Thursday, August 27, 2015

Trump Tosses Univision's Jorge Ramos Out of Press Conference

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gif by micdotcom on tumblr

Previous Related Posts:
Trump Dumped by Univision for Mexican Remarks
Trump in Mobile Alabama
Trump Gives Helicopter Rides at Iowa State Fair

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Donald Trump continued his feud with the Latino news channel Univision in Dubuque, Iowa, when he decided to toss a persistent Jorge Ramos out of his presser for asking about the immigration issue. Trump basically just said "You're Fired," and had his bodyguard escort Ramos out of the room. To add insult to injury, Ramos was then insulted by a Trump supporter in the hallway of the building - luckily caught on tape by Univision.

Will this hurt Trump? Probably not in the short term, but for the 2016 election? How much crap do they think Latino voters are going to take? And why should they EVER vote Republican again?

Please proceed, Mr. Trump and your racist fans. Kill your party.

From CNN
"Go back to Univision," Trump told Ramos early in their first back-and-forth. Ramos had attempted to engage with Trump on his positions, though he had not been called upon, standing and lobbing concerns about Trump's plan at the candidate.
"Sit down. Sit down. Sit down," Trump said.



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From the New York Times
“Don’t touch me, sir. Don’t touch me,” Mr. Ramos said, as he was marched out of the room. “I have the right to ask a question.”
Mr. Ramos was eventually allowed to return. But for the Spanish-language press, which has grown in size and influence in politics, the tense exchange was a highly public flexing of muscle against a candidate who many outlets no longer pretend to cover objectively: They are offended by Mr. Trump’s words and tactics — and they are showing it.
. . . In addition to his comments calling Mexican immigrants drug dealers and rapists, Mr. Trump’s immigration plan — which includes erecting a wall along the southern border and ending birthright citizenship — has earned the ire of many Hispanics, who are expected to be a critical voting bloc in 2016.
Univision severed ties with the Miss Universe Organization, of which Mr. Trump is a part owner, because of his offensive comments about Mexican immigrants. Mr. Trump is now suing the network for $500 million.









From Think Progress
Soon after Donald Trump ejected the Spanish media Univision journalist Jorge Ramos from a press conference for asking questions about immigration on Tuesday night, a man told Ramos to “get out of my country.”
“You were very rude — this is not about you,” the unidentified man says, confronting Ramos outside the press conference, in video footage uploaded to the Univision‘s website.
“Get out of my country. Get out–”
“This is my country — I’m a U.S. citizen too,” Ramos quipped.
“Well, whatever. Univision-whatever. It’s not about you,” the man shot back, before an uniformed individual separated the two.























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Monday, August 24, 2015

#BlackMonday ~ DOW plunges over 1000 points

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source: Reuters

A crash in China markets is causing a domino effect around the world today.

From the New York Times
Stocks in the United States tumbled on Monday morning as another sell-off that started in China roiled markets around the world.
Immediately after the opening bell in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 1,000 points — one of the most precipitous such plunges in recent years.






















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Saturday, August 22, 2015

Trump in Mobile, Alabama

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Previous Related Posts:
Trump Gives Helicopter Rides at Iowa State Fair
Trump's Hair and Other Viral Memes
First #GOP Primary Debate on Fox
Countdown to Trump Clown Car Debate
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Donald Trump flew into Mobile, Alabama, last night and spoke to an enthusiastice crowd of 30,000 people. There's no doubt they love him, but do they actually want him for President of the United States. Time will tell . . .

From CNN
Over an hour of often rambling remarks, the New York businessman reveled in the crowd size while he offered them his usual menu of patriotic pledges and carefree criticism of the media, his opponents and political correctness that he said his crowd similarly despised.
"We've gotten an amazing reception," Trump said as he began his remarks, turning his back to the podium at the Ladd-Peebles Stadium and pointing to the rafters behind him. "Has this been crazy? Man!"
The event had the trappings of a big Friday night high school match-up. Trump flew by the stadium in his private jet shortly before 6 p.m., doing a loop around the arena before landing. The fly-by was announced over the stadium's loudspeaker to cheers.

From Politicus USA
After Trump ran through his lines about suing Macy’s and Univision, two of the three cable networks had seen enough and cut away.
CNN cut away to a discussion of whether or not the term anchor baby is a slur. MSNBC flipped it back to Chris Hayes, who mocked Trump’s bragging.
It seems that at least some in the media are growing tired of the Trump circus. The truth about Donald Trump is that his speeches are rambling and boring. A Donald Trump speech is a lot like listening to your Fox News-watching relative spout off for hours because they think they are informed.









