Friday, October 18, 2024

VENOM: THE LAST DANCE

 

There are 18 days until voting ends.  It doesn't look like Trump's going to make it.  And falling asleep at the townhall?  Someone get this old man back to the nursing home.  It's okay, Donald, you can have your apple sauce and watch THE WHEEL, come on, let's get you back to the nursing home.

Now let's talk movies.  VENOM: THE LAST DANCE.


Big Tom Hardy fan.  Been waiting for this one forever.  So we go to the movies tonight.


And?


We didn't see anything.


I got my days mixed up.  VENOM comes out next Friday.  I asked my girlfriend if she wanted to see anything that was playing but she didn't.  There really isn't anything.  


How does that happen?  Don't give me the strike.  The studios seem to always have an excuse -- COVID, the strike, etc.  The studios are the ones killing the movie industry.  Can you imagine, before the pandemic, this notion that the studios would program like TV on Oscar night?  Oh, can't put anything strong on opposite it, let's give it to ABC tonight.  That's how they act.  Before the pandemic, you'd have two or three strong films coming out every week.  Now, when there is a movie worth releasing, they all back off, "Oh, take this week, we'll put our new movie out next week or the week after."  


This is not a successful business model and it's no treat for movie goers.


TV quickly.


I liked GEORGE & MANDY'S FIRST WEDDING.  It made me laugh.  Out loud.  Something YOUNG SHELDON never did.  I'll be watching this one.  And you can stream it on PARAMOUNT+ where you can also see the season opener of ELSBETH -- Nathan Lane was the killer this week -- and MATLOCK.  Episode two of MATLOCK made clear that Kathy Bates has a winning show on her hands.  I expect her to be Emmy nominated.


If you have PEACOCK, starting Saturday (tomorrow), you can stream HAPPY'S PLACE.  That's Reba's new sitcom.  She's taken some chances here.  I'm interested in seeing episode two but the first episode (aired tonight on NBC) was pretty funny.  I'm curious whether "the Brock" will be her sister.


On REBA, Brock was the one who did her wrong.  On the new show, she's got a newly discovered sister and I'm wondering if that's the role they're going to put the sister in?  Maybe not.  But in terms of the way the show's structure, it would make the most sense.  


The video below has had me laughing all day.




At work today, I kept hearing "Almost there, Grandma."  I laughed every time.

Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Friday, October 18, 2024.  Donald Trump continues to flame out before our eyes as the mind goes and his little weasel JD demonstrates clearly that you wouldn't want him around your own mother.


"Donald Trump pulled out of another mainstream interview Thursday–this time nixing a sit-down with NBC News,"  Mary Ann Akers and Hugh Dougherty (THE DAILY BEAST) note.  In the last weeks, he's done a lot of bailing.  He bailed on the CNN debate, he bailed on his 60 MINUTES interview, he bailed on his sit-down with CNBC's SQUAWK BOX and now with NBC NEWS.  Is there anyone that the Convicted Felon isn't afraid of?  

Akers and Dougherty also note, "His team claimed to Politico that he was unable to do the CNBC interview on Friday because he would be in Michigan. But in fact he will be just a few blocks away from the CNBC studio on Friday morning: appearing live on Fox & Friends."  Even Chicken Little's excuses are now being exposed.  When not running from the press, he appears to be running from the NRA.  David Badash notes that Donald was to give a speech at the NRA's Savannah, Georgia rally next week "but has pulled out."  Griffin Eckstein (SALON) notes the cancellations are "fueling public concerns about his mental state."





Insane.  His begging Joe Biden to get back into the race?  He lives in his own little world of crazy, doesn't he?   At HUFFINGTON POST, S.V. Date  explains:


On Monday, radio host Charlamagne tha God described what he saw as the alternative Americans faced if they rejected Harris. “The other is about fascism,” he said. “Why can’t we just say it?”

She responded: “Yes, we can say that.”

Harris’ explicit overtures to Republicans reflect her campaign’s view that there are sizeable numbers of mainline GOP voters who have been repulsed by Trump over the last nine years, and particularly following his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt.

As more than a dozen former Republican elected officials and White House aides stood on stage, a local couple introduced Harris, saying that although they had previously supported Trump, she’d won their vote this year.

“Jan. 6 was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me,” said Bob Lange, who said his wife, Kristina, was “ahead of the curve” because she only voted for Trump once, rather than twice like he did.

Harris spoke in detail about Trump’s actions leading up to and on Jan. 6, including an element that has received little attention: what would have happened if Trump had had a more pliant vice president and his coup had succeeded.

“He sent a mob, an armed mob, to the United States Capitol, where they violently assaulted police officers, law enforcement officials, and threatened the life of his own vice president, and he refused to engage in the peaceful transfer of power,” Harris said. “Were it not for the courage and patriotism of Vice President [Mike] Pence that day, Donald Trump might have actually succeeded in overturning the will of the American people.”

She then tied Trump’s actions in the final days of his term to his new claim that Americans who oppose him constitute an “enemy from within” and his threat to deploy the U.S. military against them.


“Let that sink in — use of the American military to go after American citizens? And we know who he would target first, because he has targeted them and attacked them before: Journalists whose stories he doesn’t like. Nonpartisan election officials, who refuse to cheat by finding extra votes for him. Judges who insist on following the law instead of following him,” she said. “It is clear Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged. And he is seeking unchecked power.”







