporters to conclude that the former president’s mental acuity and sharpness are also in decline, that his physical health and stamina are waning and that his frustration and anger are boiling over.

Americans from both sides of the political spectrum should be alarmed by Trump’s words and behavior. The nation must confront the fact that beyond his hateful character, he is crippled cognitively and showing clear signs of mental illness.

There’s no need to resort to armchair psychology to interpret what’s apparent. If victorious, Trump would be the oldest president ever inaugurated. In recent weeks, he has canceled an increasing number of public appearances, with Trump’s own campaign citing the candidate’s exhaustion. When he does appear publicly, Trump struggles to complete sentences or sustain coherent thoughts, and has shown a pronounced difficulty concentrating and a tendency to repeat himself, sometimes within the same sentence.
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2024/oct/30/trumps-decline-has-been-alarming/

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[font size="8"]Elon Musk
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We all know what a political hit job is. And that term has been thrown around a lot lately, but there’s one that’s more evident than anything was the hostile takeover of Twitter by the Mad Man of Tesla, Elon Musk. Yes, he’s not just the CEO of X, he’s also the platform’s biggest shit poster! But now, almost 2 years after the takeover, we’re learning more and more about what may have caused him to spend and waste nearly $44 billion on the acquisition. Yes, he may have been talking with the Moscow Mad Man himself, Vladimir Putin. Yes, the fascist slimebag in chief, supreme bad guy of bad guys, and premiere Russian warlord may have been the catalyst for Elon’s hostile takeover of X, and why he’s such a Trump / MAGA fanboy. Yet, remember back in the middle years of the Trump administration, how we were told that we couldn’t question MAGA’s ties to Russia? Yeah, it’s becoming more clear about why we can’t do that – they are all in on it! Yes, we called that shit back in 2017! And it couldn’t be more evident now in 2024, with American democracy on the line!

The news of the past few weeks has included some developments that on their own could seem minor: Since he left office, Donald Trump has held a half-dozen phone calls with Vladimir Putin. Elon Musk is also talking regularly to the Russian leader. A couple of newspaper owners decided their newspapers’ editorial boards shouldn’t make an endorsement in the presidential election.

But for Fiona Hill, the former Trump adviser who is one of the world’s top experts on Russia and Putin, these events create a worrisome pattern.

In an interview with POLITICO Magazine, Hill, like other scholars and historians with an expertise in autocratic regimes, said she sees the American political system already drifting into autocracy, even before Trump is potentially elected. A key sign is that members of the country’s billionaire class are acting more and more like oligarchs.

Thinking about Trump and Putin and Musk as fellow oligarchs helps explain why they all seem so enthralled with each other. As Hill noted, they are part of a very small group of men who control vast fortunes and vast political power that have global reach, and who prefer to deal with each other.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/10/28/fiona-hill-explains-trump-musk-putin-00185820

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Remember all the shit we got for questioning why the GOP was suddenly becoming the biggest Russian fanboys? Well, who’s laughing now? And it’s way past time to reopen the investigation. We get charging a lot of people may take some time. Like that scene in the Dark Knight when Harvey Dent takes down half of Gotham’s mafia in a single trial. It would be nice if we could get most of the GOP that way, but that’s wishful thinking at this point. But the fact that Elon’s basically a gateway between the GOP and big daddy Vladdy is well, it’s troublesome to say the least. At least Bernie Sanders gets it!

Elon Musk's alleged conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin have raised national security questions highlighting the U.S. government's reliance on SpaceX, the tech billionaire's astronautics company.

Why it matters: The situation puts the government in the difficult position of choosing to continue its relationship with Musk despite the liability he could pose, or sever ties and lose access to services it relies on.

Driving the news: Musk has been in "regular contact" with Putin since 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

SpaceX has contracts with the Department of Defense, which relies on the company to get its satellites into orbit.
SpaceX also has multiple contracts with NASA which relies on the company's rocket launches to take astronauts into space and bring supplies to the International Space Station.

The big picture: Musk acknowledged while campaigning for former President Trump at a Pennsylvania town hall earlier this month that he has a "top-secret" security clearance, the Journal reported.
https://www.axios.com/2024/10/28/elon-musk-security-clearance-putin

Yes, that is a good question! What could that mean for Elon’s security clearance contracts with the United States government? Come on, you and I both know that it won’t mean a damn thing, because Elon is the richest guy in the world. He can buy and sell his way out of any trial that might come out of this incident. But even the head of NASA is concerned that Elon knows way more about the US’s space operations than he probably should. Is Elon passing these secrets onto the king fascist himself? It’s entirely possible. Especially after we know that Trump kept boxes of top secret documents including the locations of America’s weapons stash in a bathroom at Mar-A-Shithole.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has expressed concerns over reports that SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nelson was on stage at Semafor's World Economy Summit on Friday (Oct. 25) when he was asked about an Oct. 24 Wall Street Journal article, which reported that Musk has, in secret, been in regular contact with Putin since late 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February that year. The report cites former U.S., European and Russian officials.

"[SpaceX] have been phenomenally successful … I don't know if that story is true," Nelson said. “I think it should be investigated. If it's true there have been multiple conversations with Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then that would be concerning, particularly for NASA and the Department of Defense," Nelson said in response, Semafor reported.

Musk's SpaceX is a crucial commercial partner for NASA. Its Falcon 9 rockets launch cargo and crew to the International Space Station. Its huge, in-development Starship vehicle is also integral to the agency's bid to put astronauts back on the moon with the Artemis 3 mission in the coming years.
https://www.space.com/nasa-chief-bill-nelson-concerned-elon-musk-putin-talks

Seriously, right? Growing up, we were always taught that Russia was the bad guy. Especially now that they’re headed by a guy who is sowing hate, discord, and distrust all around the world and replacing competent leaders with insane cronies in his quest to become supreme overlord of earth. So you know who wins in this unholy alliance? I’ll give you a hint – it’s not us. And it’s becoming more evident that it’s not fascism that we need to worry about that’s taking over the US. It’s oligarchism. There’s 700 billionaires in the US. There’s 320 million of us. Let’s make them sure in November that we are not their personal property, and the United States government isn’t their personal plaything. Our representatives work for us, not Elon Musk and Fox News.

One night in September 2022, the Ukrainian military launched a drone attack targeting the frigate Admiral Makarov, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. As the drones closed in, Ukrainian commanders suddenly realized something was wrong. Their communication links with the drones — connected by the Starlink satellite-based internet service — were inoperable.

At that point, the mission was aborted. Some of the drones which had lost connectivity washed ashore without exploding. Most sank into the sea or self-destructed. Ukrainian commanders reported that only two drones returned undamaged.

What would’ve been a dramatic victory for Ukraine had been thwarted by a most unlikely defender. Few knew at the time that that day was a watershed moment in U.S. politics regarding how money and power are leveraged by nongovernment actors.

When, earlier that year, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased Twitter (which he later renamed “X”), it wasn’t expected to significantly impact U.S. government policy. But the purchase — and the criticism he received for it — opened Musk up to a whole new world of politics. This was a world in which he suddenly saw unconventional ways to leverage his wealth to impact policy. He realized he didn’t have to play by the normal quid pro quo rules that other wealthy political funders did.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-musk-putin-russia-2024-election-rcna177588

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[font size="8"]Patrick Soon-Singh and Jeff Bezos
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Look, people, the election is 5 days away. 5! 5! 5! This is literally the 11th hour! And we’ve got to get our shit together to stop the fascist evil that is currently lurking in this country. But the “undecided” people are definitely not helping. You know who else isn’t helping? Two of America’s largest newspapers – the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. And you’re probably wondering – “Hey! Aren’t these two papers part of the liberal media?”. Well you’d think so. But since the Los Angeles Times got usurped in 2018 by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, it’s been trending way more in the conservative direction than in the past. Same with the Washington Post, which got bought by Jeff Bezos in 2020. Yes, that Washington Post. The same one who’s been screaming at us for 8 years “democracy dies in darkness!!”. Yeah, I have the coffee mug sitting on my desk at our home office in Santa Ana. But it’s insane that the people who’ve been screaming that democracies die in darkness, well guess what? You just killed democracy in broad dayilight. Cause of death? Murder by billionaire.

