Initech

Initech's Journal

June 29, 2016

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #33: Nazi Golf Balls Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #33: Nazi Golf Balls Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! So how are you ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, LGBT and gender non conformers doing tonight? Are you all good? Ready to have some fun at the expense of our elected officials? Because this edition is going to be very NRA heavy because of the epic sit-in that is going on in Congress actually, well right fucking now! And because of that we are going to have a sponsor tonight: Target. All right, I’ll take that one! So some good news happened last week – the city of Las Vegas was awarded their very first professional sports franchise! How about some applause? So the NHL awarded Las Vegas their very first professional sports team and the first team expansion since 2002. And that T-Mobile Arena looks very nice and will be a great addition to the NHL. But I do hope that Vegas gets some more pro sports teams – especially the NBA and the NFL’s Raiders to come to Vegas. Maybe that will entice the MLB to finally lift their ban on Vegas and maybe even on Pete Rose, though I’m not touching that one with a proverbial 10 foot pole. Well first this is going to be a very Brexit heavy edition and if you don’t know what is going on I’ll let John Oliver explain it to you:

So where do we begin this week? So you know by now the extremely poor decision by the people of the UK to exit the European Union has been dominating the headlines so naturally it will dominate things here. The number one spot is going to Brexit (1), while the number 2 slot is going to talk about the GOP’s reaction to Brexit (2), which includes some epic dumbassery from Sarah Palin, Fox News and batshit crazy end times pastor Franklin Graham. Taking the number 3 seed, we’re going to talk about Congressional Republicans (3) and their reaction to an ill-timed vote to strengthen our nation’s gun laws and well, skipped town. At number 4 and 5 is our favorite returning champion Donald Trump (4, 5). In the number 4 slot we’re going to talk about Trumpenfuror’s visit to Scotland, while the 5th slot is going to talk about Donald Trump’s stance on religion especially after the Texas vote, while we’re also going to recap the Nazi rally in Sacramento. Where are the Blues Brothers when you need them? The number 6 slot is going to Mike Huckabee (6). Remember that whole batshit crazy thing with Kim Davis? Well sweet karma is sweet karma. At number 7, we’ve got another installment of “People Who Somehow Got Elected”. And hey what do you know? It’s my home state of California this time around. And that guy is Darrell Issa (7). Yes the guy who initiated California’s famous recall election only to back out after multiple DUI convictions is even stupider and batshit crazy than you would think! Taking the 8th seed, the Texas Supreme Court (8) is allowing home scholars the option of teaching their kids absolutely nothing if they believe in the rapture. And in case you were wondering, no, this ain't from the onion. In the number 9 slot (NEIN!!!), the GOP’s Wiley Coyote-esque antics in trying to get Hillary Clinton for Benghazi are finally coming back to bite them in the ass. Another Benghazi investigation in 3…. 2… 1…. Finally, this week, of the stranger things to come out of the Brexit vote and ensuring stupidity – the American equivalent of the Brexit vote. So American conservatives and anti-government Texas secessionists want Texas to secede from the union. But can they or can’t they? We’ll show you both sides of the argument. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[font size="8"]Brexit[/font]

So the British Brexit vote has been dominating the headlines, and as you can imagine Xenophobic American republicans are heavily praising the move. And the backlash as you can imagine has had not just a UK problem but it’s become a worldwide problem. Kind of like that mole on your back – it was fine when you checked it a year ago, but now it’s become a problem that you can no longer ignore. So here’s the arguments both for and against:

Who is arguing to stay, and who to go?

REMAIN Prime Minister David Cameron leads the “Remain” camp, and he could lose his job if his effort fails. Behind him are most of the Conservative government he leads, the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party, which is strongly pro-Europe.

Most independent economists and large businesses favor staying in, as do the most recent heads of Britain’s intelligence services. President Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Xi Jinping of China also want Britain to stay in.

LEAVE The “Leave” camp is led by Michael Gove, the justice minister, and Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London. Nearly half the Conservative members of Parliament favor leaving, as do the members of the U.K. Independence Party, or UKIP, and its leader, Nigel Farage. Their main issues are sovereignty and immigration.

Abroad, the French National Front leader, Marine Le Pen, favors Brexit, as do other anti-Europe parties in Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/world/europe/britain-european-union-brexit.html

So who is the French National Front party? In fact they’re eyeing their own EU exit, and if you guessed that Europe’s right wingers sound a lot like America’s conservative party, you are correct sir / madam! You get points!

PARIS — Emboldened by Britain’s decision to shrug off the European Union, a constellation of nationalists across the continent is daring to dream big, saying they, too, should have the chance for an up-down vote on the unloved bureaucracy in Brussels.

From the Netherlands to Denmark to Austria to Finland, far-right politicians are salivating at the idea of exiting a club they blame for unwanted immigrants, economic squalor and a loss of sovereignty.

And nowhere could the possibility pose a greater threat to the European Union’s future than in France, where the far-right National Front party is surging in polls a year ahead of presidential elections.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/after-brexit-french-right-wingers-eye-their-own-eu-exit-hopes/2016/06/27/2b085d82-3a2a-11e6-af02-1df55f0c77ff_story.html

Holy shit! Unwanted immigrants? Economic squalor? Loss of sovereignty? Who does that sound like? I know! Bet you didn’t think it was going to be him, did you? And you think you’re so smart!

QUESTION: How would the Trump administration approach the Brexit, should you be elected president? And Scotland voted 62-38 to remain. Should Scotland leave the U.K., as many people are talking about?

TRUMP: Yeah. I think I see a big parallel. I think people really — I think people really see a big parallel. A lot of people are talking about that, and not only the United States, but other countries.

People want to take their country back. They want to have independence, in a sense, and you see it with Europe, all over Europe. You're going to have more than just — in my opinion, more than what happened last night, you're going to have, I think many other cases where they want to take their borders back. They want to take their monetary back.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/24/donald-trumps-brexit-press-conference-was-beyond-bizarre/#annotations

762355

“We’re gonna build a wall around France, it’s gonna be the best wall, use the best materials, and the people of France are going to pay for it. It’s gonna be huge!”

But as you may have guessed, Britain is having an “oops, my bad” moment as it is trying to find ways to roll back the referendum because it’s not just only affecting England, it’s becoming an international problem that’s stemming far and wide and will have serious economic impact all over the globe.

The speculative comment lays out a scenario under which Brexit might be averted. A redux of the argument goes like this:

British Prime Minster David Cameron had said that he would invoke Article 50 — which establishes a timetable for formally breaking up with the E.U. — if his country voted to leave the E.U. In fact, he'd said he would do it the morning after. Instead, in announcing his impending resignation, he may be trying to shield his legacy by passing the responsibility of triggering a potentially catastrophic Brexit to his successor.

Given that Cameron's likely successors are Brexit supporters from within his party, one might think that they would simply go ahead and invoke Article 50, setting the E.U. pullout process in motion. But, as Teebs notes, these likely successors have been quite subdued in their remarks since the referendum — and some are nowhere to be found.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/26/an-astute-online-comment-has-many-wondering-whether-brexit-may-ever-happen/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_comment-720a-top%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&tid=a_inl

But as you may have guessed the British racists have come out of the wood work in a Donald Trump-esque reaction to the Brexit vote:

After Thursday's referendum on a "Brexit," a wave of racist incidents have been reported to British police and documented in widely shared social media posts. Through the weekend, #Postrefracism has been trending, and its contents provide a disheartening view of how Britain's vote to leave the European Union may be emboldening those who harbor virulent racist sentiments.

Police in west London were investigating what they called a "racially motivated" attack against the Polish Social and Cultural Association. Poles make up the largest foreign-born population in the United Kingdom. The organization's building was apparently defaced with graffiti that said, "Go home."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-sharp-spike-in-racist-incidents-reported-after-the-brexit-vote/ar-AAhE8xs?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp

And if you guessed the US economy is suffering a backlash because of the Brexit vote, you are once again correct sir / madam! Points for you!

A quick note on the first three tragedies. Firstly, it was the working classes who voted for us to leave because they were economically disregarded, and it is they who will suffer the most in the short term. They have merely swapped one distant and unreachable elite for another.

Secondly, the younger generation has lost the right to live and work in 27 other countries. We will never know the full extent of the lost opportunities, friendships, marriages and experiences we will be denied. Freedom of movement was taken away by our parents, uncles, and grandparents in a parting blow to a generation that was already drowning in the debts of our predecessors.

Thirdly and perhaps most significantly, we now live in a post-factual democracy. When the facts met the myths they were as useless as bullets bouncing off the bodies of aliens in a HG Wells novel. When Michael Gove said, ‘The British people are sick of experts,’ he was right. But can anybody tell me the last time a prevailing culture of anti-intellectualism has led to anything other than bigotry?
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/24/12023544/brexit-uk-young-voters

But I love the Brexit bus - this was magical:

And of course leave it to satire to show the best stuff that the news is afraid to:

On a private jet, a well-groomed woman is tapping busily at her phone. When her colleagues start discussing the Zika virus, she snaps: “Mr Trump wants it to be called ‘Mexican flu’.” When a colleague protests, she murmurs, “A plague coming up from Latin America to real America …”

It may sound like the latest rhetoric from the real US presidential nominee, but thankfully this is a new comedy from the makers of Drop the Dead Donkey and Outnumbered. Power Monkeys is a satire with an ambitious plan to beat Twitter to the best jokes: a third of its scenes will be written, performed and cut on the day it goes out.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jun/07/power-monkeys-eu-referendum-satire-spoof-danger-nearly-live-tv-archie-panjabi

That's quite a feat if they can pull it off. I say pass the butter.

Are the British people taking cues from American politics by offering a bunch of empty promises they know they can't keep now?

And it’s having an impact here on the US Stock Market as well:

The risk of another global recession escalated Friday after Britain’s stunning decision to leave the European Union plunged financial markets into free fall and tested the strength of the safeguards put in place since the last downturn seven years ago.

Wall Street was slammed from the moment trading opened, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping more than 500 points within minutes. Though it pared those losses over the morning, it dropped again by afternoon and had lost 609 points at close, down 3.4 percent. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index closed down 3.6 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index suffered a 200-point loss, closing down more than 4 percent.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/24/brexit-raises-risk-of-global-recession-as-financial-markets-plunge-worldwide/

[font size="8"]Brexit: The GOP Response[/font]

As you can imagine the GOP response to Brexit has been as batshit crazy and stupid and insane as the vote itself. Well if they’re for something it’s only natural that we here in the Top 10 are against it, because this is about the Top 10 Conservative Idiots. So here’s what the GOP has been up to in response to Brexit. Of course we already talked about Trumpenfuror’s response. But did you also guess that he tied Brexit back to himself?

When the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly,” Trump told reporters in Scotland, where he was to mark the opening of his Trump Turnberry golf resort, and where, it should be noted, a majority of Scottish voters were in the “Remain” camp. “For traveling and for other things,” Trump added, “I think it very well could turn out to be a positive.”

Trump’s reaction to the news wasn’t only about his golf course, of course; it was also about his electoral chances this November. “I think it's a great thing that's happened. It's an amazing vote, very historic,” the presumptive GOP nominee said. “People are angry all over the world. They're angry over borders, they're angry over people coming into the country and taking over and nobody even knows who they are. They're angry about many, many things in the U.K., the U.S., and many other places. This will not be the last.”

And just in case the sight of a major U.S. presidential candidate holding a promotional event in the U.K. the day after it voted to leave the European Union wasn’t bizarre enough, there were also Nazi-themed golf balls.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/06/24/donald_trump_is_a_fool_on_brexit_in_scotland.html

“It’s an amazing vote. Very historic. But you know it’s golf. I run the golf business. I build the best golf courses, and nobody is a better golfer than I am! It’s gonna be huge!”. But of course the French didn’t waste any time in demanding that Britain take back its’ border. And why do I get a creepy Bane vibe from seeing this?

French politicians are demanding that Britain takes back its border after voting to leave the European Union.

The Mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart said an immigration deal which allows Britain to check passports in France, preventing migrants from crossing the Channel, should be renegotiated.

Ms Bouchart told French broadcaster BFM TV: "The British must take on the consequences of their choice.
http://news.sky.com/story/1717209/calais-tells-britain-take-back-your-border

But then even more Americans are jumping on the Brexit bandwagon. And yes, somebody thought it would be great to ask Sarah Palin’s opinion on the whole thing.

Congratulations, smart Brits. Good on you for ignoring all the fear mongering from special interest globalists who tend to aim for that apocalyptic One World Government that dissolves a nation’s self-determination and sovereignty… the EU being a One World Government mini-me,' she wrote.

'America can learn an encouraging lesson from this. 'It is time to dissolve political bands that connect us to agendas not in our best interest. May UN shackles be next on the chopping block,' she wrote.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3661016/Sarah-Palin-congratulates-UK-European-Union-Brexit-urges-U-S-follow-suit-abandon-UN.html#ixzz4Cj7L7vDj

And then of course the religious right thinks that the Brexit vote is a sign of the upcoming rapture when / if that ever happens. I give you Franklin Graham:

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/franklin_graham_hails_brexit_because_the_bible
Franklin Graham manages to see biblical prophesy everywhere he goes, in every world event. In Brexit, the disastrous, xenophobic, ultra-nationalistic vote by the British to leave the European Union, Graham hails it as a setback for the anti-Christ, and reveals his anti-immigrant beliefs to boot.

"It’s historic," Graham wrote on Facebook Friday. "Last night the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union."

"With the breakdown of immigration laws and economies, millions of Europeans feel that their politicians have failed them. Boris Johnson, one of UK’s most popular leaders of the #?Brexit movement hailed the results as a 'glorious opportunity,'" he writes. Johnson, it should be noted, is being compared to Donald Trump, but smart.

Being compared to Donald Trump, but smart? Sit down!!! Go back to Univision and stop asking me questions I don’t know the answer to!

But my favorite dumbassery of the week has to come from Fox News who in true Animal House fashion, mistook two different things for each other:

Like all news organizations, Fox News is not immune to mistakes.

But "mistake" might be an understatement for this error.

When the news outlet reported the results of the Brexit vote, it claimed in a headline that the United Kingdom had voted to leave the United Nations.

In truth, the UK voted to leave the European Union.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-24/fox-news-mistakenly-reports-uk-is-leaving-un-instead-of-eu

“Hey man take it easy, I’m in the EU.”
“I thought you were UN.”
“What’s the difference?”

[font size="8"]Congressional Republicans & Gun Nuts[/font]

Before we get into talking about gun nuts and gun nuttery this week, this story is just, well, I was both very saddened and very angry when I saw this. And I wanted to share it with the Top 10 audience here, which explains why I'm so against the almighty gun and the gun drug dealers in the NRA. Just a kid trying to do the right thing and speak out against the almighty gun now becomes just another number to the NRA:

He was a rapper trying to stop violence in Baltimore. Tyriece Travon Watson, better known as Lor Scoota, had just finished hosting a charity basketball game. The fliers advertising the event had said, “Pray for peace in these streets.” Music artists and important faces from around the city had come together to prove they could get along.

Lor Scoota got in his car and left the arena. Bringing peace to Baltimore was a message he had been trying to spread — on panels, in classrooms and in his music.

“How I’m supposed to live with all this death in my sight?” the 23-year-old had once sang.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/this-rapper-rallied-to-stop-violence-on-baltimore-streets-an-hour-later-he-was-shot-and-killed/ar-AAhEakm

Truer words never spoken, Lor Scoota. RIP.

Now on the flip side some good news in the wake of Orlando. First hate church pastor Roger Jimenez and his Verity Church are asked to leave following a hate filled Orlando themed sermon:

And one of the original conservative idiots - hate church pastor Stephen Anderson is getting kicked off just about everywhere but his own hate filled website after saying that the Orlando victims were pedophiles (they weren't). Cue the world's tiniest violin :

An Arizona pastor known for his virulently anti-LGBT views went on a podium-stomping tirade recently after businesses began cutting off their services to his and other bigoted pastors’ churches, the Friendly Atheist reports.

Pastor Steven Anderson, who heads the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona, lashed out this week at activists who successfully petitioned businesses like PayPal and Apple to shut down his accounts after his hate speech. While Anderson posted his June 22 sermon on a website called Archive, the Friendly Atheist uploaded a sampling to YouTube.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/kill-the-gays-pastor-has-a-pulpit-stomping-meltdown-after-hes-booted-from-online-fundraising/

So you know SCOTUS is back in session and without Antonin Scalia, they’re getting owned on religion left and right. In fact there’s breaking news about what the first session of a post Scalia SCOTUS generated:

In a major victory for American women, the US supreme court sent a powerful message on Monday in its Whole Woman’s Health v Hellerstedt decision: that laws purporting to protect women’s health while limiting access to abortion are an unconstitutional sham. In a 5-3 decision, the court struck down a Texas law, called House Bill 2, responsible for shuttering more than half of the state’s clinics. The restrictions mandated that clinics become ambulatory surgical centers, adhering to wholly unnecessary hospital-like standards, and that doctors have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital even though hospitalization is almost never necessary after ending a pregnancy. The goal wasn’t to make abortion safer, of course, just impossible to obtain.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/27/supreme-court-abortion-decision-help-womens-rights

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! Yeah suck it Christian right!!! Can we get some music here?

That’s right – all of those horrifying anti abortion laws like fetal funerals (who I hear are playing Lollapalooza this year), and prenatal ultra sounds, and all the other horrifying shit America’s Catholics have subjected women to over the years is officially illegal.

But what else has been going on? You know there was a sit in? While we’ve been arguing about Brexit, you know that conservatives have been curtailing a vote about gun laws in response to Orlando?

Gun legislation has moved to the top of the US political agenda in the election year after a gunman who claimed allegiance to the so-called "Islamic State" shot up a gay night club in Orlando, killing 49 people.

"How many more mothers, how many more fathers need to shed tears of grief before we do something?" Lewis, a veteran civil rights leader, said from the floor.

"Today we come to the well of the House to dramatize the need for action, not next month, not next year, but today," he said.
http://www.dw.com/en/house-democrats-stage-sit-in-for-gun-control/a-19349111

That’s right. We have to go to the fucking German press because the American one is too chicken shit to report anything that would go against the almighty gun. But what else happened here? Let’s continue:

Zuckerberg said those live streams were viewed 3 million times as of 10 a.m. Thursday — nearly 24 hours after the sit-in began — and that the “number is still growing.”

C-SPAN, which repeatedly noted that it had no control over the video stream from the House floor, began streaming from some of the lawmakers' social media feeds instead. There was often an alert on the C-SPAN screen that noted the "House cameras are not permitted to show sit-in."

It was the first time C-SPAN had used social media to circumvent the standard House feeds.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/284678-zuckerberg-facebook-live-posts-from-dem-sit-in-were-watched-more-than-3

And we have to go to Facebook to watch the proceedings because the sit-in broke C-Span. That’s right – C-Span had so many new viewers because of the sit in that they couldn’t handle all the new traffic. You know what this is like? Remember the end of the Truman Show when they couldn’t find Truman and they put up that “technical difficulties” graphic and Ed Harris’ character is explaining how they’re getting the highest ratings ever?

And what was Paul Ryan’s response? Skip town!

he U.S. House of Representatives finally adjourned until July 5 after sit-in protests by Democrats halted business in the chamber for more than 17 hours.