Remember, Chief Justice John Roberts and the U.S. Supreme Court killed democracy this year. They gave the president unlimited immunity for official acts. Only the Supreme Court can decide what “official” acts are. That’s a star chamber – right out in the open. That’s not democracy. 

Trump has already said he’ll jail his opponents. That would be an official act, as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court. James Carville is one of the few people who recognize this and was laughed at in some circles for saying it recently. But he’s not the only one sounding the warning bell.

Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair retired Gen. Mark Milley called Trump “a total fascist,” according to excerpts from a recent book.

Then there’s Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen. “He absolutely will do this,” Cohen warned me. “Don’t kid yourself. When he says he’ll rain fire down on his enemies, he’s not just talking about immigrants,” Cohen added. The kicker to this is Cohen is still embroiled in legal action against Trump regarding his First Amendment rights and that has gone underreported by a press that should know better. "After all," Cohen notes, "it’s everyone’s First Amendment right. And just think what will happen if Trump is back in power. Do you think he wants critics in the press pool? Do you think he’s going to allow you back in? He’s going to go after anyone who questions him and that’s why the press should be covering this issue more. And you aren’t.”

Carville is of the same opinion and urged reporters to look at what’s at stake here. “General Flynn is telling the truth when he says the gates of hell are going to rain on his enemies. We already know previously the things that he tried to do, how he tried to involve the military,” Carville said.

So understand. It isn’t Harris vs. Trump. It isn’t the Democrats vs. Republicans. It’s Democracy vs. new-age nazis. If you doubt that, then take a look at the recent flotilla of boats in the South where boaters were screaming “Make America White Again,” while flying nazi and Trump flags. 

Trump’s people are trying their best to avoid this issue and we in the press are doing a horrible job reporting it. Why are we still reporting about the immigration problems on the border when we know that Trump killed legislation that could help problems on the border – just so he could run on the issue? Brett Baier didn’t hesitate to ask Harris about immigration when she sat down for an interview with FOX News. I applaud her effort to reach Fox voters and I find Baier’s disingenuous question more campaign manure that shouldn’t be spread – after all too many are eager to lap it up as if it were filet instead of excrement.



You think he feels the walls closing in?  Spencer Hsu and Perry Stein (WASHINGTON POST) note  Special Counsel Jack Smith's Wednesday filing:


In the filing — the first time Smith has formally given his view of how the Supreme Court’s decision in Fischer v. United States affects the Jan. 6 prosecution of the former president — the special counsel pointed to what he alleges were efforts by Trump and his allies to have slates of electors in states won by Joe Biden cast their vote instead for Trump. That, Smith argued, qualifies as impairment of evidence and obstruction of an official proceeding, even under the Supreme Court’s new, narrower guidance.

“In language that applies directly to the allegations here, the Supreme Court explained that [the obstruction statute]’s criminal prohibition includes ‘creating false evidence,’” namely “fraudulent electoral certificates,” prosecutors wrote in a nine-page answer to Trump’s motion to dismiss two of the four charges against him.

Contrary to Trump’s claim that he bears no factual or legal responsibility for the “events on January 6,” lead prosecutor James Pearce wrote, his indictment alleges that he “willfully caused his supporters to obstruct and attempt to obstruct the proceeding by summoning them to Washington, D.C., and then directing them to march to the Capitol to pressure the Vice President and legislators to reject the legitimate certificates and instead rely on the fraudulent electoral certificates.”

The people have a right to know and we have a right to know before the election concludes.  Today, more will be released -- much to Donald's displeasure. 


January 6th came up at the UNIVISION townhall. Dareh Gregorian, Nnamdi Egwuonwu and Ryan J. Reilly (NBC NEWS) report:


Donald Trump on Wednesday shrugged off the idea that his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, should cost him the backing of Republican voters after a former supporter confronted him at a televised town hall and said he would not cast a ballot for the former president because of his actions that day.

In his response at the Univision event, Trump also distanced himself from the attack on the Capitol, while minimizing the damage done by a mob of his supporters.

"Nothing done wrong at all," he said in a lengthy response after a Republican voter from Florida said Trump had lost his vote because of his response to the riot and the Covid pandemic. The voter also questioned why he should support Trump when so many people who held high positions in his administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence, weren't backing him in the 2024 race.

Trump said only "a very small portion" don't support him. "But because it’s me, somebody doesn’t support they get a little publicity," he said.



If there's a wrong thing to say, Donald will manage to eventually stumble over to it.  Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) zooms in on one detail from that townhall:


During a discussion on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on the dueling interviews of Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Wednesday, co-host Jonathan Lemire singled out an admission by the former president on the Jan. 6 insurrection that appears to have gone unnoticed.


[. . .]


As the obviously fuming Lemire explained, "Mika, one more note about Donald Trump yesterday, the clip we played about January 6th, talking about 'we,' as he always talks about, uses the word 'we' when he talks about the January 6th rioters."

"He said, 'we were there peacefully, they had the guns," he reported. "The 'they'? They were Capitol police officers –– that shows you Donald Trump's framing of January 6th." 



"We."  The ringleader's no longer trying to distance himself from his treasonous action.  Might finally be time for his family to do what Ruth's long been urging them to do and pull him off the campaign trail.  Aaron Blake (WASHINGTON POST) notes:


In the intervening four years, though, Trump himself has expressed an increasing amount of sympathy for the rioters — not just for their humanity and purported legal persecution (he has repeatedly floated pardons), but also for their actions. He has clearly sought to retcon that day from one of national shame to one that is to be, in many ways, celebrated.

That culminated Wednesday night with a very choice word: “we.”