The Los Angeles Times will not be making a presidential endorsement in this election, the first time the paper has stayed silent on a presidential race since 2004. But the decision not to endorse a candidate was not made by an editor. The paper’s billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, stepped in to forbid the paper from doing so.

The move sparked a furor over the lack of editorial freedom (Semafor, 10/22/24; KTLA, 10/22/24; Adweek, 10/23/24). The paper lost 2,000 subscribers, and editorials editor Mariel Garza resigned in protest, along with two other staffers, including a Pulitzer Prize winner (Guardian, 10/25/24).

SNIP According to news reports, the paper had been preparing an endorsement until Soon-Shiong reached across the wall that is supposed to separate the business and editorial wings of a newspaper. He tried to rationalize his decision, according to the Guardian:

SNIP Soon-Shiong, who bought the LA Times from Tronc in 2018, attempted to portray himself as a defender of the free press against attacks from then-President Donald Trump (CNBC, 9/7/18). But Soon-Shiong—a doctor who made a fortune in the for-profit medical industry (New Yorker, 10/25/21)—was not shy about his ambitions for a top health position in the Trump administration (Stat, 11/21/16, 1/25/17).
https://fair.org/home/la-times-non-endorsement-another-sign-of-our-billionaire-dominated-politics/

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Look, here’s why this is dangerous. We know that America’s billionaires are out for absolute power and one party rule, because they directly benefit from getting more billions. And we’d like to tell them where they can shove their ill gotten gains. Yes, straight up their asses! Not endorsing either candidate is worse than taking a stand. Both papers would lose subscribers either way. Even if you take a stand, you can say “they took the wrong stand”. But by not taking a stand, you’re basically telling your subscribers to go fuck themselves. Especially your loyal liberal audience. We think we might have a theory about this and we’ll tell you in a second.

The Washington Post has been rocked by a tidal wave of cancellations from digital subscribers and a series of resignations from columnists, as the paper grapples with the fallout of owner Jeff Bezos’s decision to block an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

More than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday, according to two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters. Not all cancellations take effect immediately. Still, the figure represents about 8% of the paper’s paid circulation of roughly 2.5 million subscribers, which includes print as well. The number of cancellations continued to grow Monday afternoon.

A corporate spokesperson declined to comment, citing The Washington Post Co.'s status as a privately held company.

“It’s a colossal number,” former Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli told NPR. “The problem is, people don’t know why the decision was made. We basically know the decision was made but we don’t know what led to it.
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/28/nx-s1-5168416/washington-post-bezos-endorsement-president-cancellations-resignations

Yes, they suck. But look, we can’t help but think this is a deliberate political hit job designed to sow distrust in the two largest newspapers in the country. Two that have been remaining staunchly liberal until this year. And we can totally understand not wanting to be on Trump’s enemies list. Which is to say we do not know how, with everything we know about Donald Trump at this point, to endorse anyone but Harris and Walz. This is dangerous. You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. And this is absolutely no surprise. The Washington Post lost a shit ton of subscribers and there may be more where that came from. The LA Times? They’re about to lose key staff too!

The world of weird surrounding the 2024 presidential election just got even weirder. Days after SoCal paper of record the LA Times announced that its editorial board would not endorse a candidate for president, a puzzling and contradictory narrative has emerged. Its owner since June 2018, billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, claims that the issue is its opinion section's leadership, which refused to comply with his directive to draft a policy detail compare and contrast list. They instead “chose to remain silent," he claimed, a statement that past and present Times staffers say is false. Then on Saturday, Soon-Shiong's daughter, 31-year-old Oxford University student Nika Soon-Shiong, threw another position into the mix. She claims that her family decided as a unit not to allow the paper to issue a recommendation for who is most fit to occupy the highest office in the land due to concerns over US support of Israel in the war in Gaza. But according to a spokesperson for her father, that statement—which she has repeated a number of times via social media—isn't true at all.

This isn't the first time that the Soon-Shiong's family business has caused problems for the newspaper. In 2022, over three dozen past and present staffers spoke out about Patrick's alleged efforts to encourage stories on businesses he has an interest in, while Nika was called out for allegedly attacking public safety coverage that she believed was too supportive of the police. The in January, the paper's executive editor, Kevin Merida, abruptly resigned in January after—per the New York Times—Patrick attempted to block reporting into lawsuits against one of his acquaintances. Patrick denies those allegations, while Nika told Politico in 2022 that she disputes the “suggestion that I control the editorial decisions of the paper."
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/la-times-endorsement-kamala-harris-donald-trump-2024-presidential-election

Like fuck you don’t! You’re the CEO! Not the editorial president! You control the business end of the paper. And look, this is the United States of America, not the United States of Fox News. Rupert Murdoch is not the supreme overlord of the United States. We are not his personal property. You can, you know, stand up to him! We have this thing called the 1st Amendment that will protect you. But no, this is how democracies die in darkness – when people become so power hungry that they can’t tell their ass from a hole in the ground. Do you want dictators? Because this is how you get dictators. You can stand up to Trump. Bullies back down when you kick them in the ass. And we need to do that to Trump, hard.

The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post are facing mounting backlash after the papers’ publishers announced no presidential endorsements would be made this year. The L.A. Times is owned by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, and The Washington Post is owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. NPR is reporting more than 200,000 people have canceled their Washington Post subscriptions, and counting.

A number of journalists have also resigned, including the editorials editor at the Los Angeles Times, Mariel Garza, who wrote, “How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent Democrat challenger — who we previously endorsed for the U.S. Senate?” unquote. Veteran journalists Robert Greene and Karin Klein have also resigned from the L.A. Times editorial board.

At The Washington Post, David Hoffman and Molly Roberts both resigned on Monday from the Post editorial board. Michele Norris also resigned as a Washington Post columnist, and Robert Kagan resigned as editor-at-large. David Hoffman, who just won a Pulitzer Prize for his series “Annals of Autocracy,” wrote, quote, “I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump. I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment.”
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/10/29/lat_wapo_harris_endorsements_2024

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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Look, I know that the Top 10’s official policy is to not talk about Trump’s rallies or Fox News appearances because there’s like one literally every single day now. And the answer is yes, it does get extremely tedious keeping up with all of the bullshit, which is flying fast and rather furiously. But there’s one aspect of the rallies that hasn’t been covered in the press as much as it should – people are leaving early, and his attendance is dwindling. People have had enough of MAGA hatred and it’s really starting to show, even amongst Trump’s most loyal hardcore followers. And a couple of weeks ago, we brought you the story of Trump stranding his supporters in the Coachella desert in California, but really, to give him the benefit of the doubt, it wasn’t his fault, he can’t help that his fans are shitty, disgusting excuses for human beings. But the fact that even Trump’s most diehard followers are leaving his rallies early, is a sign that maybe the tide is finally starting to turn. And no, Sky News, you don’t get to say that people are leaving Kamala’s rallies early too. It doesn’t work that way. But it all started in Las Vegas a few weeks ago when Harris pointed out Trump’s dwindling crowd sizes.

Vice President Kamala Harris poked at Donald Trump over crowd sizes, his refusal to debate again and his privileged background on Sunday as she hauled in campaign cash in California and held a raucous rally at the same Nevada venue where the Republican nominee had appeared just two weeks ago.

During the presidential debate, Harris appeared to get under the former president’s skin when she said people were leaving his rallies early because of his rambling speeches. And she’s kept it up on the campaign trail.

