On Real Time Senator Al Franken divulges what his Republican peers think of Donald Trump behind closed doors.

Courtesy of WaPo:

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said Friday night that his Republican Senate colleagues privately express “great concern” about President Trump's temperament, and he joked about the GOP eventually impeaching Trump. 

Appearing on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Maher asked Franken what Republicans really say behind closed doors. 

Franken joked: “Well, there's a range in what they'll say, and some will say that he's not right mentally. And some are harsher.” 

“No, no. That's not fair. That was cheap,” he continued. “There are some who I guess don't talk to me.”

I've always enjoyed Al Franken's dry sense of humor and he was in rare form last night.

However I also feel that what he was saying about the Republican Senators was in large part quite accurate.

I am sure that many of them are at their wits end trying to figure out what Donald Trump is going to screw up next.

I like how Franken summed up Trump's behaviors in the end of the interview:

"This is very, very very disturbing that the president has a habit of either imagining things, or making stuff up. That's not....it''s really outside the norm of, not just the presidency, but of human beings."

Now as much as I enjoyed Al Franken's portion of the show last night, I was not at all happy with that asshole Piers Morgan whose arrogant attitude, and attempts to suggest that people were overreacting to Donald Trump, really started to piss me off by the end of the show.

Which is why I actually yelled out "You tell him Jim" when comedian Jim Jeffries said this right before New Rules:

Believe me after listening to that insufferable twit for almost 45 minutes that was the perfect response. 

Update: A certain very well known author really enjoyed Jefferies response to Piers Morgan as well.
 

Because you had a premonition that one day the author would roar with laughter at seeing you called out for your bullshit on live TV? https://t.co/8rkKSqJTnG

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 11, 2017

Apparently Ken Ham was not satisfied with simply being humiliated by Bill Nye during the debate, and actually went on CNN afterward to continue the experience.

Courtesy of Forward Progressives: 

Piers Morgan brought up the subject of climate change (something that wasn’t discussed during the debate) for which Bill Nye once again offered a scientific explanation about planetary warming being a cause for storms, whereas Ken Ham went off on a tangent about – well, basically nothing. 

Even when Morgan pressed Mr. Ham on whether or not he believed in climate change, he refused to answer. He even went as far as to say, when Morgan said he assumed that he didn’t believe in global warming, “Where have I ever said that, I’ve never said that.” Though Mr. Nye clearly didn’t mind answering for him by saying, “You mentioned it on a radio broadcast.” 

This then shifted to Morgan asking Ham if he believes dinosaurs lived with man. Ham responded by saying he believed, “All the land animals were made on day six and Adam and Eve were made on day six,” indicating that he does believe dinosaurs and humans coexisted. 

Morgan then pushed him on the fact that we find fossil bones more than 70 millions years old, to which Ham stated, “You don’t find dinosaur bones with labels on them. Where’d you get the 70 millions years from? Prove that to me.”

Holy crap!

It is too bad that the Bible does not seem to cover irony, as the fact that this idiot refuses to believe anything proven by science unless he witnessed it himself, while pimping stone age superstitions as fact, is the very definition of irony.

For fun watch the video with the sound off and simply watch Bill Nye's face as Ham spouts his nonsense. It is highly entertaining.

Piers Morgan reaches out to Sarah Palin for an interview. Palin responds with just the kind of maturity that you might expect from her. Update!

This from the nasty middle school mean girl's Facebook page:  

Oh dear Piers, thank you so much for all your invitations to appear on your shambolic show, including the adoring message you sent. But is it still any wonder why I've politely responded that I'm too busy doing, um, er... pretty much anything to accept the invite? (At least I didn't tell you to "get stuffed".) And to all our British friends: we ask, what did your friends across the pond ever do to you to deserve your Piers? (This is followed by yet another smiley face emoticon because apparently Palin is in the middle of her second round of pubescence. Hopefully this time it will take.)

Palin then links to Breitbart article that outs Morgan as having fallen for that Daily Currant parody the other day. And uses that as an excuse to discredit him.