Appearing at a town hall hosted by Univision, Trump was confronted by a self-identified Republican named Ramiro González who cast Trump’s actions surrounding Jan. 6 as a dealbreaker for him. González challenged Trump to win his support.

But Trump made no apologies for that day. What he instead did was actually link himself to the rioters — stronger than he ever has before.

“There were no guns down there; we didn’t have guns,” Trump said, before repeating: “The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns.”

The first thing to note is that’s false; Trump supporters did have guns and many other weapons. But also consider what Trump has done rhetorically. He cast the insurrectionists as a “we.”


It's a topic Lawrence O'Donnell did a strong walk through in the video below. 



Donald remains a clear and present danger.  He can't stop demonizing people -- American citizens -- that he doesn't like.  Maria Villarroel (LATIN TIMES) notes:



Former President and GOP candidate Donald Trump sent shockwaves through the political conversation after saying some Democrats were "enemies from within" during a recent Fox News interview. The phrase sparked concerns by experts and voters alike over potential measures he could implement if he wins the upcoming elections. But instead of retracting his rhetoric, the nominee doubled down.



Trump acknowledged his categorization of Democrats during a night town hall on Tuesday in Cumming, Georgia, hosted by Fox News' Harris Faulkner. The broadcaster asked Trump to clarify the statement, to which he responded by calling the opposing party "evil" and "dangerous."

"They're Marxists and communists and fascists, and they're sick," Trump said. "We have China, we have Russia, we have all these countries. If you have a smart president, they can all be handled. The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosis, these people, they're so sick and they're so evil."

[. . .]
That same day, at another event in Chicago, Trump also once again refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power when pressed by an interviewer.

Trump's controversial comments took place after Fox News' host Maria Bartiromo asked the former president whether he was "expecting chaos on Election Day," particularly highlighting participation from people on the terrorist watch list or migrants who have committed crimes.

"I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within," Trump responded. "We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they're the big— and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by the National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen."

Vice President Kamala Harris quickly responded to Trump's declaration, calling a second Trump term "dangerous" at a Pennsylvania rally and releasing an ad titled "Enemy Within." She also called him "increasingly unstable and unhinged," saying he plans to use the military against American citizens and is "out for unchecked power."



Key point from the article: "Nevertheless, this is the first time an American presidential nominee— let alone a former president— escalates his rhetoric to this extent, openly suggesting turning the military on citizens simply because they oppose his candidacy, according to The New York Times."








And then there's , , ,







JD.

Illustration is Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS  "Miss Sassy Can't Stop Lying."  



Miss Sassy remains Donald's best choice for roll dog because Vance is never shamed or embarrassed when his lies are exposed.  He doesn't even replace them with new lies.  He just keeps telling the same lies over and over while pretending as though they were never proven to be false.  So lie in a debate that Donald Trump saved ObamaCare and lie in the debate that your mom got insurance for the first time because of Trump -- when she got ObamaCare?  That's JD.  Miss Sassy is rotten to the core and let's pause that a moment so we can really register how awful he is.


JD's mother got on insurance for the first time after Donald became president.  He was sworn in January 20, 2017.  And JD's ill and poverty stricken mother?  Why didn't Miss Sassy pick up the tab for his mom's insurance.  Did he not love his mother?  Why didn't he help her.  He's buying his first million-dollar plus home during this time (he now owns two homes worth over two million) but he can't take care of his own mother?  He can't say, "Hey, Mom, don't worry, we'll cover your premiums"?  

What a lousy son -- he's the perfect running mate for Donald because he is a lousy son.  What does his mom call him now?  He's changed his name so many times and no really wants to talk about Augustine.  That was his most recent name change.

That was 2019.  His name is James David.  Did he not know there were saints with those names?  And is there any truth to the rumor that he originally went for Saint Alexis due to some bizarre fascination with DYNASTY?  Saint David?  Pretty cool to move mountains, right?  And a politician should especially be partial to the Saint who was speaking to a crowd, a dove lands on his shoulder and he's elevated so that all can see and hear.  But he went with Augustine.  Not James.  He could have gone with James for Saint James the Greater or for Saint James the Lesser.  But he went with Augustine -- because that's the saint the non-Catholics know.

At some point, all these name changes should be an issue to explore in an interview.  Who is JD Vance?  Who is who?



The senator from Ohio introduced himself to the world in 2016 when he published his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” under the name J.D. Vance — “like jay-dot-dee-dot,” he wrote, short for James David. In the book, he explained that this was not the first iteration of his name. Nor would it be the last.

Over the course of his 39 years, Vance’s first, middle and last names have all been altered in one way or another. As Vance is being introduced to voters across the country as Donald Trump’s new running mate, his name has been the source of both curiosity and questions — including why he no longer uses periods in JD.

He was born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio, on Aug. 2, 1984, his middle and last names the same as his biological father, Donald Bowman. His parents split up “around the time I started walking,” he writes. When he was about 6, his mother, Beverly, married for the third time. He was adopted by his new stepfather, Robert Hamel, and his mother renamed him James David Hamel.

When his mother erased Donald Bowman from his and her lives, the adoption process also erased the name James Donald Bowman from the public record. The only birth certificate for Vance on file at Ohio’s vital statistics office reads James David Hamel, according to information provided by the state.




Then, in 2013, he changes it to J.D. Vance and then, in 2021, he changes it to JD Vance (no periods after the initials).  Her article leaves out his confirmation name (Augustine).  Maybe she was unaware of it or unaware the importance of it in the Catholic faith.  

