Top 10 Idiots

Top 10 Idiots's Journal

September 16, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-11: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Presidential Fantasy Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-11: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Presidential Fantasy Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? We are back but we’re still broadcasting from this empty white void because we can’t be in a studio right now thanks to COVID. I really do miss all of the tomfoolery that we used to have before COVID. So why did we take two weeks off? Well for one thing it’s a chance to rest – I kind of needed a break from the extremely horrible 24/7 news cycle that we’re living in, for mental health reasons. The other thing is that we have 6 editions left before Election 2020 and I wanted to make sure that we get ready. Because the last time, we took a break from the news before the election and what happened? Bam, we got four years of this douchebag. So yeah that’s about it. There’s no thing this week because I want to address what’s going to happen for the Top 10 between now and the election. Between now and November 3rd we literally have 6 editions left. That means that we’ve covered the entirety of the Trump presidential administration here. Since he slimed his way down that gold escalator in Trump tower to holding indoor rallies during a major global pandemic and everything in between. To be honest, I want it to stop. But assuming that we get four more years of Trump I will be watching and waiting out his every move. Just like COVID, conservative idiocy will exist until we eradicate it. So let’s start by voting out Trump on November 3rd. Mr. Trump, you’re fired. OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first Bill Maher is back and he pleads America to side with teachers instead of using them as a political prop:

Well another week, another Top 10 under the virus. So where do we start this week? Well in the first slot whenever the Top 10 is on an extended break, we like to catch up on stuff we missed (1) which includes Nancy Pelosi’s hair cut incident, Trump’s bizarre rant about protest weaponry, and a gender reveal party gone horribly, horribly wrong! Taking the second slot this week is Donald Trump (2). Yes, the guy who we currently call president is somehow inexplicably still president, and he got caught lying his ass off about how dangerous COVID was because he wanted to be a “cheerleader for America”. So what could go wrong? Taking the third slot this week is Donald Trump supporters, otherwise known as the MAGAs (3). So not one, but two boat parades were held – one in my state of California and the other in Texas, and not only one, but both boat parades featured sinking vessels! Was it Das Boot? In the fourth slot this week is Kanye West (4). Yes, his presidential ambitions are still a thing, but his sham campaign is getting the boot in more places than one. Taking the fifth slot this week is our weekly investigative piece Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week while schools are attempting to get back to normal in the age of COVID, so is the virus and it’s getting scary. If you do go back to school, do so with extreme caution! Taking the sixth slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week our resident pastor is going to investigate the phenomenon of Satanic Witchcraft in the 2020 election! But the real Satanist is sitting in the Oval Office! In the seventh slot this week is a new “This Fucking Guy” (7) and this week we’re going to profile the head of Trump’s United States Post Office, and guy who will be overseeing mail-in voting in the 2020 election, Louis De Joy, and whew. This fucking guy. Taking the 8th slot this week is a new edition of Beating A Dead Horse (8) and this week we’re going to talk about Trump’s use of the CCR classic song “Fortunate Son” and some other misused songs. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week of course is a new People Are Dumb because stupid doesn’t take a holiday! Finally this week in “Road To The White House”, Joe Biden’s got some special guests in store for some campaign fundraising events, but find out why they may or may not be controversial! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Catch Up On Stuff We Missed
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We took a rare break last week. As usual whenever the Top 10 takes an extended break, we always like to play a game of catch up on stuff we missed. Because in this 24/7 news cycle you never know what’s going to happen. And since two weeks are way too long to cover something like Nancy Pelosi’s hair salon incident, which is STILL GETTING COVERAGE!!! Damn right I'm pissed off about this, because this should be the least of our worries right now! Meanwhile the guy who killed 200,000 people because he wanted to be a “cheerleader” for America? Buptkiss! Yes that’s right, also it’s rare that I get to use the word “buptkiss” in context like that! But still this is fucking infuriating and it still outlays the belief that conservatives are infallible. And here’s the thing, conservatives, we all hate this pandemic and we all want to get back to some sort of normalcy. But these things take time. And we don’t need your nonsense.

Pelosi visited eSalon in San Francisco, where she says she has gone for hair appointments many times, on Monday afternoon. According to the salon's owner, Pelosi's assistants had set up the appointment with an independent stylist in advance.

A security camera shows Pelosi walking through part of the salon with wet hair and what appears to be her face mask around her neck rather than covering her face.

The footage was released by Fox News on Tuesday, along with a scathing interview with the salon's owner calling it a "slap in the face" for Pelosi to get her hair done at the salon when others could not.

According to the owner, Erica Kious, an independent stylist took the appointment with Pelosi. That stylist, who has been identified by his lawyer as Jonathan DeNardo, texted Kious on Sunday night informing her that he had made an appointment with Pelosi's team for Monday afternoon.

Pelosi's team was told by the salon that they could have one person in the salon at a time under the current coronavirus guidelines, Pelosi's spokesperson Drew Hammill said in a statement.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/03/what-we-know-nancy-pelosis-hair-salon-trip-amid-coronavirus/5708541002/

Oh and by the way in case you’re wondering what the actual COVID guidelines for hair salons are, this doesn’t happen anywhere, and the actual guidelines for California [/link state that they can’t hold indoor services anywhere and that services must be performed outside if necessary. Also in case you’re wondering if actions have consequences or not, well…

A San Francisco hair salon visited by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is officially shutting down.

“I am actually done in San Francisco and closing my doors, unfortunately,” Erica Kious told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night.

The e-Salon first made headlines after Pelosi's visit last week.

Kious released surveillance video to Fox News showing Pelosi inside the salon, when in San Francisco, salons are only allowed to operate outdoors. Pelosi was also seen on the clip without her mask for a brief time.

Pelosi said she made the appointment, trusting what the salon told her over the phone: That they could accept once client at a time.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/i-am-actually-done-in-san-francisco-hair-salon-visited-by-nancy-pelosi-shuts-down

Yup that is a definite fail for you! The next thing I want to catch up on is Trump’s absolutely batshit comment about protest weaponry. Yes, the protests and unrest in this country are absolutely unreal right now. But before we get into this story we got to roll the tape on this one. Because it is certifiably batshit insane.

Whew. That guy is the president of the United States. I will repeat – that guy is the president of the United States! Just… why do people allow this man to continue to be president? It boggles the mind!!

PRESIDENT Donald Trump says rioters are purchasing canned soup to launch towards police officers in cities across the country and when apprehended, the violent vigilantes claim the soup is for their family.

Those are the claims made by the president moments ago in the White House during an event in the Cabinet Room.

“In cities all across the situation weve also seen police officers assaulted,” President Trump said.

The president listed various weapons he said the protesters have used on police molotov cocktails including frozen water that he said was the “size of a football.”

He claimed protesters use “cans of soup” to throw at officers and then claim it’s just “soup from my family” when they are caught.
https://www.yc.news/2020/07/31/president-trump-says-media-supports-rioters-that-bought-canned-soup-to-throw-at-cops/

The other thing I wanted to catch up on that we missed – Trump is fucking broke! Yes, the campaign is hemorrhaging money! In fact they are so broke that they’re resorting to some really drastic measures to keep the campaign running. And yet, the jackass president will somehow blame Democrats for his shortcomings, because that’s all he does. Ah, president loser can go eat shit.

Money was supposed to have been one of the great advantages of incumbency for President Trump, much as it was for President Barack Obama in 2012 and George W. Bush in 2004. After getting outspent in 2016, Mr. Trump filed for re-election on the day of his inauguration — earlier than any other modern president — betting that the head start would deliver him a decisive financial advantage this year.

It seemed to have worked. His rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., was relatively broke when he emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee this spring, and Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee had a nearly $200 million cash advantage.

Five months later, Mr. Trump’s financial supremacy has evaporated. Of the $1.1 billon his campaign and the party raised from the beginning of 2019 through July, more than $800 million has already been spent. Now some people inside the campaign are forecasting what was once unthinkable: a cash crunch with less than 60 days until the election, according to Republican officials briefed on the matter.

Brad Parscale, the former campaign manager, liked to call Mr. Trump’s re-election war machine an “unstoppable juggernaut.” But interviews with more than a dozen current and former campaign aides and Trump allies, and a review of thousands of items in federal campaign filings, show that the president’s campaign and the R.N.C. developed some profligate habits as they burned through hundreds of millions of dollars. Since Bill Stepien replaced Mr. Parscale in July, the campaign has imposed a series of belt-tightening measures that have reshaped initiatives, including hiring practices, travel and the advertising budget.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/07/us/politics/trump-election-campaign-fundraising.html

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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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In case you haven’t forgot, we’re still in the middle of a raging pandemic that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. And Trump, the guy who we still inexplicably call president, is presidenting by example – and holding mass gatherings and indoor rallies when CDC and WHO guidelines suggest otherwise. But that said, we have to talk about the recent allegations that have surfaced suggesting that Trump lied (shocker) about the horrifying dangers of COVID while downplaying it because he wanted to be a “cheerleader” for America. Well, Mr. President, we don’t need a cheerleader. We need a real fucking leader. Someone who, I don’t know, listens to facts and logic and reason, and also listens to real experts. We don’t need your nonsense.

President Trump deliberately downplayed the severity of the coronavirus despite knowing in early February that the virus was “deadly.” according to a new book from Bob Woodward.

“I wanted to always play it down,” he told Woodward on March 19th, according to audio obtained by CNN. “I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.”

Trump also expressed concern that “it’s not just old people” who are impacted by Covid-19, and that “some startling facts came out” about how “plenty of young people” were prone to the virus. In public, however, the president has repeatedly insisted that Covid-19 does not pose any significant risk to young people, especially as he’s advocated for schools to resume in-person instruction this fall. In August, Trump falsely said children are “virtually immune” to the virus, while claiming “it will go away like things go away.”

Trump knew about the danger the virus posed as early as February 7th, as he was publicly minimizing the risk of the disease spreading in the United States and bungling action to stop it. “It’s a very tricky situation,” the president told Woodward before explaining that the virus can be transmitted through the air. “It’s more deadly than … even your strenuous flus. … This is more deadly. This is five percent [mortality rate] versus one percent and less than one percent. You know? So, this is deadly stuff.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-knew-coronavirus-deadly-bob-woodward-book-1057051/

That said, the president of the United States basically is going to let us all die to save his sorry ass. Oh yeah, this is so much better isn’t it? And if you want any further proof that Trump simply doesn’t care about us or that there’s a killer virus out there ravaging the landscape, well, he held an indoor rally in Nevada and the governor of Nevada wasn’t exactly, let’s say, thrilled with that. But that didn’t stop Trump from going full asshole.

President Donald Trump told the Review-Journal in an exclusive interview Sunday that he did not believe he was subject to Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak’s order limiting gatherings to 50 people when he addressed a crowd of thousands at an indoor rally in Henderson.

The president blamed the Democratic governor for forcing his campaign to abandon plans to hold an outdoor rally Sunday at Cirrus Aviation near McCarran International Airport and a Saturday rally in Reno, which was moved to an outdoor venue in Minden.

The Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority told the tenants of a private hangar where the president was originally supposed to hold a rally that doing so would violate coronavirus rules and their lease agreement. McCarran officials said no one from the Trump campaign or Cirrus Aviation ever asked them about holding a rally.

After failing to arrange alternative venues in the Las Vegas area, the campaign decided to hold the rally indoors at the Xtreme Manufacturing facility, owned by his friend Don Ahern, Trump said.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/in-exclusive-interview-trump-slams-sisolak-defends-indoor-rally-2121257/

Well unfortunately as of right now COVID is one thing that definitely isn’t staying in Vegas. In fact the virus doesn’t care. And you know I remember way back in the early days of the Trump presidency, I predicted that he’d be going full Howard Hughes by the end of his first term. And there’s still time for him to do that! Especially when he’s apparently terrified of the virus behind the scenes, made even more mystifying that he’s been long-rumored to be a germophobe.

The clip was aired Monday evening by Stephen Colbert, the host of CBS’s Late Show, with Woodward appearing virtually as a guest. He called the tape, which was recorded during an April 13 phone call at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, “quite revealing.”

“Bob, it’s so easily transmissible, you wouldn’t even believe it,” Trump said about COVID-19.

“I mean, you could be in the room — I was in the White House a couple of days ago, meeting with 10 people in the Oval Office and a guy sneezed — innocently, not a horrible — you know, just a sneeze,” the president recounted. “The entire room bailed out, OK? Including me, by the way.”

Woodward smiled upon hearing the tape being played and Colbert said he knew Trump was “making light there at the end," adding that at the heart of the recording is “something extraordinarily shocking.”

“Yes,” Woodward replied to the TV host.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/so-easily-transmissible-trump-recounts-room-clearing-sneeze-in-woodward-tape/ar-BB192DYD

Yeah that’s one way to *NOT* kill the virus and you might kill someone else in the process. But that said, you can talk all the shit you want about black lives matter, or blue lives matter, or all lives matter. Under the Donald J. Trump administration, we’re in the COVID pandemic, and that means that no lives matter, and this president deliberately put lives in jeopardy for the sake of his massive ego. In case you were wondering, no, it’s not a good thing that Trump did this. Shocker.

Days after Dr. Anthony Fauci said he “didn’t get any sense” that President Donald Trump had willfully distorted information on coronavirus, the top infectious disease expert said it was “not a good thing” that Trump admitted to intentionally downplaying the threat of the virus.

Shortly after audio recordings and excerpts from Bob Woodward’s upcoming Trump book were released, featuring Trump telling the investigative journalist that he knew the virus was airborne and deadly in early February, Fauci told Fox News he didn’t “recall” some quotes attributed to him. Woodward reported that Fauci, as a White House coronavirus task force member, called Trump’s leadership “rudderless” and said the president’s attention span is a “minus number.”

Appearing on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports on Friday, Fauci was pressed by host Andrea Mitchell on the president’s lengthy public stance against social distancing and masks despite acknowledging to Woodward this past winter that the virus was dangerous and contagious.

“Doesn’t that help cause widespread resistance to wearing face coverings?” Mitchell added.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dr-fauci-reacts-to-trumps-woodward-tapes-says-not-a-good-thing-to-downplay-coronavirus-threat

[font size="8"]The Trump Campaign
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I don’t know about you guys, but I had big plans for this year that got upended by COVID, and I’m sure that you did too. However, just like in 1918 there were fucking idiots abound. But as long as they keep holding events like this, who knows how long the pandemic is going to go on? Well last week, I had to engage in a bit of schadenfreude as it looks like Mother Nature took out her sweet, sweet revenge on the MAGAs. And that MAGA boaters took their support for Dear Leader to new heights in Texas and, my home state of California, to new heights. Unfortunately their attempts are more in line with Das Boot or Titanic than they are Party Boat or Captain Ron. So just how bad was their idea? Well, pretty bad.

