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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
August 27, 2020
Hurricane Laura looms, and Trump is again the man without a plan
Opinion by Dana Milbank
Columnist
August 26, 2020 at 6:28 p.m. EDT
snip//
On Wednesday, Hurricane Laura approached the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas with a storm surge that the National Hurricane Center called “unsurvivable” and “catastrophic.” But Trump decreed that the show would go on: The Republican National Convention would resume Wednesday night as scheduled.
Trump’s decision to proceed with a split-screen convention fits neatly with his previous indifference. Just two weeks earlier he signed an executive order stripping the Federal Emergency Management Agency of up to $44 billion from its Disaster Relief Fund. Before that, he did everything in his power to dismantle efforts to ameliorate climate change, which is fueling higher-intensity storms.
It’s another timely reminder that Trump is a man without a plan.
He didn’t create the coronavirus, but he made its impact on the United States worse than in any other country because he had no plan to combat it. More than six months after the virus surfaced, he said his administration was “in the process of developing a strategy” to fight it.
He didn’t cause the economic collapse, but he worsened it because he didn’t have a long-term plan to soften the blow. Congressional Democrats offered him an election-year gift of a multitrillion-dollar stimulus package, but he walked away because Republicans thought it too generous. Now millions of unemployed Americans are seeing government help evaporate.
He didn’t invent police brutality, but he worsened tensions because he didn’t have a plan (or a desire) to fix racism in policing. Instead he demonized racial-justice demonstrators, sent in federal police who inflamed violence and, at this week’s convention, glorified gunmen who confronted demonstrators. The deadly scene this week in Kenosha, Wis., is the latest byproduct of the escalation.
more...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/26/hurricane-laura-looms-trump-is-again-man-without-plan/
...Trump is again the man without a plan
Hurricane Laura looms, and Trump is again the man without a plan
Opinion by Dana Milbank
Columnist
August 26, 2020 at 6:28 p.m. EDT
snip//
On Wednesday, Hurricane Laura approached the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas with a storm surge that the National Hurricane Center called “unsurvivable” and “catastrophic.” But Trump decreed that the show would go on: The Republican National Convention would resume Wednesday night as scheduled.
Trump’s decision to proceed with a split-screen convention fits neatly with his previous indifference. Just two weeks earlier he signed an executive order stripping the Federal Emergency Management Agency of up to $44 billion from its Disaster Relief Fund. Before that, he did everything in his power to dismantle efforts to ameliorate climate change, which is fueling higher-intensity storms.
It’s another timely reminder that Trump is a man without a plan.
He didn’t create the coronavirus, but he made its impact on the United States worse than in any other country because he had no plan to combat it. More than six months after the virus surfaced, he said his administration was “in the process of developing a strategy” to fight it.
He didn’t cause the economic collapse, but he worsened it because he didn’t have a long-term plan to soften the blow. Congressional Democrats offered him an election-year gift of a multitrillion-dollar stimulus package, but he walked away because Republicans thought it too generous. Now millions of unemployed Americans are seeing government help evaporate.
He didn’t invent police brutality, but he worsened tensions because he didn’t have a plan (or a desire) to fix racism in policing. Instead he demonized racial-justice demonstrators, sent in federal police who inflamed violence and, at this week’s convention, glorified gunmen who confronted demonstrators. The deadly scene this week in Kenosha, Wis., is the latest byproduct of the escalation.
more...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/26/hurricane-laura-looms-trump-is-again-man-without-plan/
August 27, 2020
What he's saying: "They have that luxury, which is great," Kushner added.
Kushner: NBA players are "very fortunate" to be "able to take a night off from work"
Not a word about WHY they're taking off from work, natch. 
https://www.axios.com/jared-kushner-nba-strike-jacob-blake-1b992465-50d6-46a3-ab3d-8bdaf744254d.html
1 hour ago - Sports
Kushner: NBA players are "very fortunate" to be "able to take a night off from work"
Ursula Perano
Jared Kushner told CNBC on Thursday that NBA players are "very fortunate that they have the financial position where they're able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences."
The backdrop: The league postponed its slate of playoff games after players refused to take the floor in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. That incident has again sparked protests nationwide for racial justice.
Players in other sports leagues followed the NBA's lead, with games postponed in the WNBA, MLB and MLS.
What he's saying: "They have that luxury, which is great," Kushner added.
"Look, I think with the NBA there's a lot of activism and I think they put a lot of slogans out. But I think what we need to do is turn that from slogans and signals to actual action that's going to solve the problem."
