Monday, July 31, 2017

This can't be real, can it?



I watched this a bunch of times and I was sure it was a joke. I thought it must be from Last Week Tonight or Full Frontal. Maybe SNL or Colbert?

But no, this seems to be a real thing.






When I saw the veteran's name was 'Warholic," I thought"okay, that settles it.This is satire. No one really has that last name that would be a term fora person addicted to war, right?"
Wrong.

Spotlight: Frank Warholic, Commander of the Montville VFW Post 5481

Frank Warholic, retiring VFW Post 5481 commander, proudly stands in front of the M60 Vietnam era army tank and memorial wall that honors township residents who served their country. An expansion of the area is in progress.
That's him! He's a real person.

I also thought the bit about how the bear loves to go to the golf course was a shot at Trump's frequent taxpayer-funded golfing weekends, but apparently this whole thing is real.

Satire is dead.




Thursday, July 27, 2017

Well that was quick!




New White House Communications director Anthony Scaramucci is already crashing and burning faster than. . .what crashes and burns really fast? A Valu-Jet flight?

Anyway, he's had this job for, what, about a week? And he's already imploding.


Incoming White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci gave a lengthy interview to CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday in which he angrily lashed out at whoever leaked his financial disclosure form, despite the fact that the form was never meant to be a secret.

See, normally this is the sort of thing that would happen towards the end of your tenure, when you're about to resign to "spend more time with your family." You don't expect a new member of the administration to walk in, ask which desk is his, and pick a public fight with Reince Priebus.

During the interview, Scaramucci fumed about the ways that seemingly everything that occurs inside the White House — from his dinner with Sean Hannity Wednesday night to his financial disclosure form — leaks out almost instantly to the media.
“What I’m upset about is the process — and the junk pool, the dirty pool — in terms of the way this stuff is being done,” Scaramucci said. “I can’t have a couple of friends up from Fox & Friends, and Sean Hannity, who’s one of my closest friends, to dinner with the president and his first lady without it being leaked in seven minutes.”

Why, it's as if a public figure can't have dinner with 3 other public figures, one of whom is probably the most famous/infamous/notorious person in the world, without the public somehow finding out!
Also, fuck you, you're not supposed to be meeting with faux-journalists to coordinate messaging with them.


Scaramucci then said that, when it comes to leaks, “the fish stinks from the head down.” Despite this, however, he said that President Donald Trump was not responsible for any of the leaks that occur from within the White House.
“I can tell you two fish that don’t stink,” he told Cuomo. “And that’s me and the president.” 




I don't even have a joke here. What could I possibly say that would be funnier than that last statement?


Scaramucci then went on to discuss his relationship with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, whom he had initially seemed to blame for the leaking of his financial disclosure form. Scaramucci insisted that he still saw Priebus as a “brother,” but noted that “some brothers are rough on each other.”
“Some brothers are like Cain and Abel,” Scaramucci said, referring to the story in the Bible about a man who murdered his own brother out of jealousy. “I don’t know if this is reparable or not, that’s up to the president.”
Oh my God! YOU JUST GOT THERE! How do you have an arch-frenemy already?  Your differences are already irreconcilable? You guys are on the same team!
This would be like when Kevin Durant joined the Warriors if he had said "I'm happy to be here, I look forward to competing for a championship, and by the way, fuck Steph Curry! What a dick, am I right?"
Except that there's no way that you are the Kevin Durant of Comm. Directors and no way that Reince is the Steph Curry of whatever it is that he does.You're more like the Cherokee parks and Chris Washburn of DC 

And then, if that wasn't train-wrecky enough:

Scaramucci goes on vulgar attack against own communications team, calls Priebus ‘paranoid schizophrenic’  
Anthony Scaramucci went on the offensive Wednesday night calling White House adversary Reince Priebus “schizophrenic” and threatening to fire his entire communications staff.