Despite the decision to end the legislative session, more than a dozen Democratic members, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., were still protesting on the House floor as of this morning. It's unclear exactly how Democrats will proceed with their efforts to bring up a vote on gun control.

The unprecedented demonstration, which was broadcast live through C-SPAN and social media across the country, started Wednesday morning and ended early this morning.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/back-house-vows-continue-gun-control-protests-house/story?id=40045649

And threaten the democrats:

House Speaker Paul Ryan said he "will not tolerate" another sit in on the floor of the House of Representatives like the one Democrats staged on gun control last week.

"We are not going to handle it the same way,” Ryan warned in the interview, which was highlighted by the Hill newspaper. "We will not take this. We will not tolerate this." Ryan drew the line in an interview with local news program WISN’s “UpFront with Mike Gousha.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/paul-ryan-won-t-tolerate-another-sit-in

Holy fuck! One thing you have to give Paul Ryan props for – he’s got balls. Like brass balls.

Vote you assholes!! This is like watching the seventh inning of a baseball game and the pitcher keeps throwing the ball to first base because he’s worried about a steal. Or maybe he’s the security guard from National Lampoon’s Vacation.

Yeah he’s saying the sit in is a publicity stunt.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Wednesday a sit-in by Democratic representatives aimed at pushing for a vote on gun control legislation was a publicity stunt and he would not bring the bill up for a vote.

“They know that we will not bring a bill that takes away a person’s constitutionally guaranteed rights without … due process,” Ryan said in an interview with CNN. “We don’t agree with that. The Senate already doesn’t agree with that…. This is a publicity stunt.”
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/ryan-says-democratic-sit-in-demanding-gun-control-vote-is-publicity-stunt/

[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]

There’s a lot of insanity surrounding Trumpenfuror this week. So Trumpenfuror went to Scotland for who the fuck knows why, and who the fuck cares why? We already discussed how batshit crazy his reaction to Brexit was. But what was he doing in Scotland? Certainly it wasn’t on the campaign trail, because, um, why the fuck would he be in Scotland for that?

Donald Trump has said it's a "great thing" Britain has "taken back their country" as he arrived in Scotland for the reopening of his Turnberry golf course this morning.

The US presidential candidate touched down in South Ayrshire by helicopter with his family as they prepare to cut the ribbon at the newly revamped resort, which he purchased two years ago.

His comments come on the same day Britain decided to leave the European Union and David Cameron stepped down as Prime Minister.

Wearing a hat emblazoned with his "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan, he gave a thumbs-up as he left his "Trump" emblazoned helicopter and shook hands with workers on his way to the hotel.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/donald-trump-says-its-great-8271738

Yes!! He’s in Scotland to promote the reopening of his Turnberry based golf course! But that’s not before he was met with protest after protest. We already showed you how he feels about Brexit. This might be my favorite part of this whole shit storm – he was met with protest through people throwing Nazi golf balls!

While he was speaking at the ninth hole of his golf course, the billionaire was interrupted by British comedian/prankster Lee Nelson, who held up several swastika-emblazoned golf balls and tried to hand them out to the crowd.

Nelson, real name Simon Brodkin, hit the headlines last year when he showered former Fifa president Sepp Blatter with fake money.

Trump shouted 'Get him out of here!' before security personnel led him away, while Nelson grinned to camera, saying the balls were 'available in the clubhouse as part of a new Trump Turnberry range'.

Nelson, who was wearing a Trump Turnberry sweater, added: 'Sorry Mr Trump. I forgot to hand them out!'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3657308/Trump-flying-storm-Hundreds-protesters-Donald-Turnberry-reopens.html#ixzz4CVDuL3Hn

And then of course all Trumpenfuror could do was talk about how great his golf course is:

CHRIS CUOMO (HOST): Break into Donald Trump's statement right now which is not something we often do but it's very remarkable at this point because of what he hasn't mentioned yet. Donald Trump has been up at the podium for about five minutes, has not mentioned Brexit, is only talking about his golf course and his other business ventures and how it came to be. Let's discuss why he would make this choice and what the implications are.

TRUMP: Blah, blah, blah, my golf course is fabulous, blah, blah, I'm fabulous, it's beautiful, it's grand it's great, blah, blah, blah...
https://mediamatters.org/video/2016/06/24/cnns-john-avlon-calls-trumps-failure-discuss-brexit-completely-insane/211175

Is he mocking Trump impersonators like me? “I build the best golf courses, they have the best holes (ding!), they have the best ball washers, and I only hire the best caddys to work at my golf courses, and you won’t see any talking gophers at Trump brand international golf courses! Blah blah blah my golf courses are great!

And by the way in case you were wondering, Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, is just as batshit crazy as his father is.

The younger Trump worked as "executive vice president of global branding" for Cambridge Who's Who, a New York company run by a man named Randy Narod, whom the Times describes as "a Long Island, N.Y., nightclub and bagel store owner barred from the securities industry for having had an impostor take his licensing exam."

Although Cambridge Who's Who was not owned by the Trumps, the Times says that after the younger Trump began working there in 2010, the Times says Cambridge benefited from the Trump name.

One person who Cambridge marketed its services to was a retired Oregon schoolteacher.

In Oregon, Phyllis Fread was in her 80s, dealing with Parkinson’s disease and had been retired from teaching for almost two decades when Cambridge started calling her at home, where she lived alone. Cambridge salespeople telephoned Ms. Fread — who did not use the internet — 42 times trying to sell her networking services, a website and other products she did not need, according to an investigation by the Oregon attorney general’s office.
http://www.wweek.com/news/2016/06/26/donald-trump-jr-s-employer-left-a-mark-on-elderly-oregon-woman/

And in case you were wondering – spoiler alert – that story does not have a happy ending.

[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]

So we got to talk about Trumpenfuror’s stance on religion for this next entry. So he held a massive gathering of some of the biggest religious figures in the entire country only to come out as being religious. Yes that’s right guys and gals – Trumpenfuror is now a certified born again fundamentalist Christian.

Donald Trump, according to a new report, has accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

No, you didn't accidentally click on The Onion. That's a factual statement, according to a well-respected evangelical faith leader.

Dr. James Dobson, who was among the more than 900 evangelical faith leaders who met with the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting in New York City, says it happened fairly recently. He also said he knew who led the businessman to Christ.

"I don't know when it was, but it has not been long," Dobson told Godfactor's Michael Anthony in an exclusive interview. "I believe he really made a commitment, but he's a baby Christian. We all need to be praying for him, especially if there's a possibility of him being our next chief executive officer."
http://www.charismanews.com/politics/elections/58042-dr-james-dobson-donald-trump-has-accepted-christ

“I’m a Christian now! I’m the best Christian! Nobody is a better Christian than I am! I read the best verses from Two Corinthians! I’m going to recruit the best Christians for god’s army! You know we’re gonna go to Isreal, we’re going to build a wall around Palestine, and the Palestinians are gonna pay for it, it’s gonna be huge!”

Consulting James Dobson on religion is certifiably insane. You already know his opinion and it’s one of the most batshit crazy, extremely hyperbolic stances on the planet. It would be like asking Gwyneth Paltrow on whether or not you should buy that $250 stainless steel toothpaste squeezer.

The answer is you most certainly could, but it’s a tube of fucking toothpaste! Spending an insane amount of money to get that last little drop isn’t going to mean you’re more likely to get more out of it than the next person who buys the same tube of toothpaste. It just means you spent $250 on a fucking toothpaste squeezer! So you know the Texas Supreme Court had a controversial abortion law that got struck down by SCOTUS this week. And you know how that was handled by Trumpenfuror?

The Donald Trump presidential campaign reached out directly to Christian leaders after the Supreme Court's overturning of Texas abortion laws on Monday, while deciding against releasing official statements or social media postings.

Earlier Monday, the campaign engaged its recently appointed Executive Evangelical Advisory Board about the ruling, reaffirming Trump's commitment to appoint pro-life justices to the nation's highest court, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Afterward, the board released a statement obtained by Bloomberg Politics echoing the campaign's message and referring to a meeting of more than 1,000 religious leaders in Manhattan last week.

“In an unprecedented meeting last week with American Christian leaders, Donald J. Trump promised to only appoint pro-life justices,” the board's statement said. “We commend him and pray that the tragedy of today's ruling will not be repeated in subsequent administrations.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-06-27/trump-campaign-reaches-out-to-pastors-after-abortion-decision

Yup! He’s going to report pro life justices to SCOTUS ladies and gentlemen! But how religious is Trump really? What’s he doing to do his best as to what Jesus would actually do? How close is he to achieving that full Christian enlightenment that the far right preaches about? Let’s see here:

In May, under pressure from the news media, Donald Trump made good on a pledge he made four months earlier: He gave $1 million to a nonprofit group helping veterans’ families.

Before that, however, when was the last time that Trump gave any of his own money to a charity?

If Trump stands by his promises, such donations should be occurring all the time. In the past 15 years, Trump has promised to donate earnings from a wide variety of his money-making enterprises: “The Apprentice.” Trump Vodka. Trump University. A book. Another book. If he honored all those pledges, Trump’s gifts to charity would have topped $8.5 million.

But in that time, public records show, Trump donated about $2.8 million — less than a third of the pledged figure — through a foundation set up to give his money away. And there is no evidence that Trump has given to his foundation lately: The last record of any gift from him to his foundation was in 2008.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-promised-millions-to-charity-we-found-less-than-10000-over-7-years/2016/06/28/cbab5d1a-37dd-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html

That’s right – he pulled a Mark Zuckerberg and gave the money he donated to charity to Trump brand organizations! And about $10,000 over 7 years was given to actual charity. I mean you make more money with the “cash back” offer of a Capital One card! So what’s in Trumpenfuror’s wallet?

Although remember last edition when I said that Trump fired his communications director? Well what does his new communications director think of him? Well let's throw that Tweet up there, shall we?

[font size="8"]Mike Huckabee[/font]

We need the appropriate music for this next entry. Hit it!

Unlike Kim Davis and Mike Huckabee, I can play “Eye Of The Tiger” and not get sued!

Anyone remember insta-celeb, champion of the “pro family” Christian right movement, and Farmersonly.com VIP member Kim Davis? I don’t think anyone else does except for failed presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Well his parading around of uber-bigot Kim Davis is coming back to bite him in the ass hard. And how is that happening? Well first off SCOTUS has ruled that what Kim Davis did – deny same gender couples marriage rights – is illegal. We need some extra “Ha ha” insurance for this one!

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves' ruling on Monday blocks the state from enforcing part of a religious objections bill that was supposed to become law Friday.

Reeves is extending his previous order that overturned Mississippi's ban on same-sex marriage. He says circuit clerks are required to provide equal treatment for all couples, gay or straight.

Mississippi's religious objections measure, House Bill 1523 , was filed in response to last summer's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage nationwide.
http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/judge-blocks-part-mississippi-lgbt-marriage-law-n599936

But that’s not the only thing that is coming back to bite Mr. Huckabee in the ass. Remember this bizarre introduction of Kim Davis back last year when he played Eye Of The Tiger? Can we roll tape on that?

Well before the gloating begins, let’s give you some background here. Remember the guy from the band Survivor that wrote “Eye Of The Tiger”? Specifically this happened last November:

Washington (CNN)A songwriter of the hit song "Eye of the Tiger" is suing Mike Huckabee for playing the tune at a rally following Kim Davis' release from jail.
Rude Music - which is owned by Frankie Sullivan, co-writer of the song - filed a lawsuit against Huckabee's campaign on Wednesday for copyright infringement in federal court in Illinois.

The lawsuit charges the former Arkansas governor allowed the Grammy-winning song to be played publicly at a campaign appearance supporting the county clerk who gained national attention after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The Huckabee campaign said it would not be "bullied."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/19/politics/mike-huckabee-lawsuit-eye-of-the-tiger-kim-davis/

I love that part there – “the campaign said it would not be bullied”. What do you think Kim Davis did? Sit down! Sit down! Go back to Univision and stop asking me things that I don’t know! Thank you Trumpenfuror. Well as you can imagine karma is a funny thing, and well the results of said lawsuit came in this week.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/mike-huckabee-forced-to-fork-over-25k-for-playing-eye-of-the-tiger-at-kim-davis-rallies/

Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee took the lyrics “so many times it happens too fast; You trade your passion for glory” a little too literally when he played the “Eye of the Tiger” as Kentucky clerk Kim Davis was released from jail.

Huckabee blasted the song by the band Survivor after Davis spent some time in the clink for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after last year’s Supreme Court ruling. Rude Music, who owns the rights to the Survivor song, sued Huckabee for unauthorized use of the song and copyright infringement.

The campaign argued that the event was a “religious assembly” and thus not bound by requirements to pay since it is “non-commercial.” The problem with that, however, is that Huckabee’s campaign claimed the event as part of his campaign and expenses show that the rally was paid for on behalf of the campaign.

The former Fox News commentator ultimately agreed to a confidential settlement, but campaign finance disclosure forms released last week from the Federal Election Commission show that he paid $12,500 to Rude Music, Inc. in May 2016. The disbursement is listed as “legal settlement” for “copyright infringement.”

With that $25,000 he could have bought some HA HA insurance!

[font size="8"]Darrell Issa[/font]

Now it’s time for another installment of:

This week we go to my home state of California to talk about state representative Darrell Issa. He represents San Diego County in the United States Congress. So yes there will be Anchorman references abound here. You might remember him as the guy who initiated California’s insane recall election but then backed out because of multiple DUI convictions. So there’s a very strong possibility that he might have spent the last 7 years lying about everything Obama does;

It would be easy to blame Trump if Issa loses, but Rep. Issa is the poster child for the modern House Republican majority. Issa’s tenure as chairman of the House Oversight Committee was a complete disaster that featured show hearings and endless political witch hunts in an attempt to bring down President Obama. Issa wasted years on Republican conspiracy theory investigations into Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and the IRS.

Issa’s antics were so extreme that he was tossed off of the House Oversight Committee and driven into exile by then Speaker John Boehner. Issa was so angry after Boehner denied him a seat on the House Benghazi Select Committee that he tried to sabotage his own party’s big plans to get Hillary Clinton with the Benghazi investigation. Issa tried to crash one of the Select Committee’s depositions and was tossed out by security.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/06/21/rep-darrell-issa-spent-7-years-lying-obama-lose-job.html

That’s right – Issa’s politics and gaming were so extreme that he was tossed off the House Oversight Committee. You know the committee that manages the government? So what else makes Darrell Issa one of the elite “People Who Somehow Got Elected”? Why yes he is a hardcore supporter of Trumpenfuror:

San Diego — Two of Donald Trump’s most high-profile supporters in Congress have a case of buyer’s remorse.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, said he’d like to “re-do” the entire primary process where Trump wasn’t a candidate. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, one of the first members of the House to back Trump, warned of an attempt to block Trump as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee and potential violence at the GOP national convention in July.

Issa blamed President Barack Obama, in part, for the Trump phenomenon.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jun/20/issa-wants-a-re-do-while-hunter-warns-of-violence/

So not only does Issa support Donald Trump, he even goes so far as to blame “the left”™ for the Donald Trump problem! And in case you were wondering his reaction to Brexit? Why he doesn’t think it will change the UK’s relationship to the US. Of course it won’t!

A San Diego County congressman said today the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union will not change the relationship between the United States and U.K., while the Port of San Diego renewed its commitment to maintain open trade.

“The vote last night was historic, but it won’t change the special friendship we have with our allies in the U.K.,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, said. “In a democracy, the people have the right to chart their own future. The people have made a decision and I respect it.”
http://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2016/06/24/congressman-issa-uks-decision-to-exit-eu-wont-change-relationship-with-us/

Right. Keep telling yourself that Darrell, in fact you might as well just say this:

Which is how most of here in the US feel or know about Brexit. And Darrell, you can also stop convincing yourself that you have enough evidence to convict Hillary Clinton of… something. They don’t know or care what it is, they just want to convict Hillary Clinton of something.

“There is more than enough for an indictment,” Issa, the former House Oversight Committee chairman, told Breitbart News Saturday on Sirius/XM Patriot Channel 125. Issa explained:

The statute about classified material holds you responsible not to transmit in an unsecured environment or to a person not cleared. It holds you accountable not to do that. Not based on whether there’s the word ‘Secret’ all over it, but based on the presumption that you would recognize that classified material. She transmitted things like — I don’t want to disclose anything — like a mayor in Afghanistan who was working with us, and if that material becomes available to the wrong people, she gets killed. You don’t have to ask whether that’s classified. As an army lieutenant years ago, I knew that would be classified because it goes to sources and methods.
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/06/25/exclusive-darrell-issa-there-is-enough-evidence-to-indict-hillary-clinton/

Yeah it’s Breitbart. Sue me.

But some good news – San Diego actually has a formidable challenger for Mr. Issa in November:

SAN DIEGO -- A congressional seat thought to be safely in the hands of a powerful Republican incumbent is surprisingly in play after a strong showing by a little-known Democratic challenger in Tuesday's Primary Election.

Retired Marine Col. Doug Applegate mounted the challenge for incumbent Darrel Issa's seat representing the 49th Congressional District. Issa, who is the richest man in Congress, has held the seat for 15 years. Issa was thought to have a lock on his office, but the heavy Democratic turnout Tuesday pushed Applegate to within 6,200 votes of the incumbent. Issa out-polled Applegate, 51 percent to 45 percent, but the close finish surprised many political observers.

“I haven’t looked at the numbers closely, because I’m in this to win this,” Applegate said. "This is now a real candidacy. If Darrell Issa was asleep, he’s awake now.”
http://fox5sandiego.com/2016/06/09/little-known-candidate-mounts-strong-challenge-for-darrell-issas-house-seat/

Stay classy San Diego. I hope this means that come this November, Darrell Issa will no longer be one of the:

[font size="8"]Texas Supreme Court[/font]

We need some appropriate music for this one. Hit it!

Apparently the Christian right don’t need no education or thought control either. While abortion laws got struck down in SCOTUS, the Texas Supreme Court is voting in favor of teaching kids…. Absolutely nothing. Yes you read that correctly, under this new ruling fundamentalist Christians don’t need to teach their kids anything if they believe in the rapture. Here’s the original case as it was filed:

AUSTIN — Laura McIntyre began educating her nine children more than a decade ago inside a vacant office at an El Paso motorcycle dealership she ran with her husband and other relatives.

Now the family is embroiled in a legal battle the Texas Supreme Court hears Monday that could have broad implications on the nation’s booming home-school ranks. The McIntyres are accused of failing to teach their children educational basics because they were waiting to be transported to heaven with the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20151101-home-schooling-rapture-figure-into-texas-supreme-court-case.ece

Yeah so because the fundies can teach anywhere, a motorcycle dealership is now a school. And this woman can teach her 9 (NEIN!!!) kids absolutely nothing if they believe in the rapture.

That one never gets old. Anyway here’s how they ruled this week:

http://winningdemocrats.com/texas-supreme-court-christian-kids-dont-need-an-education-if-theyre-going-to-be-raptured/

The Texas Supreme Court has cleared the way for religious ignorance to be passed on to Lone Star State children by doing…absolutely nothing. A lower court ruling allowed for Texas homeschoolers to legally teach their children absolutely zilch if they believe their family is waiting to be raptured.

