Petty Donald Trump makes Romney niece change name in order to get work.

Courtesy of WaPo:

Before Ronna Romney McDaniel took over as Republican National Committee chairwoman earlier this year, President Trump had a request: Would she be willing to stop using her middle name publicly? 

Trump followed up by saying in a lighthearted way that McDaniel, the niece of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, could do what she wanted, according to two people familiar with the comments. But the change was soon plain for all to see. Though she had used her maiden name for years in Michigan, where her grandfather George W. Romney had been governor, McDaniel dropped “Romney” from most official party communications and has rarely used it since. 

The moment offers a window on Trump’s complicated and often tense relationship with the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, who has remained a frequent critic of the president and is considering a Senate campaign next year in Utah. The pair’s history stretches from Romney’s pained courtship of Trump’s endorsement in 2012 to Trump’s searing criticism of Romney in 2016, when he called his predecessor a “stone cold loser” who blew an easy chance to beat then-President Barack Obama. 

Those tensions were on display again this week, when White House aides scripted a trip to Utah with a single political goal in mind: to convince Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) to run for reelection and thwart Romney from mounting his own bid for the seat, according to a senior White House official involved in the preparations.

This guy simply never drops a grudge.

That's why he is still obsessed with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Hell I think his entire campaign was inspired by his desire to get back at then President Obama over those jokes he made during that 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner.

And as for this suggesting to Romney McDaniel to change her name being "lighthearted," it was not lighthearted, it was a thinly veiled threat.

It was just like the "lighthearted" thinly veiled threat that he issued to James Comey about dropping the Flynn investigation.

Comey's refusal to comply cost him his job, should we actually believe that McDaniel would have this job if she did not knuckle under?

By the way have you noticed how Trump likes to surround himself with the female relatives of his vanquished foes?

I'm almost surprised that he has not offered Chelsea Clinton a job.

Oh that's right, she is far too intelligent to allow him to marginalize her and make her act like a brainless sycophant.

So today was the day Donald Trump decided to stop pretending he's not a fascist. Update!

Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a "tenfold" increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC = CNN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017

(In Trump's world being compared to CNN is the worst possible insult imaginable.)

With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017

WTF? Did this orange tinted turd just threaten to have the FCC look into repealing NBC's license because they told a truth that he did not want told?

Oh, you KNOW it's the truth when the pussy grabber gets this bent out of shape.

Here is how the New York Times reported on this story: 

He repeated his complaint later in the day when reporters arrived to cover his meeting with the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau. “It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write,” Mr. Trump said. 

The comments immediately drew criticism that the president was using his office to undermine First Amendment guarantees of free speech and free press. And, in fact, the networks themselves — and their news departments — do not hold federal licenses, though individual affiliates do. 

“Broadcast licenses are a public trust,” said Tom Wheeler, who until January was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, appointed by President Barack Obama. “They’re not a political toy, which is what he’s trying to do here.” 

In suggesting that a broadcast network’s license be targeted because of its coverage, Mr. Trump once again evoked the Watergate era when President Richard M. Nixon told advisers to make it difficult for The Washington Post to renew the F.C.C. license for a Florida television station it owned. A businessman with ties to Mr. Nixon filed paperwork to challenge The Post’s ownership of the station. The Justice Department under Mr. Nixon also filed antitrust charges against the three major television networks.

I think the Times compared Trump to Nixon because they did not want to just come out and make the Hitler comparison that most of us are already making in our heads.

However I don't have a problem making the comparison because it is indeed the correct comparison.

Trump LOVES dictators and wants to be one in the worst way.

The only thing stopping him is the media that he despises to much, and the 65% of the country that think he is a fucking lunatic.

Update: Doubling down.

Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2017

I wonder if Donald Trump has ever said a stupid thing that he did not decide to make stupider?

If Donald Trump goes after the Dreamers, Barack Obama may go after him.

Don't make me come back here.

Courtesy of Politico:

Former President Barack Obama plans to speak out if President Donald Trump declares his intention to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to a person close to Obama. 

Trump is expected to announce on Tuesday that in six months, he will terminate the Obama-era DACA initiative, which grants two-year work permits to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and stayed out of trouble. POLITICO first reported the news. 