But who is JD?  Someone forever changing his name as through he were on the run from creditors.

Who is JD Vance?


Michael Sainato (GUARDIAN) explains:


The Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, told a reporter on Wednesday that there were “serious problems” in the 2020 election and suggested for the first time that the then president Donald Trump did not actually lose the race.

“Did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use,” Vance said in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. “But look, I really couldn’t care less if you agree with me or disagree with me on this issue.”

He couldn't care less?

Then why did he struggle to answer Lulu Garcia-Navarro last week?  And why did he struggle to answer Martha Raddatz at the start of this week?  And why did he refuse to answer the question October 1st when Governor Tim Walz put it to him in their debate?  Remember that?  Tim said of JD's weaseling out of the question, "That's a damning non-answer."

Clearly, JD did care what people thought of him and of his answer to the question.  

Who is JD? 
 

Let's note Mike Lofgren on this same topic at COMMON DREAMS:


Why did someone a good deal wealthier than most of us abandon his own mother as a public charge on Medicaid? And even when she got off Medicaid, couldn’t he have bought her a health insurance policy, rather than relying on Obamacare? In his autohagiography, Vance made sure the reader got the message that his was a difficult, dysfunction-ridden family. But there is an answer to that.

Vance has also made sure everyone knows he is a pious Catholic of a very strict, antimodernist type, holding that theological precepts should guide secular government (his professed belief is responsible for his frankly idiotic opinions about cat ladies and childless people not deserving the same voting rights as people with children). This should of course make us wary of anyone holding such views getting his hands on executive power; these people have already wrecked the Supreme Court. It also suggests his ostentatious religiosity is largely phony and used as a vehicle for his ambition to rise in the Republican Party.

Isn’t it the Christian thing to do to help those in need, especially as they are your own family, and even more so when they are bedeviled by addiction and other problems? Jesus did not scorn the beggar and the lepers. And don’t the Ten Commandments (which Republican state governments want to make a mandatory part of the public school curriculum) tell us to “honor thy father and thy mother?”

Vance is a 24-karat fraud, the eternal rogue in the human poker deck. How appropriate that he is now the consort, as it were, of Donald Trump, the pathological liar. How fitting that he rose so quickly, after a mere two years, to the very top of the morally bankrupt party I left, more than a dozen years ago, in disgust.


If you're into the topic, read the full column, I'm cutting the above and including because it's effective.  We've been hitting on JD for the last three days and maybe we just hit a pocket where he's strangely popular?  It could be.  But the reason we've hit on it is because some people will stand up and defend him.  I haven't read all of Lofgren's column.  Actually none of it.  The snapshot's dictated and another friend called to ask me to include Mike's column which I'm glad to do.  But they read it quickly with me saying "Next!" after the first line of each paragraph until we got the part above.  And that's not an insult to Mike, his column's worth reading in full but I'm running -- I exercise while I dictate -- and don't have time to stop and pull up the column on my phone and don't have time to hear the whole thing.


We grabbed the section that would reach.  Column's great and it will educate you -- including how MAGA pretends to be about family and many other thins.  But on JD's duplicitous nature, nothing is making that more clear to groups we speak to then hitting on Mom's lack of insurance.  That's why after this proved effective on Tuesday, I wanted to find out when the money came in and what he was doing -- and what he was doing was purchasing a house that cost more than a million dollars while ignoring the health needs of his own mother.


My mother passed away some time ago.  So I throw that in and note that maybe that's why I find this so shocking -- I miss my own mother so it seems repulsive to me that someone who had so much wealth wouldn't even try to help his mother with insurance.


And that's the blow that takes out support for the little weasel when you're face to face with people.  That's what they can identify with.  I bring up my mother's passing and it sets the tone because their mother has passed or now they're thinking about the day when their mom will pass.  And it's no longer abstract.  And when you boil it down to his mother needing help to get insurance and he's off buying a house that costs over a million dollars, that tends to nail him in everyone's eyes as the selfish little weasel that he truly is.  So if you're speaking to friends or speaking to groups and you need to deal with the reality of Miss Sassy JD Vance, that's a topic you should probably hit on.  There's an effort afoot to redefine him and that's one of the easiest ways you can convey to others what a weirdo he is -- so much weirder than we initially knew. 



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Thursday, October 17, 2024

Sitcoms

 Wasn't feeling it last night, sorry.  My blood sugar was way off.  I had went ahead and switched to the insulin pump a few weeks back.  I went into the doctor's today and the pump's not working.  I'm going back to injections.  


I've got a friend at work who was on the pump and she stopped because it stopped working one night and she ended up in the hospital.  Even knowing that story did not assuage me from using the pump. Why?  It hurts so bad to do those injections. But I'm back on the injection.  (The pump is supposed to monitor your blood sugar levels continuously and release insulin into your body based on your readings.)  

ENGLISH TEACHER wrapped up this week.  See Mike's "JD Vance is disgusting" and Elaine's "Disgusting Junior" for their reaction.  I loved the show.  It's my favorite FX show in years and it's a great show when contrasted with non-FX shows.

The only thing that would make it better?  A live studio audience.  

It's on HULU and I can also stream all episodes via FX on my YOUTUBE LIVE TV.  It's eight episodes and it's hilarious.  

