Top 10 Idiots

Top 10 Idiots's Journal

July 31, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-8: Wheel Of Corruption Reboot Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-8: Wheel Of Corruption Reboot Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up UNC? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! Hey this is our first time in North Carolina! How about that? And it definitely won’t be the last either. And this is UNC too, you guys are a much respected basketball institution! I always love March Madness, it’s my favorite time of the year. Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do, it’s my show, I make the rules around here! Ok so Woodstock 50 is currently the Fyre Festival of 2019. They have had venue changes, then artists dropped out. Then venues dropped out. I mean you can't have Woodstock 50 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Baltimore OK? You can only have Woodstock 50 at Woodstock! Really who are the guys who are organizing this shindig? Because they are failing on every level. Now most of the artists have dropped out including faves like the Racontuers, Miley Cyrus, Jay Z, Dead & Company... really if you're thinking of traveling to a festival this summer, really consider just about anywhere else. You know things are bad when they practically have to give you the tickets. Yes, this is a thing that is happening right now - free tickets to a festival, but it might not be happening! You know when you've lost most of your headliners and your second and third tier acts that it might be time to pack it in. You do at least have to admire the consistency of the guys who are behind it because it might be hanging on by a thread, but they're like the Bruins fans in Game 7 where they're like "Just 3 more goals and we only have 5 minutes left!!!". And then............ BZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!! OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to but first John Oliver is back and he discusses England’s new national nightmare that is Prime Minister Boris Johnson:

So where do we begin this week? Well in the number one slot this week is the fallout from the Mueller testimony on Capitol Hill. Remember that whole Russian election interference (1) thing? It might be worse than we ever imagined! In the second slot this week, the UK selected Donald Trump’s literal doppleganger Boris Johnson (2) as their new prime minister. Welcome to your new national nightmare, England!! In the third slot this week is the guy who might be the worst attorney general in US history and that’s Bill Barr (3) who is bringing back the death penalty. In the number 4 slot, is the guy who we currently call president, @realDonaldTrump (4). So where was he on 9/11? We will tell you the truth about where he was, but he keeps making one outrageous claim after another. In the 5th slot this week is our weekly investigative piece Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week you might want to think twice before ordering food from a delivery service after some extremely alarming stats were released. In the number 6 slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit”, and Jesus merches, people! Yes, Kanye West has big plans to convert people, and of course merchandising his famous Sunday sermon, and our resident pastor will weigh the pros and cons of this. In the number 7 slot, we’re going to play a game of “Is It Racist?”, and there’s been more than a few instances of some hardcore racism in the news this week and we’re going to play the hot new game that’s sweeping the nation! In the number 8 slot this week is “NO!”. Look, fuck Jeffrey Epstein, OK? And conspiracy theorists, we’ve all heard your theories about the Clinton Body Count, but really, we don’t need to hear it a thousand times, OK? In the number 9 (NEIN!!!!) slot this week is I Need A Drink. And we’ve got a batshit crazy story to tell you out of the UK – really, this is the kind of story that “I Need A Drink” was made for! Really, fat shaming and some other really weird shit the women’s clothing line is up to is going to drive us to drink! And finally this week our next installment of Keeping Up With The Candidates is going to take a look at a challenger in Minnesota's 5th district - the seat currently held by one of Trump's members of "The Squad" Ilhan Omar, and whew this challenger si crazy. So you’re telling me there’s a chance against Trump? We hope so! Plus to top it off, we’ve got some live music for you from the mighty Death Cab For Cutie! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]SCOTUS
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Hey everyone say it with me: It’s time for the WHEEL OF CORRUPTION! YAY!!!!!

Of course you know the rules by now – I spin the wheel and we have to talk about whatever it lands on. Of course if it lands on the guacamole option, you know that it costs $1.50 extra. So here’s what is on the wheel this week:

- Guns
- Abortion
- Crime
- Poverty
- Elections
- Buy A Vowel
- Sex
- Clip Without Context
- Death
- Greed
- Spying
- Walls
- Food
- Elections
- The Border
- Donald Trump
- Clip Without Context
- Chance
- 5,000
- Bankrupt
- Community Chest
- Top 10 Investigates
- A Random Tweet
- Something Random In The News
- ‘Merica!
- Golf
- 10,000
- Morally Bankrupt
- Guacamole
- Clip Without Context
- Talk Shows
- Holy Shit
- Beating A Dead Horse
- This Fucking Guy
- How Is This Still A Thing?
- Intermission
- 15,000
- People Are Dumb
- Keeping Up With The Candidates
- I Need A Drink
- Infowars
- T-Shirt Cannon
- Lightning Round
- Bonus Spin

So in case you can’t tell we took a page from Kevin Smith and we're rebooting the Wheel Of Corruption for 2019 and going into the 2020 election, look at how much fancier it is! And it’s got digital signage and LED lights around the whole thing, let’s give it up for our props department! And since we are rebooting the Wheel, we’re not going to use bad sequel titles anymore. Starting with the next edition, we are going to be using the names of Prince albums. Because Prince is awesome, bad sequel titles are not. Let’s spin the wheel shall we? And wheel goes round, wheel goes round, and it lands on… A random tweet!!

https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1155909851148685312

A conspiracy theorist who hates conspiracy theories? What's next? A donut store owner who hates donuts? Spin it again! Walls! Remember the good old days when Trump said that Mexico was going to pay for the wall?

Now that last clip may be a bit misleading. Nobody enjoys walls unless they have projected images of your poorly recorded Youtube cell phone clips of Metallica playing Enter Sandman on them. And even then the image quality is pretty shaky. But guess what? Mexico may no longer be paying for the wall. But guess who is? That’s right – the United States military!

The Supreme Court on Friday gave President Trump a victory in his fight for a wall along the Mexican border by allowing the administration to begin using $2.5 billion in Pentagon money for the construction.

In a 5-to-4 ruling, the court overturned an appellate decision and said that the administration could tap the money while litigation over the matter proceeds. But that will most likely take many months or longer, allowing Mr. Trump to move ahead before the case returns to the Supreme Court after further proceedings in the appeals court.

While the order was only one paragraph long and unsigned, the Supreme Court said the groups challenging the administration did not appear to have a legal right to do so. That was an indication that the court’s conservative majority was likely to side with the administration in the end.

The court’s four more liberal justices dissented. One of them, Stephen G. Breyer, wrote that he would have allowed the administration to pursue preparatory work but not construction, which he said would be hard to undo if the administration ultimately lost the case.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/us/politics/supreme-court-border-wall-trump.html

That must be what Trump thinks a wall is going to do. I think he watches too many Wiley Coyote cartoons. Really in 2019 he should just give it up by now. We’ve been doing this Top 10 thing for almost 4 years now which may seem like an eternity. What I’m getting at – remember when Trump kept boasting on about “promises made, promises kept”? This is one promise that he isn’t keeping. Mexico isn’t paying for the wall, we are!

Environmental groups and House Democrats urged the Supreme Court not to disturb a lower court order blocking the reallocation of military funds for border wall projects.

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to put that ruling on hold while litigation continues July 12. Granting that request — called a stay — would give the government an irreversible victory, a coalition of environmentalists led by the Sierra Club warned.

“If a stay is granted and wall construction begins, there will be no turning back,” the green groups told the justices in court papers.

U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam barred the administration from using $2.5 billion in military funds for border wall construction. The trial court’s injunctions stalled border barrier construction projects in Arizona and New Mexico.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/there%E2%80%99s-full-fledged-fight-over-trumps-wall-going-supreme-court-68372

Now that’s more likely what will happen with the wall! Does Trump not realize that some of the more “undesirable people” that he trashes time and time again have access to our ports and airports and they are more likely to get into our country that way than through Mexico? But is this really a “VICTORY” for Trump? Maybe in the same way that the Mueller report “exonerates” him. Except that it really didn’t.

There were likely big celebrations at the White House Friday night as the Supreme Court gave the green light for the Trump administration to use $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds to build parts of the wall along the Mexican border. In a 5-4 ruling, the court’s conservative justices overturned a lower court decision and said the administration could begin using the money while the case proceeds.

Even though the ruling was only one paragraph long, the conservative justices hinted pretty clearly they would likely side with the administration in the future by saying that those challenging the White House use of the funds didn’t seem to have a right to do so. On the opposite end, three of the four more liberal justices on the court—Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan—said they would have blocked the funds for now. Justice Stephen Breyer, meanwhile, said he would have allowed preparatory work but not actual construction that would be difficult to undo if the White House lost the case further down the line.

The decision overturns a lower court decision that said the funds could not be transferred out of the Pentagon while the legal challenges were ongoing. The move marks a turning point for a case that really originated after dispute over wall funding led to the longest partial government shutdown in history. The shutdown ended in February when Congress agreed to give the administration $1.4 billion in wall funding, which was far less than the $5.7 billion the White House was seeking. Trump then declared a national emergency that would allow him to use money from other parts of the government. That’s when the ACLU sued on behalf of two advocacy groups, the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition, to stop the use of the funds.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/supreme-court-pentagon-cash-border-wall-trump.html

Does the party that claims to support the troops and the USA as much as they do not realize that they just greatly fucked over the military by doing this? Sorry folks, we’re $2.5 billion short, we can’t afford the body armor or necessary equipment needed to stay alive. You’re on your own. So what does the military think of this? Well…

Announcing a new two-year budget deal, President Trump noted that “real compromise” was necessary to “give another big victory to our Great Military.” A day later, the president claimed the U.S. armed forces were “almost totally rebuilt from the depleted military I took over.” Unfortunately, that’s not true. While the deal avoids a worst-case scenario for the Pentagon—$71 billion in immediate, mandatory cuts under the 2011 Budget Control Act—it still does not adequately fund the Defense Department’s 2018 National Defense Strategy. History will remember the Trump administration’s defense policy for helping to repair military readiness, but not for rebuilding and modernizing the military as President Reagan did.

The White House’s 2017 National Security Strategy directs the U.S. military to regain its edge against China and Russia, even as it continues to deter Iran and North Korea and keep jihadist terrorists at bay. In total, the strategy demands a robust military posture in three major theaters: Europe, East Asia and the Middle East. But the proposed budget, even with the repeal of the Budget Control Act through 2021, falls short of the funding the military needs to carry out the strategy with confidence.

Consider the chasm between the current U.S. military and the stated requirements for force structure, readiness and modernization, all of which were validated by the independent, bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/budget-deal-is-no-win-for-the-military-11564337478

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[font size="8"]Boris Johnson

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Let’s hit the spin cycle! Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP!!! And it lands on… Oh hey it’s a clip without context!

Wait until you see what Tom Morello really thinks about Trump and Qanon! Seriously, STFU. Spin it again! Elections! Folks, for this story we’re going to head across the pond to our good friends in England. Of course you know by now that England has elected Trump’s *LITERAL* doppleganger Boris Johnson as their new prime minister which follows the exact same pattern set by Russia’s James Bond villain Vladimir Putin – rise in hate, rise in white supremacy and neo Nazism, increased violence… yup, it’s a shit show. So how bad is it in England right now?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s first appearance in Scotland as Britain’s new leader seemed to be going just fine on Monday when he spoke from behind the perimeter fence of a top security naval base.

But when he braved the streets of Edinburgh to meet with Scotland’s first minister at her residence, a crowd met him with a chorus of jeers and boos.

He left by the back door.

If Mr. Johnson’s bumbling, upper-class persona goes down well in many parts of England, it tends to have the opposite effect in Scotland.

After all, in Mr. Johnson’s rush to leave the European Union — he has vowed a Brexit, deal or no deal, by Oct. 31 — he has been accused of jeopardizing the much older union that he leads: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Even before his trip to Edinburgh, his adversaries warned that he could become the last prime minister of the United Kingdom.

Nowhere have the warnings been more loudly heard than in Scotland, where a majority rejected leaving the European Union in 2016; where a movement for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom goes back decades; and where the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has called for a new referendum on leaving the United Kingdom, and is waiting to see whether Brexit brings that objective closer.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/world/europe/boris-johnson-scotland-brexit.html

You know what the biggest difference between Trump and Johnson is? They may look the same, but Johnson at least recognizes that he’s a bumbling buffoon! And that makes him scarier than Trump any day of the week, because Trump, 3 ½ years into this nightmare, still does not even come close to recognizing that!

The prime minister has said it is "up to the EU, this is their call" if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Boris Johnson made his first visit to Wales as PM on Tuesday, seeking support from farmers for his Brexit plans.

He held talks with Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford, who said there was a "deeply concerning lack of detail" from the new prime minister.

Mr Johnson said: "We're not aiming for a no-deal Brexit, we don't think that's where we'll end up."

"This is very much up to our friends and partners across the channel," he added.

A Welsh farmer called on Mr Johnson to stop "playing Russian roulette" with the lamb industry over the threat of a no-deal Brexit.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-49151870

So Brexit, 3 years in continues to be the shit show that everyone knows it is. And now that Theresa May is gone and Boris Johnson is in, it’s gonna get a whole lot worse. Really, at this point you’re probably better off just saying “fuck it” and getting out as fast as possible. But we all know there was no goal with this thing, the only thing was chaos and disorder.

For much of the past two and a half years, the U.K. has had the luxury of negotiating the terms of its departure from the European Union under little pressure from the financial markets. The new prime minister Boris Johnson could soon come to pine for those calmer days.

On Monday sterling fell by more than 1.3% to $1.22, hitting its lowest point against the dollar since March 2017. It resumed its slide on Tuesday and is heading for its worst slump in almost three years. Johnson has made it clear that Britain will quit the EU at the end of October even if this means leaving without a negotiated agreement. He has also stepped up preparations for a “no-deal Brexit” to try to convince Brussels that Britain is not bluffing about its willingness to accept such a fate. Investors are letting “BoJo” know what they think of his plan.

This isn’t the first time markets have moved violently because of Brexit. In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 referendum, the pound lost more than 10% against the dollar. Sterling slid again in the autumn of that year when the former prime minister, Theresa May, signaled that she wouldn’t wait long before starting the withdrawal process. But it stabilized subsequently when markets were reassured that her government and parliament were looking for an orderly withdrawal. In April of 2018, the pound briefly touched the dizzying heights of $1.434 (only 3.6% lower than before the referendum).
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-30/boris-johnson-s-biggest-brexit-battle-is-the-plunging-pound

Well, calling Brexit a bomb is well, an insult to bombs. Really, we are heading for a world where all governments will be at war and fighting each other over petty bullshit. Like Brexit. We are electing bumbling leaders. People are getting to where they hate each other. And now we have not one but two Trumps in the world. They are multiplying! And that’s not a good thing!

It was just after 8:30 p.m., and Boris Johnson was with a group of about 20 politicians and donors at a private dinner in central London. At the time—June 6, 2018—Britain was mired in what seemed like an unending Brexit deadlock, and Johnson, then the country’s foreign secretary, was unhappy with the way Prime Minister Theresa May was handling it.

Away from the public glare, among friends and allies, he let his real feelings spill out.

“Imagine Donald Trump doing Brexit,” Johnson said, according to an audio recording published by BuzzFeed News the following day. “He’d go in bloody hard. There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he’d gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere.”

Implicit in Johnson’s assessment was a damning verdict on May’s cautious handling of the negotiations to take Britain out of the European Union. Yet a year on, having now unseated May as prime minister, Johnson’s comments may also have been crucial in cementing his place in the U.S. president’s mind as a brother-in-arms across the Atlantic. That in 2015, as London mayor, Johnson publicly criticized Trump as “out of his mind” and “unfit to hold the office of president of the United States” appears to have mattered little. To Trump, the leaked private praise is what has stuck—the surest path to Trump’s affection being arrant flattery. The American leader has more recently rewarded Johnson with rare praise for a British politician, calling him “tough” and “smart,” and the pair, in their first conversation since Johnson became prime minister, have extolled the possibilities of bolstering economic ties.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/boris-johnson-needs-trump-does-trump-need-him-back/595006/

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[font size="8"]Bill Barr
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Let’s spin it again! And it lands on… sweet, I win 10,000. Of something. I still don’t know what that 10,000 could be. It’s not money because I would be saying “see you later”. All right, spin it again! and it lands on… DEATH!!! DUN DUN DUN!!!! Yes we got to talk about the death penalty for this one because there’s some things that should be just left to the dust bin of history. And the death penalty is one of those things. In most countries it’s a human rights violation and it’s considered to be a cruel and unusual punishment measure. But not in Trump’s America. Nope, they’re bringing it back. Just like that rats’ nest that you fished out of your basement, they’re coming back for a second helping. Because we’re not infected enough already as it is. So what is happening?

Why should we be concerned about U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr's proposal last week to resume federal executions for some particularly horrendous crimes? Because there's no reason to believe that the flaws that originally cast doubt on capital punishment have become less of an issue.

In his announcement of resumed executions, Barr focuses on "bringing justice to victims of the most horrific crimes." He wants to begin with prisoners "convicted of murdering, and in some cases torturing and raping, the most vulnerable in our society—children and the elderly."

There's no doubt that we're discussing horrific acts. But can we be sure that we've arrested, tried, and convicted the actual perpetrators?

The proportion of death row inmates executed to those set free isn't exactly encouraging. Since 1972, 1,500 people have been executed in the United States. Over that same time, "166 former death-row prisoners have been exonerated of all charges and set free," according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
https://reason.com/2019/07/30/if-bill-barr-brings-back-federal-executions-innocent-people-will-die/

Hopefully we won’t be seeing the appearance of the electric chair anytime soon. So why is the Trump administration so eager to bring back executions? Well he is most likely getting advice from his buddies Putin and Duterte – who have killed, jailed and executed their political opponents. Could that happen in the US? Well, we at least have safeguards on that sort of thing. And don’t tell Trump that because we really don’t want to give him any more ideas!

The cruelty is the point. That’s both the defining phrase of Donald Trump’s presidency and the title of arguably the defining essay about our 30-month-and-counting national nightmare, written by the Atlantic’s Adam Serwer. His piece last October made clear the silliness of wondering why Trump’s government doesn’t do things like build more humane facilities for immigrants detained on the border — because the pictures of “human dog pounds” are in fact the goal and the basis of his political appeal, a viciousness toward The Other that erupts at his rallies in chants like “Send her back!”

“Taking joy in that suffering is more human than most would like to admit,” Serwer wrote. “Somewhere on the wide spectrum between adolescent teasing and the smiling white men in the lynching photographs [from the late 1800s and early 1900s] are the Trump supporters whose community is built by rejoicing in the anguish of those they see as unlike them, who have found in their shared cruelty an answer to the loneliness and atomization of modern life.”

The cruelty is the point is also the first thought that popped in my head Friday when I saw the news flash that Attorney General William Barr — increasingly known as “Trump’s Roy Cohn” in his willingness to ruthlessly do his president’s bidding — had seemingly out-of-the-blue decided to bring back executions of death-sentenced federal prisoners. My second thought was: What took the American Caligula so long to bring back the spectacle of executions to electrify the masses (but not the prisoners ... they’d be lethally injected) and juice his 2020 re-election campaign? Indeed, the five executions are scheduled around the Christmas holiday, presumably to remind us of its pagan roots.
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/willian-barr-restores-federal-death-penalty-trump-cruelty-injustice-20190728.html

Now that is cruel! And cruelty is the name of the game. It doesn’t get much crueler than a lot of the methods currently used for executions in this country. Getting executed in America – a country that embraces deregulated capitalism – is fucking horrifying. Even the Catholics – who traditionally lauded this sort of corporal punishment – are against bringing it back.

Washington D.C., Jul 30, 2019 / 10:15 am (CNA).- Catholic leaders have condemned the federal government’s announcement last week that it will resume of executions after an almost two decade-long hiatus.

“I am deeply concerned by the announcement of the United States Justice Department that it will once again turn, after many years, to the death penalty as a form of punishment,” said Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, chair of the U.S. bishops’ domestic justice and human development committee, in a statement released July 30.

Attorney General William Barr on July 25 announced that executions of federal death-row inmates would resume for the first time since 2003, with five executions scheduled for December 2019 and January 2020.

“Under Administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals, including these five murderers, each of whom was convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding,” said Barr, who is a practicing Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/bishops-lament-return-of-federal-executions-37823

Yeah I’m not sure that if I were on death row I’d want Chief Wiggum conducting my execution. And I’m not sure that I would want Trump or Barr conducting it either. And if you think that’s bad, wait until you see who he plans to execute. Really it can’t get much more horrifying than this. Although in all honesty, child killers definitely deserve it.

No one on federal death row has been executed since 2003, but on Thursday, William P. Barr, the attorney general, announced that the government was resuming executions, starting with five men convicted of killing children.

The men, whose ages range from 37 to 67, have each been convicted of heinous crimes, and together have been involved in the slayings of 13 victims. The cases fell under federal jurisdiction because of how or where they were carried out.

[Mr. Barr’s decision runs counter to a broad national shift away from the death penalty as public support for it has dwindled.]

All five are being held at a high-security federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., where their executions are set for December and January. More executions will be scheduled, the Justice Department said in a statement. There are 62 people who are facing death sentences, according to the Bureau of Prisons, including the five whose execution dates were announced Thursday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/us/capital-punishment-death-penalty.html

[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin shall we? And it lands on… Donald Trump!!

Yes, just like the wall, Trump has made tons of tasteless comments about 9/11. Spin it again! And it lands on… oh hey, Trump again!! Well it is a wheel, it does have a finite number of items on it. But really that last clip was important because we have to talk about where our current president, Donald J. Trump, really was on 9/11. Because Trump as we have come to know on this program, lies all the time, and there isn’t a second of the day where he doesn’t brag about something that he did. And since he signed into law the 9/11 first responders bill, he’s turned around and made 9/11 all about himself.

Donald Trump’s rhetoric about 9/11 has always been … how do I put this gently … problematic. The day of the attacks, for example, the future president seemed principally focused on how the destruction of the Twin Towers affected his ability to boast about the height of one of his nearby properties.

As a candidate in 2016, Trump frequently referenced the 9/11 attacks, though as the Washington Post reported at the time, “[S]everal of Trump’s statements about what he witnessed that day appear to be greatly exaggerated or false.”

That includes an incident in which the New York Republican claimed he helped clear rubble and search for survivors in the aftermath of the terrorism, and another incident in which he falsely said he watched people jump from the World Trade Center.

As a rule, lying about 9/11 is the sort of thing that can cause trouble for a politician, though Trump ended up winning anyway.

All of this became relevant anew this morning, when Trump hosted a signing ceremony for a bill on the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, which recently passed the House and Senate, despite modest and inconsequential Republican opposition. The president was never especially invested in the fate of the legislation, but he did agree to sign it, which is great news for the affected first responders and their families.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-makes-dubious-claim-again-about-his-911-efforts

Yeah I’m pretty sure that the 9/11 first responders would love to tell you where you can stick that thumb, and it ain’t pretty. So remember a couple of weeks ago when we asked about how the 9/11 first responders bill was still a thing? Well it turns out that Trump wasn’t exactly a fan. In fact he used the same logic that current Biggest Douche In The Universe Rand Paul does – wasteful government spending.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed legislation to help 9/11 first-responders and the families of ones who died from health complications, even though the New Yorker and his administration never publicly got behind the bill.

Aides contend the president chose to push for “yea” votes behind the scenes.

Trump, a Queens native who set up shop in Manhattan as an adult and real estate executive, weighs in on a range of issues, whether in person or on Twitter. Sometimes he inserts himself into Capitol Hill debates and legislative efforts, making things difficult for lawmakers trying to pass bills.

But as former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart grabbed headlines and cable news time for his advocacy of the legislation on Capitol Hill, Trump opted against getting publicly involved — even with $10.2 billion in aid over a decade on the line.
https://www.rollcall.com/news/whitehouse/trump-native-new-yorker-never-publicly-got-behind-911-responders-bill

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! So Trump goes there, and he’s only doing this to stick it to us, because that’s all they’re good for. And not only is he making this outrageous claim about where he was on 9/11, he’s doubling down on his stupidity!

Donald Trump bloody loves New York. He loves it! Remember that video of the presidential Trumpcopter heading toward the Big Apple to the strains of 'New York, New York'? He loves New York so flaming much.

Now he's had the chance to tell some of New York's most revered citizens how much he gets them. Thanks in large part to the advocacy of former The Daily Show host and general good egg Jon Stewart, the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund was extended by Trump at the weekend, meaning the people who were first on the scene to help attempt to find survivors.

"I was down there also, but I'm not considering myself a first responder," Trump told the actual first responders gathered at the White House for the ceremonial signing. "But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you."

Very big of you, pal. Is that... true though? It's extremely hard to get any confirmation that Trump went down to Ground Zero and "spent a lot of time down there" with the first responders who were actually clearing the rubble, which is what he seems to be implying here.
https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-news/a28549069/donald-trump-claims-again-that-he-was-with-first-responders-on-911/

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Door Dash Tipping
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Now entering the spin cycle! And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop!!! And it lands on… intermission!

OK we’re back! Spin it again! Oh hey it’s time for Top 10 Investigates!

It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 Investigates!

Delivery services like Doordash, Postmates, and Uber Eats are becoming increasingly more popular due to the fact that they offer quick and easy service and you don’t have to leave the house. But before you hit that “order” button, there’s things you should know about your favorite meal delivery service. The main thing being that companies like Door Dash are coming under increased scrutiny for how they handle things like wages and tips. But it’s also shedding some light as to how delivery services and delivery drivers are being treated in this country. Here’s more.

You have to feel sorry for Tony Xu, CEO of DoorDash. The food delivery company has been a darling of the VC world, but it encountered a backlash after a New York Times story described how the company keeps most of the tips customers intended for its delivery workers.

Outrage was heaped upon DoorDash, with lawmakers calling for investigations and new regulations. Finding himself at the center of a media and social media storm, Xu did the sensible thing and announced via Twitter that DoorDash would change its policy and give deliverers 100 percent of their tips.

Hooray, you might say, and many have. But you'd be wrong. All the righteous ire about DoorDash keeping tips ignores the broader truth that the way service people are paid in our society is deeply unfair. DoorDash was simply making an honest, and possibly effective, attempt to compensate for it.

Workers who deliver takeout by bicycle or car for companies like DoorDash or Postmates or Grubhub generally don't earn much. Neither the minimum wage nor the lower tipped minimum wage applies to them because they're independent contractors rather than employees. That means these companies are free to set pay for deliveries as low as they like, the only limitation being people's unwillingness to work for an amount that's too low. Indeed, as more people signed up to deliver and the pool of available workers grew, these companies--under pressure to become profitable--have cut back on what they pay deliverers.
https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/doordash-tipping-tip-scandal-guaranteed-minimum-tony-xu.html

So thanks to our country’s reckless policies on wages and tips, companies like Door Dash are stuck on what to do as far as paying their drivers. And this is proving to be a challenge as their model is not based on hourly wages. But is it necessarily the problem of Door Dash themselves? Or is it the problem of a far more reaching problem>

DoorDash dominated more of the news cycle than it should have this week, after an NYT article brought broad awareness to its idiosyncratic policy on tips. The company would give its "dashers" a guaranteed minimum fee for delivering food; that minimum included any tips. The result was that most tips ended up going to DoorDash rather than to the delivery workers.

Driving the news: After defending the policy as recently as last month, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu backtracked on Tuesday, tweeting, "Going forward, we’re changing our model - the new model will ensure that Dashers’ earnings will increase by the exact amount a customer tips on every order."

The big picture: Americans encounter disaggregated prices every day. Retailers operate under a convention that prices exclude sales tax, so it's never entirely clear how much something is going to cost in total.

The implicit convention is that disaggregated prices reflect real-world allocations. Sales taxes go to the government; tips go to servers. The DoorDash backlash came because it violated that convention and effectively kept customers' tips for itself.
Ticketmaster catches flack for similar reasons. The various fees it tacks on seem fake, designed primarily to hide just how much tickets really cost.
Buying a car from a dealership is an experience fraught with countless fees and taxes, all of which inflate the total cost of the vehicle far above its headline price.
https://www.axios.com/doordash-price-opacity-68ce0afd-7cef-41a7-a984-58858757ed2f.html

So car dealers, ticket brokers, and other agencies do the same thing as Door Dash, Uber Eats, and Postmates. How do they get away with it? Well transparent pricing has been a tricky subject since the dawn of e-commerce and commerce in general. Yes, that is a really big broad brush that we are painting here. So just how bad is your favorite delivery driver getting screwed out of the deal?

Food delivery companies are under increased scrutiny over how some worker tips contribute to their base pay. Now some are backtracking on their controversial policies.

DoorDash is the latest service to revisit its tipping policies following a New York Times report that put the issue once again in the spotlight. A reporter spent time as a delivery person and showed how customer tips contribute to worker pay, a policy in place since 2017.

In response to the article’s backlash, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu tweeted that the policy would change going forward and Dashers’ earnings would increase by the exact amount a customer tips.

“We thought we were doing the right thing by making Dashers whole when a customer left no tip. What we missed was that some customers who did tip would feel like their tip did not matter,” he tweeted.

The debate over the role tips play in a person’s income isn’t new but has been amplified by the gig economy, which is under increasing criticism for its treatment of workers, and how well they are paid. Food delivery companies also face pressure to keep costs low as they seek to go public or become profitable. For businesses desperate to improve their finances, tips are an enticing pot of money.
https://fox6now.com/2019/07/29/tipping-your-food-delivery-person-may-actually-be-helping-a-big-company/

Well, we need less George Costanzas in the world and we need more people to pay their tips to their drivers. And how exactly is Door Dash taking this? It’s not exactly taking this how one would call “seriously”. And by seriously, we mean fat chance. In fact wage theft is not only common place in companies like that, it’s a common theme throughout the food industry.

Food delivery app DoorDash has, for months, doubled down on its policy of systematically skimming customer tips meant for its fleet of contract delivery workers. That resolve cracked on Tuesday night when CEO Tony Xu took to Twitter to announce some unspecified changes to its compensation model.

Here’s how it worked. DoorDash offers its delivery drivers a guaranteed payout for each order, upfront—a flat $1 per order plus additional compensation calculated by some kind of malign algorithm. So if a driver is told they’ll make $8 upfront for an order, they’ll always receive at least $8. But if the customer receiving that order gave the driver a $4 tip, DoorDash would treat it as a credit towards the originally guaranteed $8, meaning the driver would still only get $8. The only circumstance in which a customer’s tip would actually go to the driver is if it was very generous.

In other words, DoorDash customers were essentially conned into tipping DoorDash, not the driver. This is vaguely similar to the tipped model for many restaurant employees across the country who have tips applied towards a portion of their minimum wage standard, except abstracted through an app and imposed on a contract workforce with few labor protections. Most restaurants also didn’t have an estimated valuation of $7.1 billion in February 2019.
https://gizmodo.com/doordash-says-it-s-very-sorry-you-noticed-its-tip-skimm-1836652047

That’s it for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Let’s spin it to win it!!! Oh hey look it’s a clip without context!

Really? The most racist senator in the world switched parties and somehow became less racist? Shut up. And look at that suit - is he peddling conspiracy theories or auditioning to be in a barber shop quartet? Thank you! Spin it again! Oh hey it’s time for Holy Shit!

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

My fair congregation!!! Today we are going to answer a question that is as old as time itself – is it OK to monetize the good LAWRD JAYSUS? And by monetize, I mean merchandise! Yes, that is where the real money is made. It’s all about the merchandise and the bling bling! Well, our brother Kanye is looking to make some money off his recent venture into religion. And what would JAYSUS say about that? well, JAYSUS merchandises himself that’s what! I mean he is the world’s greatest salesman! People say that Kanye West is the greatest hip hop musician of all time. So why is Kanye trying to be among the godliest among us? Well, he is friends with the unholy Dark One, who claims to be a man of GAWD, so why not?

Kanye West is taking the fashion industry to church.

On July 19, West reportedly applied to trademark the phrase “Sunday Service,” a reference to his series of invite-only, sermon-like concerts. The application was filed by Mascotte Holdings, Inc., the rapper’s intellectual property holding company. Should his application be approved, he will be able to produce Sunday Service bottoms, tops, dresses, headwear, footwear, jackets, loungewear, scarves, shirts, and socks.

Beginning on the first Sunday in January, West’s church-inspired gospel performances, called Sunday Service, have garnered media attention for their spectacle and religious ambiguity. In an April appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Kardashian sisters awkwardly stumbled through questions about Kanye’s Sunday Service. Kim rebuffed Kimmel’s description of the experience as church, explaining, “We didn’t really have a name for it because it is more of a healing experience.”

Khloe expanded on the difference between a house of God and the House of West. “We have so many friends that maybe feel a little too judgmental when they go to church,” she said. “When they come here, they feel so free and safe.” According to Kim, there is no praying, though Kourtney definitively clarified, “It is Christian.” With a smirk, she added, “They sing ‘Jesus Walks,’” referring to West’s 2004 hit song endorsing Christianity.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kanye-west-wants-to-hawk-church-clothes-to-the-masses-is-he-exploiting-religion-for-profit

Why yes, yes it does good sir!!! So what we’re asking this week – is it OK to make a profit off the Almighty LAWRD? Well, we do. I mean you bought tickets to our low-rent dog and pony Sunday service! Sure, we don’t have the budget that Kanye does or do we have his influence. But we do have the good LAWRD JAYSUS on our side! So why is Hollywood getting into the JAYSUS game? Because, hipster churches, that’s why!

This week, thousands of teenagers and twentysomethings mustered excitedly about London’s O2 Arena eagerly anticipating the evening’s entertainment. Sporting tattoos and scantily dressed in the summer heat, they might have been queuing for any pop concert. Instead, it was to meet an evangelical church pastor.

Inside the arena, a packed audience, nearly 15,000-strong, cheered breakdancers, rap artists and rock guitarists all espousing the worship of God. And then, at the moment of maximum rhapsody, out strode Hillsong’s lead pastor and founder Brian Houston, wearing a red checkered blazer and declaring: “Jesus, what a beautiful sight…”

As the 65-year-old Australian preached, those in the exultant crowd closed their eyes and raised their arms to the lights. One teenage boy in a tracksuit opposite me wiped a tear away from his cheek.
Brian Houston, the founder and lead pastor of the Hillsong movement
Brian Houston, the founder and lead pastor of the Hillsong movement Credit: Jeff Gilbert

Chances are you may not have heard of Hillsong, an evangelical movement founded by Brian and his wife, Bobbie Houston, in Sydney in 1983. Now spanning more than 15 countries, its mega-churches are the centre of the fastest-growing religious movement in the world: Pentecostalism, which boasts more than 500m adherents.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/inside-hillsong-hollywoods-evangelical-megachurch-taking-london/

Well I feel like Kanye does have that kind of power, bro! It’s about information, and JAYSUS. But hey maybe that’s how we get more viewers for the Holy Church Of The Top 10. Let’s get rappers and skateboarders here and have a charismatic con artist play the preacher. Well I do sort of play that part already! But so… is Kanye trying to sell a show based on his Sunday sermon or not? I’m not gonna lie, kind of want to see this thing.

Kim Kardashian has responded to claims that Kanye West is trying to ‘sell’ his Sunday Service as a TV show and it looks like it won’t be coming to screens any time soon. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star has been keeping fans in the loop with Kanye’s church services most Sundays since earlier this year, with more celebrities attending each week.

The Gold Digger rapper even managed to perform at this year’s Coachella on an actual mountaintop. A source recently claimed that Kanye had been pitching Sunday Service as a TV series but Kim says there are currently no plans to broadcast. Responding to the reports in a tweet, Kim simply stated: ‘Not true.’ Radar Online had previously said that Kanye was ‘extremely passionate about his faith’ and wanted to ‘share it more regularly with people’.

‘Say what you want about Kanye, but he really does want to help people who need support.’ They added: ‘He understands brokenness and the need for healing, probably more than most people. ‘He believes in the healing powers of music, but also believes that God can step in and heal people’s brokenness and their issues.’

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/04/kim-kardashian-responds-claims-kanye-west-trying-sell-sunday-service-tv-show-10114115/?ito=cbshare

You know if there’s one thing a good televangelist understands, it’s not that they want to help people, because televangelists don’t do that. You know what a good televangelist understands? He understands the power of the almighty dollar! Can I get an amen??? And there’s no one better for that than Kanye is, because he understands the power of the almighty dollar! After all, he is married to Kim Kardashian! And here’s where the money making side comes in!

The 'Bound 2' rapper is keen to launch his own religious organisation based on his weekly concerts, which he calls Sunday Service, and has reportedly bought a plot of land near his home in Los Angeles so that he can build "pods" for his followers to stay in for a "few weeks at a time" while they focus on his new modern faith.

A source told The Sun newspaper: "Kanye wants to develop a Church which introduces a new way to celebrate faith, bringing religion into the 21st century.

"His faith is massively important to him and he thinks this is the way to engage young people. He thinks it will surpass Hillsong, which has churches in 21 countries and is hugely popular in Los Angeles with the likes of Justin Bieber.

"He wants to build temporary habitable pods where followers of his church can live for a few weeks at a time. They are insanely intricate and expensive but it would give ease of access for his Sunday Service."

And the 42-year-old star's new idea will no doubt go down well with his wife Kim Kardashian West as she recently praised his weekly service and said the musical gathering is intended to be healing for the participants, rather than "preaching."
http://www.music-news.com/news/UK/123063/Kanye-West-to-set-up-his-own-church

There it is folks, modern church isn’t about money making it’s about the almighty dollar! And Kanye is a better kind of preacher! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Is It Racist?
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Let’s spin the wheel and see where it lands shall we? Wheel goes round, wheel goes round, wheel goes round! And it lands on... CHANCE!!!

What? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Crap, I have to give this next entry from a jail cell. Spin it again!!! Racism! Hey everyone it’s time to play the new game that’s sweeping the nation!

Yes, is it racist? Well, probably. There’s lots of talk of racism in the last few weeks, especially coming from that filthy mouth of the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump. Well, we’re not going to cover *HIS* racism since we already covered that. Instead, we’re going to cover racism that is either directly inspired by him or is a product of him. I want to start with this story out of North Carolina where a woman went and said some extremely racist stuff in a crowded restaurant. And then not only that, doubled down on her racist statements. Yes, we’re calling her a racist because she is a racist.

A North Carolina woman says she is not sorry for using the n-word in a confrontation with two black restaurant customers that went viral.

“I would say it again,” Nancy Goodman tells WRAL. Goodman, a 71-year-old white woman, claims her “tremendous anxiety” propelled her actions toward the other patrons, Chanda Stewart and Lakesha Shaw, at a Bonefish Grill in Raleigh on Tuesday night.