Multiple boats have sank and several made distress calls during a "Trump Boat Parade” in Texas, according to law enforcement.

Boats reportedly ran into trouble around 1:20pm (CDT) with several 911 calls made about vessels in distress. Other boats were reportedly sinking while sailing the parade route on Lake Travis.

A spokesperson with the Travis County Sheriff’s department confirmed to CBS Austin that multiple boats have been sinking on the lake.

There was no details about the precise number of boats in distress.

A Facebook page for the event showed that more than 2,000 people were scheduled to attend the parade. An additional 5,000 people said they were interested.

The event encouraged boat owners to bring “boats of all shapes and sizes” to participate in the parade.

Trump memorabilia, such as Make America Great Again flags and Trump/Pence signs, as well as American flags were pictured on many boats in attendance.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-maga-parade-boaters-flotilla-texas-sinking-b404399.html

I can see Trump as the captain of the Titanic – “Come try our buffets, we have the best buffets. Don’t forget to try your hand at the shuffleboard court, it’s safe to go out there. Don’t panic!”. If this is Das Boot, then maybe this is the MAGA version of Das Boot. DAS BOOT MAGA. And this might be my favorite part of the whole thing – they wanted to break the record for the largest boat parade ever. Well, maybe don’t cover your boat in Trump flags. And if you do, don’t be surprised if your boat tips over. It’s simple physics.

Supporters of President Donald Trump took to their boats, kayaks, and jet skis on Saturday to break a world record.

The rally, which was held in Clearwater, Florida, aimed to break the Guinness World Record for the largest boat parade. The current record-holder is from a 2014 boat parade that took place in Malaysia.

The potentially record-breaking flotilla in Florida was organized by the coffee shop Conservative Grounds.

The organization called it the "MOAB," or "Mother of all Boat Parades," and claimed that 1,600 boats registered for the event.

If every registered boat participated, this would beat the 1,180 boats needed to break the record. According to Gehart, supporters traveled from across Florida and from neighboring states to participate.

Guinness officials are reviewing the footage from the event to determine the exact number of boats, Fox13 reported. In order for a boat to be counted, it needed to pass through Belleair Causeway to the Welch Causey in Clearwater, Florida, according to the organizer's website.
https://www.insider.com/trump-supporters-attempt-break-guinness-world-record-largest-boat-parade-2020-8

Oh and here’s where it gets weird. Because it’s Trump, you knew it was going to. Not only did boats sink in Texas, they also sank in Oregon and Wisconsin, and they keep sinking because once again MAGA boat owners don’t understand things like physics and science. Because if you overload your boat with a bunch of MAGA flags, you’re gonna have a bad time. It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?

The president loves his “beautiful boaters,” his well-off, pleasure-craft-owning supporters who, since early May, have held nautical parades in his honor. Throughout the summer, Trump has cited his popularity among small boat owners as proof that he is actually ahead in the presidential race. “Are we polling the boaters yet?” he reportedly asked during one June campaign meeting, fixated on a show of support that affirms his popularity among his most ardent backers: wealthy, suburban weekenders who already own several flags with his name on them.

Encouraged by the president’s zeal, boaters have been taking to the nation’s waterways and no-wake zones throughout the summer as a show of pride in their candidate and other related political interests. But some of his supporters have done so with a little too much speed. To date, at least seven boats have capsized or sunk due to the intensity of the wakes at the maritime rallies, as detailed below:

August 17 in Portland, Oregon: One boat sunk.

On the Willamette River just north of the Burnside Bridge in Portland, a small motorboat that was not involved with the August 17 boater parade capsized due to the many rocking wakes
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/09/boats-keep-sinking-and-capsizing-at-the-trump-boat-parades.html

Ah I miss that show. But my favorite thing about this is that there are some creative people out there, and that when the word got out about this on social media, they started spinning it. The best part of this whole thing? Instead of calling it “Dunkirk” after the Christopher Nolan WWII movie, they called it “Dumbkirk”. Yes, there are still a lot of very funny people on social media!

When choppy waters swamped five boats in Saturday’s Lake Travis boat parade in support of President Donald Trump, the internet heard the distress call and responded with a boatload of memes and quips.

The trending hashtag #Dumbkirk became a safe harbor for those not necessarily on board with the president’s re-election campaign. Many incorporated a photo by freelance photographer Bob Daemmerich, who was covering the event for the Austin American-Statesman. The image was featured on the newspaper’s front page Sunday and was among 30 photos documenting the event, which featured hundreds of boats on the lake west of Austin.

Before things turned bad on Lake Travis, Trump himself tweeted a GIF from one of many boat parades this weekend. (It was unclear which parade the video was from, and Trump did not mention the Lake Travis parade or problems directly.)

By Saturday night, after news of the problems on Lake Travis went worldwide, the meme-makers and photoshoppers took the helm.
https://www.statesman.com/news/20200906/lsquowersquore-gonna-need-bigger-votersquo-how-dumbkirk-swamped-internet

[font size="8"]Kanye For President
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While our presidential choices are once again down to old white guy vs old white guy, the one guy who isn’t one of those isn’t really exactly going anywhere. I’m talking about Kanye West and his extremely ill-advised plan to help Trump and hurt Biden in the 2020 election. Hey Kanye, we’re onto you. And we are not going to let you derail this election the way countless Jill Steins, Ralph Naders, and Ross Perots have done in the past. But here’s the thing – many people want to know the answer to the most pressing question of 2020 – is Yeezy for real? Well, he is the most real person you might ever know to actually exist. And for the other? He’s a super genius just like his hero Trump is! Yeah put the two of them in the same room and you have an ego capable of crushing the planet.

The last 48 hours have presented a series of new challenges for Kanye West’s haphazard campaign for president.

In a span of two days, West was booted from the ballot in five states: Illinois, Montana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. In Illinois, Montana, and West Virginia, it was because he filed an insufficient number of valid signatures. In Wisconsin, it was because West did not file on time. In Ohio, the information and signature on West’s nominating petition and his statement of candidacy did not match those on petitions circulated to be signed.

West has filed in several other states in this week: Louisiana, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Virginia, but it is unclear if he will ultimately qualify to appear on the ballot in all of them.

West may face particular issues in Virginia, where seven of the 13 electors that West submitted told Intelligencer they were either unaware that they signed up to cast electoral votes on his behalf, or that they had signed notarized paperwork connected to the rapper’s presidential bid at all.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/08/kanye-wests-campaign-is-both-proceeding-and-unraveling.html

Really why is he so obsessed with that? But that brings me to my next point – he will be lucky if he snags any votes away from Biden because this is his My Beautiful Dark Presidential Twisted Fantasy. And yes I added the “president” part of it because like Trump he thinks he can play president and get away with it too! Well, I think we’ve had enough of vanity candidates because he’s still getting kicked off the ballot in many states.

Two Virginia residents are suing to keep rapper and producer Kanye West's name off the state's ballot in November, saying they were duped into signing on as electors for West.

The lawsuit, brought this week by a prominent Democratic firm, is the latest legal fight involving West's unorthodox candidacy for the White House. The music and fashion mogul has not mounted a traditional campaign, and GOP figures around the country have emerged to assist him in gaining access to state ballots. That has fueled speculation among Democrats that Republicans are promoting West's candidacy in an effort to siphon Black votes from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in key states.

In recent days, West's campaign has sued to get on the ballot in two presidential battlegrounds -- Wisconsin and Ohio -- where local authorities have rejected his petitions. This week, the West campaign also sought a preliminary injunction against officials in West Virginia, who invalidated more than 7,000 signatures of the more than 14,000 collected by his campaign.

Those actions have left West 761 signatures shy of the 7,144 needed for inclusion on the ballot, his lawsuit argues.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/02/politics/kanye-west-presidential-bid-legal-challenges/index.html

Holy crap he’s even taken over our candy canes! But we will tell you a couple of states where Yeezy is on the ballot and where he is not. And where he is on the ballot? Well he’s shockingly on the ballot in Mississippi and North Carolina but he’s not on the ballot in states like California. Yeah we are onto his game here. But one thing – his presidential aspirations are falling just a bit short.

So far, Kanye West has spent nearly $7 million of his own money on what continues to be one of the most befuddling presidential bids in the history of American politics.

An overdue campaign-finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission on the Friday of the holiday weekend provided new insight into what, exactly, the rapper is doing. So far, those millions have made West likely to appear on the ballot in at least 12 states — including swing states like Minnesota and Iowa.

There is also ongoing litigation in five other states where he still hopes to make the cut. The most remarkable case is in Virginia, where a number of electors for West were unaware that they had signed paperwork to be his electors. In what was almost certainly a first in American history, two electors for West successfully sued to have the candidate removed from the ballot in the state on Thursday. In a statement to Intelligencer, Gregg Keller, the top strategist for the West campaign, described the decision as “a typical, tired political show trial” and insisted the campaign would appeal.

The issues were slightly more pedestrian in the swing state of Arizona, where West was also thrown off the ballot Thursday after a local judge ruled that the rapper’s Republican voter registration in Wyoming disqualified him from running as an independent presidential candidate in the Grand Canyon State as a matter of state law. The West campaign’s lawyer in Arizona, Tim LaSota, has since appealed the decision to the state supreme court.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/09/kanye-wests-nearly-7-million-dollar-campaign-hits-legal-snags.html

I could totally see that working in real life. But Kanye is still one of the craziest mofos out there and he will not rest! That’s right, he’s one of the hardest working guys out there and I can imagine if he’s president that one of his first actions would be to take down Universal Records. Yeah after Trump, do we really need a guy who thinks that he’s the next Moses as the president? No, we need the adults back in charge, and we need it now!

Kanye West claimed he’s “not putting no more music out till I’m done with my contract with Sony and Universal” on Twitter Monday night.

“Vivendi family I’m in Calabassas,” he then tweeted, apparently trying to reach the French conglomerate that owns Universal. West’s GOOD label, as well as Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam, which put out the bulk of his records before the GOOD imprint was established, are all owned by Universal.

“I need a [public] apology from J Cole and Drake to start with immediately,” he continued in a separate tweet, adding, “I’m Nat Turner … I’m fighting for us.”

“I’m the 2nd richest black man in America,” another tweet added, though West eventually deleted that one. “I need all my people with me for us to get free.”

“I’m waiting to meet with [Shawn] Carter also,” West then tweeted, referring to Jay-Z.
https://pagesix.com/2020/09/14/kanye-west-says-he-wont-release-any-new-music-on-sony-universal/

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: COVID on Campus
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

It’s back to school time, but this year it’s different. The Coronavirus Disease of 2019, or COVID-19, is still raging through the populace. Which begs the question – is it safe to go back to school in the middle of a raging pandemic? The answers are ranging from a “no” to “hell no”. Which conflicts with the president’s message of things being OK enough to go back to school. But where are the problems going to lie? Well the biggest mystery so far surrounds student housing. How do you control the pandemic with students going from the dorms to campus and where community showers and sinks make containing the virus impossible? The president wants all schools open because that’s what he thinks we should be doing, and we should be doing that. But we are in the worst pandemic in 100 years and it’s a growing challenge for school deans everywhere.

Cases of coronavirus are spiking on university campuses, leaving administrators with two unappealing options: Quarantine students in dorms, or send them home.

The University of Alabama said it had recently posted university police officers at its quarantine dorms while Notre Dame said it had hired guards to monitor students in quarantine in hotels and off-campus apartments. And perhaps unsurprisingly, many schools are having trouble running what are essentially disease containment units.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Brianna Hayes was assigned to a quarantine dorm after developing a fever. Two days later, the university informed her that she had tested positive and would need to move again, to a Covid-19 isolation dorm.

There was no university staff in the dorm to help sick students, Ms. Hayes said, and no elevator. Feverish and exhausted from the virus, she made four trips up and down staircases to move her bedding and other belongings to her isolation room. During her week in isolation, she said, no one from the university came to check on her.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/09/us/schools-reopening-coronavirus.html

That’s probably the safest way to live in the age of COVID right now. But as of right now there. But in reality there are no good options for reopening schools right now. Putting kids back in the classroom puts both kids and teachers at risk. Making everyone go online makes it hard to track students. And everyone is at risk whether they are a student or not because of the very real possibility of the virus being harder to contain.

Although the risk is lower, it is not nonexistent. The AAP report, which includes data from 44 states, notes that a small percentage of this age group—between 0.2 and 8.8 percent of child COVID-19 cases—did require hospitalization. The same report indicates that 19 of the states reported no deaths among children, and the highest rate of pediatric deaths was 0.6 percent of cases. But if the total number of infections in this age group rises, the number of those that develop a severe case would likely increase as well.

Children also might pass the coronavirus to adults, who tend to have much more severe symptoms. Teachers, janitors, bus drivers and others must all spend significant amounts of time with students in enclosed spaces, where they are at a relatively high risk of contracting COVID-19 from children (as well as one another). Before students even entered public school buildings in Gwinnett County in Georgia, 260 employees who attended planning meetings either tested positive for COVID-19 or had had contact with someone else who had. In Santa Clara, Calif., 40 school officials took part in an indoor meeting. Days later, one of the officials received a positive COVID-19 test—and as a result of that person’s exposure, the other attendees had to go into quarantine. Many school employees fear that returning to the classroom will put their life, and the lives of their loved ones, at very real risk.

“The issue we need to worry about is whether or not [children are] vectors,” says Helen Jenkins, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Boston University School of Public Health. The science on how much children transmit the coronavirus is not settled. Some data suggest, Jenkins says, that “those infected are half as likely as adults to transmit to others.” Dooley notes that “we also are seeing increasing data that [children] don’t tend to be spreaders, so they’re not necessarily passing it to other children or other adults in their household or their community—from the data that we have so far.” But other data indicate children older than 10 can act as vectors. A study in Emerging Infectious Diseases, published online in July, analyzed contact-tracing reports for nearly 6,000 coronavirus patients in South Korea and found those aged 10 to 19 spread the virus as much as adults did.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/schools-have-no-good-options-for-reopening-during-covid-19/

Again that’s not how you contain the virus! And contrary to the growing argument that it only affects senior citizens and those who have immune deficiencies, those more likely to get the most serious COVID cases are children, and that means that if children can get it literally anyone can get it. Because it’s a novel virus and that means that we’re all immune until we come up with cures and vaccines, which probably wont be until next year.

With millions of American children soon returning to school, a new study shows that at least 97,000 kids were infected with COVID-19 during the last two weeks of July.

According to the new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, at least 338,000 U.S. children had tested positive through July 30, The New York Times reported. That means that more than a quarter of those cases had come up positive in the second half of July alone.

Already, some schools have tried to reopen and then had to order quarantines or close after COVID-19 cases were reported among students and staff, the Times reported. North Paulding High School in Georgia, which gained national attention last week after videos of crowded hallways made their way onto social media, announced Sunday it would switch to online instruction for Monday and Tuesday after at least nine coronavirus cases were reported there.