The vice president told donors at a tony Los Angeles fundraiser that, as she campaigns around the country, her “crowds are pretty big.” And then before a roaring Las Vegas crowd estimated at 7,500, she renewed her jabs at Trump over being reluctant to debate again, saying, “The American people have a right to hear us discuss the issues. And as you say here in Las Vegas, I’m all in. I’m all in.”

Harris’ four-day West Coast trip had dual purposes: She opened and closed it with stops in Sun Belt battlegrounds — Arizona and Nevada — where the vice president is trying to shore up support as Trump pounds her relentlessly over illegal migration. And her mid-stay in California was devoted to hauling in campaign contributions from donors in her blue home state.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/at-a-las-vegas-rally-and-an-la-fundraiser-harris-needled-trump-on-crowd-sizes

Yeah.. why isn’t there a giant cartoon hook grabbing him off stage? Good question! So why are people leaving Trump rallies, early, you might ask? And why isn’t the press covering this? Well for one thing – exhaustion. In regards to Trump’s rally in Traverse City, Michigan – he left them out in the cold for three hours while he went and barfed his brain on the Joe Rogan show. To which we say – 3 fucking hours? I mean even the best talk show host in the world couldn’t keep an audience interested for an entire 3 hours, let alone 15 minutes. And by the time he actually got to the stage, people have had enough. So seriously, it sounds like the last time Kanye West played a live show before he went crazy.

Many of Donald Trump’s supporters left a Michigan rally before he arrived after the former president kept them waiting for three hours to tape a popular podcast interview.

Those who remained at the outdoor rally on an airport tarmac huddled in the cold Friday night as they waited for the former president to touch down in the battleground state.

Trump apologized to the crowd for the delay, which he blamed on an interview with Joe Rogan, the nation’s most listened-to podcaster and an influential voice with younger male voters Trump is aggressively courting.

The interview, taped in Austin, Texas, was released Friday night and ran a whopping three hours, with Trump telling many familiar stories from his rallies and other interviews but also engaging with Rogan on topics like the existence of UFOs.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-leaves-supporters-waiting-for-hours-at-michigan-rally-as-he-recorded-joe-rogan-podcast

Ha ha ha ha… great movie! So this begs the question – why is Trump still polling at 50% in the polls right now? It’s because the 700 billionaires in this country – aka the fuckheads (powers) that be – are trying to manipulate us. They don’t want a free and prosperous America. It’s not in their best interests. They want us divided, miserable, and fighting with each other over petty, stupid bullshit. Hell, even at his extremist rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden, which we covered early in this week’s edition, people were spotted leaving the venue early. I mean come on, of all the reasons you could visit New York City, this is what you choose to get you out of the house? Well guess what, not only did people leave early, they were left stranded before they got in.

Some of Donald Trump's supporters appeared to leave his Madison Square Garden (MSG) rally early, a video shows.

Crowd size and how long folks stay at a rally has been a consistent topic in the run-up to the election on November 5, especially after Kamala Harris said people leave Trump's events "out of exhaustion and boredom" during the pair's TV presidential debate on September 13.

Multiple posts on social media have claimed that people made an early exit from Trump's major rally at MSG in New York on Sunday.

CNN journalist DJ Judd shared photos of people walking up the aisles in between rows of seats at the 19,500-seat arena, which was sold out, according to Reuters.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-supporters-leave-early-madison-square-garden-1975721

I know, right? This is where it gets sad – or in Trump’s words – SAD!, that people are leaving early – it’s because he’s too damn late! Crap, when I was in community college, we got to leave early if the teacher was 20 minutes late. But three hours? And people still stuck around? What are you doing? Are your lives so empty that this is your only form of entertainment? When you could choose to be entertained by literally anything else, you choose this bullshit? What’s wrong with you? 3 hours and Trump should be speaking to an empty venue. Even his most die-hard supporters would head for the gates at that point, so what’s stopping them? WTF! But of course, like nearly everything with these clowns, it’s *NEVER* their fault. It’s always someone else’s fault.

Crowd size has been a frequent topic in the run-up to the November election. Questions about the length of Trump's speeches and attendees leaving early surfaced after Harris took a jab at him during their presidential debate on September 13.

"During his rallies, you'll hear him talk about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter.... And what you'll notice is that people start leaving early out of exhaustion and boredom," Harris said.

After a town hall Tuesday in Flint, Michigan, just days before the Walker rally, Trump once again confronted reports that people had been seen leaving the event. Video clips circulated on social media, including one shared by liberal commentator Ron Filipkowski, showing attendees walking up the stairs and out of the venue while Trump was speaking.

Trump has repeatedly denied that people are leaving, and during the town hall he said: "We do these rallies—they're massive rallies. Everybody loves—everybody stays until the end, by the way."
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-explains-why-people-are-leaving-rallies-early-1960648

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[font size="8"]Late Stage Capitalism: Disney Embraces AI
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Top 10 Conservative Idiots Presents:

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” – Gordon Gekko, Wall St. (1987)

When corporate profits are at an all time high, there is nowhere else to go but to make more millions.

There is corporate greed, and then there is:



Welcome back to our segment on the relentless pursuit of never-ending corporate greed, Late Stage Capitalism! Sure, it’s not enough to make $50 billion, you need $150 billion! You need to be able to tank entire countries while you jet off in your penis-shaped rocket to the vast emptiness of deep space! This week, another week, another time the corporation known as Disney does something stupid. Yes, lost in the sea of shitty news story after shitty news story, was the Mouse House getting into some hot water over their full embrace and utilization of artificial intelligence. Yes, don’t boo yet. Now, you might be thinking – “Hey wait a minute, wasn’t that the subject of the Hollywood writer’s strike to end all strikes last year?”. To which I would answer, you are correct sir or madam! But in the never-ending quest for profit and to enhance Bob Iger’s bottom line and to fellate the shareholders, which of course reeks of shades of what Boeing is going through right now. But really, nearly all of our current problems can be traced back to billionaire CEOs and the shareholder class. And of course, this is absolutely no exception.

Disney—one of the world’s largest owners of intellectual property—is getting ready to unveil a “major AI initiative” that will focus primarily on post-production and VFX, according to TheWrap.

TheWrap on Thursday reported that, in addition to post and visual effects, the project will also involve parks and experiences, involving “hundreds” of Disney employees.

A source told the media outlet that they didn’t know when the initiative will be announced but added that it is not as expansive as other sources have reported.

The news comes a year and a half after Disney announced the creation of an “AI Task Force” to determine the best ways to implement AI in its production and corporate sectors. The task force was created around the time Disney announced it would lay off around 7,000 workers by the end of the 2023. In the interim, Hollywood endured writers and actors strikes that lasted throughout much of 2023 and were prompted, among other things, by concerns over the future use of AI in film and television.
https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/disney-expected-to-announce-major-ai-initiative

So come on, people! Have we learned nothing from the 2023 Writer’s Strike? Apparently not. But the question is – is AI taking over Disney or is Disney taking over AI? Well, there’s a couple of trains of thought on this. It seems like every company that has a net worth on NASDAQ is taking on their own AI initiatives! To which the rest of us are saying – “OMG! They’re coming for our jobs!!!!”. And yes, MAGA, illegal immigrants aren’t taking over your jobs. Automation and artificial intelligence are! Don’t blame the few, or if you’re watching Fox, 32 million coming over the border to take your jobs. Yes, that’s almost as much as the population of the greater LA area. Surely someone would have seen that! But you know who’s really responsible for your jobs disappearing? Blame the rise of the machines!

Despite the constant backlash Hollywood faces for utilizing Artificial Intelligence in producing content, a new development in the House of Mouse raised concern. Is AI truly taking over Disney? Here's what you need to know.