The two women say Goodman called them rude and said they were being too loud. Stewart, annoyed by the remarks, began recording Goodman on her cellphone while recounting the situation. She later posted the video on her Facebook page, where it has now accrued more than 200,000 views.

“We’re paying for our food just like everybody else, and she told us we are the rudest people,” Stewart says in the video.

Goodman is seen waving and smiling to the camera. She then pulls out her own phone and makes her way toward the women again.
https://time.com/5636192/north-carolina-woman-racial-slur-bonefish-grill/

Hey look, we get rude people in a restaurant, nobody likes that, but when you start calling someone racist slurs, you’re the asshole! Thank you! But here’s the worst part of this whole incident – she’s doubling down on the whole thing! Seriously, what is wrong with people right now? It’s absolutely insane. And really fuck these people.

A white woman who berated two black women at a North Carolina restaurant with a racial slur said she is not sorry and that she would say it again.

Nancy Goodman was caught on video directing the N-word at the women during a confrontation at a Bonefish Grill in North Hills, North Carolina, after Goodman accused them of being too loud. Goodman told NBC-affiliate WRAL Wednesday that she should have handled the situation differently, but that she wasn't sorry.

"I’m not going to say I’m sorry to them because they kept pushing at it," Goodman said. "I would say it again to them. They are the rudest individuals I have ever seen."

The two women, Chanda Stewart and Lakesha Shaw, said they were enjoying their dinner when Goodman called them rude and complained that they were being too loud. Stewart posted a video of the confrontation on Facebook, where Goodman notices that she was being recorded and smiles widely before approaching the table to tell them they were loud.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/white-woman-caught-video-calling-black-women-n-word-said-n1034746

Gee, you’re just now coming to that conclusion? Seriously, America has always been racist. The only difference is that for the first 241 years, America has kept its’ racism hidden. That includes the god damn Civil War that was fought over racism. Now since 2017, we have a big fat billionaire who is a very openly racist president! And guess what? Our racism is infecting other countries too. Let’s check in with our neighbors to the north for this story.

Through tears streaming down her face and her voice breaking, Carol Pickering says the racial discrimination she encountered at CFB Halifax and 12 Wing Shearwater "really almost did me in."

Carol Pickering's career as a storesperson with the Department of National Defence ended much sooner than she expected.

Pickering, who is black, claims persistent racism she suffered in the workplace over a three-year period forced her to walk away from DND in 2014 after a 31-year career.

"The worst thing that ever happened to me (at DND) was receiving a letter from the major threatening my job, threatening my livelihood," Pickering said in an interview. "That was terrible.

"And it was Friday afternoon and it was four scanned pages of how I had to change my conduct and I had to, that I had to ... I had to be better. I had to assimilate is what it felt like to me."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/racism-dnd-halifax-shearwater-black-civilian-employees-1.5226303

Seriously, put down the crack pipe man! That was extremely racist! And if this was extremely racist, check out these racist products! And here’s the thing if you’re shopping for dolls in the one dollar zone, maybe don’t be surprised that you will find something racist. But then again, you’re shopping at a store that’s literally called One Dollar Zone. They say these dolls are meant to “chill you out” but… eh, we’ll let you be the judge!

The dolls say they're meant to help you chill out.

Instead, the black rag doll that implores people to grab it firmly by the legs and "find a wall to slam" it against has enraged customers who call it racist.

Whether picked up by children or used by adults to de-stress, New Jersey state legislator Angela McKnight said, the "Feel Better Doll" has no place in any store.

McKnight visited a One Dollar Zone store in Bayonne and found the toy "offensive and disturbing on so many levels."

"It is clearly made in an inappropriate representation of a black person and instructs people to 'slam' and 'whack' her," McKnight wrote in a statement on Facebook. "Racism has no place in the world and I will not tolerate it, especially not in this district."

The dolls are made of black fabric and feature yarn hair of red, yellow, black and green and a white smile. McKnight said the instructions, which are stitched onto the doll's front, encourage violence.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/parenting/2019/07/28/black-feel-better-doll-meant-slammed-against-walls-pulled-racist/1853102001/

[font size="8"]NO!!!!!!!!!!
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I’m out!!! Let’s spin it to win it!!!! And the wheel lands on… oh hey look it’s a clip without context!

Oh come on, now you guys are calling Mr. Rodgers a pedophile? Seriously, I think even Jesus has given up at this point. Spin it again! And it lands on… NO!

Look, I’m not saying that just because Jeffrey Epstein got “suicided” while he was in jail does not mean that we need a Clinton conspiracy theory about everything! Yeah, so the next time America’s collective creepy uncles tweet that shit out, we need to tell them, “NO!!!!”. And seriously, it wasn’t cute or funny the first time, what makes you think we’re going to enjoy it the 10,000th time? At this point, everyone else is disgusted and creeped out. And conservatives wonder why their shit doesn’t get posted to the top of social media sites and search engines. We’ve heard it already!! You are not bringing anything new to the table!

On Wednesday night, NBC News reported that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who is currently awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy, was found injured and semi-conscious in his cell with two abrasions on his neck. While initial details were sketchy, sources at Metropolitan Correctional Center, the prison where Epstein was being held, suggested to NBC News that the injury was possibly the result of a failed suicide attempt, though investigators have not yet ruled out that another inmate may have assaulted him.

Yet on social media, one explanation alone dominated the conversation: the Clintons did it. On Thursday morning, #ClintonBodyCount was one of the top trending topics on Twitter, with many speculating that Epstein’s injuries were the result of an attempt on his life that was orchestrated by his former friends. A list circulating on social media of supposed Clinton “victims,” or people who had purportedly had some connection to Bill and/or Hillary Clinton who had died by suicide. A Daily Beast story published that morning reporting that Epstein had visited the White House a number of times in the early 1990s only added fuel to the fire.

Another rumor that spread on Twitter focused on former Westchester County police officer Nicholas Tartaglione, another MCC inmate convicted of having killed four men involved in a drug trafficking ring, who reportedly was brought in for questioning regarding Epstein’s injuries. According to the Rockland/Westchester Journal News, Tartaglione was found with a contraband mobile phone in his cell, leading many armchair sleuths to speculate as to why he had a phone and whether he had any involvement with the incident resulting in Epstein’s injuries; yet Tartaglione’s cell phone was discovered by guards on July 3rd, not on July 23rd, as many on social media have claimed. (Through his attorney, Tartaglione has denied any involvement.)
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/jeffrey-epstein-clinton-conspiracy-theories-twitter-863446/

Shut up!!!! Hey conspiracy theorists, not everything is a conspiracy OK? Let me spell this one out for you – Jeffrey Epstein is an alleged child molester. In prison. And if you’ve seen any movies or TV shows, you know that the rats get treated better than child molesters do. At least the rats don’t deserve it. Yeah so now that we got that out of the way… if conservatives want sites to take them seriously, stop tweeting and posting bullshit!

Right-wing conspiracy theorists capitalized Thursday on overnight reports that accused pedophile and Manhattan financier Jeffrey Epstein had attempted to hang himself in jail, reigniting pernicious, false accusations that former President Bill Clinton and wife, one-time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have covered up dozens of murders made to look like suicides.

Tens of thousands of tweets emerged Thursday morning using the #ClintonBodyCount hashtag, both promoting and ridiculing a decades-old anti-Clinton conspiracy. Supporters of the theory seemed to link the Clintons to unconfirmed reports that Epstein had been found nearly unconscious inside his New York City jail cell, where he is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The reported suicide attempt came hours after The Daily Beast published a story Wednesday that explored financial ties between the politically and socially connected convicted sex offender and Bill Clinton.

Democrats and Clinton allies immediately condemned Twitter for allowing the "Clinton Body Count" conspiracy to trend and accused Russia-backed troll farms and automated bot accounts of leading the disinformation campaign, which came just one day after Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before two Congressional committees on his investigation into alleged 2016 Trump campaign collusion.

The "Clinton Body Count" conspiracy has its roots in rabid anti-Clinton 1990s letters and screeds from a now-deceased Republican Indianapolis attorney who railed against the Clinton administration's deadly 1993 Waco, Texas, siege of the Branch Davidian church that resulted in more than 75 deaths.
https://www.newsweek.com/clintonbodycount-conspiracy-re-emerges-after-epstein-suicide-attempt-report-claims-rooted-1990s-1451169

Dude, you’re still hanging onto shit from back in the Waco days? Look some fucked up shit went down in Waco but taking down a crazy cult leader was justified. Sure, they could have sent it over to Pedo Island, but you know, you can’t do everything. And you know you can talk all the shit you want about Trump Derangement Syndrome – which isnt a thing, but Clinton Derangement Syndrome is real and your conspiracy theorist loving uncle has a bad case of it!

The news that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was injured in his Manhattan jail cell has revived a decades-old conspiracy theory that baselessly links Hillary Clinton to a number of “suspicious” deaths.

Epstein, who is facing a possible 45 years if convicted on sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges, was reportedly found Wednesday semiconscious in his New York City jail cell with marks around his neck. Sources close to the investigation told NBC News that the injuries may have come from another inmate or been self-inflicted, and Epstein is now on suicide watch.

The news was sensational grist for conspiracy theorists and far-right pundits, who leapt to Twitter to suggest that Esptein’s injuries might somehow be linked to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The theory, known as the “Clinton Body Count,” was soon trending on Twitter, with the corresponding #ClintonBodyCount hashtag attached to more than 70,000 tweets by Thursday afternoon.

Big tech companies have been grappling with their part in the spread of conspiracy theories surrounding politicians, health information and mass violence. Facebook has balked at reigning in the theories spread in groups and on pages, citing a slippery slope of becoming arbiters of truth, while YouTube announced this year it would stop the spread of conspiracies on its platform by tweaking its algorithm to recommend less content that could misinform users.

Some users on Twitter criticized the platform for including the Clinton conspiracy hashtag in its Trending sidebar this morning when it only had a few hundred tweets, mostly from a well-known conspiracy news account.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/old-clinton-conspiracy-theory-finds-new-life-jeffrey-epstein-news-n1034741

And by the way if you think the Clinton Body Count hashtag was disturbing, wait until you see what Sean Hannity cooked up! Hey conservatives, this is why nobody takes you seriously! It’s because you say some ridiculously dumb shit. Yeah so fuck off with your conspiracy theories and angry mutterings and leave them to yourselves. If you want to be part of reality, maybe, I don’t know, turn the fucking TV off and unscrew your tin foil hat!

Before Sunday morning, the conspiracy theories collected under the hashtag #HillarysHealth were numerous.

According to Sean Hannity's "medical A-team," the Democratic nominee was wracked by seizures. According to Ted Noel, an anesthesiologist with no expertise in Parkinson's disease, Clinton had Parkinson's disease. According to Gateway Pundit and InfoWars, both sites linked regularly by The Drudge Report, Clinton was followed by a medical "mystery man" and might well have used a secret earpiece to get answers fed to her at the "Commander in chief" forum. The Drudge Report itself had promoted an Internet poll conducted by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons — a fringe group that questions whether HIV causes AIDS — as proof that doctors were coalescing around the theory of the candidate's declining health.

On those counts, Sunday was a debacle — a reversal of the story line that Clinton was concealing permanent neurological damage. For a few hours, Clinton's stagger toward the van that took her to her daughter's New York apartment was interpreted as proof that the worst conspiracy theories had been right — and just as importantly, that the media had covered them up.

"The most likely diagnosis — in my mind — an acute cardiac arrhythmia — either ventricular tachycardia — or more likely atrial fibrillation with a rapid ventricular response," wrote a reader to American Conservative columnist Rod Dreher.

"Sick Hillary's cough is caused by Parkinson's disease," wrote self-published author Mike Cernovich.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/12/body-doubles-secret-doctors-clinton-conspiracy-theories-blossom-after-pneumonia-diagnosis/?utm_term=.8f9518b9dbdb

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Let’s spin it to win it!!! Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP!!! No, a whammy!!!

Man I’m losing big this week. First I got to go to jail now this. Oh well, spin it again! Yeah I need a drink!!!

Of course you know that the idea behind this segment is that we don’t mix booze and politics but we do mix booze and just about everything else. But we do so responsibly! Do you get me alcohol commercials? Hey, I drink and I know things. That’s what I’m told anyway. But this next story gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “booze cruise”. Because what’s more fun than mixing drinks and cruising? So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about a fight on a cruise ship? Ha ha ha… Sailor Jerry’s? All right I’ll switch up my drink then and take a glass of Sailor Jerry’s. So here’s what happened on a cruise ship off the coast of England recently:

A mass brawl broke out on a British cruise ship Friday morning, leaving several people injured and others confined to their cabins for the rest of their journey, according to eyewitnesses who spoke to CNN affiliate ITV news.

The P&O cruise ship Britannia was on the final leg of a cruise to Norway's fjords from Southampton, in southeast England, when the fracas broke out, ITV reported.

ITV's "Good Morning Britain" correspondent Richard Gaisford was on board the ship when the fight broke out. In a series of messages on Twitter, he said that heavy amounts of alcohol contributed to violence that started on the 16th floor restaurant on Thursday, when a passenger appeared dressed as a clown.

The passenger's attire apparently upset some of the guests, Gaisford said.

"One witness, part of a group involved in the trouble, explained to staff that things kicked off when another passenger appeared dressed as a clown," Gaisford said.

"This upset one of their party because they'd specifically booked a cruise with no fancy dress. It led to a violent confrontation."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/28/uk/cruise-ship-brawl-uk-gbr-scli-intl/index.html

OK now who wouldn’t want to punch that clown? But if you start peeling back the layers on this, it turns out that there’s more to this story than you would lead on. And it’s certainly the most British story that’s come along in quite some time. So does this mean that the Joker is now hiding out on cruise ships? Well that could be a possibility.

Perhaps Batman should start monitoring the high seas for jokers with unverifiable stories.

Officials are disputing a report that a man in a clown costume was responsible for a chaotic restaurant brawl on a British cruise ship early Friday, in an incident that resulted in two arrests and at least six injuries. U.K. police say there is no evidence to support a viral Twitter thread that blamed a “clown” for the incident over the weekend.

The melee broke out after a long day of partying onboard the cruise ship Britannia, according to ITV reporter Richard Gaisford, who was on the boat at the time. Gaisford heard the commotion and rushed to the scene to interview people after it happened, he said on Twitter.

“Witnesses told me they were so frightened they had to hide, as family groups fought,” Gaisford tweeted on Saturday.

A witness told Gaisford that the fight erupted because a passenger crashed a black-tie party in a clown costume. Gaisford says the outfit upset the witnesses’ friend because “they’d specifically booked a cruise with no fancy dress . It led to a violent confrontation."
https://globalnews.ca/news/5697035/clown-cruise-ship-brawl/

And if you think *MY* excessive drinking is a problem wait until you see what happens on this ship, and look I get it. Nobody wants to put on a suit and tie. Or wear any kind of ridiculous formal attire, but is “fancy dress” really enough to start a fight and get arrested? Or was it the copious amounts of booze that you get with your $3000 cruise ship cabin?

Alcohol packages sold onboard cruise liners have been criticised following last weekend’s mass brawl onboard a P&O ship.

Many of the world’s biggest cruise lines offer generous drinks packages that allow customers to drink alcoholic beverages during a set period.

Carnival Cruise Line, which owns brands including P&O, Cunard and Holland America Line, allows customers to drink 15 alcoholic drinks – including wines, beers, cocktails and mixed drinks – over a 24-hour period, which starts at 6am. The Cheers! Package costs $49.95 (£41) per day.

P&O passengers can buy an “ultimate drinks package” for £39.95, which allows them to get 15 beers, wines by the glass, cocktails or single-measure spirits, over a 24-hour period.

All cruises by Marella, which is owned by Tui, are all-inclusive and include a selection of cocktails, beers and wines that are served between 10am and 2am. The cruise line has a responsible drinking policy that encourages guests to be sensible when consuming alcohol.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/cruise-ships-alcohol-packages-p-and-o-mass-brawl-a9027476.html

Yeah maybe we need less chugging on these cruises and more staying hydrated. Because only in this day and age could you start a fight, get the whole cruise ship involved and get mass arrests an d leave the cruise escorted by police. Which is really a waste of the Fuzz’s time since they probably have more important things to do than hauling your ass off to the pen.

A mass brawl that broke out on a cruise ship and left six people injured was not started by a clown, police have said.

The fight, which erupted in the early hours of Friday morning on the P&O cruise ship Britannia, saw three men and three women assaulted.

Richard Gaisford, an ITV reporter for Good Morning Britain who was on board the ship at the time, said a witness had told him there was “blood everywhere” in the restaurant of the liner.

The ship had departed from Bergen, Norway some 12 hours earlier, and was en route to Southampton as part of a one-week cruise at the time of the incident.

He added that staff had reportedly never seen violence like it aboard the ship, which followed a black-tie event for passengers and “an afternoon of ‘patriotic’ partying on deck, with large amounts of alcohol being consumed by many guests”.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/clown-cruise-ship-fight-po-police-norway-a9024136.html

[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep.
[br] [/font] [br]

Let’s give the wheel a final spin for the week. Oh and it lands on another clip without context!

I bet Thanksgiving is real fun at his house! "Can I have some gravy?" "Yes, and GOD WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN FOR YOUR EXCESSIVE GLUTTONY!!!! YOU HEATHEN!!!". I have so many questions about this! Spin it again! And it lands on… Keeping Up With The Candidates!

Welcome back to Keeping Up With The Candidates – your one stop source for all things relating to the 2020 MOTHER OF ALL ELECTIONS TO END ALL ELECTIONS: Electric Boogaloo Die Harder. Last week we introduced you to the craziness that are the Republican challengers to Alabama’s Doug Jones, and the return that nobody asked for - Roy Moore is turning the entire thing into a massive shit show. This week, we’re going to Minnesota. Of course you know that Trump is doubling and tripling down his attacks on the women in Congress known as “The Squad”. Well, one of those members of The Squad, Ilhan Omar (D, MN-5), has a challenger! We are going to introduce you to that challenger, and you might be shocked by what you find. OK, not really that shocking.

Danielle Stella, a Republican candidate seeking to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar from the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, firmly supports the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to someone identifying themselves as communications volunteer who responded to Right Wing Watch’s inquiry.

QAnon is a Trump-era phenomena centered on a conspiracy theory that alleges that Trump administration insiders have been dropping clues, in the form of cryptic riddles posted on anonymous imageboards, about a supposed secret plan to take down the “deep state” and a worldwide network of satanic pedophiles said to include A-list Hollywood figures and top-level Democrats. Believers, who call themselves “anons,” dedicate themselves to decoding the posts. Early on, QAnon adherents claimed that Trump was secretly working with then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller to expose the Satanists.

People who believe in QAnon are increasingly frequent fixtures at Trump rallies. At a campaign rally in North Carolina last week, President Donald Trump praised a baby wearing a onesie emblazoned on the back with the “Q” emblem sometimes worn by adherents to the theory.

Travis View, co-host of the “QAnon Anonymous” podcast (which takes a critical look at the Q phenomenon), noticed today that Stella had responded to pro-QAnon Twitter users on her account and had used the hashtag “#WWG1WGA” popularized by QAnon believers online. A closer review of her Twitter account reveals that Stella has not been shy engaging with QAnon content.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/this-gop-challenger-to-ilhan-omar-100-stands-with-qanon/

Seriously? I’m sick of seeing this horseshit on twitter. There’s no way I would want to see that crap leaving its’ stink on Congress. Oh and by the way, in a not at all shocking twist to this story, Stella is wanted for several counts of robbery. And in a typical Trump fan fashion – where he always recruits “the best people” (read: worst), Stella is attempting to “yada yada” her way out of the situation.

A Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar is accused of shoplifting 279 items from a suburban Target earlier this year.

A criminal complaint says Danielle Stella stole items valued at more than $2,000 from Target during one visit on January 8. She allegedly told police she doesn’t remember anything after arriving at Target, due to post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Star Tribune reported that Stella was arrested again in April after allegedly stealing $40 in cat food from a Cub grocery store. A police report says she told an officer she forgot to pay.

In a text to the Guardian, a British newspaper, Stella said she’s innocent until proven guilty, and if she were guilty, she would never run for public office.

Stella is a 31-year-old special education teacher and supporter of President Donald Trump. She has gained attention for social media posts referencing QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory. Last week InfoWars broadcast an interview in which she described Minneapolis as the “crime capital” of America.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/07/29/ilhan-omars-challenger-accused-of-stealing-279-items-from-target/

Seriously Target, fool you once, shame on you. Fool you 279 times, well, shame on whoever failed to catch her 278 of those times. And can we stop treating Qanon crap like it’s national news? It originated in the sewage pit of internet message boards. And I would think that Ms. Stella, being a special education teacher, would recognize that this stuff is bullshit, but I guess that anyone can become a member of the Trump cult. But guess what? Her criminal record won’t stop her from challenging Omar.

Minnesota congressional representative Ilhan Omar has only been in office since January. But already the Somali-American lawmaker, who made history by wearing a hijab during her swearing-in, has a challenger for her seat: a 31-year-old special education teacher named Danielle Stella who promises to be tough on crime but herself has a criminal record and a pending felony theft charge.

On June 19, Stella filed a statement of candidacy (pdf) with the Federal Election Commission despite her own legal woes. Stella was twice charged with theft this year, once in January for allegedly stealing 279 items worth more than $2,300 from a Target store. After she failed to appear in court on that charge on April 4, a warrant was issued for her arrest. That warrant was executed on April 28, when Stella was caught purportedly shoplifting $40 worth of items from a grocery store, including tick spray for cats.

“I am not guilty of these crimes. In this country I am innocent until proven guilty and that is the law,” Stella told the Guardian recently. “If I was guilty of crimes, I would never run for public office, putting myself in the public eye under a microscope to be attacked by all political sides.”

Stella’s response is technically correct—she is innocent until proven guilty under American criminal law. But it doesn’t reflect the full extent of her liberty. Even if she is proven guilty and convicted of a felony, the conviction wouldn’t bar her from running for or ultimately holding the federal public office she seeks.
https://qz.com/1676423/criminal-record-wont-stop-danielle-stellas-bid-for-ilhan-omars-seat/

Now you might be asking – what about her popularity? Well Trump is not only doubling down on his attacks on Omar, he’s tripling down. They hate her! They really hate her. Yeah you can cite polls about how Omar has a 20% rating in the nationwide polls. But anyone who takes politics more seriously than we do, will tell you that those polls are a steaming load of bullshit. And guess what? Trump’s attacks on Omar have made her more popular than ever!

But in the city of Minneapolis, many of Omar’s constituents are standing fiercely behind their congresswoman. Many say they believe she has been unfairly maligned, her words twisted because of her background and religious faith. They are proud of how Omar has fought Trump and his allies while pushing far-left policies like student loan forgiveness.

Omar is a symbol of everything Minneapolis’s progressives want to project — and now that she’s in office, battered by the president and his party, Omar has been boosted by the fact that she has become a symbol of everything Trump hates.

Omar is the only member of "the Squad,” the group of four Democratic women of color targeted by Trump, to represent a district that is mostly white — just under two-thirds. That still makes the 5th District the most diverse district in Minnesota, a heavily white state with some of the country’s worst racial disparities and a stubbornly persistent wealth gap.

“Part of the reason I voted for her is to have representation of the people that Trump is demeaning in office,” said Braden Eliason, a medical tech executive in Minneapolis who stopped at Omar’s booth at the street fair Sunday.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/trump-says-minnesota-cant-stand-ilhan-omar-his-attacks-have

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

The Top 10 is off next week but when we come back we’re going to talk about the latest Democratic debate and the lesser performing candidates.

[font size="4"]Report Card:[/font]

Key Issues: Qanon something something
Target Demographic: Trump supporters
Probability Rating: 0 / 100
Likelihood Of Going Far In Election: Not far at all

Overall Grade: F-

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Death Cab For Cutie[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest is the reigning kings of dark alternative rock. You can see them at the Observatory North Park in San Diego Aug. 9th and 10th, and at the Hollywood Bowl Aug. 11th. Their latest album is called “Thank You For Today”. Playing their song “Gold Rush”, give it up for Death Cab For Cutie!!

Thank you North Carolina! This was fun! We’ll be back soon! We are taking a short break next week, we’ll be back on August 14th with a brand new edition live from the University of Kentucky!

See you in two weeks!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: University Of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC
Special Thanks To: University Of North Carolina
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: UNC Choir Club, Raleigh, NC
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Death Cab For Cutie Appear Courtesy Of: BMG Rights Management
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
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Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

July 24, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-7: Scary 4chan, Bianca's Dead Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-7: Scary 4chan, Bianca’s Dead Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up University Of Florida? How are you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Man we are having a lot of fun on this tour so far. But… welcome to your new national nightmare, England! We warned you! We tried to warn you! We told you that having a leader like Trump was just as bad as having Trump actually in power. But no, it appears that you want old, creepy white men with terrible hair and too much bronzer in power. But we will cover this in full next week. Ah, see what I did there? Do we have time for the thing? Good. So is Forever 21 fat shaming their customers? So women who order clothes from the store are finding something that they didn’t order being included with their plus size clothing – a diet bar. Yeah really what the fuck? Hey no, we don’t need fat sound effects here. Naturally their customers weren’t having any of it. And why would you? It’s like they’re sending a message of some sort. Sure, living that kind of lifestyle isn’t good for you, but do we really need a store telling us that? And really companies, stop sending us shit we didn’t ask for, OK? I bought a motherboard, I don't need razors. I bought a t-shirt, I don't need a package of mouthwash. I went and saw the Incredibles 2, I don't need that weird movie about the cannibalistic Chinese dumpling! What the fuck is that thing??? It’s been over a year and I still can’t get that image out of my head! Damn you Pixar, damn you!!! OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first Stephen Colbert is back and I will be playing some of his monologues for our friends unfortunately stuck with DirecTV right now (which I am in that demographic):

So where do we begin this week? In the number one slot this week is Rand Paul (1). He needs to be ripped a new asshole for what he did to the 9/11 first responders and for that we’re going to ask “The 9/11 First Responders Bill: How Is This Still A Thing?”. In the second slot this week is the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump (2). Trump has been busy stroking the race card, but if you ask him personally about it, he will do that conservative thing where he denies that he did what he originally did. In the 3rd slot this week is current Attorney General William Barr (3) and he might be the first AG since 1856 to be held in contempt of Congress for his baiting of the controversial citizenship question on the 2020 Census. For the 4th slot this week is 4chan (4). And this is quite the horrifying story and the sick fucks at 4chan deserve it. Teenage social influencer Bianca Devins was murdered and her murder was posted on the website. And the more you dig into this story the weirder it gets and there’s going to be a lot of accessories to murder in this one. Taking the 5th slot is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5), and what’s up with Planned Parenthood’s CEO? The controversial organization has been going through CEOs faster than most people go through shoes. In the sixth slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit”, and after Glenn Beck announced his own Covenant With God, our resident pastor is going to do the same! At slot number 7 this week is “Beating A Dead Horse” (7). There’s some controversy over casting for Disney’s remake of “The Little Mermaid”, but then the James Bond franchise came along and said “hold my beer”. For the 8th slot this week, we have a new “This Fucking Guy”. And this week we’re going to profile ultra far right personality Josh Bernstein, who regularly appears on programs hawking nutritional supplements. Yeah, seriously, WTF? And for the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, we have our favorite segment “People Are Dumb” and when we were in Florida the last time, we dedicated it all to the crazy adventures of our good friend Florida Man, and guess what? We’re doing it again for round II! Finally this week we have our ongoing series about all things 2020 Election, “Keeping Up With The Candidates” and this week we’re going to explore some of the winners (er, losers) running for Senate in the Alabama GOP and whew, they got some batshit crazy candidates running. And to cap things off, our good friends 311 are returning to the show! Really, buy their new album “Voyager” or you’re no friend of this show. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]How Is This Still A Thing?
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It’s time once again to ask:

This week – the 9/11 First Responders Bill. How is this still a thing? The 9/11 First Responders Bill was first proposed in 2010 – 9 years after 9/11, which shows you how quick Congress was to treat the people who sacrificed their lives to help with the devastation and destruction of the two tallest buildings in America. Since its’ proposal, it has taken nearly 9 years to come to fruition – and even then it was struck down a 3rd and 4th time, mainly because republicans like Rand Paul keep adding unnecessary amendments to the bill. So what is the reason for delaying the bill *THIS* time?

A Republican senator moved Wednesday to stall for the moment legislation providing compensation to 9/11 workers, sparking an emotional appeal on behalf of those sick and dying after responding to Ground Zero.

Although lawmakers for several weeks generally declared broad support for the measure to extend a victims compensation fund, the objections of two conservative senators suggest its Senate passage may stall or require more political muscle to enact.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) spoke out on the Senate floor Wednesday after Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) proposed that the bill be approved by unanimous consent. Under Senate rules, an objection from a single senator can block a measure offered via unanimous consent.

Paul said he objected because any program that would last decades “should be offset by cutting spending that’s less valuable. We need, at the very least, to have this debate,” he said, adding that he would offer an amendment on the cost of the bill when it reaches the Senate floor.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) also has placed a hold on the legislation, according to advocates. Paul’s objection angered Democrats, who have been able to muster bipartisan support for the bill, which has 73 co-sponsors in the Senate.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/two-republican-senators-emerge-as-opponents-to-911-victims-bill/2019/07/17/b6fe830a-a89c-11e9-86dd-d7f0e60391e9_story.html?utm_term=.087dfbc855a8

Yes why? The bill had 73 co-sponsors, making it something that actually might have a chance of passing bi-partisan. Because one thing we can all agree on – liberal or conservative – is that the 9/11 first responders and families should get financial protection. But… leave it to former Daily Show host Jon Stewart to take up this cause for the people. Yes, a comedian is getting more done than Congress has on this subject in 9 years.

It appears Jon Stewart’s public shaming is working, yet again.

The House of Representatives on Friday overwhelmingly passed a bill guaranteeing funding for a program that helps cover medical care for 9/11 first responders, a move that comes in the wake of immense public outcry and emotional testimony from Stewart during a House hearing earlier this year.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has committed to giving it a vote in August, following extensive pressure to do so.

“As soon as the House passes this bill, it should be on the floor of the Senate immediately as a standalone bill,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in June. “I am imploring, pleading, and even begging to Leader McConnell to put this bill on the floor as soon as it passes the House.”

“Nothing about our shared goal to provide for these heroes is remotely partisan. We will consider this important legislation soon,” McConnell said in a statement on Friday.

This bill, known as the Never Forget the Heroes Act, reauthorizes the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund until 2090. A program that first ran from 2001 to 2004 and then was reestablished in 2011, the Victim Compensation Fund is now running out of money, given the number of first responders who’ve gotten sick following their work after the attacks.
https://www.vox.com/2019/7/12/20691710/congress-jon-stewart-9-11-first-responders-bill-mitch-mcconnell

So Jon Stewart’s advocacy for this subject has won over many fans and alienated critics. And yes, there are critics of what he is doing. Yes, cost is a factor, but when you consider that the United States can find $750 billion annually for new war machines and planes that it doesn’t need or want, they can find money for something that is badly needed. Treating the victims of the worst terrorist attack in modern history will be how the rest of the world sees us. And right now, it’s not seeing us so hot.

Comedian and 9/11 first responder advocate Jon Stewart blasted Rand Paul after the senator effectively blocked a vote to permanently reauthorize the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. The fund provides financial assistance for first responders suffering from 9/11-related medical issues.

Paul prevented the Senate from voting to approve the bill through unanimous consent, citing its cost.

"It has long been my feeling that we need to address our massive debt in the country," Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, said on the Senate floor. "And therefore any new spending ... should be offset by cutting spending that's less valuable. We need to at the very least have this debate."

"Pardon me if I'm not impressed in any way by Rand Paul's fiscal responsibility virtue signaling," Stewart retorted.

Stewart, speaking to Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" on Wednesday, called the move "absolutely outrageous."He added, "Rand Paul presented tissue paper avoidance of the 1.5 trillion tax cut that added hundreds of billions of dollars to our deficit and now he stands up at the last minute after 15 years of blood, sweat and tears from the 9/11 community so that it's all over now, now we're going to balance the budget on the backs of the 9/11 first responder community."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jon-stewart-slams-rand-paul-for-blocking-911-victim-compensation-funding-bill-as-another-first-responder-dies/

Yes, it took Jon Stewart’s incessant pressure to get this bill off the ground again, and it was stalled by republicans in the senate again. Despite that it had 73 cosponsors and could easily pass and get the support of Trump. But nope. Two senators with their heads obviously up their asses stalled the bill yet again. And they will somehow find a way to delay it again. At this point you almost feel sorry for the bill itself. But how bad is it?

The House on Friday passed legislation to extend funding for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund through 2090, weeks after the bill received nationwide attention following impassioned pleas for support from surviving first responders and comedian Jon Stewart.

The bill easily cleared the House with a vote of 402-12, and will now be sent to the Senate, where timing on that vote is not yet clear, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to hold a vote on the legislation.

Moments after the House passage, McConnell's office issued a statement that the chamber would consider "this important legislation soon."

"The first responders who rushed into danger on September 11th, 2001 are the very definition of American heroes and patriots," McConnell said. "The Senate has never forgotten the Victim Compensation Fund and we aren't about to start now. Nothing about our shared goal to provide for these heroes is remotely partisan."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/12/politics/house-vote-9-11-first-responders-bill/index.html

So there you go, it takes a comedian to do something that the Senate still won’t do. That’s enough to make you ask – the 9/11 First Responders Bill:

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

You know how sometimes you hear someone make an insanely racist statement and then it doesn’t hit you until the ride home where you go “God damn that was racist?”. Well think about what our current president, @realDonaldTrump says on a daily basis and then multiply that by the number of days that he’s currently been in office. I mean shit, even Saturday Night Live called Trump out for his blatant racism when he was hosting it that very fucking week:

Holy shit! That was from a fucking late night sketch comedy show! In 2005, 12 years before he would become president! So if he was racist then, how racist is he now?

The House voted on Tuesday to condemn as racist President Trump’s attacks against four congresswomen of color, but only after the debate over the president’s language devolved into a bitterly partisan brawl that showcased deep rifts over race, ethnicity and political ideology in the age of Trump.

The measure, the first House rebuke of a president in more than 100 years, passed nearly along party lines, 240 to 187, after one of the most polarizing exchanges on the floor in recent times. Only four Republicans and the House’s lone independent, Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, voted with all Democrats to condemn the president.

“I know racism when I see it, I know racism when I feel it, and at the highest level of government, there’s no room for racism,” said Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, an icon of the civil rights movement.

Some Republicans were just as adamant in their defense of Mr. Trump: “What has really happened here is that the president and his supporters have been forced to endure months of allegations of racism,” said Representative Dan Meuser, Republican of Pennsylvania. “This ridiculous slander does a disservice to our nation.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/politics/trump-tweet-house-vote.html

Holy shit! Trump is so racist that they had to hold a special hearing in the House to denounce his tweets as being openly racist. See republicans??? Do you see what we are saying about racism now? Fuck off with your identity politics bullshit. You guys are the ones playing identity politics! If it’s not represented by a straight white man it doesn’t exist! You know when you start calling every republican a racist the message gets lost, but you know… some of them might actually be racist.

The issues of racism and racial divisions in politics are front and center again in the wake of President Trump’s tweets and comments about four congresswomen of color. But a key question is whether Trump’s behavior in recent years has led to an increase in racism in the U.S.

Last week, Trump tweeted the freshmen lawmakers should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” even though most of them were born in the U.S. Many saw parallels to Trump‘s comments on Charlottesville, Virginia, when he said there was “blame on both sides” after a violent white-supremacist and neo-Nazi rally in 2017 resulted in the death of one woman.

Clearly, these and other Trump’s statements and actions have shaped Americans’ views of him, to the point that a majority of Americans say Trump is a racist — a February 2018 AP-NORC poll found 57 percent of respondents said Trump was racist, while 40 percent said he wasn’t.

Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center attempted to answer the “Has America Become More Racist?” question. It found a majority of Americans (65 percent) said that since Trump’s election, it “has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views.” Multiple studies have uncovered evidence that Trump’s rhetoric has legitimized expressions of prejudice. One 2016 study found, for instance, that racist attitudes toward groups targeted by Trump, like Muslims and immigrants, were considered more acceptable after the election. And a second study showed that reading Trump’s statements targeting ethnic or racial groups made people more likely to write prejudicial things themselves.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/prejudice-among-white-americans-might-be-declining-in-the-trump-era/

Well duh, of course people have become more racist since Trump got into office. You know Obama brought out the best in people , Trump and Fox News are making America more racist again! Thank you audience! Really, turn that shit off, it’s good for you. I mean come on, Trump is even too racist for Fox News! And let’s face it, when you’re too racist for Fox News, that’s pretty fucking racist.

White House adviser Stephen Miller on Sunday pushed back against those who believe President Donald Trump is a racist or is engaging in racist rhetoric, arguing the liberals use that label to censor their opponents.

"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace listed several of Trump's statements that have been decried as racist, including his recent suggestion that four congresswomen of color "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came," his unsubstantiated claims that former President Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen, his campaign announcement in which he said Mexicans "are rapists," his call for a "complete shutdown on Muslims entering the United States," and his assertion that there were good people on "both sides" of a clash between white nationalists and counterprotesters at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"Why shouldn't someone see all of that as racist?" Wallace asked Miller.

"I think the term 'racist,' Chris, has become a label that is too often deployed by the left, Democrats in this country simply to try to silence and punish and suppress people they disagree with, speech that they don't want to hear," Miller said.

"The reality is that this president has been a president for all Americans, whether you look at historically low black unemployment rates, historically low Hispanic unemployment rates or if you look at what he's doing on immigration to protect safety, security, rising wages for all American citizens."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/21/chris-wallace-stephen-miller-trump-racism/1790299001/

That’s the basic definition thanks. But this is Stephen Miller here, that guy is a hardcore, I’m too racist, so racist yeah kind of guy. What? You guys aren’t down with Right Said Fred references? Well this is my show, I make the references! Back on topic here, what’s really scary about this is that denying racists and racism only makes it stronger. I swear it’s like we live in the Matrix or something. And the irony is that republicans and racists love making Matrix references despite that the movie was made by two Polish-Jewish trans sisters. Oh the irony! Of course, irony is lost on the racists.

When did we arrive at the point where applying the words racist and racism was more radioactive than actually doing and saying racist things and demonstrating oneself to be a racist?