Yes, you heard that right. Your children don’t need to learn if the Lord is returning to take you to heaven. It makes sense if you’re a lunatic, but to those of us who have watched with giddy delight as people stood on their lawns on the day the rapture was supposed to happen only to have their dreams shattered, you realize that at some point that kind of idiocy should be forbidden to be passed down to their children.

Yup! If the family believes that strongly in the rapture, they don’t have to do anything!

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.15176.1314097164!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/gallery_1200/gal-teabonics-31-jpg.jpg

But it gets weirder:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/texas-supreme-court-sidesteps-key-home-school-learning-40108883

Problems for Laura and Michael McIntyre, who once educated their nine children in an empty office at the family's motorcycle dealership in El Paso, arose after an uncle told the school district that he never saw the children do much of anything educational. According to court filings, he also overheard of the children tell a cousin "they did not need to do schoolwork because they were going to be raptured," or blessed by the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The family's eldest daughter, 17-year-old Tori, ran away from home in 2006 so she could return to school. The El Paso district put her in the ninth grade because officials weren't sure she could handle higher grade-level work — a claim her parents' dispute.

You know I’m not a parent… but… doesn’t it say a lot about your educational beliefs (or complete lack thereof) when your 17 year old runs away so she can get a real education? That is truly, truly beyond fucked up.

[font size="8"]Benghazi Vs. The Road Runner[/font]

So you know the GOP investigating Benghazi is like Wiley Coyote going after the road runner. You know neither one is going to catch the other. But they keep doing it in hopes that they will someday catch that delicious, delicious road runner. But the GOP is apparently using Acme brand equipment to catch the road runner, in this case it’s Hillary Clinton. So here’s what happened previously:

There's no question that the congressional investigation into the Benghazi attacks - and the resulting focus on Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server - have hurt Hillary Clinton's poll numbers. But top Republicans have studiously avoided saying that the special investigative panel also achieved political goals - until now.

Kevin McCarthy, the current House majority leader and the heir apparent to outgoing Speaker John Boehner, directly linked the Benghazi panel to decreased support for the Democratic frontrunner during an appearance on FOX News Tuesday night.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/mccarthy-links-benghazi-panel-clintons-sinking-poll-numbers-n436151

But the conclusive evidence is that neither one has been linked. The GOP has been actively trying to incriminate future president Hillary Clinton by any means necessary. They don’t necessarily know what they’re charging her with but they have to charge her with something!

So now what? Has that had any effect on Mrs. Clinton’s poll numbers at all?

A second congressman admitted on Wednesday that the Republican House committee created to investigate the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, is solely “designed to go after” Hillary Clinton.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-benghazi-investigation_us_561ef9eae4b0c5a1ce62037e

There’s a surprise! How about no??? But the GOP has a new record – Benghazi has now lasted longer than Watergate! Woohoo!! Celebrate!

he House’s committee investigating the 2012 terror attack on a U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, has run longer than the 1970s effort to investigate the Watergate scandal.
As of Monday, the committee has been in existence for a total of 72 weeks.
Democrats originally claimed that in surpassing the Watergate Committee, the Benghazi probe became the longest-running special committee tasked with investigating a specific topic. The duration of the committee has been a frequent talking point for Democrats, who have accused it of being a massive waste of taxpayer money with little to show.
“It's the longest running congressional investigation ever,” a Twitter account associated with Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton tweeted this week.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/255138-benghazi-panel-now-longest-congressional-investigation

Longest Congressional investigation ever!!! This is what happens when you have a divided Congress folks, they get absolutely nothing done, even on their own investigations! Bravo! Well done, take a bow!

But of course the GOP’s long running investigation into Benghazi is only coming back to bite them in the ass hard:

WASHINGTON — Ending one of the longest, costliest and most bitterly partisan congressional investigations in history, the House Select Committee on Benghazi issued its final report on Tuesday, finding no new evidence of culpability or wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton in the 2012 attacks in Libya that left four Americans dead.

The 800-page report, however, included some new details about the night of the attacks, and the context in which they occurred. And it delivered a broad rebuke of government agencies like the Defense Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department — and the officials who led them — for failing to grasp the acute security risks in Benghazi, and especially for maintaining outposts there that they could not protect.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-benghazi.html

[font size="8"]Texit[/font]

Finally this week we’re going to end with Brexit coming to the United States. Of course if you’re paying attention to what’s going on in the UK, it’s about as batshit crazy and xenophobic as it gets. And here in the states, conservatives are doing everything they can to come up with their own plan for a UK style Brexit here at home. So what have they come up with you might ask? Well I answer you good sir / madam with this.

They’re at it again. Sarah Palin was encouraged by the Brexit vote to call for the US to divorce the UN. But in Texas, they aim for something bigger.

Never mind that the United States Constitution forbids it: Inspired by Brexit, the Texas Nationalist Movement wants to #Texit. Just as Donald Trump failed to realize Scotland did not vote to leave the EU, Daniel Miller, president of the TNM, doesn’t seem to realize that not only do most Texans not want to leave the Union, but they couldn’t if they wanted to.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/06/24/texas-secessionists-texit-cheer-much.html

Yup! Texas secessionists want Texas to Texit! And here’s how Texit might actually work:

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Emboldened by Brexit, U.S. secessionists in Texas are keen to adopt the campaign tactics used to sway the British vote for leaving the European Union and are demanding “Texit” comes next.

The citizen-driven vote in Britain can be a model for Texas, which was an independent country from 1836 to 1845, and its $1.6 trillion (£1.17 trillion) a year economy would be among the 10 largest in the world, said Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement.

“The Texas Nationalist Movement is formally calling on the Texas governor to support a similar vote for Texans,” the group said on Friday. The office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott was not immediately available for comment.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/brexit-u-secessionists-hankering-texit-194835260.html

And of course Trumpenfuror had to weigh in on the subject:

The subject of Texas seceding from the U.S. was certain to come up after Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union this week.

Tweets with the #Texit hashtag were rampant Friday, and not everyone was joking.

But one person who has no worries about a Texas secession is presidential contender Donald Trump. Why? Because the state loves him, of course.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20160625-texas-loves-me-donald-trump-says-shrugging-off-notion-of-texit-secession.ece

“We’re gonna build a wall around Texas it’s going to be the best wall, it’s going to have the best materials, and Texas is going to pay for it. The best Texas food comes from Trump Tower! I love Texans!”

But is this illegal or not? Most would say it isn’t but that hasn’t really stopped anybody before from pulling this shit the last time:

In the wake of Britain’s historic vote to leave the European Union — nicknamed the "Brexit" — speculation of a Texit on the horizon has cropped up once again. The secessionist movement has a long history in the Lone Star State. Delegates for the Texas Republican Party even recently debated adding secessionist language to the party's platform. But is it actually legal for Texas to leave the United States?

Simply put, the answer is no. Historical and legal precedents make it clear that Texas could not pull off a Texit — at least not legally.
https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/24/can-texas-legally-secede-united-states/

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8"]Donald Trump Gives A Speech In Front Of A Trash Heap[/font]

Is that a pile of trash giving a speech in front of a pile of trash? That’s so meta! “I’m a garbage man! I make the best garbage, nobody has better garbage than I do. I take the best dumps, nobody takes better dumps than I do, and the best dumps come from Trump Tower. I love recycling!” I particularly like this Photoshop:

We are off next week in observance of the July 4th holiday, but we’ll be back on – hey what do you know? Sunday July 10th for a brand new edition and the first of a 4 part biweekly special covering the category 5 shit storm that is the RNC! See you in 2 weeks!

Ed. Note - The Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Now on Wednesdays and for a brief time also Sundays at 10:00 PST. Also please join our Twitter feed at @DUInitechTop10 and join the fight and spread the word, won't you?

June 27, 2016

Rapper Shot And Killed After Hosting Anti-Gun Rally

Source: MSN via Washington Post

He was a rapper trying to stop violence in Baltimore. Tyriece Travon Watson, better known as Lor Scoota, had just finished hosting a charity basketball game. The fliers advertising the event had said, “Pray for peace in these streets.” Music artists and important faces from around the city had come together to prove they could get along.

Lor Scoota got in his car and left the arena. Bringing peace to Baltimore was a message he had been trying to spread — on panels, in classrooms and in his music.

“How I’m supposed to live with all this death in my sight?” the 23-year-old had once sang.

Lor Scoota was about a mile away from the arena when he was shot and killed.

Baltimore police said the rapper was driving east at 6:56 p.m. Saturday when an unknown black male wearing a white bandanna stepped into the street and opened fire into Lor Scoota’s car. He was transported to an area hospital, but was pronounced dead shortly after. Homicide detectives are investigating the shooting as a targeted attack.

“We have to be tired of this. Can #Scoota be a wake up call for us?” tweeted police spokesman T.J. Smith. “He entertained many, now gone, just like that. We are better than this.”

Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/this-rapper-rallied-to-stop-violence-on-baltimore-streets-an-hour-later-he-was-shot-and-killed/ar-AAhEakm

RIP.

Fuck guns.

June 25, 2016

Property Owner Asks Verity Church To Leave Following Hate-Filled Orlando Tirade

The property owner of a business park in Sacramento has asked a church to relocate after its pastor posted a video on YouTube praising the Orlando, Fla., mass shooting at a gay nightclub that left 49 victims dead.

Though Verity Baptist Church’s lease with Harsch Investment Properties doesn’t end until March 31, 2017, the company has asked the church to move immediately without any penalty for breaking the lease agreement, the company said in a statement.

“We have many places of worship and other religious organizations in the properties we manage. Like all our tenants, their occupancy rights are protected in their leases, but we will not tolerate tenants who advocate hatred and the taking of innocent lives,” the company said. “For decades, the owners and staff at Harsch Investment Properties have supported the LGBTQ community and many other organizations whose missions are to further respect, dignity and the ability for all individuals to live their lives as they wish.”

Last week, a YouTube video was published online showing Pastor Roger Jimenez praising the massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida and calling the victims pedophiles and predators. The post was eventually removed by YouTube for violating the website’s policy on hate speech.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-verity-baptist-church-asked-to-leave-orlando-comments-20160622-snap-story.html

Verity Church - proudly displaying that GOP empathy that they're famous for. Fuck them. Good for the property owner on this one.

June 22, 2016

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #32: Wheel O’Corruption 5: Cheeto Jesus Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #32: Wheel O’Corruption 5: Cheeto Jesus Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers on winning the NBA title. That was an amazing run and a truly epic comeback. Plus it ends a whopping 52 year title drought in Cleveland. I mean really the only drought that’s lasted longer is how long my home state of Southern California has gone without actual water! Golden State Warriors – you put up a great fight and it was an amazing season, and you can rest easier knowing that your championship gear is going to clothe Africa’s starving children. I kid, I kid. Hey miss, give it a chance, I just got up here! We just started this week and there’s people already leaving. You know we also forgot to congratulate the Pittsburgh Penguins on their Stanley Cup win. And as a hockey fan it was truly refreshing to see a team not named Chicago Blackhawks or Los Angeles Kings win the cup this year. So we have a lot of idiocy to go through this week. But first – Stephen Colbert says what we’re all thinking in how Donald Trump responded to the horrific tragedy in Orlando:

So where do we begin this week? This might be our biggest edition ever, folks! I mean this is almost a double-length one! Naturally the top 3 slots this week are going to go to a favorite punching bag of the Top 10 – Donald Trump. In the first slot we’re going to talk about Trumpenfuror’s stance on religion. He's religion-baiting Hillary and it's backfiring on him big time. In the second slot we’re going to talk about Trumpenfuror’s latest ill-advised venture into TV and he’s starting his own TV network, while criticism from his Orlando speech has been well, less than flattering. In the third slot, we’re going to talk poll numbers because they are jaw-droppingly low, while expenditures for the campaign are at an all time high. For the number 4 spot this week, the Bathroom Police (4) are not just taking their war on bathrooms to the streets, they’re committing some horrifically evil forms of harassment in order to get the votes they want on the legislation they want. In the number 5 slot we’re going to take a dip in the international conservative idiots file and head to England where the country is still reeling from the horrific shooting and stabbing murder of PM Jo Cox, but would you be surprised to learn that the killer had ties to militant American Neo Nazi supremacist groups? Neither are we! In the number 6 slot, we’ve got another installment of “People Who Somehow Got Elected” and this week it’s Florida senator Marco Rubio who is finding some things he said before last Sunday’s tragedy in Orlando, well, coming back to bite him in the ass big time. Taking the number 7 slot is Gun Nut Apologists (7) because they’re not shutting up after last week’s tragedy. In fact, they’re getting louder and crazier. They got smacked down by SCOTUS after an argument to overturn New York’s assault weapons ban got rejected while the NRA is remaining oddly silent about Orlando. . At number 8, Sarah Palin (8) is under the impression that somebody asked her about Orlando. For the number 9 (NEIN!!!) seed this week, we’re going to introduce you to the Parlor Pizza Bar (9) in Chicago that is being sued for discrimination by a black patron who claims he was turned away because his wool pants didn’t meet the restaurant’s dress code for “evening wear”. Finally this week we’re going to end on a positive note for you. So to do that we’re going to play a game called “How Does The Story End?”. And while I won’t spoil it for you here, we’re going to tell you a strange tale that involves one of my favorite bands, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, talk show host James Cordon, and a random stranger. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]

Come on everyone let’s say it with me! It’s time for the “Wheel O’ Corruption!!!”

And of course if we had a bigger budget we’d have our own graphics and theme music. The wheel is back everybody!! And yes just like last time I’ll talk about whatever the wheel lands on. But remember that if it lands on the Guacamole option that it costs $1.50 extra. So this week the items on the wheel will be:

- Gun Nuts
- Donald Trump
- Go Directly To Jail
- Clip Without Context
- Guacamole
- 5,000
- Abortion
- Musica Musica Musica
- Whammy
- VR Headset
- Monopolies
- A Random Trailer
- Fox News
- T-Shirt Cannon
- Hall Of Fame
- Bankrupt
- Food
- Get Out Of Jail Free
- Bathrooms
- What’s In The Background?
- Religion
- Racism
- Sexism
- Science News
- Real Life Seinfeld
- Assault Weapons
- Double Whammy
- Something Random In The News
- Infowars
- Food
- 10,000
- People Who Somehow Got Elected
- Marijuana
- England
- Polls
- Florida (Obviously)
- Bonus Spin

So let’s get this going! Spin that shit! Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop! And it lands on Infowars. Ugh. Roll tape.

Please enlighten us, oh batshit crazy corner of the internet. After all last week you got blasted for calling Orlando a false flag when it wasn’t. Once again, Alex Jones is um, WRONG ON EVERYTHING!! Spin it again! Donald Trump.

Everything is crazier when it’s in Japanese. But first I have to explain where the title of this week’s edition came from. Usually we’ll use some bad Michael Bay sequel titles but I have to acknowledge “Cheeto Jesus”:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-operative-lashes-out-at-party-calls-trump-cheeto-jesus-in-epic-tweetstorm_us_57626d13e4b05e4be860ec59

Rick Wilson, GOP presidential consultant and active member of the Never Trump movement, has just unleashed his latest tirade against Donald Trump on Twitter, calling the presumptive Republican nominee “Cheeto Jesus.” And he’s bashed the Republican National Committee in the process.

Wilson said in the tweets posted Thursday that the RNC is covered in Trump’s “stench,” given that they’re ultimately responsible for their party’s candidate.

So we got to talk about Trumpenfuror and his stance on religion for this entry. He’s been extremely busy religion baiting Hillary Clinton this week despite that he fired his campaign manager and his campaign is turning into, as Bill Maher called it this week, a category 5 shit show

Trump: 'We don't know anything about Hillary in terms of religion'
New York (CNN)Donald Trump argued Tuesday that the American public knows very little about Hillary Clinton's religion, raising questions about how it will impact her leadership should she become president.

"We don't know anything about Hillary in terms of religion," he said, speaking to a group of Christian leaders in New York. "Now, she's been in the public eye for years and years, and yet there's no -- there's nothing out there. There's like nothing out there. It's going to be an extension of Obama but it's going to be worse, because with Obama you had your guard up. With Hillary you don't, and it's going to be worse."
http://www.cnn.com/politics

You know Donald, I thought America was supposed to have a secular government. After all it’s clearly defined in the 1st amendment. But it gets weirder than that. So Donald Trump named his “evangelical advisory board” this week and you know who it consists of?

Former Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann leads an alphabetical list of names announced by Donald Trump's campaign on Tuesday as the presumptive Republican nominee's evangelical executive advisory board.

Along with Bachmann, the campaign announced the additions radio host and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr, Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed, among more than two dozen names.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/trump-evangelical-advisory-board-224612

Consulting those three on religion would be like as I said last week – consulting Jack Daniels on how to curtail drunk driving, or consulting McDonalds on how to curtail obesity. But what else has Trump been doing in regards to religion baiting? I mean besides the fact that he wants to override the first amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion and ban all Muslims from the US:

Donald Trump apparently wants to institute something akin to Jim Crow discrimination against Muslims, including those who are citizens of the United States. Is this what the Republican Party wants as well?

What's your opinion about legalized religious bigotry, House Speaker Paul Ryan? How about you, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell? Do Republican quislings agree with the man they have endorsed for president? They should never again speak of the hallowed traditions of the Party of Lincoln, because those ideals are being spat upon by the presumptive nominee. The GOP is now the Party of Trump ...

The Republican Party is about to nominate for president a man who manifestly does not believe in freedom of religion. Shame on the GOP officials who meekly fall in line.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4028084-155/robinson-trumps-attacks-on-freedom-of

And he openly attacked the very religious right that’s been heartily endorsing him:

Businessman and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is now openly attacking leaders of the Religious Right who are critical of him, using Twitter to blast the head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s political arm as “a nasty guy with no heart.”

On Monday morning, Trump published a tweet labeling Russell Moore, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, as “a terrible representative of Evangelicals.” Moore is an established leader of the Religious Right and has traditionally voiced support for Republican candidates, but has been unusually critical of Trump, who he sees as unrepresentative of evangelical Christian values.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/05/09/3776512/donald-trump-russell-moore-biblical-smackdown/

Not to mention he royally fucked up about Orlando to the point where the GOP is having to do some major damage control:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dismayed Republicans scrambled for cover Tuesday from Donald Trump’s inflammatory response to the Orlando massacre, while President Barack Obama and Democrat Hillary Clinton delivered fiery denunciations that underscored the potential peril for the GOP.

Republican hopes are fading for a new, “more presidential” Trump as the party’s divisions around him grow ever more acute.

Clinton, campaigning in Pittsburgh, said Trump offers voters little more than “outright lies,” ”bizarre rants” and “nonsensical words.” She said, “We don’t need conspiracy theories and pathological self-congratulations. We need leadership and concrete plans because we are facing a brutal enemy.”
http://kwqc.com/2016/06/14/gop-scrambles-to-distance-itself-from-trump-on-orlando/

Which might explain why he’s having trouble finding a new communications director:

http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp84WL7.html?adxc=283999&adxa=414226&page=gateway.nytimes.com&pos=Gateway&campaignId=67QLY

This is quickly turning into Will Ferrell’s character from “The Campaign”:

[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]

Entering the spin zone! Clip without context.

