Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

babylonsister

babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
October 6, 2020

The Rude Pundit: MAGA Cretins Worship at the Church of the Manly Grifter

https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/10/maga-cretins-worship-at-church-of-manly.html


The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
10/06/2020
MAGA Cretins Worship at the Church of the Manly Grifter

snip//

Trump has made this whole fucking ordeal worse by degrees for the country because he sees sickness as weakness and mitigation as some kind of pansy-ass, feminine bowing to the virus. Wearing a mask? That's for pussies or, as Tomi "I Pointed a Gun at My Vagina to Own the Libs" Lahren said about Joe Biden wearing his badass black mask, "Might as well carry a purse with that mask, Joe." And some heinous New York Post troll on Fox "news" said, no, really, "It's incredibly selfish of older people or neurotic people who are timid and afraid and won't come out of their basements to confine children and young people to miss out on the most important part of their lives." Someone ask Rupert Murdoch to shake hands with Trump and see if he'll do it.

Along those idiotic lines, Trump keeps saying that we have to get on with our lives and that "we are learning to live with COVID." That might be worth a discussion if we had national health care, extensive testing available everywhere, funding for schools and businesses to properly keep people safe, assistance for people who have to quarantine, child care assistance, and so very much more. If we had a compassionate society, it might be possible to live with COVID because we actually would be actively attempting to live with it, understanding that the alternative is overwhelmed emergency rooms and hospitals and greater death and suffering.

But that's not what Trump is saying we need to do. He's not telling us to live with COVID. He's telling us we're just going to have to live with tens of thousands of more deaths and hundreds of thousands more sick with symptoms and who knows how many more spreading coronavirus to keep the spiral going, probably until some point in the future when we have a vaccine. In fact, today, by shitcanning any further discussions of a relief package with Democrats in Congress, Trump is assuring that we're going to have to live with death. Fuck you if you're poor and can't be given the experimental treatments he's gotten. Fuck you if you have a business on the verge of dying. Fuck all of us unless we reelect him.

And you know what? I'm sure we're going to be treated to commentary about how Trump the man really showed that Nancy Pelosi bitch who's in charge. And it will become the next sacrament in the tastelessly-decorated church that the MAGA morons are constructing so they can pray to his diseased blood, his failing body, and his deranged mind. They can gather in their parking lots of worship with their red hats and blue flags to show their devotion. They can stand below his balcony and watch him wheeze in pain and believe that he is doing it for them when he is really doing it all, all, all for himself.
October 6, 2020

"Because once America votes, America will be heard."



https://politicalwire.com/2020/10/06/bonus-quote-of-the-day-1405/

Bonus Quote of the Day
October 6, 2020 at 5:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard


“We have it in our hands, the ultimate power. The power to vote. It is the noblest instrument ever devised to register our will in a peaceable and productive fashion… No matter how many obstacles are thrown in our way. Because once America votes, America will be heard.”

— Joe Biden, in a speech at Gettysburg.
October 6, 2020

Grand jury indicts St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters


Grand jury indicts St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters
By Celine Castronuovo - 10/06/20 04:20 PM EDT



A grand jury in St. Louis on Tuesday indicted Mark and Patricia McCloskey on counts of exhibiting a weapon and tampering with evidence four months after footage circulated showing the couple pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home.

The couple's attorney, Joel Schwartz, said the grand jury reached the decision after the McCloskeys appeared before a judge earlier in the day, NBC affiliate KSDK reported.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner had issued felony charges against the couple in June for unlawful use of a weapon. The grand jury added the tampering-with-evidence charge on Tuesday.

In the now-viral videos from the June incident, the couple can be seen standing outside their home, each holding a firearm — Mark McCloskey with an AR-15 rifle and Patricia McCloskey with a handgun.

more...