Kushner said that he believes President Trump's policies on criminal justice reform and opportunity zones are indicators that the administration has been successful in helping Black Americans.
Kushner said that he believes President Trump's policies on criminal justice reform and opportunity zones are indicators that the administration has been successful in helping Black Americans.
August 27, 2020
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
8/26/2020
Melania Trump's Shitty RNC Speech
snip//
Melania Trump was speaking about an entirely different being than the bloated ogre who cages children and laughs as multitudes die in his festering wake that she's damned herself to be married to. She spoke of fantasy Donald Trump, one who could be "humbled by the incredible support" in 2016, despite braying like a donkey with a broom stuck up its ass about his victory every chance he's had in 4 years. She spoke of a tireless Trump, who "will not rest until he has done all he can to take care of everyone impacted by this terrible pandemic," despite constantly golfing and tweeting about the hours and hours of TV he was watching, evidence of a someone who couldn't manage to burp out a plan after downing a bucket of Diet Coke and a slop bin of Big Macs.
Donald Trump isn't "inspired by the millions of Americans who wake up each day with a simple, yet courageous goal of providing for their families and keeping them safe." He isn't "here fighting for you." He isn't "grateful that you have trusted him to be your President." Melania said that he "will not stop fighting for you and your families," but he never even started. He fights for himself and his family, and I'm pretty sure he barely fights for them. Donald Trump is a miserable flea on the filthy anus of a failing body, and nothing more and probably much less.
But, sure, yeah, for the first time at the RNC, someone met the bar of "somewhat civilized" in their speech. Sure, Melania actually acknowledged that people died from COVID. Sure, she brought up opioid addiction and racial unrest. Jesus Christ, is that all we need to praise her? That she recognized that reality exists?
She was graded on the idiot curve, where you know someone isn't capable of doing something but you cheer them when they do the most basic shit with their few unremarkable skills. I get that when I play basketball with friends. If I hit a basket, it's like "Oh, hey, he didn't slam his head into the pole" and everyone's thrilled. But if they started telling me how awesome a player I am, I'd punch 'em in the tit for lying.
It was a shitty speech on a basic level. Putting aside the lies about her cretinous husband and putting aside that she was no doubt doing this as part of her contract with Trump and putting aside that she's a liar and a birther, the language she used was like she was a fucking third-grader. "I always heard about an amazing place called America, a land that stood for freedom and opportunity," she said, talking about her childhood in Slovenia. That's dumb. That's dumb shit that only dumb people fall for. It's dumb like the phrase "Be Best," which is what dumbasses think is wisdom.
Einstein visa? Eat my whole ass.
more...
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/08/melania-trumps-shitty-rnc-speech.html
The Rude Pundit: Melania Trump's Shitty RNC Speech
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
8/26/2020
Melania Trump's Shitty RNC Speech
snip//
Melania Trump was speaking about an entirely different being than the bloated ogre who cages children and laughs as multitudes die in his festering wake that she's damned herself to be married to. She spoke of fantasy Donald Trump, one who could be "humbled by the incredible support" in 2016, despite braying like a donkey with a broom stuck up its ass about his victory every chance he's had in 4 years. She spoke of a tireless Trump, who "will not rest until he has done all he can to take care of everyone impacted by this terrible pandemic," despite constantly golfing and tweeting about the hours and hours of TV he was watching, evidence of a someone who couldn't manage to burp out a plan after downing a bucket of Diet Coke and a slop bin of Big Macs.
Donald Trump isn't "inspired by the millions of Americans who wake up each day with a simple, yet courageous goal of providing for their families and keeping them safe." He isn't "here fighting for you." He isn't "grateful that you have trusted him to be your President." Melania said that he "will not stop fighting for you and your families," but he never even started. He fights for himself and his family, and I'm pretty sure he barely fights for them. Donald Trump is a miserable flea on the filthy anus of a failing body, and nothing more and probably much less.
But, sure, yeah, for the first time at the RNC, someone met the bar of "somewhat civilized" in their speech. Sure, Melania actually acknowledged that people died from COVID. Sure, she brought up opioid addiction and racial unrest. Jesus Christ, is that all we need to praise her? That she recognized that reality exists?
She was graded on the idiot curve, where you know someone isn't capable of doing something but you cheer them when they do the most basic shit with their few unremarkable skills. I get that when I play basketball with friends. If I hit a basket, it's like "Oh, hey, he didn't slam his head into the pole" and everyone's thrilled. But if they started telling me how awesome a player I am, I'd punch 'em in the tit for lying.