Yes. That’s legendary Dodger announcer Vin Scully giving a history lesson on the history of beards. Spin it again! Really? We got to talk about Donald Trump some more? Well it is a wheel. It’s only got a finite amount of items on it. So what else has Trumpenfuror been up to in the wake of the Orlando tragedy? It’s already been discussed here how his views are so extreme that the GOP is doing some major damage control. Well what else could he be up to?

https://politicalwire.com/2016/06/16/trump-may-start-a-tv-network/

Vanity Fair: “Trump is indeed considering creating his own media business, built on the audience that has supported him thus far in his bid to become the next president of the United States. According to several people briefed on the discussions, the presumptive Republican nominee is examining the opportunity presented by the ‘audience’ currently supporting him. He has also discussed the possibility of launching a ‘mini-media conglomerate’ outside of his existing TV-production business, Trump Productions LLC.”

“He has, according to one of these people, enlisted the consultation of his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who owns the The New York Observer. Trump’s rationale, according to this person, is that, ‘win or lose, we are onto something here. We’ve triggered a base of the population that hasn’t had a voice in a long time.'”

Yes! Trumpenfuror is planning on starting his own TV Network. Because… why not? It worked for Sarah Palin! Or did it?

The Sarah Palin Channel, launched on July 27, 2014, was an online TV news network devoted to the writings and personality of Sarah Palin.[1] In addition to news, Palin stated that she shares "some of the fun that goes on in the Palin household and a lot of our adventures in the great outdoors."[2] Palin constructed the channel as a part of TAPP TV, a media company run by former CNN president Jonathan Klein and former NBCUniversal chairman Jeff Gaspin.[3]

The channel is subscription required, and free to current U.S. service members.[4] Bristol Palin is a blogger for the channel.[5]

On July 4, 2015, Sarah Palin announced that she would shut the channel down in its current incarnation.[6] She said the channel will continue to create content and post videos on Facebook and her PAC site starting August 1, 2015.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_Channel

Yup… the channel didn’t even last a full 12 months folks! How long will Donald Trump’s channel last? I bet it doesn’t even get out of the primaries! And how well do you think Donald Trump as CEO will handle the new venture? Well check out his track record in regards to how he currently treats his employees:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/corey-lewandowski-donald-trump.html?_r=0

Donald J. Trump is parting ways with his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, a move that comes as the presumptive Republican nominee faces challenges as he moves toward the general election.

“The Donald J. Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign,” the campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said in a statement. “The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future.”

And more campaign advisors are jumping ship. Looks like the Trump campaign is in shambles and about to hit the iceberg, folks!

A top adviser to Donald Trump resigned Monday after sending a mocking tweet about just-fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, a campaign source tells CNN.

Michael Caputo, a Trump adviser and head of the communications for Trump's caucus operations team, tweeted "Ding Dong the witch is dead" following the news that Lewandowski had been fired.

"I regret sending out a tweet today alluding to the firing of Corey Lewandowski. In hindsight, that was too exuberant a reaction to this personnel move. I know this is a distraction from the kind of campaign you want to run, so I'm resigning my position as director of communications for caucus operations at the 2016 Republican Convention. Let's make this immediate," Caputo wrote in a letter to campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, according to a copy obtained by CNN.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/20/politics/michael-caputo-corey-lewandowski-donald-trump/index.html

So getting back to Trump TV, how would that fare considering how poorly Sarah Palin’s attempt at a TV channel did?

“He would talk about the female contestants’ bodies a lot from the control room,” recalls one midlevel producer. “We shot in Trump Tower, the control room was on the seventh floor, and he walked in one day and was talking about a contestant, saying, ‘Her breasts were so much bigger at the casting. Maybe she had her period then.’ He knows he’s mic’d and that 30 people are hearing this, but he didn’t care. That’s kind of him. During the campaign, when he was talking about Megyn Kelly, I thought: He’s obsessed with menstruation.”

“At a wrap party at the end of one season,” recalls a crew member, “he gave a speech to all the crew. And at the end of it, he rolled out a couple dozen bottles of Dom Pérignon for us to drink. We all applauded. It seemed really generous. I’d never had Dom before. But later we found out from the people on the production side that he’d forced them to pay for that, so his gesture really came out of the show’s budget.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/06/apprentice_crew_members_on_their_old_boss_donald_trump.html

Maybe he’s who Brick Tamland was referring to in one of my favorite comedies, Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy:

But you know who Trumpenfuror might hire to replace Lewandowski? Why it’s none other than this guy:

Donald Trump has brought on a new senior campaign aide to oversee his surrogate operation who is most known for his unusual way of making sure his boss’ hair looks good.

Kevin Kellems will oversee the network of supporters who go out and defend Trump in the press, according to The New York Times.

Kellems has worked for a number of GOP heavyweights including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Vice President Dick Cheney and perhaps most famously, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

One of the most memorable scenes from Michael Moore’s 2004 documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” featured Kellems. Wolfowitz, getting ready for a media appearance, sucks on his comb and then runs it through his hair. Kellems then helps out by licking his hand to fix his boss’ hair.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kevin-kellems-donald-trump_us_57682d91e4b015db1bca179c?section=

Farenheit 9/11? I saw that same joke in South Park:

The really sad thing? This is implying that Donald Trump’s hair looks good.

[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]

Spin it to win it! And it lands on… What’s in the background? So Donald Trump got a ringing endorsement from Jerry Falwell Jr:

Wait – why is there a Playboy hanging on his wall? I thought hardcore Christians hated the porn industry! Can we zoom in on that?

And that’s Donald Trump in a Playboy interview. That’s it for this week’s edition of “What’s In The Background?”! Spin it again! And it lands on…………………… HALL OF FAME!!!!!

WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s right, that is a mute symbol that’s been drawn on Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. If you recall back in Idiots #23, the second appearance of the Wheel Of Corruption, I noted that Donald Trump’s star on the Walk Of Fame has been the target of rampant vandalism, graffiti, and yes, even poop, that the Committee actually considered removing it, something they almost never do. Spin it again! Polls. There’s lots of good kinds of polls – stripper poles, the Batpole, the North Pole, the creepy guy in the cubicle next to yours who refers to his penis as a “pole”… wait ok that one isn’t so good. But again, neither are these numbers for Donald Trump.

A recent Washington Post poll highlights the Achilles’ heel of Donald Trump's campaign: Minority voters, namely blacks and Hispanics, don't support him.

The poll, released Wednesday, only shows the problem is evolving for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. A staggering 94 percent of black adults surveyed view Trump negatively, a 13 percent increase since the same poll was conducted in May.

While Trump's likely general election opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, is boasting a 79 percent favorability rating among black Americans, Trump is fighting claims of racism after launching attacks on a U.S.-born judge of Mexican descent.

"I am not a racist, in fact, I am the least racist person that you've ever encountered," Trump said to The Washington Post last week, defending his comments that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage creates a conflict of interest that prevents him from fairly presiding over a case involving Trump University.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/283744-poll-trump-has-94-percent-unfavorable-rating-with-blacks

Holy shit! 94%! He’s close to negative numbers, folks! I mean right now *I* have a much higher favorability rating with “the blacks” as The Donald puts it:

But how low are Donald Trump’s poll numbers? In the last entry I pointed out how several key staff members are abandoning ship. I think we need some Sad Hulk Music for this one:

Donald Trump's already high unfavorable ratings have reached a staggering new peak, according to a poll released Wednesday.

About 70% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the presumptive GOP nominee, the latest ABC News/Washington Post showed, signaling that the brash billionaire's last few weeks of railing against a federal judge and repeated calls for his ban on Muslims have worsened his position among voters.

The mark is a new high for the mogul since he announced his candidacy last June and represents a 10-point spike in his unlikeability levels since the group released its last poll in May.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/donald-trump-unfavorable-rating-jumps-70-poll-shows-sad-article-1.2675303

70% unfavorable! I mean even pre-9/11 Bush had a higher percentage approval rating than Trumpenfuror does! And it’s jumped 10 points since last week! I mean this is staggeringly low! And that’s a word I very rarely get to use!

A new ABC/Washington Post poll shows that Donald Trump's unfavorable rating has jumped 10 percentage points in the last month.

In May, 40 percent of registered voters had a favorable view of Trump, while 57 percent had an unfavorable view. Those numbers are now 31 and 69, respectively. Among all Americans, his current numbers are 29 percent favorable, 70 percent unfavorable.

Trump's numbers are devastating among black Americans, 94 percent of whom view him unfavorably. 89 percent of Hispanics also view him unfavorably.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/poll-trump-unfavorable-rating-jumps-10-percentage-points/article/2002838

And then there’s this. I mean even Marco Rubio had more people at his rally in Atlanta last year:

Amid shrinking poll numbers and smaller crowds, Donald Trump’s rhetoric took a dark turn on Wednesday in Atlanta.

The presumptive Republican nominee struck an apocalyptic tone, projecting that the United States would not survive if he were not elected. He raised the notion of welcoming the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, to the United States for negotiations. And he repeated his contention that Japan might have to “go nuclear” if it did not offer the United States better pay for its military protection.

Recent polls show Hillary Clinton leading Trump by double digits nationally. And his unfavorability ratings continue to rise.

That slowdown in support seemed evident on Wednesday when Trump spoke at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, which holds less than half the audience he commanded during his last appearance in Atlanta in February. “This place is packed,” he said, shielding his eyes against stage lights. “We have people outside who couldn’t get in. Does anybody want to give up their seat?”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/15/donald-trump-poll-numbers-us-election-hillary-clinton

And in case you were wondering, big blabbermouth Rush Limbaugh had to weigh in on why Trumpenfuror’s poll numbers are so low:

But then, folks, if you find out how... If you dig deep and find out how young people have been educated in this country, essentially the textbook's written by a guy named Howard Zinn. I'll explain in detail as the program unfolds. You might not have as much on trouble understanding. We've gotten to the point that 2-1/2 generations alive today having been raised having been taught what a rotten place this country is, how it was founded in a totally unjust and immoral way, and that it was not about liberty and freedom. It's not about any of the things that people think this country is about. That's just a myth that the propagandists pushed.

This is what young people have been taught for two generations in grade school, junior high.

Howard Zinn. Z-I-N-N. Look it up.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/how-rush-limbaugh-explains-donald-trumps-unpopulaity/487772/

Howard Zinn? You mean the university professor and peace activist? This guy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn

But this is classic Trump here. I mean classic:

One week is a lifetime in politics. Six weeks is practically an eternity. Many, many things have changed since May 4, the day the GOP primary season effectively ended. Donald Trump is not one of those things.

"Today, Trump is no closer to uniting the Republican Party or pivoting to the general election than he was six weeks ago," says Chris Cillizza. "And that is, at a minimum, a massive waste of a critical time period and, at worst, a mistake that could severely jeopardize his chances of winning the White House in November."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/paloma/the-daily-trail/2016/06/15/the-daily-trail-trump-to-gop-leaders-don-t-talk-please-be-quiet/5761a97b981b92a22d0b1602/

And by the way in case you were wondering what the largest part of the Donald J. Trump campaign budget is, if you guessed hats, you are correct sir / madam! Points!

Trump campaign expenses in May, per @FEC report:
Hats: $208k
Online advertising: $115k
Data management: $48k
Communications consulting: $38k

https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/745098363155132416

Yes that’s just what America needs – hats! “Yeah I’ll go New Era, we’ll make the best hats, we’ll build a wall around competing hat vendors, we’ll sell those hats at sky high prices, it’s gonna be huge!”

And here’s some other crazy things Trumpenfuror has been spending money on:

5.) Trump’s campaign paid an advertising firm named Draper Sterling $35,000.

Sure, Draper Sterling could be a legitimate advertising business, but it sounds an awful lot like a scam since it’s also a clear reference to the ad agency in Mad Men. Think Progress’s Judd Legum looked up the listed address for Draper Sterling and found what looks like a residential house:
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/here-are-5-bombshell-revelations-that-show-trumps-campaign-is-a-massive-con-job/

Holy shit! His campaign is turning into a big money laundering circle jerk!

And I think Don Draper himself would have something to say about this:

OK maybe not. And if you were wondering about other crazy expenditures for the Donald J. Trump Presidential Campaign Fund, why yes he did spend $420,000 to appear at his own mansion:

The figure represents payments for facilities rental, catering, monthly rents and utilities at more than a half-dozen Trump-owned companies and properties. It includes nearly $350,000 that the Trump campaign paid a Trump-owned company, TAG Air, for the use of Trump’s private jets and helicopters.

The most striking expenditure in the new filings was $423,372, paid by the Trump campaign for rentals and catering at Trump’s 126-room Palm Beach, Florida, mansion, Mar-A-Lago, which Trump operates as a private club.

Other Trump-owned recipients of campaign funds include Trump Restaurants, which raked in $125,080 in rent and utilities; Trump Tower Commercial, which charged $72,800 in rent and utilities in the building that houses Trump’s campaign headquarters; the Trump National Golf Club, in Jupiter, Florida, which collected $35,845 for facilities rental and catering; and the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, which billed the campaign for $29,715, for facilities rentals and catering.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-campaign-payments_us_5768a69ee4b0853f8bf1fe2d

So Donald Trump is getting rich off his own campaign! Or is he?

That’s why Trump’s recent behavior is so baffling.
“The Donald Trump campaign sent its first ‘emergency’ fundraising email to supporters Saturday, seeking to raise at least $100,000 by the end of the day,” The Hill reports. “That request follows a multimillion-dollar ad blitz launched by Hillary Clinton.”
The article quotes the solicitation: “Right now we're facing an emergency goal of $100,000 to help get our ads on the air," it said. "We need your contribution by 11:59 P.M."
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/why-is-donald-trump-begging-for-money-as-if-hes-broke/487976/

[font size="8"]The Bathroom Police[/font]

Spin that shit! And it lands on Real Life Seinfeld:

Urinating in the shower should not only be tolerated, it should be encouraged — at least according to IFL Science. By draining your bladder down the drain, you're actually saving the planet.
IFL Science did the math:
"An average flush for a modern, Western-style toilet uses 6 liters (1.6 gallons) of water, and the average adult pees about seven times every 24 hours. That means that each day of weeing takes 42 liters (11.1 gallons) of toilet water to flush away. Assuming that people urinate the same way every single day, this means in just one year, the average person uses 15,330 liters (4,050 gallons) of toilet water."
So the more you pee in the shower, the less you pee in the toilet, and the less water you use — even when you account for the water lost during the average 21 seconds it takes to whiz. IFL Science estimates that reducing toilet urination by just once a day would save 2,190 liters (579 gallons) of toilet water over the course of a year.

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Go-ahead-pee-in-the-shower-It-s-a-good-thing-8202531.php

So George Costanza is a pioneer, folks! And hey to the manager of the 24 Hour Fitness I went to last week, I’m helping save 1.6 gallons of water by not flushing!

Spin it again! Bathrooms! So I bring up that “recent” study to prove a point about bathrooms because the bathroom police just won’t quit, ladies and gentlemen! In fact they’re taking things to newer, more shockingly evil heights:

Joseph Backholm—the leader of the I-1515 campaign to repeal our state’s transgender protections—has been caught on tape actively instructing male signature gatherers to follow women into public bathrooms with the express intent of harassing them and intimidating them into signing the petition in support of I-1515.

This is plainly illegal under Washington State laws. Backholm is literally inciting others to commit crimes and putting voters in danger—just to advance anti-transgender discrimination.
http://action.wawont.org/page/s/joseph-backholm

That is shockingly evil. So sign our petition and if you don’t do what we say you have my permission to be harassed in the bathroom. How does this guy not get arrested for voter intimidation?

And then there’s this from an uber-fundie City Of Tampa employee who couldn’t bear the thought of an LGBT flag being raised in solidarity with Orlando. Cue the world’s tiniest violin:

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/baybuzz/lgbt-pride-flag-raised-after-orlando-shooting-unbearable-for-christian/2282099

OK first off, if you work for the county, LGBT people pay your salary.

Second, this is the same county where we have to drive past that big old ugly confederate flag on 1-4

Third, this is one of the counties that were targeted in the recently defanged Civil Rights act because they had one of the highest incidents of lynchings.

But you know – the bathroom police need some education on the history of gender. The concept of strict male – female gender roles only dates back about 200 years. Look at what the Native Americans did – they realized that gender was much more than clothes or bathrooms:

http://bipartisanreport.com/2016/06/19/before-european-christians-forced-gender-roles-native-americans-acknowledged-5-genders/

It wasn’t until Europeans took over North America that natives adopted the ideas of gender roles. For Native Americans, there was no set of rules that men and women had to abide by in order to be considered a “normal” member of their tribe.

In fact, people who had both female and male characteristics were viewed as gifted by nature, and therefore, able to see both sides of everything. According to Indian Country Today, all native communities acknowledged the following gender roles: “Female, male, Two Spirit female, Two Spirit male and Transgendered.”

“Each tribe has their own specific term, but there was a need for a universal term that the general population could understand. The Navajo refer to Two Spirits as Nádleehí (one who is transformed), among the Lakota is Winkté (indicative of a male who has a compulsion to behave as a female), Niizh Manidoowag (two spirit) in Ojibwe, Hemaneh (half man, half woman) in Cheyenne, to name a few. As the purpose of “Two Spirit” is to be used as a universal term in the English language, it is not always translatable with the same meaning in Native languages. For example, in the Iroquois Cherokee language, there is no way to translate the term, but the Cherokee do have gender variance terms for ‘women who feel like men’ and vice versa.”
http://bipartisanreport.com/2016/06/19/before-european-christians-forced-gender-roles-native-americans-acknowledged-5-genders/

So native Americans realized that there were 3 additional genders in addition to strict male – female roles. But then here’s where things go a bit extreme – a representative wrote this and shows off that old fashioned republican empathy they’re famous for:

Florida official suspended for Facebook rant following Orlando massacre

Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Lewis has been suspended from his post after publishing a Facebook post that called the city of Orlando a "national embarrassment." according to WESH-TV in Orlando, Fla.

The announcement was handed down Friday by the State's Attorney Office following a post that was published on Lewis' Facebook on Sunday. Lewis' post came hours after 49 people were killed, and dozens more injured by a Florida gunman who said he sympathized with the Islamic State group.

However we don’t want you to think this is all negativity. In fact normally here’s where I would report that a fundie committed some horrific sex crime, but there wasn’t anything to report. But something good happened this week in St. Louis where the Trans flag was flown outside city hall:

Mayor Francis Slay watched the flag — pink, light blue and white —as it slowly was raised outside St. Louis City Hall Monday morning.

"It's a message we're sending that the city is welcoming to everyone regardless of who you love or how you identify yourself," Slay said of the flag, a symbol recognizing transgender people.

By raising it during June, celebrated around the country as Pride month, the city is demonstrating that transgender people are getting the attention they deserve, not only now but throughout the year, Slay said.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/transgender-flag-rises-at-st-louis-city-hall/article_55d792bf-fd7b-536c-930d-fd2cb0d0f6b3.html

[font size="8"]The Murder Of Jo Cox[/font]

Entering the spin zone! And it lands on… England. You know lost in the sea of horrific news surrounding last week’s senseless Orlando tragedy was that a British PM was stabbed and shot just outside of a meeting. Let’s explain further:

The Labour MP Jo Cox has died after being shot and stabbed multiple times after a constituency meeting.