Obama’s current plan is to post a statement on Facebook and link to it on Twitter, where the former president has more than 94 million followers. In his final presidential press availability, he suggested that he would speak out if Trump went after the Dreamers — and that it was one of the few issues where he would feel morally compelled to do so. He said he would not remain silent in the face of “efforts to round up kids who have grown up here and for all practical purposes are American kids, and send them someplace else, when they love this country.”

Yes my headline is a little hyperbolic, as it really reflects how I wish Obama would respond, rather than the measured and careful statement that he is certain to issue.

I know who Obama is, and I admire him immensely for the fact that he is forever the grownup in the room, the steadying presence, the man who keeps his head when all about him are losing theirs. (With apologies to Rudyard Kipling.)

And we will welcome his words, share them with others, and cling to them for the wisdom that they hold.

But they will change absolutely nothing, and Trump will keep right on taking a sledgehammer to everything that President Obama worked so hard to build.

That makes me incredibly sad, and almost uncontrollably angry.

Donald Trump is a bully.

I remember bullies from my years in public school.

Everybody always told me to take the high road, to not get down on their level.

But nothing made it stop, nothing made me feel safe, until I finally had enough and knocked them on their ass.

I guess in some ways I just want Barack Obama to knock Donald Trump on his ass.

Verbally of course, I would never suggest a physical confrontation. (Though I have every confidence 44 could beat 45's big orange ass with little effort.)

Is it wrong? Probably.

Will Obama ever do anything like that? Probably not.

But that does not stop me from wanting it.

And it does not keep me from thinking that ultimately Barack Obama may be left with no choice.

Note to parents. NEVER let Ted Cruz talk to your children.

So apparently ole Rafael Cruz was talking to a group of people in New Hampshire at an event sponsored by the Strafford County Republican Committee.

As he was launching an attack on Obama, with a little dig at Hillary as well, he turned to a little girl in the audience and.....Well here let reporter Adam Smith fill you in.

Ted Cruz literally just scared a little girl in NH. "The world is on fire?!" she asked, repeating his line on Obama-Clinton foreign policy
— Adam Smith (@adamsmithtimes) March 15, 2015

Here's more courtesy of Raw Story:  

“The world is on fire,” Cruz replied, turning to face the girl and her mother. “Yes! Your world is on fire!” 

Realizing that his rhetoric might have gone too far, the Texas Republican decided to do some damage control. 

“But you know what?” he asked. “Your mommy is here and everyone is here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better.”

I have a standing rule in my life. If your presence makes children uncomfortable, or you scare them, then I don't trust you as far as I can throw you.

Which by the way is one of the reasons that I really like this guy.

 Now I know I have ideological differences with the conservatives, but honest to god I have NO idea what they find appealing about Ted Cruz. No idea.

Alaska's lone Congressman Don Young is still just bullying his way through life.

So as I mentioned before there was a fisheries debate in Kodiak on Wednesday night. 

Not only were the Senate candidates there, but so were the candidates running for Congress, including Alaskan fossil Don Young and Democratic challenger Forrest Dunbar.

And it was during this debate that this happened:  

Forrest Dunbar alluded to that backstage moment in an onstage remark: “Immaturity was the thing you said behind the curtain there, Congressman Young.” 

“Tell me what I said,” challenged Young, 81. 

“Very nice,” replied Dunbar, 30, before turning the discussion back to the issues. So what happened before the debate? 

Dunbar, reached Friday and pressed about the encounter, said the two were walking near each other backstage when Young said angrily, “You're not from Cordova any more than I’m from Fort Yukon. I had you looked into.” 

Dunbar, raised in that Southcentral Alaska town after his family moved there from Eagle in the Interior when he was a child, said he tried politely responding to Young. Young grew up in California and moved to Alaska as a young man, not long after serving in the U.S. Army in the mid-1950s. 

Dunbar said he was puzzled and in a friendly gesture touched Young on his arm lightly and asked: “What are you talking about?” Then: 

“He freaked out,” said Dunbar. “There is no other way to describe it. 

“He kind of snarled at me and said, ‘Don’t you ever touch me. Don’t ever touch me. The last guy who touched me ended up on the ground dead,’” said Dunbar. 