He hurled invective at supposed leakers within the administration after New Yorker reporter Ryan Lizza tweeted, citing “a senior White House Official,” that Scaramucci was having dinner at the White House with President Trump, the First Lady, Sean Hannity, and former Fox News executive Bill Shine.

The tweets prompted a furious Scaramucci to call Lizza — and go on a tirade against administration officials whom he believes are responsible for leaking information about the dinner, and also his publicly available financial disclosures.

You'd think you'd be so embarrassed after claiming that "leaking" your financial disclosures was a "felony" and then having to be told that no, this is publicly available information, that you'd just shut up about the whole thing for a while, but that is not the way things work in Drumpfland!

Scaramucci threatened to fire his staff when Lizza refused to reveal his source.“What I’m going to do is, I will eliminate everyone in the comms team and we’ll start over,” he said.“O.K., I’m going to fire every one of them, and then you haven’t protected anybody, so the entire place will be fired over the next two weeks,” he continued, after he failed to persuade Lizza to speak up.
No! Not Sarah Huckabee Sanders!
Not Kellyanne!

Scaramucci disclosed that he believed Priebus was worried about the dinner because he hadn’t been invited.
“Reince is a f--king paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” Scaramucci said.
He imitated Priebus, saying, “’Oh, Bill Shine is coming in. Let me leak the f--king thing and see if I can c--k-block these people the way I c--k-blocked Scaramucci for six months.’”
Wait. Do you think that's why you weren't comm director for the first 6 months of the administration? That Reince was "cock-blocking" you? Because otherwise, why would anyone not want an even-tempered level-headed fella like yourself running their communications strategy?



So calling the guy who is technically your boss a "fucking paranoid schizophrenic" and a "cock-blocker." Pretty crazy right?
Oh, but wait. It gets better.

"I'll get to the person who leaked that to you," Scaramucci told The New Yorker reporter. "Reince Priebus — if you want to leak something — he'll be asked to resign very shortly."

Oh my God, he's been in position, what ;like three days? He's not even done with employee orientation and he's already gunning for the chief of staff?

Oh, but wait. It gets better.

Scaramucci launched attacks on other adversaries, too, including Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon, saying, “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own c--k.”



Oh, but wait. It gets better.

“Why don’t you honor the job? You remember Joe Paterno? What would he say? Act like you’ve been there before,” Scaramucci said during a phone interview. “Act with honor and dignity and respect, and hold the confidence of the presidency in his office. Why don’t we do that?”





Honor, dignity and respect? Joe Paterno? The man who enabled more child rapes than any non-pope?


Wednesday, July 26, 2017

America keeps getting crazier.


Just when you think things can't get any more insane. . .



GOP House Science Chair: Melting Arctic Sea Ice A Win For The Earth




For the love of God, please stop posting selfies. NO ONE CARES.



Okay, so if you're keeping score at home, the right-wing idiot response to the very real threat of global warming has moved from:

No it isn't!
to
Scientists are always wrong, they used to say we were headed for another ice age!
to
Well, the jury's still out
to
Maybe it's real, but it's not man-made!
to
Actually, the earth is cooling.
to
Humans can't control the weather
to
There's nothing in the Bible about global warming
to
Hey, there was a big snowstorm in January. I guess we can stop worrying about "global warming!"
to
Al Gore flies on airplanes
to
Global warming is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.
to
Global warming is a hoax perpetrated by the Weather Channel
to
Scientists are lying about global warming so they can get their greedy hands on all that sweet, sweet grant money
to
Um, climate always changes, the earth warms and cools. It's cyclical.
to
But the economy!
and now finally,
But think of all the benefits of global warming!
(And I wish I was making some of these up. I am not. You can google them if you want to be depressed about the stupidity of the human race)

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), noted climate change denier and chair of the House Science Committee, on Monday penned an eyebrow-raising op-ed that argued there are “benefits” to a changing climate.