Is AI Taking Over Disney? Recent Report Details Company's Major AI Initiative

According to a recent report from The Wrap, the Walt Disney Co. is preparing to launch a "transformative AI program" to transform the creative output, primarily its post-production and visual effects.

Although details remain under wraps, an anonymous insider at Disney said that the AI initiative movement will involve "hundreds" of people at the company that would also involve parks and experiences, but not customer-facing.

A Disney spokesman declined to comment on the story.
https://m.imdb.com/news/ni64911595/?ref_=tt_nwr_1

So if you work for the Mouse House, and you’re wondering if this new push towards automation and artificial intelligence will have an impact on your jobs, well guess what? You bet your ass it will! Because, wait for it – the assholes that be are already discussing layoffs when this AI technology is implemented at all levels. And yes, for those of you boycotting the entertainment industry because of AI and greedy-ass CEOs, guess what? Your job is at stake too! And why does their financial position “need to be improved”? Oh yeah it’s because the greedy-ass CEO class needs some new yachts and penis shaped rockets to one-up each other! So yeah, the economy is great if you’re of the billionaire CEO class, it sucks for everybody else, and in the end, everyone gets screwed including you and me!

The Wrap, a media outlet focused on the entertainment industry, reports that Disney is set to announce a major AI-driven initiative. This shift is expected to primarily target postproduction and visual effects but could also impact their parks and experiences.

This development suggests potential major changes in how Disney films (as a remonder, Disney also owns Marvel and Lucasfilm) could be produced in the future. This news may not come as a complete surprise, since Disney CEO Bob Iger has previously spoken about AI, stating that technological progress is inevitable.

However, this news comes amid Disney’s ongoing layoff plans in response to the pandemic: approximately 7,000 employees have been laid off across the group, aimed at improving the company’s financial position. The company was hit hard by COVID, particularly when it comes to its theme parks, cruises, and box office revenue. In September, around 300 more employees were let go.
This AI-driven initiative will likely aim to reduce costs, especially in visual effects and postproduction expenses.

It remains challenging to predict the exact impact, both internally and among VFX vendors. That being said, following Lionsgate’s recent announcement of a deal with Runway, a company specializing in generative AI, this is yet another sign of Hollywood’s shift towards AI.
https://3dvf.com/en/disney-to-shift-focus-towards-ai-in-postproduction-and-vfx-layoffs-ahead/

No they’re not from Dreamworks. But here’s where Bob Iger and other CEOs who are thinking about going all in on artificial intelligence need to know. AI can be used for good as well as evil. It can be used for fake and real. In fact, one example came out of the devastation of Hurricane Helene. Helene, which went nowhere near Orlando, was used by an online group to generate images of Disneyland as if it was flooded. And you know what? It worked… until it didn’t. And you know who suffers in the end when stuff like this gets implemented? It’s not the CEO class. They never suffer, because they have all of the money and they just want more. Nope, it will be us who patronizes the CEO class. Strap in, because we are in it for the long haul!

Florida officials warned residents to stay inside due to potentially deadly flash floods caused by Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in the US state on October 9, 2024. However, online images supposedly showing the Walt Disney World Resort underwater appear to have been fabricated using artificial intelligence, and the company said its park "weathered the storm."

"It is reported that Disneyland has been flooded due to Hurricane Milton," said an October 10, 2024 X post from former Ukrainian deputy interior minister Anton Gerashchenko.

The post, which has since been removed, included three purported images of Disney's Florida park partially submerged in water overnight, including its iconic Cinderella Castle.

The same images have circulated elsewhere on X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and news websites -- including in Spanish, German, Russian, Malayalam, Armenian and Korean.

Many posts credit the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, which re-shared them on its official Telegram channel, garnering hundreds of thousands of views.
https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.36JU2AM

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[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:



My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know this week, we’re going to answer a question that is as old as time itself. That question is – why do the most hardcore religious among us always get it wrong when it comes to the Bible? And also the Constitution? Which that comes courtesy of our good friend, the MAGA alt right pseudo-historian David Barton, who we will get to in a minute. But today’s god fearing Christian folks don’t worship GAWD or JAYSUS! Oh no, they worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man who is so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name DARE NOT be spoken in my church! So why do the holiest among us always get it wrong, my fair congregation? I mean we do not have a definitive answer to that question. But, we can most certainly point fingers at the people who we think might be responsible for this atrocity. Herein lies the problem – part of it is that they got some of the stupidest people alive elected to positions that they don’t belong in, just so that they can maintain power. The holiest among us are also the most power addicted. And it’s truly insane what they are currently up to!

One of the defining characteristics of Christian nationalist activists is a willingness to misrepresent history, as time after time they spread blatant falsehoods in defense of their right-wing ideology. Often, this is rooted in their own ignorance about the Founding Era and the creation of the Constitution, as right-wing pastor, former mayor and city councilman Rob McCoy demonstrated during a recent appearance on "The Heidi St. John Podcast."

While insisting that the United States was created with "a Christian form of government," McCoy rattled off a series of completely false statements.

"When they did the Constitutional Convention and they were at loggerheads in 1787 and they broke for three days of fasting and prayer—and [Benjamin] Franklin's prayer is remarkable—but they come back and they come up with a brilliant idea of a bicameral legislature," McCoy said. "And they put the Three-Fifths Clause in there because they couldn't deal with slavery at the time but they had a sunset clause all established to get rid of it, and they did the Three-Fifth's Compromise so the slaveholding states couldn't have representation in the lower house if they weren't going to give Black Americans citizenship and the right to vote. So they were working through this."

"The only branch of government we could elect was the lower house, the House of Representatives," he continued. "They made them the most powerful branch of the government, or at least the most powerful half of a branch of the government, by giving them the purse strings. And then the House of Representatives would then appoint the senators for each of their states, depending on the number of representatives, they would appoint their two senators. And then the House of Representatives would also appoint the president—which is where we get the Electoral College—and then the president would appoint the judiciary. So this lower house was very powerful."
https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/why-do-christian-nationalists-rob-mccoy-know-so-little-about-constitution

Yes, therein lies the problem, my fair congregation! They think that they own the government and are entitled to power, because those are the hate and lies that they’ve been fed by their pastors, talk radio hosts, and news networks for the last 40 years! And as you know, when you repeat the lie long enough, it eventually becomes fact. Which has caused a lot of people – particularly *COUGH* Rupert Murdoch *COUGH* - to use that to their advantage! But it’s absolutely insane that the holiest among us constantly get facts wrong in favor of extremism. This is what happens when people start favoring conspiracy theories over, you know, facts.

George Pearsons is a right-wing pastor who, in addition to being the son-in-law of televangelist Kenneth Copeland, serves as senior pastor at Copeland's church, where he routinely uses his pulpit to spread Christian nationalist disinformation.

Pearsons, who has insisted for years that God is "not happy" about the 2020 election supposedly being stolen from Donald Trump, used his Sunday sermon to discuss the upcoming presidential election, insisting that the Founding Fathers used the Bible "as the foundation for all U.S. elected officials."

"I remember the day that I heard that from David Barton," Pearsons said. "I remember that day so clearly. It came to me as revelation that the Founding Fathers used Exodus 18:21 as the foundation for all U.S. elected officials. What does it say? It says, 'You shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth and hating covetousness'; hating greed, hating anything that would even reek of selfishness and wrong motivation for what they do, the job that they do."

Reading from another translation, Pearsons emphasized that "you shall choose" able men as leaders, quickly paraphrasing it to mean that Christians must elected "men and women who are competent, who fear God, who have integrity, and who are incorruptible."
https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/george-pearsons-spreads-false-christian-nationalist-history

Now here’s what I want to know – nowhere in the Bible does it say that GAWD created America, absolutely nowhere! Except of course in that Bible endorsed by the unholy Dark One and his sidekick Lee Greenwood, maybe that’s an exception! But of course, they just keep repeating it. Like no matter how many times you tell them they’re wrong, they just keep saying the same thing over and over. It’s like talking to a brick wall. It’s so damn frustrating! How did we get to this point, my fair congregation? The answer is we don’t know! But, like I said, even if we don’t know, we can certainly point fingers at the people responsible! It’s a way too literal circle jerk at this point.