Okay first off if ANYBODY actually believes that Sarah Palin is currently bear hunting you are too stupid to be on this blog, so go away, and secondly what Piers Morgan fails to realize is that Sarah Palin is flat out TERRIFIED to appear on non-Fox News shows to be interviewed, and would NEVER do so unless the hosts promised not to ask her any questions that had not been screened ahead of time. And even though I am not a fan of Piers, I don't think he would agree to that.

After all remember what happened the last times she subjected her self to questions from real reporters.

Update: It appears that Morgan has rater humorously responded to Palin on Twitter.

Hi @SarahPalinUSA - thanks for the message. Let me know if you need any history lessons re we Brits. Love Piers > http://t.co/7ehQe456ww
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 25, 2013

ps @SarahPalinUSA ..and the offer to come on my show still stands. Like I said, we'd have fun....if you've got the guts to do it.. #CNN #PML
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 25, 2013

Being called 'shambolic' by @SarahPalinUSA is most amusing. I wonder if she can see irony from her house?
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 25, 2013

Gee I wonder if as a replacement he would like to have me come on and tell him all about the things that she is afraid to have him ask her.

Ricky Gervais on Atheists: "We have nothing to die for. We have everything to live for.”

Courtesy of Mediaiate:  

Morgan congratulated Gervais on being “thinner than ever,” and even showed before and after photos to prove his point. A conversation on health quickly turned to religion. “You’re a pathological atheist,” Morgan said, “and so the thought of death is very final for you.” 

“For me it’s the end of something glorious, so I have to pack it all in,” Gervais explained. “But, you know, I’m not depressed about it. I don’t want to die any more than anyone else, and I think it’s a strange myth that atheists have nothing to live for. It’s the opposite. We have nothing to die for. We have everything to live for.” 

He said one of the things that annoys him the most is “religious intolerance, this arrogance, arguing over who’s God is right.” He contrasted “spirituality, a personal feeling, journey, hope” with religion, which is an organized body that uses that for power and corporation.”

 "I don’t want to die any more than anyone else, and I think it’s a strange myth that atheists have nothing to live for. It’s the opposite. We have nothing to die for."

Can I tell you how much I LOVE that quote?

I don't always agree with everything Ricky Gervais has to to say, but that is a almost perfect sentiment in my opinion.

Here is the video of the interview:

Meet those who will help the NRA do their victory lap over the defeat of gun control legislation. Because nothing says leadership like celebrating while the parents of murdered children mourn. Update!

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

At least two potential 2016 Republican candidates will help the NRA celebrate their victory over President Obama and the gun control movement next month. Maybe three. 

Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry are scheduled to speak at the NRA's "Leadership Forum" May 3 in Houston, Texas. Also on the list of speakers is Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and John Bolton. 

The event, which costs $10 per ticket, is part of the NRA's first annual meeting since the group and its allies defeated gun control legislation in the Senate.

You can learn more about this disgusting  event by clicking here.

So take a good hard look at those faces. Those are the people who care more about owning guns in this country then in protecting our citizens.

They care more about appearing tough, then demonstrating compassion.

They are the worst of us.

And of course it is no surprise at all that Sarah Palin is part of this disgusting display. After all if there is a wrong side to be on, then you know she will knock people over in her rush to be on it.


I think Piers Morgan summed it up best with this tweet from yesterday.

NAUSEATING > @sarahpalinusa now jubilantly boasting of anti gun control 'victory' on her Twitter feed. No heart, no shame. #NewtownBetrayed
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 17, 2013

I don't always see eye to eye with PIers Morgan, but in this case we are of one mind.

Update: Speaking of Sarah Palin, she has a long rambling ghostwritten post ass kissing the corpse of Margaret Thatcher posted today, but not a word wishing this special someone a happy birthday.

 So I thought the more compassionate folks here at IM could take up the slack and wish Trig Paxson Van Palin a happy birthday!

Not really a surprise that the woman who demonstrates such a lack of caring for the children gunned down at Sandy Hook, would also be so negligent toward her own child as well.

Update: Proof positive that Palin reads here. She just had her ghostwriter post some pictures of Trig with this message:  

Pretty spring day to celebrate Trig's 5th birthday!

Worth noting that Trig is joined in the pictures by Todd, and NOT Sarah.

Gee, I wonder why?