Armed officers responded to the attack near a library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on Thursday afternoon. A 52-year-old man was arrested in the area, police confirmed. The suspect was named locally as Tommy Mair.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/16/labour-mp-jo-cox-shot-in-west-yorkshire

There’s nothing that can make sense of this tragedy and I won’t use any funny memes or video clips for this entry because it’s still insane that this had to happen. So how did it happen?

Cox, elected a member of Parliament for Batley and Spen in Yorkshire last year, was a supporter of Britain voting to remain in the European Union.

Her husband and two young daughters were on a "Stronger In" boat campaigning on the River Thames on Wednesday, she tweeted at the time.

Before entering Parliament, Cox worked for aid agency Oxfam and for a pro-European campaign organization, according to her website.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/16/europe/british-mp-jo-cox-attacked/

As I’ve often stated before – conservative idiocy isn’t just limited to these great United States of ours, no, it’s an international problem that stems far and wide with conservatives well, ruining everything they touch both here and abroad. Jo Cox’s murder is just another example of conservative idiocy abroad. So now if guns are banned in Britain, where did PM Cox’s murder get his weapons from?

The man detained by police in connection with the killing of a rising star of British politics had longstanding ties to a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization and, in the past, had ordered a how-to guide for assembling a homemade gun, according to a watchdog group that tracks extremist behavior.

The revelation came as police on Friday continued to investigate the motive behind the killing of the British lawmaker, Jo Cox, who was stabbed and shot midday Thursday in an attack that stunned the nation and led to a suspension of the European Union referendum campaign just a week before the vote. Cox had been a strong advocate of an inclusive and multicultural Britain amid a wave of hostility toward immigrants that is helping to fuel the anti-E.U. campaign.

Cox’s suspected killer was not named by police but was identified in the British media as 52-year-old Tommy Mair, a local resident whom neighbors described as quiet and devoted to his mother. Family members said that Mair had never expressed strong political views, but that he had an obsessive personality. He was arrested shortly after the attack.

According to documents obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the U.S.-based organization that tracks extremist groups, Mair was a long-time supporter of the National Alliance, a once-prominent white supremacist group. In 1999, Mair bought a manual from the organization that included instructions on how to build a pistol, the center said.

read:https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/suspected-killer-of-british-lawmaker-jo-cox-ties-neo-nazi-ties-group-says/2016/06/17/2067ea0a-33ef-11e6-ab9d-1da2b0f24f93_story.html

Yes so what has already been a horrible situation may turn into an international incident if it’s indeed proven that Mair got his instructions on how to build homemade weapons from America’s Neo Nazis. But it’s about to get way worse than you already think:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jo-cox-murder-suspect_us_57653d70e4b015db1bc98d1e?section=

Wearing a grey sweat shirt and trousers and flanked by two security guards, 52-year-old Thomas Mair was asked his name by a clerk at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London.

“Death to traitors, freedom for Britain,” Mair said. When asked again what his name was, Mair calmly repeated: “My name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain.”

“Bearing in mind the name he has just given, he ought to be seen by a psychiatrist,” Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot told the court.

That’s right – while being arraigned, Mair gave his name as “death to traitors”. But now we’re getting conflicting reports of the UK’s support for or against the EU. Here’s the poll showing that Cox’s murder has a positive effect:

There has been a shift in public opinion following the death of MP Jo Cox, a new poll indicates.

A ComRes poll for the Sunday Mirror shows before Jo was shot, 45% of those surveyed said they would be ‘delighted’ if Britain left the EU.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/06/18/leave-and-remain-camps-neck-and-neck-in-latest-poll-5953294/

And the one showing a negative effect:

LONDON — British support for remaining in the European Union has weakened in the wake of the murder of the pro-EU politician Jo Cox, according to an online research company Friday.

Qriously, a London-based technology start-up that gathers data and intelligence about consumers through mobile phone apps, found that backing among likely voters for Britain's EU membership has dropped to 32% from 40% before her death.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/17/exclusive-poll-eu-support-falls-after-jo-cox-murder/86031038/

Really so if you believe the British media, the death of Jo Cox had neither a positive or negative effect on Britian’s opinions on staying in the EU or leaving the EU. By the way if you need more information to sway your opinion, John Oliver had a great piece this week:

[font size="8"]Marco Rubio[/font]

Spin it to win it! Sweet, I get a “Get out of Jail Free” card.

I’ll just put that away for later. Spin it again! Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop! People Who Somehow Got Elected! Hit it!

This week in the long, long list of “People Who Somehow Got Elected”: Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who held a failed campaign for president last year. So Sen. Rubio has mulled the possibility of retirement this year. But two questions should be asked about this – the main one is “why”? And the second one is also "why not sooner?".

But Rubio, whose once-promising presidential ambitious fizzled quicker than you can say “Little Marco,” now seems to have changed his mind. A Washington Post report cities Sunday’s mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando as a big reason for Rubio’s reconsideration:
Rubio said his decision followed a Sunday conversation with his friend, Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera (R), who is running to succeed him in the Senate, on the sidelines of the scene of the terrorist attack in Orlando.
“Obviously, I take very seriously everything that’s going on — not just Orlando, but in our country,” Rubio said. “I enjoy my service here a lot. So I’ll go home later this week, and I’ll have some time with my family, and then if there’s been a change in our status I’ll be sure to let everyone know.”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/17/3790013/marco-rubio-senate/

And in fact Sen. Rubio has stated many times that he will not seek reelection under any circumstance:

But in the wake of last Sunday’s horrifying massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Rubio went so far as to throw Florida’s LGBT population under the bus:

When it comes to marriage, Rubio said in 2011 that the Defense of Marriage Act "protects one of our most sacred institutions," and said that same-sex couples from marriage was the "ideal ... situation to raise children."

A year later, he even went so far as to correct a report that he was "open" to marriage equality as "not accurate." Later that same year, he lent his voice to the antigay National Organization for Marriage's robocalls against marriage equality and said that the Supreme Court should defer to voters when it comes to marriage.
http://www.advocate.com/politics/election/2015/04/13/marco-rubio-might-be-most-antigay-presidential-candidate-yet

He even threatened to vote against his own immigration bill if it meant that LGBT rights would be extended:

Sen. Marco Rubio has reiterated that he won’t support an immigration reform bill that includes rights for same-sex couples, and he predicts such a provision will kill the bill.

“If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill,” the Florida Republican told conservative radio host Andrea Tantaros on her show today. “I’m gone, I’m off it, and I’ve said that repeatedly. And I don’t think that’s going to happen, and it shouldn’t happen. This is already a difficult enough issue as it is.”
http://www.advocate.com/politics/politicians/2013/06/13/marco-rubio-immigration-reform-shouldnt-include-gay-couples

And discredited a report that went against the Bible’s beliefs on gay marriage:

The interview led USA Today blogger Cathy Lynn Grossman, in a Tuesday post, to call the Republican senator “open” to consideration of equal marriage rights. Not so, says Rubio spokesman Alex Conant, who responded to Grossman today. “Senator Rubio believes that the union of one man and one woman is the ideal setting to raise a strong family and why our laws should recognize the institution of marriage as a union of one man and one woman,” Conant said. “He recognizes that children raised in other settings, such as those raised by single parents, can and do succeed as well. But the ideal setting to raise children is by a married man and woman. To characterize his views on gay marriage as ‘open’ is not accurate.”
www.advocate.com/politics/politicians/2013/06/13/marco-rubio-immigration-reform-shouldnt-include-gay-couples

And is going out of his way to prove he’s the more gun humping senator than the next, effectively minimalizing the tragedy in his own state:

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio seems to be doubling down on gun control following the most recent Republican presidential debate.
In New Hampshire on Friday, Rubio stopped by a gun store for a bit of retail politics. He later held a rally at Sturm, Ruger & Co., a firearms manufacturing company in Newport, where he was gifted a rifle.
“My wife and I, we're gun owners,” he told the company’s employees. “This our first rifle in our home. It will be a nice addition.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/marco-rubio-guns-debate/story?id=36344239

In fact if you remember last year, he purchased a gun on Christmas Eve because, wait for it, he had this irrational fear of ISIS breaking into his house:

Vowing to defend the second amendment, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio suggested to a packed audience in Iowa that guns might be the only tools at their disposal to protect themselves against the Islamic State.

Speaking before a crowd of roughly 600 on Saturday evening in Sioux Center, a city in western Iowa, Rubio issued a stern warning that Barack Obama and his administration were conspiring to confiscate guns. The Florida senator added that, as president, he would uphold the US constitution and ensure that gun rights were protected.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/17/marco-rubio-guns-isis

And he even voted against his own judicial recommendation:

After his failed run for the Republican presidential nomination, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio returned to Washington with a pledge to “finish strong” and complete his work in Congress.

But the Florida lawmaker, who is leaving Congress in early January, has conspicuously left undone one legislative item: clearing the way for the Senate confirmation hearing of Miami lawyer Mary Barzee Flores. She is a former state judge who was nominated by President Barack Obama to a vacancy on South Florida’s federal bench more than a year ago.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article81786967.html

That’s Marco Rubio:

[font size="8"]Gun Nut Apologists[/font]

Spin that shit! And it lands on…………………………….. wait for it…………. Marijuana! You know that thing you smoked way too much of in college and on that post graduation trip to Amsterdam. And you know there’s no one in this world who’s more synonymous with weed than the great Willie Nelson. So what has the Red Headed Stranger been up to lately? Starting his own cannabis lifestyle brand:

Willie’s Reserve was developed by his family and their desire to get people talking about the war on drugs. When Dan Rather asked Nelson earlier this year why he decided to attach his name to the marijuana company, he had a simple response. “To prove a point, I think,” Nelson said. “I felt like if you really believe in something, why not promote it?”
http://www.wideopencountry.com/willie-nelson-hiring-for-his-marijuana-company-willies-reserve/#

Yup, truer words have never been spoken, Mr. Nelson! But it would be even better if we get to smoke the product while on the job!

Let’s spin it again! Gun nuts! But before I delve into this week’s gun nuttery, here’s some breaking news coming out of NYC surrounding what could quite possibly the stupidest gun traffickers ever who were caught by the Feds driving a very easily identifiable vehicle:

Three anti-drug vigilantes in a pickup so bright it could be seen from space were busted as they were about to drive into the Holland Tunnel with drugs, loaded handguns, rifles and 2,000 rounds of ammunition in the vehicle, police said.
The two men and a woman told cops they were driving to Bedford-Stuyvesant on Tuesday morning after a Pennsylvania girl told one of them she was being held against her will, a police source said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/cops-arrest-3-people-loaded-handguns-holland-tunnel-article-1.2682095

Anti gun vigilantes? With that kind of ammo? What kind of shit were you looking to start? Were they supporting their local Los Pollos Hermanos?

You know they have not failed to disappoint in the wake of the terrible tragedy in Orlando last week. In fact they’re putting the spin cycle on extra rinse this week. In fact Dems in the House protested a huge gun vote:

A day after a mass shooting in Orlando, Democratic lawmakers erupted on the House floor with loud criticism of House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders for leaving the nation's gun laws untouched. Some protested by leaving the House floor during a moment of silence honoring the victims.

Democrats yelled "Where's the bill?" and "No leadership!" Monday evening after Ryan held a moment of silence for 49 people killed at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article83461467.html#storylink=cpy

Which prompted the filibuster heard around the world:

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut stood up in front of the Senate just before noon and began what is going to be a “filibuster-style blockade.”

They have promised to not stop speaking until the government does something meaningful in regards to gun control.

Senator Murphy said: Newtown is still putting itself back together, probably will be for a long time. This is a different moment today than it was at the end of last week.
http://the-daily.buzz/democrats-senate-gun-control/?utm_content=inf_10_1163_2&tse_id=INF_9cbf38d0331b11e69519013b248da655

15 hours!! 15 hours! That is insane! And then the Dems will again attempt to stop a vote that would allow terrorists to buy assault rifles:

Senate Democrats will again try to ban gun purchases for terrorism suspects on the no-fly list, promising a renewed — if modest — political debate about gun violence in the aftermath of the Orlando shooting.

Even though gunman Omar Mateen was no longer on the watch list, the legislation from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would give federal authorities the ability to block firearms sales to those suspected of terrorism.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/democrats-will-try-again-to-block-terrorism-suspects-from-buying-guns/ar-AAgZYA4?ocid=spartanntp

Even Hillary Clinton is weighing in her two cents about the issue:

Hillary Clinton has called for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban in the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history that left 49 people and the gunman dead at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

In forthright comments a day after the massacre at the Pulse Club, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic party issued a call for a return to “commonsense gun safety reform” and lambasted the Republican-controlled Congress for what she called a “totally incomprehensible” refusal to address the country’s lax gun laws.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/13/hillary-clinton-commonsense-gun-safety-reform-orlando-attack

And then a case that was going before SCOTUS got smacked down:

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to question assault-rifle bans in New York and Connecticut, steering clear of an intensifying national debate after the shooting that killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Turning away two separate appeals, the justices left intact federal appeals court rulings that said the bans comply with the constitutional right to bear arms.

New York and Connecticut are among seven states that outlaw weapons similar to one used by Omar Mateen in the June 12 massacre.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-06-20/new-york-connecticut-assault-weapon-bans-let-stand-by-top-court

[font size="8"]Sarah Palin[/font]

Let’s spin that shit! And it lands on…….. wait for it…. Science news!

Well, this is awkward. Earth's relationship with the moon is no longer a monogamous one. Scientists have identified a second, mini-moon orbiting our planet that has probably only been around for about 100 years, reports NASA.

This second moon looks to be a recently captured asteroid, and like a mistress, its subtle dance with Earth may be fleeting, only sticking around for a few centuries. Still, it's a remarkable event that proves just how dynamic our gravitational relationship is with near-Earth objects.

The video above showcases in detail the path of the new moon's orbit as it bobs up and down like a tiny float in choppy water. As said, it's small, measuring in at only around 120 feet across and no more than 300 feet wide, which is probably why it has taken so long for scientists to spot it. (It was only just spotted last April.) Its distance from Earth varies from between 38 and 100 times the distance of our planet’s primary moon.
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/space/stories/earth-has-captured-second-moon-says-nasa

So a stupid rock has been following the earth around hoping to get into the same orbit as the Earth’s moon. Kind of sounds like a Palinite rock, or maybe a Christie-ite rock. It actually sounds more like Sarah Palin because she’s at it again.

3. Sarah Palin slithers out from under her rock to say more unhinged things.
Managing to once again strike her trademark balance between being hateful and bonkers, Trump surrogate Sarah Palin took to Facebook this week to do some target practice on President Obama. In a rant some speculate might have been an instance of drunken Facebooking, Palin hauled out her ALL CAPS mode to call the president “A SPECIAL KIND OF STUPID.”
Apparently, she, errrr, thinks this (and we use the word “think” loosely) because Obama has suggested that easy access to high-capacity assault rifles had something to do with the horrific mass shooting in Orlando. “Enough is enough, Mr. President,” Palin slurred, perhaps channeling the mad mom voice she uses with her young children. “There’s no ‘due respect’ due you after pulling this stunt.”
http://www.salon.com/2016/06/20/6_worst_right_wing_moments_of_the_week_sarah_palins_bizarre_new_facebook_rant_partner/

OMFG. Obama is the one who is a “special kind of stupid”, Sarah? Really?

[font size="8"]Parlor Pizza Bar[/font]

Let’s put that shit on spin cycle! What? Go directly to jail? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Wait! I’ve got that “Get out of jail free” card! Yeah, suck it random chance card! Spin it again! Food! So this next entry begs the question of “Where *NOT* to go for dinner. We go to Chicago for this next crazy story.

Parlor Pizza Bar (whose tagline is, ironically, "We welcome guests from every walk of life&quot

has been accused of discrimination by a guest who claims he was denied entrance to the restaurant, because he was wearing the wrong pants.

According to NBC Chicago, Antar Jackson filed a discrimination complaint against the restaurant on Monday. Parlor Pizza Bar has a dress code (published on their website) which requires business casual attire after 5 p.m. every day. It also specifically bans athletic wear and lounge wear. Guess we won't be going to Parlor Pizza Bar anytime soon, since we only eat pizza in PJs.

Anyway, Mr. Jackson claims he was wearing a $250 pair of Vince wool pants, and was denied entry because the restaurant called them "sweatpants" and said they were "too street." He also claims that other patrons were dressed far more casually. The restaurant denies any discrimination occurred and noted that the dress code was published on the website.
http://chicagoist.com/2016/06/16/parlor_pizza_bar_denies_patron_entr.php

So what is the dress code you might ask? Where does it say in the dress code that what Mr. Jackson wore that night was inappropriate? Well…

Parlor Pizza Bar Guest Dress Code enforced daily at 5 pm

Business Casual attire is required
No athletic wear or sweat pants/shirts are allowed.
Sports Jerseys & apparel are only allowed during Chicago sporting events being shown in the restaurant.
No Pajama or lounge wear
http://www.parlorchicago.com/about/

So how would $250 wool pants qualify as “athletic wear”? Please explain that one oh glorious slinger of Chicago style pizza! But in fact here’s what happened after this incident – it must be great to be the owner of the company that makes these pants right now!

A curious thing happens when one searches for Vince Herringbone Jogger pants. On Nordstrom’s website, the Vince Herringbone Jogger pants are listed as not available, obviously sold out. On the website of Bloomingdales, the Vince Herringbone Jogger pants are also listed as not available. Even on the Vince website itself, the Vince Herringbone Jogger pants are listed as not available to view.

Apparently, jogger pants are popular clothing items. There are a pair of Vince Mixed Media Wool City Jogger Pants available on the website of Saks Fifth Avenue for $245. The Vince Herringbone Jogger pants are getting even more buzz, because a man named Antar Jackson claimed he was wearing an expensive pair of Vince Herringbone Jogger pants when he was told he wasn’t fancy enough to enter a Chicago pizza place.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/3215901/vince-herringbone-jogger-245-pants-sell-out-as-chicago-wearer-antar-jackson-claims-pizza-place-racism/#HI388dkDXAMkpp31.99

[font size="8"]Car Pool Karaoke[/font]

Let’s hit the spin cycle one last time this week! And it lands on…. T-Shirt Cannon!!!! Our T-shirt strike force team is heading out into the crowd. But you know our T-shirt cannon finally got upgraded to a T-shirt Gatling gun:

Spin it again! And it lands on……………… wait for it………….. the MYSTERY ITEM!!! Woooooooo!!!