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/519862-grand-jury-indicts-st-louis-couple-who-pointed-guns-at-protesters
October 6, 2020

The Worst Photo Op Ever

https://politicalwire.com/2020/10/06/the-worst-photo-op-ever/

The Worst Photo Op Ever
October 6, 2020 at 10:33 am EDT By Taegan Goddard


Tim Miller: “Trump had a choice: he could have gone for the sympathy vote; he could have shown a flash of empathy. According to the NYT, some campaign staffers thought that if Trump recovered quickly and then appeared sympathetic to the public in how he talked about his own experience and that of millions of other Americans, he could have something of a political reset.'”

“In TrumpWorld, though, empathy is for cucks, so he opted for STRENGTH instead. Or at least the video version.”

“But as he stood there, maskless, breathing heavily, and about to enter a White house ravaged by the pandemic, Trump didn’t look strong. He looked reckless. He looked sick. He looked like a man whose presidency was in the last stages of decadence.”
October 6, 2020

GOP Elites Thought They Could Buy Their Way Out of a Pandemic

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/gop-elites-thought-they-could-buy-exemption-from-a-pandemic.html


Oct. 5, 2020
GOP Elites Thought They Could Buy Their Way Out of a Pandemic
By Eric Levitz


These people aren’t stupid. Not all of them, anyway. The white men in dark jackets and well-coiffed ladies in prim dresses you’ve seen hugging in the White House Rose Garden — or hobnobbing maskless inside the Diplomatic Room — are the American right’s best and brightest. Amy Coney Barrett graduated magna cum laude from Rhodes College. Josh Hawley is a product of Stanford and Yale Law. Few gatherings in the United States this year will boast more prestigious collective credentials than those of the Barrett nomination party. And none will be composed of people who are in a better position to know the very latest information about the novel coronavirus (multiple attendees had high-level security clearances and thus, full access to one of the greatest information-gathering apparatuses in human history). These folks are not ignorant of the germ theory of disease.

And they had no excuse to be ignorant of the fact that the very best rapid COVID-19 tests have an error rate of roughly 10 percent.

And yet: They exposed themselves, their families, and their movement’s standard-bearer to a life-threatening pandemic disease by treating their negative instant tests as absolute proof of their collective immunity.


snip//

But even the rich can’t buy themselves entry to an America where COVID-19 does not exist. On the White House lawn, Donald Trump and Co. were safe from the particulates they’d fought to keep in the air above East Texas and the neurotoxins they sought to keep in the lungs of farmworkers. They were safe from the police violence they’d worked to abet and the hunger they’d declined to alleviate; safe from the gangs they’d delivered Central American migrants back to, and the shrill cries of the families they’d helped separate. They were at no risk of having to explain themselves to any of the people whose deprivation their “liberty” demanded.

But no bouncer could stop COVID-19 at the gate. The pandemic that the conservative movement had exacerbated by privileging low taxes over universal health care, austerity over comprehensive income support for nonessential workers and businesses, rapid reopening over crushing the curve, bureaucratic loyalty over expertise, the S&P 500 over honest messaging about public health, “owning the libs” over promoting masks — in a word, their movement’s antisocial conception of freedom above all else — could not be cast aside for the price of 200 rapid COVID-19 tests.


Nevertheless, most of the Barrett party’s attendees escaped unscathed. And those who were sickened will receive some of the best medical care money can buy. Republican elites may not actually be immune to the crises of the Anthropocene. And their grandchildren’s welfare may depend on the implementation of policies that account for humanity’s interdependence on a planet where contagious diseases respect no borders — and one nation’s industrial policy is another climatic menace. But, by all appearances, the GOP’s existing leadership is prepared to sacrifice scores of Herman Cains on the altar of its orthodoxy. The party’s ideological delusions are endemic, and America won’t be safe from them until the conservative movement is quarantined outside the halls of power.
October 6, 2020

Eric Boehlert: "Trump's a Madman" should be a constant news headline

https://pressrun.media/p/trumps-a-mad-man-should-be-a-constant

"Trump's a Madman" should be a constant news headline
Stop dancing around the truth
Eric Boehlert


Whether it was the Kim Jong un-style faux victory lap he took as he cruised past supporters outside his hospital on Sunday, Monday morning's signature, ALL CAPS Twitter meltdown, or tweeting out a reckless message about how Covid-19 should not be feared as nearly 1,000 Americans continue to die each day, Trump's a sick man in many ways. And the press should be honest about that.