In 2014, Right Wing Watch dubbed Rafael Cruz "the poor man's David Barton" because the speeches he delivers are little more than a recycling of a variety of myths long promoted by Christian-nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton.

Ten years later, Cruz, the father of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, is still out on the Christian nationalist lecture circuit and he's still spreading Barton-esque lies. Over the weekend, Cruz made an appearance at the 2024 Christians Engaged conference in Texas, where he baselessly claimed that "everything in our government came out of the Bible."

"Did you know that the Bible tells you exactly who to vote for?" Cruz said, citing a passage from Exodus 18 in which Moses, having led the Israelites out of Egypt, was overwhelmed by the responsibility of having to settle all the disputes that arose, and so his father-in-law, Jethro, urged him to select judges who would hear the simple cases while reserving for Moses the difficult ones and thus easing his burden.

"In Exodus 18: 21, God speaks to Moses through Jethro and he says, 'You select from among the people,'" Cruz stated. "Now that word 'select' is the same as 'elect.'"
https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/post/rafael-cruz-baselessly-claims-everything-in-our-government-came-out-of-the-bible

Uh… fucking what???? That is a statement that is so stupid, that I cannot even begin to remotely comprehend it. It might be one of the single stupidest things I’ve ever seen in my entire history of doing this program! Not only did they fail American history, they also failed basic English. These are the people who say that we must speak it too. If I were an English teacher and someone said that “select means elect”, they would get an instant fail! And this guy is a SENATOR of the UNITED STATES! What the absolute fuck are we doing in this country, people? Ted Cruz doesn’t belong in the Senate, he belongs in Arkham Asylum! Just… ahhhhhh!!! But lies like this don’t just pop up overnight. It takes years of formation and repeating them before people start believing them. But these people clearly don’t know how anything works!

Last month, Christian nationalist pseudo-historians David and Tim Barton delivered a presentation at the TPUSA Faith's "Believers' Summit" in Florida, during which the father-son duo spread the sorts of disinformation for which they are known, including the debunked claim that the Bible was the most cited source by the Founding Fathers, the falsehood that the Due Process clause came out of the Bible, and the false assertion that John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Civil Government" contained more than 1,500 Bible references.

Like his father, the myths spread by Tim Barton have a tendency to evolve over time so that what began as a misrepresentation eventually become almost unrecognizable. In this case, it was a claim about an 1844 Supreme Court case called Vidal v. Girard’s Executors.

"If you go to 1844, the U.S. Supreme Court had a case that was known as Vidal v. Girard's Executors," Barton said. "In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a unanimous 8-0 decision that you could not be a public school [and] receive government funding and prohibit the Bible, gospel ministers, evangelism from taking place on school campuses."

"If you tried to hinder those things," Barton claimed, "you would lose your government funding because one of the things we were going to make sure our schools did in America was emphasize religion and morality, was teach the Bible."
https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/post/tim-barton-and-the-evolution-of-christian-nationalist-lies

Sigh… there you have it, my fair congregation! The reason why we cannot have nice things in this country, and we have only begun to scratch the surface. I need some strong holy water after this one, that was an unfathomable amount of stupid there! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]Explaining Jokes To Idiots
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Yes, it’s the segment where we in the comedy profession explain humor to the people who just quite don’t get it. And in fact, we want to compare this to an incident that we reported on here a few weeks ago, when our good friend Kyle Gass of Tenacious D made a joke on stage in Australia about how someone should have – and I’m quoting directly – “should have finished the job” when it came to Trump’s “assassination attempt”. Well this week, of course we don’t need to remind you of the MAGA hate fest that went on at Madison Square Garden over the weekend. But of all the hateful things that were said at that rally, there’s one joke in particular that’s been garnering some attention and we’ll explain that in a bit. And it’s caused the Trump campaign to go into serious damage control mode. And we really do miss the days when this would have been a campaign ender. You know, the phrase “stochastic terrorism” gets thrown around these days. But there’s just one side that’s doing it. When you call an entire US territory an “island of garbage” and suggest that the half of the country that doesn’t support Orange Man Baby “need to be slaughtered”, how can you *NOT* take offense? So how is it fair that Tenacious D gets flushed and this guy is allowed to continue? Make it make sense! But with this crowd, it’s never their fault. Not today, not ever!

Donald Trump was the headliner at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. But the more than two dozen warm-up acts showed the country a lot about the party he’s built around him.

Speaking from a podium on the arena floor that read “Trump will fix it,” comedian Tony Hinchcliffe compared Puerto Rico to an “island of garbage,” and made lewd sexual jokes about Latinos. When a Black man stood to cheer him on, Hinchcliffe said the two of them had been at a Halloween party the night before, adding "We carved watermelons together." (On Monday, the Trump campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s set, providing a statement attributed to senior adviser Danielle Alvarez: “These jokes do not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”)

Tucker Carlson said it’s going to be hard for Trump supporters like him to believe the election results if Kamala Harris wins. He also mocked Harris—whose mother was from India and father from Jamaica—for her biracial identity, saying she would be “the first Samoan Malaysian low IQ former California prosecutor ever to be elected President.”
https://time.com/7099205/trump-rally-tony-hinchcliffe/

Yes, Mr. Swanson is absolutely correct here. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right guaranteed to you in the United States Bill Of Rights. And just to preface, before we go any further, we’re not at all defending what Mr. Hinchcliffe said in the slightest. In fact, we’re downright horrified by it. Because here’s the thing – do we really have to explain what a joke is to people? Because whatever this is, definitely isn’t it. But while this was maybe the worst said at the MSG hatefest on Sunday, there were other “jokes” that were far more horrifying. Look, people. This isn’t just a mere “joke” or two. This is who Donald Trump really is. He’s been hinting at this on his social media hidey-hole for years. And it’s not by accident, it’s by design.

Former president Donald Trump hosted a rally where speakers made numerous vulgar and racist remarks inside New York's Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Speakers at the rally called Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, "the Antichrist" and attacked Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee eight years ago, as a "sick son of a b****."

Speakers also made racist comments about Latinos and Black people, both key voting blocs in the election that is just over a week away. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe branded Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage," said Latinos love "making babies" and joked about "carving watermelons" with a Black friend for Halloween, while radio host Sid Rosenberg called the event "a Nazi rally."

Here, Newsweek rounds up some of the most shocking comments made at the rally.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-new-york-madison-rally-shocking-racist-vulgar-comments-jokes-1975718

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! So yeah here’s the thing, like we said, it’s not just a gaffe here or there. This is who Donald Trump really is. Like think of it like those scenes in action movies when the bad guy reveals who he really is before the hero finishes him off for good in the final battle to end all battles. Here’s the thing for those defending the insane comments coming from Mr. Hitchcliffe – it’s one thing to say this stuff. Calling an entire US territory – who are United States citizens – an “island of garbage” – is like the equivalent of just flat out burning the flag. Yeah, like Seinfeld! Yes, that episode that was actually banned from TV for a while because of it. I mean, if the networks can ban Seinfeld, why can’t a giant cartoon hook yank losers like this off stage?

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he’s “never heard of?? the comedian who called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage" during his rally at Madison Square Garden.

The comment, made by right-wing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, spread quickly online, sparking anger and frustration among Puerto Ricans across the country.

“I have no idea who he is,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday.