“The benefits of a changing climate are often ignored and under-researched. Our climate is too complex and the consequences of misguided policies too harsh to discount the positive effects of carbon enrichment,” 


Carbon enrichment? That's not a thing.That's the worst attempt at weasely double-speak spin I've ever heard. That's like saying Socrates probably got a lot of benefits from hemlock enrichment.
And what consequences of environmental policy do you think would be so "harsh?" Like Oh my God, what if we ended up with a bunch of solar panels on rooftops all over America?



Or what if there were a whole bunch of electric cars all over the place?

And what if it turns out that global warming is a hoax and we end up cleaning up the air for nothing?
That's way more scary than the consequences of doing nothing. If we do nothing, what's the worst that could happen? So Florida disappears under water. Who needs 'em? And so what if we can't grow grain in the Great Plains anymore because it's a parched desert? We'll probably be growing oranges in New Hampshire, so it'll all even out! Plus, if we do nothing, then we get all these neato benefits that might possibly happen but we don't know about them because no one is researching them, just like how nobody is studying all the good that might come from an Island of Dr. Moreau-type scenario!


Come on! How cool would this be?


I think we owe it to ourselves to blithely do nothing and see what happens, just in case it's good!

Smith acknowledged that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing and argued that it would help plant growth and farming. He also posited that sea ice melting in the Arctic would open up new shipping routes, spinning ice melt as a positive change for the Earth.

Yeah, new shipping routes! Exactly what we need in the 21st Century! Then we'll corner the market on spices from India and sail back to Queen Isabella's court loaded down with Jamaican rum!
Think about how great this could be. For instance, there would be a terrific new shipping lane right where Miami used to be!


“The use of fossil fuels and the byproducts of carbon enrichment play a large role in advancing the quality of human life by increasing food production to feed our growing population, stimulating the economy, and alleviating poverty,” 



Okay, you have NOOOOO science background at all. Nor are you any kind of expert in agriculture. You have a law degree and a bachelor's in "American Studies," whatever that is. You have no idea what you're talking about. You're like some dumb kid in a 5th-grade science class hearing that plants breathe carbon dioxide and coming to the conclusion that if we just produced more CO2, we'd have more plants. That's not how it works. Carbon in the atmosphere traps heat which fucks up the whole climate. I don't exactly understand it either, but I don't have to. That's why we have scientists. Just listen to the scientists, accept that they know more about this than you do, and follow their recommendations.  You wouldn't take legal advice from a climatologist, why should we take climatological advice from a lawyer? Especially a stupid one?

How about we deal with the facts in front of us and not waste time spinning elaborate scenarios in which somehow disaster ends up having some sort of net positive? You don't say well, maybe my house burning down seems bad on the surface, but what if it turns out that when we start digging for a new foundation maybe we strike gold? Sure, that's remotely possible, but you're better off putting out the god damn fire.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

President Gibberish gives speech, probably has dementia


Some highlights excerpts from Il Douche's speech to the Boy Scout Jamboree:


TRUMP: Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. I am thrilled to be here. Thrilled.
(APPLAUSE)


 Okay, well that's a lie for a start. No one is "thrilled" to be addressing the convention of nerdy kids and creepy dads in khaki shorts and neckerchiefs.


https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4f/6f/11/4f6f11ce27440a813c3975c8a59f0ae6--cub-scout-uniform-cub-scouts.jpg

And if you think that was an easy trip, you're wrong. But I am thrilled.
(LAUGHTER)


 Of course it was an easy trip! You go from Air Force 1 to a goddamm limousine, maybe with a ride on Marine 1 in there somewhere. You think you're fooling anyone? You think we believe you, what, took a bus here and then hiked in the last couple miles?



19th Boy Scout Jamboree, wow, and to address such a tremendous group. Boy, you have a lot of people here. The press will say it's about 200 people.
(LAUGHTER)


 Ahahahaha! That's so funny, because the press, um, actually reported honestly on the size of the tiny crowd that attended your inaugural.