Before walking away from the congressman, Dunbar said he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, saying, “Whatever, man.” 

Young replied, according to Dunbar, with a taunting, swishing motion of his own hand: “Oh, you got a sweet swing. You got a sweet swing.”

Now apparently part of this encounter was witnessed by a third party, but seriously is there really any doubt that Young would make comments such as these?

After all it was only two months ago that we saw this exchange happen.

And let's not forget that back in 2007 when the Congressman said this to a fellow House member: 

"If we continue this we'll be called biting one another, very much like the mink in my state that kill their own," Young said. "There is always another day when those who bite will be killed, too. And I'm very good at that." 

Don Young is a blowhard and a bully and it is well past time that his bovine ass be put out to pasture.

I recently watched a local show on politics and found myself really quite impressed with Forrest Dunbar. I really cannot say that he has much of a chance against Young, especially since polling shows him trailing by 15%, but in my estimation he would make quite an impressive representative for my state.

And after all who could really be worse than freaking Don Young?

Texas Governor Rick Perry indicted!

Courtesy of the Statesman:  

A Travis County grand jury today indicted Gov. Rick Perry on two charges related to his effort last year to force District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after her drunken driving arrest. 

Grand jurors charged Perry, 63, with abuse of official capacity, a first-degree felony, and coercion of a public official. 

The indictments stemmed from Perry’s threat last summer to withhold $7.2 million in state money from Lehmberg’s office unless she step down – a threat he later carried out by vetoing an appropriation in the state budget. The money was earmarked for the state’s Public Integrity Unit, which is housed in Lehmberg’s office. Perry’s veto forced Travis County taxpayers to partially fund the office, but several prosecutors and staff lost their jobs or had to be reassigned.

Well another Republican gets indicted for being a bully, how completely usual.

And is it any surprise that this is yet another good friend Sarah Palin's?

Not even a little bit.

I think we all know what Rick Perry will use as his defense, "Oops."

During tour to promote her book about Christmas, Christianity, and freedom, Palin has journalists herded into a locked room of a Wausau Wal-Mart. Apparenty the First Amendment is not covered in her book.

When Palin arrived she started right away to spread the freedom.

The press was then informed that they would soon get to access to Palin, sort of, and only for five minutes.

Then finally the moment of truth.

There was even a little video captured of the event.

Boy could Willow look any LESS please to be there?

As expected there was some backlash directed at Theresa Clift over her reporting of the event.

Here were a few follow up tweets in response to challenges and questions.

@jptstewart not physically locked, but the door was guarded and we were told we couldn't leave. #walmartjail
— Theresa Clift (@tClift) November 14, 2013

@Journorati @jptstewart if we wanted to go to the bathroom or leave the store, we had to be escorted, they said.
— Theresa Clift (@tClift) November 14, 2013

her agent says Wausau wasn't chosen because of the holiday concert controversy, yet Palin just posted this: https://t.co/w3TjokQ7kB
— Theresa Clift (@tClift) November 14, 2013

Personally I think that Clift should consider herself lucky that she was only temporarily held captive by Palin. Remember I am the guy that got kicked out of not one, but two different Palin book signings.

Apparently the ONLY part of the Constitution that Palin has ever read is the 2nd Amendment, and she skipped right over that whole freedom of speech and freedom of the press portion.

Let's face it, Palin is really only interested in having HER freedoms protected, and those who think just like her. For the rest of us, it is "Go to your little locked room until I call for you," or "Get the hell out of here."

(H/T to Mediaite.)

Did Rand Paul just challenge Rachel Maddow to a duel?

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) fired back Sunday against accusations that he plagiarized portions of his speeches from Wikipedia articles, musing "if dueling were legal in Kentucky" he could "challenge" the charges. 

Last week, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow pointed out that parts of a speech Paul gave in support of Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican candidate for Virginia governor, had been lifted from the Wikipedia page for the film "Gattaca." BuzzFeed also found that another set of Paul remarks had borrowed from the Wikipedia entry for "Stand and Deliver." 

In an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Paul dismissed the claims. 