In the new report, states in the South and West accounted for more than 7 of 10 infections. The count could be higher because the report did not include complete data from Texas and parts of New York State outside of New York City.
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-08-10/as-schools-reopen-report-shows-97-000-us-kids-infected-with-covid-in-late-july

So your campus has the potential to be a super spreader event. *CUE HORROR MUSIC* And by the way if you’re thinking of holding that party or planning that backyard barbecue, just remember that this could have a stemming effect on your community. Because they can trace it back to YOU. And your party, and there goes your school’s plans being canceled. So think that every action you have during COVID will have a reaction.

Colleges aren't the only schools that have had to close their doors soon after reopening.

And in some cases, school officials are laying the blame for their changing plans on families in their communities, where graduation and end-of-summer parties prompted spikes in positive COVID-19 cases.

That's what happened in the Carle Place School District in Long Island, New York, where Superintendent Christine A. Finn announced school would start with remote learning last Wednesday rather than in person.

"We have no choice but to put the safety of our staff and students first," she said in a letter that connected many of the new positive COVID-19 cases in the community to attendance at parties where some who tested positive had close contact with students.

"As we are learning the hard way, the actions of a few can impact the many," she said.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/09/13/covid-cases-schools-back-to-school-fall-semester/5694385002/

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! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s VENMO 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 virtual congregation! Unfortunately we are still unable to bring you the full and proper Holy Shit that you know and love and we are still broadcasting from this white void. So that means no gospel choir and no Blues Brothers style theatrics. But what we can bring you is our commentary on all things religious and man they are just growing batshit insane. Well you know there are DAYMONS among us in the Deep State! Yes, we’re allowed to talk politics here in my church, because why not? Well there’s a movement in the GOP called “Q Anon” and they are out to get witches! Yes, they are convinced by GAWD that witches walk among us! What year is this? 1687?

Are demons active forces in American life and politics? That is what a large number of evangelicals in the US believe and are increasingly vocal about.

Since the 1980s, growing numbers of evangelicals have given the fight against demons a key role in their spirituality and their politics. Known as “spiritual warfare”, this views demons as central actors in world politics and everyday life. While often seen as fringe, belief in spiritual warfare is common across denominational lines, including among evangelicals close to Donald Trump such as Robert Jeffress and the president’s spiritual advisor, Paula White.

A key idea in spiritual warfare is that demons don’t only attack people, as in depictions of demonic possession, but also take control of places and institutions, such as journalism, academia, and both municipal and federal bureaucracies. By doing so, demons are framed as advancing social projects that spiritual warriors see as opposing God’s plans. These include advances in reproductive and LGBTQ rights and tolerance for non-Christian religions (especially Islam).

In a recent article published in the journal Religion, I explore how these ideas about demons combine with the wider Christian nationalism shown to be prevalent among Trump’s support base. Through a survey of conservative evangelical literature, articles, and television and radio broadcasts released between 2016 and 2018, I analyse how their authors used discourses of spiritual warfare to navigate the changing political reality, and Trump’s victory and presidency in particular.
https://www.themandarin.com.au/139744-demons-of-the-deep-state-how-evangelicals-and-conspiracy-theories-combine-in-trumps-america/

Yes! Because only witches and DAYMONS would light their cigarettes on fire after being burned at the stake! But since we are on the subject of Satanic Witchcraft, we have an actual cult in the making and it’s a cult without central leadership. Their meeting place is online and their leader is only known as Q, and they spout such mindless slogans as “Where We Go One We Go All!”.

QAnon has been making headlines in recent weeks. It's going to make more.

QAnon is, among many things, an expansive conspiracy theory built around the idea that a "deep state," or cabal of elite leftists, is clandestinely working against President Donald Trump. A person (or small group) known as "Q" drops revelations in various forms online. At the core of the appeal is its ability to generate fear. Suggesting that there is a powerful figure or group subverting the country and empowering all manner of evil is frightening.

Some of the headlines about QAnon in recent days have connected it with evangelical Christians. In addition, many proponents describe their mission in religious and quasi-religious terms.
Legitimizing a new religion?

Some talk about QAnon as if some messianic figure is at work. Similar to the ancient heresy of Gnosticism in the early church, it lures people with promises of secret knowledge. It provides a sense of identity and belonging with code phrases like, "Where we go one, where we go all." Many people, including active church members, are being drawn in.

QAnon is starting to shift things in ways that will particularly impact churches. According to a recent NPR article, many pastors believe it already has.
https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/opinion/2020/09/05/qanon-and-evangelicals-its-time-address-qanoners-column/5717300002/

But how do you cast out something unwanted? We can’t congregate in public right now, so dark minds are going to become even darker. They worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken in my virtual church! And since we can talk politics in my church, actual priests are talking politics, and they don’t have kind words to say about us who are fighting every day for truth and injustice! Dare I say this is a bit… demonic?

Two renegade priests: one calls COVID sham, one says Dems face hell

The Rev. James Altman, a priest in La Crosse, Wis., appeared in a video posted on YouTube, calling Catholic Democrats "Godless" hypocrites doomed to hell — a video, produced by a Minnesota conservative media news outlet, that now has received 655,000 clicks.

The Rev. Robert Altier delivered a fiery sermon earlier this month, labeling COVID-19 an evil, man-made conspiracy and telling his Catholic congregation in Crystal that “we’ve been lied to.”

That came just days after the Rev. James Altman, a priest in La Crosse, Wis., appeared in a video posted on YouTube, calling Catholic Democrats “Godless” hypocrites doomed to hell — a video, produced by a Minnesota conservative media news outlet, that now has received 655,000 clicks.

Catholic priests — as with all faith leaders — are supposed to steer clear of endorsing political leaders, at minimum, from the pulpit. But the two incendiary speeches reveal that the country’s polarized political climate is drifting through some church doors.

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/two-renegade-priests-one-calls-covid-sham-one-says-dems-face-hell/572411762/?om_rid=103169417673&om_mid=1283603913

Seriously where is that woman when you need her? But really if online is replacing reality, what would it take to stop a fake religion from replacing a real one? Q Anon has no tenants. It has no central leadership. It has no weekly sermons. It has no pastors or preachers. But what it does have is a bunch of batshit insanity. And it’s going to take a lot to deprogram these cult members!

Remember the “Left Behind” series, about how the Rapture would whisk away all devout right-wing Christians before Jesus Christ unleashed the apocalypse on the unbelievers? Purity rings? Jesus Camp? Breathless stories about “girls gone mild,” giving up sex and tank tops for the Lord? A federal health official who believed that women who had premarital sex couldn’t feel love? Jerry Falwell Sr. and Pat Robertson blaming 9/11 on the “pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way”?

There can be no doubt that the heyday of Christian fundamentalism in America was the George W. Bush administration. Conservatives craved reassurance that they were defenders of “morality”, despite supporting an indefensible invasion of Iraq that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. These claims to moral superiority over liberals mainly came in the form of policing hymen status, harassing women at abortion clinics and claiming a right to Christian forgiveness (for yourself) when caught with prostitutes or soliciting gay sex in public bathrooms.

White evangelicals still hold considerable political power, which is why Donald Trump occasionally tries to get photographed fondling a Bible in ways he vainly hopes are convincing. Abortion and LGBTQ rights are still under serious threat, as the Christian right has made major inroads into the federal judiciary.
https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/white-evangelicalism-is-in-decline-and-qanon-could-take-its-place/

Yes, we’re dealing with some absolutely crazy people here and we need to deprogram them as soon as possible! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Louis De Joy
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This week’s This Fucking Guy is the self-appointed and self-proclaimed Postmaster General of the United States, Louis De Joy. Oh wait, he’s the actual Postmaster? Yeah. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a raging pandemic that has ravaged this country. We’re also in the middle of the presidential election that could and should unseat Donald J. Trump. Now what should normally be a no-brainer in the middle of the raging pandemic is to allow people to vote by mail. But nope, President “Voter Fraud” is screaming that voter fraud is a very real possibility but in reality it’s not exactly what you might think, but is a fraud is how Louis De Joy actually got the Postmaster General job.

Louis DeJoy boosted his giving to Republican political campaigns as the job of U.S. Postmaster General became available, a researcher told Congress.

DeJoy, who now holds the position, gave President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee more than $600,000 over eight weeks after the opening was announced, Lisa Graves, executive director of True North Research, which investigates the influence of money on public policy, said in written testimony submitted to a panel of the House Oversight Committee in advance of a hearing Monday.

In the 2019-2020 cycle, DeJoy has given more than $1.5 million to GOP candidates and campaigns, the bulk of which has gone to aid Trump’s 2020 election strategy, Graves said. The sum includes nearly $80,000 to aid GOP Senate races since last December, when the former Postmaster General announced she would resign.

“This level of partisanship,” Graves said in written testimony, “undermines public trust in the Postal Service as an institution.”

Representative Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat who is chairman of the panel, said the hearing would help fill out a portrait of DeJoy. “We have a crony at the helm of our nation’s Postal Service, a man rife with conflicts of interest and potential violations of law,” Connolly said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/dejoy-gave-600-000-to-gop-after-postmaster-job-opened-up

Newman!!! Actually, Louis DeJoy could be just like Newman in that Newman is a character with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. You see, hiring a Postmaster General to destroy the Post Office is like your alcoholic friend hiring a guy named Jack Daniels to do his dry cleaning. You know he did it just for the thrill and it’s a very obvious sign that he has a fucking problem! But the problems that DeJoy is facing continue to mount and it’s the stuff of impending doom.

Scrutiny of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy intensified on Monday amid new reports alleging improper business dealings and persistent charges that the longtime Republican donor is subverting postal operations in order to make mail-in voting difficult in November’s presidential election.

“I am calling on Mr. DeJoy to be fired or resign,” government watchdog Lisa Graves told lawmakers on Monday morning, during a briefing on postal operations before the House Oversight Committee. True North Research, the organization Graves heads, found that DeJoy — who runs a North Carolina shipping firm — had been sued by his brother Dominick for allegedly siphoning money from the trucking company founded by their father.

Unknown nationally until this summer, DeJoy has become a key figure in the debate over how people should vote in November’s presidential election. Although that decision is ultimately up to individual states, voting by mail is impossible without a properly functioning postal service. That is the purview of the federal government.

President Trump has insisted, incorrectly, that voting by mail is subject to widespread fraud. Critics say the charges amount to a national voter suppression effort — one that, those critics say, DeJoy is abetting. Installed to run the U.S. Postal Service in June, DeJoy donated $1.2 million to the Trump Victory Fund. He has also been a consistent supporter of GOP in North Carolina, where he lives. The state’s Republican Party has been accused of being on the leading edge of efforts to suppress voters, particularly African-Americans in particular.
https://news.yahoo.com/scrutiny-of-postmaster-general-louis-de-joy-intensifies-230112268.html

Mail on Sunday? Oops!! And you know what? While we’re on the subject of DeJoy and the USPS let’s do that thing that Trump fans and Red Pill Truthers do and go down the rabbit hole shall we? So if you were to do a deep dive on this DeJoy character, let’s keep in mind that he is one shady mofo. And he’s just the type of guy that Trump attracts. Because business grifters are going to be business grifters! Hold your boos.

A two-decade-old audit of mail equipment transport contracts by the U.S. Postal Service's inspector general found that a company previously run by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was awarded multiple noncompetitive contracts by the Postal Service that may have cost consumers as much as $53 million more than if they'd been competitively bid.

The 2001 audit found that New Breed Logistics, a supply chain services provider based in North Carolina, was awarded more than $300 million in Postal Service mail equipment transport contracts that could have come in at a much lower price had they been shopped competitively to a range of vendors.

The audit, reviewed by NBC News, made it clear that the premise for awarding any noncompetitive contracts to a single vendor, such as New Breed, "did not fully meet Postal Service requirements" and "potentially exposed the Postal Service to cost and performance risks."

The contracts awarded to New Breed, beginning in 1992, were to operate a pilot mail transport equipment service center in Greensboro, North Carolina. DeJoy was chief executive of New Breed from 1983 to 2014.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/postal-contracts-awarded-dejoy-run-company-were-questioned-2001-postal-n1239990

No, don’t cancel your mail just yet. Because we are going to need it there, Kramer! But Louis DeJoy is one shady character. He’s so shady that even expert witnesses are telling the house that this guy is grossly unqualified to be the Postmaster General. In fact I’m not an expert (shocker) but even I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy has never worked a day in his life at the Post Office. Let’s just ask Newman!

United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy should not have been chosen for his post due to apparent conflicts of interest that made him ineligible, expert witnesses told Congress on Monday.

That is what Richard Painter, a former top ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, and David Fineman, former chairman of the U.S.P.S. Board of Governors under the Bill Clinton and Bush administrations, said before the House Overisight Committee.

DeJoy's $30 million stake in his former logistics company, XPO Logistics, which is a major contractor for the Postal Service and has received $14 million from the agency since DeJoy was appointed in June, should have posed far too great a risk for a criminal financial conflict of interest, the men testified to the House Oversight Committee.

In addition, the witnesses said that if DeJoy had been properly vetted before being appointed by the board of governors, they could have uncovered allegations of potential campaign violations reported by The Washington Post earlier this month.

"You do not get that job if you keep stock in a contractor with your agency," Painter said. "That is a deal breaker because you could go into public office and commit a felony. It would have been a deal breaker in the Bush administration. We would not have nominated, appointed or approved—in any way—a senior Executive Branch official having that conflict of interest."
https://www.newsweek.com/dejoy-never-should-have-been-approved-postmaster-general-expert-witnesses-tell-house-oversight-1531829

He’s the Postmaster General who should have never been appointed in the first place! That’s Louis DeJoy, this week’s:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse
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So the Oscars wants to be less inclusive and more racist? No, they want to be less racist and more inclusive. That’s right, the Academy of Motion Pictures is going full steam with embracing divserity which is going to look great for the 2021 Best Picture nominees since we’re in a pandemic and no movies are getting made or released! How is that going to work? Well, moving onto best pictures when full movie production resumes, you can bet that there’s going to be a lot more people being included in the Best Picture nominations. Where in recent years the Best Picture has been won by… let’s see… white guy, white guy, white guy, a bunch of white guys, and oh yeah white guy. Except for Moonlight and whatever the hell the Shape Of Water is. But enough of my rambling.

The diversity and inclusion initiative has been a heavy focus for the Oscars the past few years, shown by the expansive membership initiative. As part of the Academy Aperture 2025 initiative, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday new representation and inclusion standards in order to be eligible in the best picture category.

For the 94th and 95th Oscars ceremonies, scheduled for 2022 and 2023, a film will submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form to be considered for best picture. Beginning in 2024, for the 96th Oscars, a film submitting for best picture will need to meet the inclusion thresholds by meeting two of the four standards.