Tonight we put aside all of the policy fights in Washington, D.C. you've been hearing about with the fake news and all of that. We're going to put that...
(APPLAUSE)
We're going to put that aside. And instead we're going to talk about success, about how all of you amazing young Scouts can achieve your dreams, what to think of, what I've been thinking about.


Yes, if there's one group that's really up on all the policy fights in Washington,it's the Boy Scouts!


 http://shannonbrown.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83452920069e201a51177033a970c-800wi
 Sorry, what did you say? I was just so engrossed in this month's The Economist!

Also, did you just say you're going to tell them "what to think of?"


 TRUMP: You are the young people of character, integrity who will serve as leaders of our communities and uphold the sacred values of our nation.

Like colluding with Russian mobsters and grabbing strange women by the genitals!


 The Scouts believe in putting America first.

Yeah, I'm not sure that they do, seeing as how the Boy Scouts are an international organization founded in Great Britain.



You know, I go to Washington and I see all these politicians, and I see the swamp, and it's not a good place. In fact, today, I said we ought to change it from the word "swamp" to the word "cesspool" or perhaps to the word "sewer."
(APPLAUSE)
But it's not good. Not good. And I see what's going on. And believe me, I'd much rather be with you, that I can tell you.
(APPLAUSE)
I'll tell you the reason that I love this, and the reason that I really wanted to be here, is because as president, I rely on former Boy Scouts every single day. And so do the American people.
It's amazing how many Boy Scouts we have at the highest level of our great government.


Holy shit, that gave me whiplash! That's what, about 5 seconds from "everyone in Washington is a disgusting sewer person" to " the reason our government is so great is because of all the terrific former scouts that are in it!"
Is he ad-libbing, or do his speech writers also contradict themselves constantly?


Many of my top advisers in the White House were Scouts. Ten members of my cabinet were Scouts. Can you believe that? Ten.
(APPLAUSE)


Yeeeeeah, you might want to hold your applause until you hear who he's talking about.

 
The vice president of the United States, Mike Pence -- a good guy -- was a Scout, and it meant so much to him.

http://media.salon.com/2017/04/MikePenceCOVER.png
Eeeeewwwww!!!
I am convinced that Mike Pence never poops. I think when he was a baby, his mother expressed disgust at one of his diapers and he hasn't pooped since. That's why he always looks like he's in abdominal discomfort.



Secretary of Energy Rick Perry of Texas, an Eagle Scout from the great state.


Governor Oops? I gotta think alot of kids will be turning in their neckerchirfs after this speech!
Also, if I had ever been an Eagle Scout I would NOT want anyone finding out about it. When you're old enough to have an interest in girls and you choose to spend your time dressed like this:

https://www.waukonstandard.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_image_full_node/public/field/image/Dougherty%20Eagle%20Scout.jpg?itok=Pech6oLjhttp://myvalleynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/9-11-15-EDU-Eagle-Scouts-1.jpg

 that's not something I would brag about.
And the same goes for teen boys who are developing an interest in other teen boys. If you have any interest in dating/sex, you are too old to be going to "jamborees."


The first time he came to the National Jamboree was in 1964. He was very young then. And Rick told me just a little while ago, it totally changed his life.
[insert your own offensive joke here]


So, Rick, thank you very much for being here. And we're doing -- we're doing a lot with energy.
(APPLAUSE) And very soon, Rick, we will be an energy exporter. Isn't that nice? An energy exporter.
(APPLAUSE)
In other words, we'll be selling our energy instead of buying it from everybody all over the globe. So that's good.

 In other words, I have absolutely no idea how energy markets work.


 And I'll tell you what, the folks in West Virginia who were so nice to me, boy, have we kept our promise. We are going on and on. So we love West Virginia. We want to thank you.

 Wait, I remember you promising to build a wall. I remember you promising to bring back coal. When did you promise to go on and on?
Also, are you really using the royal "we?"


Boy Scout values are American values. And great Boy Scouts become great, great Americans.