In case you thought that Alex Jones just had an off day during his interview with Piers Morgan, here he is in full blown paranoia immediately afterward.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

Jones said that he was accosted by a member of the NYPD moments before he entered CNN headquarters in New York City. He said one plain cloths police officer in particular confronted him in a threatening manner. “They’re like cops from the movie Good Fellas,” Jones said. 

His associate who was operating the camera said that he believed Jones was being “cased” by members of the NYPD and Bloomberg. 

Jones went on to say that CNN’s producers “panicked” during his interview and cancelled a planned third segment with Morgan. It was after the interview, Jones says, that he became afraid for his life. 

“If you don’t know that Bloomberg is total mafia, you’re on another planet,” Jones said. “They’re thugs. I know what they are.” 

“If something happens to us, or we’re killed by crackheads, it was the NYPD or mafia they hired,” Jones added. “This city runs white slaves, that’s sex slaves, out of here all day,” said Jones. “This is mafia central.” 

“I think putting this video out will protect us,” Jones concluded. “It was just super creepy.”

Well he is right about that, this IS indeed "super creepy." Just not for the reasons that he thinks it is.

This guy clearly has some significant mental health issues, and his cameraman is certainly not doing him any favors by going along with him.

By the way among the numerous things that Jones believes we need to be freaked out about are nerds, which he refers to as "one of the most dangerous groups in this country."  No you heard that right, just click here to see.

Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly to take on gun lobby. That thumping sound you hear are the gun nuts banging their collective heads on the wall.

Gabby and Mark after meeting with Newtown residents.

Below is a statement from Gabby and Mark as it showed up in USA Today:

In response to a horrific series of shootings that has sown terror in our communities, victimized tens of thousands of Americans, and left one of its own bleeding and near death in a Tucson parking lot, Congress has done something quite extraordinary — nothing at all. 

I was shot in the head while meeting with constituents two years ago today. Since then, my extensive rehabilitation has brought excitement and gratitude to our family. But time and time again, our joy has been diminished by new, all too familiar images of death on television: the breaking news alert, stunned witnesses blinking away tears over unspeakable carnage, another community in mourning. America has seen an astounding 11 mass shootings since a madman used a semiautomatic pistol with an extended ammunition clip to shoot me and kill six others. Gun violence kills more than 30,000 Americans annually. 

This country is known for using its determination and ingenuity to solve problems, big and small. Wise policy has conquered disease, protected us from dangerous products and substances, and made transportation safer. But when it comes to protecting our communities from gun violence, we're not even trying — and for the worst of reasons. 

An ideological fringe 

Special interests purporting to represent gun owners but really advancing the interests of an ideological fringe have used big money and influence to cow Congress into submission. Rather than working to find the balance between our rights and the regulation of a dangerous product, these groups have cast simple protections for our communities as existential threats to individual liberties. Rather than conducting a dialogue, they threaten those who divert from their orthodoxy with political extinction. 

As a result, we are more vulnerable to gun violence. Weapons designed for the battlefield have a home in our streets. Criminals and the mentally ill can easily purchase guns by avoiding background checks. Firearm accessories designed for killing at a high rate are legal and widely available. And gun owners are less responsible for the misuse of their weapons than they are for their automobiles. 

Forget the boogeyman of big, bad government coming to dispossess you of your firearms. As a Western woman and a Persian Gulf War combat veteran who have exercised our Second Amendment rights, we don't want to take away your guns any more than we want to give up the two guns we have locked in a safe at home. What we do want is what the majority of NRA members and other Americans want: responsible changes in our laws to require responsible gun ownership and reduce gun violence. 

We saw from the NRA leadership's defiant and unsympathetic response to the Newtown, Conn., massacre that winning even the most common-sense reforms will require a fight. But whether it has been in campaigns or in Congress, in combat or in space, fighting for what we believe in has always been what we do.

(There is a bit more which you can read at the USA Today site, Here is a link to the website that Gabby and Mark have launched asking people to get involved.)

I have to believe that THIS is the very thing that the NRA and the  gun nuts feared the most.

It is one thing to take on the big bad government that they claim are coming to take away your guns, and quite another to fight such a sympathetic figure who simply wants to have intelligent effective gun control laws put in place.