“Somebody said there was a comedian that jokes about Puerto Rico or something and I have no idea who he is. Never saw him, never heard of him, and don’t want to hear of him," he added.
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/30/doesnt-think-msg-rally-comedian-calling-puerto-rico-garbage-is-a-big-deal/

Seriously. So let me get this straight – Tony Hitchcliffe – a guy who I’ve never heard of until Sunday, gets to continue making racist jokes and suggesting that people be killed, while Trump gets to say that America is a land of garbage on national TV, and nobody calls them out for this? Of course not, and don’t ask Trump to denounce or clarify these statements. Because after 8 years, we’re convinced that Trump is incapable of apologizing or doing the right thing. Or even saying “I’m sorry” because that’s definitely not in his vocabulary. But anyway, maybe next time you should vent your speakers as opposed to filling your rally with ass kissers and Fox News bots. Oh wait, they don’t do that either, it’s always someone else’s fault! And PR rep – you’re absolutely wrong. Those words absolutely 100% do represent the Trump campaign. It’s who they are.

Mere seconds after Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy acknowledged “offensive comments about Latinos and Puerto Ricans and African Americans” were made at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, his colleague Brian Kilmeade attacked journalists for reporting on those comments.

The Sunday rally’s first speaker was comedian and podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe, who made a series of vulgar jokes about groups the former president’s campaign is actively trying to woo in the days before the election.

That included a remark that Latinos “love making babies, there’s no pulling out, they come inside, just like they do to our country.” Hinchliffe also made a comment about Black people and watermelons, invoking a long-standing racist trope, and called the U.S. territory Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.”

“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement, addressing Hinchliffe’s comment on Puerto Rico.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fox-friends-immediately-walks-back-its-own-trump-msg-racism-claim/ar-AA1t4lJy

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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! Of course conspiracies exist when people simply don’t want to read the article past the headlines and just flat out make shit up. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter from deep within the New Mexico badlands. Undisclosed location, of course! Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference. Ah, there we go! They are trying to read yours and my thoughts, after all! This week – with all the talk of Donald Trump becoming our next president, god forbid, one member of his possible cabinet isn’t getting the comeuppance, and that is Mr. Brain Worm himself, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In all seriousness, for a minute, can you imagine putting this stark raving, criminally insane lunatic conspiracy theorist in charge of America’s public health? It would be a literal nightmare scenario. But he is currently endorsing an extremely bizarre trend popping up on the right lately, and that involves drinking raw milk. Yes, raw milk can be the catalyst for a number of debilitating diseases. So really don’t do this, people! But apparently, according to Infowars, the government regulating the dairy industry is going way too far. Which is why we can’t have nice things.

In 2008, as he was running for the Iowa House of Representatives, Jason Schultz was stunned to learn dairy farmers could get in trouble for selling milk.

A local farmer had shown him the cease-and-desist letter he had received from the Iowa Department of Agriculture for selling milk straight from his cows to his friends and neighbors without pasteurizing it — heating it to kill bacteria — first.

So one of the first things Schultz, a Republican, did upon winning was introduce a bill to legalize the sale of so-called raw milk. The bill went nowhere, which wasn’t much of a surprise in a Legislature controlled by the opposite party, though almost no one in either party was interested in fighting a small army of big dairy lobbyists and public health officials who lectured about the dangers of potentially fatal bacteria. Moreover, the state had a long-standing prohibition on the sale of raw milk; indeed, in 1980, Iowa jailed 37-year old dairy farmer Delbert Banowetz for 30 days for the offense.

But Schultz wouldn’t give up, pushing the bill year after year. Very slowly over time he attracted supporters like Esther Arkfeld, a homeschooling mom and dairy owner turned grassroots leader who argued raw milk had health benefits and could help small farmers, too. Last May, Schultz’s bill finally passed, legalizing the sale of raw milk directly from farm to consumer. The vote — 37 to 13 in the Senate and 64 to 35 in the House — wasn’t particularly close.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/03/10/the-alt-right-rebrand-of-raw-milk-00145625

Yeah so of course, again, because of stupid, shitty propaganda, we cannot have nice things in this country. And of course, leave it to the one Congresswoman who literally has the wrong answer to every question ever asked, Marjorie Greene, aka Marjorie Shit For Brains, to once again have the wrong answer to every question. Should you drink raw milk? Absolutely 100% you should not. And should you listen to idiots like Alex Jones? Absolutely 100% you should not. Look, we do have the right to freedom of speech in this country. You get the right to say whatever you want. But I also get the right to mock the ever-living shit of you. See, MAGA, we’re laughing *AT* you, not with you.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene took a break from spreading lies about Hurricane Helene to dip her toe into a new conspiracy theory.

“Raw Milk does a body good,” wrote the Georgia representative on X Sunday afternoon, posting a photo of a large glass of milk. “Make America Healthy Again!”

The far-right has long touted their devotion to only drinking unpasteurized milk, which skips the process of killing off harmful bacteria and does not in fact do a body good. Greene’s post was hit was a massive fact-check in the community notes section of X, clarifying that “raw milk consumption is linked to a number of foodborne illnesses (e.g., Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Listeria, Brucella, and Salmonella) that can result in serious complications and death.” X users added a long list of links with evidence of how dangerous drinking raw milk can be.

As Melody Schreiber reported for The New Republic in July, drinking unpasteurized milk can also put the consumer at an unnecessary risk for H5N1, or the bird flu. In states where it is legal to sell raw milk, there were 3.2 times more outbreaks of illness linked to the milk over a span of 20 years.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mtg-takes-break-hurricane-lies-141022873.html

Yes, in fact, one of the biggest sellers and promoters of raw milk, HuHill Farms in Texas, got caught with their proverbial pants down by the state Agriculture Department. So regardless of what you hear in the right wing conspiracy theory sphere, drinking raw milk, shocker, is bad for you! And what’s really insane is that this is the second time that the farm has been warned about selling this shit. You know, the GOP really has become the “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” party. Which is the exact opposite of what the Rage Against The Machine song suggests. So yeah of course, my friends – fool me once on drinking raw milk, shame on you. Fool me twice on drinking raw milk, guess what? You got intestinal parasites! I think that’s how the rhyme goes.

For the second time since August, consumers are being warned to avoid drinking raw, unpasteurized milk from a dairy farm in Montgomery County.

And in separate news, there is a new warning out about contaminated frozen waffles from a national company that sells the breakfast food under several local supermarket brand names.

The state Department of Agriculture and Markets this week is urging people to avoid milk from Rob and Shirley Hudyncia's HuHill Farm, due to possible Campylobacter jejuni contamination.

No illnesses have been reported from the milk. But a routine sample of the milk collected by a state inspector was recently discovered to be contaminated.
https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/consumers-warned-raw-milk-bad-pancakes-bacteria-19857719.php

Now here’s the thing – you might be wondering, where is this shit coming from? Well, if the raw milk conspiracy has proven us anything, it’s that if you spend too much time on social media, you’ll probably believe just about anything they put in front of you. And also that the marketing they’re using to prove that raw milk is good for you, is 100% grade A, FDA certified bullshit. And a giant, steaming pile of it at that. So for what could be our next administration, to put a raving lunatic like RFK Jr in charge of public health would be like giving the alcoholic the keys to the liquor cabinet. But really, it also proves that you shouldn’t listen to idiots on social media. Really, just don’t. RFK Jr and Marjorie Greene are the very people your mother told you to stay away from. Listen to mom, kids.

By now, most of us know that ultra-processed foods aren’t so great for us, and that a diet rich in whole foods is correlated with improved heart health. But can an emphasis on foods in their purest form ever be taken too far?

Absolutely, as evidenced by the latest TikTok trend: drinking raw milk. As in, raw milk straight from the cow that hasn’t been pasteurized.

While you’ll find a wide variety of opinions surrounding raw milk, it’s easy to find TikTokers who swear by it for health reasons — they say it has more nutrients and fewer chemicals, it’s easier to digest, the list goes on. If you’re considering adding raw, unpasteurized cow’s milk to your diet (which may require some travel, as raw milk is not legal in every state), read this first.