Byron York in Washington Examiner
Trump had predicted up to 40,000 people would fill Ladd-Peebles Stadium. That would have been huge, had it happened. As it was, filling about half the stadium was huge, too -- extremely impressive by any standard, except Trump's own.
How did Trump do? He gave what is now his trademark speech, which means it was a long stream of consciousness address incorporating all sorts of extraneous information about his business dealings but also connecting with audiences, both in the stadium and on television, with his outsider's message on immigration and trade. And all in Trump's distinctive style. Like this: "The 14th Amendment? You know what? I was right on it. You can do something with it, and you can do something fast." It's a style that probably works better in a smaller setting than a stadium. But Trump still made his points.



















































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Thursday, August 20, 2015

Trump Gives Helicopter Rides at Iowa State Fair

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Previous Related Posts:
Trump's Hair and Other Viral Memes
First #GOP Primary Debate on Fox
Countdown to Trump Clown Car Debate
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Officials with the Iowa State Fair originally said they wouldn't allow Donald Trump to (a) bring his helicopter to the fair or (b) give helicopter rides to children of voters.
Sadly for Trump, and the many cable television producers looking forward to video of him being mobbed by hordes of helicopter-crazed children, state fair officials say a Trump touchdown “will not be happening” at the fair. “Trump did not ask for permission to do so, nor would he be granted permission if he does indeed seek it,” according to the Des Moines Register.

Then they caved, of course, The Donald arrived in his fancy hopped-up helicopter, and took unsuspecting kids up in the air like a latter-day Pied Piper, or perhaps the Child-Snatcher from Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang. And once in the air, Trump told a little boy that he is Batman. Yes, Batman.





So, happy children got to ride for free in a $7 million Sikorsky S-76 helicopter – N76DT, by numeral – from which they, too, could look down on senators, former senators, former governors, one former First Lady-senator-Secretary-of-State, and a whole mob of people eating Ultimate Bacon Brisket Bombs. And that's your metaphor. Trump is smart. So are you. So are your kids. You can look down on all the other "stupid" people.​
~ Charles P. Pierce on Esquire

From CNN
The pilot cut the engines. A man got out of the helicopter. He wore white shoes and white khakis with sharp creases and a red baseball cap that said MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. He strolled across the searing asphalt and stood at the edge of a field, where nearly 100 people waited to find out what he would do or say next.
"We have quite a few children gonna take rides today," said Donald Trump, billionaire, celebrity, entertainer and Republican candidate for president. "Where are the children? Get them over here."
. . . Into the helicopter went William, 9; Sean, 6; Brendan, 5; and Henry, who just turned 3. Their mother went with them. Henry got scared just before takeoff and left the aircraft to be with his father. The other boys remained. William brought a GoPro camera to capture the experience; a clip later wound up on Facebook.
"Mr. Trump," he said, aiming the camera at his benefactor.
"Yes," Trump said, pulling on the lapels of his jacket.
"Are you Batman?" the boy asked.
"I am Batman," Trump said.














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Saturday, August 15, 2015

Erick Erickson - Misogynist Hypocrite Tells Haters to Back Off

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Previous Related Posts:
First GOP Primary Debate on Fox

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After Megyn Kelly of Fox News asked Donald Trump why he was so mean to women all the time, he spent the next few days on Twitter and in the media verbally slapping her around, even implying that she was hormonally challenged to dare ask him such a pointed question.

Up rode Erick Erickson, white GOP pundit on a white horse, to the rescue of the fair-white maiden in distress. He banished Trump from an event sponsored by his website, Red State, while allowing other Republican candidates to use the event to campaign against the Donald.

From The Atlantic
ATLANTA -- Donald Trump was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the RedState Gathering here, a convocation of the hard-core conservative activists who read the influential blog edited by Erick Erickson. But when Trump said on CNN late Friday that debate moderator and Fox News host Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” Erickson, who is a Fox News contributor, announced he had disinvited Trump from the conference. “There are just real lines of decency a person running for President should not cross,” Erickson wrote.

Decency towards women would be nice, yes. But Erickson has a problem with women.