On live studio audience.  Reba's new sitcom will have one.  I'm eager to see that.  I did not care for YOUNG SHELDON at all and would be ignoring the spin-off (GEORGE & MANDY'S FIRST MARRAIGE) but it's going to be a multi-cam with a studio audience.  I have no idea why Jim Parsons didn't want it for YOUNG SHELDON but that was a huge mistake and that show was deadly dull as a result.  And Chuck Lorre shows are not dull.  Jim Parsons is not involved in GEORGE & MANDY so we get a studio audience.  

I don't care for people who trash those shows.  They come off as snobs.  I liked THE HUMANIST but then the host went off on multi-cams and I thought, "Shut up."  I can't listen to him anymore -- and he does a political show.  He should have kept his mouth shut about sitcoms and I would've continued to stream him because I do agree with his politics.


Sitcoms that are funny -- not whimsical but actually funny -- have a studio audience and they have better ratings.  More people watch them.  ABBOT ELEMENTARY?  Dull.  Dull and dull.


Ava and C.I. have written many times over the years about how a person of color -- Desi Arnaz -- is the reason for the multi-cam.  He came up with it.  He didn't want kinescopes of a live broadcast.  Due to the time difference, it would be a live broadcast in some areas and kinescopes in others.  Desi came up with actual filming and using multiple cameras and getting the studio audience.

Desi delivered funny to network TV.

And NBC killed funny on network TV when they moved to these idiot shows that were single cam.  No one's watching MY NAME IS EARL today but no one was watching it in real time either.  

It's easier for actors to do a single cam and it's let them be lazy in their performance.  Julie Bowen, for example, can barely act and MODERN FAMILY suffered from her laid back approach to comedy.  Suffered big.  Her timing was off, everything was off.  


Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Thursday, October 17, 2024.  Donald Trump continues to threaten American citizens just as he continues lying, Kamala Harris faces off with FOX "NEWS" and Jill Stein gets an endorsement that she's earned.


In the US, we have until November 5th to vote and Donald Trump intends to use the 18 remaining days going as nuts and deranged as anyone can.   Oliver O'Connell and Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT) report:


Donald Trump has stoked outrage by claiming to be “the father of IVF” at a women’s town hall event hosted by Fox News, inviting cries of protest given his track-record on rolling back women’s rights, notably his instrumental role in overturning Roe vs Wade in 2022 and flirtation with a nationwide abortion ban.


“We really are the party for IVF,” the Republican presidential nominee insisted.

“We want fertilization, and it’s all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it.”



The father of IVF?  I can remember when Ivana would joke -- at least I think she was joking -- that Donald wasn't even the father of Eric. 


Like most informed Americans, Kamala Harris found his claim bizarre. 




As audience members confronted him over these impacts—which became clear in Alabama earlier this year—Trump reiterated his usual spiel of reproductive rights-related falsehoods, which included claiming that “every legal scholar” wanted Roe overruled (easily debunked) and that Republicans are “the party of IVF”—despite the fact that Republicans have twice blocked a vote on a bill that would protect IVF access nationwide, as I have covered. (The GOP said that it supports IVF and that the bill was unnecessary.)

But Trump also debuted a new lie at the town hall: He claimed he’s the “father of IVF.”

“I want to talk about IVF,” Trump said in the lead-up to a question about how abortion bans could impact fertility treatments. “I’m the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question.” (He then proceeded to call Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.)—who he said taught him what IVF is—”fantastically attractive.") 

If you are wondering what on Earth he could have possibly meant, you are not alone. Trump is certainly not the creator of the reproductive technology (that was a British doctor, named Robert Edwards, in 1978). And Trump has never suggested any of his five children were born through IVF. In a statement provided to Mother Jones, Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, dismissed the comment as “a joke President Trump made in jest when he was enthusiastically answering a question about IVF as he strongly supports widespread access to fertility treatments for women and families.” She did not respond to questions about whether Trump supported the Democratic-led bill on IVF that Republicans twice blocked, or how his proposal to force the government or private insurance companies to fund IVF would actually work (estimates say it could cost around $8 billion).

Harris promptly clapped back, telling reporters Trump’s comments were “quite bizarre,” adding, “if what he meant is taking responsibility, then yeah, he should take responsibility for the fact that one in three women in America lives in a Trump abortion ban state.” 


It was an outrageous lie from a man who steals credit for everything.  The only humor in the alleged 'jest' came from those responding to the lie like Jimmy Kimmel. 




On that townhall 'for women,' Daniel Dale (CNN) counts nineteen outright lies Donald told during that hour long event.  He wasn't the only one lying.  FOX "NEWS" Harris Faulkner hosted the event and got off this lie, "And instead of him banning abortion, which is not he wants to do. He's wanting it to be for the states and let the states decide."




The liar is anti-choice so let's not that first so we can factor in her whorish nature.  Second, letting one state ban it -- even just one -- is being for banning abortion.  Quit lying.  One bad weave and the liar thinks she's tricked us all.

 
On reproductive rights, Amanda Becker (TEEN VOGUE) explains:

The Supreme Court’s rejection this week of the Biden administration’s appeal to weigh in on a dispute over emergency abortion care in Texas foreshadows how the next president could protect or restrict abortion access without signing — or vetoing — federal legislation. 

The court’s decision came Monday as early voting was already underway in some states in the first presidential election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal abortion protections and sending the issue back to the states.

Texas is one of 13 states that currently have total abortion bans in place and another four states cap the procedure after six weeks, before many people know they are pregnant.




Restoring Roe’s protections nationwide are central to the case that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is making against Republican nominee Donald Trump. Headed into the final weeks of the race, polls show abortion gaining on the economy as the top-of-mind issue for voters, particularly in battleground states and for women under 45 years old.