It was a shitty speech on a basic level. Putting aside the lies about her cretinous husband and putting aside that she was no doubt doing this as part of her contract with Trump and putting aside that she's a liar and a birther, the language she used was like she was a fucking third-grader. "I always heard about an amazing place called America, a land that stood for freedom and opportunity," she said, talking about her childhood in Slovenia. That's dumb. That's dumb shit that only dumb people fall for. It's dumb like the phrase "Be Best," which is what dumbasses think is wisdom.
Einstein visa? Eat my whole ass.
more...
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/08/melania-trumps-shitty-rnc-speech.html
August 26, 2020
The Special Hypocrisy of Melania Trump's Speech at the Republican National Convention
Cultural Comment
The Special Hypocrisy of Melania Trump’s Speech at the Republican National Convention
By Doreen St. Félix
August 26, 2020
In place of roses, the First Lady grew concrete. Prior to her address at the Republican National Convention, on Tuesday night, the White House unveiled Melania Trump’s renovations to the Rose Garden, which had been pitched as her personal project. Cultivation of the garden would link her to Jackie Kennedy, the one figure whose lineage Melania, and her boosters, can tenuously claim. Homage, to Melania, looked like draining the floriculture of its traditional crimson and magenta, replacing the garden’s formerly bright bushes with flowers of the palest shades, and removing the row of crab-apple trees around the perimeter, leaving a walkway of fresh pavement in their stead. If First Lady is an unofficial office whose only, and therefore critical, mandate is to rustle up symbolism, then Melania’s redesign was flawless: the content of the metaphor was clean and clear.
Drained of life, the garden now better functions as a stage. Cameras followed Melania as she strode into the garden, where she received movie-star lighting, to deliver her speech. So far, the production of the R.N.C. has emphasized scale—the single boasting figure at the dais in an empty hall, the wide frame a kind of implicit and defiant fuck-you to the pandemic’s constriction of space. In the Rose Garden, what looked like dozens of audience members, including Melania’s husband, as she would refer to the President, looked on from chairs. (According to reports, only the guests who sat near the President and Vice-President were tested for COVID-19.) Her olive-green skirt suit, by Alexander McQueen, looked rather like fatigues, and recalled the palette of her other famous jacket, with its quick message of fast-fashion fascism: “I REALLY DON’T CARE DO U?”
You know the thing about Melania by now. Profundity is wrung from her vapidity, messages decoded from the tea leaves of her rote silence. Belief in her moral grain, faith in the fable in which she is the innocent immigrant who has tumbled into an accursed set of circumstances, is, for some, the last thing standing in the way of full-on nihilism. The story of her R.N.C. address, then, is less about what streamed from the teleprompter than the trap it laid for the D.C. press. Already, the Washington Post has noted that Melania’s speech “emphasized her empathy, which only highlighted the president’s lack of it.”
Groping in the dark banality of the address, one can agree that Melania did provide a superficial counter to her husband. But one gets the sense that Melania Trump does not appreciate the custodial role. Generally emotionless throughout her twenty-six-minute address, she offered a careful appraisal of the state of the nation, admitting the “harsh reality” of “racial unrest in our country,” and extending sympathy to Americans who have lost loved ones and livelihoods to the pandemic. She also freely recalled her childhood in the Communist state of Slovenia, and even spoke, notionally, of Islam, all while her husband maintains his Muslim ban. The exploitative speech, like the Convention as a whole, was tasked with conjuring an alternative interpretation of Trumpian fascism. As she has before, Melania claimed her husband’s incivility to be a form of passionate patriotism. At the same time, she acted as a kind of quiet, maternal foil to the rest of the R.N.C.’s overactive bombast, with its vision of a world in which COVID-19 has been vanquished and the economy is roaring. Her delivery was shy, and the words did not seem fully processed or digested by their speaker. Still, it was by far Melania’s best political performance since her entrance into public life.
more...
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-special-hypocrisy-of-melania-trumps-speech-at-the-republican-national-convention
August 26, 2020
The press has a Melania Trump problem
Stop normalizing her
Eric Boehlert
3 hr
snip//
Can you even imagine the media hailstorm that would have erupted for weeks and months if Michelle Obama had announced in late 2008 that she refused to move into the White House when Barack Obama was inaugurated? And then we found out the delay tactic was because Obama wanted to squeeze more money from her husband? Until Melania, a First Lady refusing to live at the White House was, of course, inconceivable. But the press went out of its way to normalize her no-show appearance.