How is it that America insists on knowledge of the unknowable — what lurks in the heart — in order to assign the appellation?

Why are so many Americans insisting that racism requires conscious, malicious intent in order for the title to be earned?

Last week, much of America wrestled with whether to label the president racist after he published racist tweets about four congresswomen of color, demonstrating once again in the most overt terms that he is indeed a racist.

And yet many, including those in the media, struggled with whether or not to label his tweet, and by extension Donald Trump himself, as racist.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/21/opinion/trump-racism.html

[font size="8"]Bill Barr
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Is Bill Barr the worst attorney general in US history? Well he’s already been attorney general for a few months and he might be actually in the running. Shit, he’s only been in the office for five months and he’s already being held in contempt. Why? They are still trying to find a work around so they can stick the citizenship question on the 2020 census. And here’s the thing republicans – you do *NOT* fuck with the census! And you know why? Because it could alter your state’s representation for the next 10 years and it could go good or bad. And here’s what is the latest.

The House of Representatives escalated its confrontation with the executive branch Wednesday by holding two Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for not providing complete copies of subpoenaed documents related to the 2020 census.

The resolution named Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for failing to cooperate with a congressional oversight investigation.

In a deeply divided House, Wednesday's criminal contempt measure passed on a mostly party-line vote of 230-198. The House's lone independent, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, backed the measure. Four Democrats broke with their leaders and opposed it. The rebuke of Trump Cabinet officials comes just a day after the House passed another resolution condemning the president himself for racist tweets over the weekend.

The move marks the second time a sitting attorney general has been found in criminal contempt by the House. The first time was back in 2012, when the House voted to hold then-Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt over his failure to turn over documents for the chamber's "Fast and Furious" probe. Seventeen Democrats joined with what was then a Republican majority to secure that outcome.
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/17/742705054/house-holds-attorney-general-and-commerce-secretary-in-contempt-over-census-prob

Yeah unfortunately those things only work when you’re on TV shows and not necessarily held in contempt of Congress, Homer. And that’s not the only problem facing the Trump administration this week. This whole revolving door administration really is a bad mark on society. But you won’t hear the MAGAs cheering about it.

The House is poised to vote on holding Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr in contempt over their roles in withholding information about efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census amid a report that President Donald Trump is considering firing Ross over the failed attempt to include one.

Democrats in the House scheduled a Tuesday floor vote on the criminal contempt resolution since Ross and Barr have declined to comply with a subpoena to hand over documents to the House Oversight and Reform Committee to help aid in its investigation about the origins of the citizenship question.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland accused the Trump administration of wanting to add a citizenship question for the first time since 1950 "only to deter minorities from participating and leading to an undercount in parts of the country."

Officials held in criminal contempt face fines and up to a year in prison, but it's highly unlikely either would face criminal charges from the Justice Department. Barr would be the second attorney general held in contempt by the full House other than Eric Holder when he was attorney general for former President Barack Obama.
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-07-16/ross-barr-set-for-contempt-vote-as-commerce-secretary-faces-uncertain-future

You know that is a good point, that is kind of like when the GOP takes things literally. You know, like when they talk about “illegal immigration” but never read past the word “illegal” or talk about the second amendment but never read past “shall not be infringed”. It’s kind of like that. But really just how bad is Bill Barr? It’s funny, I keep wanting to call him Al Barr because that’s the lead singer of the Dropkick Murphys, but I’m convinced Al Barr could at this point literally kick Bill Barr’s ass!

The House is set to vote on whether to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt for not complying with congressional subpoenas on their thwarted attempts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The resolution was originally scheduled for a Tuesday vote, but appeared to be pushed to a later date as lawmakers are set to vote on a resolution condemning President Trump’s tweets targeting four minority progressive Democratic lawmakers.

The vote comes just days after Trump abandoned his efforts to get the question on next year’s population survey. He instead issued an executive order directing federal agencies to share records containing citizenship information with the Commerce Department — the recommendation initially made by the Census Bureau more than a year ago.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted on the contempt measure last month, after the Cabinet officials didn’t comply with subpoenas for documents on the addition of the citizenship question.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/453200-house-poised-to-hold-barr-ross-in-contempt

[font size="8"]Scary 4Chan, Bianca’s Dead
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Normally the Top 10 policy is that we don’t joke about things like murder or mass shootings or the situation going on at the border because it’s really too horrifying to make fun of. And this next story is about a murder. But when 4chan is involved… no really, fuck 4chan. And fuck 8chan too. And 16chan, and 32chan, and 64chan, and 128chan. Really, fuck all the Chans at this point. Except for our assistant producer Harold Chan, he can stay. Now the title of this entry comes from an old Psych episode called “Scary Sherry, Bianca’s Dead”. So for this piece, let’s call it “Scary 4chan, Bianca’s Dead”. And for this entry, we will channel our inner Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster. So before we dive into trashing this horrid excuse for an internet forum, what happened exactly?

A young woman active on social media was brutally murdered, with gruesome photos of her body posted to Instagram and other platforms.

Horrific images of 17-year-old Bianca Devins were posted on Instagram early Sunday, after she went to a concert in Queens with Brandon Andrew Clark.

Clark, 21, reportedly called police on himself, according to Lt. Bryan Coromato. When he was discovered in his car in Utica, Clark reportedly slit his own throat and posted pictures of his bleeding neck on Instagram as well.

Devins, who was a popular "egirl" on Tik Tok, was was found dead outside the SUV. Clark was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent surgery. The two reportedly met online, and had been seeing each other for about two months before the night of the concert, by Canadian musician Nicole Dollenganger.

Bianca's sister, Olivia Devins, later called Clark a "close family friend."
https://www.newsweek.com/bianca-devins-murder-discord-1449363

Yes, stay creepy 4chan! And really what an age we live in where evidence of a fucking murder can be posted online in messaging forums. And how is 4chan not being monitored by the FBI and CIA as being a terrorist group? Well, maybe terrorism is a harsh word to use for a group of incels who live in their mom’s basement and spend the whole day chain smoking and pooping their pants. I assume that’s what incels do all day. But what drove them to murder?

"Here comes Hell. It's redemption, right?"

Brandon Andrew Clark posed that question, taken from a rock song, to his Instagram followers in a temporary 24-hour story posted before dawn last Sunday.

The next image he shared was far more disturbing. A blurry photograph captioned "I'm sorry Bianca" appeared to show a woman's bloodied torso.

Before then his Instagram account, which we have chosen not to name, was mostly used to catalogue selfies and posts about music and art. Police believe the 21 year old had met Bianca through the platform two months earlier and their relationship had progressed in person since.

On Saturday, he drove Bianca to New York City from Utica, where she lived, to see Canadian singer Nicole Dollanganger perform. Police said they believed the pair had got into an argument on the way back, possibly about her kissing someone else, and he had fatally attacked her with a knife.

Police said the suspect shared an even more graphic photograph of Bianca's body on Discord - a popular messaging platform for gamers. This image showed the extent of injuries to Bianca's throat and made clear her wounds had been fatal.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49002486

Obviously. Look, passionate romance is nothing to joke about. And for an Incel who was lucky enough to score, that shit should be taken seriously! So what happens when a murder like this goes viral? And going viral is probably the worst thing you can say about someone’s murder. Oh pictures of her fatally stabbed body just.. went viral. Yeah that doesn’t sound good at all does it?

Like most mornings, Jared, who lives in a small town in southern Utah, logged in to Bianca’s group chat on Sunday to see what he’d missed overnight.

There, posted 15 minutes earlier, was a photo of Bianca’s body. From the gaze in her eyes and the extensive injuries, it was obvious she was dead.

The image, posted under a username associated with Clark, was accompanied by a message: “Sorry fuckers, you’re going to have to find someone else to orbit.”

On his own social media accounts, Clark was busy telling a story seemingly calculated for maximum exposure. He uploaded pictures of himself and Bianca’s body and declared his intention to kill himself. As police arrived to apprehend him on a secluded street in Utica, he continued to snap photos and post them online.

He even left a message at the scene, police said: The words “May you never forget me” were spray-painted on the pavement, an apparent reference to a manga about a toxic relationship that both he and Bianca liked.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bianca-devins-death-internet_n_5d2e382ae4b0a873f6431763

Holy shit! I think we might have found the worst possible use for Instagram here. This is where toxic masculinity takes a very ugly turn. And toxic masculinity is ugly to begin with! Just adding the word “toxic” to anything makes it ugly. Like… toxic unicorns. Yes, the word “toxic” can make the most innocent things sound horrible. Like for instance I literally just turned something as innocent as a unicorn into something extremely horrifying and terrible. You can’t get that image out of your head now, can you? And here’s where social media gets really ugly.

After Bianca Devins’ brutal murder, incels and trolls gleefully circulated photos of her mutilated body across the internet. But within days, the #RIPBianca hashtag and her tagged Instagram photos were transformed into an endless stream of bubblegum pink, fluffy white kittens, candy hearts, and glittery pink clouds.

The dreamy imagery is coming from a vast community of “e-girls,” an online subculture influenced by video games, anime, and grunge that Devins had belonged to.

For these girls and young women, many of whom face harassment and threats on a regular basis, Devin’s brutal murder hit way too close to home.

“Finding out about Bianca was terrifying,” said Ashley Eldridge, a 19-year-old e-girl. “I worry about stuff like that happening all the time. I’m constantly scared that someone is going to recognize me in real life and follow me.”

The e-girl community was almost instantly privy to the incredible violence Devins suffered in the final moments of her life, sometime in the early hours of Sunday morning. Her killer stabbed her to death and then shared pictures of her dead body on social media, including her Discord server. Police suspect her boyfriend, a 22-year-old online influencer Brandon Clark who police say she’d met through Instagram about two months earlier.
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/pajn58/the-e-girl-community-is-a-world-of-glittery-pink-clouds-harassment-and-now-murder

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Planned Parenthood CEO
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Hey it’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

Abortion is quite possibly the biggest hot button issue of our lifetime. This week, anti-abortion activists were cheering the announcement of yet another CEO from the organization who anti-abortion activists most commonly associate with the practice: Planned Parenthood. After a “secret meeting”, Planned Parenthood fired yet *ANOTHER* CEO. In the last 5 years, PPH has gone through CEOs at about the rate that most people go through shoes. But just how bad are things at the women’s health care provider?

Planned Parenthood President and CEO Leana Wen said she was fired Tuesday, less than one year into her tenure, at what she called a “secret meeting” of the board of directors.

In a statement, Wen said she and the board had “philosophical differences” about the direction and future of the women’s health organization, adding that they were engaged in “good faith negotiations” about her departure when the ouster was announced.

A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood denied that the meeting was secret. A source familiar with the situation said Wen had been in discussions with the board for months and was well aware the meeting was taking place, though she was not permitted to attend.

The organization said in a statement that board member Alexis McGill Johnson will serve as acting president and CEO while the organization conducts a search for a permanent replacement.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/leana-wen-head-of-planned-parenthood-ousted-after-secret-meeting

So what is the fight about? Is it about abortion or is it about politics? Those on the right would say that it is about politics but will very quickly deny it. But of course conservatives take everything out of context and ruin it. Which is completely and totally the case here.

“I believe abortion is about health care, not politics,” Wen wrote. “Many of my colleagues disagreed.”

Wen declined to comment to POLITICO. “Dr. Wen is not taking any media requests related to her departure from Planned Parenthood,” a spokesperson wrote. “Her NYT op-ed states her position.”

Wen’s claims have been picked up by conservative news outlets and circulated inside the Trump administration, with senior officials exploring how to use Wen’s criticism of Planned Parenthood in future talking points, said two individuals who have discussed administration media strategy. Some conservatives have called Wen a “whistleblower” for providing evidence of their long-held beliefs about Planned Parenthood.

“Wen tried to make Planned Parenthood what its always pretended to be: healthcare focused, a resource for all women, doing abortion politics on the side,” tweeted Matt Whitlock, a Republican policy adviser. “She didn’t get the memo it’s really the opposite: abortion politics with a tiny side of healthcare.”

A person close to Wen said that she was repeatedly pressured by Planned Parenthood leadership to stress that abortion was her top goal, such as after a BuzzFeed article in January that suggested Wen would “focus on nonabortion care.” Wen subsequently gave an interview to the Daily Beast reaffirming her commitment to abortion access, the individual said.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/22/planned-parenthood-leana-wen-abortion-1426700

Yeah it’s kind of like that. But why was Wen chosen to lead Planned Parenthood? What did she know about abortion? Really, we’re asking. Did she know anything? Of course the Christian right would take her comments out of context and use them against her – it’s how they gain power in every election and how they could bring about the second apocalypse. Well, at least prevent women from getting the healthcare they need.

“I believe that the best way to protect abortion care is to be clear that it is not a political issue but a health care one, and that we can expand support for reproductive rights by finding common ground with the large majority of Americans who understand reproductive health care as the fundamental health care that it is,” Dr. Wen said in her statement. “I am leaving because the new Board Chairs and I have philosophical differences over the direction and future of Planned Parenthood.”

In a statement from Planned Parenthood, the organization did not address any contention between the parties and announced its new Acting President.

“We thank Dr. Leana Wen for her service to Planned Parenthood in such a pivotal time and extend our best wishes for her continued success,” the statement reads. “We are pleased to announce that Alexis Gill Johnson has been named Acting President, effective immediately. Alexis is a renowned social justice leader, lifelong political organizer and a tireless advocate for healthcare.” Johnson has served on Planned Parenthood’s board for nearly a decade and served as a Board Chair from 2013 to 2015.

Dr. Wen’s brief tenure and the apparently acrimonious split comes at a tumultuous time for the organization and coincides with the Trump administration’s new abortion regulations, which officially began enforcing a ban on abortion referrals from taxpayer-funded family planning clinics on Tuesday, as Associated Press reports. Several Republican-controlled states, Alabama and Missouri among them, have recently undertaken legislative efforts to restrict abortion access.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/planned-parenthood-ousts-ceo-dr-leana-wen-859940/

Well, we don’t want to be, but just how bad are things at Planned Parenthood? They’ve got a lot of work to do before they can adequately rebuild. But at least Planned Parenthood is a much smoother run organization than the NRA. We can say that, right? But just how bad is it? They should have a new CEO soon so that things will get better. But we will keep an eye on the subject.

The day before Dr. Leana Wen took the reins as president of Planned Parenthood — the first doctor to lead the organization in 50 years — staffers received a detailed memo indicating how things were going to operate under the new leadership. Addressed to the organization’s communications team, it included the eyebrow-raising directive “No action or requests should be taken until approval from the [Office of the President] is given.”

Planned Parenthood is a massive health care provider, serving more than 2.4 million patients at some 600 health clinics across the country, and a political powerhouse that had spent the preceding decade successfully deflecting repeated attempts to strip it of both public and private funding. Wen was taking the organization over from beloved president Cecile Richards at an especially fraught moment: a month after Brett Kavanaugh was appointed to the Supreme Court, just as conservatives around the country were pushing increasingly aggressive abortion restrictions through state legislatures in hopes of seeing Roe v. Wade reconsidered — possibly even overturned — by the high court.

To longtime employees, the incoming president’s memo signaled both a fundamental misunderstanding of the way Planned Parenthood worked as an organization (reaching decisions through consensus and with input from various stakeholders) and served as a worrying indication Wen didn’t recognize the nature of the role she was stepping into. The sheer volume of requests alone would make it impractical, if not impossible, to run all of them through her office and still respond at the speed the news cycle demands. Most importantly, though, staffers felt the memo indicated — before Wen had even walked through the door — a deep mistrust of the organization’s existing employees and processes.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/leanna-wen-planned-parenthood-ouster-860361/

That’s it this week for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.

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

My fair congregation!!! Does America need to renew its’ covenant with the good LAWRD almighty? That seems to be a topic of discussion among the ultra far right. It seems America isn’t worshipping the good LAWRD JAYSUS enough, and JAYSUS doesn’t get enough of a patriotic boner to be an American! So what if we combined these two things? That is what is on the sacrificial table and the discussion in the pews right now. America needs a new covenant with the ALMIGHTY GAWD!! But judging from the people who are behind it, I think we might need a few more covenants before we are to fully spiritually cleanse ourselves from SIN!!

Glenn Beck revealed on his radio program yesterday that he is planning to host an event next year designed to renew America’s covenant with God.

Beck was interviewing Tim Ballard, who runs Beck’s Nazarene Fund organization, about his books, “The Covenant: One Nation Under God” and “The Covenant, Lincoln, and The War,” which claim that the Pilgrims, the Founding Fathers, and several early American presidents made and repeatedly renewed covenants with God on behalf of the United States

Beck is apparently planning to take it upon himself to renew that covenant once again next summer.

“I told Tim … that I was going to do something big—a Restoring event—next summer,” Beck said. “I have felt strongly that it is supposed to be a renewal of the covenant.”

“We have to do it exactly right,” he added. “We have to repeat [George] Washington and [Abraham] Lincoln. We have to do it right and we, as a people, need to gather together and do it. So, next summer, we are going to do it.”

The details about where and went this event will take place are still being worked out, Beck said, but “I would just ask that you keep your calendar clear for summer next year.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/glenn-beck-is-planning-to-renew-americas-covenant-with-god/

That’s right – last week we pointed out how the good LAWRD almighty was pissed, and this week he may have even more of a reason to be! And it’s no wonder that the religious right worships the Dark One whose name shall not be named in my church! They worship the old testament, and the old testament GAWD is an angry and vengeful one!

Celebrity pundit and radio personality Glenn Beck has built his brand with several national events in the past, including “Restoring Honor” (2010), “Restoring Courage” (2011), “Restoring Love” (2012), and “Restoring Unity” (2015).

By the time “Restoring Unity” — heavily inflected with shades of #AllLivesMatter — came about, Beck’s cultural influence appeared to be on the decline. The event drew smaller crowds than any previous one and garnered little national media coverage.

But that was 2015, and in the new political climate of the Trump era, it seems Beck is looking for a chance to return to the media spotlight as a major voice for America’s religious conservatives.

On Monday’s episode of The Glenn Beck Program, Beck announced his intentions to plan yet another “restoring event” for the summer of 2020. And in terms of scale, this could be the most ambitious one yet. Claiming to follow in the footsteps of historical figures like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Beck vows to renew America’s historic covenant with the God of the Bible.

The segment, featuring author Tim Ballard, focused largely on the idea that America’s success as a nation comes from early Americans — Beck and Ballard cite the pilgrims, Washington, and Lincoln — who consciously led the nation to make agreements with God based on Old Testament covenants.
https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/07/17/glenn-beck-plans-to-renew-americas-covenant-with-god-and-his-own-relevance/

Yeah so America’s Covenant With GAWD is something that is as old as the country itself, but do we really need these people renewing it? I mean if they’re the good guys, who are the bad guys? We really need to do a deep dive into the right wing’s quest for spiritual warfare because I’m convinced that my brothers and sisters on the right are fighting a war that no one wants to fight. Because war is a SIN!!! It is one of the most egregious of sins!!!

A succession of congressional leaders paraded before Religious Right activists at a “town hall” event in the congressional auditorium at the U.S. Capitol visitors’ center on Thursday as part of the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference. It followed a luncheon with other members of Congress; the two events provide a way for Faith and Freedom Coalition Chairman Ralph Reed to kick off his annual event with a demonstration that he has access to high-level officials who are, in his words, “doing the Lord’s work in the Devil’s city.”

Some of the loudest cheers went for the smugly self-satisfied Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom Reed introduced as a “total hero” for blocking Senate consideration of President Obama’s Supreme Court nomination of Judge Merrick Garland—and for using the power of his office to ram Trump’s judicial nominees through the Senate.

McConnell bragged about having done the opposite under President Obama, slowing Senate action to ensure that Obama’s successor would come into office with plenty of vacancies: “There were a lot of vacancies left when President Obama left office. I was the majority leader the last couple of years he was president,” he said, pausing for comic effect before adding to laughter and applause, “We didn’t have a lot of time.”

McConnell said that about one-fourth of U.S. circuit judges serving on the bench today comprises Trump nominees who were confirmed by the Senate in the past two-and-a-half years, and celebrated that Trump’s nominees are years younger, on average, than Obama’s nominees.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/religious-right-on-capitol-hill-right-wing-politics-as-spiritual-warfare-obedience-to-god/

Now Brother Mitch and Brother Ralph, if you’re leading the spiritual war against detractors of the Almighty GAWD, what does that say about GAWD? If you refer to what I said previously, are these the guys who we want leading America’s renewal of the covenant with the ALMIGHTY? Hell no! Can I get an amen?? And speaking of “spiritual warfare”, we do have a preview of what’s to come because these people are insane!

Lance Wallnau, a “prophetic” author and promoter of Seven Mountains Dominionism, makes his money in part as a life coach/motivational speaker. He’s now inviting his followers to shell out about $1000 in registration fees for a “spiritual warfare” gathering at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. over Labor Day weekend.

Meeting in Trump’s D.C. hotel has become a way for entities ranging from foreign governments to lobbying groups to showcase their support for Trump while enriching the Trump family. But it’s even more than that for the subset of conservative Christians who believe Trump was anointed by God to save America and, some believe, to help bring about the second coming of Christ. In his conference promotion, Wallnau says that Trump International “has angelic activity at a different level” than other resorts. In an accompanying video message, he adds that the hotel is “Grand Central for spiritual activity.” At an earlier dominionist gathering at the hotel, prayer warriors asked God to unleash his angel armies against Trump’s enemies in the deep state.

One thing that Wallnau and other dominionist leaders offer their followers is the belief that they play a key role in the raging spiritual warfare over the fate of this country and humanity itself in the end times. “We have entered the timing of angelic warfare over the destiny of NATIONS!” Wallanu said in an email marketing his “Dream Trip” conference, which had the subject line, “Your Blueprint to ADVANCE in the Heavenly Battle.” He told his supporters, “Your destiny is wrapped up in a heavenly battle—the battle over the harvest of souls and nations.”

“The nation is in a turbulent wrestling match. Spiritual warfare is about whose version of reality will prevail on earth—Heaven or Hell?” Wallnau wrote:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/spiritual-warfare-event-at-trumps-dc-hotel-to-feature-pro-trump-prophet-lance-wallnau/

They just don’t get it do they? They don’t get how this works, that’s because they didn’t read the Bible past a few verses, so do we want them leading America’s covenant with GAWD? No! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse
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When you hear the term “social justice warrior” or “triggered snowflake”, who would you say is the biggest one of them all? While the rest of the world is lauding casting choices in such blockbuster franchises as James Bond, the Little Mermaid, and now Thor, there’s only one group in this world who gets the title of “triggered snowflake”, and that’s white conservative males. They are the ones complaining and launching the biggest stink of any group out there. Sure, you can point the blame at whatever group may be the group du jour, but really, blame white males. Those who threw the biggest shit fit at the Ghostbusters franchise are poised to do it again. But this time, we’re on to them.

Over the weekend, a Facebook group called “Christian's Against the Little Mermaid (Boycott Halle Bailey)” reached over 50,000 members.

This group was ostensibly created in response to the July 3 announcement that Halle Bailey, half of the sister duo Chloe x Halle, would be playing Ariel in the upcoming live-action remake of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.” Bailey would be the first black woman to portray a princess in one of the studio’s live-action films, as well as only the second black princess in Disney’s 95-year history; the first was Tiana of the 2009 animated film “The Princess and the Frog.”

“Disney has been ruining our childhood classics for the past several years. Their live-action adaptations have been abysmal but now they have gone too far!!!” reads the group’s welcome message. “Disney has jumped on the bandwagon of turning prominent red headed, fair skinned characters into POC. Why not just create a new character? Why is Hollywood trying to wipe out gingers???”

Over 10,000 new posts have been made in the group today, and nearly as many have been made elsewhere, on Facebook users' own timelines, about the group itself — mostly expressing shock or disgust that such a group even exists.
00:02/01:12

But the group’s origin story has some holes. Clicking into its history — which is publicly viewable — Facebook shows that “Christian's Against the Little Mermaid (Boycott Halle Bailey)” was actually created in July 2017. But at that point, the group was called: “Love, compassion, & understanding.” (Credit to Hemant Mehta of the Patheos blog The Friendly Atheist for surfacing this information.)

In January 2019, it was renamed, “Boycott Super Bowl LIII;” several months later, “Muhammad Ali Memorial.” Then finally on July 4, the day after Bailey’s role as Ariel was publicized, it was finally changed to “Christian's Against the Little Mermaid (Boycott Halle Bailey).” The groups's Facebook address is www.facebook.com/groups/cosmodinardo/. Cosmo DiNardo is a man from Pennsylvania who, in 2017, pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences.
https://www.salon.com/2019/07/08/dont-feed-the-little-mermaid-racist-trolls-sketchy-accounts-fuel-anti-ariel-outrage/

Shut up. We bought your “they ruined our childhood” argument when Ghostbusters came out, but after the 1,000,000,000th time you have brought this argument to anyone who dares take liberties with your favorite story? Yeah, shut the fuck up. I mean come on, let’s ask someone who knows a thing or two about the subject, and that’s Black Widow herself, Scarlett Johannsen. Who, as you probably already know, got a lot of shit for playing a Japanese robot/human hybrid in “Ghost In The Shell”:

Scarlett Johansson is an accomplished actress, with a Tony Award and major box office successes to her name, from Lost in Translation to Avengers: Endgame. But her track record is dicier when it comes to some of the roles she’s chosen to play. Despite facing criticism in the past for accepting a role as a transgender man and starring as a Japanese woman in 2017’s Ghost in the Shell amid cries of whitewashing, Johansson has pushed back against those who would challenge her commitment to supporting diversity and inclusion in Hollywood, by suggesting she should be allowed to play anyone or anything — backlash and “political correctness” be damned.

In the August issue of the arts and culture magazine As If, Johansson discussed what she finds to be a discomforting “trend” in casting, one that encourages routine interrogation of who can play what types of roles and advocates for diversity and inclusion both onscreen and off.

“Today there’s a lot of emphasis and conversation about what acting is and who we want to see represent ourselves on screen,” she told interviewer and artist David Salle in the article, published July 11. “The question is, what is acting anyway?”

Johansson then proceeded to answer her own question: “You know, as an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job,” she said
https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/7/16/20695075/scarlett-johansson-casting-controversy-response-political-correctness

Yeah I would suspect that Ms. Johannsen does a lot of that in real life in regards to trolls! But if the Little Mermaid outrage doesn’t get to you, there’s the James Bond outrage. Yes, 007 himself is getting a radical makeover for Bond 25: Just Tell Us The Damn Title Already. And longtime white male Bond fans aren’t happy about the fact that Bond is no longer being played by a white male.

When Daniel Craig was first announced as Pierce Brosnan's replacement as 007, there was an uproar in some quarters.

A few even went as far as to set up an online protest, via the website www.craignotbond.com, calling on fans to help "stop Sony and Eon [Productions] from ruining the future of James Bond by hiring Daniel Craig".

"How can a short, blond actor with the rough face of a professional boxer and a penchant for playing killers, cranks, cads, and gigolos pull off the role of a tall, dark, handsome and suave secret agent?" the website asked.

Not everyone was quite so negative, of course - including Brosnan, himself.

"I think Daniel is a very fine actor," said ever-classy Irishman said. "These are rocky waters, but I think he will have the last laugh."
https://www.irishpost.com/news/james-bond-fans-react-angrily-casting-black-female-actor-007-168951

Yeah I’m pretty sure the people complaining about this diversity casting are thinking about it the same way that Ron Burgundy does. Which is that it’s a very old wooden ship from the Civil War era. But if you’re keeping score at home – so far we have black Little Mermaid, black female James Bond, and now even Thor is getting a huge change that people don’t like. Really, cue the world’s tiniest violin for the white male snowflakes. And you know what? You’ll still go see it anyways.

Marvel announced Natalie Portman will reprise her role as Jane Foster in the upcoming "Thor: Love and Thunder" film, but she will not play the love interest. Instead, she will play a female Thor, and not everyone is happy about it.

The announcement was made at Sand Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, as Portman stood beside returning director Taika Waititi and star Chris Hemsworth.

"I've always had hammer envy," Portman said at the event, according to Variety.

She will officially pick up the hammer in the upcoming film set for 2021, despite being absent from the more recent "Thor" and "Avengers" films. Portman introduced Jane Foster, an astrophysicist who falls for the superhero, in "Thor" in 2011 and "Thor: The Dark World" in 2013.
https://www.insider.com/fans-react-to-natalie-portman-playing-female-thor-2019-7

[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Josh Bernstein
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This week’s This Fucking Guy is right wing commentator and host of the Josh Bernstein Show, and that’s none other than Josh Bernstein. Whew, this fucking guy. He is batshit off the wall crazy. He’s a frequent guest on the NutriMedical Report Show, which if you take it at surface value is just your typical medical advice show. Except when they have guests, they get the most off the wall conservative people they can possibly find. And then they go back to telling you about ulcers and hernias. Josh Bernstein is all about the Trump train, and that they really need to build a wall along the Mexican border. Really you’re not helping your case at all with how we feel about Trump supporters here.

Earlier this week, radical right-wing commentator Josh Bernstein appeared on Bill Deagel’s “NutriMedical Report Show,” where he called not only for a complete ban on all immigration but also urged President Trump to hire thousands of homeless veterans to guard and seal off the Southern border until Trump’s border wall can be built.

“I think we need a moratorium on all legal immigration completely for at least five years, if not ten years,” Bernstein said. “We’ve got to eliminate birthright citizenship, we’ve got to eliminate chain migration, we’ve got to eliminate the visa lottery, we’ve got to eliminate all carrots and treats, if you will, for people to come here. And obviously building and constructing the border wall and then deporting as many criminal aliens as humanly possible.”

“I think they should quadruple the size of the Border Patrol and they should put them down on the border,” he added. “They should be stationed down on the border until the border wall is built. And I mean stationed down across the entire 1,900 miles … There is no reason we can’t have military all along the border in a big, long line.”

“A human wall, if you will,” Bernstein proposed. “You think of how many homeless veterans there are living in California and elsewhere. These people are on the streets after fighting for our country. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to grab all of them and offer them a job with a decent salary and decent pay to man our Southern border? They would be happy to do it. They’d be so thrilled to be able to do that, to protect and to serve our country again. This is what they’re born and bred to do, so why not let them continue to do that? Again, you’re helping the homeless situation; you’re getting the homeless veterans off the streets, you’re giving them values, you’re giving them self-worth, you’re making them feel like whole beings once again. I think that that’s a really good thing to do. And it solves the problem of either hiring or recruiting more Border Patrol; just use ex-military down there.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/josh-bernstein-hire-homeless-veterans-to-form-a-human-wall-on-the-southern-border/

Because walls work so well. And homeless veterans are expendable we all know that. And this really makes me wonder – what do they put in the drugs that makes people say things this fucking batshit crazy? I would think there might be a place I could go to for medical advice! As if that’s not enough, Josh Bernstein really has it in for Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Radical right-wing commentator Josh Bernstein posted a video today in which he declared that Rep. Ilhan Omar is a “cancer” and a “jihadist terrorist” who wants to kill Americans and should be charged with treason.

“We had Ilhan Omar laughing about Al Qaida,” Bernstein fumed. “A sworn enemy of the United States, people that want to kill us and have killed Americans, she laughs about them. She said on 9/11, ‘Some people did something.’ Yeah, people that you probably knew and supported, OK, Jihad Omar? And then she supports CAIR, she supports Hamas, she supports Hezbollah, she supports the Muslim Brotherhood, she probably supports ISIS.”

“This is an infiltrator,” he added. “This is somebody that’s not a member of Congress, this is somebody that is a jihadist terrorist that is inside Congress like a cancer [that] is trying to metastasize and spread her cancerous genes to other members to infect the body of our government. She wants to kill Americans and American policy and American freedom and liberty and prosperity by spreading hatred, by spreading lies, by spreading disinformation, and basically supporting people that are against the United States.”

“For that alone, I think she is treasonous,” Bernstein declared. “I think that she should be brought up on charges of treason for her activities and her associations with known terrorist groups … I think we ought to get serious about it, because these people have infiltrated our government. They weren’t elected to represent us; they were selected to destroy us.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/josh-bernstein-rep-ilhan-omar-is-a-jihadist-terrorist-who-should-be-charged-with-treason/

Holy shit!!!!! This fucking guy is absolutely bonkers. He makes Rush Limbaugh look like a democratic sympathizer by comparison. And that’s not the craziest thing he’s said lately. He thinks that Trump should be a “dictator for patriotism”. Uh… Josh you are aware that America has fought wars over this sort of thing before, right?

Radical right-wing commentator Josh Bernstein appeared on Bill Deagel’s “NutriMedical Report Show” yesterday, where he urged President Trump to become “a dictator for patriotism” by simply ignoring Congress and implementing his entire political agenda via executive order.

Bernstein bragged that he long ago urged Trump to “declare war on Congress,” saying that people who thought he was out of his mind for advocating such a thing simply didn’t realize that he is “a visionary.”

“I’m able to see that things were never going to get better,” he said. “[Democrats] were never going to allow this president to enact his full agenda, so I said, ‘Don’t even work with them; work with the people on Twitter and Facebook that love you and follow you and you work with them. You tell them what you are going to do and you do everything else you have to do by executive order. Almost become a dictator for patriotism, if you have to.'”

“I wouldn’t say anything to Nancy Pelosi, I wouldn’t say anything to any of them, Mitch McConnell, none of them,” Bernstein added. “I would lock myself off from Congress, do what I was going to do, do it through executive orders, make the country great again, and then let the people of America decide in 2020.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/josh-bernstein-urges-trump-to-become-a-dictator-for-patriotism/

Dictator for patriotism? Is that like a tyrannical king for freedom? So we have an already toxic cocktail of hardcore Trumpism, some over the top Islamophobia, and a dash of batshit crazy. What else can we add to this already putrid mix? How about a staunch urge to bring back the electric chair? Yes, he wants to bring back some extremely cruel and inhumane punishments to squash Trump’s most vocal opponents:

Radical right-wing commentator Josh Bernstein posted a video last night in which he said that he is praying to God that Attorney General William Barr will teach “scumbags” like Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Andrew McCabe a lesson by putting them to death for actions he baselessly alleges to be treason.

Bernstein was outraged by reports that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is set to be transferred to New York’s Rikers Island prison facility and responded by once again demanding the execution of supposed members of the so-called “deep state.”

“I’m so, so sick of this double standard B.S., two-tier justice system,” Bernstein fumed. “I hope to God and I pray to God that William Barr does the right thing and puts these ever-loving pieces of crap, deviant, scumbag you-know-whats where they belong.”

“Let’s fry these bastards,” he added. “Let’s get out Old Sparky and sit each one down. Boom, there you go. Who’s next? Boom. Page, you’re next. OK, Strzok, you’re next. McCabe, you’re next. I don’t care … These scumbags—and that’s what they are—need to be taught a lesson.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/lets-fry-these-bastards-josh-bernstein-again-demands-executions-for-deep-state-treason/

Yes holy shit indeed! And if the electric chair isn’t your brand of fire and brimstone punishment, how about the guillotine? Yes, he actually advocates using everyone’s favorite method of putting the ultra rich people to death against Trump’s harshest critics. This guy seriously might be one of the most toxic people we’ve covered yet.

In response to special counsel Robert Mueller’s remarks on the findings of his investigation, right-wing commentator Josh Bernstein said that he hopes President Trump is sharpening up the guillotines to be used to put Mueller and other “deep state” actors to death for committing treason.

In the video posted Wednesday, Bernstein fumed that Mueller is “a slimy, sleazy, dirty, scummy cop” who had probably been paid by the Democrats to deliver his statement to give them justification for impeaching Trump.

“How much were you paid to do that press conference?” Bernstein asked. “William Barr, you need to investigate this press conference and the origins of it and who ordered it and who made it and if there was any type of payment given.”

“Dirtbags, all of you,” he fumed. “All of you are just disgusting, despicable excuses for human beings and, honestly, I hope you all go down. Treason. President Trump said treason. Guess what? I agree with that. Liz Cheney said treason and a coup. Absolutely. You know what they do for treason? U.S. Code 18 § 2381. They put you to death, that’s what they do.”

“Let’s sharpen up them guillotines, let’s bring out Old Sparky, let’s make sure that those lethal concoctions are ready to go, because you people deserve it,” Bernstein said.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/lets-sharpen-up-them-guillotines-josh-bernstein-cant-wait-to-see-people-put-to-death-for-treason/

So add some hardcore Trumpism, a dash of Deep State insanity, and some extreme Islamophobia and you have Josh Bernstein, this week’s:

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb: Florida Man II
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Hey it’s time for this!

Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. And the last time we were in Florida we dedicated all of our edition to the crazy adventures of our good friend Florida Man. And Florida Woman. And all of the crazy people who make up America’s most penis shaped state. Is that offensive to Floridians? No? Oh, Florida doesn’t really find anything offensive. We kid, we kid. Anyway, I want to start with this story out of Gilchrest County. Yeah one guy in the audience shouts out “WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”. Thank you sir! So when you catch your wife in bed with another man, I really hope you don’t resort to a whole new level of penis envy.

GILCHRIST COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida man is accused of breaking into the home of his wife's lover, tying him up and then cutting off his penis with a pair of scissors.

The Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of a “stabbing/cutting” at a mobile home on Sunday. As deputies were on their way to the mobile home, a male caller told dispatchers that an armed man, later identified as his 49-year-old neighbor Alex Bonilla, broke into his home and cut off his penis.

Upon arrival, the male caller told deputies on scene that Bonilla came over to his home and threatened to kill the man if he resisted. The man told deputies Bonilla then took him to the man’s bedroom, tied him up and then forcefully cut the man’s penis with a pair of scissors.

The man, whose penis got cut off, told deputies that Bonilla fled the scene with the man’s severed penis in his possession.
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state/police-florida-man-breaks-into-home-cuts-mans-penis-off-with-scissors-to-get-revenge

&t=4s

Yes, don’t fuck with us. And apparently Florida Man is in the audience tonight! Next up let’s go to the Tampa suburb of Oldsmar – OK if you’re going to rob a place… eh, do some research. Sure, cutting the power to the store might turn off the security cameras, but what about the safes? Safes don’t work on electricity, people! That should be the takeaway you get here.

A 19-year-old Oldmar man told police he shut off the power to a Dunkin Donuts and attempted to rob it because he was, "tight on money," according to arrest records. Story: http://bit.ly/2OaObcN
robert-torres.png

OLDSMAR, Fla. — A 19-year-old Oldmar man told police he shut off the power to a Dunkin Donuts and attempted to rob it because he was, "tight on money," according to arrest records.