In 2012, when Michelle Obama, Lilly Ledbetter and Tammy Duckworth spoke at the Democratic National Convention, he labeled it the "Vagina Monologues." Last year he started calling Texas Rep. Wendy Davis "Abortion Barbie" during her run for Governor. He has also written that since humans are animals, and males in the animal kingdom are usually dominant, then it was right and proper for men to dominate women in our society. The little women should stay out of the workplace, while men remained the breadwinners. It didn't even seem to matter to Erickson that this unequal view has always been backwards, that women in every society often function as breadwinners (or breadmakers, or bread sellers), or that many human societies are matriarchal, or that many animals are even matriarchal, Erickson just wanted every woman to know he was superior and dominant.

CNN Wingnut Erickson Goes Full Misogynist over DNC
Erickson Labels Wendy Davis "Abortion Barbie
Talking to Neanderthals: Megyn Kelly vs. Erick Erickson

So Erickson doesn't mind using anti-women rhetoric when it suits him. He can out-Misogynist Trump any day. He's a big-mouthed Tea Party War-On-Women Evangelical Jerk. So riding up to "help" Kelly with Trump in an act of rank hypocrisy.

Even this week, his website called Hillary Clinton a "homely" woman who "slept her way to power." What a gent!



The Atlantic called Erickson out about his misogyny:

. . . Molly Ball: Critics note that you also have a history of nasty and misogynistic comments. Do you really have any standing to judge Trump?
Erickson: You know, I’ve said some pretty stupid shit in the past, and I’ve apologized for it. I didn’t deny that I ever said it, I didn’t claim that my Twitter account was hacked. I apologized, said I was wrong, and had to deal with it. Trump’s reaction is, “I said whatever, not wherever.” No, he didn’t. I listened to the tape twice. I played it for the audience; they got the full context of it.
 

Yes, what Trump said about Kelly was despicable. But Erickson was the wrong champion to try and right the wrong.







And now it has backfired on him with his own true followers on Red State, which is poetic justice indeed. Even a week after the debate and when his event with the GOP candidates was over, Erickson was still getting horrible vitriolic hate mail on his website, and it upset is wittle feelings.





He appealed to his haters to just back off, because hate is not the answer. But clearly he has attracted such haters for years, being a hater himself.

Erickson: Can We Recalibrate?
. . . this one
You disinvited Trump! We’ve disinvited you. we had planned on streaming the event. That won’t be happening in our household. Hopefully you will become a conservative organization with some balls one of these days.
That one had a verse of scripture underneath.
Then there is this one.
Guess what, dumb bass, the non Washington Republicans, like us, want no fucking part of the current Republican Party, like you. Leave the real conservatives alone, quick mailing shit, quit begging for help, and most of all, KEEP BASHING TRUMP. You are incredibly fucking stupid.
and this one
Trump is the man! Fuck Eric Ericson. hope he and all women in his life are raped, beaten and murdered by illegal spics! Go Trump!

. . . Conservatives have a real and legitimate reason to be pissed off at the GOP. Polling suggests conservatives hate the Republicans in Washington more than Democrats hate the Republicans in Washington. That anger has galvanized conservatives and pushed them toward Donald Trump. To his credit, he has capitalized on that anger.
But folks, this is anger at an unhealthy level. It is anger that has gone beyond the righteous anger of repeated betrayals from Washington. It is an anger that has become unhinged and is potentially uncontrollable. Anger at that level is more often destructive than constructive.

Ya think? Oh, boo hoo. Erickson has been rabble-rousing these same sad people for years, so he can dish it out but he can't take it. And he's surprised that they quote scripture to him? He has a scripture listed on his twitter, where he rants about "Abortion Barbie." His hate-filled screeds against Michelle Obama as a "Marxist Harpy Wife" are sprinkled among Sunday School stories of his kids. He prays for Democrats while rubbing their faces with his manure.

This is what happens when a pundit has been paid by both CNN and Fox to spew acid for years, even while bragging about what a good Christian he is. Total cognitive dissonance about his own point of view. He is as tone-deaf as Huckabee about the Duggar family incest.

And Trump? None of this is hurting him with possible voters - he is sailing along at the top of the polls. Sorry, Erick Son of Erick.






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Friday, August 7, 2015

First #GOP Primary Debate:

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gif via mashable

Previous Related Posts:
Countdown to the Fox Clown Car Debate
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As expected, Trump upstaged the other candidates during the first Fox #GOP Debate. Right out of the box, he was the only candidate to say he wouldn't promise not to run as an Independent if he didn't get the nomination. When pressed on the issue, he kept restating that even if they rejected him, he would still cause trouble by running as a third party candidate.



He also kept his hard-line stance on the border wall with Mexico:

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Pushed by hostess Megyn Kelly to explain why he attacks women, Trump said he wished he could say a few things to her, and it was clear to see the bully-boy come out.