Trump, who as president cemented the conservative bloc on the court that overturned Roe in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, has provided few details about how his administration would approach abortion, saying only that he feels it is an issue best left up to the states and that “everyone knows” he would not sign a federal abortion ban. 

Trump has yet to comment on the myriad of other ways a president’s administration can impact abortion access via the federal agency rulemaking process or by prosecuting state bans when they conflict with federal laws, such as in the Texas dispute.




In the Texas case, the Biden administration is arguing that a 1986 law known as EMTALA, which requires most hospitals to provide emergency care, applies to abortion even in states with bans — Texas disagrees. The state’s abortion ban has limited exceptions for patients who have a life-threatening condition or who are at risk of “substantial impairment of a major bodily function” but what constitutes substantial impairment is left undefined.

The Supreme Court’s decision to not hear an appeal at this juncture means that as the case continues, a lower court order will remain in place that says hospitals cannot be required to provide emergency abortions in cases when they might violate Texas’ ban. Legal experts told The 19th that the order could also affect cases in Louisiana and Mississippi, which are also under the jurisdiction of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Let me be clear: Donald Trump is the architect of this health care crisis,” Vice President Harris wrote on the social media site X shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision not to take the case. “I will never stop fighting for a woman’s right to emergency medical care — and to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade so that women in every state have access to the care they need.”


Which is how it should be.  Healthcare is not a 'state's rights!' issue.  That's a lunatic fantasy.  A woman has every right to expect the same type of healthcare in any state in the union.  Don't be tricked by the Harris Faulkners of the world. 

This is beyond stupid.  We've said it here many times but I think Tim Walz has been much more passionate about it: Mind your own damn business!

You don't want an abortion?  Don't have one.  Otherwise, mind your own damn business.

My healthcare is not your business.  My choices are not your business.  Informed consent means that my doctor and I make the best decisions about my healthcare.  It is no one else business.

ROE V WADE was popular with the majority of Americans and with the majority of American women.  It was established law -- something the Republicans on the Crooked Supreme Court forgot they stated in their Senate confirmation hearings.  By conspiring, a group of liars were able to coach the justices on how to pass a confirmation hearing -- and Donald ordered the FBI to stand down on investigating sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh -- and, first chance it had, the Crooked Court then ignored established law, ignored the principle of stare decisis, ignored the whole point of precedent and overturned ROE V WADE as step one in destroying the right to privacy for US citizens.  Crooked Clarence, high on the vast amount of bribes he's taken in over the years or just as flat out stupid today as he was in 1992, showed the Court's hand with his opinion where he noted the plan to next turn over all other right to privacy cases -- including birth control and marriage equality -- save for LOVING V VIRGINIA.  Many pointed out the reasoning there -- though Samuel L. Jackson was one of the first -- Clarence left his first wife and became a chubby chaser which led him to the grotesque Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas.  LOVING V VIRGINIA, a right to privacy case, mandated that all states in the union recognize interracial marriage.  So, in case you missed it, Crooked Clarence took a dump on the right to privacy judgments except for the one that impacted his own life.

Still on that townhall, Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) notes:


Fox News allowed former President Donald Trump's all-women town hall to be filled with MAGA supporters — and failed to disclose as such, according to a report. 

"The Georgia town hall, where Trump took questions on reproductive laws, transgender rights and other issues, aired Wednesday morning," according to the CNN report. "But Fox News did not disclose that the female audience it selected for the event was packed with local Republican supporters."

Moreover, Fox News edited out moments where participants in the town hall said things that made this too obvious, " reported Hadas Gold and Liam Reilly.

For example, one woman named Alicia said, “I want to thank you for coming to a room full of women the current administration would consider domestic terrorists,” and added, “I proudly cast my vote for you today. I hope they count it.”

Fox News edited out the last part where she said she was already a Trump voter, but a CNN reporter in the audience captured the full exchange. 


Deranged Donald continues to make threats against the American people.  David Badash reports:


The Trump campaign lashed out at Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Monday after the Democratic vice presidential nominee quoted the Republican presidential candidate who repeatedly over the weekend has been saying he would like to use the U.S. military against American citizens.

As NCRM reported, the Republican presidential nominee said he thinks the U.S. Armed Forces should be used against Americans who oppose him, called his critics “the enemy from within,” and declared they are more dangerous than America’s greatest foreign adversaries, including Russia, China, and North Korea.


“I always say we have the outside enemy, so you can say China, you can say Russia, you can say, Kim Jung-Un,” Trump told supporters at an Aurora, Colorado rally on Friday. But, he added: “It’s the enemy from within, all the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That’s a bigger enemy than China and Russia,” he said as the audience cheered.
Then, on Sunday, Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo of his desire to use armed forces against Americans on Election Day.

[. . . ]

“Donald Trump over the weekend was talking about using the U.S. Army against people who disagree with him,” Walz had said. “Just so you’re clear about that, that’s you. That’s what he’s talking about. This is not some mythical thing out there. He called it the ‘enemy within.'”

The Trump War Room social media account wrote: “Tim Walz peddles a disgusting lie that President Trump will use the U.S. Army against his political opponents: ‘That’s you, that’s what he’s talking about.’ This is reckless, dangerous rhetoric,” the campaign stated. “Tim should be ASHAMED of himself.”

These are threats against the American people.  Philip Bump (WASHINGTON POST) reports:

No fascist. You’re the fascist.