"Reluctant First Lady? Melania Trump Wouldn’t Be the First to Claim That Title," read a New York Times headline from February, 2017. "That Mrs. Trump may have a somewhat skeptical view of life in Washington doesn’t come as a total surprise to professors, writers and museum curators who study first ladies, with some saying she is in the company of several predecessors who took time to find their footing," the Times reported, putting the story in a favorable light.
But Trump wasn't "reluctant" and "skeptical" about becoming First Lady. She was effectively refusing to become First Lady. That's unheard of in U.S. history, so why did the Times pretend that Trump's behavior was in line with former First Ladies, such as Michelle Obama, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Eleanor Roosevelt? Answer: It was an obvious attempt to normalize Trump from the outset.
Back in May, the Post ran another glowing profile of the First Lady, insisting she had "found her voice" during the Covid-19 pandemic because she had posted comments on social media urging people to wear masks. In other words, she had done the absolutely bare minimum at a time of national crisis — a crisis her husband made worse everyday. But that minimal effort was enough for the Post to sing her praise.
Fast forward three months, and Trump last week hosted a highly publicized event at the White House where she refused to wear a mask, as did most of the people in attendance, thereby sending a dangerous message that the pandemic threat has passed.
Melania Trump deserves just as much media scrutiny as her recent predecessors, if not more given Donald Trump’s radical behavior. Not a Beltway press corps that normalizes her tenure.
Eric Boehlert: The press has a Melania Trump problem
https://pressrun.media/p/the-press-has-a-melania-trump-problemThe press has a Melania Trump problem
Stop normalizing her
Eric Boehlert
3 hr
snip//
Can you even imagine the media hailstorm that would have erupted for weeks and months if Michelle Obama had announced in late 2008 that she refused to move into the White House when Barack Obama was inaugurated? And then we found out the delay tactic was because Obama wanted to squeeze more money from her husband? Until Melania, a First Lady refusing to live at the White House was, of course, inconceivable. But the press went out of its way to normalize her no-show appearance.
"Reluctant First Lady? Melania Trump Wouldn’t Be the First to Claim That Title," read a New York Times headline from February, 2017. "That Mrs. Trump may have a somewhat skeptical view of life in Washington doesn’t come as a total surprise to professors, writers and museum curators who study first ladies, with some saying she is in the company of several predecessors who took time to find their footing," the Times reported, putting the story in a favorable light.
But Trump wasn't "reluctant" and "skeptical" about becoming First Lady. She was effectively refusing to become First Lady. That's unheard of in U.S. history, so why did the Times pretend that Trump's behavior was in line with former First Ladies, such as Michelle Obama, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Eleanor Roosevelt? Answer: It was an obvious attempt to normalize Trump from the outset.
Back in May, the Post ran another glowing profile of the First Lady, insisting she had "found her voice" during the Covid-19 pandemic because she had posted comments on social media urging people to wear masks. In other words, she had done the absolutely bare minimum at a time of national crisis — a crisis her husband made worse everyday. But that minimal effort was enough for the Post to sing her praise.
Fast forward three months, and Trump last week hosted a highly publicized event at the White House where she refused to wear a mask, as did most of the people in attendance, thereby sending a dangerous message that the pandemic threat has passed.
Melania Trump deserves just as much media scrutiny as her recent predecessors, if not more given Donald Trump’s radical behavior. Not a Beltway press corps that normalizes her tenure.
August 26, 2020
A Law-Breaking Convention
August 26, 2020 at 6:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
A Law-Breaking Convention
https://politicalwire.com/2020/08/26/a-law-breaking-convention/A Law-Breaking Convention
August 26, 2020 at 6:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Playbook: “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the Republican convention Tuesday from a rooftop in Jerusalem, where he was on a government-paid trip conducting diplomacy — even though State Department employees were expressly told this type of politicking was prohibited. (Had Hillary Clinton done this, Rep. Pompeo would’ve been on her case.) Trump pardoned a man from the White House on television during the convention, and naturalized five others — in conflict with four years of restrictive immigration policies. First lady Melania Trump addressed the convention from the Rose Garden, which she has recently refashioned to her liking.”
“Of course, much of this is improper, and, according to most every straight-faced expert, it’s a violation of the Hatch Act. It’s incumbent upon the news media to point that out. But do you think a single person outside the Beltway gives a hoot about the president politicking from the White House or using the federal government to his political advantage? Do you think any persuadable voter even notices?”