Which this week is a bonus spin! Let’s spin it a third time! And it lands on……… Musica Musica Musica!!! I don’t want you to think the Top 10 this week is going to end on a down note. I mean this week, we’ve had murder, discrimination, bankruptcy, gun nuts, and of course Sarah Palin. So to end on a positive note we’re going to play a new game called “How Does The Story End?”. Well like most people I’m becoming a fan of James Cordon who does a great job following Stephen Colbert every night. And especially his amazing segments he does every week called “Car Pool Karaoke” where he gets his celebrity guests to drive around, sing songs and do random stuff. Here’s one with Adele:

And here’s one with Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato:

And here’s one with one of my favorites - No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani:

So what happened last week? Another one of my favorite bands, the Red Hot Chili Peppers stopped by to promote their new album “The Getaway” (which is *GREAT* by the way) :

It starts out innocently enough:

By now, you’d think James Corden would’ve figured out how to get to work on time. But alas, the Late Late Show host still needs help making his daily commute — and who better than California-praising rock gods Red Hot Chili Peppers to help him navigate the palm tree–lined streets of L.A.?
Singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer piled into Corden’s SUV for the latest edition of “Carpool Karaoke.” Together, they packed in plenty of nostalgia-fueled sing-alongs of their biggest hits, from “Californication” and “Can’t Stop” to “By the Way” and “Under the Bridge,” a.k.a. the song that once supplied some of your most angsty AIM away messages. The band’s latest single, “Dark Necessities,” also crept its way into the bit, because hey, these guys have an album to promote.
http://www.mtv.com/news/2893253/red-hot-chili-peppers-carpool-karaoke/

http://imagesmtv-a.akamaihd.net/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/rhcp-gif-1465930778.gif

You know I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers because they are so crazy. In fact they get crazier with every album that they put out. But as they’re chugging along the streets of Los Angeles, something else happened. So how does this story end? So here’s what Anthony Keidis said exactly what happened, straight from the man himself:

As Kiedis explained, after a dance-off, Corden and the group decided to have some Mexican food.
“And a woman came out of her house holding a child, saying, ‘My baby, my baby, my baby can’t breathe!'” the singer recalled.
“We all ran across the street. The lady thrust the baby into my arms. The baby was not breathing,” the 53-year-old singer continued. “I thought, ‘I’m going to try and do a little baby CPR real quick to see if I can get some air into this kid.”
http://www.thewrap.com/anthony-kiedis-saved-baby-life-during-carpool-karaoke-corden-segment/

OK lets’ stop there for a minute. So you’re a panicked mother because your child has stopped breathing – that would be a nightmare scenario for any parent. So you go to find the nearest help that you can find. Which happens to be, I don’t know – one of the biggest touring bands in the world, the Red Hot Chili Peppers – on your lawn filming a segment for James Cordon’s talk show. That is pretty fucking weird, am I not right? Well let’s see how this story ends:

[It]Tried to open the mouth, [it was] like locked shut. So I started rubbing the belly, bubbles came out of the mouth, the eyes rolled back into place, the ambulance showed up and I handed the baby over, who was now breathing and fine, and we went back to Carpool Karaoke.'
The iconic singer sported a finely groomed moustache for his radio appearance and cut a typically cool figure in a purple t-shirt and black bomber jacket.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3645116/The-baby-needed-help-Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-Anthony-Keidis-reveals-helped-save-child-s-life-filming-James-Corden-s-Carpool-Karaoke.html

That’s how it happens! Anthony Keidis is a certified hero in this story! And my favorite part is that they just went back and continued filming the segment like it was nothing. And here’s why I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers – they’re crazy. In fact I was at a show they canceled back in May and this was the reason why they canceled it:

'I feel better than ever; I think it was kind of a blessing in disguise,' said Anthony. 'Basically, my stomach shut down because of an imbalance in my homeostasis.
'I had my gall bladder removed once upon a time and then you have to take a little medication which over the years just throws your body out of whack and when your stomach stops functioning, you stop functioning pretty much.'

Yes that’s why they canceled the show. But you know, we love them anyways!

See you next week!

Ed. Note: The Top 10 has moved to Wednesdays! Now on Wednesday at 10:00 AM PST. Also please join our Twitter feed at @DUInitechTop10, and join the fight, won’t you?

Ed. Note #2: Also this will be the last edition where the New York Times will be used as a source because their subscription service has made it difficult to read and quote articles. If anyone has any suggestions for alternate sources to use, please feel free to let me know!

June 18, 2016

Anthony Keidis (Red Hot Chili Peppers) Saved A Baby's Life During Late Late Show Filming

James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke videos have become the hot spot for comedy gold. While the recent episode featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers delivered on the laughs, a more serious moment didn’t make it on air.

Anthony Kiedis, frontman to the rock group, told Radio X he saved an infant’s life while the group was filming The Late Late Show with James Corden segment.

The incident took place on a street corner where the musicians had engaged in a dance-off, Kiedis said. “A woman came out of her house holding a child saying, ‘My baby, my baby, my baby can’t breathe!’” relayed Kiedis. “The lady thrust the baby into my arms. The baby was not breathing.”

The performer, who has an 8-year-old son Everly Bear, said his fatherly instincts kicked in. “I tried to do a little baby CPR really quick,” he said. When the child’s mouth didn’t open, “I started rubbing the belly, bubbles came out of the mouth, the eyes rolled back into place, the ambulance showed up, and I handed the baby over, who was now breathing and fine, and we went back to the Carpool Karaoke,” Kiedis said.

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/16/anthony-kiedis-red-hot-chili-peppers-carpool-karaoke-save-baby

Wow, this is a crazy story but a good one from all the bad news we've been getting.

June 17, 2016

Mateen's Wife, Father Added To FBI No Fly List

The wife and father of Orlando gay club shooter Omar Mateen have been added to federal no-fly lists as investigators determine what role they played, if any, in Sunday's massacre, according to a report.

Federal officials added Noor Salman, as well as her father-in-law Seddique Mateen, to the lists, ABC reports.

A grand jury is continuing to investigate if she played a role in the massacre that killed 49 clubgoers — considered the worst mass shooting in the nation's history.

Salman was with her husband when he recently bought ammunition and a holster, according to sources.

While holed up in a bathroom with hostages at club Pulse early Sunday morning, about two hours after launching the horrific attack, Mateen tapped out a message to his wife to ask if she had seen the news, according to CNN. She typed back and said she loved him.

Salman claimed she tried to persuade her 29-year-old husband, who was killed during a shootout with cops at the club, not to go forward with his sick plot.

Being added to a no-fly list will bar Salman and her father-in-law from being able to travel on a commercial airline.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/feds-add-orlando-gay-club-shooter%e2%80%99s-father-wife-to-no-fly-lists/ar-AAhdXeL?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp#image=AAfyGgY|4

Most excellent news.

June 17, 2016

Stephen Colbert Explains Trump's Reaction To Orlando

Standing O!!!!!

June 16, 2016

Pulse Bouncer And Former Marine / Afghanistan Vet Tells How He Saved Dozens During Shooting

Imran Yousuf, a bouncer at the Pulse nightclub, had an advantage. A Marine who had served in Afghanistan, Yousuf was able to use his training to quickly identify the impending threat and remain clear-headed as people died around him, according to the Marine Corps Times. Because of the 24-year-old’s decisive actions, he is being credited with saving dozens of lives.

He told CBS News that he knew something was horribly wrong as soon as he heard the familiar crack of gunfire. It was then, he said, that his training took over.

“The initial one was three or four” shots, said Yousuf, a former sergeant who left the Marine Corps last month. “That was a shock. Three of four shots go off, and you could tell it was a high-caliber [weapon]. Everyone froze. I’m here in the back, and I saw people start pouring into the back hallway, and they just sardine-pack everyone.”

Yousuf told CBS that he knew there was a door behind the panicked crowd, but people were too overwhelmed to unlatch it.

“And I’m screaming, ‘Open the door! Open the door!’ ” Yousuf said. “And no one is moving because they are scared.”

If they did not act, they could be targeted by the gunman, who could have appeared at any moment. They were a few feet from relative safety. Yousuf told CBS that there was “only one choice.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-a-heroic-marines-military-training-helped-him-save-dozens-from-orlando-gunman/ar-AAh5rRc

This could have been a hell of a lot worse than it was. Glad he was there.

June 15, 2016

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #31: Making America Vulnerable Again Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #31: Making America Vulnerable Again Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! You know I had an entirely different edition planned for this week prior to last Sunday’s horrifying tragedy at the Pulse night club in Orlando. There’s absolutely no words to accurately express this tragedy and I almost considered not even doing a list this week to honor the victims. But then I remembered that the first list that I did way back last October was in response to the mass shooting in San Bernardino. Which to me that one hit way too close to home for comfort. So with that in mind we will press on with half of what we originally had planned. I mean this tragedy was horrible, and unlike the shooting in Paris, because this took place in an LGBT night club, this has brought out some of the worst in people. So with that in mind normally I’d reserve this space for some comedy sketch or something from a late night show like SNL, John Oliver, or Stephen Colbert, but instead I’m going to show the difference between the two parties with President Obama’s reaction to the shooting.

Now juxtapose that with Donald Trump who takes up the top two spots. In the first spot, Donald Trump is going full conspiracy theory on why he thinks President Obama may have had a hand in Saturday’s terrorist attack (hint: he didn’t). In the second spot, Don the Con has a brilliant idea for stopping terrorism among other things. The third spot is going to Omar Mateen (3) and his father’s influence on him and the shooting. In the number four spot, we are going to talk about Shooting Apologists (4) because unlike Paris, the religious right is secretly loving this, and people like Pastor Stephen Anderson are saying what they’re all thinking. Taking the fifth spot this week, is Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick who has that good old fashioned republican empathy they’re famous for on display. Taking the sixth spot, Pat Robertson (6) has what could quite possibly be the most batshit insane response to the shooting yet, which prompted the 700 Club to do some major damage control. Taking the number 7 seed is Brock Turner (7), remember Stanford’s *alleged* rapist that was last week’s outrage-du-jour? It’s not going away, in fact it’s getting weirder and creepier. And like all creepy weirdos in movies and TV, can I guess that his favorite song is “Hey Venus”? At number 8, the Bathroom Police (8) are taking things too far in their war on bathrooms, while Mt. Prospect, IL residents are fuming over a new store that sells adult diapers. Not to mention an anti-gay pastor was caught with child porn. In the number 9 slot, we’ve got another installment of “People Who Somehow Got Elected” and this week we’re going to tell you about Iowa Senator Charles Grassley who was blasted by Iowa newspapers for – and I’m quoting – “lacking a spine”. Finally this week, I love this story. We’re not going to leave you on a down note after all the horror that has gone on this week, because what kind of host would that make me? Not a very good one if you ask me! And this story involves Donald Trump and one of my favorite actors, Bruce Campbell. Who is the star of one of the best TV shows of the last few years, USA's Burn Notice, and the creator and star of the legendary horror-comedy movie franchise The Evil Dead. So this story involves the much retweeted picture of the bloodied Trump supporter which does not make liberals look good. Well, Bruce Campbell, the man himself recently found this to be a hoax and put an end to the madness himself in the most Ash way possible. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]

So this week everyone by now knows about the terrible tragedy in Orlando this week where there were not one, but two horrific shootings. The first was surrounding singer Christina Grimmee who was gunned down after her own concert during a meet and greet session. The second was the shooting at the Pulse LGBT night club. Well the reason why I showed that video of Obama’s reaction to the shooting is to juxtapose that with Donald Trump, who well showed the exact opposite of the kind of sympathy that should be coming from a leader in a time of tragedy. Can we throw that Tweet up there?

Yup! That’s right – in a time of tragedy people are congratulating Trumpenfuror on being right about radical Islam this entire time! Which of course prompted a wave of backlash coming from all kinds of people, and who had the strongest words for Trumpenfuror was coming from that of the great George Takei:

So how did Trumpenfuror take a tragedy and turn it into “Ha! I was right and the liberals were wrong”? Well…

Sunday morning's shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando is now the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, killing 50 people and injuring another 53.

Donald Trump's response to the tragedy was initially to express sorrow at the incident, but he later attacked Hillary Clinton over her first general election ad, congratulated himself for warning the American public about Islamic extremism, and had an aide go on television and describe Mitt Romney as a "coward."

On Twitter, Trump initially posted a brief message about the "really bad shooting" that left "many people dead and wounded" at around 8 a.m. Sunday. About 90 minutes later, he followed it up with this tweet responding to Clinton's new ad:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-gets-self-congratulatory-after-orlando-mass-shooting/

“Well… congratulations to me! I am right about everything! We are going to build the best wall, we are going to keep all the Muslims out, it’s gonna be huge!”

And of course this has prompted a widespread backlash from all kinds of people. We’ve already pointed out Mr. Takei’s response to Donald Trump’s gloating but who else is pissed off? Well naturally a lot of people:

Donald Trump faced a backlash on Twitter after tweeting his response to the deadly Orlando shooting Sunday morning, when he acknowledged “congrats” for “being right” on terrorism.

Like much of what Trump does, it inspired a wave of responses. It angered Republicans and Democrats as well as some celebrities who criticized with a familiar line: that Trump is self-centered even in moments of tragedy — the shooting killed at least 50 people and is the deadliest mass shooting in American history. The motives of suspected shooter Omar Mateen were not immediately clear.

John Legend, the singer and songwriter, Chris Sacca, the venture capitalist and George Takei, best known for his role on Star Trek, called Trump out on Twitter.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-faces-backlash-tweets-175646647.html

Well as you can imagine all this glorious backlash has people pointing fingers at Trumpenfuror over his stance of radical Islam being the thing that caused Saturday’s terrible tragedy. But Trumpenfuror even goes so far as to suggest Obama might have had a hand in the carrying out of this attack (he didn’t) :

Donald Trump seemed to repeatedly accuse President Obama on Monday of identifying with radicalized Muslims who have carried out terrorist attacks in the United States and being complicit in the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando over the weekend, the worst the country has ever seen.

"Look, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind," Trump said in a lengthy interview on Fox News early Monday morning. "And the something else in mind -- you know, people can't believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' There's something going on. It's inconceivable. There's something going on."

In that same interview, Trump was asked to explain why he called for Obama to resign in light of the shooting and he answered, in part: "He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands -- it's one or the other and either one is unacceptable."

For months, Trump has slyly suggested that the president is not Christian and has questioned his compassion toward Muslims. Years ago, Trump was a major force in calls for the president to release his birth certificate and prove that he was born in the United States. On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly stated as fact conspiracy theories about the president, his rivals and Muslims, often refusing to back down from his assertions even when they are proven to be false.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/13/donald-trump-suggests-president-obama-was-involved-with-orlando-shooting/

Yup. He went there all right. Excuse me a minute…

But there is good news – Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator of the amazing musical “Hamilton” was the anti-Trump at the Tonys and handled the tragedy with the class that you would expect. He’s definitely one of the good guys in show biz. Can we roll the tape on that?

Lin-Manuel Miranda accepted the Tony Award for best original score tonight not with the freestyle rap many may have expected, but a sonnet. And not the sonnet he likely expected, either; a visibly emotional Miranda addressed the mass killings in Orlando, Florida by referring to when “senseless acts of tragedy remind us that nothing here is promised, not one day.” He began the speech by thanking his wife Vanessa, “a perfect symphony of one,” and ended with the insistence that “love is love is love is love is love. It cannot be killed or swept aside.”
My wife’s the reason anything gets done
She nudges me towards promise by degrees
She is a perfect symphony of one,
Our son is her most beautiful reprise
We chase the melodies that seem to find us
Until they’re finished songs and start to play
When senseless acts of tragedy remind us
That nothing here is promised, not one day
This show is proof that history remembers
We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger
We rise and fall and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love lasts long
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love
Cannot be killed or swept aside,
I sing Vanessa’s symphony, Eliza tells her story
Now fill the world with music love and pride
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2016/06/lin-manuel-miranda-tony-speech

[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen… I give you the 45th president of the United States – Donald J. Trump, on exactly how he plans to curtail terrorism, in the good old fashioned American sense. If you guessed he was going to consult the NRA on how to curtail terrorism, you are absolutely 100% correct sir / madam! You get points! Now first though we have to once again point out how the NY Daily News nails it yet again:

"I will be meeting with the NRA...to discuss how to ensure Americans have the means to protect themselves in this age of terror."
We have seen, as Clinton campaign chair John Podesta said, that Donald Trump has nothing close “to resembling a real strategy for fighting terrorists and keeping our people safe.” In fact, the Republican response all around seems to be a recipe for more guns and less regulation.

In this environment there was nothing to stop Donald Trump from upping the ante of downright stupid, announcing yesterday that he would be seeking anti-terrorism advice from the NRA. After all, who knows more about using guns to kill innocent people than the NRA, unless it is the Republican Party itself, which insists on the God-given right of terrorists to buy guns?
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/06/14/trump-seek-anti-terrorism-advice-domestic-terrorist-nra.html

Yes! That’s exactly the kind of leadership we need because if you haven’t noticed, we Americans are scared shitless that we might be the victims of the next time some insane lunatic decides to open fire in a public place! This week alone we have had 3 shooting incidents – that insane incident where a guy shot a rock at Dallas Love Field, the horrible death of Christina Grimmee, and this mass shooting. Is he also going to consult McDonalds on how to curtail obesity or the Jack Daniels distillery on how to curtail drunk driving? #DonaldTrumpProblemSolvers

But nope, Trumpenfuror champions himself as a friend of the LGBT community! Here’s more on that:

http://new.www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-clinton-lgbt_us_575f0200e4b0e4fe5143371d?utm_hp_ref=politics

“Ask yourself,” he added, “who is really the friend of women and the LGBT community: Donald Trump with his actions, or Hillary Clinton with her words? Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country — they enslave women and murder gays. I don’t want them in our country.”

Omar Mateen, the suspect in the Orlando shooting, was a U.S. citizen born in New York City who reportedly declared his allegiance to the Islamic State militant group before carrying out the massacre — not a refugee or foreigner who would be affected by Trump’s proposed immigration restrictions. There’s no clear evidence that Mateen was acting as part of a larger terrorist network, President Barack Obama said Monday.

LGBT voters support Clinton over Trump, 84 percent to 16 percent, according to a recent Whitman Insight Strategies survey. Trump has gone on record opposing national marriage equality. Over the weekend, he also assured a conference of Christian conservatives that he stood with them on the matter

“The best LGBT Americans live near Trump Tower in NYC! I love gays!!!”

But how much does Trumpenfuror love the LGBT community? Well let’s do some fact checking here.

http://www.hrc.org/blog/four-ways-donald-trump-would-roll-back-lgbt-equality-as-president

1) Trump Has Promised to Roll Back Nationwide Marriage Equality

Donald Trump has long opposed nationwide marriage equality, calling himself a “traditional” guy, even waffling on whether he supports civil unions. Heading into the South Carolina Primary, Trump tripled down on his opposition to nationwide marriage equality.

2) Trump to Sign a Law Sanctioning Kim Davis-Style Discrimination

Donald Trump supports the so-called “First Amendment Defense Act,” (FADA), a bill to enable Kim Davis-style discrimination against LGBT people nationwide. FADA would undermine the rule of law and promote taxpayer-funded discrimination against same-sex couples. In a letter to the far-right organization the American Principles Project, Trump wrote in December, “If Congress considers the First Amendment Defense Act a priority, then I will do all I can to make sure it comes to my desk for signatures and enactment.”

And that’s just a hypothetical situation, ladies and gentlemen!

But Trumpenfuror even contradicted himself in his own stance on North Carolina’s HB-2:

During a town hall on NBC, Trump said North Carolina’s anti-LGBT bathroom measure, which has hurt the state economically, wasn’t necessary and sought to address a problem that wasn’t really a big issue. The bill also prohibits local municipalities from passing additional measures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination.