Using an outside breaker, records show that Robert Torres turned of the power to the Dunkin Donuts on Tampa Road around 12 a.m. on Saturday.

After the power went out, the employees exited the store and were confronted by Torres. Arrest records show he was wearing a hoodie with a shirt pulled up, covering the bottom part of his face.

One of the employees began screaming and then asked Torres if they were being robbed. According to records, he responded with "yes."
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-pinellas/tight-on-money-pinellas-man-accused-of-shutting-off-power-to-dunkin-donuts-in-robbery-attempt?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Oh come on, Brooklyn has already been through enough blackouts! Next up here’s a classic Florida Man story and it just happened this week! OK look, guys get lonely, we get that. But if you’re that lonely, go out to a bar, meet people. Just don’t do this sort of thing with pool toys. And there are a hell of a lot of pool toys at that!

A Florida man has been arrested and charged after the Palm Bay Police Department said he stole pool floats for sex “instead of raping woman.”

The Brevard Times reports Christopher Monnin,35, was stopped on Thursday around 1:30 a.m. by Palm Bay Police for acting suspiciously.

Police say Monnin had with him a white garbage bag full of what he identified to police as deflated pool floats.

According to the Brevard Times, Monnin admitted to police that he has burglarized several houses to steal pool floats and then led police to a vacant house where a had a stash of about 75 pool floats.

Monnin told authorities that he “sexually gratifies himself” with the pool floats instead of raping women.
https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/florida-man-steals-75-pool-floats-for-sex/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

At least the pool toys don’t contain sharp objects. We hope. Next up – assault! OK there’s plenty of weird things to get arrested for, but how do you get arrested for assault with ketchup? We have a lot of questions for this story. Was in in glass or plastic bottles? Or was it in packets? Just how… who… what… where do we find these people???

A Florida man is facing a misdemeanor charge for allegedly pouring ketchup on his girlfriend while she slept.

Court documents show Peter Wagman is facing a first-degree misdemeanor domestic battery charge for the encounter that took place last Sunday.

According to an arrest report, Wagman’s girlfriend of 11 years told investigators she woke up in the middle of the night to find Wagman pouring ketchup on her and cursing at her.

Heather King told investigators they had been arguing over her infidelity before she went to sleep. The report says she was covered in ketchup.

Wagman denied the allegation, although the report says there was ketchup on his pants.
https://www.wkrn.com/news/florida-man-charged-with-pouring-ketchup-on-girlfriend/

Finally this week – drinking and driving. We don’t encourage it here, so why should anyone else? And this is 2019, we have access to Uber and Lyft, yet these crimes occur day after day. But this guy might be one of the dumbest drunk drivers ever on camera. His excuse well. Let’s let the story do the talking.

A man arrested on suspicion of DUI in Florida had a creative, if ineffective defense.

During the June 27 arrest, 69-year-old Earle Stevens told officers he hadn’t been drinking and driving – he’d only been drinking at “stop signs,” according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Treasure Coast News.

Police received a 911 call after a McDonald’s drive-thru customer in Vero Beach complained of a driver behind her repeatedly bumping her car.

Indian River County sheriff’s deputies found Stevens still behind the wheel, an open bottle of booze stuffed in a paper bag on the seat next to him, according to the affidavit.
https://wreg.com/2018/07/12/man-arrested-for-dui-says-he-wasnt-drinking-while-driving-just-at-stop-signs/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep.
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There’s so much news surrounding the 2020 election that it’s damn near impossible to keep up with it, so this will be your handy and official Top 10 guide to the 2020 MOTHER OF ALL ELECTIONS TO END ALL ELECTIONS FOR THE REST OF TIME!!! There are a whopping 24 candidates running. Or ruining depending on which way this all pans out. Plus all the other insane election news happening around the country. Last week, we took a look at the almost-rans. This week, we’re going to take a look at what’s going on in the Alabama Senate. And since there’s no candidate we’re really discussing we won’t be doing a report card. But our old buddy Roy Moore is back. Really, Alabama, have you learned nothing from the previous election? So what’s the latest?

When Roy Moore announced he was running for U.S. Senate again in 2020, the influential Senate Leadership Fund pounced.

In a June 20 statement, the Leadership Fund said it was that confident Alabama Republican voters “realize that nominating” the ex-judge would be akin to “gift-wrapping” the Senate seat for the Democrats.

Moore soon shot back, telling AL.com that he hoped the Leadership Fund won’t “turn on fellow Republicans” like it did during the 2017 special Senate election.

Thus, the gloves are off in a rematch of words pitting Moore against the super PAC and its biggest backer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Unlike 2017, when the Leadership Fund played an outsized role during Alabama’s Republican primaries, it’s expected to stay on the sidelines for the most part this time around.

“It’s more likely than not that the Senate Leadership Fund will tread lightly,” said Capri Cafaro, executive in residence at the American University School of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.
https://www.al.com/politics/2019/07/in-2020-senate-race-roy-moore-once-again-squares-off-with-senate-leadership-fund.html

Yeah Roy, seriously, get the fuck out of here!! You are one pathetic loser! In fact the rest of Alabama has had enough of his nonsense. I mean despite sending him packing back during the 2017 election and electing Doug Jones, how has Roy been faring in the poll numbers?

Alabama Republicans are showing little appetite for giving former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore another shot at winning a U.S. Senate seat, two years after he blew what should have been a gimme election in the ruby-red state after being embroiled in a sordid personal scandal.

A new survey from the Alabama-based polling firm Cygnal shows Moore taking just 13 percent of the vote in the Republican primary. He trails former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, who leads with 29 percent, and Rep. Bradley Byrne (R), who has 21 percent.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R), who launched his campaign Tuesday, begins with 12 percent of the vote. State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R) takes 2 percent, and 22 percent of voters say they are undecided.

Almost two-thirds of Republican voters say they have an unfavorable impression of Moore, while just 28 percent see him in a favorable light. Nearly a third of Republican voters, 31 percent, say they would consider voting for Sen. Doug Jones (D) in November if Moore captures the Senate nomination.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/450392-roy-moore-trails-republican-field-in-alabama

Yeah I don’t think Alabama wants to go through Moore’s nonsense again. But the good news is that Alabama is likely to flip again even after the Roy Moore / Doug Jones fiasco. Really they were that fucking close to electing an actual, nearly convicted pedophile to the ranks of the US Senate! At least he’d be in company with Trump on that one. Oh really we had that whole segment on murderers and that’s the joke you choose to walk out on? OK. But you’re missing 311. Anyway, moving on, if Roy Moore isn’t too fire and brimstone enough for you, Alabama has this guy!

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R), a 2020 Senate candidate, says that Americans are too “preoccupied with homosexual activities” and “the wife swap shows,” ruining everything from TV to the country’s moral direction.

Merrill, one of multiple Republicans looking to challenge Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) made the comments over the weekend at a town hall event in Dekalb County, according to the Yellowhammer News.

As he took questions from attendees, one asked about the culture shift and how the country’s principles have allegedly been eroded, prompting Merrill to point to what is being shown on TV, among other things.

“How have we allowed it to happen? There are no more good TV shows on like ‘Gunsmoke,’ ‘Bonanza,’ ‘The Virginian,’ ‘Andy Griffith,’ ‘I Love Lucy.’ We don’t have those shows anymore. We’re too interested in homosexual activities,” Merrill said.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/453333-alabama-gop-senate-candidate-says-homosexual-activities-have-ruined-tv

Nah, homosexual activity isn’t ruining this country’s moral code. That’s the Christian right’s job! Yeah really Jesus freaks always talk a lot of shit about “moral code” but when you look at all the debauchery going on, they’re really the ones doing that. But really with these two guys at the helm of the Alabama GOP it should be easier than running unopposed. But it will be a different race because everyone knows Roy Moore’s skeletons now. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he has actual skeletons in his closet.

One of the concerns of many regarding the 2020 U.S. Senate race is with the presence of former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore as a candidate, the competition will draw media scrutiny from all over the country.

On the eve of Moore’s announcement, national outlets sent reporters to be in Montgomery for his rollout.

However, in an appearance on Huntsville radio’s WVNN on Saturday, Moore said to host Shannon Moore that he did not think 2020 would be a repeat of the “vicious” 2017 contest given all of the other election campaigns that will be underway at the same time.

“I think it’s a different race,” Moore said on the “Politics and Moore” show. “I think it’s different because that was a special election. There weren’t other races going on across the country. There are hundreds of races going on across the country. Of course, you’ve got your presidents. You’ve got how many contenders for the Democratic [nomination]. There’s a lot going on that wasn’t going on then. I don’t think it will be as notable, as vicious. I mention Project Birmingham — things like that probably won’t occur because there are so many other races. Project Birmingham was a disinformation campaign, as you know, by some Democratic gurus and billionaire Reid Hoffman and George Soros, to stop my candidacy. And it was 80-something Republicans. So, I don’t think that will go on.”
https://yellowhammernews.com/roy-moore-on-2020-us-senate-race-a-different-race-i-dont-think-it-will-be-as-notable-vicious/

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

We’re going to take a look at poll numbers on how some of your favorite Dems are doing and no, don’t bring projectiles into the audience, we’re just the messengers here!

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]311[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen I am extremely excited to have my next band on, their latest album is called “Voyager”, you can see them on tour with the Dirty Heads and the Interrupters, August 3rd in Tampa and August 4th in Orlando. Playing their song “What The?!” give it up for the one, the only 311!

Thank you University Of Florida! This was fun! We will be back soon! We’re off to Baltimore and the University of Maryland next with the Wheel Of Corruption! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: University Of Florida, Gainesville, FL
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Special Thanks To: University Of Florida
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
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July 17, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-6: Three Men & A Subpoena Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-6: Three Men & A Subpoena Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! 15 minutes with us can save you 15% or more on your car insurance! Yo what’s up University of Georgia? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? We made it!!! We took a really awesome trip through Texas, had a great time, now we are heading back to school! So why are we doing this college trip? Well, we had enough of touring the chuckle huts and laugh factories of the US and we figured that a lot of dems and liberals are in the university sector, so that’s where we are going to be playing for the rest of the year. We have an exhaustive tour coming up through the end of 2019 and taking us through 2020. Do we have time for the thing? So aliens are in the news and they’re in the news a lot this week, and of course we’ve got a whole entry devoted to it later in this edition. But since the military warned people to stay away from Area 51, we’re going to instead tell you other places where you can look for aliens, where you might, I don’t know, not be killed by military gun fire. For instance there’s Ovinpuerto, Argentina where you can visit an alien landing strip built by a guy who was told by a UFO captain to. Not making this up. Or you can go to Aurora, Texas where there’s supposedly an alien burial ground. Or you can go to the Australian equivalent of Roswell, Davenport. Or you can go to Landers, California where they have had alien and UFO conferences near a giant seven-story tall boulder. Again, not making any of these up. UFO people are crazy, I am telling you that. But my personal favorite has to be in Varghina, Brazil where they have a water tower shaped to look like a spaceship and people in this town are obsessed. The truth is out there, people! Yeah cue the X-Files music! OK that’s enough of the intro. We have a lot of idiocy to get to but first Colbert is back (yay!!!!!!!!!!!) and he asks the question – is Trump a racist? Spoiler alert – probably!

So where do we begin this week? In the first slot after recent developments in the Jeffrey Epstein trial, Alex Acosta (1) resigns! And any time we have a resignation in the Trump administration, you know what time it is. It’s time for the Trumper Games!!! Yay!! In the second slot is the Seth Rich Conspiracy (2). You may have thought this was settled as being complete and utter bullshit. And you’re right, but plot twist – it was Russia who started it! Shocker, I know. Taking the third slot this week is President Stable Genius (3). He invited members of the far right social media circles to the White House to talk about how the real world are big meanie heads. For the number 4 seed this week, after a series of devastating earthquakes ripped my beloved home state of California a new asshole, yeah we’re probably all gonna die (4) but it might be much worse than you think. For the fifth slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5), and this week, Bernie Sanders has made the student loan crisis the center of his campaign. But how bad is it? We will find out! Taking the sixth slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6), and apparently the recent wave of natural disasters including earthquakes and tornadoes are god taking his wrath out on the populace, and our resident pastor will investigate the claims made by the religious right in this matter. For the seventh slot this week we have another “Beating A Dead Horse” and after Trump took sides in a Home Depot boycott, we may have literally beaten our own dead horse here. For the 8th slot this week is an all new “How Is This Still A Thing?” and this week after a huge group of Facebook conspiracy theorists are planning on storming Area 51 about proof of extraterrestrial life, we ask “UFO Scouting: How Is This Still A Thing?”. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, we have an all new “People Are Dumb” because of course they are! And finally this week, we get to introduce our brand new segment “Keeping Up With The Candidates”. There are 24 democrats running, and are going to cover all of them! Yes, I said “ALL!!!”. But in the first segment we’re going to cover the first casualties of the 2020 election starting with the “Almost Rans”. Plus we have some live music from our good friends Bastille, they are returning to the show! Really, buy their new album “Doom Days” or you’re no friend of this program. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

Ed. Note: We’re not covering the ICE raids yet, at least not currently, as that goes against the Top 10 policy. We will keep an eye on the subject though! Now on to our regularly scheduled programming!

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[font size="8"]Alex Acosta
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Hey everyone I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Of course you know we have to talk about the latest in our long line of departures from this revolving door administration. You know the president promised to “Drain The Swamp” but he lubricated that drain with a heaping helping of some fine greasy lubricants. Well yeah, you just know that the President is into that sort of thing! Nathaniel!!! Bring me the fine champagne! Yes, Nathaniel, my man assistant, has replaced my longtime assistant Charlie, though we won’t get into the reasons why. But anyway the latest tribute to leave this administration’s revolving door? Why it’s Tribute Acosta, from the 5th district, who has been a long favored holdout to win the Trumper Games.

President Donald Trump announced Friday that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta has resigned, a move that comes after furor over a plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein.

Acosta has been under renewed scrutiny over his previous role as the US attorney in Miami, during which he negotiated the 2008 plea deal with Epstein. Epstein, a well-connected multi-millionaire, avoided a federal trial at the time and served only 13 months in prison for state prostitution charges over his involvement with underage girls. A Miami Herald investigation published last November described the plea deal, negotiated by Acosta, as the "deal of a lifetime."

Acosta's resignation is effective next Friday. Trump said the labor secretary will be replaced on an acting basis by the current deputy secretary, Pat Pizzella.

Acosta, standing next to Trump outside the White House before the President departed for a trip, said he resigned to remove himself as a distraction.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/12/politics/alex-acosta-donald-trump-labor-secretary/index.html

Yes, anything does in fact go here! So Tribute Acosta from the 7th District… you know for the last time don’t ask me how the districts work because even I don’t know! And I am the host of this thing for crying out loud! So please indulge my while I sip on this fine semi-imported bubbly and comment on the revolving door that is this administration. Because I am a pretentious asshole! My current assistant and my former assistant both know that! Back to business! Why did Sec. Acosta resign? Well it mainly has to do with his role in getting billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein off the hook.

Department of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta on Friday became the latest Trump Cabinet official to resign amid scandal after a fresh round of scrutiny of his role in a decade-old plea agreement for convicted predator Jeffrey Epstein finally caught up with him.

On Friday morning, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that his secretary of labor had called him that morning. Trump claimed it was Acosta’s decision.

“I do not think it is right or fair to have me as the focus,” Acosta said, standing at Trump’s side, adding, “I thought the right thing was to step aside.”

The president, still showing his support, told reporters, “I said, you don’t have to do this.”

Trump went on to praise Acosta’s work at the Department of Labor, noting twice that Acosta is Hispanic and that he was educated at Harvard.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/alex-acosta-trump-labor-secretary-exits-over-jeffrey-epstein-scandal-says-its-not-fair-to-be-the-focus

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… oh that’s good!!! I am so fierce right now. You know remember that movie 3 Men & A Baby? Well think of this as 3 Men & A Subpoena. Only difference is that the baby is more expensive! I mean is there really anyone in the Trump administration who is not facing an indictment or under scandal right now, anyone? Bueller? Well the Jeffrey Epstein case – which forced Tribute Acosta to resign - just gets weirder and creepier. For instance…

An attorney representing Jeffrey Epstein accusers said Tuesday that at least one woman has come forward to say she was abused while the financier was on work release as part of his lenient 2007 plea deal.

Lawyer Brad Edwards said Epstein was allowed to have visitors while he was supposed to be working during the 13-month sentence.

“It was not for some business arrangement and it was for... improper sexual contact,” Edwards said, adding that the new accusers said they were under 21, though they may not have been minors.

“He just wasn’t in jail. He only slept there. He was in his office most of the day and what I can tell you he had visitors, female visitors,” Edwards said.

“All I can say is more than one person that visited him,” Edwards said, declining to provide more details because of ongoing litigation. “They believed they were going there for something other than a sexual purpose.

"Once there, he used his perfect master manipulation to turn the situation into something sexual,” Edwards said. “Not one of the individuals was a prostitute. These were all people who at the time that wanted something. They came over under false pretenses and he manipulated them and now his attorneys have labeled them prostitutes.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-abused-victims-while-serving-time-in-florida-lawyer-brad-edwards-says?ref=home

So prostitution, sex stings and a tribute who went rogue. These are the qualities of someone who should do just fine in the Trump administration. But there’s plenty of tributes who have come and gone, will we be declaring a winner in the 2020 election by the time all this is said and done? Well, hopefully we will finally see the last standing tribute. And if Acosta and Epstein are considered friends of the President, wait until you see who else the President considers to be a friend. Yeah, bad timing to be dining with this guy! But for now, consider Tribute Acosta… ELIMINATED!!!

President Donald Trump dined with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft Monday night, less than five months after the billionaire businessman was charged as part of a South Florida prostitution investigation.

Kraft was among a group of government and business leaders invited to the dinner, hosted at the Treasury Department, to honor the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani. Kraft sat one seat away from the president, with International Monetary Fund Chairwoman Christine Lagarde, who last week was nominated to lead the European Central Bank, seated between the two. Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke was also seated at the head table.

In February, Trump said the episode involving Kraft was “very sad” but pointed out that the Patriots owner had “proclaimed his innocence, totally."

“But I am very surprised to see it,” the president added.

Kraft, 77, was among more than two dozen people charged in a widespread prostitution investigation involving a day spa in Jupiter, Fla.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-09/patriots-owner-is-trump-dinner-guest-despite-prostitution-charge

[font size="8"]Seth Rich: Origins Of A Conspiracy Theory
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We’re going to do something a bit different for this entry. It turns out that… conspiracy theories are bullshit! If you’re shocked by this revelation, you’re in the wrong place, people. Yeah I love that one guy in the back who yells out “WOOOOOOOOOO!!!”. And one conspiracy theory that was being peddled by… *drum roll* Russian meme makers!!! Yes, Seth Rich was a Russian hit job! It was such pure, unbridled, unfiltered bullshit that even Fox News *AND* Alex Jones were forced to apologize for how much bullshit it was (see: Top 10 #3-8 ), and whew, it was quite the steaming pile. But you know what? It worked! It set out to do exactly what it was designed to do – turn the populace against the DNC. And the right wing media bought it hook, like and sinker.

In the summer of 2016, Russian intelligence agents secretly planted a fake report claiming that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was gunned down by a squad of assassins working for Hillary Clinton, giving rise to a notorious conspiracy theory that captivated conservative activists and was later promoted from inside President Trump’s White House, a Yahoo News investigation has found.

Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, first circulated a phony “bulletin” — disguised to read as a real intelligence report —about the alleged murder of the former DNC staffer on July 13, 2016, according to the U.S. federal prosecutor who was in charge of the Rich case. That was just three days after Rich, 27, was killed in what police believed was a botched robbery while walking home to his group house in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C., about 30 blocks north of the Capitol.

The purported details in the SVR account seemed improbable on their face: that Rich, a data director in the DNC’s voter protection division, was on his way to alert the FBI to corrupt dealings by Clinton when he was slain in the early hours of a Sunday morning by the former secretary of state’s hit squad.

Yet in a graphic example of how fake news infects the internet, those precise details popped up the same day on an obscure website, whatdoesitmean.com, that is a frequent vehicle for Russian propaganda. The website’s article, which attributed its claims to “Russian intelligence,” was the first known instance of Rich’s murder being publicly linked to a political conspiracy.
https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-the-true-origins-of-the-seth-rich-conspiracy-a-yahoo-news-investigation-100000831.html

Damn right, Bill Nye!!! And it’s a huge, steaming load of bullshit! And come on, we should know better that anything cooked up in the festering boil of the internet known as 4chan is going to be a huge, steaming load. So how did it go from the bottom of the barrel of the internet all the way to mass media and eventually the White House? Well let’s follow the shit train shall we? Worst train ever, by the way.

#HisNameWasSethRich and, no, he did not leak stolen DNC info to Wikileaks. A new report shows how Russian military intelligence fueled a conspiracy around the unsolved 2016 murder of the Democratic National Committee staffer, fooling right-wing talk show hosts, journalists, former NSA and CIA officials — to the point that Donald Trump ordered the head of CIA to investigate it.

The report, by investigative British journalist Duncan Campbell, was published on Monday by Computer Weekly, a professional IT online magazine. Campbell asserts that Russian military intelligence, the GRU, manipulated metadata in DNC files that it stole and then released to the public. The GRU’s goal in doing so: to give the false impression that the files were not hacked but copied from one computer to another by a DNC insider — Seth Rich — and then given to Wikileaks. The con job was good enough to persuade William Binney, a former technical director at the NSA, to conclude last year that the DNC files weren’t hacked at all, just stolen from the inside. Binney’s name and credibility helped to propel the conspiracy onto Sean Hannity’s show and then to the President and the head of the CIA.

To understand how the Seth Rich conspiracy made its way from the backwaters of 4Chan to Langley, you have to go back to June 2016. Cybersecurity company Crowdstrike had just reported that the DNC had been hacked and the culprit was likely Russian intelligence.
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/08/how-russian-hackers-amplified-seth-rich-conspiracy-until-it-reached-donald-trump-and-cia/150263/

Damn right! So this plot to frame the DNC for a crime it didn’t commit started in the bottom of the barrel of the internet and made its’ way all the way to the fucking CIA! Think of it like the guy who starts out bombing at the Chuckle Hut every night and then somehow makes his way to working full arenas despite saying only a few marginally funny observations. Oh wait, you don’t have to, that guy is Sebastian Manascalo. You know, this guy. So think of Seth Rich as the Sebastian Manascalo of conspiracy theories.

There’s been a lot of pointing and laughing at Hannity and Fox News in the past 24 hours. And it’s deserved. Hannity peddled this conspiracy for almost a year after Rich’s death, though eventually retired the gimmick — reluctantly — some time after Fox News retracted a story on the theory after sourcing fell apart.

But to say Fox News got tricked by Russian trolls, like this GQ headline serves up, is just wrong. Or, at least, it misses the point. Hannity didn’t have the rug pulled out from under him by some foreign trickster hiding behind a screen in a Moscow. He openly peddled a conspiracy without anything to base it on, and does so regularly. This is the world he lives in and the language he speaks.

Look no further than the recently released text exchanges between Hannity and Paul Manafort, which were made public by a federal court during the trial of Trump’s former campaign chairman (of which I read all 56 pages, because I’m a masochist with too much time on his hands).

Here’s one literal word salad the Fox News host threw Manafort’s way: “HRC, E-mails, Obstruction, Destroying emails, bleach bit, devices no sim cards, Uranium one, Ukraine interference… Intel Leaks Unmasking Potus conversations leaked. My God.”
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/enterthefray/la-ol-seth-rich-conspiracy-fox-news-20190710-story.html

That’s about putting it mildly. There’s a lot speculating that this theory of pre-meditated murder was the inspiration for tipping the election in favor of Donald Trump. But as we’ve seen, the bullshit meter is in fact a sliding scale. With one extreme end of the bullshit meter being Pizzagate, and the other extreme end being an actual pile of bullshit. Seth Rich is… somewhere in the middle.

It was one of the first prominent “fake news” conspiracy theories to metastasize from Internet rumor all the way to the White House: In the summer of 2016, stories began to circulate in various online forums that Seth Rich, a fairly low-level Democratic National Committee staffer who died in July of that year, wasn’t the victim of a botched robbery at all, but had actually been assassinated by a contract killer working for Hillary Clinton. Rich, the theory went, was actually the secret source who had leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks—a theory that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared to lend credence to when he offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the identity of Rich’s killer or killers. “Our sources take risks,” he said, even though the DNC emails were actually given to WikiLeaks days after Rich’s death.

As Reddit users, denizens of 4chan forums and even Fox News hosts such as Sean Hannity spread versions of this theory, suspicion arose that there were shadowy forces trying to promote the loony-sounding conspiracy. But it wasn’t clear who exactly these forces were, or what their intentions might be. On Tuesday, Yahoo News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff announced that he had tracked down the original source of the theory: A fake report concocted by the Russian intelligence agency SVR (short for Sluzhba vneshney razvedki Rossiyskoy Federatsii), a unit of the former KGB. The phony “bulletin,” designed to look like an authentic intelligence report, was released just three days after Rich’s death, Isikoff writes.

The idea that the Rich conspiracy theory was distributed by agents acting on behalf of the Russian government is not a new one. When information started to come out about the activities of the so-called Internet Research Agency during the 2016 election—which engaged in a sustained campaign of disinformation and outright propaganda on Facebook and other platforms—the Seth Rich assassination theory turned out to be one of the many pieces of fakery the IRA distributed as a way of destabilizing the Clinton campaign. But the agency was a privately run, arm’s-length entity (albeit one run by a close associate of Russian president Vladimir Putin). Until Isikoff’s report, it was not clear that this conspiracy theory originated from the highest levels of Russian intelligence itself.
https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/seth-rich-conspiracy-theory.php

[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Now Mr. President, time to get up in front of the class and explain what you did wrong. You knew inviting ultra far right wing personalities to the White House to complain about social media being big meanie heads would end very badly for you, didn’t you? Yes, he invited members of the ultra far right wing media to the White House, because he’s a dick. And it ended about as well as you could have expected, because, well, they’re dicks. So who was involved in this shindig? And how well did it go and who was shouting at who? Well, these are the questions that we will be answering.

A conspiracy theorist, a meme creator and a plagiarist. Those are just some of the eyebrow raising attendees who will descend on the White House on Thursday for an event that will likely become a forum for airing claims of anti-conservative social media bias.

President Trump is calling it a "social media summit," but the White House did not extend invites to representatives from Facebook or Twitter. Instead, the White House has invited its political allies to the event.

In addition to inviting leaders from traditional conservative think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation and Claremont Institute, the White House has requested the presence of far-right internet personalities and trolls, some of whom have pushed conspiracy theories, lies and misinformation.

It's perhaps the clearest example yet of President Trump legitimizing fringe political allies.

The White House has repeatedly declined to release a list people it expects to attend, but some of the recipients have turned to social media to boast about being invited.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/10/tech/white-house-social-media-summit/index.html

So if you haven’t noticed our media is slowly being replaced with meme creators and Twitter posters… hey wait a minute, we’ve been doing that since before it was cool! Where’s our invite? Oh yeah we do this thing at the Wednesday 2:00 crowd, you know – prime time audience! So stop me if you’ve heard this one before – a conspiracy theorist, a meme creator, and a noted Neo Nazi walk into a bar… Well you can come up with your own punchline but there’s no denying Trump is trying to destroy the traditional media. So what did they cover? Well everything from Trump’s hair to the horrors of Democratic socialism!

President Donald Trump stood before political allies and online personalities at the White House on Thursday to talk about social media bias, but he also wanted people to know: Some 2020 Democratic candidates might be supporting communism, a certain celebrity tanked “The Apprentice” after Trump left the show, and the president's hair is “real."

Throughout the afternoon summit, Trump delivered quotes that just as easily could have come from his ranging Twitter feed.
On tweeting:

“I call Twitter a typewriter, that’s what I really call Twitter. Because it goes onto Facebook automatically and it goes onto Instagram. And it goes onto television. More so Fox than it does CNN.”

“I’m actually a good speller.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/11/from-his-spelling-skills-to-his-real-hair-trump-goes-on-a-riff-at-social-media-summit-1410433

That is a good question! But Trump is a good speller, really? The guy who brought us hamburders and Covfefe is a good speller? Right, and I’m Elvis. And I don’t think he knows that whatever brain fart he puts on social media, everyone can see, right? Well of course, actual journalists weren’t invited and had to sit outside the doors.

The White House is holding a closed-door social media summit on Thursday that’s short on social media companies and long on fringe conservative voices that back up President Donald Trump’s claims of being silenced online.

While Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. and other internet platforms weren’t invited, several presidential fans, provocateurs, leaders of conservative groups, media figures, and lawmakers have said they’re going -- including some who’ve faced allegations of racism and antisemitism, trolling and conspiracy theories.

“The White House will be hosting a very big and very important Social Media Summit today,” Trump said Thursday on Twitter. “Would I have become President without Social Media? Yes (probably)!”

Trump is scheduled to address the gathering, which was billed by the White House as a way to “bring together digital leaders for a robust conversation on the opportunities and challenges of today’s online environment.” But the confirmed attendees are primarily conservative tech critics who echo Trump’s own complaints that social media systematically silences conservative voices.
https://fortune.com/2019/07/11/white-house-social-media-summit-guests/

Oh and the after party was a bit of what one might call a “shit show”. Yes, Trump held a press conference in which he gave one of his inane ramblings and it ended with the moron brigade shouting at actual journalists. So you could say… mission accomplished?

A scuffle appeared to break out Thursday in the Rose Garden between far-right influencers and members of the White House press corps after President Trump held a news conference.

New York Times reporter Katie Rogers posted a video the scene, showing former White House official and conservative pundit Sebastian Gorka calling someone a “punk.” Someone off camera could be heard saying Gorka could kick a reporter’s “punk ass.”

A number of right-wing influencers attended Trump’s Rose Garden event, where he announced an executive order to obtain citizenship information about people living in the U.S.

Before announcing his executive order, Trump hosted the right-wing influencers at a social media summit at the White House before the presser.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-press-conference-scuffle-gorka

Yeah, get a bunch of Trump loving conspiracy theorists in a room with actual journalists and you’re going to see a fight break out. It’s inevitable, you know like getting food poisoning after eating a tuna salad sandwich at the gas station. You knew it was bad going in, and it’s going to be a hell of a lot worse coming out. But you were so hungry that that was the only thing available! But guess what? They’re taking the fight to Google, Facebook and Twitter themselves! You know, fool me once, shame on you, fool me a thousand times and you’re a conspiracy theorist!

If anything was discernible from the White House’s social media summit today, it was that President Donald Trump intends to bring representatives from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google to the West Wing to talk about platform bias at some point in the future. When exactly? It’s not clear.

Right-wing figures and meme creators including Charlie Kirk, James O’Keefe, the pseudonymous Carpe Donktum, and the infamous duo Diamond and Silk, all came to the White House to promote their argument that conservative viewpoints are being censored on social media platforms. For nearly an hour, the president rambled about his follower counts and Twitter engagement. In between the riffing, he announced plans to begin “inviting the heads of social media companies to the White House over the next month.”

Twitter, Facebook, and Google all declined to comment on the proposed meeting.

From the president’s comments, it appears that meetings with social media representatives will happen separately.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/11/20690992/trump-social-media-summit-facebook-google-twitter

[font size="8"]We’re All Gonna Die
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Hey everyone guess what? We’re all gonna die!!!! Yeah, the sooner we face that reality, the better off we’re going to be. But it’s not going to be in a horrible terrorist attack. The real terror is coming from Mother Nature. Yeah, she can be quite the cruel mistress! As was demonstrated on the July 4th weekend, when my home state of California was ripped a new asshole by a pair of devastating earthquakes. And while there were no casualties (this time), we need to be prepared for the worst, and cue the horror music!

To live in California is to make a wary peace with an existential dichotomy: breathtaking weather, astounding natural beauty, bounteous food and wine, stimulating multiculturalism and … the possibility of imminent, unpredictable disaster. Depending on where we live, Californians are just one spark, one mudslide, or, yes, one earthquake away from severe destruction—a reality that can be met with fatalism, fear, or some combination of both, but one that is omnipresent, if surprisingly easy to forget.

I can’t pretend it’s quite like living in Israel in the midst of an intifada, or in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, but there is nevertheless a low-grade febrile uncertainty amid the routines of daily life here. When your 100-year-old house shifts and groans with a sound like the straining timbers of a wooden vessel under sail—as ours did the other day—it’s hard not to feel a certain nauseated intimation of mortality.

Twenty years ago, when I first lived in Southern California as the Los Angeles bureau chief of The New York Times, I took the prospect of an earthquake very seriously indeed. The paper’s planning assumed that, in the event of “The Big One,” either the L.A. or San Francisco bureau might be leveled or incapacitated, so I had to be prepared to go to work on a moment’s notice, and perhaps a long way away. I’d been equipped with a satellite phone the size of a suitcase, which I was to power from a car battery using an electric inverter, and then aim skyward at just the right trajectory to establish communications with New York. (I was sure I’d never be able to make it work.) We were urged to keep rolls of quarters on hand because pay telephones would be the first restored to service. (Now, of course, finding a payphone would be next to impossible.)
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/existential-dichotomy-living-california/593902/

Oh come on, we’ve been through worse! A 6.4 is just a scratch! A 7.1 is a flesh wound. If you live in California, if you’re not experiencing earthquakes, we’ve got fires, floods, mudslides, extreme heat, and the occasional police riot for your enjoyment. Wait did I say enjoyment? Nobody enjoys those things! Just how bad was the state rocked by these earthquakes? And plus not all droughts are bad, California was in an earthquake drought! But consider this the calm before the storm!

For some, this year’s Fourth of July was a day of barbeques, celebration with family and fireworks. For residents of Ridgecrest, northeast of Los Angeles, it was a day of discomfort and fear after an earthquake — the largest in decades — resulted in power outages and damaged infrastructure and homes. The same region was rattled by an even larger earthquake the next day.

The two earthquakes — with magnitudes of 6.4 and 7.1 — jolted southern California and have policymakers and scientists concerned over what could follow.

The last time there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 was on October 16, 1999 in southern California, according to The Inquirer. Many fear that the thousands of aftershocks (smaller earthquakes that occur after the largest earthquake sequence) projected to follow July’s two major earthquakes could reach magnitudes of five and up.

“Those earthquakes [could] set off lots of other earthquakes [aftershocks],” said geophysics professor Greg Beroza. “There is a small chance that some of these aftershocks could be big. [The] official probabilities [will] change with time.”
https://www.stanforddaily.com/2019/07/15/recent-earthquakes-could-mark-end-of-california-earthquake-drought-professors-say/

Oh calm down, we’re not gonna die! And come on, if the earthquakes don’t kill us, maybe our improper disposal of nuclear waste will! That’s right, the earthquake ripple from the epicenter outside of Bakersfield was felt as far away as Las Vegas, where there’s a landfill where we dispose of our nuclear waste. Which, you know, storing it there was relatively harmless. Until now!

Recent California earthquakes that rattled Las Vegas have shaken up arguments on both sides of a stalled federal plan to entomb nuclear waste beneath a long-studied site in southern Nevada.

Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso said this week his legislation to jump-start the process to open the Yucca Mountain project is based on studies that take seismic activity into account, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported .

Spent nuclear reactor fuel is currently stored at 121 sites in 35 states, and Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the earthquakes showed the need to move spent radioactive waste from places where it is currently stored above ground to a more secure repository.

“This doesn’t change my view,” Barrasso said. “We need to find a permanent location for the storage of nuclear waste. I think it’s much safer in Yucca Mountain than in a hundred different locations.”
https://ktla.com/2019/07/13/ridgecrest-quakes-shake-up-arguments-in-nevada-about-the-need-to-move-radioactive-waste/

And hey, I, for one, welcome our new radioactive squirrel overlords! Because that’s one of those things where you gotta ask “what could possibly go wrong?”. Well a whole hell of a lot. But if you’re concerned about earthquakes, maybe consider the currently safest place in California – Sacramento. Yes, Sacramento so far has been immune from even the biggest and most devastating earthquakes California has ever seen.

Reporting from Sacramento —

Want to be safe from earthquakes in California? You’d need to endure summer scorchers, winter flood threats and full-time politicians. But temblors don’t threaten people living in Sacramento.

In the state capital — River City, Sacratomato, City of Trees — earthquakes are seen only on TV. Here, you’ll escape the Big One.

“Sacramento is one of the safer places,” acting State Geologist Tim McCrink says. “We don’t have that many active faults in the area.”

In fact, Sacramento — based on historical records and fault maps — is unquestionably the safest earthquake refuge among all of California’s major metropolitan areas.

The most unsafe? You already know.

“The worst places are the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles,” McCrink says. “They’ve got most of the faults.”
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-skelton-earthquake-safety-cities-20190715-story.html

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Student Loan Crisis
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has made the student loan crisis the center of his 2020 campaign for president of the United States. Sanders and Warren have both made the loan crisis the underlying issue of their respective campaigns, but how do they plan to fix it? And just how broken is the system that puts new graduates under a gigantic mountain of absolutely crushing debt? Well, there’s plenty of reasons how the system got this bad. If you look at right wing media, they’re blaming everything from the parents to Obamacare, and in reality none of these things are fueling the crisis.

With the growth in student loans continuing to soar, politicians and borrowers struggling with an issue that’s become both a financial and political problem.

Presidential candidates are proposing to cancel student debt and make public college free, state legislators are cracking down on student-loan companies and, recently, government agencies have offered another approach — teaching students and borrowers more about finances.

The Treasury Department recommended earlier this month that colleges should require students to take financial-literacy courses and representatives from the Department of Education told a group of financial-aid professionals this week that the agency is planning to add robust financial literacy tools to the app students can use to apply for financial aid and manage their student loans.

These proposals come after years of colleges across the country experimenting with ways to teach their students good financial habits and provide them with more information about their loans. The idea behind these efforts is to help students manage their finances while they’re in school and once they graduate.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-financial-education-wont-solve-the-15-trillion-student-loan-crisis-2019-06-27

So really you can blame anything you want but in reality it’s a combination of America’s extremely loose business regulation laws, out of control loan interest rates, stagnant wages, and very slim chances of employment once you graduate. In fact if you want to see out of control debt at work, look no further than the state of Florida. Florida has a plan to do something about it, but then again this is Florida we are talking about here.