All other Academy categories will keep their current eligibility requirements. For categories such as animated feature, documentary feature and international feature, that submit for best picture consideration, they will be addressed separately.

For a number of years, the Academy has struggled to nominate films that are diverse in its cast, directors, and technical craftspeople. In 2016, after they failed to nominate any person of color among their 20 acting nominees, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who was Academy President at the time, took historic action by committing to doubling the number of women and diverse members by 2020, which they have achieved.
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/oscars-inclusion-standards-best-picture-diversity-1234762727/

Now you might be asking – “how is this going to work?” and I answer you – I’m pretty sure even the Academy doesn’t know. But the other question is why the hell are we waiting until 2024 to fully implement this criteria? Well that’s probably when we’re going to resume film production. Well I’m hoping that it’s not that long. But the bad thing is this won’t change who wins best picture.

Hollywood has always straddled the line between authenticity and artifice, both onscreen and off. In the old-school studio system, it wasn't unusual for an actor's "real" identity to be as much a work of fiction as the movies he starred in. Backstories were fabricated; facts were massaged; private lives were obscured. Gay stars pretended to be heterosexual playboys, recognizably ethnic surnames were traded for anglicized ones, and mixed-race actors who could pass as white often took pains to do so.

In the next few years, the Hollywood game-playing surrounding identity may well take a new turn, with actors scrambling to classify themselves outside the white, cis, and heterosexual norms that their predecessors hewed to. This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) handed down a brand new set of diversity and inclusion requirements, which films must start meeting in 2022 (with full rollout in 2024) to be eligible for Best Picture consideration. Those who want a shot at the Oscar will need to make sure their production meets those standards in at least two of the following four categories: "Onscreen Representation, Themes and Narratives," "Creative Leadership and Project Team," "Industry Access and Opportunities," and "Audience Development."

Although this announcement came at a moment when diversity commitments are particularly trendy, anyone who's followed the Oscars and its attendant controversies over the past few years will know that it's been brewing for much longer. It was 2015 when an all-white slate of acting nominees first prompted a viral backlash against the Academy and its yearly awards ceremony, a P.R. nightmare that Hollywood has been clumsily trying to overcome ever since. Prior to now, the biggest initiative was a 2018 mass recruitment of new members, which nudged the Academy's makeup ever so slightly in a more diverse direction while making no real impact on its overall hegemony of white males. Unlike the Academy's other efforts, this latest move carries a whiff of control, not just over Oscars consideration, but over the art itself.
https://reason.com/2020/09/11/the-oscars-new-diversity-rules-wont-change-who-wins-best-picture/

That’s of course assuming there’s going to be a next year there, Homer! I kid I kid, there’s going to be life after COVID. I hope. Anyways before I start rambling again, just how far did the Academy step in it in regards to their diversity requirements? Well let’s just say think of it like stepping in a pool of giraffe diarrhea. That’s a horrible and disgusting image that will do little to help the overall landscape, and let’s face it, you feel bad for the giraffe! So just how much did they step in it?

On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced new guidelines for film eligibility.

These new guidelines emphasize diversity, but in more complicated ways than you might assume. Before considering the effects of the new rules, it is worth contemplating the old rules, both explicit and implicit.

Previously, the only formal requirements for eligibility were that a movie had to have been screened and advertised for a week for paid admission in Los Angeles County in the preceding calendar year. Hence Oscar eligibility lists published by the academy includes movies that nobody expects to get Oscars — such as Pokémon Detective Pikachu and the remake of Charlie’s Angels. Of course, those are the official rules for eligibility, but as everyone intuitively knows — and Oliver Schilke and I showed in a 2014 article for the American Sociological Review — there are implicit criteria for getting an Oscar. Notably, Oscar bait is typically released in November or December; has IMDb genres of drama, war, biography, and/or history; has plot elements such as disability, scandal, investigative reporting, human-rights abuses, or show business; has a director with a track record of nominations; and is released by the specialty division of a major studio. The new rules would add that the film must substantially reflect diversity on the screen or behind it.

The new rules emphasize diversity in a level of detail that is unprecedented for the mainstream Oscar categories. (Categories such as foreign and documentary have long had complicated rules.) The new rules require Oscar-eligible films to meet any two of four “standards.” Standard “A” requires that the film has a non-white lead actor or much of the supporting cast are intersectionally diverse or the story centers on women, non-white people, LGBTQ+, or disabled people.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/the-new-oscars-diversity-rules-will-have-little-impact/

So where do actual movie stars stand on the Oscar’s new inclusion rules? Well they’re about as divided as we are on the subject. It’s going to be a while before Hollywood gets back to its’ pre-COVID self but while that happens, we’re waiting to see what the stars actually think. And well it’s generally a mixed bag of opinions.

Ever since the #OscarsSoWhite campaign began four years ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been searching for innovative ways to champion inclusivity across the white- and male-dominated film industry, including by diversifying its ranks. On Tuesday, they released their newest initiative: new inclusion standards for films seeking a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards.

Starting in 2024, Best Picture hopefuls will have to meet the standards of two out of four broad groups of criteria laid out in a 1,000-word memo: representation onscreen (addressed in Standard A), behind the camera (B) and in audience development (D); and pipelines for young, marginalized talent (C). The guidelines, which the Academy says were created following a far-reaching consultation process throughout the industry, specifically draw attention to the underrepresentation of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities.

DeVon Franklin, a film producer who co-led the initiative, said in an interview that while the guidelines had been in the works for over a year, they were successfully voted through by the Academy’s board of governors in June, in the wake of the global protests following the death of George Floyd. “It was a moment when the board said, ‘We, as the representatives of our constituents and the Academy, want to be a lighthouse for the future,’” he said.
https://time.com/5887344/oscars-diversity-rules-movies/

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Hit it!

Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. While we were off for the Labor Day holiday, stupid obviously never takes a holiday! So who is dumb this week? Well first, Dr. Phil is dumb. Yes, the fake TV psychiatrist that Oprah unwittingly leashed upon the masses continues to prove why he should not be practicing any medicine. Hell, he doesn’t understand the unwritten rules of social media! And one of those rules is that you don’t tell people what to do! No! if you tell someone to do something, they’re only going to want to do more of this. Especially when we’re in a pandemic and everyone is bored out of their skulls!

Dr. Phil McGraw popped up on TikTok on Thursday to pop off to his followers who keep calling him “Daddy.”

It seems that a lot of people who follow his posts refer to him as “Daddy” in the comments and he’s apparently annoyed.

So as part of the app’s popular “you have to stop” posts, McGraw asked his TikTok fans to cease the patriarchal nicknames when commenting on his posts.

“I hate to break it to you, but I ain’t your daddy, and your real daddy is probably getting his feelings hurt,” McGraw said. “I appreciate the support — it’s a little weird, but I appreciate the support.”

@drphil

#YouHaveTo stop calling me “daddy.” I ain’t ya daddy.
♬ you have to stop supporting trump - hannah_harpist

And because this is the internet, everyone immediately respected his wishes ― not!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1103&pid=18286

Damn right!! You don’t tell the internet what to do, Dr. Phil! No, no, no, no, no, no. Next up – let’s go across the pond to France! As we have proven on this program time and time again, there’s stupid people no matter what country you go to. But in this particular case, we all get annoyed with bugs and insects. But this might not be the best way to go about doing things. In fact, you could put a “DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME” warning on this next story.

The man, who is in his 80s, was about to tuck into his dinner when he became irritated by a fly buzzing around him.

He picked up an electric racket designed to kill bugs and start swatting at it - but a gas canister was leaking in his Dordogne home.

A reaction between the racket and the gas caused an explosion, destroying the kitchen and partly damaging the roof of the home in Parcoul-Chenaud village.

According to local media, the unnamed man had a lucky escape, sustaining just a burn to the hand.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54051423

Yeah something like that. Next up – you know much of the country is experiencing devastating wildfires, and I swear that it’s Mother Nature’s way of saying she’s bound and determined to get rid of us once and for all. And you can spout your conspiracy theories, believe me. But one thing you should never ever do? How about don’t set off fucking explosives in a dry climate on the hottest day of the year? What could go wrong?

At the time of writing there are 7,718 fires raging across California, 20 people have lost their lives, and nearly 5,000 buildings have been destroyed. The ignition of one of these fires caught the attention of the press, and the internet, more than others.

On September 5, an explosion of coloured smoke revealed the gender of a Californian couple’s soon to be born child, and simultaneously set light to over 10,000 acres of the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yuaipa.

Gender-reveal parties, relatively unheard of just a few years ago, have now become an important rite of passage for expectant parents in the US. Seen by some as an unhelpful reinforcement of binary gender stereotypes, these parties have long been the source of mockery by the internet. Years of one-upmanship have seen ever more extravagant reveals posted to social media – cake cutting, mass dance performances, balloons dropped from planes, and, increasingly, pyrotechnics.

So, when a gender-reveal party started the El Dorado fire, it was bound to draw attention. Memes and spoof articles soon appeared, and the mainstream media latched on to the story. The idea that the fires were started by human stupidity is one we actually find appealing, and almost comforting. But this narrative hides a very uncomfortable truth.
https://theconversation.com/california-wildfires-why-a-gender-reveal-party-got-the-blame-but-shouldnt-have-146033

Yeah seriously don’t do anything that dumb. There are limits people! Next up – the state of Florida always brings the crazy! We make fun of America’s most penis-shaped state but it does have some of the craziest people alive! For instance this particular story out of Port St. Lucie, Florida. Now I love me some bacon, but don’t get your bacon and your cocaine mixed up, that’s mistake number one. Mistake number two? Don’t keep either one in the backseat of your car for an extended period of time.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A Florida man was arrested Wednesday after deputies found more than a pound of cocaine in his truck and even more at his home, including some on top of a stack of bacon.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said Clifford Eugene Tindall was pulled over around 7 p.m. and deputies found a bag filled with nearly a pound of cocaine in the back seat, TC Palm reported.

Deputies found more cocaine during a search of his home around 9 p.m. Some cocaine was found “directly on top of a stack of bacon,” investigators said.
Content Continues Below

Tindall, 62, was arrested and charged with two counts of cocaine trafficking, according to jail records. He was released on $70,000 bond.
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending/florida-man-arrested-with-pound-cocaine-some-kept-stack-bacon-deputies-say/DTHZQL5X5RERZJ2JO6ZCG2D62Y/

Of course! Finally this week, we go to that most senior of all Florida cities, The Villages! And yes many times during the course of this horrible administration I’ve been there, and we have all been there. But if Trump drives you to drink, maybe don’t tell this as your excuse to the cops. Me personally? I’m going to go have a few cold ones after this because well, Trump and the COVID pandemic are really driving me to drink.

A man who crashed his golf cart while driving it drunk through The Villages said he was driven to drink after watching President Donald Trump on TV, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said they were called to a single-vehicle golf cart crash the evening of July 30 on Rainey Trail and Buena Vista Boulevard and when they questioned the driver, 82-year-old Cary De Van, he said he hit a wall inside the golf cart tunnel while driving home.

De Van’s red golf cart had what appeared to be a broken axle, leading deputies to believe he ran over a concrete curb, records show.

The report said De Van was slurring his words and smelled of alcohol as deputies were questioning him about the crash. De Van was not injured and no property was damaged during the crash.

He claimed that about two hours prior, he saw Trump speaking on TV and “then got really mad at what he said” so he started drinking vodka, according to authorities.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/08/19/florida-man-involved-in-dui-golf-cart-crash-claims-president-trump-drove-him-to-drink-deputies-say/

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Road To The White House: Biden’s Special Guests
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Welcome back to the… *cue reverb* ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!!! Oh that was some damn fine reverb there! So when we last met, we talked about the differences in celebrity endorsements between Biden and Trump. And basically Biden has the endorsement of all the cool celebrities, while Trump is full of has-beens and dipshits who have been banned from social media. This week, since we can’t campaign in person, we have to resort to campaigning virtually. Yeah it blows but while COVID is still a thing we can’t do things the way we normally do. But Biden’s got a whole lot of special guests lined up for his virtual campaign events. Like for instance, one of my favorite rappers, our good friend Ice Cube, who is riding with Biden!

Ice Cube has been promoting his Contract with Black America ahead of the upcoming presidential election, and it looks like both major party candidates have taken notice. Speaking with TMZ earlier this week, the rap veteran revealed that the camps of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have contacted him about his proposed agenda.

“The end game is to get a candidate to adopt this plan because it’s needed for Black America,” Cube told the outlet. “We all got our favorite candidate that we want to win, but the thing is — we need this done.”

In a previous op-ed The Hill article, Cube outlined his Contact with Black America and called for politicians to present a plan for reparations and address racial inequalities within the banking and financial industries, criminal justice system, policing, education and Hollywood.

Cube added that the Biden campaign is already “moving full-speed” ahead on social justice issues, but he wants to see an equal amount of attention go to economic equality initiatives.
https://www.revolt.tv/2020/9/10/21430574/ice-cube-trump-biden-contract-black-america

Really Ice, you’d expect Trump to be a leader on social issues? Have you been following the last 4 years of this horrible administration like we have? But here’s the thing – Ice Cube is such a hot guest to have that both teams – Team Biden and Team Trump – are vying to get his take on America in 2020 before the election. So why are they focusing on earning his opinion? Well because… celebrity. And black.

Ice Cube has been promoting his Contract With Black America ahead of the upcoming Presidential election.

The contract serves as a “blueprint to achieve racial economic justice.” The Hip Hop legend revealed during a conversation with TMZ Live that both candidates have been in contact with him to outline his demands.

“The end game is to get a candidate to adopt this plan because it’s needed for Black America,” said Cube as he discussed his contract. Cube says he washed his hands of identity politics. In other words, he’s will to vote Trump back into office if he meets his demands before his Presidency is up.

“[Me and Biden’s team] talked about a few things,” said Cube. “Making sure that a fair amount of government contracts go to Black businesses, and I say Black specifically because the word ‘minority’ has actually hurt us because every minority usually gets something but us. I really wanna focus on economics. I think economics could fix a lot of these other social problems. They’re moving full-speed on dealing with social issues. The same amount of energy needs to go into getting us out of this economic hole that Black people have found themselves in generation after generation. We have to close this wealth gap.”

Ice Cube assures that both parties “understand that something big needs to be done.”
https://thesource.com/2020/09/10/ice-cube-reveals-joe-biden-and-donald-trump-reached-out-to-him-about-his-contract-with-black-america/

Now here’s where Ice Cube’s endorsement is considered shocking. Because while he’s a black celebrity, he’s also very, very rich. And something (we’re guessing Kanye maybe?) might be turning wealthy black Americans against the Democratic party. So because of that, we have to present both sides of the issue and here’s where Team Trump could see some input from Mr. Cube.