"Yes, there are times when [speeches] have been sloppy or not correct or we've made an error," Paul said. "But the difference is, I take it as an insult and I will not lie down and say people can call me dishonest, misleading or misrepresenting. I have never intentionally done so." 

He continued, "And like I say, if, you know, if dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, you know, it would be a duel challenge. But I can't do that, because I can't hold office in Kentucky then."

Seriously WTF?

In what century does Paul think he is living that would make it appropriate to challenge journalists for reporting the truth about plagiarism?  And not to be sexist but exactly WHEN was it deemed reasonable to ever challenge a woman to a fight to the death for any reason, much less doing her damn job?

I think somebody should grab that toupee of his head, slap him in the face with it, and take him up on that challenge. I can guarantee the little shit would crap his pants if anybody actually called his bluff.

And yes, that includes Rachel Maddow.

High school student takes stand against "slut shaming" school assembly.

Student body Vice President Katelyn Campbell

Courtesy of Think Progress:

A West Virginia high school student is filing an injunction against her principal, who she claims is threatening to punish her for speaking out against a factually inaccurate abstinence assembly at her school. Katelyn Campbell, who is the student body vice president at George Washington High School, alleges her principal threatened to call the college where she’s been accepted to report that she has “bad character.” 

George Washington High School recently hosted a conservative speaker, Pam Stenzel, who travels around the country to advocate an abstinence-only approach to teen sexuality. Stenzel has a long history of using inflammatory rhetoric to convince young people that they will face dire consequences for becoming sexually active. At GW’s assembly, Stenzel allegedly told students that “if you take birth control, your mother probably hates you” and “I could look at any one of you in the eyes right now and tell if you’re going to be promiscuous.” She also asserted that condoms aren’t safe, and every instance of sexual contact will lead to a sexually transmitted infection. 

Campbell refused to attend the assembly, which was funded by a conservative religious organization called “Believe in West Virginia” and advertised with fliers that proclaimed “God’s plan for sexual purity.” Instead, she filed a complaint with the ACLU and began to speak out about her objections to this type of school-sponsored event. Campbell called Stenzel’s presentation “slut shaming” and said that it made many students uncomfortable.

Did that lady actually say "if you take birth control your mother hates you?" What a fucking bitch!

And here is some more information on that fucking bitch.

Pam Stenzel, abstinence only instructor and slut shamer.

 Here is a list of some of her "accomplishments:"

• Degree in Psychology from Liberty University  (I can ONLY imagine what kind of BS psychological degree you get from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.)
  
• Served as member, National Abstinence Clearinghouse Advisory Board 
• Served as Director of the Alpha Women’s Center, a crisis pregnancy center in Prior lake, MN 
• Developed numerous abstinence education products. "Sex Has a Price Tag- the Original" video is distributed worldwide and has been translated in 11 different languages. 
• Received the Charleston International Film Festival Gold Award in 1997 for her video "Sex Has a Price Tag- the Original" 
• Pam participated in President Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiatives meeting held at The White House, May 2001 (Worked with George W. Bush on his faight based initiatives? Well that is just about all we need to know about this lunatic don't you agree?)
  

Look if abstinence only education worked I would not be sitting here typing this post. My mother was a teenager in the fifties, HER mother told her to "just say no," and fifty three years later here I sit.

Abstinence only education should have gone the way of treating mental illness by driving out demons, in the real world it simply does NOT work.

It did not work when my mother was a teenager and it does not work today.

I think this young woman is very brave, and once again I am given hope about the future of our country knowing that we are handing it off to such capable, and intelligent, young people.

Bristol Palin on Bill Maher, "He's a joke." Actually to be fair SHE'S the joke. He's just the comedian who TELLS that joke.

Bristol Palin poses with her little money maker.

Apparently Bill Maher tweeted a joke about Bristol, that was not only funny, but a little too close to home for the abstinence only hypocrite.

This inspired journalistic heavyweight ZAP 2 it to reach out to Bristol for a comment:

Asked what she thinks of Maher's continued interest in her, the 21-year-old tells Zap2it, "I find it really weird, though, that all these adult men, that they're always trying to say something about me, and they're older than my dad. They're just evil. They're like little girls. I feel like I'm in high school with a bunch of teenage girls. It's very strange to me." 