“Of course, much of this is improper, and, according to most every straight-faced expert, it’s a violation of the Hatch Act. It’s incumbent upon the news media to point that out. But do you think a single person outside the Beltway gives a hoot about the president politicking from the White House or using the federal government to his political advantage? Do you think any persuadable voter even notices?”
August 25, 2020
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
8/25/2020
Random Observations on the RNC Orgy and Klan Rally (Night 1: That Was Some Weird Shit)
1. The theme of the Republican National Convention, which started last night from various locations in Hell, was "All glory to Trump." There was no attempt to reach out, even in the smallest way, to people who might live in what we colloquially call "reality." Nope. You either rode the MAGA express straight to the Trump Pole where Trump would bestow upon you all the toys you could ever want, or you were a miserable leftist fuck who only deserved Marxist lumps of coal. Honestly, every single speaker could have gotten up there and talked about how great it was to give enthusiastic blow jobs to Trump and it really wouldn't have made one bit of difference. If Steve Scalise had sauntered up to the mic while wiping cum off the corner of his mouth, I'd've thought, "Yeah, I assumed."
2. There wasn't a word of sympathy for the 200,000 people in this country who have died of COVID-19, as if that never happened. In fact, in the telling of the RNC, some sneaky Chinaman defiled our virginal American shores and infected us with coronavirus, probably on purpose. And while all those evil Democrats ran around saying that it wasn't a threat, one man knew right away what to do, and that man was Donald Trump, and Donald Trump allowed the United States to suckle from his orange breast, his milk filled with the medicine that would heal us. This wasn't spin. We're used to spin, where you take the facts and make them look good in a context of your choosing. No, this was a complete, Soviet-level revision of recent history, where Trump never said it would go away, never said there would only be 1 or 15 or 60,000 deaths, never claimed there were cures and treatments that didn't exist, never accused governors desperately trying to get PPE and ventilators of just trying to make him look bad, never demeaned the scientists working on saving us, never politicized every fucking aspect of the pandemic. It has become an article of faith among the delusional MAGA hordes that Trump saved millions of lives by doing something, never allowing the corollaries, that the only way millions of people would have died is if he did absolutely nothing and prevented anyone else from doing anything and that, if he'd done more, we wouldn't have this ridiculous, ongoing death rate, to enter their empty minds. It's a madness that is so complete, so all-engulfing that they couldn't even pause for a second to acknowledge the piles of dead bodies that their bullshit convention was stepping on.
3. I don't get this strategy that the world is fucked and we need to re-elect Donald Trump to unfuck it. We were treated to videos of protests that turned violent and unemployment porn. We heard from coked-out morons like Donald Trump, Jr., saying shit like "Anarchists have been flooding our streets and Democrat mayors are ordering the police to stand down. Small businesses across America, many of them minority owned, are being torched by mobs." Or the repulsive St. Louis couple who, when not destroying a synagogue's beehives (no, really), pointed guns at peaceful protesters who walked past their home. From their mansion they said, "They’re not satisfied with spreading the chaos and violence into our communities. They want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single family home zoning." Does it need to be said that these rich cuntmites sued to prevent a gay couple from moving into their 'hood? (No, really.) So the country is on fire, protesters are in the streets, coronavirus is rampaging, the economy is in tatters, and Republicans' message is "You see how shitty everything is? We need the guy who made it shitty to fix it." Sure, sure, if a mad bomber has planted bombs all over the city and half of them have gone off, you want the bomber to tell you where the rest of 'em are. But then you fucking lock the bomber away forever. And at least everyone would agree that bombs are real.
4. The racist dog whistles were loud last night from the very beginning. Alien with a wig Charlie Kirk declared that "Trump is the bodyguard of Western civilization" and "the defender of Western Civilization," which is such a thinly-veiled code for "white" that it's pretty much Saran Wrap. Rejected Muppet Matt Gaetz said of Democrats, "They’ll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door," a sentence that is racist and makes no sense. Every mention of the border or "take away your guns" was code for "the dark people are coming and you need to be able to shoot them." Then there was Sen. Tim "Useful Idiot" Scott, who got in some anti-Semitic jams by saying that Democrats "want to take more money from your pocket and give it to Manhattan elites and Hollywood moguls." Most absurd was former governor and UN ambassador and future failed GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who is Indian-American. A couple of seconds after saying, "In much of the Democratic party, it’s now fashionable to say that America is racist. That is a lie. America is not a racist country," she talked about she and her family "faced discrimination and hardship." Yeah, motherfucker, because of the racism.
more...