Maybe, but the benefits don’t outweigh the risks.

“Raw milk contains natural vitamins and minerals. Some studies suggest that pasteurization can reduce the levels of certain heat-sensitive vitamins like vitamins C and B,” explained Zachary Cartwright, lead food scientist at Aqualab. “However, milk is not a significant source of these vitamins, so the overall nutritional impact may be minimal.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-raw-milk-safe_l_66c8e05ce4b0b61af203c317

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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink: The End Of K-Mart
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So of course, you know the idea behind this segment is that we have some drinks, and while we are drinking, we talk about literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. Because, if you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of really dark shit in the news right now. So we always feel that the best escape from reality is to belly up to the bar and have a few cold ones. Don’t worry, my sober brothers and sisters, we got you covered too! Just grab a glass of your favorite coffee, tea, or energy drink and come get wired with us! So the topic on the table this week – we’re going to salute the supermarket chain that us 80s and 90s kids are all too familiar with. The store that gave us the Blue Light Special and “Attention K-Mart Shoppers”, K-Mart! Yes, the last known K-Mart store in existence – on Long Island, New York, is finally closing its’ doors for good. So tell me, bartender, what goes well with a story about K-Mart? The Blue Light Martini? What’s in that? It’s just vodka and blue curacao? Nah, I’ll just stick to my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the Double Jack. Anyway, the retail chain known as K-Mart is going to be leaving us for good soon. As Walter Sobchak on the Big Lebowski said at the end of the movie “Goodnight, sweet prince!”. But alas, K-Mart, we salute you!

The one-time retail giant known for its blue light specials is shuttering its last full-scale store in the mainland United States.

For years, the store has operated in the posh town of Bridgehampton. But with its closure, Kmart's legacy lives on in a small store down in Miami.

Since news broke last month of the Long Island location closure, shoppers have flocked to the store to take advantage of slashed prices.

"I'm not surprised, it's always this empty," Juliette Fayh, of East Hampton, had told NBC New York. "This is actually the most crowded I've seen it."
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/long-island/last-kmart-closing-long-island/5905522/

Oh yeah that’s the stuff! So we’ve been talking about the retail apocalypse for quite some time now, going all the way back to 2012 when Jeff Bezos’ Amazon began taking over the world. Yes, brands left and right have been knocked off and replaced by Spirit Halloween stores. Ha ha ha ha ha! We expect to hear from Spirit Halloween’s lawyers soon! But a lot of brands that we’ve known for decades have been lost like Bed Bath & Beyond, Borders, and so on. And we’re quite frankly surprised that K-Mart has held on this long. But alas, the big Red K is closing its’ doors for good this week. It was interesting to see the retail chain on its’ last legs.

The time to make final selections at the last full-sized Kmart in the continental United States is nearly up as the once retail giant turned out its signature blue light in New York.

The Bridgehampton store, about 95 miles east of Manhattan, closed its doors for the final time Sunday night, leaving only one smaller store with a limited selection in Miami left in operation. The company has other stores in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Target is slated to replace Kmart at the Bridgehampton Commons location in the Hamptons, according to The Long Island Business Journal. The Journal reported that the big-box giant purchased the lease on the building from Transformco, the owner of Kmart and Sears, "a few years ago" in anticipation of the store's closure.

Transformco did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY on Sunday.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/retail/2024/10/20/kmart-full-sized-store-united-states/75768046007/

Yes, my friends – there is one tiny little bit of hope for those who are still interested in doing some actual shopping, as opposed to the convenience of the one-click buy you get from Amazon. But in doing that, you get the lack of personal interaction that you get from the people who still actually scan products for a living. That gleam of hope in keeping the K-Mart brand alive comes from their last store in Miami, Florida. While the one in New Hampton was their last full size store, this half store is the last remaining shred of a once retail giant. Yes, K-Mart, like Blockbuster, first there were many, now there are few, soon there will be none!

The last Kmart on the U.S. mainland sits at the west end of a busy suburban Miami shopping center, quiet and largely ignored.

All around it are thriving chain stores attracting steady streams of customers in sectors where the former box-store chain was once a major player: Marshalls, Hobby Lobby, PetSmart and Dollar Tree.

But at this all-but-last outpost of a company once famed for its “Blue Light Specials," only an occasional shopper pops in, mostly out of curiosity or nostalgia, then leaves after buying little or nothing.

"I hadn’t seen Kmart in so long,” said Juan de la Madriz, who came to the shopping center on a recent weekday to buy dog food at PetSmart. The architect spotted the Kmart and wondered if he could find a gift for his newborn grandson. He exited 10 minutes later having spent $23 on a stuffed dog and a wooden toy workbench.

“It will be sad if it closes,” he said about the store, “but everything now is on computers.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/in-suburban-miami-kmart-s-last-blue-light-specials-flicker/7838991.html

Yes, many brands have been resurrected through social media campaigning. Could K-Mart be the latest one? Blockbuster Video is hanging on by a thread, with their one lone location still operating in Bend, Oregon. On the other hand, bookseller Barnes & Noble is currently thriving thanks to the percentage of the population that still wants to hang onto brick and mortar retail. While it may be a very fast dying industry, there’s hope that we can still save America’s malls, mini malls, and strip malls. And we need some things to get us out of the house and away from our monitors! But the question remains, my friends – will K-Mart join the dying breed of the market chain retail sect, or will it be resurrected through social media? Only time will tell on that one!

After years of steady decline, Kmart has officially closed its last full-size store in mainland U.S. on October 20, 2024. Located in the posh town of Bridgehampton, New York, the nearly 90,000-square-foot store served the Hamptons community for over two decades.

The closure reduces the big-box discount retailer to only a small-store concept in Miami in the contiguous U.S. and a few locations in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The once unstoppable retail giant and pioneer of discount shopping opened its first store in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan.

By the 1990s, with its famous “Blue Light Specials” and the catchy "Attention Kmart shoppers!" announcements, it had become a symbol of suburban Americana.

At its peak, 95% of Americans lived within a short drive of a Kmart store. However, the blue light has dimmed over the years as Kmart struggled to keep up with changing times.
https://www.aol.com/end-era-kmart-closes-last-124300699.html

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[font size="8"] Road To The White House 2024
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Welcome back to our segment that lumps all of the election coverage of the 2024 election to end all elections in: Road To The White House! Ooh that was some good reverb there! So look, we’re literally on the eve of the election. It’s next Tuesday! 5 days from now! And we’re going to talk about some actual election stealing probables this week: 3rd party candidates! Look, for those who are watching this election from another country – let me let you in on a little secret about voting 3rd party in the United States. Nobody actually votes 3rd party because they support any of the candidates, which is why, since 1980, none of them actually has a fighting chance to become the next leader of the USA. Instead, voting 3rd party is not just a choice – it’s a spite vote. Yes, in the United States, people vote 3rd party, not because they support the candidate, they vote to take away votes from the one of two people who could actually become president. And it’s purely out of spite. Most famously was Jill Stein of the Green Party in the 2016 election that siphoned votes away from Hillary Clinton. But this year there’s some new faces looking to do some damage to the popular vote. Starting with our buddy, Mr. Brain Worm himself, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Yes, he went all in on the MAGA train a few months ago, but his name is still on the ballot in states like California and Michigan. So how much damage could he do to the actual vote totals? Well, depending on your sources – they range from “a little” to “ a hell of a lot”.

In a pair of orders Tuesday afternoon, the high court denied emergency applications Kennedy filed earlier this month. With ballots printed weeks ago and mail-in voting already underway, his attorneys acknowledged it might be impossible for him to get off the ballot altogether, but proposed his name be stickered over.