In the U.S., 43 million people carry school debt totaling more than $1.4 trillion. Student loans are the second-highest debt category behind mortgages. In Florida, 2.4 million Floridians owe $85.5 billion.

That’s largely because tuition hikes have outpaced wage increases and inflation. Between 2006 and 2016, the price of college tuition and fees increased 61 percent, compared with 21 percent for other items, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Many students rely on loans to pay tuition bills and other college expenses. Federal Judge Michael Williamson said he often asks young attorneys whether they have student debt, and “everyone raises their hand.”

“That didn’t exist when I went to law school," said Williamson, the chief bankruptcy judge for the Middle District of Florida, who graduated from Georgetown University’s program in 1976.
[Popular on OrlandoSentinel.com] Vera Asian to bring ‘sushi robot’ to Orlando’s Creative Village »

Williamson, who signed the order outlining the program, described the country’s debt crisis as “tragic.”
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-bankruptcy-student-loans-20190715-aeti72wcovhuzfczhngeslmstq-story.html

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Yes, it needs to be fixed, but what can be done? Well, private corporations – many of which are blamed for causing this mess – are coming up with unique and innovative ways to fix it. One such solution is to stop risk free loans. And the risk part is what many are blaming for this crisis as it has created a scenario where interest rates are in the double digits meaning that there’s a good possibility they will never be paid back. So let’s cancel it entirely.

After snowballing for a generation, the student-loan crisis has taken center stage in the 2020 race to the White House, at least for Democratic contenders. Candidates are promising everything from tuition-free college to debt forgiveness.

Even President Donald Trump has considered capping payments at 12.5 percent of discretionary income and forgiving loans when they reach 15 years.

None of these proposals, however, strikes at the root: no-questions-asked loans backed by the federal government. Student loans as an entitlement is a dogma harming both the nation and the recipients. Doubling down will enrich bloated university administrations, but it will only make the crisis worse—even if the cost is buried in outlandish federal deficits.

If we ignore the injustice to those who have paid or are paying their loans studiously, the federal government is still in no position to bail out a $1.56 trillion combined debt load, and that doesn’t include future loans. About 44.7 million Americans hold a federal student loan, and roughly half are paying back. One third are in default, deferment, or forbearance, and the remainder are still in school.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/a-solution-to-the-student-loan-crisis-no-more-risk-free-loans_3002623.html

But again while we can play the blame game and blame literally everyone but the 800 pound gorilla in the room, the proposals by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren both highlight the real problem: our extremely loose corporate lax of corporate regulations that got us into this mess. Remember – capitalism is not the problem. It’s the deregulation of capitalism that is the problem.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who helped create the federal agency that oversees student loan servicers, has come out in favor of a bill that would let Massachusetts institute its own laws to govern the industry.

Warren last week wrote a letter to the chairs of the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure in support of a bill filed by Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, and Rep. Natalie Higgins, D-Leominster, to create a “student loan bill of rights” and let the state license and regulate student loan servicers.

Warren, a candidate for president in 2020, wrote in the letter that students today are “drowning in student loan debt.”

“Student loan servicing companies worsen this crisis by making it harder and harder for struggling student loan borrowers to stay afloat,” she wrote.

Warren, as a Harvard Law School professor, was instrumental in creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under President Barack Obama. The CFPB regulates industries including debt collection, and it has an ombudsman to handle complaints related to student loans.
https://www.masslive.com/politics/2019/07/us-sen-elizabeth-warren-supports-massachusetts-bill-to-regulate-student-loan-servicers.html

That’s it this week for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.

My fair congregation!!! You know that our father GAWD is a very finicky being, and has an extremely volatile temper. But with disasters in California, Texas, and New Orleans, can we all agree that GAWD is not happy? Is he in his RIGHT to take his anger out on the populace??? Because apparently our GAWD loves him some fire and brimstone punishment. And it’s not just your grandparents’ fire and brimstone punishment, he’s out to eviscerate Sodom & Gammorah. Again. Because his wrath and vengeance and fury shall not be challenged! For if you do challenge HIM, then you too shall not see the light of day, for it says so in our good book!!

End Times pastor Perry Stone hosted a “Prophetic Summit” at his church in Cleveland, Tennessee, earlier this year, where he prophesied that America will be struck by a tsunami as punishment from God for allowing legal abortion.

“I’m standing here at [Omega Center International], at this year, at a prophetic summit, to make a prediction I am not afraid of,” Stone proclaimed. “One day, you will go back to this DVD and some of you will go back to this television program, and you will say, ‘Perry Stone said it on a Sunday morning, the last night of the prophetic summit.'”

“I am here to announce to you that unless there is true repentance, unless the corporations in America quit supporting pro-abortion mills, unless the American people and their politicians begin to understand that life is sacred from the beginning,” he warned, “we will experience a judgment of water in the United States of America.”

Stone said the judgment will come through “extreme flooding” and tsunamis in which entire towns are wiped out

“I have seen in the spirit,” Stone claimed, “it was an ocean and they were surfing and we were screaming, ‘Get out of the water.’ I saw the wave coming way behind them. Nobody paid attention; they laughed, they mocked. And all of a sudden, the wave came in and the next picture—just like a movie—was people in mud whose hands were sticking out where they had tried to crawl, thousands of people on a beach, lying in mud.”

“God wants to be merciful,” Stone said, “but, at the same time, he cannot allow us to break laws that ancient nations broke and were judged for breaking. So therefore, at some point, if we don’t turn to him, we have to experience the same thing.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/perry-stone-god-will-strike-america-with-tsunamis-as-punishment-for-abortion/

Yes, dare I say that the good LAWRD is pissed? He is angry, my fair congregation. He is angry and willing to take his wrath out on the populace. But why? Did GAWD not get laid again? But GAWD doesn’t just take his wrath out on the populace by any old means, he prefers him some quick and devastating destruction that gets results!

On last night’s episode of his “The MC Files” program, right-wing commentator and radical conspiracy theorist Chris McDonald declared that the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein, the recent earthquakes in California, and the flooding that hit Washington, D.C., were all caused by the speech that President Trump delivered during the “Salute to America” Independence Day celebration on the National Mall.

“Something shifted in the spirit realm on Thursday, on July the 4th,” McDonald said. “Our president shook the heavenlies with that speech. Something shifted over D.C.and two earthquakes, a flood now in D.C., and this Epstein thing; something is astir in the heavenlies over this nation right now.”

McDonald’s guest, fellow radical right-wing conspiracy theorist and so-called “firefighter prophet” Mark Taylor, agreed, claiming that Epstein’s arrest and the upcoming sentencing of drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán will reveal information that “could literally take down most of D.C.”

“This is not a coincidence that all of this stuff is happening at the same time,” Taylor said. “We now have flooding in Washington, D.C., so what is God trying to say to us right here, prophetically? God is saying, ‘Look, the storm is upon us. It’s here right now.’ And so the flooding is taking place, the old is being washed away and the new is being ushered in. There is a cleansing that is taking place in Washington, D.C., right now.”

Taylor also suggested that the earthquakes in California may not have actually been earthquakes at all, but were rather shakings caused by military operations being carried out against deep underground bases used by pedophiles to traffic, molest, and sacrifice children.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/chris-mcdonald-floods-earthquakes-and-epstein-arrest-were-caused-by-trumps-july-4-speech/

You do know that earthquake faultlines have been around since the dawn of time, right, Mark? They are not some secret underground military bases. I mean really, you have to be a special level of stupid to believe something that off the wall, batshit crazy! Can I get an amen??? And by the way, how great is our gospel choir? Let’s give it up for them!! And if you think it doesn’t get any weirder, oh no, my fair congregation you are wrong! And just why would the almighty GAWD be taking wrath out on one state for the actions of another?

Mark Taylor, a radical right-wing conspiracy theorist and so-called “firefighter prophet,” appeared on the “Up Front In The Prophetic” radio program yesterday, where he declared that the tropical storm that is forming in the Gulf of Mexico is man-made and was created to punish the state of Georgia for recently passing a radical anti-choice “heartbeat bill.”

A trough of low pressure that has been sitting over Georgia is likely to strengthen into Hurricane Barry and is expected to strike Louisiana this weekend. Taylor, who has repeatedly asserted that the Illuminati creates and controls the weather, said it is “retaliation for the Georgia heartbeat bill.”

“That’s the first thing that comes to mind,” he said, “because when Roe v. Wade comes down, where is [the issue] going to go? It is going to go to the states. And you have states out there like Georgia—and there are a couple of others out there—that have gone as far as making this stuff illegal for abortion. You’ve got to remember, what is abortion? The sacrificing of kids. What does that sacrifice do? Abortion is the food source for Baal; Baal being the strongman over America. That’s what empowers Baal. You’re taking Baal’s food source and he’s not liking it, so this is retaliation from the enemy that I would say is from that heartbeat bill.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mark-taylor-hurricane-expected-to-strike-louisiana-is-punishment-for-georgias-heartbeat-bill/

That folks, is the wrath of the almighty GAWD at work! Mass has ended, may you go in peace… should you survive the wrath of the ALMIGHTY!!! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Taking Sides In A Boycott
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We may have officially beaten our own dead horse here. Now hear me out… we talk a lot about boycotts on both sides of the argument. We’ve even found the one company that has escaped many a boycott, and that’s Starbucks. They are the one company that is seemingly immune to boycotts! But then Nike came along and said “hold my beer!”. Now there’s a third company that you can add to the list: Home Depot. Which recently found itself at the head of yet *ANOTEHR* boycott – this time from Trump haters who found out that their billionaire founder donated a metric fuck ton of money to Trump’s campaign in 2016, and may do it again in 2020.

Some Home Depot shoppers are calling for a boycott of the retailer after billionaire co-founder Bernie Marcus pledged to donate to President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, reports Business Insider.

Marcus is an active supporter of Trump’s, contributing $7 million to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and $7.9 million to Republican candidates, committees, and PACs in the 2018 midterms (outspending any other Republican-endorsing private citizen in the latter election cycle), according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In June, Marcus told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he will donate more of his vast wealth — estimated at $4.55 billion — to Trump’s reelection effort, saying of Trump’s presidency, “I would say that we are better off today than we were eight years ago or six years ago.”

The hashtag #BoycottHomeDepot picked up steam on Twitter on June 30, the same day the AJC story published and three days after Marcus appeared on Fox News to tell anchor Neil Cavuto, “Democrats, use your stupid brains. You don’t have any brains.”

Boycotters, reacting to one or both of Marcus’s press hits, vowed on Twitter to cut up their Home Depot cards and instead shop at competitors like Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, and Menards. Others took up the issue with one of Home Depot’s most visible advertisers: HGTV. Home Depot sells HGTV Magazine, runs ads on HGTV, and enters paid partnerships with HGTV, with the network running spots “brought to you by Home Depot” and promoting Home Depot’s online tools.
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/7/11/20690382/home-depot-boycott-trump-bernie-marcus

And hey since you know that it affects Trump directly, you just know he had to respond. Of course he sides with Home Depot and calls the people planning the boycott “unhinged and crazy”. Yeah we’re the unhinged and crazy ones? We’re planning not to go to a store. You’re the ones lighting your shoes on fire and throwing your Keurigs out the window. Who are the unhinged crazy ones again? Let’s think about this Donny.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted “the radical left” for using economic boycotts as a political tactic despite his own long history of supporting such strategies.

The president was responding to recent calls for a boycott of Home Depot because of the financial support that retired co-founder Bernie Marcus has shown for him. Marcus said last month he will back Trump in the 2020 election.

“More and more the Radical Left is using Commerce to hurt their 'Enemy.' They put out the name of a store, brand or company, and ask their so-called followers not to do business there,” Trump wrote Tuesday night in the first of three-part tweet.

“They don’t care who gets hurt, but also don’t understand that two can play that game!“

Trump wrapped up his statement with: “Fight for Bernie Marcus and Home Depot!“

The president’s rhetoric contrasted sharply with his call last month for his supporters to boycott AT&T for political reasons.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/09/trump-home-depot-boycott-1404870

Hey Trump, in one post you LITERALLY called for people to boycott AT&T and now you’re mad at people exercising their right to boycott? Wow, you’re stupid. So if Trump does it, it’s for the people, but if democrats do it, they’re unhinged, deranged, and totally crazy. Shouldn’t we be immune to Trump’s childish bullying by now? No, well if you think Trump’s explanation was terrible, wait until you see Home Depot’s!

Facing a backlash, Atlanta-based Home Depot sought to distance itself from billionaire co-founder Bernie Marcus after he pledged to back President Trump’s bid for re-election in 2020.

Calls to boycott the retailer took off this week on social media as news spread that Marcus told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution late last month that he plans to support Trump’s bid for another term.

“If you plan on buying a hammer, wood, or ANY home improvement items from Home Depot, you may as well send donations DIRECTLY to trump’s 2020 campaign,” read one tweet under the hashtag #BoycottHomeDepot.

Home Depot spokeswoman Margaret Smith said in a statement to NPR that Marcus retired more than a decade ago and is not speaking on behalf of the company. “In fact, as a standard practice, the company does not endorse Presidential candidates,” she said.
https://www.wabe.org/home-depot-responds-to-calls-for-boycott-over-co-founders-support-for-trump/

Plot twist!!!! Bet you thought that I was going to say that Bernie Marcus was going to say some batshit crazy thing about the left, weren’t you? And you think you’re so smart! Well, we are on a college tour so I would expect plenty of smart people in attendance! And here’s why you shouldn’t take sides in a boycott – which ever side Trump takes in said boycott, probably the wrong side.

Ever since Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus said that he will donate some of his multi-billion dollar fortune to President Trump's 2020 re-election effort, leftists have been vowing to boycott his home improvement empire. In response to this insanity, President Trump publicly praised Marcus for being a "great, patriotic, and charitable man" on Twitter.

"A truly great, patriotic & charitable man, Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot who, at the age of 90, is coming under attack by the Radical Left Democrats with one of their often used weapons," Trump tweeted on Tuesday night, according to Fox Business. "They don’t want people to shop at those GREAT stores because he contributed to your favorite President, me!"

"These people are vicious and totally crazed, but remember, there are far more great people (‘Deplorables’) in this country, than bad. Do to them what they do to you," he continued. "Fight for Bernie Marcus and Home Depot!"

The controversy erupted in late June when Marcus announced that he will be supporting President Trump's re-election while also praising his "businessman’s common sense approach to most things." He did, however, criticize the president's communication skills by taking on every battle.

"[Trump’s] got a businessman’s common sense approach to most things," Marcus said. "Now, do I agree with every move that he makes? No, I don’t. But the truth is he has produced more than anybody else. He has. If we look at this country, I would say that we are better off today than we were eight years ago or six years ago."
https://www.dailywire.com/news/49340/trump-praises-home-depot-co-founder-response-paul-bois

[font size="8"]UFO Scouting: How Is This Still A Thing?
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It’s time once again to ask:

This week – UFO scouting. How is this still a thing? Last week a group with about 500,000 subscribers on Facebook announced a plan to storm the top secret base outside of Las Vegas, Nevada known as Area 51 searching for signs of extra terrestrial life. Yes, this is still a thing. And yes, this is still a thing after the CIA famously declassified a number of documents back in 2013 showing a lot of the myths surrounding Area 51 were in fact, a steaming load of bullshit. But let’s not forget that we are currently living in the post information age, where facts don’t matter and only outrage does. So just how outraged are people about the possibility that extraterrestrial life exists in the base made famous by conspiracy theorists and tin foil hat enthusiasts?

If you've ever wondered whether we're alone in the galaxy, you're no space oddity.

More than 379,000 people have signed on to a Facebook event pledging to raid Area 51 in southern Nevada in an effort to "see them aliens." An additional 396,000 respondents marked themselves as "interested" on the event page as of Thursday night.

"If we [N]aruto run, we can move faster than their bullets," the event description says, making a humorous reference to a Japanese manga character known for running with his arms stretched out backward and his head forward.

The page invites respondents to convene Sept. 20 at the Area 51 Alien Center, a combination diner, convenience store and brothel in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, about 90 miles from Las Vegas.

Though the event is months away, social media users have already begun to speculate about what might be inside the highly classified Air Force facility in the Nevada desert.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/11/area-51-raid-facebook-event-see-them-aliens/1711343001/

Yes, somewhere between 200,000 – 500,000 people are planning on storming Area 51 to look for signs of alien life. But their rationality surprisingly is not wrong – if 250,000 people show up, they can’t all be arrested! It’s true, we heard a guy on TV say that once. And by the way if you are one of those people who plan on storming Area 51, maybe don’t announce your plans 2 months in advance, because it gives the military time to get ready.

They've got a plan to raid Area 51 and "see them aliens." But what will happen if they actually do it?

Over one million people have signed up to a joke Facebook event, calling on users to meet at Area 51, the US Air Force base in Nevada that's long been a source of alien conspiracy theories, in September.
"If we Naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets," the page says, referencing the Japanese manga-inspired running style with arms outstretched backwards and heads forward. "Let's see them aliens."

A pinned post on the page attempts to cover its bases, reading "Hello US government, this is a joke, and I do not actually intend to go ahead with this plan. I just thought it would be funny and get me some thumbsy uppies on the internet." But as the event has gained traction -- inspiring dozens of memes and jokes -- the profile of the situation has risen, so much so that the US Air Force has been made aware of the potential impending raid.

And they're not as lighthearted about the situation as folks on the internet are.

"[Area 51] is an open training range for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces," a spokeswoman told The Washington Post. "The U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/15/us/area-51-military-warning-trnd/index.html

Yeah maybe the message that they’re sending is “don’t fuck with the military”. Do you hear that alien hunters? Do you? Well they didn’t get that memo. They also didn’t get the memo about how stupid their plan actually is and got mocked incessantly for it. So does the group still plan to go through this very poorly thought out plan? Probably.

Around 400 thousand people have marked "going" on a Facebook event that aims to "storm" Area 51 of United States Air Force and "see them aliens" while more than 411 thousand others from all over the world are interested in the event.

Area 51 is a highly classified facility of Edwards Air Force Base, within the Nevada Test and Training Range. The facility is long subjected to conspiracy theories about aliens and UFOs being stored there, and the theories only get stronger with the high-level of secrecy being maintained by the authorities about the facility.

The Facebook event, which is scheduled for September 20, has become a rage among people catching the attention of hundreds of thousands in just a matter of a few days and is now trending on other social media platforms as well. Hilarious memes are lightening the mood while also giving a reality check to many as the potential "raid" on Area 51 might not be possible.
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/humor/594918-area-51-hilarious-memes-about-planned-raid-for-aliens-go-viral

In fact this event was over a year in planning since Harvard researchers have spotted a comet hurling through space called “Oumuamua”. That reunited interests in scouting for aliens and the planned raid on Area 51. But is it a dumb idea? Yes. Will the military be ready for them? Absolutely. Really people, it’s just a comet. Not something that’s definitive proof of aliens existing. This is 2019 though, facts don’t matter, only outrage does.,

Extra-terrestrial beings have remained shrouded in controversy since the topic of 'other life' or 'other beings' except for all we know on earth being out there was ever thought of. Though so far, scientific evidence has so far, dismissed every theory of aliens existing. Except Oumuamua.

While the science behind aliens existing isn't exactly solid, 'we cannot rule out the possibility of life existing.' The last sentence is something conspiracy theorists will tell you. One particular place and term which remains shrouded in 'aliens are real' controversy is Area 51.

A quick Google search will tell you that this is the Internet's own conspiracy hot-spot, and it involves not just aliens but all kind of 'undercover secret-government cover ups.' One of the searches even includes lizard people.

Area 51 is, in reality, a United States Air Force facility located in Lincoln County, Nevada, the US which is a highly classified remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base, within the Nevada Test and Training Range. The fact that it is 'highly classified' is what makes it the subject of so much speculation
https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/more-than-8-lakh-people-are-planning-to-storm-area-51-in-usa-to-free-aliens-2227861.html

Except that it isn’t. So mistaking a comet and carrying out a poorly planned raid a heavily guaraded US military base. That’s enough to make you ask – UFO scouting:

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Oh come on, Athens, remember when conspiracy theories used to be about fun stuff like aliens and Bigfoot? Hey, we remember! And speaking of which - oh that’s right - it’s time for People Are Dumb!

Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. And I always love these stories because they are batshit crazy and I feel like they could happen to anybody. Well, really, anybody plus a heavy dose of crystal meth. I want to start with this story out of Clay County, Missouri. So if you’re a wanted criminal and you’re trying to hide from the cops. Well, in what seems like an outrageously cartoonish way that he was discovered by the cops. That’s right – he farted! And it was fart that seemed like it was something out of the movie Stepbrothers.

Some are calling it the fart heard round the world.

The viral, wacky story originates in Clay County, Missouri northeast of Kansas City where, according to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, a suspect’s loud fart gave away his position and allowed police to arrest him.

The unnamed, gassy suspect was wanted on a felony warrant for possession of a controlled substance.

“If you’ve got a felony warrant for your arrest, the cops are looking for you and you pass gas so loud it gives up your hiding spot, you’re definitely having a (poop emoji) day,” the department wrote on Facebook.

“We’ve gotta give props to Liberty Police Department for using their senses to sniff him out,” the post, which also includes the hashtag #ItHappened, reads.
https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/07/loud-fart-reveals-wanted-missouri-mans-hiding-spot-leads-to-arrest.html?utm_campaign=grandrapidspress_sf&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR09VyGvld6v4UIXzhkSwuSnX3dKJ-zUs5R_Xu_nbFyyjU1KFndNpY-m6QU

I love that even the cops were having some fun with this one. And speaking of dumb ways that people were found out by the cops, this next story is out of Guthrie, Oklahoma. And I have a lot of questions about this one. I get where they can get a rattlesnake and the Kentucky Deluxe… wait a minute, who the fuck drinks Kentucky Deluxe? I mean was Thunderbird too expensive? Anyway – where do you get uranium from? And what were they planning to do with it? Power the flux capacitor?

Two people were arrested after a traffic stop of a stolen car revealed the two had a rattlesnake, radioactive uranium, and an open bottle of Kentucky Deluxe.

Stephen Jennings is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, transporting an open container of liquor, operating a vehicle with a suspended license, and failure to carry security verification form. Rachael Rivera is charged with possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction.

The traffic stop was made at 11 a.m. in a Guthrie neighborhood because the tag was expired. Jennings was in the driver's seat, Rivera in the passenger seat, and in the backseat, a pet Timber rattlesnake in a terrarium.

At about the same time Jennings told officers he had a gun in console, police learned the Ford they were driving was reported stolen.
https://kfor.com/2019/07/10/logan-co-man-allegedly-driving-stolen-vehicle-filled-with-uranium-a-rattlesnake-and-kentucky-deluxe/?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=5d26b9080ca7240001cb0e8f&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

Yeah when you power this thing with ridiculously cheap Z-grade booze and enriched uranium, you’re gonna see some serious shit! A lot of stupid people and cops this week. For our next story we go to the land down under – Australia for this one. Yes, stupid people are not just limited to Florida, they are all around us! Well, if you’re just learning how to drive, maybe don’t tell the cops that you’re just blowing smoke – both literally and figuratively!

An allegedly stoned and unlicensed Melbourne teenager, accused of ramming a police car and breaking an officer's leg, has been granted bail.

Benjamin Saurini, 19, previously said he couldn't see the police vehicle because his car windows had fogged up from smoking cannabis after a session with friends on Friday night.

Saurini allegedly took off when he thought he was going to be "jumped" by officers on patrol, but panicked and side-swiped their car.

He is accused of pinning a senior constable against the car, breaking his leg.

Saurini allegedly read a news article about the injured police officer the following day and realised he was in trouble, dumping the car and removing its number plates.
https://7news.com.au/news/crime/bail-for-vic-teen-charged-with-ramming-cop-c-205385?utm_campaign=share-icons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&tid=1562877108634

Next up, we go to of course the Sunshine State, which never fails to disappoint and they always bring the crazy extra hard. And this one started out as what should have been a good deed but has a really ugly side to it, and it could end disastrously. Honestly, I really hope that this waitress takes these two to court and scores big time. Maybe the restaurant too.

A 24-year-old woman from upstate New York has been charged with grand theft in Florida, where authorities allege she used her boyfriend’s credit card to leave a $5,000 tip for a waitress who’d served her breakfast.

PEOPLE confirms the allegations against Serina Wolfe, 24, through online court records.

Upset with her boyfriend for refusing to pay for her return flight to New York, the criminal complaint alleges Wolfe and her boyfriend argued, leading him to put a hold on his credit card.

Not long after, the complaint states that he had the hold lifted, and Wolfe — who lives in Buffalo — allegedly used it to pay the bill for her meal the morning of June 27.

Wolfe allegedly left a $5,000 tip on a $55 bill, according to the complaint — or 10,000 percent.
https://people.com/crime/woman-allegedly-used-boyfriends-credit-card-leave-5000-tip-waitress-spite-him/

Hey I can’t get a flight home so let’s saddle him with some crippling debt! Really, this story can go straight to hell. Next up, dumb professors! Yes, that may be a first here for People Are Dumb. And this story takes place in Nova Scotia. Yes, that’s in Canada don’t you know? Well, this might be a very strange request and probably should get you fired for it.

A faculty member at Cape Breton University has been terminated for demanding sex, moose meat and lobster from a student who was struggling in his course in exchange for better grades.

In an emailed response, university spokeswoman Lenore Parsley didn’t answer questions about the firing, the nature of the offence, details about the employee’s position and whether there had been other complaints about the employee.

“Cape Breton University is committed to a safe and respectful campus for all of our community members,” Parsley said. “Any and all complaints follow a formal process, as indicated in our respectful campus policy.

“We won’t be commenting further.”

But the student who reported the instructor says the university told her two weeks ago that he was being fired, with the right to appeal.

She said she hadn’t been notified of any appeal as of Thursday.
https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/regional/cbu-instructor-fired-after-demanding-sex-moose-meat-and-lobster-for-better-grades-331851/

Ha ha, I love Lego Batman. Finally this week for People Are Dumb – dumb superheroes! Yes, Captain America went full Thor on an unsuspecting victim and I can’t imagine that ending well. At least the Hulk wasn’t there or things might have got really ugly.

A Virginia man wearing a Captain America t-shirt--and not a Thor model--was arrested Tuesday evening for striking two victims in the head with a hammer, police report.

John Jefferson Tuggle, 36, is facing a pair of felony charges in connection with an incident at a residence near his home in Clinchburg.

According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Tuggle “went into another room of the residence and retrieved a hammer," which he then used to hit “both victims in the head.”
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/assault/captain-america-hammer-729058

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Episode 1: The Almost-Rans
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Hey everyone! This is our official Top 10 voters’ guide for the 2020 MOTHER OF ELECTIONS TO END ALL ELECTIONS: THIS TIME IT’S PERSONAL!!! So what we decided to do for this segment is that there’s a whopping 24 candidates running to hopefully unseat Donald Trump in the 2020 election. And we wanted to give you our perspective on all 24 of the candidates running. Plus a few others in other local and regional elections that you need to know about thrown in for good measure and all the ups and downs, the poll numbers, and of course the precious 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College. And by the way, we are going to try and make this as unbiased as possible. Since this is our first week we’re going to tell you about the candidates that didn’t quite make it. The drop outs. But there’s already going to be a whole lot of candidates that are going to dropout before the election and things are already going to get ugly.

Swalwell had previously fueled speculation that he's dropping out of the race after canceling New Hampshire stops at the last minute and announcing a press conference for Monday afternoon, The Hill reports.

This would come three months to the day that Swalwell announced his candidacy for president on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He participated in the first round of presidential debates last month and in a notable exchange urged former Vice President Joe Biden to "pass the torch" to the next generation. Swalwell, who has been polling at 1 percent or below, had not yet secured a position in the second round of debates, as FiveThirtyEight noted. Asked in a post-debate interview about his low polling numbers, Swalwell responded that it's still "early" in the race.

Amid these reports on Monday, Swalwell replied to a tweet from The Washington Post's Dave Weigel, which noted that the rules for the third debate would likely result in many candidates not qualifying but that no one is complaining that the rules are rigged against Swalwell, with the "hands up" emoji.
https://theweek.com/speedreads/853325/el-chapo-gets-life-prison-what-judge-calls-overwhelming-evil

No no, no need to terror vomit just yet. Yes of course Eric Swalwell has said that he’s thinking about dropping out of the election. But let’s focus on why he’s running for a bit. Swalwell was the absolute biggest longshot don’t get us wrong but he definitely had good intentions of running for the highest office in the land.

SWALWELL BOWS OUT — “Go Big. Be Bold. Do Good” — That was the campaign motto for Democratic East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell’s longshot bid for the White House. But after Swalwell on Monday became the first prominent Democrat to drop out of the 2020 race, look for that motto — and those red, white and blue campaign signs — to be repurposed for Swalwell’s bid at a fifth term in his CA-15 Congressional seat.

The story from POLITICO’s Carla Marinucci and Jeremy B. White: “California Rep. Eric Swalwell, dogged by fundraising challenges and a failure to register in the polls, is ending his longshot bid for the presidency.

“Two weeks ago, Swalwell, 38, called on Democratic front-runner Joe Biden to ‘pass the torch‘ of party leadership to a new generation in the first Democratic presidential debates. But on Monday, Swalwell called a press conference at his Dublin campaign headquarters to announce that instead of continuing in the Democratic primary, he will instead seek a fifth term representing the strongly Democratic East Bay 15th district in Congress.

“‘Being honest with ourselves, we had to look at how much money we were raising, where we were in the polls,‘ Swalwell told supporters, arguing that he had ‘moved the needle on the debate stage with an issue I was very passionate about,‘ referring to gun control measures. ‘So we’ve achieved that,’ he said. ‘But we have to be honest about our own candidacy’s viability.‘“
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2019/07/09/swalwell-is-first-prominent-2020-dropout-trump-tweets-hes-working-together-with-gavin-cagops-patterson-protests-bill-requiring-candidates-tax-release-wildfire-bill-passes-senate-gig-economy-demonstration-454554 [

Well, hopefully not! I mean we are just barely beginning the primary season and you just know that someone is contemplating on forming an exploratory committee to join the fray. But what else do we have to look forward to in the election to come? It’s going to be a category 5 shit storm and there will plenty of shit flying at you from every single angle. Especially when there’s that one guy who’s the odd man out.

Washington circles are abuzz with the suggestion that Justin Amash, the ex-Republican congressman from Michigan, may mount a third-party presidential campaign in 2020. In the few days since leaving the GOP, he’s talked about “room for a third party” and refused to rule out running for president. But sources close to Amash and the Libertarian Party deny that a presidential run is in the works—although the door is still open. For the time being, the Libertarian-leaning representative is looking to build a fiscally conservative, pro-restraint coalition across party lines.

Michigan representative Justin Amash has made waves in recent weeks with his challenges to the Republican establishment. He first suggested that President Donald Trump should be impeached, then he contested the president’s authority to attack Iran without congressional approval, and finally left the party.

Amash seemed to send mixed signals about his next move, telling CNN that he’s planning to run for re-election to the House of Representatives, but confirming that he still “wouldn’t rule anything like [a Libertarian presidential run] out.”

In an interview with a local ABC affiliate, he added that “I don’t rule things out in where I might go in my political work. I want to do what is best for our country, and if there’s something I can offer, I’m willing to consider that.”
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/odd-man-out-how-independent-justin-amash-could-shake-2020-presidential-election-67402

And hopefully this coin will land on the right side of history and leave the racists and sexists to the dust bin where they belong. So far even with the first casualty of the 2020 season, which by November 6th, 2020, is going to seem like a complete eternity away, is probably going to last an eternity. But some good news about our friend Eric Swalwell is that he is not backing down:

Chaos continued on the floor of the House of Representatives during the debate on a resolution condemning President Donald Trump’s racist attacks on four young women of color.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) rose to support the resolution, listing multiple instances of racism from the commander-in-chief.

As part of the list, Swalwell noted Trump’s attacks on “sh*thole countries.”

Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) complained and got in a back-and-forth with Swalwell.

Collins sought to have Swalwell’s words stricken from the Congressional Record, which would have banned him from speaking for the rest of the day.

“I will withdraw my offensive word,” Swalwell said, after discussions with other Democrats.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/07/republican-freaks-out-after-democrat-quotes-trumps-racist-statement-on-the-floor-of-congress/

[font size="4"]Report Card:[/font]

Key Issues: Guns, Campaign Finance Reform
Target Demographic: Millenials
Probability Rating: 15:1
Likelihood Of Going Far In Election: Already Dropped Out

Overall Grade: B+

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

Next week for Episode 2, we're going to check in with the Alabama Senate candidates, and whew, they have some batshit crazy ones running!

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Bastille[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, returning to the show, is the first band we ever featured on the Top 10. Their latest album is called “Doom Days”, you can see them live on tour this September and October. Playing their song “Quarter Past Midnight”, give it up for Bastille!!!

Thank you University Of Georgia! This was a great stop for our first stop of the tour. We’re off to Gainsville and the University Of Florida next with the Wheel Of Corruption! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: University Of Georgia, Athens, GA
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: University Of Georgia Choir Club, Athens, GA
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Bastille Appear Courtesy Of: Virgin Records EMI
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
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Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

July 10, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-5: The Battle For LaGuardia Terminal C Food Court Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-5: The Battle For LaGuardia Terminal C Food Court Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up Dallas??? We made it! Whew!!! We are done with our Texas roadshow! We have traveled some 1600 miles all the way up and down the great state of Texas to find out… what’s up? And we did. So tonight is a celebration as we are done with this part of the 7th season before heading off to Georgia for the start of our college tour. We had a lot of fun doing this and we will be back soon. Do we have time for the thing? Good. So how about that US Women’s National Team? Can I get a “fuck yeah”???? Well while the rest of sane America is celebrating the amazing victory and the 2nd world cup for the USWNT. That was quite the epic victory and celebrate it ladies, you earned it. Of course some on the other side won’t have any of it. Ann Coulter said it was a “war on soccer”. I mean right. Also, what’s wrong with soccer? Or football as it’s known in the rest of the world? And then there was this guy. Save your boos before I read the whole tweet:

https://twitter.com/JGilliam_SEAL/status/1148005540158722049

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Shut up!!! Come on, she got caught up in the celebration, anyone could have done that. But really you guys protest way too much. Enough with the phony patriotic outrage, why does everything involving the flag have to be a federal case with you people? But really, shut up. So what if Megan isn’t worshipping the flag enough? Stop it with that nonsense already. Although that’s certainly not the worst thing anyone’s done with a flag:

God that is so fucking creepy! And conservatives cheerlead this kind of crap. OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first all our shows are in reruns so it’s hard to pull clips so I’ll show this Lewis Black where he discusses the ups and downs of CBD:

So where do we begin this week? In the first slot this week we’re going to do something different and give @realDonaldTrump (1) a history lesson after his ridiculously dumb claim that the founding fathers seized the airports during the revolutionary war. In the second slot this week, we’re also going to talk about our current leader, @realDonaldTrump (2). And this time around we’re going to recap his insane MAGA parade that cost oh nothing much, just 700% over his allocated budget, and imagine how much money that could go to support people who actually need it! In the third slot this week is also @realDonaldTrump. Why does Trump want to alter the census and what could be the impact if he decides to delay it over a racist dog whistle question? Taking the fourth slot this week is the Alt Right (4) and the Proud Boys took their fight against Antifa from the streets of Portland to our nation’s capitol, and well, calling this a “logistics nightmare” is quite an understatement! For the fifth slot this week is our weekly investigative piece Top 10 Investigates, and this week we’re going to take a look at the latest developments surrounding Boeing’s ill-fated 737 Max-8 and while none of it is good, the problem is becoming a lot more obvious. And in the 6th slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit”, and this week what’s GAWD doing to help our government? Our resident pastor will examine this issue while also maintaining his tax exempt status. At number 7 is our favorite segment “Beating A Dead Horse”. Conservatives, OK, we get it! You hate Nike! You really hate Nike!! What did they do to piss you off this week? Only one way to find out! In the number 8 slot this week, after pulling a dick move that could cost his state millions, we add Arizona governor Doug Ducey (8) to the ever-growing list of “People Who Somehow Got Elected”. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!!) slot this week is “I Need A Drink” – everybody’s favorite trash talking playground activity, Dodgeball, is under attack! The people who are advocating for the ban are about as useful as a poopy flavored lollipop. And finally this week, it’s the final part of our “What’s Up With Texas” docuseries and this week we’re going to take a look at what’s going on at two very different and rivaling campuses – University of Texas in Ft Worth, and Texas A&M in College Station! Plus to cap off the end of our Texas roadshow, we’ve got some live music from the voice of Phish himself – Trey Anastasio will be stopping by! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Jeffrey Epstein
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We got to talk about Jeffrey Epstein for this top spot this week. Now as is Top 10 policy that we don’t joke about things that are too horrifying to make fun of, we will still be adhering to this policy. So out of respect for the victims, we’re going to be replacing all our usual funny memes and clips with pictures of Trump hanging out with people who “are his type” as he famously said about a woman accusing him of rape a few weeks ago. And by Trump’s type – I mean billionaire sexual predators with a messianic complex and a massive ego. So just how bad is the Jeffrey Epstein situation?

Wealthy financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is due in court following an arrest in New York on new sex-trafficking charges involving allegations that date to the early 2000s, according to law enforcement officials.

Epstein, a wealthy hedge fund manager who once counted as friends former President Bill Clinton, Great Britain’s Prince Andrew, and President Donald Trump, was taken into federal custody Saturday and is expected to appear Monday in Manhattan federal court, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.

One of the officials said Epstein is accused of paying underage girls for massages and molesting them at his homes in Florida and New York.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the pending case.

A message was sent to Epstein’s defense attorney seeking comment. Epstein is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
https://www.apnews.com/bb41822a39a147ccb03501acf049b58c

Just so you’re clear – Jeffrey Epstein is a billionaire financier who hangs with the wealthy elite and owns private jets and high rise apartments. But any time he moves somewhere, just like Jesus in the Big Lebowski, must go door to door to inform people that he’s on the registered sex offender list. Now just how bad is the situation? What are the implications? And could he actually do some real prison time out of all of this? Well, we don’t have time to provide accurate insight into all of those questions. So let’s get to the jist of it:

Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was charged Monday with sexually abusing dozens of underage girls more than a decade after he secretly cut a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid nearly identical allegations. Now some of his alleged victims are speaking out.