 Actually, that is true. Or at least, Boy Scout values are what American values should be.
Here are a few of the merit badges scouts can earn:


  • Environmental Science or Sustainability
  • Citizenship in the Community
  • Citizenship in the Nation
  • Citizenship in the World

http://esq.h-cdn.co/assets/17/08/1600x800/landscape-1487823864-alex-jones.jpg

 Auuuugh! Globalism!!!!!



By the way, just a question, did President Obama ever come to a Jamboree?
(APPLAUSE)
And we'll be back. We'll be back. The answer is no. But we'll be back.


 Hmm, it's almost as if Barack Obama had an entire nation to run and maybe didn't have time to go to every ego-stroking applause opportunity that came up. But you'll be back, because of course you will. Anything to keep you away from doing any real work and you'd go to the gathering of the Juggalos if you thought they'd applaud for you.


I'll tell you a story that's very interesting for me. When I was young there was a man named William Levitt. You have some here. You have some in different states. Anybody ever hear of Levittown?

Well, I was familiar with Levittown (ticky tacky), but I didn't really know anything about William Levitt. So I looked him up. One interesting fact about the man that Trump admires: despite being Jewish himself, Levitt would not sell his houses to Jews. Because I guess business was more important than principle or dignity or common decency?
Oh, and he wouldn't sell to black people either, because duh!


And he was a very successful man, became unbelievable. . .and at night he'd go to these major sites with teams of people, and he'd scour the sites for nails, and sawdust and small pieces of wood, and they cleaned the site. . .  and then he was offered a lot of money for his company, and he sold his company, for a tremendous amount of money, at the time especially. This is a long time ago. Sold his company for a tremendous amount of money.
And he went out and bought a big yacht, and he had a very interesting life. I won't go any more than that, because you're Boy Scouts so I'm not going to tell you what he did.
(CROWD CHANTING)
Should I tell you? Should I tell you?
(APPLAUSE)
You're Boy Scouts, but you know life. You know life.


 Seriously? You think they "know life" enough that it's okay to joke about the floating Playboy Mansion that Levitt partied on with at least one of his three wives? (Levitt set the template for men like Trump and Newt Gingrich - cheating on wife #1 with wife #2, cheating on wife #2 with wife #3.. .)


 So look at you. Who would think this is the Boy Scouts, right?

 Um, who would look at a group of boys in Boy Scout uniforms and think that they were Boy Scouts?
Pretty much anyone, I would think.


https://m.popkey.co/8a8199/edRd1.gif


So look at you. Who would think this is the Boy Scouts, right? So he had a very, very interesting life, and the company that bought his company was a big conglomerate, and they didn't know anything about building homes, and they didn't know anything about picking up the nails and the sawdust and selling it, and the scraps of wood. This was a big conglomerate based in New York City.
And after about a 10-year period, there were losing a lot with it.


Yes. That's obviously what happened. This conglomerate lost money, not because of the fluctuations in the housing market, or the economy or whatever, but because they failed to pick up and sell scraps of wood and stray nails. Why that's literally pennies going to waste every day!
For fuck sake, I thought the one thing this dolt understood was the housing development game!

 And after about a 10-year period, there were losing a lot with it. It didn't mean anything to them. And they couldn't sell it.
 So they called William Levitt up, and they said, would you like to buy back your company, and he said, yes, I would. He so badly wanted it. He got bored with this life of yachts, and sailing, and all of the things he did in the south of France and other places. You won't get bored, right? You know, truthfully, you're workers. You'll get bored too, believe me. Of course having a few good years like that isn't so bad.


 "You won't get bored, right?" "Believe me,you'll get bored." Can you go two fucking sentences without contradicting yourself? 