“North Carolina did something that was very strong and they’re paying a big price. There’s a lot of problems,” Trump said. “You leave it the way it is. There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom they feel is appropriate, there has been so little trouble, and the problem with what happened in North Carolina is the strife, and the economic punishment that they’re taking.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-north-carolina-bathroom-bill_us_5718ca1ee4b0c9244a7aec8c

[font size="8"]Omar Mateen[/font]

So Omar Mateen might be the first mass murderer to ever make the Top 10. Whew. Boy this guy was a gem. And I say “was” because he was killed by the police after murdering 51 innocent people who were just out to party at the Pulse. So let’s go back and explore just what drove Mateen insane to the point where he committed this act of terror and a hate crime on top of that. But first you know a senseless tragedy like this absolutely could have been prevented.

Bill Rejected By The GOP 6 Months Ago Would Have Stopped Florida Shooter From Gun Purchase
As it turns out, America’s elected Republican officials could have stopped Orlando’s gay nightclub shooter from being able to purchase the assault rifle ....

Not only are Republicans responsible for stigmatizing members of the LGBT community as anti-god deviants, but they could have thrown a huge wrench in Mateen’s massacre plans had they passed a law proposed six whole months before this morning’s mass shooting occurred.

“Senate Republicans rejected a bill that aims to stop suspected terrorists from legally buying guns, on Thursday. The vote came a day after at least 14 people were killed during the San Bernardino massacre in California ....
http://bipartisanreport.com/2016/06/12/fail-bill-rejected-by-the-gop-6-months-ago-would-have-stopped-florida-shooter-from-gun-purchase/

Yup! So with that in mind, Congress allowed this to happen. They allowed an alleged terrorist suspect like Mateen, who had previously been questioned by the FBI 3 times, to buy weapons of mass destruction. And yes, the AK 47 is a weapon of mass destruction, no matter how gun nuts will try to spin the argument. And believe me I am prepared to tangle if you want, gun nuts.

And here’s what might have drove him insane:

Investigators are operating under the theory that the attack was inspired by Islamic State .

Mateen had been interviewed by the FBI twice and had once been on a terrorist watch list .

President Obama called the shooting an act of terror that was an attack on all Americans.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-nightclub-shooting-live-updates-htmlstory.html

Yup! So he was on a watch list and allowed to legally purchase a weapon. But there’s more:

... Daniel Gilroy said he worked the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift with G4S Security at the south gate at PGA Village for several months in 2014-15. Mateen took over from him for a 3 to 11 p.m. shift.

Gilroy, a former Fort Pierce Police officer, said Mateen frequently made homophobic and racial comments. Gilroy said he complained to his employer G4S Security several times but it did nothing because he was Muslim. Gilroy quit after he said Mateen began stalking him via multiple text messages — 20 or 30 a day. He also sent Gilroy 13 to 15 phone messages a day, he said.

"I quit because everything he said was toxic," Gilroy said Sunday, "and the company wouldn't do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people" ...

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/crime/2016/06/12/who-omar-mateen/85791280/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=

So Omar Mateen was an unhinged homophobe. But he might have been one of, no offense to our LGBT viewers, the biggest closet cases known to man:

A former classmate of Omar Mateen’s 2006 police academy class said he believed Mateen was gay, saying Mateen once asked him out.

The classmate said that he, Mateen and other classmates would hang out, sometimes going to gay nightclubs, after classes at the Indian River Community College police academy. He said Mateen asked him out romantically.

“We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer,” the former classmate said. He asked that his name not be used.

He believed Mateen was gay, but not open about it. Mateen was awkward, and for a while the classmate and the rest in the group of friends felt sorry for him.

“He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him,” he said. “He was always socially awkward.”

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/orlando-shooter-omar-mateen-was-gay-former-classma/nrfwW/?ecmp=pbp_social_twitter_2015_sfp

And he was a frequent customer and regular visitor of Pulse:

At least four regular customers of Pulse, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender nightclub where the massacre took place, told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that they believed they had seen Mateen there before.

"Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, who also uses the name Aries.

He saw Mateen at the club at least a dozen times, he said.

"We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times," Smith said. "He told us he had a wife and child."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-nightclub-shooting-20160613-snap-story.html

But wait we’re still not done yet, the news has been coming fast and furious:

Mateen was a ‘known quantity’ to federal law enforcement before he killed 53 people in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Omar Mateen of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, came to the attention of federal authorities twice prior to being identified as the gunman in the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, a senior law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.

Mateen 53 people and shot more than 100 in total at the Pulse gay nightclub early Sunday morning, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

The senior law enforcement source reports that Mateen became a person of interest in 2013 and again in 2014. The Federal Bureau of Investigation at one point opened an investigation into Mateen but subsequently closed the case when it produced nothing that appeared to warrant further investigation.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/12/omar-mateen-id-d-as-orlando-killer.html

Twice! Twice the FBI had been investigating Mateen. But both investigations turned up nothing. The fact that he purchased a semi automatic 12 days ago should have been a tip off! In fact the roots of the problem can easily be traced back to Congress backing the NRA in that bill I talked about. And we’re still not done. Mateen’s father apparently ran for president of Afghanistan, hosted a TV show and pledged allegiance to the Taliban:

The father of Omar Mateen, identified by police as the man behind the carnage at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning, is an Afghan man who holds strong political views, including support for the Afghan Taliban. In a video he posted on Saturday, he appears to be portraying himself as the president of Afghanistan.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/12/orlando-shooting-suspects-father-hosted-a-political-tv-show-and-even-tried-to-run-for-the-afghan-presidency/?postshare=2441465759392185&tid=ss_tw

And what’s even scarier? Mateen was caught surveying Disneyworld:

The gunman behind the Orlando nightclub shootings, the deadliest mass shooting in American history, recently scouted Walt Disney World as a potential target, a federal law enforcement source tells PEOPLE.

Omar Mateen and his wife, Noor Zahi Salman, visited Walt Disney World in April, the source says. Salman told federal authorities on Sunday that her husband had more recently been "scouting Downtown Disney and Pulse for attacks."
http://www.people.com/article/omar-mateen-disney-world-scouted-attacks

So the question on the table now is where did Mateen purchase the weapons needed to carry out this horrific tragedy? Well the gun store in Orlando where he purchased the assault rifles needed to carry out this attack may offer some clues. But first read where a reporter was able to buy an AR-15 in the same amount of time it takes one to send back their order at Starbucks:

That's how long it took me to buy an AR-15, the semiautomatic rifle used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

Seven minutes. From the moment I handed the salesperson my driver's license to the moment I passed my background check.

It likely will take more time than that during the forthcoming round of vigils to respectfully read the names of the more than 100 people who were killed or injured.

It's obscene. Horrifying.
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/helen_ubinas/20160614_Ubinas__I_bought_an_AR-15_semi-automatic_rifle_in_Philly_in_7_minutes.html

Recently news broke that an astonishing 91% of suspected terrorists were able to buy assault rifles. And now read about the gun shop that sold the guns to Mateen. They were shut down by the ATF twice. Twice!!!

The terrorist who massacred 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub bought the guns he used in the slaughter from a Florida store owned by a retired NYPD officer.

ATF Agent Sal van Susteren confirmed to the Daily News Monday that Omar Mateen, 29, bought the weapons at St. Lucie Shooting Center.

Authorities have said Mateen purchased an assault-style rifle and handgun within roughly the last week.

An employee at the store also said “The ATF shut us down,” apparently exaggerating why no customers were being allowed in the store.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/orlando-club-shooter-bought-guns-store-owned-ex-nypd-article-1.2671663

Holy shit! They were shut down by the ATF not once but twice for illegal weapons sales. Twice! Let’s go further.

“I have a business,” he said. “I follow the law, I don’t make the law.”

In December of last year, Henson posted to Facebook an image reading “In the name of freedom: F--k Islam, F--k Allah. F--k Muhammad. F--k the Koran. F--k people who support terrorism.”

Wow, with that kind of hate-filled rhetoric coming from the owner of a gun store, that guy sounds like a real winner!

[font size="8"]Gun Nut Apologists[/font]

So gun nuts are in a very awkward position now. This is yet another chapter in the circular firing squad of shit. And it screws us all. So the protocol is now this:

1. Gun nut commits mass shooting.
2. Gun nut apologists like Alex Jones spread propaganda that Obama is going to take guns away, which he hasn’t in, um 8 FUCKING YEARS!!! Give it a rest already!!!
3. Gun nuts buy up assault rifles in droves thinking that guns are going to be banned.
4. The NRA influences Congress on proposed assault weapons ban.
5. Congress does absolutely nothing and lets proposed assault weapons ban fail.
6. Repeat step #1.

And this week because the shooting took place in an LGBT night club, this also puts Christian fundamentalists in an awkward position. Because they hate anything associated with the LGBT community. And normally when a mass shooting happens, such as the one in Paris this week, they are usually the first to offer their “thoughts and prayers”. Like this:

Yup! That’s the first thing they do. But this week they’re oddly silent and very hypocritical on the situation. Behind Door #1, I give you Tennessee Rep Andy Holt, who announced a raffle of an AR-15 not even 24 hours after news of the shooting broke:

One day after the worst mass shooting in American history, Rep. Andy Holt, is firmly standing behind his decision to give away a semi-automatic rifle similar to the one used in the Orlando shooting.

While announcing his plans last week to hold his first annual "Hog Fest and Turkey Shoot," Holt, R-Dresden, said he will give away an AR-15 as a door prize to an attendee of his June 25 fundraiser.

The event is also scheduled to include a turkey shoot — participants are encouraged to bring their own rifle and ammo.

Holt said despite Sunday's massacre in Orlando that left 50 people dead and 53 wounded, he remains stalwart in his belief that the weapon used in the mass shooting is not to blame.

Read more: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/government/state/tennessee-rep-holt-to-give-away-ar-15-at-fundraiser-352f00e2-f4cc-176a-e053-0100007fb102-382739961.html

And behind door #2 – the inevitable ISIS paranoia:

It was sick-making to see one hypocrite after another offering up thoughts and prayers for the LGBT victims, when for years their thoughts and prayers have been fervently directed towards oppressing and even terrorising them. You might imagine that it would be exquisitely difficult, even painful, to square that circle, but Donald Trump was not the only massive idiot willing to try. One after another, conservative lawmakers, flush with funds from the gun lobby, lined up to offer their useless 'thoughts and prayers' and to drag everyone's attention away from all the dead homos and onto the killer's invisible friend, Allah.

Never mind that he was an unstable and aggressive man whose psychosis hooked onto radical Islam as the quickest way to earth for the lightning bolt of deranged violence building up within him. Never mind that the murderous arse-clowns of ISIS knew exactly nothing of him until they saw it all on Twitter and rushed out a press release to take a nice hot bath in all of the blood he'd spilled. Never mind that the gay community of Orlando… remember them, the victims? Well, never mind that they resisted any and all attempts to gather their surviving members into an anti-Muslim pogrom.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/blunt-instrument/orlando-shooting-thoughts-and-prayers-from-hypocrites-do-nothing-to-help-20160613-gpi6rp.html

So you know there's a lot of solidarity with the Orlando victims now. And you know Obama ordered the flags at half staff. And there’s one county in Missouri, that naturally won’t have any of it. Why? Because they’re assholes. Read on:

Commissioner Kris Scheperle (R) similarly suggested that the Orlando shooting just doesn’t rise to the occasion. “I want to honor those who have served our country,” he said, “but we can’t lower it for every event like this that occurs. I do feel for those who were gunned down, but I don’t think it warrants lowering the flag.”

Neither commissioner elaborated any further as to why exactly they think the victims of the country’s deadliest terrorist attack since 9/11 did not deserve the honor.

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/06/14/3788497/cole-county-missouri-flag-orlando-shooting/

And there’s Arizona pastor Stephen A. Anderson, who offered the usual sort of compassion that you would expect from an ultra far right winger:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/06/12/christian-pastor-celebrates-nightclub-massacre-theres-50-less-pedophiles-in-this-world/

Pastor Steven Anderson, whose hate knows no bounds, celebrated the deaths of 50 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando in a 4-minute mini-sermon that cited the Bible as justification for why they needed to die. (And if it didn’t happen via a shooter, it should have happened by way of government execution.)

It’s the most disturbing, hateful response to a mass shooting you’ll ever hear, and it was provoked by Anderson’s complete hatred of LGBT people.

And of course Alex Jones wasted no time in offering his usual bullshit that the Orlando attack was a false flag operation (it wasn’t) :

Jones repeatedly called the deadly Orlando terror attack a “false flag” and accused the government of letting the attack happen for political reasons. Jones’ website defines a false flag as a covert and deceptive operation that is used to “influence elections, guide national and international policy, and [to] cynically ... formulate propaganda and shape public opinion as nations go to war.”

Jones posted a YouTube video shortly after the shooting and claimed the “attacks on Orlando were a false flag terror attack. But before the mainstream media takes that out of context, I want to be clear. Our government and the governments of Europe allowed these huge hordes of radical jihadis in and have even allowed them in without vetting them on record, landing at airports across the country and not even checking their passports, IDs or visas. Our governments are bringing these people in and they’re allowing them to operate openly in our society so they can attack us and then have our freedoms taken.” He then concluded that President Obama “let it happen” so he can “pass laws and hate laws banning your speech” and taking “your guns.”
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/06/13/trump-ally-alex-jones-calls-orlando-shooting-false-flag-take-your-guns-and-speech/210889

You know there’s some people who absolutely should have their guns taken away. Alex Jones is definitely one of them.

[font size="8"]Dan Patrick[/font]

Since news of the shooting broke there’s been a lot of stuff that has been coming fast and furious. And This might be one of the absolute saddest stories to come out of the tragedy at the Pulse:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/couple-killed-orlando-shooting-hoped-185908326.html
A couple who was deeply in love when they were killed during a gunman’s shooting rampage inside an Orlando nightclub will have a joint funeral service, their families said Monday.

Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22, and his 32-year-old boyfriend, Christopher “Drew” Leinonen, were among the 49 people who lost their lives Sunday in the worst mass shooting in American history. Services still need to be planned by the reeling families, but they want the two to be side-by-side when loved ones bid farewell, said Guerrero’s father, who has the same name as his son.

I can’t imagine what those two families must be going through right now since a wedding is now turning into a joint funeral. Now as I said earlier that one thing that is unusual about this tragedy is that the Christian right has been oddly silent. No “thoughts or prayers” coming from anybody in this tragedy. And then there’s Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick who tweeted this:

Yup – in response to one of the worst shootings in US history, Dan Patrick not only thumps the Bible, but proves that far right Christians are every bit as insensitive and assholish as you would expect.

A "reap what you sow" tweet from Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick that went out hours after approximately 50 people were killed at a Florida LGBT nightclub has been deleted amid backlash.
At precisely 7 a.m. Sunday Dan Patrick tweeted a photo with the words of Galatians 6

. The verse reads, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."The Twitterverse circled the tweet, commenting that it was inappropriate and insensitive considering the context of the day's events. The Texas Democratic Party called for Patrick to apologize.
"Tweeted as new breaks of mass casualties at a gay nightclub. Vile," one Twitter user said. "Have you no shame?"
Patrick's adviser Allen Blakemore issued a statement explaining that the tweet was an unfortunate coincidence.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Texas-Lt-Governor-Dan-Patrick-tweets-reap-what-8076147.php

Unfortunate coincidence? Get the fuck out of here.

In fact his PR team had to do some damage control on Monday because of the “hateful comments he was getting”. It’s no secret that Dan Patrick is no friend to the LGBT community. But why did he post that Tweet if it was meant for Thursday?

What's interesting about the statement is that the point of contact was not Patrick's press team, but Allen Blakemore, of Houston-based political strategists Blakemore and Associates.

The implication is that Blakemore (who Patrick clearly has on speed dial) had been brought in to run some kind of damage control. However, the damage has already been done, and it's not really about Patrick's response to the Orlando shooting. It's that Texans (including the multiple people that liked the original post) think that this is exactly the kind of tweet that Patrick would send out in the aftermath of a mass shooting of gay people.

Moreover, if it was scheduled on Thursday, then his staff were planning to put this tweet out while Patrick was making national headlines for opposing gender-neutral bathrooms.

So Blakemore is left defending an officeholder who is a) a longstanding proponent of religiously-inspired intolerance and b) really bad at social media. Which is probably easier than trying to defend Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, who seemed to believe the worst mass shooting in U.S. history would have been avoided if everyone in a darkened club had been carrying guns.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2016-06-12/dan-patrick-excoriated-over-orlando-shooting-tweet/

Yes so Dan Patrick hired a guy who is a longstanding proponent of social intolerance, and it’s no secret among Texans that Patrick was opposed to gender-neutral bathrooms:

his morning, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick – who has led the charge against Ft. Worth ISD for its transgender inclusive policies – announced the next steps in his crusade against transgender rights. Patrick is requesting a legal opinion from fellow anti-LGBTQ state official Attorney General Ken Paxton to see if the ISD’s guidelines, which allow transgender students to use the restroom facility that corresponds to their gender identity, are illegal and whether or not Superintendent Kent Scribner had the authority to adopt the policy. Patrick signaled he and other lawmakers would delve into the transgender restroom issue during the next legislative session (but in what capacity is unclear). "When we have a rogue, runaway superintendent, and a rogue, runaway school board, then the Legislature this session will have to look at this issue," said Patrick during a Tuesday morning Capitol press conference. “… This fight is just beginning.”
http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2016-05-31/dan-patrick-ignore-obamas-transgender-policy/

Yup! That’s the kind of tolerance you would absolutely expect from far right Christian supremacists. I mean what else is Dan Patrick hiding? Why his defense of this guy:

As the horror of the Orlando nightclub massacre was unveiled Sunday, Texas political leaders offered prayers, perspective and the occasional politically charged comment.

<snip>
Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, replied: “Yes, let’s address radical Islamic terrorist & eliminate gun-free zones where you can’t defend yourselves.”
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/orlando-shooting-texas-leaders-respond-with-prayer/nrfKN/

[font size="8"]Pat Robertson[/font]

So you’ve heard some of the most extreme spin on the shootings in Orlando so far, but no one and I repeat no one is as batshit crazy or more extreme than Pat Robertson on this. So here’s how Pat Robertson attempted to spin this. Can we roll the tape on that?

Yup, Pat Robertson is pulling the “kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out” argument. Let’s explain what he meant. Which is exactly that:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-gays-islamists-are-allies-so-let-them-kill-themselves
Today on “The 700 Club,” televangelist Pat Robertson reacted to the massacre at an Orlando gay club by making the absurd claim that liberal LGBT rights advocates have aligned themselves with radical Islamists and are now reaping what they have sowed.

Robertson said that liberals are facing a “dilemma” because they love both LGBT equality and Islamic extremism, and that it is better for conservatives like himself not to get involved but to instead just watch the two groups kill each other.

“The left is having a dilemma of major proportions and I think for those of us who disagree with some of their policies, the best thing to do is to sit on the sidelines and let them kill themselves,” he said.

Earlier in the program, Robertson went into more detail about what he called “the dilemma of the liberals, the so-called progressives, because they have two favored groups. One, the Muslims. Number two, the homosexuals.”

So if you read that correctly the two biggest enemies of America’s right wing evangelical community are two groups embraced by the left – Muslims and gays. Well let’s go explore further:

UPDATE: The Christian Broadcasting Network released a statement today saying that Robertson was “clearly” using the word “killing” metaphorically during his discussion of a mass murder.

That’s right – Pat Robertson’s statement on the shootings was so extreme that it prompted the 700 Club to do some major damage control.