Sarah Ransome claimed she was recruited and trafficked for sex by Epstein in 2006 and 2007, the Miami Herald reported. On Monday, Ransome said she's encouraged Epstein has been charged in New York.

"The news of my abuser's arrest today is a step in the right direction to finally hold Epstein accountable for his crimes and restore my faith that power and money can't triumph over justice," Ransome said.
Trending News.

Virginia Giuffre claimed Epstein forced her to have sex with his attorney, Alan Dershowitz, and others beginning when she was 16. Giuffre, who is suing Dershowitz for defamation, praised federal prosecutors in New York for showing the case is "being taken in a serious way."

In an interview with the Miami Herald for their investigation into dozens of allegations against Epstein, Giuffre said, "You know, before you know it, I'm being lent out to politicians and to academics and to people that – royalty and people that you just, you would never think 'How did you get into that position of power in the first place?'"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-jailed-victims-speak-out-after-billionaire-financier-charged-with-sex-trafficking/

Yes that’s Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein. “He’s a great guy folks, truly terrific!”. Of course you know by now that Trump is of course dismissing himself from the fact that he knows Jeffrey Epstein. And you might be thinking “hey wait a minute – what about Bill Clinton???” Well if he’s implicated then that will play itself out. And we won’t get to that this week. But we will get to Alex Acosta, who offered a plea deal for Epstein 10 years ago, and is now coming back to bite him in the ass hard.

President Trump's secretary of Labor is back in the spotlight for his connection to Jeffrey Epstein after the billionaire was charged Monday with sex trafficking.

Alexander Acosta, who as a U.S. attorney oversaw a favorable 2008 plea deal for Epstein, is likely to face growing pressure as new details emerge about the financier’s alleged victimization of young girls in New York and Florida.

House Democrats have renewed their calls for Acosta to step down, and some of Trump's allies view the Labor secretary as a political liability moving forward.

“The president's going to be furious,” said former Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg. “I can’t imagine that he’s going to stay there for very long.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/452084-epstein-charges-put-trump-labor-secretary-back-in-spotlight

Yes, that is Donald Trump having dinner with billionaire sex offender Robert Kraft.

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

We need some music for this one:

Yes, Trump don’t know much about history. Or biology. Or the French he took. Ever since our president, @realDonaldTrump, got a taste of France’s grandiose military celebration known as Bastille Day, Trump has always wanted him a piece of that sweet, sweet, dictator chic. So of course, he’s throwing a parade the size of his ego, with a budget to match. I mean he originally had a budget of $1 million and it came out to about $93 million. Any director who went 547% over budget would be fired instantly. And of course it was also a total shit show. Because this happened. You know what? Let’s show the clip first.

And come on, even Mick Jagger was taking shots at you. Here’s what he said at Gillette Stadium:

Anyway with that out of the way, how dumb was @realDonaldTrump’s remarks?

President Donald Trump celebrated "the greatest political journey in human history" Thursday in a Fourth of July commemoration before a soggy, cheering crowd of spectators, many of them invited, on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial. Supporters welcomed his tribute to the U.S. military while protesters assailed him for putting himself center stage on a holiday devoted to unity.

Trump called on Americans to "stay true to our cause" in a "Salute to America" program that adhered to patriotic themes and hailed an eclectic mix of history's heroes, from the armed forces, space, civil rights and other endeavors of American life.

While the president avoided diversions into his agenda or re-election campaign, his speech, however, contained historical errors. In outlining the history of Independence Day, Trump claimed the Army "took over the airports" during the American Revolution and evoked the battle of Fort McHenry, which occurred decades later during the War of 1812. There was no air travel in America in the 18th century.

"In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a unified Army out of the Revolutionary Forces encamped around Boston and New York," Trump said. "... Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s red glare it had nothing but victory. And when dawn came, their star-spangled banner waved defiant."
https://www.necn.com/news/politics/Washington-Fourth-of-July-Trump-Military-512210491.html

I love that graphic so much! OK so Trump says that they took over the airports in the Revolutionary War, but wait a minute – airports didn’t exist in the Revolutionary War! It’s not like the Founding Fathers ambushed the British army during the battle for the LaGuardia Terminal C Food Court. Oh wait, that never happened! But at least George Washington and his men dined on plenty of Long John Silvers afterwards! Yes, the first flight didn’t commence until 1903! But here’s where it gets good. Remember the endless amounts of shit that the GOP threw at Obama for years for reading off a teleprompter? Well…

President Donald Trump said Friday that a teleprompter mishap led to his much-mocked July Fourth flub in which he talked about defending airports during the American Revolution.

"The teleprompter went out," Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

"It just went out – it went kaput."

During his Independence Day speech paying tribute to the military, Trump sowed confusion when he began talking about air defenses during the American Revolution, which took place more than a century before the invention of the airplane.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/05/donald-trump-faults-teleprompter-airports-revolution-flub/1657077001/

You know what? Don’t blame the teleprompter. In fact let’s show that picture of his view:

Dude, seriously, you're standing behind 4 1/2 inches of bulletproof glass. I would think the teleprompter is the least of your worries! And seriously, you have rooftop snipers and F16s flying overhead and tanks on the streets, paranoid much? And just remember what Sarah Palin said about teleprompters, anybody remember that?

Yeah that happened! Just the sheer stupidity of it… AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! But you know was Trump’s July 4th Americagasm Spectacular a celebration of all things extreme right wing toxic patriotism or was it a chilling preview of what martial law might look like? I’d say it’s more the latter than the former.

Tanks for President Donald Trump’s “Salute to America” Fourth of July celebration were seen arriving in Washington on Tuesday morning, just days before the event is scheduled to take place.

NBC News captured video of the tanks — two Bradley and two Abrams tanks — purportedly en route to the National Mall for Thursday’s event. Also in transport are support vehicles, including an M88, used to help recover heavy armored vehicles.

A photographer for the Associated Press also spotted two M1A1 Abrams tanks along with four other military vehicles on a freight train in southeast D.C. on Monday night.

On Monday, Trump told reporters that tanks would be stationed outside of the Fourth of July celebration, but gave no further details.

Two U.S. defense officials familiar with the planning confirmed that Trump's remarks at Thursday's event are expected to be roughly 20 minutes long, with approximately four minutes dedicated to each service of the military.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/tanks-arrive-d-c-trump-s-fourth-july-celebration-n1025786

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

We need to talk about the Census. Is it OK to ask if a person is an American citizen? No! And add to the fact that Trump is taking some absolutely scary steps to bring America closer to Nazi Germany, this latest racist dog whistle of an abomination is rearing its’ ugly head once again. So we all know that Trump doesn’t know history. But he also must have skipped the class about the US Constitution too, because SCOTUS shot down the question, but he’s determined to override that decision – which could be dangerous, deadly, and definitely frightening. Add to the fact that he’s got an attorney general with his head up his ass and this could be a Category 5 Shit Storm.

Attorney General William Barr said Monday he sees a way to legally require 2020 census respondents to declare whether or not they are citizens, despite a Supreme Court ruling that forbade asking the question.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Barr said the Trump administration will take action in the coming days that he believes will allow the government to add the controversial census query. Barr would not detail the plans, though a senior official said President Trump is expected to issue a memorandum to the Commerce Department instructing it to include the question on census forms.

The Supreme Court recently blocked the question, at least temporarily, saying the administration's justification "seems to have been contrived." That was a blow to Mr. Trump, who has been pressing for the government to demand information about citizenship.

The U.S. Census Bureau's experts have said requiring such information would discourage immigrants from participating in the survey and result in a less accurate count. That in turn would redistribute money and political power away from Democratic-led cities where immigrants tend to cluster to whiter, rural areas where Republicans do well.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/barr-census-citizenship-question-sees-legal-way-to-add-it/

Yes so the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants is just turning into a colossal “fuck you” to areas where they don’t have total control over the populace. You know, like those pesky major cities for instance. But some good news is that if this is the hill that they choose to die on (among the thousands of other hills), this could have some serious consequences for the attorney general.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that the House will vote “soon” on a contempt resolution for Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas for documents on the proposed addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

“Before the break, the Oversight Committee voted on a bipartisan basis to hold the Attorney General and the Secretary of Commerce in contempt of Congress for defying the Committee’s bipartisan subpoenas for documents that would shed light on the real reason the administration added a citizenship question,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to other House Democrats. “We will be moving forward in the whole House soon.”

However, the Speaker did not provide details on when that vote will be held, or what kind of contempt resolution lawmakers might be voting on.

The Hill has reached out to Democratic leadership for comment.

Pelosi earlier Monday also criticized the Trump administration over the citizenship question, calling it an attempt to "make America white again."
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/452104-pelosi-house-will-vote-soon-on-contempt-for-barr-ross-over-census-docs

Yup, make America white again is probably the most apt description of what they’re trying to do. So what else could possibly be in store if they decide to keep fucking with the census? And that by the way is something you do not fuck with. But of course, like everything else Trump takes a dump on, he leaves a trail of bad decisions, and fired employees along the way. Just look at how many lawyers he’s gone through trying to pull this off:

We don’t know whether the Department of Justice lawyers working on the census case were fired en masse or quit. Either way, Sunday’s announcement was a genuinely shocking development in President Donald Trump’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 count. It’s bizarre to the point of being unprecedented for the government to change horses like this in the middle of such a highly time-sensitive legal process.

The move signals that the Trump administration is very likely on the way to making some doubtful legal claims — claims that will have to be in stark contradiction to what the Department of Justice has already said to the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, in a lawsuit brought by civil-rights groups trying to scrap the question.

In case your long July Fourth weekend was enjoyable enough to lose track of the census saga, here’s a recap.

On the last day of its term, June 27, the Supreme Court held in an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts — joined by the court’s four liberals — that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had not given an honest explanation for why he wanted to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census in the first place. Roberts also held — in a section of his opinion joined by the court’s four other conservatives — that, in principle, there is nothing unlawful or unconstitutional about asking people for their citizenship on the census. Roberts sent the case back to the district court in New York.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-08/trump-census-battle-continues-with-new-justice-department-lawyers

And by the way in case you’re wondering what this could mean, what the constitutional significance of this is, well, don’t ask our president, because he doesn’t really know. In fact he doesn’t know that there’s two different types of the Census – a short form and a long form. And the long form questionnaire comes every other decade and switches with the short form every 10 years.

The census has been conducted every decade since 1790 to get a national head count used most critically to decide the distribution of congressional representation. At first it was conducted by U.S. marshals, but later surveys were sent to most American households, with census workers helping those who didn't promptly return their surveys.

The last time a citizenship question was among the census questions for all U.S. households was in 1950. That form asked where each person was born and in a follow-up question asked, "If foreign born — Is he naturalized?"

In 1960, there was no such question about citizenship, only about place of birth.

Sanders mentioned the year 1965 on Tuesday, but the census only comes every 10 years, so it isn't clear what she was referring to, and the White House did not respond to a request for clarification.

In 1970, the Census Bureau began sending around two questionnaires: a short-form questionnaire to gather basic population information and a long form that asked detailed questions about everything from household income to plumbing. The short form went to most households in America. The long form was sent to a much smaller sample of households, 1 in 6. Most people didn't get it.

Starting in 1970, questions about citizenship were included in the long-form questionnaire but not the short form. For instance, in 2000, those who received the long form were asked, "Is this person a CITIZEN of the United States?"

The 2000 long-form survey, sent to a subset of Americans, asked about citizenship. The more widely distributed census short form that year did not.
Census.gov/Screenshot by NPR

The short form kept it simple: name, relationship, age, sex, Hispanic origin, race, marital status and whether the home is owned or rented.
https://www.npr.org/2018/03/27/597436512/fact-check-has-citizenship-been-a-standard-census-question

[font size="8"]Proud Boys
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Oh Proud Boys, what have you got yourselves into this time? You know if you didn’t see last week’s edition, we asked how the Proud Boys vs Antifa was still a thing. Well you know everybody’s favorite alt right fight club is always out looking to kick some ass. But when you’re looking to kick some ass, don’t be surprised and go screaming to mama when somebody actually does kick your ass. After all, you’re the ones who started the fight. And you know wherever the Proud Boys show up, Antifa is almost sure to follow. Kind of like moths to a bug zapper, it’s inevitable. So before we get into it, here’s my favorite thing about this recent rally – it seems they don’t know how to do logistics!

Organizers of a “Demand Free Speech” rally planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., told the National Park Service that they expect up to 1,000 participants—but wrote that there “could be more or less”—to attend their demonstration. Given the fact that, per the sponsoring group’s permit application, they’ve rented only one toilet, perhaps they’re banking on the “less.”

A copy of an event permit application the National Park Service provided to The Daily Beast shows event organizers’ stated plans for the rally, which is expected to attract members of the Proud Boys, identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and followers of far-right personalities including Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, and Gavin McInnes, who have been removed from social media platforms for violating community guidelines. The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer reports that the application has been approved and that counter-protesters plan to rally across the street from Freedom Plaza.

Event organizers told NPS in their application that they will assemble an event space with 10 chairs, five tables, one tent, and just one portable restroom. Organizers stated they will have space for 50 camera tripods but will not assemble a press riser. They are expecting one bus and 22 speakers, and wrote on the permit that “no marches or parades” will happen during the event.

In a section stating expected disruptions to the event, event organizers wrote “Antifa” and “All Out DC,” which is a coalition of groups organizing to oppose their rally on Saturday. Rally organizers state that they will have 50 event marshals providing “protection and security” at the event who will wear “red stop hate hats.” Those marshals, organizers state, will use 20 handheld radios and 10 bullhorns at the event.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-free-speech-rally-expecting-1000-participants-one-bathroom/

Damn right!!! Pass the butter. That sounds like the worst festival ever. Oh and by the way, just like their favorite president, Trump, the Proud Boys love inflating crowd sizes. Because unlike their actual estimated crowd size, they were far outnumbered by hundreds of counter protestors. So while the Proud Boys shoot their mouths off, they really are a bunch of snowflakes when you think about it.

A gaggle of far-right political activists, members of the Proud Boys, and hundreds of supporters gathered in downtown Washington, D.C., on Saturday for a rally that sought to highlight personalities who have been banned from various social media and payment-processing platforms for violating community guidelines, who demanded that they have their accounts reinstated on the grounds of “free speech.” The rally took place on one of the hottest days of the year at the shadeless Freedom Plaza, which is across the street from the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Despite organizers’ estimate, as stated on a permit application, that they expected up to 1,000 people to attend their rally, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, Gavin McInnes and other far-right speakers took to the stage to address no more than a few hundred people and plug new websites and endeavors they have launched since their social media bans marginalized them in the broader conservative movement. However, The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer reported that the “free speech” message from the stage “was often overshadowed by threats of violence from the rally’s other speakers and a booming rival demonstration nearby,” where counter-demonstrators gathered and held a go-go dance party.

Coming on the heels of an altercation in Portland between antifascists and Quillette writer Andy Ngo the prior weekend, tensions flared leading up to the rally. Right-wing social media stars circulated unverified claims that they had received threats from antifascists of acid attacks and other violence ahead of the rally. Speaking of a counter-demonstration taking place nearby, Yiannopoulos warned attendees of the right-wing rally that there were “400 people a block or two away who want you dead;” those allegedly murderous counter-demonstrators, Yiannapoulos said, get their cues on who to attack from journalists. He told the crowd, “There’s every chance that someone will beat the shit out of you on your way home.” Photographs and videos from the day’s events show many rally attendees at the perimeter of the rally, attempting to heckle and goad their opposition.

Scuffles were anticipated, but never materialized; Washington police strictly enforced a barrier between groups gathered at Saturday’s rally and yanked otherwise eager provocateurs out of crowds before situations escalated. Photos taken outside the event did show Washington police officers behaving approvingly toward members of the Proud Boys.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/far-right-rally-sizzles-on-washington-pavement/

Oh, Milo, Milo, Milo. Paranoid, much? Here’s the thing – you can be a paranoid, racist piece of shit all you want in private, but when you take that shit public, be prepared to suffer the consequences! Think of it like trying to bathe a cat – you know you’re not going to simply dunk that cat in the bathtub without it wanting to scratch your eyes out. Just ask Nick Fury. What, too soon? Oh and the hits keep getting worse for the Proud Boys, because this happened.

After posting bail in March for a member of the often-violent, far-right Proud Boys group, Nicholas Carefelle was let go last month from his position at the GEO Group, a private prison contractor that runs immigrant detention centers for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reports Willamette Week.

Donovan Flippo, a self-professed member of the Proud Boys, had just been arrested in for an alleged assault against an anti-fascist activist that took place in 2018 when Carfelle stepped up to pay Flippo’s $750 bail.

The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the Proud Boys as a hate group due to its members’ repeated use of violence and extremist rhetoric, and are known for expressing anti-Muslim sentiments. Willamette Week’s Katie Shepherd was unable to determine the exact nature of Carefelle’s work for GEO, or whether he had direct contact with immigrants. However, before Carefelle was fired by GEO, she reported:

[Carefelle] performs work for the federal government under contracts with ICE. The GEO Group has access to government information about immigrants and access to immigrant detainees through detention centers, probation services, and transport operations. GEO Group, which specializes in incarceration, runs “residential centers,” or detention centers, where ICE houses detainees awaiting hearings in immigration court.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/proud-boy-member-fired-by-ice-contractor-following-expose/

Holy shit!!!! When you’re too racist for ICE, that’s pretty fucking racist!!! I mean we all know that ICE and CBP are run by some ridiculously crazy people but when you’re too far out there for them, that’s pretty fucking far out there! And of course wherever the Proud Boys go, you can rest assured that what will follow is their usual shit show of police and Antifa. But yeah… how is this still a thing? Oh yeah drugs, you got to have drugs.

A far-right rally scheduled for downtown Washington on Saturday has been thrown into disarray by dramatic allegations centering on cocaine, a love triangle, and the far-right Proud Boys men’s group.

“The Proud Boys? More like the Joke Boys,” Republican congressional candidate Omar Navarro, a key player in the bizarre feud, told The Daily Beast.

The drama has torn apart one-time allies prominent on the pro-Trump internet and cost the so-called “Demand Free Speech” rally at least one speaker, after other prominent right-wing celebrities already cited other reasons for not appearing. While the rally was meant to protest the banning of conservative figures from social media, the surrounding drama has cast a shadow over the event.

On one side of the fight: Navarro, a perennial challenger to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) whose losing campaigns against the liberal stalwart have become a cause celebre on the right.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/proud-boys-rally-rocked-by-sex-cocaine-allegations

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: 737 Max 8 Latest
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 Investigates!

It’s no secret that the 737 Max 8 has been the most controversial plane in Boeing’s lineup and its’ troubled recent history has had buyers be obviously skeptical about purchasing the plane. It’s also had passengers’ fears about buying tickets on and riding these planes escalated. Which is naturally understandable after two easily preventable crashes stemmed from corporate greed and extremely shady business practices that have since come out in the open. So why is the 737 Max 8 so controversial? Well there’s many theories. But here’s what is actually happening with the ill-fated jetliner.

In the final, harrowing seconds of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, the pilots tried desperately to keep their Boeing 737 Max aloft.

Nothing worked. Not pulling back on the yoke to try to get the nose up. Not attempting to adjust the trim, the preliminary report on the crash would show. Making matters worse, multiple alarms, clackers and other audible warnings distracted the pair. The jet crashed in March outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157.

The crash laid bare Boeing's shortcomings in having designed an automated flight system that overrode the actions of the flight crew. But it also raised questions about pilot experience — whether mistakes were made in the cockpit and whether foreign airlines require pilots to have enough training. Those questions will be at the fore Monday, when a committee of the United Nations-backed body that sets international standards for air travel is scheduled to take a fresh look at pilot requirements.

In the U.S., 1,500 hours. Overseas, 240 hours

In the U.S., copilots must have a minimum of 1,500 flight hours, the same as pilots, before they can take the right seat in a commercial airliner. Internationally, it's only 240 hours and can include a mix of time in simulators.

While the preliminary accident report in the Ethiopian crash showed the 29-year-old pilot had 8,122 hours of flight time, the 25-year-old first officer had only 361 total hours, having received his commercial airline license three months earlier.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/06/boeing-737-max-crash-grounded-problems-flight-training-pilots-faa/1641781001/

So the rest of the world is way behind the US on the amount of flight time training that the US has to endure before one becomes a pilot. But that’s not the only thing plaguing the ill-fated jet. There’s also that faulty software that could steer the autopilot right into the ground or ocean. And the reason why the software is faulty will make you either wretch or seething in anger.

Sources close to the ongoing effort to recertify the 737 MAX 8 told CNN that flight simulator testing uncovered a completely different way that the plane could suddenly pitch down, and that this one could have been even harder for a pilot to handle in an emergency. According to the report, a microprocessor failure in the 737 MAX 8's computer system could result in something known in the industry as runaway stabilizer trim.

The stabilizer is the smaller, horizontal wings on the tail of the aircraft that normally stabilizes the aircraft in flight, and the degree to which they are facing relative to the wind passing over or under them--known as the angle of attack, or AOA--can lift the tail upward or push it downward relative to the rest of the plane.

Too far in either direction and it is said to "runaway", at which point a pilot is supposed to cut power to the stabilizer using a wheeled lever in the cockpit. This should correct the stabilizer and return it to its normal, mostly forward-facing angle.

This mechanism is at the heart of the MCAS anti-stall system whose malfunction investigators suspect was a major factor in the crashes of Lion Air flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. Those crashes, both 737 MAX 8 aircraft, occurred less than six months apart, prompting the worldwide grounding of the 737 MAX 8 back in March which is still in effect. In the case of the MCAS, if the aircrafts AOA sensors detect an angle that indicates the plane is at risk of stalling, the MCAS is supposed to increase the stabilizer's AOA to compensate, leveling the aircraft out.
https://interestingengineering.com/new-flaw-in-737-max-8-computer-found-that-could-send-plane-into-nosedive

So combine faulty software engineering already resulted in a very toxic and dangerous combination that will be sure to cause a crash or two. And it did. But why, after nearly a year, is the plane still being grounded? Well, this is what happens when excessive corporate greed gets in the way of producing a safe product for the general public consumption. And the problems still continue.

Boeing’s 737 Max problem keeps getting worse. The plane has been grounded for months, after Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 both crashed, killing all 346 people aboard the two aircraft. In the aftermath of the Ethiopian Airlines crash, the FAA eventually mandated that the planes stay on the ground while Boeing worked out a fix. That fix has now been delayed again, due to the discovery of another flaw that can lead to the nose of the aircraft being pointed inappropriately downward. “Government pilots discovered that a microprocessor failure could push the nose of the plane toward the ground,” CNN reports, adding that “it is not known whether the microprocessor played a role in either crash.”

This appears to be distinct from the problem with the MCAS system, which is believed to have been critical to both previous crashes. In these events, the planes — which relied on data from a single, potentially faulty angle-of-attack sensor, without a backup sensor — drove the aircraft directly into the ground, despite pilot attempts to override it. The implication of the CNN report is that the microprocessor failure is separate from the AOA sensor failure, but there’s nothing to identify what subsystem the chip is in, or whether there are redundant parts that are supposed to take over the functionality in the event of a failure.

Once again, this will mean additional delays for the 737 Max’s return to the skies. Reuters reports that Boeing will not conduct a recertification flight until July 8, best-case, but that the delays could stretch on for several weeks more. There’s a bit of uncertainty on whether a hardware change might be required. CNN states: “Boeing engineers are trying to determine if the microprocessor issue can be fixed by reprogramming software or if replacing the physical microprocessors on each 737 Max aircraft may be required.”
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/294128-new-737-max-flaw-keeps-jet-grounded-as-past-boeing-problems-surface

Yes they may actually have to shrink like Ant-Man and go in and physically replace the defective microprocessors in the flight controllers. Except oh wait – that’s not real and the Pym Particle doesn’t exist. So how can Boeing resolve this problem? Throwing money at the problem won’t help and it has hurt their pending sales big time, which could cost the company millions. But don’t expect a fix any time soon.

Boeing's very bad year just got worse. It is now facing the very real possibility that the 737 Max crisis will stretch into next year.

Even after it gets the planes back in the air, it will have to make deliveries of new planes to its customers. Until that backlog is cleared up, its earnings will suffer.

The company, had its best-selling 737 Max grounded in March following two fatal crashes, said this week that it will have to delay its efforts to get the plane back in the air because a new potential problem with the jet has been discovered during testing.

Experts have been expecting that the planes could be back in the air by August. The three US airlines that own the 737 Max -- Southwest (LUV), United (UAL) and American (AAL) airlines - had canceled flights using that plane only through early September.

But now a Boeing (BA) official confirmed to CNN Business that the company does not expect to submit a new software fix to the US Federal Aviation Administration for testing until September. "We believe this can be updated through a software fix," said the official. The new time frame was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/29/business/boeing-737-max-outlook/index.html

That’s just one problem

That’s it this week for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.

My fair congregation!!! Today we are engaged in spiritual warfare of the highest caliber and it involves our government and our entertainment industry. And with today’s sermon I am going to test the limits of our tax exempt status! Yes, we are a church, which means that we enjoy the fruits of our labor without having to pay Uncle Sam, but that also means that we have limits on the things we can say or not. Well, today I am going to test those limits! How you might ask? Well there’s many ways the good LAWRD intended for us to do so. I mean you know that the White House is a holy land and everywhere we stand on it is holy?

Last month, Paula White, a televangelist who is a key spiritual adviser to and supporter of President Trump, preached at The River Church in Tampa, Florida, which was founded by fellow right-wing pastor and radical conspiracy theorist Rodney Howard-Browne. During her sermon, White proclaimed that she is making the White House “holy ground” simply by her presence.

“The church is Christ’s body in which he speaks and acts and by which he fills everything,” White proclaimed, “including the White House, including government halls.”

“How does he do that?” she asked. “He does that through you. He does that through me. Wherever I go, God rules. When I walk on White House grounds, God walks on White House grounds. When I walked in The River, God walked in The River. When I go in to the dry cleaners, that dry cleaning place becomes holy. I have every right and authority to declare the White House as holy ground because I was standing there and where I stand is holy.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/paula-white-the-white-house-is-holy-ground-because-where-i-stand-is-holy/

Yes, somehow these people still tend to maintain their tax exempt status, and that to me is a good mystery, but how can the LAWRD solve it? Well, he can solve it through the art of spiritual warfare which comes about in so many different ways. Can I get an amen??? Now one way that the LAWRD is working is through the US Women’s National Team. Oh wait, that’s SAYTAN’s work you godless heathens!!

While many Americans were thrilled over the World Cup victory of the U.S. Women’s National Team, some conservatives weren’t so thrilled about the team’s outspoken players, especially standout star Megan Rapinoe, a lesbian who has made her disapproval of President Donald Trump extremely clear. Janet Boynes, who spoke at the recent “ex-gay” Freedom March in Washington, D.C., published a column in Charisma on Friday saying that Rapinoe’s emphatic declaration that she would not visit the White House “proves we are in a spiritual battle.”

Like many Religious Right leaders and activists, Boynes was sharply critical of President Barack Obama. However, during the Trump administration, she quotes Bible verses encouraging people to submit to their leaders. From her column at Charisma, a Trump-promoting media outlet with a largely Pentecostal audience:

I am convinced that we are in a spiritual battle. We need God more than ever. Hebrew 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will must give an account. Let them do this with joy and not complaining, for that would not be profitable to you.” When we say we love God, we should also want to obey His commandments.

Those who do not submit to God will not submit to those in authority. Rapinoe is asking her team to support her by not going to the White House. We get the sense that she feels the need to control everyone around her.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/megan-rapinoes-criticism-of-trump-a-sign-of-spiritual-warfare-says-ex-gay-speaker/

Yes, those people too enjoy their tax exempt status! I mean why don’t I? I’m just a simple pastor here, so the question remains: Why do I still have to fill out my 1040-EZ form like a commoner? I ask you oh LAWRD!!!! I mean I can talk about anything and tie it back to JAYSUS, like the end times (which we have done), like the Dark One (which we do every week), and even like guns (which we have)!

Right-wing “comedian” Steven Crowder interviewed Religious Right pseudo-historian David Barton for a “masterclass” on the meaning of the Second Amendment, during which Barton insisted that the Second Amendment grants average citizens the right to own tanks or any other weapon of war.

Barton has repeatedly insisted that the Founding Fathers intended for there to be no limits whatsoever on the Second Amendment and that citizens are therefore entitled to own any weapon they might need to fight off a foreign invasion or even their own government, including fighter jets, and he repeated this claim to Crowder.

“The deal was you have a right to defend yourself,” Barton said. “So, the biggest weapon in that day would have been a cannon—hand’s down, a cannon. You’re allowed, as a citizen, to own cannons.”

“Whatever the government had, you could have,” he added, “because we might have to take on the government some day. We hope that never happens, but in case it does, we defend ourselves from anything that comes after us; whether it’s from foreign or domestic, whether it’s a gang, whether it’s a government, whether it’s a crazy uncle, we don’t care. So, for them, there was no limitation on what you could use or how you could defend yourself.”

“They were OK with cannons and that would be our equivalent of high-capacity magazines or machine guns,” Barton insisted, “or it could be equivalent to a tank.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/david-barton-the-second-amendment-protects-your-right-to-own-a-tank/

And that is true, good reverend! No one is saying those things. Instead they’re saying Dark One this, and guns that, and Fox News that. Yet, they don’t pay any taxes, so why should I? I ask you, my fair congregation!!! Can I get an amen??? But really, apparently GAWD is working through spiritual forces to ensure another 4 years of the Dark One – whose name shall not be spoken in my church, to make sure his reelection happens. Come on IRS!!!

On July 3, right-wing pro-Trump pastor Hank Kunneman held a special “Pray For America” event at his Lord of Hosts Church in Omaha, Nebraska, during which he called for Heaven to release “angelic reinforcements” to protect President Trump and Vice President Pence and ensure that they will control the White House for the next 12 years.

During the service, Kunneman, who brags of being “known for a strong prophetic anointing as he preaches,” spoke in tongues, passionately hugged an American flag, and proclaimed that when the fireworks were shot off during Trump’s “Salute to America” event on the National Mall on the 4th of July, it would be a signal that a “myriad of angels” were being released from Heaven.

“May there be a divine protection, angelic assistance, angelic reinforcements for President Trump,” Kunneman preached. “Angelic reinforcements, angelic reinforcements, we call for the command for the army of the hosts of Heaven, we speak to the commander of the army of hosts, more angelic reinforcements for President Trump. Lord, more angelic reinforcements. We call upon the God of Heaven, angelic reinforcements over the agenda that you have placed in the heart of his president, over this administration. More angelic reinforcements!”

“We speak a divine protection,” he added. “Not one hair on your head, President Trump, will be harmed in any way … We break the powers of darkness. Every satanic altar of evil where your name is mentioned, President Trump, we speak and command the fire of God to bring it to ashes.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/hank-kunneman-calls-on-god-to-release-angelic-reinforcements-to-ensure-trump-wins-in-2020/

So, IRS, are we cool? I thought so! Mass has ended, may you go in peace!!! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Nike II
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OK conservatives – we get it! You hate Nike! You really hate Nike! Now I want you to show me on the doll where the swoosh hurt you. Just in your mind? That’s it? Stop it already. What’s the latest conservative beef with the shoe company? Well, Nike had planned to roll out a shoe featuring the Betsy Ross flag on it. And well, their boy Colin Kaepernick had some concerns about it. Which of course got the conservatives’ underwear in a wad over who is the more rootin’ tootin’ ‘Murica worshipper than the next guy. Because in addition to hating Nike, they really hate Colin Kaepernick!

Nike pulled an American-flag-themed shoe design after the former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who endorses Nike, said he and others found the specific flag design offensive, associating it with the time of slavery in America, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

The company had meant for the Air Max 1 USA to go on sale this week in tandem with the Fourth of July. The heel of the shoe featured a version of the US flag with 13 white stars, which was created circa the 1770s during the American Revolution and is commonly referred to as the Betsy Ross flag.

Citing unnamed sources, The Journal said Kaepernick contacted the company after images of the shoe started appearing online and said that people, himself included, considered the Betsy Ross flag an "offensive symbol because of its connection to an era of slavery."

As The Journal noted, the flag also sparked controversy back in 2016 after students waved it at a high-school football game in Michigan. Some parents and students left the game "unsettled," as the flag was seen by some as a symbol of white supremacy and white nationalism, according to the local news outlet Mlive.com.
https://www.mysanantonio.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Nike-faces-backlash-on-social-media-after-pulling-14065729.php

That’s a good question and I’m sure that conservatives are probably thinking that right now! I mean if you hate them, then you must hate Jesus! But we get it conservatives, you love your flag more than you love life itself. And that’s not a bad thing, but really, lighten up guys. You know why Nike pulled the Betsy Ross shoe? Well if you don’t then you’re part of the problem.

The decision caused an instant backlash among conservatives who accused Nike of denigrating U.S. history, with Arizona Governor Doug Ducey tweeting that he is asking the state's Commerce Authority to withdraw financial incentives promised to Nike to build a plant in the state.

Others expressed surprise that the symbol known as the Betsy Ross flag, so named after the beloved Philadelphia woman credited with designing it, could be considered offensive. Although some extremist groups appear to have appropriated the flag, it is not widely viewed as a symbol of hate, and is used in museums that focus on 18th century U.S. history.

The Anti-Defamation League does not include it in its database of hate symbols. Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow for the ADL's Center on Extremism, said extremist groups have occasionally used it, but the flag is most commonly used by people for patriotic purposes.

"We view it as essentially an innocuous historical flag," Pitcavage said. "It's not a thing in the white supremacist movement."

Nike said in statement that "it pulled the shoe based on concerns that it could unintentionally offend and detract from the nation's patriotic holiday." The company pushed back against criticism that the decision was being "anti-American."
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-nike-kaepernick-betsy-ross-flag-20190703-53bqcmqhkzh7dad5dgvpcopkqi-53bqcmqhkzh7dad5dgvpcopkqi-story.html

Oh come on conservatives, lighten up and have a sense of humor. Seriously, Nike only committed the worst kind of discrimination – the kind against you. It’s not about the American flag – it’s about you personally. Nike hurt your feelings. But your ego is so big that you think that Nike hurting your feelings is hurting America’s feelings.

Nike’s sales have only grown since it seized attention with its ad campaign featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. So, the shoemaker deferred to its star endorser when he raised concerns over a sneaker featuring an early American flag.

Nike pulled the Air Max 1 USA shoe, which included a Revolutionary-era U.S. flag with 13 white stars in a circle on the heel. Kaepernick reached out to Nike after learning they planned to release the sneaker to explain that the flag recalls an era when black people were enslaved and that it has been appropriated by white nationalist groups, a person familiar with the conversation told The Associated Press.

The person requested not to be named because the conversation was intended to be private.

Nike decided to recall the shoe after it had been already sent to retailers to go on sale this week for the July Fourth holiday, according to the Wall Street Journal.

<snip>

Others expressed surprise that the symbol known as the “Betsy Ross” flag, so named after the beloved Philadelphia woman credited with designing it, could be considered offensive. Although some extremist groups appear to have appropriated the flag, it is not widely viewed as a symbol of hate, and is used in museums that focus on 18th century U.S. history.
https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/national/report-nike-pulls-flag-sneaker-after-kaepernick-complaint/

OK so white supremacists adopted the Betsy Ross flag as a symbol of modern white supremacy. You know, they’re not like your dad’s white supremacists. They’re the hip, trendy white supremacists you see on social media. Conservatives love to fight weird battles. And they’ll get pissed about a pair of sneakers before they get mad about children sitting in concentration camps. Yeah it’s that fucked up isn’t it? Oh and by the way, conservatives, keep up the Nike boycotts. Because guess what? While you’re complaining and moaning about Nike, they’re busy doing that thing called making money!

Nike's controversial decision to stop selling a patriotic Betsy Ross shoe at the behest of Colin Kaepernick has had a significant impact on the athletic company's market value.

While the company is taking a beating in the public relations department, Nike's market value increased significantly this week after the controversy boiled over, TMZ reported.

As of market close on Friday, Nike shares were up 2 percent in just three days, which added a whopping $3 billion to Nike's market value, which closed at $136.38 billion on Friday.

Kevin O'Leary, an investor on "Shark Tank," told TMZ he believes Nike manufactured the controversy as a marketing ploy.

This is not the first time Nike has capitalized on controversy with Kaepernick.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/nike-market-value-betsy-ross

[font size="8"]People Who Somehow Got Elected: Doug Ducey
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Politicians at the state and local levels who are so toxic, you wonder how they’re able to get away with the things they get away with. This is:

This week – Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. How did this guy get elected? Well let’s think of his state here for a minute. Arizona has a long history of electing some absurdly batshit crazy politicians like Joe Arpaio, Jan Brewer, Kirsten Sinema, Jeff Flake (FLAKEY!!!!), and Ron DeSantis. So how did Gov. Ducey make the list? Well, for starters, Gov. Ducey has packed the Arizona state supreme court with a whopping 7 white male conservative justices. Which begs the question – did Gov. Ducey help the court or did he really help himself? Most would suggest the latter than the former.

As he signed legislation expanding the Arizona Supreme Court in 2016, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey promised Arizonans "swift justice."

Dismissing the critics who had accused him of packing the court — and the justices who had said they could handle their caseloads just fine — he argued that moving from a five- to seven-member bench would result in "more voices" and allow the court to "increase efficiency, hear more cases and issue more opinions."

But three years later, the court doesn't seem to operate in a markedly different way than it did before the expansion — despite costing the state an extra $1 million a year.

The number of case filings has increased, but the seven-member court has decided a smaller percentage of them than in many prior years.

There are new voices on the bench, but they all belong to conservative men.

And while the court published more written opinions in the first two years after the expansion, it's unclear whether that trend will hold.

“I don’t want to create the impression that I’m dismissing the idea that there has been some benefit of increasing the size,” Arizona Supreme Court Justice Scott Bales, who served as chief justice through last month, told The Arizona Republic.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2019/07/08/arizona-governor-said-expanding-supreme-court-would-bring-benefits-has-it-doug-ducey/2842733002/

Of course who needs to buy things when all you have left to buy is politicians and judges? That’s one way Gov Ducey will pad courts and rig trials. And by the way, just how firmly are Gov. Ducey’s lips placed on Donald Trump’s ass? Well, no one loves getting their ass kissed more than Trump does, and no one loves doing the kissing more than Gov. Ducey does. In fact, he would actually close the Arizona – Mexico border if Trump decided that he wanted to go there.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey softened his stance on a possible U.S.-Mexico border closure after meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying he would support Trump if he opted for a shutdown but hoped any closure would be "as short as possible."