Gripped by the Covid-19 virus that he refused to take seriously even as it ravaged the country and the economy, Trump's mental state also appears to be fragile. Long assumed by many to suffer from various personality disorders, such as malignant narcissism, Trump's conduct clearly suggests a man who is not well — and who also happens to be the President of the United States.

His erratic actions pose grave concerns for the country. Yet newsrooms today refuse to address the mounting, obvious signs that Trump remains a deeply unstable man.

It all needs to be addressed, unapologetically, in the news coverage and not left for opinion writers and pundits to ponder Trump's troubled state of mind. It's a fact and it's a news story, so why shy away from it? Why don't we regularly see, "Trump is a Madman" headlines in the news pages?


snip//

Today, there are two truths in play: Trump fits the textbook definition of a psychopath, and newsrooms don’t want to touch that story.
October 6, 2020

Florida voter registration system crashes on last day for filing


Florida voter registration system crashes on last day for filing

By GARY FINEOUT
10/05/2020 08:33 PM EDT


Florida’s online voter portal crashed on the final day of registration, prompting Democrats to accuse Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican state officials of trying to suppress the vote less than a month before Election Day.

snip//

Floridians who want to vote in the November election have until 12 a.m. Tuesday to register, and Republicans and Democrats had mounted campaigns to urge people to sign up. With President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden on the ballot, turnout is expected to be high in the battleground state.

Democrats were suspicious of the timing of the crash, noting the system has had problems in the past when demand is high.

“This is just latest attempt from the Republican leaders in Florida to limit democracy,” Florida Democratic Party chair Terrie Rizzo said in a statement. “The Florida Voter Registration website not working on the last day to register to vote in Florida is blatant voter suppression. Fix the website, stop the suppression, and let democracy work."


more...

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/10/05/florida-voter-registration-system-crashes-on-last-day-for-filing-1321423
October 6, 2020

Biden Pulls Away from Trump

https://politicalwire.com/2020/10/06/biden-pulls-away-from-trump/

Biden Pulls Away from Trump
October 6, 2020 at 6:35 am EDT By Taegan Goddard


A new CNN poll finds Joe Biden’s advantage over Donald Trump has widened among likely voters to 57% to 41%.

“Likely voters broadly prefer Biden over Trump on a number of issues that voters consider critically important in the race, including the coronavirus outbreak (59% prefer Biden, 38% Trump), health care (59% to 39%), racial inequality in America (62% to 36%), nominations to the Supreme Court (57% to 41%) and crime and safety (55% to 43%).”

“The two are about even over who would better handle the economy (50% say Biden, 48% Trump), similar to where they have been among registered voters in recent polling.”
October 6, 2020

'Trump defeats COVID' commemorative coin now for sale




WKBN 27 First News This Morning
‘Trump defeats COVID’ commemorative coin now for sale
The coin is part of a series designed by Anthony Giannini, chairman of the White House Gift Shop
by: Alexa Mae Asperin and Nexstar Media Wire
Posted: Oct 5, 2020 / 08:52 PM EDT / Updated: Oct 5, 2020 / 08:52 PM EDT


SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Commemorative coins celebrating President Donald Trump’s apparent survival of COVID-19 are now available for preorder.

The $100 “Trump defeats COVID” coins are for sale on the website of the White House Gift Shop, which is not affiliated with the White House.

According to a statement on the gift shop’s website, the coin is part of a series designed by Anthony Giannini, chairman of the White House Gift Shop.