Oh no, 700 Club. You’re wrong. You’re dead wrong. There’s the “extremist left wing” blog sites that you refer to, and then there’s the Top 10 Conservative Idiots. See the other sites have to be careful about the things they say because of you know that thing called “liability”. We here at the TTCI do not have that. So with that in mind here’s some of Pat’s greatest hits about the LGBT community and people he does not agree with:

Or:

Or my personal favorite:

Your move 700 Club.

[font size="8"]Brock Turner[/font]

You know… remember a week ago when the biggest thing we had to worry about was a pig headed Stanford athlete getting caught by Swedish tourists raping a woman behind a dumpster and getting off* because he and a judge shared the same thing in common – their alma matter? Man that seems like an eternity ago, but it was really last week. So let me remind you about that story for a minute.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/11/brock-turner-may-have-sent-friends-photo-of-victim-during-sexual/

The Stanford University student convicted of sexual assault in a case that has inflamed American public opinion may have sent a photograph of his victim's breasts to friends during the attack.

Detectives subsequently saw a notification appear on Turner's phone reading "WHOS TIT IS THAT" (sic), court documents show. The message came from a fellow member of Stanford's swim team.

Based on the timing of the message and the fact that the victim's bra had been pulled off one of her breasts, police concluded that Turner had probably sent a photograph, though after obtaining a search warrant for his phone they were unable to locate it.

That’s just one of the things this creep might have done but we still don’t know anything just yet about what’s real and what isn’t. But you know what’s even weirder than that? Judge Persky ran for being a judge in Palo Alto’s district for being tough on rape. Yes, you read that correctly oh fair readers of the Top 10!

http://cdn.thedailybeast.com/content/dailybeast/articles/2016/06/07/how-judge-aaron-persky-went-from-battling-sexual-predators-to-coddling-one/jcr:content/body/inlineimage.img.800.jpg/48843363.cached.jpg
Judge Aaron Persky of Santa Clara Superior Court takes pride in having once been a sex crimes prosecutor.

“I became a criminal prosecutor for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, where I now prosecute sex crimes and hate crimes,” he wrote in a biography for the California League of Women Voters when he was running for a judgeship in 2002. “I focus on the prosecution of sexually violent predators, working to keep the most dangerous sex offenders in custody in mental hospitals.” Persky likely figured that his résumé would go over well with women, but he nonetheless lost the election to a fellow prosecutor. He was appointed to the bench the following year by then Gov. Gray Davis.

The one-time battler of sexual predators is now reviled everywhere as the judge who sentenced a 20-year-old former Stanford swimming star named Brock Turner to a term of just six months for assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.

But now Turner’s own parents are playing the “move along, nothing to see here” card!

Cue the sad Hulk music:

She said she hasn’t been able to decorate a new home because she can’t bear to put up happy photos of her family. She said Turner was just “trying to fit in with the swimmers he idolized.”

She continues later that Turner will have to register as a sexual offender, and is concerned that he will have to register at the highest tier.

“Brock will have to register at the highest tier which means he is on the same level as a pedophile/child molester. There is no differentiation,” she writes. “The public records will reflect a Tier 3 so people will wrongly assume he is a child molester. I fear for his lifelong safety.”
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/rapists-mother-wrote-letter-to-judge-complaining-about-decorating-and-not-one-word-about-the-victim/

OK the safety thing might actually be a legitimate concern. Oh and he was banned from USA Swimming:

“‘USA Swimming condemns the crime and actions committed by Brock Turner, and all acts of sexual misconduct. Brock Turner is not a member of USA Swimming and, should he apply, he would not be eligible for membership,’ USA Swimming spokesman Scott Leightman said in a statement obtained by ABC News today. ‘Had he been a member, he would have been subject to the USA Swimming Code of Conduct. USA Swimming strictly prohibits and has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct, with firm Code of Conduct policies in place, and severe penalties, including a permanent ban of membership, for those who violate the Code of Conduct.'

http://abcnews.go.com/US/usa-swimming-bans-stanford-student-brock-turner-life/story?id=39752826

Ed. Note – poor choice of words, I know! Bad Initech!

[font size="8"]The Bathroom Police[/font]

I cannot wait to tell you about this next story. You know, there’s so much homophobia and transphobia that’s been going on all year thanks to North Carolina’s horrific HB-2 bill. But you know, I’ve often said that if the bathroom police are going to take away a group of people’s right to pee in a public place they’d better start providing alternatives. Like what about adult diapers? Surely no one has a problem with that, do they? Well one entrepreneur in Mt. Prospect, Illinois has begun selling adult diapers. The company is called “Tykables” and not only have they been selling adult diapers, the company’s founder has begun expanding their brand to include things to cater to America’s active adult babies including onesies, giant play pens, and adult size cribs and high chairs. Well, the people of Mt. Prospect naturally won’t have any of it:

CHICAGO -- A new business, a baby store for adults, is sparking outrage in suburban Mt. Prospect, Illinois, CBS Chicago reported.
Dozens of residents showed up at village hall Tuesday night, calling for the business to be shut down or moved.
However, officials said they had no legal basis to bar the business, Tykables, which includes features such as a seven-foot crib, an over-sized high chair and adult-sized playpen.
"Things for people to come and play, take pictures with. Not everybody has access to a nursery," the owner says in a YouTube video.
The owner of the store on Northwest Highway said the primary focus of the business is selling adult diapers for medical needs and for "ABDL" or "Adult Baby Diaper Lovers," some with baby or sexual fetishes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/locals-up-in-arms-over-new-fetish-store-in-illinois-town/

Well I think I know who Tykables’ biggest customer might be:

I hear he’s looking for a house close to Mt. Prospect, Illinois.

But in other stranger bathroom police news, they’re taking things way too far. In fact this happened in a Target restroom this week. As you may know, we talked about this story a couple of weeks ago but I think we need to bring it back up again in order to provide a proper context for the next story:

The American Family Association has been "testing" Target's new policy allowing employees and customers to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity by sending men to women's bathrooms, according to the conservative group's director of governmental affairs, Sandy Rios.

"I think there’s no question that when you say that there are no barriers in the bathroom, and that if men or women feel like they are men or women, the opposite of however they are equipped, and you have no restrictions, the net effect will be, people will not be stopped," Rios told "Breitbart News Daily" on Monday. "We’ve already had people testing this, going into Targets and men trying to go into bathrooms. There is absolutely no barrier."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/american-family-association-testing-target-bathrooms
5

Yup, so the American Family Asshats are so paranoid about bathroom crimes involving trans people that they’ve resorted to testing the waters by sending people into Target’s restrooms to make sure that nothing kinky is happening. Hey AFA, you know who actually committed a crime in a fucking bathroom? Why Omar Marteen! Who hunted people down in the bathroom of the Pulse and began mowing them down with an AK 47! That’s exactly what a bathroom crime is, so shut the fuck up about trans people who need to use the restroom! So here’s what happened in a Target bathroom in Illinois this week.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/small-bomb-blows-up-target-bathroom-while-company-faces-right-wing-wrath-for-transgender-policy/
A small bomb detonated in a women’s bathroom at a Target store in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Wednesday afternoon. Officials are not yet sure if the bomb was related to the right-wing wrath the company has endured as a result of their bathroom policy, but investigators are looking into it.

Commander Joe Dugan told WGNT that says there were no people inside the bathroom when the explosion occurred. While it caused minor damage, no person was injured. The bomb was made with a plastic bottle but did not contain nails, tacks or other projectiles like we saw with the Boston Marathon bombing. He said that they are reviewing the security footage to find the individual responsible.

Target announced that any customer of the store could use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity. Since then, over 1,330,585 people have signed an American Family Association petition saying that they will boycott the store. Since Target announced the policy, have been several reports of protesters walking through the aisles of Target while shouting transphobic comments and citing biblical passages.

Well this is one of those stories that clearly needs some more information. With that in mind we can only speculate but from my youth there’s only one solution that I can think of coming from the Bathroom Police:

And remember when I said I would post an actual sex offender story every single time the fundies feel the need to harass innocent trans people? Well first off I don't need to point out how Mateen went into the bathroom and murdered all the people in the bathroom during the nightclub shooting because I already did that. Well they leave me with no shortage of material once again:

This is Dave Reynolds, the recently fired pastor of the Cornerstone Bible Fellowship in Sherwood, Arkansas. He’s currently facing 70 counts of distributing, possessing, or viewing child pornography.

Oh, and he’s also vehemently antigay.

The 40-year-old pastor regularly preached that marriage is between a man and a woman and that all homosexual activity is a sin.

He was arrested after police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which claimed that a social media account in Sherwood was storing pages and pages of child pornography.
https://unitedhumanists.com/2016/06/10/anti-gay-pastor-arrested-on-70-counts-of-child-pornography/

Ooh ooh! I think I know what his favorite song is! Can I guess?

I just watched 10 Cloverfield Lane last week. John Goodman's character played that song and it was creepy as shit. Every time I hear that song I can't help but think of the Trinity killer from Dexter...

[font size="8"]Charles Grassley[/font]

Now it’s time for another installment of:

This week we’re going to tell you about Iowa Senator Charles Grassley (R-Obviously). So how did Mr. Grassley get elected? He’s the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee – you know the people who make decisions about who gets nominated as a justice for the Supreme Court? This guy picks the people who make the supreme laws of the land. Well recently he had absolutely no problems with Donald Trump picking the next justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia:

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says “there’s no problem with” presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “appointing people to the Supreme Court,” according to the Associated Press. Grassley’s statement is informative in no small part because, while the senator apparently can find no reason why a reality show host who has built his presidential campaign on overt racism and appeals to violence should not choose a Supreme Court justice, Grassley has taken a very different position on whether President Obama should be allowed to do the same.

Almost immediately after news of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia’s death broke, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) announced that the GOP intended to offer massive resistance to anyone Obama chose to replace Scalia. Grassley has wholeheartedly supported this strategy, refusing even to hold a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/05/10/3776868/senate-judiciary-chair-no-problem-trump-appointing-people-supreme-court/

This prompted Iowa’s leading newspaper to call Sen. Grassley “completely spineless”:

Democrats and Republicans are never going to agree on where the blame lies for the alarming number of judicial vacancies in the federal court system.

But it is surprising to see the office of Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dismiss these vacancies as a “manufactured crisis” undeserving of public attention. Regardless of who is to blame for the vacancies, the senator should at least recognize the value in having those critical positions filled.

This is, after all, a long-running problem. Eight years ago, federal judges began retiring or moving to “senior judge” status at a rapid clip, at times averaging one new retirement every week. It didn’t take long before the number of vacancies in the U.S. district courts had doubled, resulting in dramatically increased caseloads in certain regions of the country. In Tucson, Arizona, for example, three judges were each juggling 1,200 criminal cases. Predictably, the increased workload angered judges and fueled even more retirements.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/06/08/editorial-grassley-ignores-judicial-crisis-and-trumps-racism/85549460/

And attempts to find a formidable challenger to dethrone Sen. Grassley have otherwise been futile at best:

'With Senator Charles E. Grassley under attack for his handling of the Supreme Court nomination process, a formidable Democratic challenger will run against him this November, the most significant sign yet that Democrats see the court and the candidacy of Donald J. Trump as twin liabilities for Republicans.

Patty Judge, a former Iowa lieutenant governor and state agriculture secretary, is expected to announce her challenge this weekend to Mr. Grassley, who is seeking a seventh Senate term and had previously been seen as having little opposition to re-election.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/us/politics/charles-grassley-patty-judge-iowa-senate-race.html?

But where is he? Some say it’s like playing a really fucked up game of “Where’s Waldo”:

So, where is Chuck?

The few events he is holding (just 3 during the 15 day recess) are in three of the most Republican counties in Iowa. He wanted to cherry pick his audience.

We've also heard a few rumors about other events. Instead of holding more public events, he's having private events. And closed-door meetings. He's scheduling 'media availabilities' ... without notifying the media.

It's almost as if he doesn't want any attention. And it's no surprise he wants to hide. Iowans have been speaking out in the tens of thousands, calling on Senator Grassley to stop his obstruction of the Supreme Court nominee. He's using his powerful position as Chair of the Judiciary committee to block hearings, and his constituents are frustrated and disappointed that he won't do his job.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10514192

Which of course has nothing to do with him complaining to the media about the fact that he could lose his job. Once again we need the Sad Hulk Music:

FORT DODGE, Ia. — Sen. Chuck Grassley told delegates at the 4th Congressional District convention Saturday that he’s facing a “severe” campaign for re-election.

Grassley, seeking his seventh term, said people may think he’s safe because of his past “slam dunk” wins. “This is not going to be such a race and so I’m calling on you, I’m asking you, I’m begging you, I’m imploring you — will you do all you can to help me win re-election?” (…)

Grassley is known for never taking re-election for granted but he said this is not just his way of appearing humble. “You know, the situation’s a lot different now. When you’ve got the White House organizing a campaign against you … it’s still something that you’ve got to take into consideration.”
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/11/1513825/-Chuck-Grassley-whines-about-how-he-could-lose-his-job

So not showing up at your own campaign events, being soft on domestic issues, and whining to the media about possibly losing your job. That’s Charles Grassley. Yet another inexplicable offering in the vast wasteland that is:

[font size="8"]Ash Vs. Evil Trump Supporters[/font]

Ash Vs. Evil Dead. How fucking great is that show? I don’t put in too many plugs, but in fact season 2 will premiere on appropriately enough, Halloween of this year so set your DVRs. I recently rewatched "Army Of Darkness" (the second movie) and it still holds up amazingly well. And well this story involves a beaten Donald Trump supporter, Donald Trump, and Bruce Campbell, the star of Ash Vs. Evil Dead. So here’s how the news media reported it:

SAN JOSE, Calif. —Protests outside a Donald Trump rally in downtown San Jose spun out of control Thursday night when some demonstrators attacked the candidate’s supporters.
Protesters jumped on cars, pelted Trump supporters with eggs and water balloons, snatched signs and stole “Make America Great” hats off supporters’ heads before burning the hats and snapping selfies with the charred remains.
Several people were caught on camera punching Trump supporters. At least one attacker was arrested, according to CNN, although police did not release much information.
“The San Jose Police Department made a few arrests tonight after the Donald Trump Rally,” police said in a statement. “As of this time, we do not have specific information on the arrests made. There has been no significant property damage reported. One officer was assaulted.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/03/ugly-bloody-scenes-in-san-jose-as-protesters-attack-trump-supporters-outside-rally/

So the police were called to a Donald Trump protest and counter protest. Arrests were made. Fights broke out. And that resulted in this image:

That’s a pretty horrific image, right? Well let’s explore further, shall we? Here’s how another news story spun it, and *spoiler alert* - it’s not in our favor. In fact it makes us look like violent thugs:

The violence from liberal protesters is continuing at events for supporters for Donald Trump. After a rally in San Jose, California, a left-win mob threw bottles at Trump backers — bloodying one Trump voter who spoke with the media after the violence.

Liberal activists have created a tense and violent-prone environment outside rallies for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for weeks. That potential for violence came to a head in New Mexico recently when one Trump voter in a wheelchair was assaulted.

http://www.lifenews.com/2016/06/03/mob-of-liberal-protesters-attack-and-bloody-donald-trump-supporter-after-rally/

Now wait! Go back! You know we reported on the violence happening at the New Mexico rally back in Idiots #29! And here’s that story:

It's not just a fight between Trump and a prominent Republican Latina. Martinez is also the chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association, tasked with electing GOP governors this fall, with Trump leading the party on the ballot.

Trump's event in New Mexico was most notable for the protests that erupted afterward, with anti-Trump activists breaking through police barricades, throwing rocks and bottles, setting signs ablaze and in one case smashing a glass door into Albuquerque's convention center, where Trump held his rally.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/25/politics/susana-martinez-donald-trump-fight/

Now wait a minute – the story called these morons “anti Trump” activists. They never said anything about whether or not they were liberal or conservative. There’s plenty of conservative anti-Trump people out there.

Oh! Someone’s got some ‘splainin to do! So since anti-Trump was not clearly defined, what else could be going on in San Jose that weekend? It certainly wasn’t the Sharks vs Pengiuns game. I have been to a lot of hockey games, never got into fights with the crowd that badly, although at the Stanley Cup Finals that might be expected.

The original photograph of Weaving was actually posted by the actress herself (as well as by her make up artist Hannah Wilson) way back in January when she was filming comedy horror television series 'Ash vs Evil Dead'.

However, its most recent use illustrates what is becoming a disturbing trend among Trump fans to circulate disturbing hoax images, claiming to be evidence of attacks from liberals.

This comes after several Trump supporters were legitimately attacked outside a rally for the presumptive GOP nominee in San Jose, California, last week.

While several real pictures of supporters post-rally are being circulated online, such as the one shared by NBC News reporter Jacob Rascon (below), the photograph of Weaving is not one of them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/06/07/the-only-horrifying-thing-about-this-photo-is-how-its-being-use/

Yup! That wasn’t a Trump rally picture! That was a publicity shot for season 2 of Ash Vs. Evil Dead, which is currently filming in New Zealand. So Bruce… you got some ‘splaining to do!

Over the course of the last six months, violence has escalated on the campaign trail, particularly during Donald Trump rallies. After an image went viral last week, showing a blonde young woman covered in blood, allegedly from violent liberal protesters, it turns out it was all a hoax.
Trump campaign violence

When Trump campaigned in San Jose, California last week, protesters clashed with supporters, as video tape evidence shows at least one woman being hit with bottles and eggs, and man with blood running down the side of his face. However, another image made the rounds on the internet, which was quickly debunked by a horror movie icon and star of the hit show "Ash vs Evil Dead," as reported by Mediaite on June 8.

http://us.blastingnews.com/news/2016/06/bloody-donald-trump-supporter-exposed-as-actress-never-attacked-by-liberals-at-rally-00958683.html

#AshVsEvilTrumpSupporters

That’s it for this week. I appreciate you baring with us through this difficult time this week. This was certainly not an easy one to do. However, I assure you that next week we will be back to our usual hijinks and we might even bring back the Wheel O’ Corruption, which we originally planned for this week, for the next edition.

See you next week!

Ed. Note: The Top 10 has moved to Wednesdays! Now on Wednesday at 10:00 AM PST. Also please join our Twitter feed at @DUInitechTop10, and join the fight, won’t you?

June 10, 2016

David Letterman: Donald Trump Is "Despicable"

Brokaw: "Listen, you're not on the air during one of the wackiest, potentially dislocating election years of our lifetime. Donald Trump, Hillary, Bernie Sanders. Are there times when you just say, "God, I'd like to be on tonight. I'd like to be talking about this?"

Letterman: "Well, I understand that he's repugnant to people. But, you tell me, the men putting together the Constitution, witnessing this election, wouldn't they have just said, 'That's part of the way we set it up. Good luck'"?

Brokaw: "You're absolutely right. He didn't cheat by getting the nomination."

Letterman: "Right. There's nothing illegal going on. It's just he's despicable ... And in everybody's school, you hear, 'The great thing about America is anybody can grow up to be President.' Oh, jeez. I guess that might be true."

The exchange comes a day after another clip was released where Letterman declared he "couldn't care less" about late-night TV anymore, and suggested a woman should have taken over the Late Show instead of Stephen Colbert.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/letterman-slams-trump-hes-despicable/ar-AAgT6lw

Tell 'em Dave!

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