But what happened is he bought back his company, and he bought back a lot of empty land, and he worked hard at getting zoning, and he worked hard on starting to develop, and in the end he failed, and he failed badly, lost all of his money. He went personally bankrupt,


Wait. When is the part where this story gets inspiring?



https://media.giphy.com/media/26gBjpCd2TvZN5RDO/giphy.gif




And I saw him at a cocktail party. And it was very sad because the hottest people in New York were at this party. It was the party of Steve Ross -- Steve Ross, who was one of the great people. He came up and discovered, really founded Time Warner, and he was a great guy. He had a lot of successful people at the party. And I was doing well, so I got invited to the party. I was very young.


 Yes, Donald, You were doing so well. So very very well. Can we go back to our campout now?


And I see sitting in the corner was a little old man who was all by himself. Nobody was talking to him. I immediately recognized that that man was the once great William Levitt, of Levittown, and I immediately went over. I wanted to talk to him more than the Hollywood, show business, communications people.
So I went over and talked to him, and I said, "Mr. Levitt, I'm Donald Trump." He said, "I know."


 Yes, Donald. All the important people knew who you were. You were very very important. Can we go toast marshmallows now?


 I said, "Mr. Levitt, how are you doing?" He goes, "Not well, not well at all." And I knew that. But he said, "Not well at all." And he explained what was happening and how bad it's been and how hard it's been. And I said, "What exactly happened? Why did this happen to you? You're one of the greats ever in our industry. Why did this happen to you?" And he said, "Donald, I lost my momentum. I lost my momentum."
 And I thought about it, and it's exactly true. He lost his momentum, meaning he took this period of time off, long, years, and then when he got back, he didn't have that same momentum.
Or maybe, and I'm just spitballing here, maybe he bought a failing business that the conglomorate couldn't wait to unload?  And they couldn't find another buyer? Maybe that was why he failed?
Maybe he succeeded the first time around because he started out during the housing boom when soldiers were returning home from WWII in droves, buying houses on the GI bill. And maybe, when he bought the company back, it was the 1970's, the era of "stagflation?" But, no, sure, that momentum thing. That was huge too, probably.

 In life, I always tell this to people, you have to know whether or not you continue to have the momentum. And if you don't have it, that's OK. Because you're going to go on, and you're going to learn and you're going to do things that are great. But you have to know about the word "momentum."

Momentum is super important, but if you don't have it, that's fine too and you're going to go on and do great things either way, as long as you are aware that there is a word called "momentum."

 But the big thing, never quit, never give up; do something you love. When you do something you love as a Scout, I see that you love it. But when you do something that you love, you'll never fail.

Oh, that's totally true. When I was younger, I loved basketball, Played every chance I got. I did what I loved and now I'm a famous NBA star - - - - oh, wait.  I'm a slow-footed 6-foot tall white guy with poor hand-eye coordination. My love of basketball somehow did not overcome these hurdles. Hmm, go figure!

What a day.
Do you remember that famous night on television, November 8th where they said, these dishonest people, where they said, there is no path to victory for Donald Trump. They forgot about the forgotten people.
By the way, they're not forgetting about the forgotten people anymore. They're going crazy trying to figure it out, but I told them, far too late; it's far too late.
Image result for doomed is your soul and damned is your life


 You're a-too late, Buckaroo! Doomed is-a your soul and damned is-a your life!


But you remember that incredible night with the maps, and the Republicans are red and the Democrats are blue, and that map was so red it was unbelievable. And they didn't know what to say.
(APPLAUSE) And you know, we have a tremendous disadvantage in the Electoral College. Popular vote is much easier.
And may I wish you a happy opposite day!
The electoral college, like the Senate, is unfairly weighted towards low-population rural (white) states like the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming, etc. Because the number of electors each state gets is equal to the total number of Senators and Congresspeople from that state. So, when California and New York get the same number of Senators as Montana and Kansas, well you see how candidates who appeal to white rural conservatives have an advantage.  But hey, who ever said you're not supposed to lie to kids, right?

And by the way, under the Trump administration you'll be saying "Merry Christmas" again when you go shopping, believe me.
(APPLAUSE)
Merry Christmas.
They've been downplaying that little beautiful phrase. You're going to be saying "Merry Christmas" again, folks.