Regarding what she would say to Maher, Palin says, "I don't know. I'm not sure what I would say to Bill. I'd kind of shake my head at him. I think he's a joke. My mom just heard me say something about Bill Maher [and said], 'I'd punch him in the throat!' Someone does need to put him in his place, though." 

"If my dad or any of my guy friends got a hold of him, he'd have another think coming," she adds in jest. "He is a joke."

Okay first that joke was funny. That's the first thing.

And second Sarah has made herself, Bristol, and the whole Palin family a joke so how can they bitch when somebody uses them as a punchline? You don't see Hitler running to ZAP 2 it every time HIS name is used to get a laugh, do you? Same thing.

Now here's the other thing.  Her mom hears about it and her first suggestion is that somebody "punch him in the throat?" Is violence this crazy bitch's response to EVERYTHING?

Next thing you know is that she will put up a map of his house with a gun-sight over it.  Isn't that how she rolls?

However the truly humorous part of this is that Bristol essentially threatens Maher with and ass whooping form Todd. "If my dad or any of my guy friends got a hold of him, he'd have another think coming." Yes he would, and that thought would be "Why is this man with the metro-sexual goatee and high pitched voice trying to scratch my eyes out?"

I know the Palins don't have much to work with when it comes to masculinity in the family, but his idea that Todd is some sort of bad ass is hysterical to me.

I mean I've met the guy! He is a pleasant enough looking fellow, but tough? Oh hell no!

When I was at the last Palin book signing in Alaska, the one in Anchorage, I presented Todd with the perfect opportunity to show the world what a tough guy he was.

But what did he do? He got this suspicious look on his face, asked my name, and then told on me to his wife. SHE was the one to confront me and have me thrown out, all Todd did was sit there like a little bitch.

Here I was one the people they most hated in the world, and all Todd could do was sit tight and wait for the person who wore the pants in the family to deal with me.

Now look I am not suggesting that Todd SHOULD have done anything physical, that would have been stupid on his part. But he could at LEAST have been the one to call over security and handle his family's business, but that didn't happen.

When Joe McGinniss moved in next door Todd became very agitated after meeting him, and what did he do? He went and told his mommy wife, and SHE wrote a Facebook post unleashing the "hounds of hell" in an attempt to drive Joe away. Again Todd did NOTHING except relay the information to the Grizzled Mama.

Look I am not suggesting that REAL men are only butch physically aggressive guys, I am just saying that if you are the daughter of a man known for hiding behind his wife's skirt, luring women in to prostitution, and trying to intimidate elderly gentlemen, you probably should not offer him up as a threat to others.

By the way, who are these "or any of my guy friends" Bristol is talking about?  Shouldn't she have simply offered up Gino Paoletti as her protector? Or are the rumors that Gino got the hell out of Dodge actually correct?

Sure sounds that way doesn't it?

Garry Trudeau takes on Mitt Romney's bullying past.

Trudeau certainly does not pull any punches here.

Here is Monday's strip, followed by Tuesday's and then today's.

"It's all part of growing up".....the privileged spoiled son of a successful business man that is.

I personally think that, while THIS on its own is not terribly devastating to Romney, the fact that it fits in with the idea that he is an uncaring, over privileged, asshole is something that will certainly continue to diminish him in the eyes of the American people.

And the fact that he claims to have NO memory of the incident, while vaguely remembering the boy victimized by it, clearly demonstrates that he is a liar.

(You can see more brilliant Doonesbury comics by clicking here.)

Bristol Palin's ghostwriter stomps her feet in response to all the "bullying" they received after attacking President Obama over his stance on same sex marriage. After all, barely coherent internet attacks are what HER family is famous for!

Bristol gives a "big middle finger" to her critics.

Essentially the post is complaining about the comments that Brancy received after failing to filter out the negative ones like is done on both her and her mother's Facebook accounts.  She highlights the most aggressive an indefensible ones on her blog, which of course may or may not be real, and then goes on to complain about being the victim of bullying.