On May 24, Ice Cube tweeted, “Hold the Black vote hostage until one of ’em comes with A Black Agenda that we’re satisfied with. It’s not our job to fix the country’s mess until we fix our mess…#fuckyoupayme.”

The hip-hop icon’s tweet falls in line with a sentiment Sean “Diddy” Combs recently shared during an interview with Naomi Campbell when he called for Black people to hold off giving Joe Biden and the Democrats support until the Black community’s issues and needs are addressed.

“We want to know very clearly. Just like Trump made it clear that he wanted to build a wall, Biden needs to make it clear that he’s gonna change the lives and quality of life of Black and Brown people,” Diddy said. “Or else he can’t get the vote. I will hold the vote hostage if I have to.”

In the interview on Campbell’s web series, “No Filter with Naomi,” Diddy declared the “Black vote ain’t free.” More people seem to be following this belief especially after the presumptive presidential Democrat’s interview on The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne Tha God.

Nina Turner, national co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, tweeted, “The @DNC must stop playing games with our votes. And to my Beloved Black Community: Now is the time! We owe it to our ancestors, ourselves and to our future to seize this moment for the uplift of our people. This assignment is forever!#Iaintblack“
https://www.blackenterprise.com/ice-cube-joins-charlamagne-diddy-against-biden-democrats-lets-hold-the-black-vote-hostage-until-theres-a-black-agenda-were-satisfied-with/

Let’s not go that far! But yeah that’s where Mr. Cube could do some damage, because he’s an actor and a hip hop star and creator of some of some of the best hip hop songs of all time. And he holds sway with the younger generation of rappers like Charlemagne The God, Lil Wayne, and Lil Uzi Vert. So you can see why his opinion is actually important.

Ice Cube has been promoting his Contract with Black America ahead of the upcoming presidential election, and it looks like both major party candidates have taken notice. Speaking with TMZ earlier this week, the rap veteran revealed that the camps of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have contacted him about his proposed agenda.

“The end game is to get a candidate to adopt this plan because it’s needed for Black America,” Cube told the outlet. “We all got our favorite candidate that we want to win, but the thing is — we need this done.”

In a previous op-ed The Hill article, Cube outlined his Contact with Black America and called for politicians to present a plan for reparations and address racial inequalities within the banking and financial industries, criminal justice system, policing, education and Hollywood.

Speaking with TMZ, the multi-hyphenate said that he and the Biden campaign team talked “about a few things,” namely economic support for Black Americans.

“Making sure that a fair amount of government contracts go to Black businesses,” he named as one talking point. “... I really want to focus on economics. I think economics could fix a lot of these other social problems.”
https://www.revolt.tv/2020/9/10/21430574/ice-cube-trump-biden-contract-black-america

See you next week!

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September 2, 2020

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #13: Labor Day Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #13: Labor Day Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? It’s hard to enjoy a holiday when all the days are running together right now, but we’ll try to help get you through this extremely crappy time in America and the world right now. Yes, we’re all sad, scared and angry because COVID is still wandering the landscape. But the good news though is that we’ll get to go back to the studio! Yay!!! The next few (hopefully) editions will be from our new home at the amazing Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank. Still no live audiences allowed for the time being, but we can manage! And yes, I regret not being able to cover the insanity surrounding the RNC and Trump’s nomination. Because these things have a shelf life and by the time we come back next week it will already be yesterday’s news! Of course our whole show is focused on covering yesterday’s news, but that is beside the point. Although the good thing – when we come back on the 9th our next set of the Top 10 Hot 10 is going to focus on the sports and entertainment industry! Yes, everyone from Aubrey Huff to Sean Hannity to James Woods to Clint Eastwood and everybody in between is going to be covered, and there will be another edition of Holy Shit to go along with it! Just like the last time we will begin announcing our picks for this batch of the Top 10 Hot 10 on 9/2 on our Twitter feed at @10Idiots! OK I’m rambling enough. That’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first I have to play this short but sweet Biden ad aimed at football fans (myself included!):

So where do we start for this best of? Well in the #1 spot, from Idiots #9-2, we’re dedicating it to Trump’s extremely ill-timed and poorly planned MAGA rally in Tulsa that claimed the life of former presidential candidate Herman Cain, among other nonsense that came out of that. In the second spot from Idiots #9-8 is Kanye West (2). Yes, the College Dropout and inexplicable presidential candidate basically admitted that his whole campaign is a fraud meant to take votes away from Biden. Fuck him.In the third slot from Idiots #8-19, is Lockdown Protests (3). Yes we all get the dire straits that this wretched virus has left us in but these idiots were taking their protest game to the next level, and getting everyone else infected in the process! Taking the fourth slot, from Idiots #9-9 is Herman Cain (4). He sadly lost his battle with COVID-19 after attending Trump’s inane Tulsa rally, but his Twitter account is still inexplicably active! Who’s tweeting and why is it aimed at Biden and his supporters? Taking the 5th slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and from Idiots #8-17: Mississippi audited their government at the state and local levels and found some absolutely ridiculous spending sprees! Find out what they blew their money on this time! In the #6 slot, from Idiots #9-3, our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 (6) covered yet another disastrous rally, this time at an Arizona megachurch, and come find out the completely batshit justification as to why they held an indoor rally in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century! Taking the 7th slot this week, from Idiots #9-5, is our favorite segment “Beating A Dead Horse” (7), and this week, country music group Lady Antebellum dropped the word “Antebellum” from their name and found out the name Lady A was already taken, but who really owns the rights to the name Lady A? The answer is not what you would expect! Taking the 8th slot this week, from Idiots #9-6, is our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner (8), and Q Anon followers took their fight to the DIY furniture industry and accused furniture manufacture Wayfair of sex trafficking, resulting in one of the most insane corporate apologies of all time! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a People Are Dumb, and we’re dedicating it to our favorite state, the Sunshine State, and a guy who spent his stimulus money on some absurdly stupid items! Finally this week in our documenting of the 2020 campaign, Road To The White House (10), Joe Biden names his nominee and it’s Kamala Harris! Find out what in store!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"]Donald Trump
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From: Idiots #9-2

Everyone knew that Trump holding an indoor event in the middle of the deadliest pandemic in 100 years was a colossally bad idea. And holding it in Tulsa, Oklahoma – the site of America’s worst race riot, on the day that slavery was ended – was also a bad idea. But allow me to engage in a bit of schadenfreude here. Because, nobody showed up! That’s right – absolutely nobody showed up to this rally. Don’t worry, we will get to that in a bit here. But he can make all the excuses all he wants, the fact of the matter is that COVID still reigns supreme, and until we start reeling in this monster, we can kiss large stadium gatherings like this goodbye. But that didn’t stop his most hardcore fans from showing up.

President Donald Trump is "furious" at the "underwhelming" crowd at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday evening, a major disappointment for what had been expected to be a raucous return to the campaign trail after three months off because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to multiple people close to the White House.

The president was fuming at his top political aides Saturday even before the rally began after his campaign revealed that six members of the advance team on the ground in Tulsa had tested positive for COVID-19, including Secret Service personnel, a person familiar with the discussions said.

Trump asked those around him why the information was exposed and expressed annoyance that the coverage ahead of his mega-rally was dominated by the revelation.

While the Trump re-election effort boasted that it would fill BOK Center, which seats more than 19,000 people, only 6,200 supporters ultimately occupied the general admission sections, the Tulsa fire marshal told NBC News.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-furious-underwhelming-crowd-tulsa-rally-n1231674

Ooh boy this one hit Trump where it hurts! Yes, he’s about as mad as an angry, animated Lewis Black with flames shooting out of his head. Of course, anger is the only emotion that Trump knows. Does he know fear? No. Does he know compassion? No. Does he know disgust? No. Does he know Joy? Hell freaking no! Trump wouldn’t know joy if it bit him in his ass! So he’s hopping mad about what happened in Tulsa, and it was glorious. This might be my favorite thing about this whole rally. Can we throw that image up there?

May that image be forever known as the downfall of the Trump administration! And I love all of the Spinal Tap comparisons – Trump might be at that stage.

Plus, the history of Trump campaign managers has an eerie similarity to the history of Spinal Tap drummers. In the 2016 campaign, Lewandowski gave way to Paul Manafort (remember him!) who gave way to Kellyanne Conway. And throughout it all, there were whispers that Kushner or Ivanka (or both) were the real brains behind the operation. Or that Trump himself was effectively managing his own campaign, making all the important calls about what do say and do.

Parscale is, without question then, the most likely target of Trump's anger. But go back to Kaitlan's tweet -- this part in particular: "Anyone, including WH aides, could be fired depending on coverage."

The key -- and revealing -- bit there is "depending on coverage." Trump is seething, yes. But he's also watching cable TV. And taking calls. And making calls. And trying to suss out -- from all of that -- who the collective "they" are blaming for the Tulsa rally debacle. That, as much as his own sense, will determine who gets fired.

Because, again, Trump is all about perception: It's not about whose fault it really is that the crowd over the weekend didn't live up to the hype. (In truth, there's no way it's one person's fault.) It's about who the media, his friends and major party donors blame. That's the person Trump will blame.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/22/politics/trump-rally-tulsa-2020/index.html

Oh god that movie is a classic. I could totally see Trump going down that road. Maybe next he will open up for petting zoos and puppet shows. Assuming we have such activities in the near future. But you can bet there will be some firings and when that happens, get ready for the return of the Trumper Games! I mean this whole year just can’t get any weirder. And Trump’s gone through as many cabinet members as Spinal Tap has drummers. At Trump got him some ratings! Oh, those sweet, sweet ratings!

Now it’s apparent where many of President Donald Trump’s supporters who stayed away from Saturday’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were instead: they were home watching it on television.

Fox News Channel, which aired Trump’s speech live, had the biggest Saturday night audience in the network’s 24-year history, the Nielsen company said. During Trump’s address at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Fox had 8.2 million people watching.

CNN and MSNBC aired only clips of Trump talking, yet each news network had about twice as many viewers as they normally get on Saturday nights. Collectively, the three networks had nearly 12 million viewers for its Trump coverage, Nielsen said.

For those in Oklahoma, the night’s biggest story was the arena’s empty seats.

In the absence of sports or first-run scripted series, news continues to be the dominant force in television viewing. Fox News Channel’s prime-time average of 3.68 million viewers for the week topped all broadcast and cable networks.
https://apnews.com/c9e9a3808ea5ff2280944f5d57e53daa

Yeah so there’s no sports, or recreation, or entertainment of any kind during this nightmare known as COVID-19. So Trump is the only game in town! He’s literally the kind of guy who would find a way to broadcast from the Springfield badlands while the entire world was held hostage by a nuclear bomb, and I wouldn’t put that past him. But that’s not stopping him from taking his show on the road!

President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the Arizona-Mexico border, then hold a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday.

His visit to Arizona comes as the state is experiencing large increases in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The president recognized two of Arizona's most prominent Republican officials, Gov. Doug Ducey and U.S. Senator Martha McSally.

Ducey was greeted with some "boos" from the crowd.

But Trump complimented Ducey for the work he's done in Arizona and his win at the polls nearly two years ago.

The President said he asked Ducey how Trump was doing in the state, "He said you're doing really well and I said good because he knows better than anybody."

Trump asked the crowd to support McSally in November because she supports the border wall. Plus, Trump said, her opponent Mark Kelly "is very weak on China and other things."
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2020/06/23/updates-president-trump-rally-tuesday-arizona/3238171001/

[font size="8"]Kanye West

[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #9-8

Spoiler Alert!!!! Kanye West is completely full of shit! But if you’re here and you’ve been following our reporting for the last few weeks, you already knew that. This week however, the Yeezy for president campaign took a turn when he got caught admitting what we all pretty much could have figured out the obvious – his campaign is a spoiler campaign meant to help Trump and hurt Biden. But what you may not know is that he’s being used and abused by GOP operatives, and he doesn’t care. You also might be wondering when Kim is going to step in and put a stop to this. I would say normally Kanye’s hair brained schemes fizzle out when there’s something good on TV. But we’re in a pandemic and there’s no new content being produced.

Kanye West's unlikely White House bid is getting help qualifying for presidential ballots in key states from Republicans around the country, fueling suspicions he's being pushed to run by allies of President Donald Trump hoping to siphon support away from Joe Biden.

The rapper qualified for Colorado's presidential ballot on Thursday, after the Secretary of State's office verified that nine electors he submitted are all registered to vote in that state. One of those was Matthew Zielinski, is a former Republican congressional candidate who served as an officer with a county Republican Party in suburban Denver.

Zielinski tweeted that he believed in "fair ballot access" but declined further comment.

A similar pattern has played out in in Wisconsin, Ohio, Vermont and Arkansas, where lawyers or activists with GOP ties have been involved in securing the star's place on the ballot. The successful effort in battleground states Wisconsin and Ohio in particular raised red flags for Democrats, who are braced for a close race and anxious about any third-party candidate drawing voters.
https://abc7chicago.com/politics/republicans-push-kanye-2020-but-will-it-really-hurt-biden/6359322/

Seriously, I could just post clips from that South Park episode and it would not really be that much different than what’s going on now. But let’s do a little bit of onion peeling here. See, if we take a pairing knife to the onion and start removing the layers, this story stinks. Of course he actually admits to being a spoiler in the election and it’s a hell of a lot worse than you might think.

Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November’s presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.

Asked about that directly, West said that rather than running for president, he was “walking,” quickly adding that he was “walking . . . to win.”

When it was pointed out that he actually can’t win in 2020—that he won’t be on enough ballots to yield 270 electoral votes, and that a write-in campaign isn’t feasible—and thus was serving as a spoiler, West replied: “I’m not going to argue with you. Jesus is King.”

West rebuffed various attempts to clarify who was driving his ballot access or strategy and whether it’s being coordinated by or with Republican-affiliated officials. He does, however, appear to have a continuing relationship with the Trump White House. West says that he’s “designing a school within the next month” and that “I’m meeting with Betsy DeVos about the post-Covid curriculum.” (The Secretary of Education’s press office hadn’t responded to a request for comment by the time we published.)

“I like Kanye very much,” President Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday. “No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We'll have to see what happens.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2020/08/06/exclusive-kanye-west-indicates-that-his-spoiler-campaign-is-indeed-designed-to-hurt-biden/#17005eb76397

We already have one batshit crazy, completely unstable egomaniacal jackass running the show, do we really need another one? Hell no! and we also don’t need this coming around in 2024 either. So what’s stopping Kanye? Well, there is this thing called the Federal Election Commission, which we profiled during our tour of the government (see: Top 10 #5-18 ). So yeah they’re stepping in in the great state of Illinois!