Now there is no clear indication that Gabby and Mark are working with the administration (And perhaps they want it that way,), but it is striking that this weekend there were leaks from Joe Biden's task force that put the gun enthusiasts on high alert:

News that the White House is considering significant gun control legislation in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. elementary school shooting is music to the ears of gun control advocates, who have waited decades for a serious conversation about guns. But it’s also being welcomed by gun rights groups, who say leaks from the Biden task force are just the thing to push their flock back into the fight. 

“[The article] was a Molotov cocktail right into the middle of this thing,” Dave Workman, a former board member at the National Rifle Association, told TPM Monday. “That lit the fuse, it really did.” 

Now see THIS is the battle the gun nuts want to have, but they if they believe they are going to get support from the more rational Americans they are really NOT paying attention.

Just this morning on Morning Joe retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who is hawking a new book, came out in favor of more gun control laws as well:  

"I spent a career carrying typically either a M16, and later a M4 carbine," he said. "And a M4 carbine fires a .223 caliber round, which is 5.56 millimeters, at about 3,000 feet per second. When it hits a human body, the effects are devastating. It's designed to do that. That's what our soldiers ought to carry." 

Said McChrystal, "I personally don't think there's any need for that kind of weaponry on the streets and particularly around the schools in America. I believe that we've got to take a serious look -- I understand everybody's desire to have whatever they want -- but we have to protect our children and our police and we have to protect our population. And I think we have to take a very mature look at that."

But hey, to be fair the Gun nuts have their own supporters as well. 

Why just yesterday CNN's Piers Morgan attempted to interview the guy behind the "Deport Piers Morgan" campaign. 

(Now if you have not yet had your anti-lunatic shots, you might want to get them before watching this clip. I mean this is Alex Jones, and crazy is his bread and butter.)


Well now there you go, both sides of the debate clearly laid out.The "We need more comprehensive gun laws to protect our citizens" side vs the "You commie motherf**kers will get my guns over my corpulent dead body!" side.

Wow! That's a lot of crazy for this early in the morning!

Joe McGinniss defends his book against a rabid Piers Morgan.

Just click picture to watch video

Jesus I KNEW there was a reason I stopped watching CNN! It appears they have hitched themselves so firmly to the Tea Party's falling star, that they are now doing their dirty work for them!

The idea of Piers "phone tapping" Morgan calling Joe McGinniss out on "tabloid journalism" is the height of hypocrisy. 

Anyhow Joe has some interviews with much more reasonable, and professional, journalists coming up today and tomorrow.

Below is the schedule he sent for me to share with all of you.

Tuesday, September 20
“American Morning” 7:00 AM – 8:30 AM
“Inside Edition” 9:00 AM to 9:45 AM CBS-TV 
"Book TV” 2:00 PM to 2:45 PM C-SPAN
“Hardball with Chris Matthews” (between 5 and 6pm) MSNBC-TV 
The Alan Colmes Show 10: 15 PM Fox News Radio 
Wednesday, September 21 
“The View” TIME TK Hit Time (b/w 11am and 12pm)ABC-TV 
“The Joy Behar Show” 4:40 PM to 5:00 PM Taping CNN HLN 
“The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell” TIME TK Hit Time (between 8 and 9 pm) MSNBC-TV 

(I will provide the rest of his schedule later.)


By the way for all of you who are currently reading "The Rogue" THIS would be the thread to express your opinions. By the way that is "express your opinions" NOT viciously attack Joe McGinniss!

Joe McGinniss to appear on Piers Morgan tonight. Update!

This week Joe starts his media tour, and it appears that his first stop will be CNN and a sit down with Piers Morgan:

Palin author Joe McGinniss and more 
Author of controversial Sarah Palin book "The Rogue," Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm

As  a rule I tend to avoid CNN, but of course this time I will make an exception.

Joe sent me this e-mail to give me a heads up to where he will be making appearances:

I do Piers Morgan show on CNN Monday, with Colbert and Bill Maher down the line. Also next week, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell plus daytime MSNBC. Also The View and Joy Behar. 