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Then Trump went after Kelly on Twitter
by retweeting attacks on her performance:





Also this happened:

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The rest of the primary candidates spent time trying to dig themselves out of old holes caused by old statements, or they tried to climb over Trump to get their message out.

Ben Carson mumbled about taxes based on Biblical Tithing, just sounding silly. Huckabee mentioned Benghazi at least once. Scott Walker got in a zinger at Hillary Clinton's emails, but also sounded Mitt-like by talking about war with bayonets. Jeb Bush just looked tired and clueless, while Marco Rubio sounded well-rehearsed but also anti-immigration so why would Latinos vote for him?

Chris Christie attempted to play up his involvement with Homeland Security during 9-11 when he was Attorney General of New Jersey prosecuting terrorists. But in most viewer's minds, it just begs the question of why he would then turn around and close down a bridge just for petty politics?

Ted Cruz ran against Washington, giving a mini-speech about cancelling everything about Obama on "Day One" of his Presidency (which will never happen). Cruz was also unintentionally funny, saying his Dad was once a drug addict before he found Jesus. And now . . . his Daddy is a religion addict-fanatic.

All of them want more War, and less Planned Parenthood.

The only Republican that came off sounding moderate was Governor John Kasich, but his message of love, acceptance and help is so far removed from the core of the Tea Party that he is dead in the water now. However, they might drag him along as Veep just to try and win the Ohio swing-state vote.













































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Thursday, August 6, 2015

Countdown to GOP Trump Clown Car Debate

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OMG - there will be two hours of debate on Fox News Thursday night, from 9-11 p.m. with Trump and nine Non-Trumps, plus an earlier hour of debate from 5-6 pm of the also-rans who didn't make the cut.

So get your popcorn, a iPad or phone for tweeting, and some alcohol for a drinking game. It doesn't get any better than this!

From USA Today
In naming the debate field, Fox News said Trump led its poll aggregation with 23.4%, followed by Bush at 12% and Walker at 10.2%.

The remainder of the top ten: Huckabee (6.6%), Carson (5.8%), Cruz (5.4%), Rubio (5.4%), Paul (4.8%), Christie (3.4%) and Kasich (3.2%).

The percentages for the other candidates: Perry (1.8%), Santorum (1.4%), Jindal (1.4%), Fiorina (1.3%), Graham (0.7%), Pataki (0.6%) and Gilmore (0.2%).


Except for Trump, the Polls Look Rather Limp-O-Tent

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Rachel Maddow pointed out that Fox broke their own rules to bump Perry from the main debate but allow in John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, who just entered the race last week. Where is the debate being held? Cleveland, Ohio. Coincidence. Absolutely not.

Via Raw Story
“This is nuts,” she said. “I can’t believe they did this. I mean, I get that Fox News only wants to have 10 candidates on the stage. They know, and everybody knows, that arbitrarily setting this 10-candidate cutoff when you’ve got 17 people running is gonna have politically-fatal consequences for if not all, at least most of the candidates who don’t make that top 10.”

Maddow explained that Fox originally said it would use the five most recent polls to determine which candidates would make it into Thursday’s debate. However, the network ended up ignoring an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted between July 26 and 30 showing Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Ohio Gov. John Kasich within one percentage point of each other and instead used a Quinnipiac University poll gathered between July 23 and 28 showing Kasich ahead by three percentage points.

“That decision had the effect of making John Kasich look like he is way more clearly ahead of Rick Perry than he would look otherwise,” she said.
. . . “They violated their own previously-announced criteria of what polls they use,” she said. “They moved the goal posts in the middle of the game in a way that makes it look like they were trying to justify the lineup of who they wanted on stage.”






















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Sunday, August 2, 2015

The World Mourns the Killing of #CecilTheLion

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The world is mourning the death of majestic Cecil the Lion of Zimbabwe, seen here in his prime:



This magnificent creature was slain by dentist Walter Palmer of Minnesota, who paid $50,000 to guides in Zimbabwe who lured Cecil out of a game preserve merely to shoot him and cut off his head for a trophy. When the guides realized the lion had been collared by an Oxford group doing research on lions, they dumped the collar and proceeded to behead and skin Cecil, but the Zimbabwe government seized what was left of the creature and did not allow Palmer to keep his kill.