Kanye West's Presidential run just got a death blow, at least in Illinois, where election officials say more than half his submitted signatures are invalid ... and that means he's off the ballot.

TMZ broke the story ... multiple people stepped up to object after Kanye submitted his petition to get on the ballot in his home state. That triggered a review -- from the State Board of Elections -- of all the 3,128 signatures on his documents.

The tally is in, and 1,928 were ruled invalid ... which leaves Ye way more than a thousand short of the 2,500 needed to be a Presidential candidate on the state's ballots. What we don't know is what was wrong with the bad ones.

It could be any number of issues -- fake names, fake addresses, unregistered voters in Illinois -- or even simply an illegible signature.

Bottom line is Illinois will be officially removing him on August 21, or he still has the option to gracefully announce he's withdrawing.

https://www.tmz.com/2020/08/07/kanye-west-off-illinois-ballot-presidential-campaign-signatures-invalid/

God, I would certainly hope not! But wait until you see *WHY* Kanye is not getting on the ballot. Sure, he may have racked up those signatures pretty quick, but it turns out that a good majority of said signatures are complete bullshit. See, you know people aren’t taking his campaign seriously when they start fucking with the petitions and putting fake names on it. But even more so when they put names of celebrities and cartoon characters. Well, Kanye is kind of a cartoon character.

On Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Michael Curran, an attorney for rapper Kanye West’s independent presidential campaign, is demanding Democrats prove their assertion that Mickey Mouse didn’t really sign West’s petition to qualify him for the ballot in Wisconsin.

“Curran … dismissed most of the other technical challenges as ‘misguided and ill-informed,’ including the claims that the nomination papers included obviously fake names, such as ‘Mickey Mouse’ and ‘Bernie Sanders,'” reported Daniel Bice. “He said the complaint must prove these are fraudulent signatures.”

Kanye West, who is running under a self-created political entity he calls “the Birthday Party,” has filed to run in a number of states, aided by Republican election strategists who appear to hope he will pull votes from former Vice President Joe Biden. His bids to get on the New Jersey and Illinois ballots failed due to irregularities with the petition signatures, and his campaign is accused of similar problems in the Wisconsin filing.

In addition to fake names, the challenge alleges that West’s signature-gatherers lied to at least six people about what they were signing, and filed the paperwork just after the deadline. Curran denies anything improper in West’s petition process.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/kanye-wests-lawyer-demands-democrats-prove-mickey-mouse-didnt-really-sign-his-ballot-petition-in-wisconsin/

[font size="8"]MAGA Protestors
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #8-19

There’s no question that the Coronavirus outbreak has the potential to be the biggest disaster of a generation and could have social and economic consequences that will last way until the next century, even after eradication. So naturally the masses from both sides are getting pissed and we want some answers. But there’s only one side that is taking it to the streets and protesting in mass numbers. And they’re not wearing masks. OK maybe they are wearing masks as V For Vendetta characters. Which, if you explain them the true meaning of the movie, well… they might not take it so well. So how are the MAGA protests going? Let’s take a look at my home state of California where they’re going after Gov. Newsom hard.

A major protest rally against California Governor Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order began at the state Capitol Saturday morning, with more than 2,000 demonstrators gathered in Sacramento to demand lockdown measures be lifted.

The demonstration, called 'Liberty Fest,' has been touted by organizers as the country's largest Memorial Day weekend protest against lockdown measures put in place to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Hundreds of protesters gathered along the street across from the Capitol building before noon, some wearing t-shirts that read: "Resist. Rise. Revolt. Reopen."

Saturday's programming at the demonstration involved protesting, live music, barbecues and a tailgate party, according to The Sacramento Bee.

Reporters and officers at the scene wore masks, but most of the protesters did not, according to images shared to social media of the event. Many in attendance also failed to adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) guidelines on social distancing as they marched around the Capitol building.
https://www.newsweek.com/liberty-fest-protesters-gather-california-capitol-against-states-coronavirus-lockdown-memorial-1506196

Judging by their looks, I don’t think any of these men and women will be performing hunger strikes any time soon. Hey o!!! See what I did there? Of course we’re at the stage of the pandemic where we’re getting extremely restless. If you look at 1918, it was at this point where the dreaded second wave first started appearing, even as cases went down. So do you trade responsibility for freedoms? This is America, nobody wants to be responsible for anything!

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed many bustling routines into dull days. People have been advised to stay home, avoid non-essential travel to “flatten the curve,” and ensure COVID-19 doesn’t overwhelm the healthcare system. While a small minority, some in BC feel that these measurements are oppressive. In April and May, these protestors marched the streets of Vancouver, flailing their signs and screeching for BC to reopen. This is a dangerous and egocentric response to the COVID-19 outbreak and the public health measures meant to keep people safe.

While the anti-lockdown protests may be a result of mere ignorance or misunderstanding, they have tangible, negative effects on the containment of coronavirus. Not only do they fail to consider the capacity of our healthcare system and endanger the health of others by ignoring social distancing recommendations, these protests are also providing a platform that actively encourages others to do the same.

Studies have shown that coordination amongst individuals is necessary for quarantine restrictions to take effect. While the Vancouver protest in mid-April consisted of only a few people, a video of it received over 21,000 likes on Twitter. This gives a voice to those who are already skeptical of the COVID-19 pandemic and increases confirmation bias — a rejection of any information that disagrees with the preconceived notion that COVID-19 isn’t a threat. The resultant inability to gather information objectively normalizes doubt in health officials and creates further unrest about the perceived “oppressive” measures of the government.

Concerns about government overreach during these times aren’t necessarily unfounded. However, the belief that legitimate quarantine restrictions for public safety violates citizens’ rights to freedom is a fundamental misunderstanding of how our society functions.
https://the-peak.ca/2020/05/anti-lockdown-protests-ignore-social-responsibility-for-egotistical-freedom/

Just wait until that chant gets heard outside Sacramento! But the US isn’t the only country experiencing protests from the ultra far right. Of course I’ve mentioned frequently on this program that the ultra far right are the same no matter what country you visit. Remember when we used to visit other countries before the pandemic? That was nice. But let’s take a look at Spain for instance.

Thousands of people in Spain are protesting against the government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The far-right Vox party urged supporters to drive through major cities without leaving their vehicles in order to maintain social distancing.

Protesters in the capital, Madrid, drove in convoy and waved Spanish flags as they called for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to resign.

Spain imposed some of the tightest restrictions in Europe on 14 March.

It has eased restrictions in recent weeks, but Madrid and Barcelona have remained under tight lockdown due to their more severe outbreaks of Covid-19.

Both cities will begin to relax their curbs from Monday by allowing outdoor dining and gatherings of up to 10 people.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52783936

Hey MAGAs, conservatives, and Trump supporters – let me liberal ‘splain something for you – we both want the same thing! No one wants social distancing. No one wants to live in this weird, isolated world that we’ve become since the pandemic. We all want things to go back to the normal we had before the nightmare started. I want to go back to seeing movies, live shows and sports again. I want to resume traveling and touring again! But if you don’t follow the rules during the pandemic, there might not be a normal to return to! Especially if this guy gets his way!

In North Carolina, an anti-lockdown movement that has gained momentum since April took a new turn: The founder's husband said he wouldn't rule out violence to avoid coronavirus-related safety measures.

"Are we willing to kill people? Are we willing to lay our lives down? We have to say yes," Adam Smith, the husband of ReOpen NC leader and founder Ashley Smith, said in a series of videos on Friday. He deleted the videos after news outlet Raw Story began reporting on them.

"Is that violence? Is that terrorism? No, it's not terrorism," he continued. "I'm not trying to strike fear in people by saying, 'I'm going to kill you.' I'm gonna say, 'If you bring guns, I'm gonna bring guns. If you're armed with this, we're going to be armed with this.'"

ReOpen NC, a protest group that held demonstrations in five cities across the state on Monday, was formed less than two months ago, according to its social media page.
https://www.businessinsider.com/north-carolina-reopen-organizer-willing-to-kill-to-end-lockdown-2020-5

[font size="8"]Herman Cain
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From: Idiots #9-9

This next entry is going to go against the long, long standing Top 10 policy that we never speak ill of the dead. But when the dead are mysteriously using their Twitter accounts to speak ill of us, that’s when I throw out the rules and say “fuck it” and start fighting fire with fire! If you’ve been following the Top 10, you know that former presidential candidate and pizza magnate Herman Cain sadly lost his brief battle with COVID-19. But if you’re on the Tweet Sphere, you know that somehow, Cain has mysteriously risen from the dead and is tweeting republican! Yes, to borrow that classic Bart Simpson line. So how did someone manage to get a hold of Cain’s verified account and why are they using it for bad? Because fuck it, that’s why!

Herman Cain's Twitter account is still tweeting, more than two weeks after the former Republican presidential candidate died from coronavirus.

Cain died at 74 years old on July 30 after being hospitalized with coronavirus. His official Twitter account, now with the name "The Cain Gang," has since regularly tweeted or retweeted criticism against Democrats, particularly against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his pick for vice president, Kamala Harris.

For instance, on Thursday, Cain's Twitter tweeted "Harris has a ton of baggage and a political glass jaw. She's awful."

That same day, it tweeted that The Cain Gang "consists of different writers who have their own opinions. We all lean right, but we're also individuals. Each piece reflects the opinions of that writer. That's how Herman wanted it to work."

Cain's daughter, Melanie Cain Gallo, wrote in a post on his website on Tuesday that Cain "believed in using his voice to teach, enlighten and give hope. It's one of the ways he used this web site every day, and he wouldn't have wanted that work to stop with his passing."
https://www.businessinsider.com/herman-cains-twitter-is-still-active-after-died-from-coronavirus-2020-8

Well in this case they’re tweeting republican! But why? And why is this so fucking creepy? Well Hermain Cain was a naturally creepy individual by nature. I mean we all saw that weird campaign ad from when he actually attempted to run:

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. 8 years later and that still creeps me the fuck out. But seriously, speaking of the creep factor, here’s why this is so creepy.

Although Republican activist and one-time Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain — who served as co-chair of Black Voices for Trump — died from COVID-19 on July 30, new posts from his Twitter account, @THEHermanCain, have appeared this week. And according to The Guardian's Adam Gabbatt, Cain's allies have decided to keep the account active with tweets on this week's events.

One of the posts appeared after former Vice President Joe Biden, on Tuesday, chose Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate. Another post, added on Thursday, attacked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Gabbatt explains that Cain's daughter, Melanie Cain Gallo, has offered some clarification on the new tweets. According to Gallo, "We've decided here at Cain HQ that we will go on using this platform to share the information and ideas he believed in. He often talked about the site going on once he was ready to step away from it. We had hoped he could enjoy reading it in his retirement, but he made it clear he wanted it to go on."

Gallo also said that new tweets from her father's social media accounts will "go under the name The Cain Gang."

But initially, the name on the account hadn't been changed — "Herman Cain" still seemed to be tweeting — and no explanation for the new posts was given. The posts appeared exactly as they would have had Cain tweeted them while he was alive, leading many to react to the disconcerting situation in shock.
https://www.salon.com/2020/08/15/herman-cains-twitter-account-is-creeping-everyone-out-it-is-still-trolling-after-his-death_partner/

So this begs the question – if Herman Cain is dead, then who’s got a hold of his account? And why is this individual using it to promote the dark side? Well the “Cain Gang” has taken over his account and they are apparently using it to spread his legacy. And by the way is the name “Cain Gang” what you really want to call your army of followers? Or do you even have an army? Maybe it’s just a small but vocal fan club.

Herman Cain, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate who died after contracting COVID-19, is continuing to denounce to Democratic politicians on social media two weeks after his death.

"Just in case you thought Biden's candidacy was going to be anything other than completely nuts, team Trump has released a new video," read the first post on Cain's Twitter account since an Aug. 7 one that shared the time of his funeral.

"How well prepared is Kamala Harris for the presidency? We take a look. We're not impressed and you won't be either," read a post added to his Facebook account on Wednesday.

"Harris has a ton of baggage and a political glass jaw. She's awful," read a post added Thursday.

The flurry of political posts on his social media accounts is the work of Cain's daughter Dr. Melanie Cain Gallo.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/13/herman-cain-attacks-kamala-harris-social-media-2-weeks-after-death/3362783001/

Wait, let me get this straight. Kamala has a lot of baggage but your man dies from a plague after hanging out with Trump in Oklahoma City? Get the fuck out of here! And come on, Cain Gang, whoever you are, we’re onto you! And I really hate to use TMZ for this angle of the story but I couldn’t find anything else but guess what? No violation at all! Even though Twitter has rules against this sort of thing!

Herman Cain's political takes from beyond the grave will continue -- even if some Twitter users think it's dirty pool -- because they're not breaking any rules.

The late pizza tycoon and politician's Twitter account raised eyebrows Wednesday night when it started firing off anti-Joe Biden posts in response to Joe announcing Kamala Harris as his running mate.

The tweets drew a mixed reaction -- some joked Cain had jumped online posthumously to keep supporting President Trump. But, others fumed the account was violating Twitter policy ... since the person posting is obviously not HC.

Not so, according to a Twitter spokesperson, who tells us the profile info and images have been updated to reflect who is truly managing the account ... so, it's all Kosher.

The new group in charge calls itself "The Cain Gang," and -- led by his daughter Dr. Melanie Cain Gallo -- vows to continue working on his political mission.

Since Wednesday, that's included several tweets and retweets supporting Trump and slamming his opponents.
https://www.tmz.com/2020/08/14/herman-cain-gang-twitter-account-no-violation-biden-tweets/

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Mississippi Audit Scandal
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From: Idiots #8-17

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

When greed and corruption happen at all walks of life, who is to blame? Well there’s many different levels of greed that happen all around us. We go to Mississippi for this story. Where there’s a tale of corruption and greed that is dwarfing and even eclipsing the Enron scandal. It appears that an audit of Mississippi’s financial assets revealed some absolutely ridiculous spending on some very lavish and unnecessary items. And when we say unnecessary items, we mean luxury sports cars, expensive houses, and much much more. Think of this as the Enron scandal, circa 2020. And we can’t even get out much right now.

Money meant to help poor residents was used to buy luxury cars, sponsor a college baseball tournament and hire family members of a top state official, according to a report from State Auditor Shad White.

The 104-page audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services released Monday shows how federal welfare grant funds flowed from DHS into two nonprofit groups, which allegedly spent the cash in inappropriate or questionable ways.

More than $94 million in welfare money spending was "questioned" by auditors, according to the report – alleging either outright misspending or lack of documentation showing it was spent properly.