He described the COVID-19 coin as the last in a series illustrating “President Trump’s ascendance over and defeat of the deadly COVID pandemic virus.”

more...

https://www.wkbn.com/news/national-world/trump-defeats-covid-commemorative-coin-now-for-sale/
October 5, 2020

Inside the Lincoln Project's War Room

Inside the Lincoln Project’s War Room
Progressives are wary of the conservative group hammering the President, but its founders say they’re fighting for all Americans.
By Paige Williams
October 5, 2020


The week of Labor Day, the founders of the Lincoln Project, a super PAC of Republican operatives who have disavowed their own party in order to defeat President Donald Trump, set up a war room in a location far outside Washington, D.C. Since January, the group, whose founders include the consultants Steve Schmidt and Rick Wilson, had been targeting Trump with the kind of merciless ads that the strategists had aimed at Democratic candidates throughout their careers. A spot titled “Regret” features the comedian David Cross offering such a long list of Trump’s flaws—“the blatant racism, and the crass sexism, and the deranged narcissism, and pandering to Nazis”—that the recitation is still unspooling as the ad fades out. This type of message is aimed at convincing Republican voters that Trump’s dangerous and divisive impulses imperil the country. Another type of ad is designed to unsettle a single viewer—the President himself—and often appears during TV programs he is likely to watch. “Shrinking” directly addresses Trump, saying, of his notorious Tulsa campaign rally, in June, “You’ve probably heard this before, but it was smaller than we expected.” The founders knew that they were getting to the President when he started tweeting and talking about them, predictably calling their organization the Losers Project.

snip//

The Project, which was founded by eight people, now employs about thirty-five paid staffers. For the first months, everybody worked remotely—in Tallahassee, Denver, East Hampton, Sacramento. Once the war room was ready, more than a dozen employees began arriving at their assigned housing with luggage and pets, prepared to stay until November. The selection of a temporary headquarters had been complicated by the pandemic, but security was also a factor. Founders had been publicly accosted for opposing Trump, and the Project had received menacing voice mails. A Las Vegas caller: “Get the fuck out of my country, bitches!” From Pennsylvania: “Fuck every last one of you motherfuckers! And when a civil war happens . . . duck.”

The filmmakers Fisher Stevens and Karim Amer, along with the producer Amy Redford, had arrived to shoot a documentary about the Project. Stevens, a Hollywood actor and a liberal activist, had wanted to make anti-Trump ads himself, but every time he had an idea for a spot he discovered that the Lincoln Project had already done it. “These guys were out there every day, putting out a movie!” he told me. “I thought, Who are these fucking people? Who is doing this stuff?”

The Project’s founders are a murderers’ row of conservative operatives.
Wilson, who has worked for Rudolph Giuliani and Dick Cheney, counts hundreds of elections, from “dogcatcher to U.S. Senate,” that he and the other founders have helped Republicans win. Schmidt served in the George W. Bush White House, where he was instrumental in seating the Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and John Roberts. He is widely known for having suggested Sarah Palin as a running mate for McCain, in 2008. Schmidt clearly regrets choosing someone whose crude populism presaged Trump. He was a source for “Game Change,” a book about the McCain campaign that characterized Palin as unprepared and difficult; in September, he said that Palin represented “the beginning of the politics of cowardice and fear.”

Another founder, Reed Galen, whose father worked for Newt Gingrich and Dan Quayle, oversaw with Schmidt the reëlection campaign of the California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. John Weaver, a Texan whom the Democratic strategist James Carville nicknamed Meat Cleaver Weaver, spent a decade trying to get McCain elected to the Presidency. Stuart Stevens was Mitt Romney’s chief strategist in the 2012 race against Barack Obama. A notable early Project participant was George Conway, the lawyer who antagonizes Trump on Twitter—“You. Are. Nuts.”—and whose wife, Kellyanne, was a top White House adviser until she resigned, in August. The couple, citing family demands, receded from public life, and George Conway quit the Project.

more...

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/12/inside-the-lincoln-projects-war-against-trump

Profile Information

Gender: Female
Hometown: NY
Home country: US
Current location: Florida
Member since: Mon Sep 6, 2004, 09:54 PM
Number of posts: 171,094
Latest Discussions»babylonsister's Journal