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/08/random-observations-on-rnc-orgy-and.html
Rude Pundit: Random Observations on the RNC Orgy and Klan Rally (Night 1: That Was Some Weird Shit)
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
8/25/2020
Random Observations on the RNC Orgy and Klan Rally (Night 1: That Was Some Weird Shit)
1. The theme of the Republican National Convention, which started last night from various locations in Hell, was "All glory to Trump." There was no attempt to reach out, even in the smallest way, to people who might live in what we colloquially call "reality." Nope. You either rode the MAGA express straight to the Trump Pole where Trump would bestow upon you all the toys you could ever want, or you were a miserable leftist fuck who only deserved Marxist lumps of coal. Honestly, every single speaker could have gotten up there and talked about how great it was to give enthusiastic blow jobs to Trump and it really wouldn't have made one bit of difference. If Steve Scalise had sauntered up to the mic while wiping cum off the corner of his mouth, I'd've thought, "Yeah, I assumed."
2. There wasn't a word of sympathy for the 200,000 people in this country who have died of COVID-19, as if that never happened. In fact, in the telling of the RNC, some sneaky Chinaman defiled our virginal American shores and infected us with coronavirus, probably on purpose. And while all those evil Democrats ran around saying that it wasn't a threat, one man knew right away what to do, and that man was Donald Trump, and Donald Trump allowed the United States to suckle from his orange breast, his milk filled with the medicine that would heal us. This wasn't spin. We're used to spin, where you take the facts and make them look good in a context of your choosing. No, this was a complete, Soviet-level revision of recent history, where Trump never said it would go away, never said there would only be 1 or 15 or 60,000 deaths, never claimed there were cures and treatments that didn't exist, never accused governors desperately trying to get PPE and ventilators of just trying to make him look bad, never demeaned the scientists working on saving us, never politicized every fucking aspect of the pandemic. It has become an article of faith among the delusional MAGA hordes that Trump saved millions of lives by doing something, never allowing the corollaries, that the only way millions of people would have died is if he did absolutely nothing and prevented anyone else from doing anything and that, if he'd done more, we wouldn't have this ridiculous, ongoing death rate, to enter their empty minds. It's a madness that is so complete, so all-engulfing that they couldn't even pause for a second to acknowledge the piles of dead bodies that their bullshit convention was stepping on.
3. I don't get this strategy that the world is fucked and we need to re-elect Donald Trump to unfuck it. We were treated to videos of protests that turned violent and unemployment porn. We heard from coked-out morons like Donald Trump, Jr., saying shit like "Anarchists have been flooding our streets and Democrat mayors are ordering the police to stand down. Small businesses across America, many of them minority owned, are being torched by mobs." Or the repulsive St. Louis couple who, when not destroying a synagogue's beehives (no, really), pointed guns at peaceful protesters who walked past their home. From their mansion they said, "They’re not satisfied with spreading the chaos and violence into our communities. They want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single family home zoning." Does it need to be said that these rich cuntmites sued to prevent a gay couple from moving into their 'hood? (No, really.) So the country is on fire, protesters are in the streets, coronavirus is rampaging, the economy is in tatters, and Republicans' message is "You see how shitty everything is? We need the guy who made it shitty to fix it." Sure, sure, if a mad bomber has planted bombs all over the city and half of them have gone off, you want the bomber to tell you where the rest of 'em are. But then you fucking lock the bomber away forever. And at least everyone would agree that bombs are real.
4. The racist dog whistles were loud last night from the very beginning. Alien with a wig Charlie Kirk declared that "Trump is the bodyguard of Western civilization" and "the defender of Western Civilization," which is such a thinly-veiled code for "white" that it's pretty much Saran Wrap. Rejected Muppet Matt Gaetz said of Democrats, "They’ll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door," a sentence that is racist and makes no sense. Every mention of the border or "take away your guns" was code for "the dark people are coming and you need to be able to shoot them." Then there was Sen. Tim "Useful Idiot" Scott, who got in some anti-Semitic jams by saying that Democrats "want to take more money from your pocket and give it to Manhattan elites and Hollywood moguls." Most absurd was former governor and UN ambassador and future failed GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who is Indian-American. A couple of seconds after saying, "In much of the Democratic party, it’s now fashionable to say that America is racist. That is a lie. America is not a racist country," she talked about she and her family "faced discrimination and hardship." Yeah, motherfucker, because of the racism.
more...