In a statement, White said the report "shows the most egregious misspending my staff have seen in their careers at the Office of the State Auditor." He said, "If there was a way to misspend money, it seems DHS leadership or their grantees thought of it and tried it."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/04/mississippi-welfare-scandal-audit-shows-94-million-questionable-spending/3080541001/

So in a time when the entire economy is entering levels not seen since the Great Depression because of social distancing measures, what’s $94 million in wasted government spending? This is the kind of government spending that the GOP warned us about. Not only that, how did celebrities like Brett Farve get involved in this? Because this is the kind of fraud that is well, beyond fraud. At least Farve is off the hook.

A nonprofit group caught up in an embezzlement scheme in Mississippi used federal welfare money to pay former NFL quarterback Brett Favre $1.1 million for multiple speaking engagements, but Favre did not show up for the events, the state auditor said Monday.

Details about payments to Favre are included in an audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. State auditor Shad White said his employees identified $94 million in questionable spending by the agency, including payments for sports activities with no clear connection to helping needy people in one of the poorest states of the U.S.

Favre, who lives in Mississippi, faces no criminal charges. The audit report lists the payments to him as "questioned" costs, which White said means "auditors either saw clear misspending or could not verify the money had been lawfully spent." The Associated Press on Monday sent questions to Favre by text message and left a message for him with his longtime agent Bus Cook, and Favre did not immediately respond.

Favre also did not immediately respond to ESPN's request for comment.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29139299/brett-favre-name-arises-amid-mississippi-welfare-scandal

That’s Farva. Not Farve. We had a typo in our search engine there. But not only was Brett Farve name dropped in this bizarre scandal, there was also some big name wrestlers in this thing that were being hired for motivational speaking gigs, never performed, but still got paid very well. This must be nice in this day and age to get paid this kind of money for not really doing anything.

Ted DiBiase, the former professional wrestler, has placed his lakeside home in Madison, MS, on the market. The ostentatious grappler once known as the “Million Dollar Man” is seeking $1,575,000 for the French Colonial retreat.

He and his family were recently named in a report by the Mississippi auditor's office as recipients of anti-poverty funds that were misspent on items unrelated to assisting the poor.

On 1.42 acres overlooking Reunion Lake, the “thoughtfully designed” residence covers nearly 6,000 square feet. Built in 2010, the home features five bedrooms and 5.5 baths, with a floor plan designed to take in lake views.

The main level includes a large foyer, private study, formal dining room, and living room. The family room is adjacent to a large kitchen with high-end appliances and finishes.
https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Amid-Audit-Scandal-WWE-Hall-of-Famer-Ted-DiBiase-15256541.php

Yeah sure so the government of Mississippi just name dropped all Mississippi celebrities in a bizarre audit and wasteful spending. So Mississippi might be SOL when it comes to a wasteful spending spree, and these days that kind of money might be hard to find. But certainly they are not the only ones out there. The government of Mississippi is just the ones who got caught. And expect many more where that came from.

Money meant to help poor Mississippians was instead used to buy expensive cars, sponsor a college baseball tournament, hire family members of a top state official and pay Brett Favre for speeches he never gave, according to a new report from State Auditor Shad White.

The 104-page audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services released Monday shows how federal welfare grant funds flowed from DHS into two nonprofits, which then frequently spent the cash in inappropriate or suspicious ways.

More than $94 million in welfare money spending was "questioned" by auditors, according to the report — alleging either outright misspending or lack of documentation showing it was spent properly.

In a statement, White said the report "shows the most egregious misspending my staff have seen in their careers at the Office of the State Auditor." He added that "if there was a way to misspend money, it seems DHS leadership or their grantees thought of it and tried it."
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/04/ms-welfare-scandal-audit-94-m-questionable-spending/3076949001/

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

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: The Dark One Goes To Church
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From: Idiots #9-3

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 online congregation! You know with churches going online and not congregating in public for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus, we’re kind of running low on material right now. But thankfully last week that SAYVED! For the unholy, ungodly Dark One whose name shall not be mentioned in my church – even if it is an online and virtual one, actually went to a church. He is a SINNER, who does some absolutely unspeakable things, yet he views himself as the godliest of the godly! And among that crowd, he can do no wrong! So why is he pandering to the holiest among us? Well, also why not? Because screw everyone that he doesn’t agree with, that’s why!

After a disappointing showing at his campaign rally over the weekend, President Donald Trump renewed his performance for a packed crowd of students on Tuesday, telling his Arizona audience that they were guardians in a cultural war over the heritage of the country.

“We’re here today to declare that we will never cave to the left wing and the left-wing intolerance,” the president said at a Students for Trump event in Phoenix.

The appearance, at the Dream City megachurch, was one of his first rallies since taking a three-month hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. Images from the event showed a large crowd tightly packed together, with almost no one wearing protective masks. There were no temperature checks for the estimated 3,000 cheering attendees who, like many of Trump’s staunchest fans, ignored a new local ordinance requiring them to wear a mask, despite a public-health plea from the Democratic mayor on Monday.

The coronavirus is out of control in the Grand Canyon State after its governor lifted a stay-at-home order last month, and the president is polling relatively poorly here against his presumptive Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/23/trump-rally-arizona-336565

Yes let’s wait two weeks to see where this is heading and it cannot be good. For the commander in chief is doing an absolutely terrible job of setting such an example of what to do during these trying times, he is failing on every level! But how is his second in command doing? Well he’s not doing much better, and he was the guy who was picked to lead us in charge to tackle this forsaken virus!

A choir of about 100 performers sang at a megachurch campaign event featuring Vice President Pence on Sunday. They did not wear masks while they sang.

Many epidemiologists and singing experts currently fear that singers may be superspreaders of COVID-19, due to aerosolization of the virus. Singing involves much more forceful and deep breathing than simple talking.

The choir was performing at the Celebrate Freedom Rally, which took place at Dallas' First Baptist Church and was billed as an event "to celebrate our freedom as Americans and our freedom in Christ with you through worship." According to CNN, about 2,200 people attended the rally at the Texas megachurch, which can hold about 3,000 people. The singers reportedly wore face coverings between their selections.

Last Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a "pause" on his state's reopening after saying that Texas is facing a "massive outbreak" of the coronavirus.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/29/884614249/cdc-says-singers-could-be-virus-super-spreaders-but-100-sang-unmasked-with-vp-pe

Seriously guys, this isn’t the 1980s, this is 2020 and there is a deadly virus roaming the landscape, and it is not stopping! It’s going to get worse. And you shouldn’t be going to church right now. But no one is canceling church, and I’m sure that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would back me up here! If you want to get back to your old life and I know we all do, real change starts at the top! Of course I still won’t mention his name in my church, even if it is virtual!

One month after President Donald Trump ordered the nation’s governors to immediately reopen churches, his administration is facing a difficult dilemma.

Clusters of Covid-19 cases are surfacing in counties across the U.S. where in-person religious services have resumed, triggering questions about whether his administration should reassess its campaign to treat houses of worship the same as other essential businesses, or leave them alone and risk additional transmission of the deadly coronavirus — including in communities that are largely supportive of the president.

An outbreak at a Pentecostal church in Oregon, where hundreds of worshipers resumed gathering over Memorial Day weekend, forced an entire county to return to phase one of its reopening after local officials traced 258 cases of Covid-19 back to the facility. In West Virginia, six health departments across the state have reported coronavirus outbreaks linked to churches. One of them, a Baptist church in Greenbrier County, had 34 congregants test positive for the virus. And in Texas, which hit an all-time high of new cases last week, health officials have received numerous reports of church-related exposures.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/28/trump-coronavirus-spread-churches-342296

Yes, churches are the biggest problem that the unholy, ungodly Dark One and his DAYMONS are facing at the moment. But he’s not going down without a fight. For his network is actively encouraging people to defy orders and defy the LAWRD, you’ve got another thing coming! And you are most definitely not welcome in my church – online or in person – until you get a grip on reality! But this is not the kind of thing you want to hear in a sermon, and you won’t hear it in my church! I won’t allow it!

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?
https://theintercept.com/2020/06/24/trump-made-racist-joke-phoenix-megachurch-crowd-went-wild/

So do not take any medicine offered by the Dark One, for he is the virus! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Lady A Vs Lady A
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From: Idiots #9-5

Pop quiz, hot shot! You’re in a super popular country music group, and you’re under fire for having a racist name in a time when racism is finally getting scrubbed from the annals of American history! So what do you do? What do you DO???? Well, the Dixie Chicks recently dropped the “Dixie” from their name and are going by “The Chicks”. Now here’s the conundrum. Country music’s controversial group Lady Antebellum, dropped the southern moniker “Antebellum” and is going with the name Lady A. But… but… there’s already a singer with the name Lady A, who is from Seattle, and has had that stage name for over 20 years! How did that happen, and why has Lady A not fired their manager yet? Instead, Lady A, the band, is taking a much different and way more American route than Lady A the singer is. See if you can guess what that is!

Let the games begin. The band formerly known as Lady Antebellum announced in June that they were changing their name — but the transition hasn’t been easy.

Band members Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood confirmed that they would be taking the country group in a new direction after acknowledging the dangerous history of the word “antebellum” amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests.

“As a band, we have strived for our music to be a refuge … inclusive of all,” the Grammy winners declared via a lengthy Instagram statement on June 11. “After much personal reflection, band discussion, prayer and many honest conversations with some of our closest Black friends and colleagues, we have decided to drop the word ‘antebellum’ from our name and move forward as Lady A, the nickname our fans gave us almost from the start.”

Scott, 34, Kelley, 38, and Haywood, 37, admitted that they felt “regretful and embarrassed” about not being more aware of the meaning behind the word and its connection to slavery. “We are deeply sorry for the hurt this has caused and for anyone who has felt unsafe, unseen or unvalued,” they added.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/celebrity/singer-lady-a-reacts-to-bands-name-change-lawsuit-everything-to-know/ss-BB16AVEV?li=BBnbfcL

Yeah probably. But it’s not racism here that’s the problem. The problem is that one group has apparently felt that money is a far more important issue and they need a lot more of it, which is also a very American thing to do. But like Coronavirus, expect this lawsuit to sting and linger in the air for a very long time to come. It’s basically a battle of money vs reputation, and money usually wins out in this day and age.

Singer Anita White, also known as Lady A, released a statement over the weekend saying that the country group of the same name — formerly known as Lady Antebellum — “has used their wealth and influence to intimidate and bully me into submission without offering any real recompense for appropriating my name.”

Says White, “It is now clear that their apologies, friendly texts, and playing on my love of God were just insincere gestures aimed at quieting me. Well, I will not be quiet any longer.”

White had made her views clear earlier in the week in interviews with Vulture and Rolling Stone, but the 790-word statement represents her first full expression of her feelings about the breakdown in negotiations with the band in her own words.

Although the group Lady A had sought an agreement in which both artists could freely use the name, the singer Lady A explains why she has resisted that, and says in her statement that “co-existence will simply not work.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/lady-singer-claims-band-used-wealth-influence-bully-me-says-n1233648

Good question! Why? Well, money, and bullshit. Plus there’s no way that the members of the group formerly known as Lady Antebellum thought this through. So, like Eminem says, will the real Lady A please stand up? Please stand up? Please stand up? OK I got a little carried away here. But the fact of the matter is that it’s way more complicated than you might think.

Intellectual property attorneys say the country act may have a good case for using its longtime nickname.

There is only one Beatles for a reason. Acts rarely, if ever, share a name. And although Seattle-based blues singer Anita White believes that the country trio formerly known as Lady Antebellum is trying to “erase” her by adopting the more culturally appropriate moniker Lady A -- which has been White’s stage name for more than three decades -- intellectual property experts say the Nashville group likely has the upper hand in a new lawsuit because of a trademark filing from 10 years ago.

On June 11, the Nashville act announced its name change to shed the pre-Civil War association with slavery implied in the word Antebellum -- meaning “before the war” -- drawing a swift response from the 62-year-old Black singer, who said she has used the Lady A name since 1987.

“It’s not right that they can come and decide that they want to use this name and take it from me, because now it feels like another knee on my neck," she told CBS affiliate WUSA in Washington, D.C., a reference to the police-related death of George Floyd, who died in May after a white Minneapolis officer held his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. After talks between White and the band broke down, the country trio -- Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood -- filed a lawsuit in Nashville on July 8 claiming White's team delivered an "exorbitant monetary demand" of $10 million to turn over the trademark rights to the name.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/legal-and-management/9416649/lady-a-who-has-rights-to-name-experts

Maybe don’t hire that guy. But in addition to being a trademark and lawsuit nightmare, this reimagining of Lady Antebellum as Lady A has also been a PR nightmare! Yes, in addition to lawsuit headaches, they are also dealing with bad press. That’s a thing that nobody wants to deal with. But that can hurt a music act’s reputation no matter what genre it is. Seriously, ask Michael Jackson. What? Too soon? Well this does not appear to be going away any time soon.

Last week, they sued Anita White, a Black blues artist who has gone by the name "Lady A" for more than 20 years, seeking to enforce a trademark they have had for the name since 2011. In choosing to pick this fight now, the band showed us all the limits of our national moment of reckoning around race.

Put another way, plenty of public figures and companies presented themselves as racial progressives in the days during and following the protests. For many, that progressiveness seems to stop as soon as dollars are involved.

According to their court filing, the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum (I'll just call them "TBFKALA" for short) has sold 18 million album units and 34 million tracks and been streamed some 5 billion times. They have won seven Grammys and countless other honors.

In contrast, Ms. White started going by "Lady A" at karaoke nights in the 1980s. She has a day job working for Seattle Public Utilities. At the time of the filing of the lawsuit, the band's Spotify page had over 7 million monthly listeners. Ms. White's had 166.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/opinions/lady-a-lawsuit-anita-white-terrible-williams/index.html

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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From: Idiots #9-6

Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable! It’s Conspiracy Corner! Oh hello, I am broadcasting the inner most thoughts from deep inside my brain from an underground bunker in the vast cornfields of the rural Iowa farmlands! Of course it’s an undisclosed location! Just let me adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government blockage. They are trying to read my thoughts and your thoughts after all. So this week, an extra dose of crazy happened as Trump’s favorite cult Q Anon attempted to dig up some dirt on furniture purveyor Wayfair, and not only did it backfire on them spectacularly, they have lost one of their biggest social media hangouts where they can wreak their brand of conspiracy theory havoc!

The claim: Expensive products on Wayfair are coded listings for missing children being sold in a human-trafficking scheme

The internet has been gripped with a conspiracy theory this month as thousands of viral posts allege that online furniture firm Wayfair is involved in a child sex-trafficking operation.

“So wayfair has third party vendors that are HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING on their website,” various social media posts have alleged. “There are items like throw pillows, cabinets etc. priced at 10-20,000 dollars and named after missing girls. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!”

Posts point to the high prices of items like pillows and dressers as evidence that the products are secretly fronts for child trafficking. Theorists further note the names of some of the dressers, which are allegedly the same children who have gone missing over the past few years.