For fuck sake, are we still trotting out that turd of a canard? No one is stopping anyone from saying Merry Christmas. You can say it right now. Here, I'll show you.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

See, nothing happened. None of the liberal leftist thugs that read this blog have even attempted to stop me from saying Merry Christmas.


http://media.breitbart.com/media/2016/09/hillary-angry-getty-640x480.jpg
 I'll get you for that, Perfessor! You'll rue the day you mentioned "Christmas!"


 Anyway, it goes on and on and honestly, it's just almost sad. He's clearly losing it. He may have been a smart person twenty years ago, but his brain is decomposing. If he wasn't such a despicable person, it would be sad.

Friday, July 21, 2017

Flashback Friday -- The Pogues


I remember the first time I heard the Pogues. Watching MTV on an illegal cable hookup, it was either 120 Minutes or  The Cutting Edge


https://images.vice.com/noisey/content-images/article/wanna-relive-your-late-night-tv-watching-youth-with-mtv-120-minutes/Screen-Shot-2016-02-04-at-12-48-45.jpg?crop=0.8746286393345217xw:1xh;center,center&resize=1050:*http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/The-Cutting-Edge.jpg

Anyway, it was 1984 or 85 and the host of the show said they were some new band from Ireland and played a few of their songs "Dirty Old Town," "The Sick Bed of CĂșchulainn," I think. Anyway, I was blown away. I'd never heard anything like them before. They were the band that posed the musical question "what would Rock & Roll sound like if it had evolved in Ireland instead of America?" And the answer was "pretty damn good!"

I saw the Pogues live once at Berkeley's Greek Theater, opening for Bob Dylan. I was surprised how much better Shane MacGowan's voice sounded live than on their records. Then I found out that Shane was in rehab and Spider Stacy was handling the lead vocals. Oh, well. Still a great show.

A little off-topic, but I have to say that I'm glad I got to see Bob Dylan live, I'm a big Bob Dylan fan, but I wouldn't do it again. He has some weird compulsion to make the live versions of his songs sound different than the versions you've heard on his records which seems like a good idea, but was actually kind of annoying. If anyone else played his songs the way Dylan played them that day, I would've said "you're butchering Bob Dylan!"

Anyway, enjoy the Pogues:


















Also, they played the trouble-making MacMahone Family in Alex Cox's "Straight to Hell." I don't know if that movie will hold up, but you can watch it here:

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Headlines that Show America is Fucked.




I saw this on Twitter or Tumblr or something earlier today:

Home
[A] group of 43 senators — 29 Republicans and 14 Democrats — wants to implement a law that would make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel, which was launched in protest of that country’s decades-old occupation of Palestine. The two primary sponsors of the bill are Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. Perhaps the most shocking aspect is the punishment: Anyone guilty of violating the prohibitions will face a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison.


Okay, that can't be true, right? I mean, I know that US politicians all feel some pathetic compulsion to kiss Israel's ass in order to placate the tongue speakers and snake handlers who are afraid that the apocalypse might not be able to happen if Israel isn't restored to its Old Testament boundaries or something. I know that, but this has to be a misunderstanding, right? I mean, there's no way that you could actually think you could make a law banning private citizens from participating in a boycott, right?


Congress.gov


Image result for double takeS.720 - Israel Anti-Boycott Act 

115th Congress (2017-2018)










Wait, what? That's actually what the bill is called? But it can't really mean that people can't choose whom to support with their dollars, right?

The bill prohibits U.S. persons engaged in interstate or foreign commerce from:
  • requesting the imposition of any boycott by a foreign country against a country which is friendly to the United States; or
  • supporting any boycott fostered or imposed by an international organization, or requesting imposition of any such boycott, against Israel.