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/08/random-observations-on-rnc-orgy-and.html
August 25, 2020
Report: Don Jr. Fears Election Defeat Will Mean Prosecution Of Trump Family
Alex Henderson
@alexvhenderson
August 25 | 2020
Reprinted with permission from Alternet
After former Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered the final report for the Russia investigation in 2019, he noted that the Department of Justice has a longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president. But if former Vice President Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump this November, he will no longer be a sitting president after Biden is inaugurated in January 2021. And according to a lengthy piece by journalist Jason Zengerle for the New York Times, Donald Trump, Jr. is worried about the possibility of members of his family facing criminal prosecutions if the president loses to Biden.
Zengerle's article takes an in-depth look at the prominent role that Trump, Jr. is playing in the president's reelection campaign. And an anonymous source described by Zengerle as a "prominent conservative activist" told the Times, "Don's the only person who thinks they're going to lose. He's like, 'We're losing, dude, and we're going to get really hurt when we lose.'"
Zengerle explains that by "really hurt," that source means criminal prosecutions. The Times journalist reports, "An electoral defeat in November, Trump Jr. fears, could result in federal prosecutions of Trump, his family and his political allies. He has told the conservative activist that he expects that a Biden administration will not participate in a 'peaceful transition' and instead, will 'shoot the prisoners.'"
more...
https://www.nationalmemo.com/don-jr-fears-election-defeat-will-mean-prosecution-of-trump-family
Report: Don Jr. Fears Election Defeat Will Mean Prosecution Of Trump Family
Report: Don Jr. Fears Election Defeat Will Mean Prosecution Of Trump Family
Alex Henderson
@alexvhenderson
August 25 | 2020
Reprinted with permission from Alternet
After former Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered the final report for the Russia investigation in 2019, he noted that the Department of Justice has a longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president. But if former Vice President Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump this November, he will no longer be a sitting president after Biden is inaugurated in January 2021. And according to a lengthy piece by journalist Jason Zengerle for the New York Times, Donald Trump, Jr. is worried about the possibility of members of his family facing criminal prosecutions if the president loses to Biden.
Zengerle's article takes an in-depth look at the prominent role that Trump, Jr. is playing in the president's reelection campaign. And an anonymous source described by Zengerle as a "prominent conservative activist" told the Times, "Don's the only person who thinks they're going to lose. He's like, 'We're losing, dude, and we're going to get really hurt when we lose.'"
Zengerle explains that by "really hurt," that source means criminal prosecutions. The Times journalist reports, "An electoral defeat in November, Trump Jr. fears, could result in federal prosecutions of Trump, his family and his political allies. He has told the conservative activist that he expects that a Biden administration will not participate in a 'peaceful transition' and instead, will 'shoot the prisoners.'"
more...
https://www.nationalmemo.com/don-jr-fears-election-defeat-will-mean-prosecution-of-trump-family
August 25, 2020
Trump’s Bad Bet on the Politics of Fear
He’s scaring America straight into the arms of Democrats.
by Amanda Carpenter
August 24, 2020 5:30 am
Given President Trump’s inability to run a positive campaign based on his record over the last four years, he only has one chance of winning re-election: scaring the ever-living crap out of the Republican base.
Sure, his campaign is signaling for the millionth time that they’ll have a “new tone” and saying they’ll produce an “optimistic, hopeful” convention. And maybe there really will be some attempt, now and then during this week’s RNC, to reach out to undecided voters. Trump’s surrogates have said there will be “surprises,” and positivity would certainly count as an unexpected change. But don’t expect much of it: What Trump is really pitching is a bonanza of political and medical disinformation designed to confirm the fears of his army of internet trolls, who already think he’s some kind of deep-state avenging superhero who is saving the world from a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping, pedophiliacs who drink children’s blood.
snip//
For those of us outside of the Fox News bubble of doom, however, what’s more frightening? Trump—and his utter failure in containing the coronavirus, authoritarian response to summer protests, and continued reign of chaos—or Biden? One guy presided over the deaths of 176,000 Americans, killed the economy, and gassed peaceful protesters. The other guy’s main risk to our national security is that he gives his phone number out to random people too much.
There’s been a lot of talk about hoaxes lately and by now, it’s pretty clear that the person who suggested that ingesting bleach could be a good way to treat coronavirus is helping to perpetuate them. (That is, for those of us who aren’t members of the Bleach Cures and Anti-Vaxxer Facebook communities.)