Joe tends to keep me in the loop, so I imagine he will firm up these dates and let me know in time to alert all of you.

By the way to the person who keeps sending me messages saying that Joe used me, let me  respond.

Why yes, yes he  did.

He used me to make contacts, to promote his book, and to bounce ideas off of.

But here is the thing, I used him as well.  I used him to reach out to sources that were afraid to go on the record with me. I used him to give me access to the deck of the house right next to the Palins where I got to sit, eat Yak burgers, and gloat. And I used him to get the babygate story out to a much wider audience.

Except that I don't think either one of us consider that "using" each other.  We both had an agenda, and did nothing to hide it from one another.

I believe that is called "cooperation."

Update: A lot of you have been sending me the Doonesbury strip from today, so I thought I would post it along with some quotes that show up on the website. (And before anybody asks me, no I don't know who the redheaded lady is.)

SAY WHAT? "Never hurts to rumormonger." — Sarah Palin, in an email musing on ways to prevent Alaska Senate President Lyda Green from being re-elected 

"Flippin' unbelievable. Wouldn't you think they'd be afraid of being proved wrong when they rumor around the building like that?" — Palin, in a subsequent email objecting to a (true) rumor that Bristol Palin was pregnant

Hypocrisy thy name is Palin!

Update 2: You have GOT to listen to this radio interview that Joe gives on the Leonard Lopate radio show!  He goes into MUCH more detail about Palin's fling with Glen Rice, and even says that Rice has a copy of "The Rogue" and called him to say that, "It's all good."

In other words the stories swirling around that Rice did NOT confirm the affair are bullshit.

McGinniss also says that he confirmed what is in the book with multiple sources ,and nothing was sourced to only one person. The Palin-bots can bitch and moan all they want, but Joe is no dummy and he had all of his ducks in a row before he sent his manuscript to the publisher.

Christine "I'm not a witch" O'Donnell walks out of interview with Piers Morgan over questions about gay rights.

I have a confession to make.

Of all of the Teabaggers I have seen, Christine O'Donnell offends me the very least.

Sure she is ignorant, politically incompetent, and an opportunist, but she just never seemed as dangerous, or vindictive as a Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, or Michele Bachmann to me.

She kind of reminds me of that girl in high school who JUST got "saved" at church and cannot stop talking about how cool Jesus Christ is, and how much she wants you to come to her next church barbecue/flea market/tent revival.

Having said that, I still think it is funny that she simply cannot stand up to ANY scrutiny about the things that she believes or writes in her book. In other words, EPIC FAIL, Miss "I am not a witch."

Somehow despite Wolf Blitzer's involvement CNN manages to be exciting for once.

You can read more about this exchange here, including this rather interesting bit of information:

Morgan later used his show to press his point further. He also flashed the excerpt from his book in which he recounts how someone had warned him that his phones could be hacked.

"Apparently, if you don't change the standard security code that every phone comes with, then anyone can call your number and, if you don't answer, tap in the standard four-digit code to hear all your messages," he wrote. "I'll change mine just in case, but it makes me wonder how many public figures and celebrities are aware of this little trick.

One commentator on a British gossip website asked: "Why would he mention such a trick unless he was smugly hinting at what was taking place while he was an editor?" Another wondered if Mensch had "hit a nerve?"

Among the pair's Twitter messages, Morgan asked journalists to buy his book, saying it was a "good read."
Mensch Tweeted: "New American readers may wish to know the circumstances in which Morgan left the Mirror."

He was fired in 2004 after authorizing the publication of photographs allegedly showing British Army soldiers torturing Iraqis — but which were actually fakes.

I am not personally a fan of Piers Morgan, and have not bothered to watch the time slot that once belonged to Larry King, except for once when Bill Maher made an appearance on the program.  I liked Maher, but found Morgan insufferable.

Personally I do not find it much of a stretch to consider that Morgan might very well have been involved in the phone hacking, and it is my hope that law enforcement should investigate him to find out one way or the other.

Seems fair, right?

BTW I should admit that I AM a fan of MP Louise Mensch, and found her grilling of Rupert Murdoch while he was testifying before Parliament to be perhaps the most compelling part of what was a VERY entertaining piece of history.