Host Harris Faulkner played the snippet of Trump’s Bartiromo interview in which he explained that the “enemy from within” included “lunatics” such as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of the loudest voices during Trump’s first impeachment. Faulkner noted that Harris had suggested Trump is “unhinged.” (The crowd, heavily constituted of Republicans and Trump supporters, tittered at the very idea.)

Trump, predictably, denied that he is, calling Democrats “the party of sound bites.”

“Somebody asked me, ‘Can they be brought together?’” he said, apparently meaning that he was asked whether Democrats could work with Republicans. He suggested that he said he doesn’t think they could “because they are — they’re very different. And it is the enemy from within and they’re very dangerous. They are Marxists and communists and fascists.”

He returned to his criticism of Schiff, suggesting that Schiff is among those who “made up the Russia hoax” — that is, the investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign had knowingly worked with the Russian effort to swing the results to his advantage. (A lengthy probe into the matter identified several members of Trump’s campaign who had been in contact with Russian agents and determined that the campaign had at least welcomed the Russian effort.)

And again Trump shrugged at the threat posed by foreign countries (including Russia) as easy to handle — more so than the threat from his political opponents.

“The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosis,” he said, referring to former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and, apparently, her husband, Paul.

Shortly before the 2022 election, a deranged man broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco house in an apparent effort to force Nancy Pelosi to admit that the Russia probe was contrived. Paul Pelosi, who doesn’t work in politics, was struck with a hammer in the attack.

“These people, they’re so sick, and they’re so evil,” Trump continued. “If they would spend their time trying to make America great again, we would have — it would be so easy to make this country great.”

All of this, all of Trump’s response to the criticism of his initial comments Sunday, serves to bolster that criticism. Saying that Democrats are evil and sick and incapable of working with Republicans is commentary aimed at suggesting that no political agreement can be practically or morally achieved. Comparing the opposition of Democrats to that of foreign adversaries — casting it as worse than that of those adversaries, in fact — elevates the idea that internal enemies should be dealt with in the way we might deal with an invasion force from a foreign power.


It's very alarming and people should be concerned.  Kathleen Culliton (RAW STORY) notes:


Former President Donald Trump's decision to double down Wednesday on his threats of the "enemy within" — and his campaign's hasty efforts to spread the word — stunned onlookers who said they fear a looming authoritarian regime.

Trump's War Room was quick to post video on X of Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner's interview with Trump and his response to concerns that he would use his executive power to sic the military on political rivals.

"FAULKNER: 'Kamala Harris has said you sounded unhinged and unchecked power is in our future,'" the Trump campaign tweeted. "TRUMP: 'They are a party of soundbites... And it is the enemy from within. They are very dangerous.'"

Trump went on to list the people and political groups he argued should be considered enemies of the people, among them Marxists, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), fascists, communists, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

"It is the enemy from within," Trump said. "They're very dangerous...and they're sick."


He is a threat to democracy, he is a threat to us all.  David Kurtz (TPM)  notes:


Harris wants to use Trump’s own words as “evidence” against in the closing days of the campaign, according to the WSJ report.

In the plodding, “check the box” campaign strategy that Democrats often default to, candidates are given the false choice of either addressing voters’ most pressing concerns or warning that Trump is a menace and threat to democratic values. Harris’ “all of the above” approach in recent days weaves together both attack lines into a seamless whole.

Most notably, Harris has connected Trump’s essential weakness of character with his authoritarian impulses, his fondness for dictators, and his disregard for the Constitution. You get these threats with Trump precisely because he is a such a hollowed-out shell of a human. It’s a powerful reminder that fascism is a refuge for the weak and insecure, an argument that defuses the fear that Trump seeks to instill.


Kamala went on FOX "NEWS" because she's not a chicken like Donald who cancelled on 60 MINUTES and CNBC.  













Let's turn to Donald's financials.  Philip Bump has a must read, "The myth of Businessman Trump has collapsed" (WASHINGTON POST), about some people slowly awakening to the reality. Or some of it.  Donald Trump is not as wealthy as people like to think.  And he has nothing to show for all his years if you really get into the weeds.  He is sitting on a mountain of debt.  If and when just one bank decides to call in a loan, his entire faux empire could come crashing down.  That's why he's selling $3 BIBLEs made in China for -- selling them for $60 bucks.  He's a con artist.  And he needs cash because he's got nothing.  That's why he is trying to farm our his campaign air travel onto the US taxpayer.  Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) notes:


Donald Trump's campaign has set up a fundraising page for hurricane relief, but it's not clear where the money is actually going.

The Republican nominee's campaign created the fundraising campaign billed “as an official response for MAGA supporters to offer their financial assistance to their fellow Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene,” reported The New Republic. The page lists charities it says would receive the MAGA funds.

Three of the four charities listed are Christian or Evangelical nongovernmental organizations — Samaritan’s Purse, Water Mission, and Mtn2Sea Ministries — while the fourth is listed as the “Clinch Foundation,” which appears to be the Clinch Memorial Hospital’s Foundation in Valdosta, Georgia.



Where is the money going?  Kevin T. Dugan (INTELLIGENCER) reports:


It has hardly been a month since presidential candidate Donald Trump started hawking digital tokens in something called World Liberty Financial, a loosely defined lending business that mimicked some of the more spectacular failures of the last crypto bubble. Basic questions about the business — What exactly is it? How does it work? What is newly matriculated NYU freshman Barron Trump doing as one of the company’s “Web3 Ambassadors”? — have gone unanswered. And if the point of World Liberty Financial is simply to raise a ton of money through unregistered securities offerings, historically a pretty lucrative business in cryptoland, even that has gone awry. In the opening hours of trading, a period of maximum hype, the company has raised a paltry $12 million or so, falling far short of its $300 million goal.