The Oval Office meeting came two days after Ducey had said he "of course" did not want to see the border close. He'd pointed to Mexico's status as "our No. 1 trading partner, times four" and said he wanted "to see us continue to be able to trade," confirming that the White House was aware of his position.

Ducey again called trade with Mexico "incredibly important" after his Wednesday discussion with Trump.

"But, border security comes first," he told reporters in Washington, D.C.

The governor indicated the president had not made a final decision regarding a border closure, despite multiple threats to do so over the last week. On Twitter and in conversations with reporters, Trump had repeatedly said Mexico needed to help block the recent swell of migrant families at the border or face the consequences.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2019/04/03/after-meeting-donald-trump-arizona-gov-doug-ducey-softens-stance-possible-border-closure/3356708002/

And in case you’re wondering how in bed Doug Ducey is, take a look at what he did when Nike announced that it was pulling a controversial shoe with a Betsy Ross flag design. Rather than look at why Nike pulled the shoe, he simply told Nike to go fuck itself, and may have screwed his entire state over in the process.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) on Tuesday announced that he will ask the state's commerce authority to pull financial incentives for Nike after the company decided not to release a Betsy Ross flag sneaker.

Ducey slammed the move to pull the sneaker, a decision which was reportedly influenced by former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick, as the company bowing "to the current onslaught of political correctness and historical revisionism."

Nike was planning a "major" investment in Goodyear, Ariz., Ducey said. He said that he has ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw financial incentives it had been providing Nike to locate there.

"Today was supposed to be a good day in Arizona, with the announcement of a major @Nike investment in Goodyear, AZ," the governor said in the first of a nine-tweet thread.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/451292-arizona-governor-says-state-withdrawing-financial-incentives-from-nike

And by the way Gov. Ducey, if you’re trashing Nike, a word of advice, maybe I don’t know, don’t get caught wearing the apparel of the brand you claim to despise. So in one sentence you claim to despise Nike because, ‘Murica, and in the next you’re wearing their products? Yeah that is what we believe one would call “utter hypocrisy”.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) was criticized online after he was spotted wearing a pair of Nike sneakers on Thursday, days after the Republican lawmaker announced plans to have the state's commerce authority to pull financial incentives for the brand over its decision to yank a Betsy Ross flag-themed sneaker.

In a photo shared on the official Twitter page for the Coconino County Democrats on Thursday, the governor is seen sporting a pair of black and white Nikes at an outing on the Fourth of July.

“Wow, @dougducey standing on principle wearing his Nikes for the 4th of July,” the group captioned the photo on Twitter, adding the “#nikeboycott” and “#Nike” hashtags.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/451845-arizona-gop-governor-sports-nike-shoes-just-2-days-after-blasting

If you can’t trust Gov. Ducey’s opinions on brands, what can you trust him with? That’s Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, yet another in the long and ever growing list of:

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Ah Dallas, it’s the end of our Texas Roadshow. We traveled nearly 1600 miles to get here, and I really need a drink!

So of course you know the idea behind this segment is that we don’t mix booze and politics, but we do mix booze and comedy! So tell me, bartender, what goes well with dodgeball? Oh a poppy flavored lollipop? Well you’re a doo doo head!! Ah you know I’ll just take my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the Double Jack! Folks, one of America’s most time-honored traditions, the trash talking, playground bullying sport known as Dodgeball is under attack. And really, you are just now figuring this out about Dodgeball? I mean just how bad is our favorite playground pastime?

Most people would call dodgeball a harmless playground activity, but a team of Canadian researchers argue the game is a tool of oppression that can unfairly target students perceived as “weaker individuals.”

The group presented their argument Monday at a conference organized by the Canadian Society for the Study of Education in Vancouver, according to CTV News.

They claim dodgeball — which requires players to eliminate their opponents by hitting them with rubber balls — teaches students to dehumanize each other and creates unsafe conditions in schools.

“Dodgeball is the only game where the human is the target. No other games focus on it,” study co-presenter Joy Butler, a professor at the University of British Columbia, told CTV News.

“It’s tantamount to legalized bullying,” she added.

Butler worked alongside David Burns, a professor at the Kwantlen Polytechnic, and Claire Robson, a professor at Simon Fraser University.
https://wgntv.com/2019/06/09/researchers-dodgeball-is-more-than-a-game-its-legalized-bullying/

Legalized bullying? Seriously, dude, lighten up. Were you the one who always got picked last for softball? Come on, Dodgeball combines two things that are as old as time itself – trash talking and human targets! And I mean come on, if a game of dodgeball breaks out, you should expect to get hurt followed by some trash talking. And I mean really why stop there? Just ban all playground activities while we’re at it. You’re it!

An old State Department of Education document recommending the elimination of “inappropriate” games such as kickball and tag from Alabama physical education curriculums is getting new attention this week.

The state department said it was fielding calls from national media outlets such as CNN and Newsweek on Wednesday after the list was shared by a state department employee earlier this week. As of Wednesday, the document was no longer on the website and the state said it doesn't reflect an official position of the department.

Many of the games and descriptions that are “highly recommended and suggested” not to be allowed in Alabama schools’ P.E. programs also appear to be copy and pasted from one website's so-called "P.E. Hall of Shame," whose director said the recommendations are backed by decades of research.

“Duck, Duck, Goose: A game of minimal participation; the chosen “goose” attempts to get up from a sitting position and try to catch the “ducker” who only has to go about 60 feet and already has a full running head start. Everyone else just sits and screams at ear-shattering pitch and decibel levels,” one item reads.
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/education/2018/08/29/alabama-recommends-eliminating-kickball-tag-schools-why-old-document-has-received-new-interest/1133618002/

Yeah when kickball is outlawed, only outlaws will have kickballs! Suck on that!! OK I think I might have taken things a bit too far here. Nah, this is the Trump administration that we’re living in here, nobody apologizes for anything! So in case you’re wondering whether or not schools are removing our favorite playground past times, let’s take a look at the list of the reasons why.

Bullying

Bullying has been a hot topic in recent years, as the incidence of bullying and cyberbullying and the resultant student anguish has received national news attention. A closer eye has been taken to the issue of student-on-student harassment. Human target games can encourage students to participate in hostile targeting and can mask bullying under the guise of team sports. Games such as dodgeball can inadvertently promote violence, and it can be hard for authority figures to distinguish what’s a hostile attack from what’s innocent play.

<snip>

Individual Capacity

Each student is different, and that means that their physical fitness, strength, and personality are all individualistic. In games like dodgeball, students who fall on the lower side of the physical fitness or extroversion scale become easy targets, typically enduring consistent early elimination from such games. This can weigh heavily on young psyches as some students may be routinely excluded from full participation.

<snip>
Quality of Activities

Although some games like dodgeball are old classics, a growing concern lies within the educational aspect of such exercises. Meeting the needs of all children, spurring them to take a vested interest in physical activity, teaching them to work together, and also challenging their brains are all integral parts of a well-rounded physical education program. As the health of the nation becomes a growing concern, teaching children how to become active and participate in sports is part of constructing a framework that can lead them to a lifetime of health and wellness.
https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/fall-dodgeball-why-schools-are-removing-competitive-elimination-games-their-pe-curriculum

Come on, why so serious, guys? There’s plenty of reasons to love competitive elimination contests, and you just listed all the reasons. Did you not see the movie Dodgeball? That was the whole point for the stronger ones to beat up on the much weaker ones! And by the way if you ban Dodgeball, only outlaws will be the ones who have Dodgeballs!

The game everyone from the sports teaching know almost. During Dodge ball, two Teams are formed, which are on each side of the field. Then it comes to the players of the opposing team with a Ball to throw, until only one player is left. For generations, international ball is a part of the teaching of sport in Germany and many other countries. And not a few students have carried on from their time at school, a veritable dodgeball Trauma that has developed for some is also a General aversion to ball sports.

scientists from Canada have engaged in a study of how students perceive the game. They came to the conclusion that Dodge ball can be “oppressive” and “dehumanizing”. These are the findings of a survey of students presented to three researchers at a Congress in Vancouver and the “Washington Post” reported. In North America, is played with “Dodgeball” is often an even more stringent version of the international ball, at the several balls at the same time be used.

especially weaker students suffer from dodgeball

“dodgeball is the equivalent of legalized bullying,” said Joy Butler, one of the authors of the study, the TV station CBC. Butler teaches in Vancouver at the British University of Columbia and has worked long as a teacher. The study will soon appear in the journal “European Physical Education Review”.
https://www.oracleglobe.com/breaking/legalized-bullying-scientists-want-to-ban-dodge-ball-from-physical-education-11758.html

[font size="8"]What’s Up With Texas? Pt. 5
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What is up with Texas? That’s the question on the table. Through four parts we’ve journeyed nearly 1500 miles and talked to all kinds of people through this great state. In part 1, we set out to find the real border crisis in El Paso. In part 2, we took a nearly 550 mile road trip down the border to a town that literally shares roads and municipalities with Mexico, the town of Laredo, to find out how bad the border crisis was (turns out, not really). In part 3, we visited the capitol of Austin, where governor Greg Abbott was more concerned that a fried chicken joint didn’t get a stall at the terminal food court than he was about kids being trapped in cages and separated from their parents. And in part 4 we toured the Gulf Coast to find out what’s going on after one of the worst natural disasters in recent history. Now we’re looking at going to college. Texas is home to two very different and unique universities – Texas A&M and University Of Texas – both of which hate each other immensely. For our last segment, we decided to have some fun and talk about sports. And football and sports life dominate Texas A&M and the University Of Texas. Much like USC vs UCLA, Ohio State vs Michigan State, Alabama vs Georgia. I could go on and on. In fact, outside of the major cities, football is practically a religion in the Lone Star State. But just how much does it?

As the summer rolls on, anticipation builds higher and higher for another college football season.

While most will focus on how individual teams are preparing for the 2019 season, some are even breaking down players individually whose potential performance on the NCAA stage provokes plenty of its own excitement.

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman is counting down his top 50 'freaks' heading into the 2019 college football season, and a familiar face in Aggie-land has made the cut.

Five-star freshman tight end Baylor Cupp clocked in at No. 48.

From Feldman: "Jimbo Fisher's had a good run of tight ends, and this early-enrollee five-star freshman figures to be the next one. Fisher gushed about Cupp's athleticism when I spoke to the Aggies coach right after he signed the towering tight end. 'Cupp is 6-6, 245 pounds, runs in the 4.6s, maybe high 4.5s,' he says. 'He can bend, run, has power. In the state track meet as a junior, he ran 22.4 (200 meters) electronic and then turned around and threw the shot 52 feet.'"
https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/collegesports/2019/07/09/aggies-reloaded-five-star-texas-am-recruit-makes-bruce-feldmans-2019-freaks-list

Well hopefully the season wont end that badly! So my quest to know more about Texas A&M football took a rather dark turn. In fact the t-shirts the students were wearing were some very, well, off color shirts, to say the least. And their rivalry with the University Of Texas is something that will stand the test of time. They look like dorks!!! Yes, I got caught up in the moment. And they do too.

Texas A&M football struggled in pass defense in 2018. They finished just inside the Top 100 in yards allowed and didn’t get the pass rush going until about halfway through the season. One person who is aiming to change all that is the 2018 class’ top recruit, safety Leon O’Neal.

O’Neal was the No. 75 overall prospect and No. 8 safety according to the 247 Sports composite. He sat most of the season behind Donovan Wilson, occasionally coming in the game when Wilson got ejected for inexplicable targeting calls. He got his only start of the year in the Gator Bowl, a win over NC State in which the Aggie defense held a Top 6 passing attack to just 139 passing yards and 13 points.

The Cypress Springs High School product had six tackles and his only interception of the year, a crucial one coming in the final minute of the first half with the Wolfpack driving. Even with his high ranking as a recruit and his solid showing in the Gator Bowl, O’Neal feels he is being underrated compared to All Big 12 recipient Caden Sterns, also from the 2018 class.

O’Neal took to Twitter to make his displeasure known in the comparison.
https://gigemgazette.com/2019/07/08/texas-am-football-leon-oneal-triggers-texas-fans-glorious/

One thing is certain – if you live in Texas, whether you are liberal or conservative, Texas A&M, or Texas University, don’t insult the Cowboys. Never, ever insult the Cowboys. While that’s happening, at the University Of Texas, they are having one of those “we almost got him” kind of moments. Because they almost had one of the winningest coaches in college football, Nick Saban. Almost.

Nothing ever completely dies in the misinformation explosion of today’s media. The old, bogus claim Nick Saban almost relocated from Tuscaloosa to Austin keeps oozing out and resurfacing. It happened again over the last few days. Twitter has been full of it. Notice, I did not say Twitter is full of it.

Twitter and other social media platforms are not the problem. The problem lies in the content generators themselves, whether they be major media figures or just misguided fans. In terms of the ‘pros’ in today’s media world, eyeballs reign. A click, quickly leading to another click away from b.s. content counts just as much as a someone who values the content.

Splash anything, no matter how devoid of substance, onto the public consciousness and the tote boards ring with a payoff. Admittedly, many of the tote boards are measuring return in pennies – but buzz-creating, homerun content can gin up more than pennies, sometimes a lot more.

Anything casting Alabama football or Nick Saban in an unfavorable light has an above-average chance of garnering a high number of eyeballs. The sizzle generated requires no relationship to reality.
https://bamahammer.com/2019/07/10/alabama-football-stop-nick-saban-texas-nonsense/

Oh come on, there’s no “whataboutism” in football. Or sports in general for that matter. And why are we talking about sports for the last edition? Why not I say! We took a 550 mile road trip down the border and now we’re having some fun for our last stop. And remember my “they look like dorks” comment earlier? Turns out that if you take sides in this fight, well… it won’t end well for you, like this guy found out the hard way.

Bevo is going to be bummed about this. Sports Illustrated is throwing the penalty flag on the University of Texas Longhorns as one of the most overhyped college football teams ahead of the 2019 season.

In a new piece published by SI.com, four college football writers were asked to opine about which college teams being heavily touted during the offseason might not live up to the hype. Two of the four writers singled out Texas.

“For all the constant talk about how Texas is back, especially after winning 10 games for the first time this decade (there are many that have picked the Longhorns to make some national championship noise), the lack of depth — especially on the defensive end — has to have [head coach] Tom Herman concerned,” observed one of the writers, Scooby Axson (who, we must emphasize, is a University of Oklahoma grad).

Axson cited two particular weaknesses for UT: a lineup with eight new defensive starters and a flimsy contingency plan in case quarterback Sam Ehlinger gets injured. Much to the chagrin of Texas fans, that one-two punch “might have Texas looking up at Oklahoma once again,” Axson wrote
http://austin.culturemap.com/news/sports/06-12-19-sports-illustrated-ut-longhorns-football-hype/

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

There is no next week! We are done, finished! Thank you to my staff and crew for indulging this long and strange trip through the Lone Star State!

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Trey Anastasio[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest, you know him best as the voice and guitar of Phish, you can see him on tour this August. Playing the title track from his new album, “Ghost Of The Forest”, give it up for Trey Anastasio!

Thank you Texas! We had an awesome time on this roadshow! We’ll be back soon! We’re off to Athens, Georgia for the first stop of our college tour next! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: Ft. Worth Improv, Ft. Worth, TX
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: University Of Texas Choir Club, Ft Worth, TX
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Trey Anastasio Appears Courtesy Of: Rubber Jungle Records
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
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Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

July 3, 2019

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-4: Wheel Of Corruption: The Hidden World Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-4: Wheel Of Corruption: The Hidden World Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up Houston??? How you guys doing, you doing fucking good? Great! This is our first time in the HOU, how about that? Well our Texas Roadshow is coming to a close unfortunately. Next week when we’re in Ft. Worth it will be our last stop in Texas before departing for our big college tour! But don’t be sad! We’ll be back soon! Plus we’ve got the Wheel Of Corruption for this stop! First off, congratulations to the Vanderbilt Commodores for winning it all in the College World Series. Michigan, you had a great run and you can rest easier knowing that you don’t have to go to the White House to eat cold hamberders with Trump. And I mean come on no one really parties like Donald J. Trump does. I mean did you see his stint in North Korea? He almost came full on tongue with Ivanka. Oh what? Too soon? But this is where I love the Tweetsphere is because #UninvitedIvanka was trending and Ivanka was showing up in places where she didn’t belong, like the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road or the moon landing. Ah, I love it. And then of course you have your usual Trump fans who don’t get the joke like Joy Villa who said “The only people who are laughing are ugly little trolls at #unwantedIvanka are the kind of men and women who bully and attack others out of spite and jealousy.”. First off, drama queen! Second, someone didn’t get the joke! But really it’s international joke day people! Lighten up, that’s why you braved the humidity to come joke about politics with us! OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first John Oliver is back with his season finale and he delves into what it’s like to work at an Amazon fulfillment center – and it’s horrifying!

Hey everybody the Wheel Of Corruption is back!!!! It’s been a while since we dusted off the wheel but we’re glad to have it back! So for the first slot this week we’re going to do something a bit different and talk about what went down in the first two debates (1). Because there was a lot to unpack there and there were obvious winners and losers. In the second slot this week is the NRA (2). Gun control activists scored a *MAJOR* victory in their fight against the NRA and needless to say their long time spokeswoman Dana Loesch is out, as is NRA TV. Thoughts and prayers. In the third slot this week is SCOTUS (3) – and is gerrymandering a bad thing? Yes it most definitely is, and SCOTUS basically said something along the lines of “we’re on our own”. Which is just great. Taking the 4th slot this week is the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump (4). and we’re going to have some fun since July 4th is tomorrow, and we’re going to preview his July 4th Americagasm Patriotic Boner Spectacular that will dwarf (ha!) the official Washington DC parade. For the 5th slot is of course our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates, and this week we’re going to take a look at a controversial claim made by the CEO of Hilton Hotels. When is it OK to tip a housekeeper, and how much? The internet outrage machine was ignited by this, and we will break it down for you. In the 6th slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and this week our resident pastor is becoming increasingly alarmed by the number of right-wing religious zealots claiming to be prophets. So who’s really a prophet and didn’t Jesus warn us about this sort of thing? In the 7th slot this week is “Beating A Dead Horse” – really conservatives, what’s your hate with Drag Queen Story Hour? Yeah we covered this before but it’s back in the news and the religious right is having one of their proverbial shit fits. In the 8th slot this week, for another Proud Boys vs Antifa rally in Portland, we’re going to pull back the masks on both groups and ask “Proud Boys Vs Antifa: How Is This Still A Thing?”. For the 9th (NEIN!!) slot this week is People Are Dumb, and while of course people are dumb, we’ve got a doozy of a story out of Alabama that is absolutely insane. And finally this week is Part 4 of our What’s Up With Texas docuseries, and this week we’re heading out to explore the Gulf Coast and find out what the climate is like there after Hurricane Harvey. Plus we’ve got some live music for you from the Mountain Goats! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

**ED NOTE: We are *NOT* going to cover the concentration camps operating at the border, or the threats from CBP against AOC, at least not currently. As is Top 10 policy, we do not cover anything we can’t joke about, and that is something that is too horrifying to make fun of, and doing so would be beneath us. Now on with our regularly scheduled programming!**

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[font size="8"]Debate Recap
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Hey everyone say it with me: It’s time for the WHEEL OF CORRUPTION! YAY!!!!!

Well I think it’s very clear that your brain has been turned into mush! Spin it again! And it lands on… elections! Folks, I don’t have to tell you that we’re less than a year out from the 2020 election that will hopefully send Donald Trump packing. But then again I can’t get my hopes up after what happened in 2016 because it’s gonna happen again if we don’t stop it. Yeah I don’t want to sound like one of those people who is yelling about the sky falling but then again when the debates are happening and it gets really crazy really quickly, there’s no doubt that 2020 not only will be the longest year ever, it’s going to be a category 5 shit storm. So let’s get it out of the way about the aftermath of the debates last week.

Democrats are not as confident that Joe Biden is the best option to take on Donald Trump in the 2020 election after last week's debates, which showcased the potential rise of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris.

According to a new Huffpost/YouGov poll, the former vice president's electability decreased 13 percent in just over a month. The survey polled 1,000 U.S. adults from May 9-10 and again after the debates from June 28-29.

In May, 70 percent of voters said that Biden, if nominated, could win the general election. By late June, Biden had fallen to 57 percent though he still led the crowded Democratic primary field.

As Biden's edge over the race dropped, Warren and Harris saw double digit increases as more Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters said the senators were capable of winning the general election. Warren went from 40 to 51 percent in terms of electability, while Harris jumped from 39 percent to 49 percent.
https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-not-sure-biden-beat-trump-after-debates-1446941

Yeah ouch. So Biden went from sure thing to your rejected, crazy friend after prom. What do you mean that Lacy stole my date??????? I am so much better than her!!! It’s kind of like that. So now that our sure thing got downgraded to kind of sure, but not certain thing, it’s time to go back to the drawing board, who will be our savior? Will it be Bernie? Warren? Harris? Buttigieg?

Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have made steep gains after the first Democratic presidential debate, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. shows, with former Vice President Joe Biden's lead over the field shrinking to a narrow 5 points.

The results indicate a significant tightening in the race for the Democratic nomination.

The poll, conducted after the two-night debate, finds 22% of registered voters who are Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents backing Biden for the party's presidential nomination, 17% Harris, 15% Warren and 14% Sen. Bernie Sanders. No one else in the 23-person field tested hits 5%.

That represents a 10-point decline in support for Biden since the last CNN poll in May, while Harris, of California, has posted a 9-point increase, and Warren, of Massachusetts, has boosted her support by 8 points. No other candidates have seen significant movement since the last poll.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/01/politics/2020-democratic-candidates-poll/index.html

Holy shit!!! Even the front runner right now only has 17% of the poll and Biden lost a whopping 10 points in the debate. So how do you climb out of this hole? It’s going to take a monumental effort after having this many candidates, but we’re ready for it. And I could show you hundreds of articles and videos about who owns what issue and there are a lot of them.

Climate activists — and more than a dozen Democratic presidential candidates — have been calling on the Democratic National Committee to host a debate focused solely on climate change. And for months, the top of the Democratic Party has essentially said “nope.”

That might be changing.

During a meeting of the DNC’s executive committee in Pittsburgh on Saturday, party officials introduced two proposals that would put climate change in the national spotlight during the Democratic primary. The party will make a decision on the proposals during their next meeting, in August in San Francisco, a DNC official told VICE News. It would be the first single-issue presidential debate in recent memory.

Asked what they considered to be the greatest geopolitical threat to the U.S. during the first round of debates, several candidates, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Cory Booker, and Beto O’Rourke, said climate change. Still, the heating climate only got 15 minutes of discussion time over the course of the first two nights of debates among the 20 candidates who qualified.
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/evy99z/democrats-may-actually-debate-climate-change-after-all

Come on guys, get the lead out! The entire world is counting on you! We’re counting on you to do something to help stop climate change! Don’t kind of sort of think that you’re going to maybe do it, do it already! And by the way if you’re wondering who the clear winners and losers of the first night are, look no further than this:

Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have made steep gains after the first Democratic presidential debate, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. shows, with former Vice President Joe Biden’s lead over the field shrinking to a narrow 5 points.

The results indicate a significant tightening in the race for the Democratic nomination.

The poll, conducted after the two-night debate, finds 22% of registered voters who are Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents backing Biden for the party’s presidential nomination, 17% Harris, 15% Warren and 14% Sen. Bernie Sanders. No one else in the 23-person field tested hits 5%.

That represents a 10-point decline in support for Biden since the last CNN poll in May, while Harris, of California, has posted a 9-point increase, and Warren, of Massachusetts, has boosted her support by 8 points. No other candidates have seen significant movement since the last poll.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/07/02/poll-kamala-harris-elizabeth-warren-rise-and-joe-biden-slides-after-first-democratic-debates/

[font size="8"]The NRA
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin, shall we? And it lands on… golf!

Ha ha ha, that is awesome. Spin it again! And it lands on… GUNS! So folks, the NRA is an absolute dumpster fire of an organization currently. It all started when Oliver North attempted to oust Wayne La Pierre in a coup a few months ago (see: [linkhttps://www.democraticunderground.com/100212062949 | Idiots #6-16] ). And since then the organization has literally fallen apart. Of course if you’ve seen @realDonaldTrump’s twitter feed, you’d think that the NRA is doing just fine. But really their woes continue as this happened:

The National Rifle Association has shut down its online TV channel and lost its chief lobbyist, new setbacks for a group that also is the subject of another congressional investigation, NPR has learned.

The NRA has struggled under both scrutiny from the outside for its connections to Russia's interference in American politics and from internal divisions over its leadership and its finances.

The latest developments took place Wednesday when the gun rights group's CEO, Wayne LaPierre, announced that the NRA's online channel NRATV would stop broadcasting live programming.

He cited costs, return on investment and the direction of the content.

LaPierre also blamed Ackerman McQueen, the Oklahoma-based advertising firm overseeing television production. Despite a decades-long relationship between Ackerman McQueen and the NRA, allegations of financial impropriety have led to a contentious legal dispute.
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/26/736255639/turmoil-at-the-nra-tv-channel-ends-lobbyist-resigns-a-new-hill-probe-begins

Oh that was sweet. Can we play that again? Yeah really I’m not expressing any sorrow or grief over the loss of NRA TV, I will simply send them my thoughts and prayers. Oh and maybe a dose of the world’s tiniest violin playing just for them. But that’s not the only problem plaguing the world’s most powerful gun lobby. Which they are no longer not. The NRA might be a literal circular firing squad at this point. This happened last year:

The nation’s leading gun-rights organization saw its income drop by $55 million last year, after a record-breaking 2016 in which the group and its political affiliates spent unprecedented sums to elect President Donald Trump.

The National Rifle Association of America reported $98 million in contributions in 2017, down from nearly $125 million in 2016, according to new tax records obtained by The Daily Beast. Nearly one-fifth of its contributions last year came from a single anonymous donor, who chipped in nearly $19 million to the group.

More noteworthy than its drop in contributions, though, was its decline in membership dues. The NRA took in more than $128 million in dues last year—a significant sum, but down considerably from the $163 million it took in the year prior. That decline, more than the drop in direct contributions, appears to indicate a dwindling, if still formidable, base of public support. Asked for comment on the decline, an NRA spokesperson pointed to reporting showing that the organization’s magazine subscriptions have shot up this year, interpreted as an indicator of an accompanying membership surge.

Nonetheless, 2017 did not see a financial windfall for the group. In all, the NRA reported just under $312 million in total income, down from nearly $367 million the year before.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-nra-just-reported-losing-dollar55-million-in-income

Yeah so that happened. I mean when I say the NRA is an absolute dumpster fire of an organization, that’s definitely not stretching it. So of course you know you got to spend money to make money, but the NRA hasn’t exactly been doing that lately. And they are currently so toxic that no one wants to be associated with them. What’s causing the NRA’s money woes?

On the same day that the National Rifle Association announced that they were halting production for their 24-hour live streaming platform, NRATV, their top lobbyist resigned.

On Wednesday, the NRA severed ties with its advertising partner, Ackerman McQueen, and ended programming for the online streaming service. The two have worked together for 38 years, and the ad agency oversaw NRATV’s production and worked to shape the NRA’s public image. It has been a rocky few months for the relationship between the gun rights advocacy group and the agency.

The conflict also brought about today’s resignation of the NRA’s Chief Lobbyist Chris Cox, as confirmed to TIME by NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. Cox has worked with the NRA since 1995 and served as chief lobbyist and principal political strategist for its lobbying arm since 2002. He was suspended for his involvement in a power struggle against CEO and Executive Vice President, Wayne LaPierre, in June before resigning today.

The downfall of an online streaming service and a top lobbyist are connected in a web of lawsuits and threats that has recently surrounded the group.

In April, the NRA filed suit against the ad agency, saying that the NRA felt Ackerman McQueen might be “overcharging for certain items” and invoicing salaries for time spent consulting other companies, the Wall Street Journal reported.
https://time.com/5614707/nratv-shutdown-cox-resigns/

And by the way, Trump had to get involved. You just know when Trump sticks his nose into anything – first of all, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Second of all, yeah, Trump really doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I mean when you have your TV do all your thinking for you, who needs opinions? Trump certainly doesn’t! This is the Trump administration, facts don’t matter, only outrage does!

For the second straight day, President Donald Trump vented online about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Attorney General Letitia James, this time focusing on the latter's investigation of the National Rifle Association.

"People are fleeing New York like never before," Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. "If they own a business, they are twice as likely to flee. And if they are a victim of harassment by the A.G. of the state, like what they are doing to our great NRA, which I think will move quickly to Texas, where they are loved."

"Texas will defend them & indemnify them against political harassment by New York State and Governor Cuomo," Trump continued. "So many people are leaving New York for Texas and Florida that it is totally under siege. First New York taxes you too high, then they sue you, just to complete the job."

Cuomo responded to Trump's tweets in a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying the president "is in la la land."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-laments-ny-probe-nra-second-day-complaints-about-home-n1025601

[font size="8"]SCOTUS
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin, shall we? Wheel goes round, wheel goes round… where does it stop? Community chest!

Woohoo, I will take that $200 thanks! Spin it again!!! Election theft. It’s no secret that the Russians and the republicans are coming for the 2020 election and they want it very bad. So much that they will put up just about any insufferable jerk to get it. I mean we already have Donald Trump in the White House and Brett Kavanaugh on SCOTUS, how much worse can it get? Well, it can get a whole lot worse if SCOTUS keeps fucking with gerrymandering. And you can bet that in the months leading up to the 2020 election, the GOP will be doing anything they can to steal it from us. You know – fool us once, shame on you. Fool us 20 times… well who’s to blame then?

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that federal courts are powerless to hear challenges to partisan gerrymandering, the practice in which the party that controls the state legislature draws voting maps to help elect its candidates.

The vote was 5 to 4, with the court’s more conservative members in the majority. In a momentous decision, the court closed the door on such claims.

The drafters of the Constitution, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority, understood that politics would play a role in drawing election districts when they gave the task to state legislatures. Judges, the chief justice said, are not entitled to second-guess lawmakers’ judgments.

“We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts,” the chief justice wrote.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/us/politics/supreme-court-gerrymandering.html

And yes, they do suck. Rather than make an informed decision that gerrymandering isn’t good for the country, they told us to go fuck ourselves. I mean we all know how Brett Kavanaugh is with this subject, he’s well versed! You guys judge the supreme law of the land, and this is what you decide, you’re going to send it back and let us duke it out for ourselves? I mean holy shit. And it’s only going to get worse from here.

On the last day of its term, the nation’s highest court churned out two major rulings: One concerning the U.S. Census, the other, the future of gerrymandering.

Let’s start with gerrymandering—that is, when a political party shapes the boundaries of an electorate so it favors them—which the Supremes already ruled could not be done on the basis of race. The question before them was whether political gerrymandering, that is, gaming political maps so they disproportionately benefited their parties—was just as unconstitutional.

In a decision splitting the court between its five-judge conservative majority and its liberal wing, SCOTUS ruled that political gerrymandering was permissible, and that federal courts had no business interfering in the will of state legislatures on this matter.

On its face, the decision might seem like one of those “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” situations. After all, this ruling would apply equally to states run by Democrats as it would states where the GOP holds all the power.

But therein lies the rub: Republicans have control over FAR MORE states than Democrats do. CNN, citing the National Conference of State Legislatures, reports that Republicans control more than 30 of 49 partisan legislatures in the country (Nebraska, apparently, does some other shit). Of that 30, 22 also have a Republican governor.
https://www.theroot.com/scotus-blocks-census-citizenship-question-but-rules-po-1835920771

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! What is the GOP going to have control over all 50 states now? Are they going for total coverage like Richmond Valentine’s SIM cards from the first Kingsman movie? What’s the next step in their master plan? Oh and yes I’m aware that I am using the phrase “master plan”. Not a very good phrase but I feel it’s appropriate here. Well I do want to switch gears and talk about the Census decision. Because that was a good one.

The Supreme Court has blocked a citizenship question from being added to the 2020 census for the time being in a major setback for the Trump administration.

The bitter controversy centers around whether the administration can ask all recipients a citizenship question on the 2020 census for the first time since 1950 -- a move that could impact the balance of power in states and the House of Representatives, which are based on total population. Adding the question, critics say, could result in minorities being undercounted.

Writing for a 5-4 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that there was sufficient reason for concern about why the Commerce Department wanted to add the question. Roberts had the support of the four liberal justices.

Supreme Court justices issued rulings on two major cases during their final day of the term, both dealing with partisan politics. Roberts split his votes, siding with conservatives on a major decision allowing severe partisan gerrymandering, and then crossing ideological lines to side with liberals on the census case.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/27/politics/census-supreme-court/index.html

So Trump lost with the Census decision – and you don’t fuck with the Census, and you especially don’t give fuel to white supremacists on it. It was good on the SCOTUS and a decision that should be commnended. But then he had to get involved and as I’ve previously said any time he gets involved, things turn to shit. What, he’s going to rig the census? How is that not an impeachable offense?

The Trump administration appears to have missed its own deadline Monday to start the printing of paper forms and other mailings that will play a key role in next year's constitutionally mandated head count of every person living in the U.S.

As of Monday evening, the 2020 census materials did not appear to have been officially approved by the White House's Office of Management and Budget for printing, according to a website tracking OMB's review process.

In another sign that production has not begun, Justice Department attorneys told a federal judge in Maryland on Monday that the administration has not reached a final decision on whether it will try to make another case in court for adding a hotly contested citizenship question to census forms.

U.S. District Judge George Hazel, who is presiding over recently reopened lawsuits over the question, has agreed to hold a hearing on the issue Tuesday, plaintiffs' attorneys Denise Hulett of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Shankar Duraiswamy of Covington & Burling tell NPR.

The delay in printing 1.5 billion paper census mailings could throw a wrench into a tightly wound timetable of final preparations for the 2020 census. The count is scheduled to begin officially in January in rural Alaska before rolling out to the rest of the country by April..
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/02/737662103/trump-administrations-delay-in-census-printing-sets-up-count-s-biggest-risk

[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Now entering the spin cycle! Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy stop!!!! What? Bankrupt? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Spin it again. Donald Trump. So what are you doing for your July 4th? Hey that’s tomorrow, don’t you know? Are you going to your high school’s poorly produced fireworks show? Or maybe you’re going for a much better fireworks show, like at Disneyland. But maybe you have plans to visit our nation’s capital, on the 4th and why wouldn’t you? it’s certainly the most patriotic thing you can do on the most patriotic day of the year. Or is it? Well, no matter how patriotic you think you are, well you are not patriotic enough! It’s not enough to say you’re a patriot, you have to eat, breathe and shit red white and blue, and nobody does it better than the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump. By the way, judging by the quality of his toilet tweets, and his complete lack of a balanced diet, I’m pretty sure his shits are red, white and blue. And yes, he’s got quite the July 4th Americagasm fest to sell you!

On Thursday, the country will celebrate 243 years of independence — but this year's festivities are already setting off a different kind of fireworks.

That's because of President Donald Trump's plan to add more bells and whistles to Washington's usual celebration: music, military demonstrations and — notably — a speech he'll make, likely from the Lincoln Memorial, according to a White House official. The Washington Post reports there may even be an Air Force One flyover.

It's right up the president's alley, and he's encouraging attendees to come with flags in hand, predicting last week in Orlando there will "hundreds of thousands" of people on hand.

Trump was inspired by what he called one of the greatest parades he's ever seen: the march marking Bastille Day in France in 2017. That's when, as a guest of President Emmanuel Macron, Trump marveled at the display of military might.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-plans-elaborate-july-4th-party-d-c-critics-say-n1021276

America!!! Fuck yeah!!!! Ha ha, I love that movie. But speaking of which, no one puts on a bigger spectacle of himself than Donald J. Trump does. And despite the fact that there’s an official July 4th parade, his is going to be bigger and badder! So much that he’s even inviting his most die hard MAGA supporters by ticket! I mean at least Hitler invited his gestapo and SS without needing a ticket.

President Donald Trump's July Fourth celebration on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, will include a ticketed area in front of the Lincoln Memorial where he'll deliver remarks.

The perimeter of the restricted area will be "immediately around the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and about midway down through the Reflecting Pool," said Matthew Miller, special agent in charge of the US Secret Service Washington Field Office, in a news conference Friday with local and federal officials on the July Fourth celebrations in the nation's capital.

The White House confirmed to CNN on Saturday that there will be a ticketed area for VIPs, friends, family and members of the military. Those tickets come at no cost, but the White House did not say how it would specifically be allocated. The White House added that the entire event is free for the general public with no ticket requirement.

Miller said the Secret Service will provide security for Trump's "Salute to America" event, but that the White House is issuing the tickets.

Since attending the Bastille Day parade in Paris in 2017, Trump has pushed for a military display in Washington, DC, similar to one he witnessed in France.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/29/politics/4th-of-july-washington-dc-salute-to-america-trump-event/index.html

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Oh sure it’s free. But if you want, if you have to be that much more ‘MURICA than the next guy, just spring for the VIP section! I mean it will just be like your favorite rock festival, but seriously – how can there be such a festival with no merch booth or beer tent? And at a Trump festival, they got to have the most America beer there is, America: The Beer (see: Idiots # 1-27 ). America, yo!

Plans by President Trump to reshape Washington’s Independence Day celebration now include an area in front of the Lincoln Memorial reserved for dignitaries, family and friends that will be accessible only through tickets distributed by the White House.

The VIP section will stretch roughly from the steps of the memorial to the midpoint of the reflecting pool, according to the U.S. Secret Service. It is in front of the spot from which Trump plans to address the nation as part of his rebranding of the traditional July 4 event into his own “Salute to America,” which includes moving the fireworks from the reflecting pool to two different sites, including West Potomac Park ...

Many people who have long-standing practices for how they get downtown, or where they position their boats for the best vantage points and ease of access, will need to make adjustments. Even travelers passing through the region’s skies will be affected, with all operations at Reagan National Airport suspended for up to an hour and 15 minutes on July 4, the FAA said late Friday.