Trump’s conspiracy-laden, fear-based campaign may very well be successful, just not in the way he expects. If all that voters see in the run-up to the November elections is more American carnage under the Trump presidency, they most likely will be scared right into the arms of Democrats. This time around, it’s Trump who is the boogeyman starring in our national political nightmare.
Trump's Bad Bet on the Politics of Fear
https://thebulwark.com/trumps-bad-bet-on-the-politics-of-fear/Trump’s Bad Bet on the Politics of Fear
He’s scaring America straight into the arms of Democrats.
by Amanda Carpenter
August 24, 2020 5:30 am
Given President Trump’s inability to run a positive campaign based on his record over the last four years, he only has one chance of winning re-election: scaring the ever-living crap out of the Republican base.
Sure, his campaign is signaling for the millionth time that they’ll have a “new tone” and saying they’ll produce an “optimistic, hopeful” convention. And maybe there really will be some attempt, now and then during this week’s RNC, to reach out to undecided voters. Trump’s surrogates have said there will be “surprises,” and positivity would certainly count as an unexpected change. But don’t expect much of it: What Trump is really pitching is a bonanza of political and medical disinformation designed to confirm the fears of his army of internet trolls, who already think he’s some kind of deep-state avenging superhero who is saving the world from a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping, pedophiliacs who drink children’s blood.
snip//
For those of us outside of the Fox News bubble of doom, however, what’s more frightening? Trump—and his utter failure in containing the coronavirus, authoritarian response to summer protests, and continued reign of chaos—or Biden? One guy presided over the deaths of 176,000 Americans, killed the economy, and gassed peaceful protesters. The other guy’s main risk to our national security is that he gives his phone number out to random people too much.
There’s been a lot of talk about hoaxes lately and by now, it’s pretty clear that the person who suggested that ingesting bleach could be a good way to treat coronavirus is helping to perpetuate them. (That is, for those of us who aren’t members of the Bleach Cures and Anti-Vaxxer Facebook communities.)
Trump’s conspiracy-laden, fear-based campaign may very well be successful, just not in the way he expects. If all that voters see in the run-up to the November elections is more American carnage under the Trump presidency, they most likely will be scared right into the arms of Democrats. This time around, it’s Trump who is the boogeyman starring in our national political nightmare.
August 25, 2020
Jacob Blake’s father says son paralyzed from waist down after police shooting in Kenosha
Doctors don’t yet know if the injury is permanent. “I want to put my hand on my son’s cheek and kiss him on his forehead, and then I’ll be OK,” Blake’s father says.
By Clare Proctor Aug 25, 2020, 7:02am CDT
When Jacob Blake’s father talked with his son Sunday morning, the younger Blake was gearing up for a day of celebrating his son’s eighth birthday.
That evening, the father got word that his son had been shot eight times by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Eighteen minutes later, he saw the now-viral video, he said.
Some witnesses say Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who attended middle and high school in Evanston, was simply trying to break up a fight Sunday evening. The cellphone video of the incident shows Blake walking around and opening up his car door before appearing to be shot in the back by police.
Eight holes
His father said there are now “eight holes” in his son’s body, and he’s paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors don’t yet know if the injury is permanent.
more...
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/8/25/21400481/jacob-blake-kenosha-police-shooting-riots-evanston
Jacob Blake's father says son paralyzed from waist down after police shooting in Kenosha
Jacob Blake’s father says son paralyzed from waist down after police shooting in Kenosha
Doctors don’t yet know if the injury is permanent. “I want to put my hand on my son’s cheek and kiss him on his forehead, and then I’ll be OK,” Blake’s father says.
By Clare Proctor Aug 25, 2020, 7:02am CDT
When Jacob Blake’s father talked with his son Sunday morning, the younger Blake was gearing up for a day of celebrating his son’s eighth birthday.
That evening, the father got word that his son had been shot eight times by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Eighteen minutes later, he saw the now-viral video, he said.
“What justified all those shots?” his father said. “What justified doing that in front of my grandsons? What are we doing?”
Some witnesses say Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who attended middle and high school in Evanston, was simply trying to break up a fight Sunday evening. The cellphone video of the incident shows Blake walking around and opening up his car door before appearing to be shot in the back by police.
Eight holes
His father said there are now “eight holes” in his son’s body, and he’s paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors don’t yet know if the injury is permanent.
more...
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/8/25/21400481/jacob-blake-kenosha-police-shooting-riots-evanston
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