From CNN
Palmer is in the public crosshairs after the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said Cecil the lion was lured out of an animal sanctuary in Zimbabwe and shot with a crossbow.
But his death wasn't immediate.
Cecil lived another 40 hours until the hunters tracked him down and shot him with a gun. He was then skinned and beheaded.
The hunters also tried to destroy the GPS collar that Cecil was wearing as part of research backed by Oxford University, the conservation group said.
. . . Above the menagerie of stuffed animals at the door, posters now cover the front facade of the practice.
One sign asked, "Dr. Palmer, why did you kill Cecil?" Another said, "Rot in hell." A third employed the hashtag #catlivesmatter.
The vitriol for Palmer even flowed from the governor's mansion.
"I'm just so disgusted with that man," said Gov. Mark Dayton. "Shoot any lion but lure a lion like that out of the preserve and shoot him, how could anybody think that's sport? Just appalling."

When word of this senseless death hit the news and social media, all hell broke loose for Mr. Palmer, as it should.








Palmer, left, poses with an earlier lion he killed.






Believe it or not, even though the hunt went completely wrong, Walter Palmer wanted to keep on hunting and asked to shoot an elephant next. Apparently he doesn't give a crap about the rare animals of Africa or the world in general. But now the world cares what happens to Palmer and would love to see his ass in jail.

IB Times
Walter Palmer, the U.S. dentist who killed the lion Cecil in Zimbabwe, wanted to shoot a “very large elephant,” his guide and professional hunter Theo Bronkhorst told the Daily Telegraph Thursday. Palmer has gone underground amid an international outcry over the illegal hunt of the "iconic" lion.
Bronkhorst told the Telegraph that after killing the lion in Hwange National Park, Palmer asked him if he could find an elephant whose tusk weighed at least 63 pounds. "I told him I would not be able to find one so big, so the client left the next day," he said.
Prosecutors charged Bronkhorst Wednesday for failing to prevent Palmer from unlawfully killing Cecil. However, they are yet to charge Honest Ndlovu -- a second suspect and farm owner -- who has been named as an accomplice. Ndlovu appeared in court Wednesday.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said Tuesday that Palmer -- who paid $50,000 to kill Cecil -- and his group tied a dead animal to their car to lure the lion. According to the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe, drawing in animals with a bait is unethical. The association, of which Bronkhorst is a member, has revoked his license.


Talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel highlighted the death of Cecil by asking for donations to the group studying the lion and his pride: Wildcru.org





Statement from famous naturalist Jane Goodall:
I was shocked and outraged to hear the story of Cecil, Zimbabwe’s much loved lion. Not only is it incomprehensible to me that anyone would want to kill an endangered animal (fewer than 20,000 wild lions in Africa today) but to lure Cecil from the safety of a national park and then to shoot him with a crossbow...? I have no words to express my repugnance. He was not even killed outright, but suffered for hours before finally being shot with a bullet. And his magnificent head severed from his wounded body. And this behaviour is described as a “sport." Only one good thing comes out of this – thousands of people have read the story and have also been shocked. Their eyes opened to the dark side of human nature. Surely they will now be more prepared to fight for the protection of wild animals and the wild places where they live. Therein lies the hope.
Jane Goodall, Ph.d., DBE
Founder, the Jane Goodall Institute &
UN Messenger of Peace







From the Born Free Foundation:
Following the tragic and reportedly illegal killing of Cecil the lion, Born Free Foundation and Born Free USA today called on the US Government and European Union to take urgent steps to end the import of lion trophies and for an international moratorium on lion hunting.
The global outcry following Cecil’s death has sent shock waves across the world and has further ignited the political and public debate on the plight of wild lions and the inhumane actions of sport hunters.
. . . President of the Born Free Foundation, Will Travers OBE, has publicly called on the hunters to lay down their weapons of mass destruction. “Cecil's story has sickened and saddened us all. We can no longer accept that hunting magnificent wild animals for ‘sport’ can be deemed acceptable. Cecil's death was brutal and it showed no respect for this iconic symbol of Africa. Trophy hunting is no sport; it is merely a disguise for killing to massage an ego.”
Born Free is calling on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to release its Final Rule on the petition to list the lion as ‘endangered’ under the United States Endangered Species Act, first submitted by Born Free and others in March 2011. Listing under the ESA would prohibit wounding, harming, harassing, killing, or trading in lions, except under certain very limited conditions, and would add significant protection for lions across their range.
Further, Born Free is calling on US Government prosecutors to explore whether legal action against Mr Palmer is warranted under the Lacey Act, which prohibits transport of wildlife specimens if they were taken illegally in their place of origin.



Zimbabwe would like a few words with Dr. Palmer, as well as our own U.S. Fish and Game service.






























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