This shortfall has no clear explanation. Trump has been unabashedly courting crypto investors for most of this election season. At a bitcoin conference this summer, Trump laid out his crypto-centric vision of a second term: He would create a digital stockpile of the digital currency and make the U.S. the “bitcoin superpower of the world.” He vowed to rein in the Feds and ax Gary Gensler, who, as the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has been a bogeyman for the industry. There has also been a surge in the value of one of his other nebulously defined companies, Trump Media & Technology Group, which has more than doubled its share price since late September and added more than $2 billion to Trump’s personal (but paper) fortune.

The World Liberty Financial token sale, meanwhile, has been plagued with problems. For a while, the site went down, making it nearly impossible to buy the tokens. But even if it worked fine, it wasn’t clear how many people would have actually been able to purchase them. The company’s Telegram group has made it clear that the tokens would be sold only to accredited U.S. investors — that is, people who are professionals or are just extremely rich — as well as investors overseas. In other words, not just any Trump fan could buy in. (Whether the company is actually holding to that is another matter. On October 11, I received an email pushing me to buy them, despite having no accreditation whatsoever. “We are pleased to inform you that, as a confirmed Whitelist entrant, you are now eligible to register for the upcoming $WLFI public sale,” the email said.) As of Wednesday morning, fewer than 3,000 people actually bought the tokens.


He builds nothing.  He's a business disaster.  Atlantic City?  He wouldn't even fix leaky roofs.  He'd have them put out big white buckets to catch the leaks when it rained. And those buildings, true of all of his buildings, only came about due to crooked deals.  Kamala has a strong housing plan but I'm always amazed that when housing gets covered in this race -- rarely, but some times -- that we're not talking about how Trump 'befriended' (bribed) politicians and city officials to get the land he wanted.  Eminent domain is not popular with voters.  They rightly see it as a threat to their own home ownership or own small business ownership. 

Eminent domain would allow Donald to grab real estate at bargain prices, he'd talk it up and try to get any fools to join him, he'd fall behind and then try to get refinancing, then he'd work to unload the properties. Despite perfecting this crooked model, he was lazy and slow and sometimes had to declare bankruptcy when he was too slow in getting out.

He's not in NYC because they hate him.  I've written about this at length for the community newsletters but no NYC family of standing respects him.  They consider him gauche and tasteless.  He tried to buy his way into society and it never took.  His life is as a social outcaste looked down upon by others, a comic Edith Wharton novel centering around a vial outsider who is known as a grifter who preys upon the less informed.


Again, he's sitting on a mountain of debt and the whole thing collapses at any moment if even one bank starts calling in the loans.  He has no real income other than his con jobs and his pension as a US president.  That's why he's always doing one money grubbing con after another.  And it's why 'old money' doesn't get in bed with him, they know he's a con artist.  

These are not hidden details or obscure secrets.  

THE APPRENTICE money is long gone and that's really the closest Donald ever came to actually working in his life -- hosting a game show.  Donald lives outside of his means and always has.  His multiple bankruptcies didn't bestow respectability on him nor do his current efforts at grift.  I get it.  He's trying to claw his way back into the White House because he thinks it could save him.  It can't.  And if he manages to die before all the debts get called in, that just means Junior and Eric get stuck with the bills.  (Ivanka was always smart to listen to her mother and she should be left holding less debt as a result.)


But the lack of income goes to why he keeps avoiding paying E Jean Carroll.  He doesn't have the money.  He's also not paying his attorney fees and hasn't been for some time.  I mean, what do you want, his full financials?  

As I've noted many times before, bankers who okayed the questionable loans that keep Donald afloat currently are risking their jobs and their reputations. They never should have okayed the loans.  

 

I mention the above because people think his 'wealth' means he's good or god-like.  No, he just knows how to run a con.  He's never worked at anything in his life except being a game show host.  Brad Reed (RAW STORY) notes:



United Auto Workers member Dawnya Ferdinansen on Wednesday called out former President Donald Trump after he made belittling comments about her profession.
In a video posted by the United Auto Workers' Twitter account, Ferdinansen took issue with Trump claiming that American autoworkers who work for foreign car manufacturers don't really build cars but rather "take them out of a box and assemble them."
"We could have our child do it," Trump said of the work.

Ferdinansen, an Ohio-based autoworker, wasted no time tearing the former president to pieces.

"I'm making this video in response to Trump's statement that autoworkers just 'assemble parts,' out of a box," she said. "I challenge you, Trump, to one full 12-hour day in any auto assembly plant. I want to see you assemble parts out of a box for 12 hours! Until you accept and complete this challenge, until you actually work a manual labor job, you keep the name of the UAW out of your mouth!"


Dawnya is correct.  Donald knows nothing about doing actual work and, at his age, never will.  

Like Jill Stein, Donald just shows up when the cameras are around because he's too damn lazy to do any of the work required.  

Yes, Jill Stein.  The Green Party's presidential nominee for the third time.  She's finally getting the recognition she's so long deserved -- an endorsement from the KKK.



The Green Party could have looked to the future and nominated someone who wasn't over 70 years old and had not already run twice (and failed twice) for president before.  Instead, they went with racist Jill Stein.  The KKK knows one of their own when they see her.  There's a reason for that. 


The following sites updated:

 



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