So, if I run a business, say a retail store, and I say "I'm not going to carry this product because it's made by a Saudi company and I don't like the way Saudi Arabia treats women and religious minorities," everything's fine. But if I say "I'm not going to carry this other product because it's made in Israel and I don't like what Israel is doing to the Palestinians," I could be fined or jailed? Can I still boycott Chic-Fil-A?

Here is a list of the bill's co-sponsors, which includes shining lights of the Democratic Party like Chuck Schumer and Claire McCaskill and a bunch of other bums who ought to be getting primaried in the next election: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/720/cosponsors




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Then I saw this headline that is as good an indication as anything of the depths to which this country has sunk and what a struggle it is going to be to restore a tiny bit of sanity:



Trump voters don’t think Donald Trump Jr. met with Russia, even after he said he did: poll


A new survey by Public Policy Polling reveals most Trump voters are still skeptical of the Russia investigation



How. . . how is that even possible? He's not even denying it, and they still think it's #FakeNews? How is that possible?



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It's like if everyone in town is whispering about their wife having an affair and they say "no, not my wife, she would never!" and then she comes to them and says "honey, I have to confess, I've been sleeping with your friends, all of your friends, all the time, every chance I get," and they're still sitting there going "no, my wife would never be unfaithful. Not her!"


The survey by Public Policy Polling found that, even though Donald Trump Jr. has admitted to meeting with Russia to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, only 45 percent of Trump voters believe that that meeting actually occurred, with 32 percent claiming that it never happened and 24 percent saying they aren’t sure.


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Despite Donald Trump Jr.’s own emails including an admission by a Kremlin-connected lawyer about how “Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” only 26 percent of Trump voters will admit that Russia was pulling for Trump to win the election, while 44 percent support the baseless belief that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win and 31 percent saying they’re not sure.

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If basic facts can no longer be accepted as being basic facts (and they apparently can not, see: the world is getting warmer) how can we possibly continue as a civilization? If everyone gets to choose their own reality, how can a society function? We're fucked.

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GOP Senate candidate embraces men’s rights blogger who said ‘misogyny gets you laid’


Yeah, but not really, though. Right? Right?





Wait. Cernovich? You don't mean. . .


Mike Cernovich is the sort of person that makes you question whether the internet is a good idea. An outspoken promoter of the false claim that a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C. was a front for a pedophile ring involving Hillary Clinton, Cernovich offers men advice like “misogyny gets you laid” and “the hotter the sex, the more closely it resembles rape.”


Ah, fuck! It is him. Mike fucking Cernovich. And a candidate for the US Senate is throwing in his lot with this sick piece of shit. In 2017. God damn it!
This guy:

who's tweets.jpg

Of course, this is the guy that Don tRump Jr. said should win a Pulitzer, so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised.
Still, though, it really seems like supporting a sick twitch like Cernovich would be beyond the pale even in this degenerate political climate.



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Apropos of nothing, Fuck Joe Scarborough. Morning Joe pimped tRump's candidacy as much as any FOX show. Joe kept inviting tRump to be a guest on his sow after he said that Mexicans were rapists. He kept promoting tRump after he mocked a disabled person. He kept letting him call in to spew his bullshit after he complained about Megyn Kelly having "blood coming out of her wherever."
But once Il Douche throws alittle shade at Joe and Minka, suddenly, Scarborough's all "hey, maybe this isn't such a great guy!" Hey, maybe an incompetent, senile failed businessman with a long history of racism and misogyny isn't the best choice to lead our nation." Fuck you, Joe. After all the shit Cheeto Mussolini said and did during the last year or so - insulting P.O.W's, talking about his tiny dick during a Presidential debate, encouraging his supporters to beat up protesters - all that and you had no problem with him, but suddenly you're going to get your back up because he insulted your wife and now you're, what, joining the #Resistance? Get off the air, you hack.






Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Untitled





Rush Limbaugh Fumes: 'Three Liberal Women' In GOP Running The Senate



Oh, gee. A minority of the Senate keeping the majority from passing its agenda?



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Must be rough!