As is typical on the court’s emergency docket, there was no opinion or explanation of the decision. No justice publicly recorded any dissent in the Wisconsin case, but Justice Neil Gorsuch indicated he would have granted Kennedy’s request to get off Michigan ballots.

Gorsuch didn’t write a detailed opinion explaining his stance, but said he disagreed for “substantially” the same reasons three federal appeals court judges offered as they explained why they thought the state violated Kennedy’s First Amendment rights by refusing to remove him or take more modest steps, like posting signs at polling places saying he’d dropped out.

The candidate criticized the decision in a social media post. “It is a purely political move in the hope that folks who would have otherwise voted for Trump will throw away their vote by voting for me instead," he said on X. "Don’t let them undermine this election.”
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/10/29/2024-elections-live-coverage-updates-analysis/rfk-jr-wisconsin-michigan-00186150

Uh… what? Is the worm still in your brain? This is a political move? You do know what happened in previous elections, right? I mean come on. Especially with this SCOTUS, I’m really surprised that they ruled that way. So maybe batshit crazy conspiracy theories aren’t your thing. While we have largely avoided the terrible atrocities being committed in Gaza and Palestine, one thing we do have to touch on is that the jealous girlfriend to the democratic and republican party juggernauts is the Green Party an d Jill Stein. Could Stein cause a repeat of what happened in the 2016 elections? Well, unlike the 2016 election – where Stein’s votes hurt Hillary Clinton more than Donald Trump – this year, they could have the exact opposite effect.

A new poll suggests that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is drawing more voters from former President Donald Trump than from Vice President Kamala Harris.

According to a Noble Predictive Insights survey released last week, Harris holds a narrow lead over Trump in a hypothetical three-way race. With Stein on the ballot, Harris' lead expands, pointing to a potential spoiler effect similar to what many Democrats blamed Stein for doing to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

The poll shows Harris leading Trump 49 percent to 47 percent. However, with Stein in the race, Trump's support dips to 46 percent, while Harris maintains her 49 percent backing, suggesting that Stein draws more support from Trump than from Harris. Though Stein's voter base remains relatively small, at about 1 percent, it could prove crucial in an election that hinges on tight margins in swing states.

The poll surveyed 2,300 likely voters and had a margin of error of +/- 2.1 percent.
https://www.newsweek.com/jill-stein-hurts-donald-trump-more-kamala-harris-poll-suggests-1970765

Well if that’s the case here, I’m all for it! But look, people, one thing you should never ever do, under any circumstances, is throw your vote away. No matter what your reason. Yes, this year, no matter what your opinions on Kamala Harris or Donald Trump are, don’t do something stupid. This week we’ve already highlighted the importance of why not endorsing a candidate matters, and we’ve never had to worry about that until a candidate as insane and unhinged as Donald Trump came along. But throwing away your vote for a candidate like Jill Stein or writing in a vote for someone like Cornel West is jaw-dropping, incredibly stupid. And with the GOP as reckless, drunk with power, and completely out of control as our current one is, and how our democracy is literally hanging by a thread right now, why would you throw your vote away on a fringe candidate? Save that until after Donald Trump and his fascist goons are flushed for good!

Independent presidential candidate Cornel West has asked the Supreme Court to make Pennsylvania polling sites let voters know they can write in his name on Election Day.

West filed that emergency request days before Tuesday's election after failing to get on the ballot in the battleground state.

West is more likely to draw votes away from Vice President Kamala Harris than from former President Donald Trump.

Pennsylvania's top court backed the secretary of state's decision that West lacked the required affidavits for most of his presidential electors so was ineligible.
https://www.aol.com/cornel-west-asks-supreme-court-220938736.html

Seriously, people, don’t you dare do this. Sure, it may be tempting, but come on, with everything we know about Donald Trump and the damage he and his Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society goons do in one week, let alone 4 years, don’t throw your vote away under any circumstances! You can vote in as many surveys and polls as you want. You only get one vote. And on the eve of the election – we ask, no, we beg and plead you, don’t you dare do anything stupid with your vote! And make sure that your vote is processed and counted for. We won’t be safe until the votes are counted and the states have certified that count. Anything can happen between now and then. But whatever you do, under any circumstances, don’t vote 3rd party or vote against Kamala with a write-in vote. You may not like the outcome if you do. And you undecided voters out there – what the fuck are you waiting for? SMDH.

Two weeks remain in the presidential race, and the campaigns are following the classic “persuasion” and “get-out-the-vote” textbook maneuvers. But is there another “under-the-radar” maneuver the campaigns can employ?

Many of you who read my columns know that I constantly write about the quiet power of third-party candidates in close elections. This is why we measure all listed candidates on a state ballot in a close election in our Suffolk University/USA TODAY polls.

According to our latest Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll, the race is essentially tied among likely voters in our 5-way ballot test. Democrat Kamala Harris (45%) leads Republican Donald Trump (44%), Independent Cornel West (1%), Green Party candidate Jill Stein (1%), and Libertarian Chase Oliver (1%), with 5% still undecided and 3% refusing to respond. In our 2-way ballot test, Harris still leads by one point (50%-49%) with 1% undecided.

In 2016, Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein (yes, the same Jill Stein) each received more votes in the 3 “blue wall” states than the margin by which Hillary Clinton lost.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/21/third-party-candidates-pivotal-role/75774720007/

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Knocked Loose[/font]

All right, everyone! Let’s get this Halloween party started! My next guest is a legendary hardcore band from Kentucky. Their new album is called “You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To”. Playing their song “Don’t Reach For Me”, give it up for Knocked Loose!

Thank you Ann Arbor! This was fun! We’ll be back again soon! But first I’d like to leave you with a very important message.

Look, I know that we’ve been bringing you the free funny for 8 years now, but I have to be perfectly blunt and serious with you for a minute. And this may be the hardest thing I’ve ever had to say in the time we’ve been doing this program. Yes, there was a time when we were simply burned out from election coverage, and we were dreading Trump coming out on top against Biden in the rematch, but not anymore. We cannot stress how important it is to vote and to get out the vote. There is too much at stake in this election and we must stop Trump, Fox, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, and his fascist goons from worming their way back into the White House at all costs. We could be staring down a fascist dictatorship if he wins, and nobody will win in that scenario, we would all lose. In a dictatorship, nobody, and I mean nobody is safe, and that includes you and me, among others. They were literally advocating for mass murder of Trump’s opponents at his Madison Square Garden rally, and they are cheering on mass deportations of anyone they would conceive to be “illegal”, what could possibly go wrong there? Trump has revealed his true intentions, and they are utterly despicable, and truly, truly beyond evil.

Throwing your vote away or voting 3rd party, because of whatever reason you may have, is incredibly irresponsible, reckless, and stupid. In the immortal words of the late, great, Francis Vincent Zappa, “Register to vote, and vote. Otherwise, someone else may decide to do it for you.” Truer words have never been spoken, especially now. Please, for the love of every single god in the book, do the right thing. Vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Any other answer is the wrong answer. There is no greater reward for this country than flushing Trump and his goons down the sewer for good. Vote, and vote as if your life depends on it. Because right now, it just might. We will be taking next week off, because you don’t need to see our BS during the election until the dust settles. And until the dust settles, we can only imagine the shit show that's going to follow once the votes are cast, and the news will most likely change every 30 seconds, and it will be impossible for us to keep up. We’ll just sit here and twiddle our thumbs and watch amusing dog videos on Instagram until then. Oh look! That terrier is chasing it's own tail! I'd like to close out by saying thanks for being a part of this program for 8 years. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our loyal audience. So until after the election, we’re out. See you on the other side.

See you in two weeks! Also don't forget this Sunday - episode 2 of our spinoff program Holy Shit: The Sunday Sermons!

Credits

Host: Initech
Knocked Loose Appear Courtesy Of: Pure Noise Records
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Hill Auditorium, University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
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