Some users also allege similar activities occur on other e-commerce sites like Amazon, Etsy and Walmart. Others claim the scandal can only be tracked by using the Russian search engine Yandex.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/22/fact-check-wayfair-not-involved-child-sex-trafficking/5460739002/

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Put a warning label on that one! But seriously, Q Anon has gone full batshit, and in a world where we currently don’t have anything to do, can we at least get something to do for the Q Anon nuts? Because they clearly need a hobby, and this one ain’t it. So who started this insane conspiracy theory? And why are they so convinced? Yeah right now we’re trying to survive a horrible pandemic and retailers might be going a little overboard with price gouging, but not this.

Last weekend, an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that online furnishings retailer Wayfair is trafficking children through listings of products with inflated prices and human names erupted on social media.

An Arizona couple helped fuel the rumor by posting on Instagram that they had purchased a $17,000 desk from Wayfair and would share their experience with their followers.

The theory that pillows and cabinets being sold at wayfair.com for thousands of dollars is somehow evidence of a child trafficking scheme has been debunked by independent fact-checking publication Snopes. It gained traction through a July 9 Reddit post on a forum dedicated to discussing conspiracy theories, Snopes notes.

Maddie and Justin Thompson, of Gilbert, are not convinced.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/16/wayfair-human-trafficking-conspiracy-arizona-couple-spread-instagram-rumors/5449777002/

Well I guess that’s one way to go furniture shopping right now! But yeah sure, buy a $17,000 desk and it contains a… child? How did that one get past the loading docks? Really, these people are fucking batshit crazy, and they really need to find a hobby. But you know what is not to be done? Don’t overload the national child sex trafficking hotline with bullshit conspiracy theories, OK? This is a fake crisis, don’t make it a real one!

A national organization fighting to end human trafficking says the believers in the unfounded Wayfair human trafficking conspiracy theory are overwhelming the organization with reports and making it harder to do its work.

Polaris, a non-profit that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, said in a press release on Tuesday that "the extreme volume of these contacts has made it more difficult for the Trafficking Hotline to provide support and attention to others who are in need of help."

Polaris said that the reports included no information "beyond what has been widely shared online. Nor have any of these reports been made by someone who has a specific connection to any alleged missing children."

Believers in the conspiracy theory think that the furniture company is selling human children who have gone missing by disguising them as pillows and other goods. The theory went viral in the last few weeks after being spread by QAnon believers on Twitter and Facebook, though both platforms told Insider they had removed certain posts containing this misinformation.
https://www.insider.com/wayfair-human-trafficking-conspiracy-theory-national-hotline-call-2020-7

Yes, we get it, this is one of the worst crimes imaginable. But why the fuck are you so obsessed with it right now? I get that we don’t have anything to do. Really, don’t waste Wayfair’s time, and don’t waste the time of actual officials who are trying to find real sex traffickers. And by the way this can have some real world consequences for you if you get caught trying to do this. So really, shut the fuck up and keep the batshit insanity to yourself.

Twitter (TWTR) has removed thousands of accounts linked to QAnon, a group known for spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation online.
"We've been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm," Twitter's safety team said late Tuesday in a tweet. "In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called 'QAnon' activity across the service."

More than 7,000 accounts have been removed in the last several weeks, according to Twitter. It also expects that additional actions it is taking to limit the reach of QAnon activity on its platform could affect 150,000 accounts worldwide.
QAnon began as a single conspiracy theory. But its followers now act more like a virtual cult, largely adoring and believing whatever disinformation the conspiracy community spins up.

Its main conspiracy theories claim dozens of politicians and A-list celebrities work in tandem with governments around the globe to engage in child sex abuse. Followers also believe there is a "deep state" effort to annihilate President Donald Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/21/tech/twitter-qanon-crackdown/index.html

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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From: Idiots #9-7

Hit it!

Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb! This week, we’re taking to our favorite place in the world – the Sunshine State! Even in the worst pandemic in an entire century, the Sunshine State always brings the crazy! But mainly I wanted to use this space to talk about one specific story. We of course are going to that magical Florida city of Miami. Home, of course, to the Miami Marlins, to the Miami Heat, to the Miami Dolphins, to serial killer extraordinaire Dexter Morgan, and now they’re home to this douchebag. Look, if you’re going to fleece the government for life saving PPP money, maybe keep a low profile, OK?

Fund payroll, take care of employee benefits, pay the mortgage, cover utilities, buy a Lambo?

Apparently, that last one doesn’t quite qualify as a permissible cost under the Paycheck Protection Program, but that allegedly didn’t stop one Florida man from putting some of his coronavirus aid money toward buying a $318,000 Huracán EVO.

David Hines, whose business was in the red by more than $30,000, received a $4 million loan from the government and soon took to the streets of Miami Beach in his fancy Italian sports car.

As if the Lambo wasn’t enough, Hines also splashed $4,600 while shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue as well as thousands more on fancy hotels and jewelry, according to the Washington Post.

Maybe, just maybe, he should have kept a lower profile.

Hines was arrested and charged with making false statements to a lending institution, bank fraud and engaging in transactions in unlawful proceeds.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/florida-man-uses-coronavirus-aid-money-to-buy-a-318000-lamborghini-2020-07-28

Of course the Lamborghini is always the much more subtle choice! Next up – speaking of Batman, we go to the Florida city of Englewood for this one. Yeah if you wind up getting arrested for a DUI, maybe don’t tell the police that you’re Batman. But while Batman would never get a DUI, chances are good that Commissioner Gordon is going to be following Batman’s case load.

ENGLEWOOD, Fla. — A southwest Florida man is accused of wandering around a hotel naked and identifying himself as Batman, authorities said.

Christopher L. Jackson, 49, of Englewood, was arrested Friday and charged with loitering and exposure of sexual organs, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call at the Suncoast Inn in Englewood late Friday after the motel’s manager reported a naked man had tried to enter his room, WINK-TV reported.

Deputies found Jackson at a table outside the motel, the television station reported. Jackson claimed to have a room at the motel and had accidentally locked himself out of the room, but the manager said Jackson was not registered there, WINK reported.

“I made multiple attempts to obtain his name and date of birth which he replied with ‘I’m Batman,’” the deputy wrote in an arrest report. ............(more)

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending/naked-florida-man-tells-deputies-hes-batman/YHEZQLR6TZGZ7AQC5LV4NURC4U/?

Yeah no this guy is not the hero we need or deserve, is it? Next up – we go to the, and I hope I am pronouncing the name of this town right – Wimauma, where you should never have these particular two things in your hands at the same time. And by those two things, we are talking about guns and alcohol. And this story just keeps getting better and better. Cue the “hold my beer and watch this!” people!

WIMAUMA, Fla. (CW44 News At 10) – According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, a man in Wimauma was arrested on Saturday, August 1, 2020 after reports that he was waving a firearm at citizens while walking down the road.

At 11:49 a.m. on Saturday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office received multiple calls from citizens that a man walking near Railroad Street and State Road 674 was pointing a gun at vehicles driving by. Deputies arrived within minutes and located the armed man walking south on Railroad Street.

Eric Ricardo Felder, 66, was still holding and carelessly waving the firearm around in one hand with an alcoholic beverage in the other. Deputies took him into custody without incident.

Felder was in possession of a loaded .38 Smith and Wesson revolver. He was arrested and charged with felon in possession of a firearm, 2 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, use of a firearm while intoxicated, improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon, and resisting arrest without violence.
https://tampa.cbslocal.com/2020/08/02/florida-man-arrested-with-gun-in-one-hand-beer-in-the-other/

You tell ‘em, Homer! Next up – America’s most penis-shaped state never fails to bring the crazy even during the worst pandemic in a century. Normally we would do these when we go to Florida but since we’re not going to Florida any time soon due to COVID restrictions, we are exploring the sunshine state from home! Well one thing we won’t be doing – exploring the state with a live candle in our cars!

The Charlotte County Fire Department and EMS has a warning for drivers.

Do not drive with an open candle!

According to the department’s Facebook page, the fire started after a fragrant candle that was burning in the car, tipped over onto some papers, and caught on fire.

The man driving stopped his car and ran for a trashcan to fill with water and when he got back, the car was engulfed in flames.

Fire and EMS crews say they were able to put out the fire but, unfortunately, not before the fire destroyed the car.
https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/florida-man-driving-with-candle-sets-car-on-fire/

Yeah I would say that’s probably the right time to abandon ship! Finally this week on People Are Dumb – you know the show Cops finally got yanked off the air after 30 seasons because people are sick of police brutality. But that said, we miss the crazy because this is the kind of thing that would almost certainly be featured on that particular program. If you get arrested, maybe don’t do cartwheels. Seriously.

He flipped out.

A Florida man was caught on camera trying to evade arrest — by cartwheeling away from the police.

The now-viral footage shows the gymnastics enthusiast blocking the path of a truck at a Wawa in Orlando, by doing a flip in the middle of the roadway.

Officers took him down for apparently blocking traffic, but the man was able to wiggle out of their grasp.

He then launched into a cartwheel — but didn’t get very far.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office identified the spry 40-year-old as Gianfranco Fernandez, according to Orlando outlet WOFL-TV.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/23/florida-man-tries-to-evade-arrest-by-cartwheeling-away-from-cops/

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Road To The White House: Who Is Karen Bass?
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From: Idiots #9-8

Welcome back to… ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE!!! Ooh that was some good reverb there! Of course you know, thanks to COVID-19, we’re in what seems like literally the longest election year ever with each day slower than the one before it. So has presumptive nominee Biden chosen his running mate yet? Oh I see, maybe next week? Of course, the three stooges – Trump, Johnson, and Bolsonaro, are sadly, still inexplicably still in power. With two of those clowns having the virus and one shockingly still doesn’t. So the original piece that I had planned to do is no more, because it’s official! We have a running mate! And it’s who I called way back when the campaign started, and as a Californian, I couldn’t be happier for this nomination!

Kamala Harris was the front-runner to be Joe Biden's running mate pretty much since the moment the presumptive Democratic nominee announced in March that he would pick a woman to be on his ticket.

She was a safe pick and a practical one. She's also now in the position to be the heir apparent for the Democratic Party - whether it's in four years because Biden loses in November or doesn't run for re-election or eight years if Biden serves two full terms.

That could be why it seemed that there were so many attempts to knock Harris down a peg, or advance alternative candidates over the past month.

This was, in effect, the first fight of the next presidential nomination contest, and Harris - whose ambitions are clear - now has a step on the competition.

But determining future Democratic nominees is a battle for another day. The pressing concern for the party at the moment is how Harris might help Biden win the White House. Here are some strengths she brings to the ticket and, perhaps, some concerns Democrats may have.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53745148

Yes that is a good point, while the rest of us are attempting to embrace diversity, the GOP is thinking of it the same way that Ron Burgundy does! So how did Kamala get to be the vice president on what is going to be the ticket that will end Trumpism once and for all? Well, her list of qualifications should surprise no one, and especially no one that’s been following California politics for quite some time!

Joe Biden thinks he is going to win the White House in 84 days' time.
That's the unmistakable message he sent just after 4 p.m. Eastern time when, via text, his campaign announced that he had picked Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his vice presidential nominee.
Harris, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year, had been the front-runner to be Biden's pick for months because, well, she simply made sense.
Consider:

* She's been vetted on the national stage due to her own 2020 bid
* She has experience in government -- as both the California attorney general and as a US senator since 2017
* At 55 years old, she represents a younger generation of leader -- something that Biden, who will be 78 on Inauguration Day 2021, said was a major factor in his choice
* She is a historic pick as the first Black and South Asian American woman to appear on a major party's national ticket
* She's from California, a massive treasure trove of both Democratic votes and Democratic donors
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/11/politics/joe-biden-kamala-harris-vp/index.html

Hell yeah let’s do this thing! We are fired up and we are ready to send Donald Trump and the Christian right packing! We need a real leader to lead us through these times so we can get back to doing what we love doing. And only Joe sees the dire straits that COVID-19 has put the US in, and it’s going to take a near Herculean effort to lead us out of this. But Joe and Kamala are ready to take charge on day one and do what needs to be done!

US presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's selection of Senator Kamala Harris gives him a running mate who can appeal to African American voters who are core to Biden's base of support and serve as a fierce critic of President Donald Trump's record in office.

A former top state prosecutor in California, Senator Harris brings a law-and-order career record that will help Biden steer a tricky, centrist line between Black Lives Matter protesters and white Americans who worry about attacks on police funding.

At the same time, picking a woman who competed with Biden during the presidential primaries and attacked him memorably on race during a debate, shows Biden asserting a degree of self-confidence that he can forge a cooperative, working relationship with her, political analysts told Al Jazeera.

"Biden faced unprecedented pressure to pick a Black woman," said John Jackson, a professor at the Public Policy Institute of the University of Southern Illinois.

"He wanted someone who is going to command some respect and will balance the ticket with demographic characteristics of gender and race," Jackson said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/biden-choice-kamala-harris-vp-candidate-unprecedented-200811210524520.html

Yes let’s do this! Finally after 3 years of hell and 6 months of living in an absolute fucking nightmare, we are ready to tackle this thing. And at the end of this segment, I have a special message for the guy who we call president, Donald J. Trump. Hey Trump, guess what? You’re fired. And it’s time that we get a real president and a real vice president who know what they are doing, and Joe is ready! It’s time to kick their sorry asses to the curb and send them packing!

During his final debate with Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden vowed, “If I’m elected president my Cabinet, my administration will look like the country.” With Biden’s selection of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, he has taken an important first step toward representing the diversity of the Democratic Party and the nation.

If Biden wins the election in November, his Cabinet will represent an opportunity to rally underrepresented groups and interests around his administration. As Biden considers candidates for these positions past presidents can offer him a helpful road map for creating a successful Cabinet. The best Cabinets throughout the history of the United States have been filled with competent, engaged and disciplined secretaries who present diverse views and actively disagree with the president.
The historical importance of a diverse Cabinet

In 1789, President George Washington set this precedent for effective leadership by selecting men who represented different regions of the country, backgrounds and ideological interests. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson was a wealthy plantation owner from Virginia, owned hundreds of enslaved people, and brought critical diplomatic expertise to the administration. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton was born in the Caribbean, before making his home in New York City and cozying up to the merchant and mercantile elite in cities. Jefferson and Hamilton disagreed on almost everything and Jefferson later described their Cabinet meetings as a “cock fight,” evoking the bloody, brutal nature of their disagreements. While Jefferson hated these confrontations, Washington knew that he benefited from having both perspectives and pleaded with Jefferson to stay and provide “the check of [his] opinions in the administration in order to keep things in their proper channel and prevent them from going too far.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/08/11/joe-biden-picks-kamala-harris-vp-vice-president-diverse-cabinet-column/3348957001/

Hey Trump! Guess what?

See you next week!

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