Local and federal officials on Friday held a news conference to address security issues and deliver updates on the plans still unfurling just days before usually large crowds descend on the Mall from across the region and the country ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/trump-plans-ticketed-access-area-for-vips-friends-and-family-at-july-4-celebration/2019/06/28/005fd56a-99a4-11e9-8d0a-5edd7e2025b1_story.html?utm_term=.c0431c731515

Excuse me a minute… OK… OK. By the way in case you’re wondering just how much America Trump plans to inject into his Americagasm spectacular, he wants a full on military show! That’s right – he wants tanks, he wants Marine One, he wants bald eagles, he wants a mountain lion in an American flag onesie… yeah I’ll let you picture that one for a minute. And think of how hard it must be to dress a mountain lion. So here’s just how much America this will get:

President Donald Trump said Monday that this year’s Fourth of July celebration in the nation’s capital would feature military tanks.

"We're going to have some tanks stationed outside," Trump said to reporters during an event in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon. "You've got to be pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks. So we have to put them in certain areas."

Trump promised this year’s Independence Day celebration would be like "none other," featuring tanks from a factory in Lima, Ohio.

The Washington Post reported earlier Monday that Trump had expressed interest in having a massive display of military infrastructure at the annual celebration on the National Mall. Air Force One and the Navy’s Blue Angels, who were reportedly previously scheduled to be off on the holiday, are also expected to make flyover appearances. Trump will deliver remarks from the Lincoln Memorial in a campaign-style rally.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-there-will-be-military-tanks-fourth-july-celebration-n1025506

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Tipping Controversy
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Let’s spin it to win it!! And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP! Oh it’s a clip without context!

And Jesus wept, I believe is the next verse. Spin it again! Oh it’s time for Top 10 Investigates.

It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is:

Tipping your servers. It’s a very American custom that’s not generally well practiced in other parts of the world. That’s because other countries pay their service, retail, and maintenance people way better than the United States does. It wasn’t until the CEO of Hilton Hotels opened a can of worms that he should not have opened. Yes, a man who makes 1000 times more than your average employee does is lecturing us about when it is socially acceptable to tip your housekeepers.

Hilton's president and CEO, Christopher Nassetta, just noted he does not tip housekeeping when he checks out of a hotel.

During the 41st annual NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, the New York Times columnist and CNBC co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Nassetta how much he would be leaving for housekeeping.

"I typically do not leave a tip," Nassetta said. For a moment, the CEO (who according to Equilar made nearly $19.8 million in 2018) seemed to walk back his statement, explaining how he wasn't checking out of his hotel just yet. But he reiterated that no, he typically does not leave gratuities.

Nassetta had just spent half an hour telling a ballroom packed with more than 2,000 hospitality industry professionals how he had worked his way from "about as low as you can go" — specifically, a junior-level engineering position at a Holiday Inn where he used his plumbing skills to deal with "code browns" — and how the key to Hilton's runaway success has been the company's focus on people.
https://www.businessinsider.com/hilton-president-christopher-nassetta-doesnt-tip-housekeeping-2019-6

That brings up an interesting point. When is it OK to tip? And when should you tip and how much should you tip? It’s definitely a first world problem made painstakingly worse when CEOs make claims such as this when they clearly have more money than anyone else does. But as far as tipping etiquette goes, you absolutely should tip your housekeepers. Because well, they don’t get paid much.

They make our beds, clean our toilets and put out fresh towels, but 70 percent of Americans don't believe hotel housekeepers warrant a tip, multiple studies have shown.

Even the CEO of Hilton hotels said he didn't leave a tip for housekeeping until public outcry in June convinced him to reverse his position. The backlash over Christopher Nassetta's admission has renewed debate over whether housekeepers should be tipped just as the vacation season begins in earnest.

Nearly 100 million Americans plan to take a family vacation this year, and 68 percent of them will do so in the summer, according to AAA Travel.

“The great American road trip is still one of the best ways for families to relax and reconnect with one another,” Stacey Barber, executive director of AAA Travel Information and Content, said in a statement.
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900076679/hilton-hotel-ceo-vacation-tips-marriott.html

And that is true. But as studies have shown there’s not always a time and a place for tipping, and while it may be unwarranted to hear that, sometimes it is the case. Take for instance this study done by the Cornell Institute on hotel maintenance workers:

The national average hourly wage for bellhops was $11.40 in May 2010, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics wage estimates. The average for housekeepers was $10.17, according to survey data. Survey forms issued by the bureau ask for information on tips, but it's unclear how reporting varies between housekeepers and bellhops.

While those who study the lodging business are on the fence about tipping rules, many who give travel advice are fully in favor of tips for housekeepers.

"You really should, especially if you're a very messy guest and if you use all the towels ... and request extra pillows and blankets," said HotelChatter.com managing editor Juliana Shallcross.

"Housekeepers have so much more work to do these days as hotels roll out superplush bedding with six pillows at least and heavier sheets and duvets and everything needs to be washed and cleaned."
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/06/24/hotel.housekeeping.tipping/index.html

Except you need to, sir. It’s not a question of whether you want to or not. However, here’s where tipping can go horribly, horribly wrong. Take for instance delivery company Door Dash. Their policy on tipping was so controversial that they were actually sued by the city of San Francisco for it, and their CEO was forced to reiterate his stance. And well, it wasn’t pretty.

Despite the fallout earlier this month over alleged “tip theft” on the part of Instacart, DoorDash is defending its own policy of using worker tips to supplement their base wage. If this sounds slimy, it is. It’s also a good reason to always tip in cash.

Speaking with Bloomberg on Thursday, the company’s CEO Tony Xu appeared to insinuate the only reason anyone’s upset that DoorDash has this policy in place is because other companies have been called out for similar practices. He told Bloomberg that the company has used the model “for two years now, and it’s unfortunate that the activities of others have mischaracterized what we’ve been doing for two years.”

Here’s the thing though. DoorDash, a food delivery service, relies on the labor of its contractors called “Dashers.” When people add additional tips to their delivery service tab, they reasonably assume they are tipping the delivery person—rather than the company. DoorDash previously told Bloomberg the model “was designed to ensure that Dashers are more fairly compensated for every delivery,” but DoorDash isn’t exactly hurting for cash.
https://gizmodo.com/doordash-are-a-bunch-of-snakes-1832805573

Yeah that’s pretty much the sentiment coming from America’s CEOs. But despite this, while the CEO of Door Dash did not have a change of heart, the CEO of Hilton Hotels did. Yes, just like the Grinch, his heart grew three sizes that day. .

Just over a week ago Hilton’s CEO, Chris Nassetta, was interviewed at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference. He was asked about whether he tips hotel housekeeping, and he answered that he doesn’t — “I typically do not leave a tip.”

There are a few interesting things to note here:

You’d think a hotel CEO would be trying to encourage tipping as a way of shifting the cost of paying housekeepers from the hotel to guests
Nassetta made about $20 million last year
I do have to give him credit for the fact that he truly worked his way up in the hotel industry — he has been in it his entire career, and started by working at an actual hotel

Suffice to say that his comments were controversial, and he’s now walking back his statement. Hilton’s CEO now says that he will be tipping housekeeping during his hotel stays:
https://onemileatatime.com/hilton-ceo-tipping-housekeeping/

How about that? People can have a change of heart after all. That’s it this week for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin, shall we? Wheel goes round, wheel goes round… STOP!! Oh hey it’s a clip without context! Wow, two clips in a row, what’s next?

Actually, Lance, I’d say it’s poisoning the minds *OF* Trump supporters! Spin it again! Oh hey it’s time for Holy Shit!

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

My fair congregation! What makes someone declare themselves to be holier than GAWD or JAYSUS himself? Is it pride? Is it ego? It is a flaming sense of self-superiority? Or self righteousness? Yes, these people are not the righteous beings of GAWD – they are self-righteous smug heathens! There, I said it – they are HEATHENS of the LAWRD and that is blasphemy of the highest order. They actually convince themselves that they are prophets, but we all clearly know that they are not! Of course we know that the highest elevation of talking to GAWD is a prophet. But what’s to stop these people from calling themselves that?

Pro-Trump evangelist Lance Wallnau appeared on “The Jim Bakker Show” today, where he was hailed as “a prophet of God that America needs to be listening to in this hour.”

Wallnau, a Religious Right activist and right-wing conspiracy theorist who made a name for himself by being one of Donald Trump earliest and most ardent supporters, was declared to be a prophet by Bakker, as well as by fellow guest, pastor Ramiro Peña, who has been among the right-wing Christian leaders who have been granted regular access to the president.

“You are a prophet,” Bakker said to Wallnau. “You are a prophet, I know that. How do I know it? Because your prophecies come true.”

Peña agreed, claiming that the first time he and Wallnau met was during the Republican primaries and that Wallnau prophesied that Trump would be win the nomination, be elected, and that Peña would become an adviser to the president.

“This is how you know when it is a real prophet, because their words come true,” Peña said. “This is a prophet of God that America needs to be listening to in this hour.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/lance-wallnau-is-a-prophet-of-god-that-america-needs-to-be-listening-to/

Ha ha ha ha ha ha… what???? Well these people can’t tell us what GAWD thinks because they support the unholy Dark One, whose name shall *NOT* be spoken in my church. And when you support the Dark One, you tend to think that you’re bigger than JAYSUS, and that will not stand! Can I get an amen??? I mean much like our old buddy Mark Taylor, the guy who literally thinks he’s a prophet. And we all know how full of crap he is!

Last week, radical right-wing conspiracy theorist and so-called “firefighter prophet” Mark Taylor appeared on the “Up Front In The Prophetic” radio program, where he proclaimed that President Trump should not be taking advice from evangelical leaders but rather should be speaking directly to “the prophets” … by which he presumably means people like himself.

It is no secret that since taking office, Trump has surrounded himself with right-wing evangelical leaders who, in exchange for doing their political bidding, have served as some of his main defenders and attack dogs. Taylor, about whom Liberty University made a movie last year, said that he has no problem with evangelical leaders praying for the president, but warned that they should not be giving him advice because that responsibility is reserved for prophets.

“I believe there is a place for the so-called [spiritual advisory] board that he has, but not in the role that they’re in,” Taylor said. “I don’t have a problem with these guys praying for him, but I think they need to be in a prayer and intercessory role. It’s not biblical to have a pastor in an advisory role like that. It is only biblical to have a prophet, or the prophets, to be advising the king. So these guys are in the wrong role and that is one thing I would like to see the president possibly address.”

Taylor’s assertion that “prophets,” such as himself, should be the ones advising the president is rather concerning, given that Taylor has spent the last several months repeatedly asserting that Trump has been called by God to carry out divine justice by executing his political opponents.

Taylor has complained that some of the evangelical leaders who are close to Trump do not have the strength needed to support the president when he rounds up and executes his enemies and must therefore be removed from their positions, less they weaken Trump’s resolve to do what God has called him to do. Taylor has openly encouraged Trump to impose martial law and has declared that anyone who tries to stop Trump from imprisoning and executing his enemies will be “standing in the way” of God’s will.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/firefighter-prophet-mark-taylor-says-that-prophets-should-be-advising-trump/

GAWD’s will? You think you can come here and throw down some GAWD’s will? Is that what this is all about? All right if you’re going to throw down some trash talking about GAWD’s will, then you know what? I will too! Because it is my right as a human being and in the praises of the almighty, I will defend his honor! Can I get an amen???

Many Religious Right leaders joined President Donald Trump in Orlando on Tuesday for his re-election rally, and others cheered him on via social media. Paula White, Trump’s spiritual adviser, opened with a prayer that portrayed Trump as God’s anointed ruler and his opponents as agents of Satan.

Among those in attendance was Steven Strang, head of the Pentecostal-oriented Charisma media company. Strang commented on the rally in a blog post and podcast, which he also used to promote the two books he’s written about how, he says, God raised up Trump, and the impact that Trump has had in office.

Strang praised Trump for being “a champion for the church” at “a time when the left is waging an attack on Christianity.”

Strang repeatedly declared that he was “surprised” by how many Christian leaders came to Orlando for the event—among them Jentezen Franklin, Jerry Falwell Jr., Robert Jeffress, Harry Jackson, Alveda King, and Darrell Scott.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/religious-right-leaders-join-trump-re-election-rally/

Yeah you think you can lay the smack down on what’s GAWD’s will? I will tell you something – the Dark One is not anointed by GAWD! Which is exactly why I do not say his name in my church! And my GAWD does not support this shit! Hell in my church we’re allowed to swear! But we always swear with people, never at them! But in case you’re wondering what their *TRUE* agenda is, why they want to be called prophets and priestesses, why they think there is a war going on, well, I give you this.

On last night’s episode of his “The MC Files” program, right-wing MAGA commentator and activist Chris McDonald declared that he has no sympathy for immigrant children who are reportedly being held in U.S. detention centers without access to things like soap or toothpaste, declaring that “God doesn’t pander to the lawless.”

“This is demonic,” McDonald said about the wave of immigrants attempting to cross the southern border. “This is the spirit of Antichrist. Whether people want to admit it or not, it’s the spirit of lawlessness.”

“I may be a little hardcore about this, but I’m getting sort of sick and tired of the media, and I’m getting sick and tired of these left-wing politicians blaming President Trump for the horrendous conditions at these detention centers,” he added. “I’ve got news for you, my friend: if they don’t want bad conditions at a detention center, don’t come across our border illegally. You’ve got the greatest center in the world at your home. If you’re complaining about not getting toothpaste and soap at a detention center, I’ve got a remedy for that: Go home! Go home and find your toothpaste and soap at your house.”

“We’re not obligated,” McDonald said. “I just don’t feel like God has put it on America’s tab to pander to the lawless. God doesn’t pander to the lawless.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/god-doesnt-pander-to-the-lawless-chris-mcdonald-says-detained-immigrants-are-not-entitled-to-soap-or-toothpaste/

There you have it folks – that’s what they believe the good LAWRD intended. Not hate the sin, it’s “go fuck yourself!” And I would give them the same courtesy! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Drag Queen Story Hour II
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin shall we? Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy stop!!! No, a whammy!!!

Spin it again. Oh hey Beating A Dead Horse!

Admit it, conservatives, you’re just pissed off at Drag Queen Story Hour because you’re not fierce enough to participate! The sooner you face that reality, the better. You might remember we previously reported on Drag Queen Story Hour way back in ( Idiots #5-20). Well it’s back in the news again. After a successful run in New Orleans, Drag Queen Story Hour is becoming a nationwide phenomenon! And Christian conservatives have got their collective panties in a wad all over the country about this now. Yes, I said “panties” to prove a point – they are deranged and if you use that kind of imagery against them, it works! And you might think what happened in New Orleans is just a fluke, but these people are seriously deranged and scary. I mean look at what happened in Pittsburgh for instance!

A threat posted on social media led the Carnegie Library in Oakland and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to cancel “Drag Queen Story Hour” programs this week.

The threat, posted recently on the social media site Reddit, didn’t specifically name the Pittsburgh events but was “alarming enough” to cause the cancellation, said library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes.

Ms. Thinnes said the library occasionally receives emails, calls and protests from people who disagree with the program, but they have always been peaceful.

“This is on a whole different level,” she said.

The “Drag Queen Story Hour” program, which has chapters across the nation, involves drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools and bookstores. Various branches of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh have hosted the program since 2017.
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2019/06/29/Threat-on-social-media-leads-to-Drag-Queen-Story-Hour-cancellation-pittsburgh-carnegie-library/stories/201906290054

Oh no, oh no they absolutely didn’t think of the children in this case. Just let ‘em read the damn stories while wearing fierce costumes, I mean what harm could come of that? I guarantee it’s a lot less harmful than a bomb threat. But that wasn’t the only threat plaguing DQSH this week. Take a look at what happened in Seattle after some Proud Boys wearing MAGA hats crashed the party!

Local “Proud Boys” and others opposed to the King County Library System’s Drag Queen Story Hours showed up in Issaquah on Wednesday to voice their opposition to the events. The showing comes ahead of major Pride celebrations and after recent anti-LGBTQ vandalism in Renton that the FBI has started investigating.

At a June 26 King County Library System (KCLS) board meeting, large groups of both supporters and opponents of the events showed up to voice their opinions. This included some who may be associated with the Proud Boys, a right-wing violent street fighting organization.

KCLS spokesperson Julie Acteson said both sides followed meeting protocol, but that so many people showed up to testify, the public comment was split into two parts.

At the Issaquah gathering, a group of about 10 men wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and black shirts with Operation Cold Front logos and the words “security” and “press” stood at the front of the room on either side of the audience. Others, attendee Kate Solomon said, wore knock-off Fred Perry shirts — which have become associated with Proud Boys and the alt-right.
http://www.issaquahreporter.com/news/opposition-and-supporters-of-drag-queen-story-hour-make-showing-in-issaquah/

Yeah that will get kids to vote republican! And in case you guessed that the Qanon people are all over this promoting their bullshit conspiracy theories, you might be correct! And note the careful use of phrasing from this dolt. He calls it “borderline pedophilia” – which it’s not under any definition of the words “borderline” or “pedophilia”. I mean really these fucking people are absolutely obsessed with DQSH, and it’s not in a good way, either!

Drag Queen Story Hour involves exactly what its name suggests—drag queens reading stories to children—and right-wing commentator Josh Bernstein wants the federal government to outlaw it on the grounds that it is “borderline pedophilia.”

“This is child abuse,” Bernstein declared in a video posted on Friday. “This is child endangerment and, among other things, I think that this should be illegal. I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of expression, but I don’t believe in indoctrinating and confusing and abusing, mentally and emotionally, little children to think that they don’t even know what sex they are. Think of the damage that this will have on these children as they grow up and get older. Many of them will commit suicide because they don’t know which gender that they identify with.”

“This is a crime against children,” he added. “This is borderline pedophilia, in a lot of ways. Now, they may not be touching or caressing these children, but they are mentally abusing these children. They are confusing these children. This should be shut down. I think that there should be an investigation in many of these states; maybe even the federal government ought to get involved by shutting this down. This is child abuse, child endangerment.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/josh-bernstein-drag-queen-story-hour-is-borderline-pedophilia/

Wait, wait, wait, wait. So let me get this straight – drag queen story hour is “borderline pedophilia” and “child abuse” but there’s actual child abuse going on at the border and you don’t care! Shut the fuck up, Josh. And then the Christian right further devolves their obsession and hatred of this idea even further by calling it “rape”. These are some very sick and twisted people spewing this crap.

Earlier this week, anti-LGBTQ activist Peter LaBarbera appeared on VCY America’s “Crosstalk” program to promote the protest he was organizing outside the Supreme Court yesterday to call for the repeal of the 2015 Obergefell decision, which legalized marriage equality in America.

During the discussion, LaBarbera and host Jim Schneider railed against Drag Queen Story Hour, which, as the name suggests, involves drag queens reading to children at libraries and book stores. LaBarbera fumed that those who promote or sanction such events are engaged in the “mental rape” of children.

“The left is now willingly putting these children in harm’s way,” LaBarbera said. “They are not telling them the immense health risks of homosexual behavior. So many issues on just health alone; not to mention morality and where the souls of these children are headed if they’re promoted into this sinful lifestyle. They’re not interested in any of that, they just want to indoctrinate them into the LGBTQ lifestyle.”

“If blackface is wrong,” he continued, “then why is drag OK? You’re teaching these young children—you have these gaudy men who are in this caricature, this stereotypical ugly caricature mocking women—and you’re teaching that to children. The whole thing is so perverse and yet they think this is appropriate to teach to young children, to imprint in their young minds? This is like mental rape, Jim. This is awful that this is the latest cause of the left in this country.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/peter-labarbera-drag-queen-story-hour-is-mental-rape-of-children/

So that happened. Here’s the thing – these children are *NOT* being put in harm’s way, and blackface has really only been around for the last 200 years. Gender transition and role playing have been around since the dawn of humanity and aren’t going away any time soon. And by the way, in case you’re wondering how DQSH really went, here’s how it actually played out in Seattle.

“Find fishes swimming in the water,” he sang, along with Fairwood Children’s Librarian Bernadette Salgado, to which the children responded, “Bubble! Bubble!”

“Those of you who came here against some hatred in our community, I want to thank every one of you,” Thadayus said to the crowd.

He explained to the overflow audience spilling out of the library’s meeting room to the main floor that “drag” is a form of entertainment where people of any sexual orientation dress up and perform in highly stylized ways.

At one point, King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht walked to the front of the room and said, that as a member of the LGBTQ community, “it’s inspiring to see everyone out here.”

Outside, competing shouts of “love” and “shame” boomed around the entryway where about 300 story-hour supporters outnumbered roughly 75 protesters.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/drag-queen-story-hours-spark-outpouring-of-support-despite-protests/

[font size="8"]How Is This Still A Thing?
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Let’s give the wheel a good solid spin, shall we? And it lands on… wait for it… CHANCE!!!

What? Go directly to jail? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Spin it again. Oh hey it’s time for How Is This Still A Thing:

Time once again to ask:

This week: The Proud Boys vs Antifa. How is this still a thing? And how is the city of Portland continuing to allow these shenanigans? You know that they’re going to end as badly as they started, and they’re only going get crazier and crazier. You could stop this before it starts. But then again there’s that pesky free speech issue that would prevent it from happening. So what went down in the latest round of political fight club? And that’s probably the best way of putting it.

It’s that time of year when the sunny days have cautiously begun to outnumber the gloomy ones and the lines for Salt & Straw begin to make a little more sense. In Portland, that can only mean one thing: Protest season is coming.

Recent Portland summers have been marked by protests that appear to serve only as an excuse for two opposing organizations to publicly throw insults and punches.

Here’s how they usually play out: Members of the Vancouver, Washington, alt-right group Patriot Prayer schedule a demonstration in Portland, showing up with rifles, MAGA hats, and sanctimonious smirks. They’re met with disdain from black-clad members of Portland’s anti-fascist (Antifa) groups. Eventually, armored Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers escalate the confrontation with smoke bombs and bean-bag bullets. After hours of cat-and-mouse chases around downtown, serenaded by police loudspeakers’ threats of arrest, the crowds disperse—only to return the following weekend and repeat the charade.

It’s exhausting.

Last summer, numerous rallies—all instigated by Patriot Prayer—ended in mass arrests, serious injuries, and outrage from Portlanders fed up with their city being used as an alt-right playing field.
https://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2019/05/23/26522992/hall-monitor-protest-season-is-coming

Even the city of Portland has had enough of their nonsense and wants it to stop. But here’s where this rally gets really weird. While the Portland alt right group Patriot Prayer got faces full of milkshakes, there was a claim coming from the Portland PB that the cups being thrown were full of cement. Yes, they actually made that claim and passed the conspiracy theory around a few times.

Police declared a civil disturbance in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday afternoon, after a day of duelling political protests culminated in brawls and standoffs between demonstrators and law enforcement.

By 3pm more than 400 leftwing marchers had blocked traffic in parts of downtown. Demonstrators occupied streets adjacent to Pioneer Courthouse Square, where police repeatedly warned them to disperse. Some were involved in altercations with officers in riot gear who deployed pepper spray and made three arrests. Others clashed intermittently with rightwing protesters.

The leftwing march evolved from an early afternoon rally in a downtown park organized as a counter-protest to two rightwing events. The rally organized by local group PopMob began as a vegan milkshake-themed rally and dance party, in response to rallies announced by the Proud Boys and by a group led by Haley Adams, a local rightwing figure. Adams’ event attracted around 25 people.

Milkshakes, recently used around the world as a symbolic weapon against prominent figures on the far right, became a theme of the day. Portland police claimed without offering evidence that some milkshake cups had been filled with quick-drying cement.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/30/portland-police-cement-milkshake-leftwing-rightwing-protests

Yes, milkshakes were used as a weapon. Not cups full of cement. But that was the claim that was made by the PPB:

https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1145106839618502656

Yes they went there and the damage was already done. In fact the scene escalated from political rally to full on domestic civil disobedience. And well, the Portland Police pretty much screamed “All Is Well” and that is about it.

A conservative writer was injured over the weekend at a rally in Portland, Oregon, kicking off a tidal wave of right-wing complaints about violence on the left.

But Saturday’s violence wasn’t an outlier; it was guaranteed. It’s been happening on the same streets, hosted by the same far-right extremist groups, on a regular basis since the election of President Donald Trump.

These rallies are specifically organized for the purpose of violence, with makeshift weaponry and bloodied, tearful faces appearing in Portland with regularity over the years. HuffPost has reported on how far-right extremists who organize them meticulously plan to attack their ideological opponents and then claim victimhood when the dust settles.

We saw the same on Saturday, when the Proud Boys extremist gang hosted yet another one of its street fights in Portland at which there were bound to be injuries.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/andy-ngo-quillette-antifa-proud-boys_n_5d1a1275e4b07f6ca5811e0c

Yes, that escalated quickly. And if you think that Portland was an isolated incident, wait until you see it hit the Capitol! Really, DC you can stop this and save yourself a lot of trouble! And why aren’t these guys getting arrested? That’s something that we will save for another time. But here is what is happening at the Capitol for a planned “Free Speech” rally. Yes, very poor choice of words there.

Organizers of a “Demand Free Speech” rally planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., told the National Park Service that they expect up to 1,000 participants—but wrote that there “could be more or less”—to attend their demonstration. Given the fact that, per the sponsoring group’s permit application, they’ve rented only one toilet, perhaps they’re banking on the “less.”

A copy of an event permit application the National Park Service provided to The Daily Beast shows event organizers’ stated plans for the rally, which is expected to attract members of the Proud Boys, identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and followers of far-right personalities including Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, and Gavin McInnes, who have been removed from social media platforms for violating community guidelines. The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer reports that the application has been approved and that counter-protesters plan to rally across the street from Freedom Plaza.

Event organizers told NPS in their application that they will assemble an event space with 10 chairs, five tables, one tent, and just one portable restroom. Organizers stated they will have space for 50 camera tripods but will not assemble a press riser. They are expecting one bus and 22 speakers, and wrote on the permit that “no marches or parades” will happen during the event.

In a section stating expected disruptions to the event, event organizers wrote “Antifa” and “All Out DC,” which is a coalition of groups organizing to oppose their rally on Saturday. Rally organizers state that they will have 50 event marshals providing “protection and security” at the event who will wear “red stop hate hats.” Those marshals, organizers state, will use 20 handheld radios and 10 bullhorns at the event.

Sommer reported in his Right Richter newsletter that some announced speakers for the rally have started to pull out of the event. Organizers sold tickets to a VIP event after the rally, but were booted from at least one venue they sought to secure.

Tensions around right-wing organizing have swelled since Quillette writer Andy Ngo was injured [by antifascist activists last weekend in Portland, Oregon.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-free-speech-rally-expecting-1000-participants-one-bathroom/

So 22 speakers, hundreds of protestors and even more counter protestors, and one bathroom to share among all of them. That’s enough to make you ask – the Proud Boys vs Antifa:

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Let’s spin it to win it! And it lands on… wait for it… oh clip without context!

Funny I don’t remember that being in the party platform! But we will still continue to mock the shit out of you, Jim! Spin it again! Hey it’s time for People Are Dumb!

Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. And I always love these stories because it could easily be me, or it could be literally just about anybody. I want to start with this story which I am sure that you’ve all seen the story coming out of Alabama about a car dealership on the 4th of July giving out free flags, guns, and Bibles with the purchase of a new F-150. First of all, way to placate the stereotype, guys! And second, did you really think this one through? And unlike other People Are Dumb stories where we usually just report and move onto the next one, I want to take some time and unpack this one, let it ferment. Because quite frankly it stinks, and Ford laid the smackdown, but the dealer’s explanation is truly beyond stupid.

A rural Alabama auto dealership is giving away a Bible, a 12-gauge shotgun and an American flag with the purchase of any new or used vehicle as part of its Fourth of July sales promotion.

Chatom Ford launched the campaign God, Guns and Freedom last week, with general sales manager Koby Palmer telling USA Today that it helped them sell 5 vehicles in just 3 days.

The social media feed from Chatom Ford states it is celebrating America's independence by offering these gifts in exchange for buying a vehicle. Every vehicle purchased new or pre-owned will come with a bible, 12-gauge shot gun, and American flag!

The post shows a dealership employee standing by a flag draped over a Ford F-150.

The video promoting the giveaway, which was posted June 19 and had been expected to run through July 31, has been deleted.
http://clicklancashire.com/2019/06/27/auto-dealership-offers-free-bible-shotgun-american-flag.html

OK so the story to this point is that the dealer deleted the video because Ford layed the smackdown on the dealer and said “NO, because there was a shooting at a Ford dealership and 3 people died, we are not going to allow this.” Yes, this did actually happen. Of course it’s natural that Ford would want to discourage this kind of thing, so here’s the official response from Ford themselves.

Ford Motor Co. has asked a Ford dealership in Alabama to stop giving out certificates for free 12-gauge shotguns to anyone who buys a new or used vehicle.

The automaker told the dealership late Wednesday that the promotion was inappropriate after three people died Tuesday evening during a mass shooting at a California Ford dealership. There, a man who had been fired from his job at the dealership in the San Francisco Bay Area fatally shot two employees, then himself, according to local media reports.

"So it’s done. They’ve ended our promotion. I’m very disappointed," Colin Ward, general manager of Chatom Ford in Chatom, Alabama, said Wednesday.

Chatom Ford's advertising offered a shotgun, a Bible and an American flag with a car purchase. The offer drew hundreds of calls from across the country, including Michigan, from people wanting to buy cars to get the shotgun.

"Ford said we can fulfill our commitments to the customers that we've made up till now, but we have to cease it going forward," Ward said.
https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2019/06/26/ford-dealer-shotgun-giveaway-alabama/1571604001/

Yeah it’s pretty easy to see why Ford wouldn’t be encouraging this sort of thing. Now here’s where this story gets absolutely freaking bonkers. So Ford said “no guns”. What does this guy do? Simply remove the “gun” part out of the equation. Yeah he’s still being a dick, only now he’s out in the open about being a dick.

"They love their faith, they love their country, and they love to hunt," he said.

Prior to the corporate request to stop advertising it, the local dealership received overwhelmingly positive feedback, Palmer said. The dealership has averaged about one sale a day after the promotion was announced.

One of those customers is Josh Lankford of Gulf Shores. He'd already contacted Palmer about what he was looking for when the promotion came up. Lankford said he saw the gifts with purchase as a nice bonus to his new pickup.

"It circles back to the great service and sales team that they have," Lankford said. "It's great that they try to reflect the community's values."

Palmer wanted to make it clear that the dealership wasn't trying to push a political agenda.
https://www.chron.com/news/article/Alabama-Ford-dealer-s-gun-giveaway-is-back-on-14058442.php

Dude, you LITERALLY made it a political agenda! How does “flag, gun and Bible” *NOT* say political agenda? I mean really! OK that’s enough of that story, it’s making me angry. Next up – let’s go to El Campo, Texas. Really, there’s a time and a place for porn, but an empty classroom most definitely isn’t one of those times!

"The 24-year-old substitute teacher fired for recording solo X-rated videos in a Texas high school describes herself as “a bit of an exhibitionist and I want people to watch me please myself or be pleased,” according to her profile on a porn web site.

Elizabeth Ann Schneider was dismissed this week from her post at El Campo High School after administrators received a tip about a Pornhub page featuring a dozen explicit videos of Schneider engaged in sexual activity.

Schneider worked for three months at the school, where she subbed in English classes.

Several of Schneider’s self-shot videos were recorded last month in either a classroom or a teacher workroom at the school in El Campo, a city about 70 miles southwest of Houston.

One video, a 6:27 production titled “Naughty substitute teacher uses dildo chair in classroom,” features Schneider pleasuring herself in a classroom with the aid of a sex toy. The clip includes categories and tags like “MILF,” “substitute teacher,” “Solo Female,” and “School.”
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/internet/texas-substitute-teacher-749063

So yeah it was kind of like that. Finally this week for People Are Dumb – OMG we did it! We made it through an entire segment without a single story from the Sunshine State! Wow, that might be a first for People Are Dumb. But I did want to talk about this story from Indiana, and this is one of those stories where if you give an idiot a gun, don’t be surprised when they do something stupid with it. Also, fool me once…

In the four months since Mark Anthony Jones shot himself in the genitals, the 47-year-old Indiana man has been arrested four separate times and is now behind bars awaiting trial on narcotics, weapons, and domestic battery counts.

In late-February, Jones suffered an “accidental self-inflicted gunshot injury” while walking on a street in Marion, a city in Grant County. Jones told police that he was carrying an unholstered Hi-Point 9mm handgun in his waistband when the weapon “began to slip.” When he “reached down to adjust” the firearm, Jones told police, the weapon discharged.

Jones, seen in the above mug shot, was subsequently arrested for carrying an unlicensed handgun, a misdemeanor.

Since shooting himself, Jones has also been arrested twice for driving with a suspended license, domestic battery, possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, and methamphetamine dealing. This mix of misdemeanor and felony charges has resulted in Jones being locked up in the county jail in lieu of $30,000 bond.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/stupid/troubles-grow-for-indiana-pistolero-953860

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]What’s Up With Texas? Pt. 4: Gulf Coast Cleanup
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Let’s give the wheel a final spin this week! And it lands on… T-Shirt cannon!!!! Everyone gets our What’s Up With Texas tour shirt! Spin it again! And speaking of which…

What is up with Texas? That is the question on the table. Part 1 brought us to the city of El Paso where we visited a border detention center. Our quest to find the truth on the immigration crisis took us 550 miles south to Laredo, where in Pt. 2, we explored both sides of the border in one single stop. Part 3 took us to the capital of Austin where I wanted to get down to the bottom of why Texas doesn’t care, choosing to protect fast food instead of actual human beings. Now my quest to find out what’s up with Texas, we’re in Houston exploring the Gulf Coast. So what is happening post Hurricane Harvey? We met up with residents to find out.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 20, 2010, was the largest marine oil spill in United States history. The first deep subsurface spill, it pumped about 700,000 tons of crude oil, plus about 250,000 tons of methane, into the Gulf of Mexico before it was capped, and tragically led to 11 deaths and 16 injuries to people on the rig.

During the spill, available oil spill computer models operated at different scales, but did not interact, and they also did not include many of the shallow bays along the northern Gulf that are of great importance to local fisheries. This spill created a need for an integrated, multiscale, comprehensive computer model suite that showed the behavior of the petroleum fluids on a 3D scale rather than a 2D and operated from the molecular level to the scale of the Gulf.

Texas A&M University scientists have now created such a model suite.

A description of the model suite was published in a recent paper by Dr. Piers Chapman, research professor in the Texas A&M Department of Oceanography; Dr. Steve DiMarco, oceanography professor and team leader for ocean observing in the Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG) at Texas A&M; Dr. Robert Hetland, oceanography professor; and Dr. Scott Socolofsky, professor in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering.
https://today.tamu.edu/2019/06/24/texas-am-scientists-develop-crucial-multiscale-oil-spill-model/

Yeah so keep in mind that Texas has not one, but two disasters that it is still cleaning up after – Hurricane Harvey and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. One might take a year, and the other is probably going to take half a lifetime! We went to the coastal town of Rockport to learn more about what was going on.

You can’t keep a good town down! Rockport-Fulton Chamber officials said they are thrilled to be named #2 in the nation for Best Coastal Small Town in “USA Today” Readers’ Choice Travel Awards.

As the only Texas town nominated in the top 10 category for coastal towns with population under 25,000, Rockport’s determined efforts to rebuild their town are paying off. This award is especially meaningful for Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce members. They literally rolled up their sleeves to help rebuild their town.

Remember those horrible TV news reports and photos when Hurricane Harvey hit our beloved Texas coast in August, 2017? My husband and I kept whispering “Please, not Rockport.” But Mother Nature ignored our pleas, and smashed directly into one of our favorite Gulf Coast destinations.

The small coastal village was almost totally demolished by Harvey. We drove down to Rockport as soon as they allowed visitors, to offer support for one of our favorite communities. Since there was no lodging, we stayed 63 miles away at a Best Western in Goliad. We were shocked and saddened to see many of our favorite places, like the Lighthouse Inn on Fulton Beach Road, closed indefinitely. Rockport High School students had to be bussed to another community while workers rebuilt their building.
https://www.focusdailynews.com/rockport-texas-harveys-aftermath/

Yes, while hurricanes and other horrible disasters are nothing to joke about, it’s entirely possible to bounce back from said disasters as the town of Rockport clearly demonstrated. But while disasters can be met head on, there’s some natural phenomenons that you just can’t explain. Like why is the sky in Houston yellow on certain conditions?

Residents in parts of Houston and East Texas woke up Thursday morning to find the sky yellow. Although it may look like pollution, it’s actually caused by small particles of sand that have traveled from Northern Africa. Here’s what you need to know about the Sahara dust, or Saharan Air Layer, as it’s formally called.

What is it?

The dust comes from the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa. Each year, hundreds of millions of tons of soil is lifted from the Sahara into the air, according to NASA. It’s not uncommon for this dust to change the color of the sky several times throughout the summer, while trade winds move north and take particles from the Sahara into the Gulf of Mexico.

The dust itself is composed of sand and other mineral particles, according to researchers from Texas A&M’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, who analyzed NASA satellite images and computer models in July of 2018.
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/2019/06/27/337932/heres-why-dust-from-the-sahara-desert-turned-the-houston-sky-yellow/

Yes, so dust from the Sahara Desert can get picked up and travel all the way across the ocean to the Gulf Coast and it’s really quite a site to see. And by the way, while our exploration of the Gulf Coast was quite enjoyable, if you’re wondering if it’s going to be fixed any time soon, well, don’t count on your GOP representatives to come to the aid of Texas any time soon.

At least 43 of the 58 Republican House members who voted against a $19 billion bipartisan disaster relief bill Monday night have previously demanded or endorsed emergency aid funding for their own states, a ThinkProgress analysis has found.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the measure, which has been stalled since late last month, late Monday, by a margin of 354-58. All 58 “no” votes came from Republicans.

An identical bill cleared the Senate on a bipartisan 85-8 vote on May 23.

The bill provides funding to regions of the United States affected by severe flooding and hurricanes, including places like the Florida Panhandle, Arkansas and Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, and Puerto Rico.
https://thinkprogress.org/43-house-republicans-voted-against-disaster-aid-hypocrites-emergency-funds-home-states-a8b7c5429e1a/

[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]

For the final part of our 5 part docuseries “What’s Up With Texas”, we’re heading out to College Station and to Dallas to find out what life is like at two very different universities – Texas A&M and University Of Texas.

[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]The Mountain Goats[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest has their great new album out called “In League With Dragons”, you can see them live on tour this September. Playing their song “Clemency For The Wizard King”, give it up for the Mountain Goats!

Thank you Houston! This was fun! We’re off to Ft. Worth next! See you next week!

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