And if you read the comments we let through, the only word that really sums them up is “bullying.” They treat me as if I’m not human, as if they are somehow proving how great they are by (always anonymously, the cowards) tearing me apart with their words. Here’s the thing. In the articles and comments, I saw a lot of hate and a lot of bullying, but you know what I didn’t see much of? Arguments. (That is not at all true.  I bit the bullet and visited the ridiculous attention seeking blog and read through the comments. There were MANY very well thought out and articulate posts that laid out why Brancy was wrong and explained the error in thought process that went into writing the post. Of course THOSE were not featured on this post.)


In fact, this reminds me a little bit of the incident in an L.A. bar that went viral several months ago and will be shown in its entirety in my upcoming new reality tv show. There, a guy started yelling at me and called my mom terrible names, but couldn’t tell me one decent reason why he was filled with so much hate. (That is because he was a plant and was paid NOT to have any articulate reason for attacking your mother.)

Here’s a news flash, guys. Your hate and bullying don’t work. People see through it, and they don’t like to be pushed around. You think it’s completely obvious that you’re right, but this younger generation is more pro-life than their parents, and voters just keep defending traditional marriage. Why? Why would we if you’ve been telling us what to think for all these years?

You know what is it about these conservatives that makes them think that THEY can speak for an entire generation? The idea that Nancy French has ANY idea as to what the Millennials are thinking is laughable on its face. And it is highly doubtful that the overly privileged, and fame seeking Bristol can really give her much insight either.

Of course this younger generation is pro-life, just like ALL generations are "pro-life." THAT is why they are so against the wars and want our troops to come home, and also why they are very pro-contraception, but it does NOT mean they are not pro-choice, because in fact they are.

In other words Brancy has NO idea what she is talking about, as evidenced by the post that started this whole thing, in which she essentially called out the President for listening to his daughters and supporting same sex marriage, which is enthusiastically supported by the REAL young people of this country. You know, the ones whose blog is NOT written by super religious thirty something conservative hack writers.

As for recognizing bullies, well in THAT respect Bristol might actually have the inside track.

After all she certainly has first hand experience.

The Palin Facebook fight started with a fairly innocuous post from a guy named Tre. "Sarah Palin's Alaska is failing soo hard right now," he wrote in a status update. Why did Willow and Bristol let this get to them? TMZ says Tre went to school with Bristol and Willow, and though Willow says "I have no idea who you are," he sounds like a Wasilla local. Plus, the Palins have a Facebook history with him. "Talking shit cause you have nothing else going for you," Bristol responded to Tre on his wall. "Just like you pretended you didn't know what Dancing with the Stars was." That's it—all it takes to start a fight that continued for dozens of posts and drew in a dozen mudslingers and rubberneckers over the course of about an hour. 

The fight heats up when a guy named Matt jumps in. Matt apparently went to Teeland Middle School in Wasilla with Bristol. At first, Matt sticks to criticizing the TV show and the Palins' attitude: "man these Palins really don't like it when you don't admire them fully, well Im sorry that people don't like some programming," he writes in his initial post. But after Willow retorts, "Your effin fat as hell. Stfu," Matt responds in kind, calling Bristol fat. Willow replies: "Haha your so gay. I have no idea who you are. But what I've seen pictures of, your disgusting. My sister had a kid and is still hot." She adds, "Tre stfu. Your such a faggot." Other than the text-speak abbreviations (stfu stands for shut the fuck up), this is all pretty timeless material. Kids have forever trotted out the gay and fat insults, though one likes to think it has become more taboo now to use the word faggot, especially if you're the daughter of a public figure and you're posting the word in public. 

In the next round of sparring, Tre backs off, though passive aggressively. "I wasn't trying to be disrespectful towards you or anything, but hella people apparently don't like it too," he says of the series, "so there must be some truth to my statement." It's a move that both performs for the onlookers and draws strength from them. Willow is having none of it. "You weren't trying to be disrespectful? Are you kidding me? You posted it on Facebook," she writes. Willow seems to acknowledge here that Facebook is a public forum, without realizing that this will come back to haunt her more than it will Tre. 

Another poster named Imran shows up to occupy the middle ground. "Ahh damn there's deff both sides to this," he writes. Tre grabs the rope Imram is throwing him. "Imran I agree with you Willow is just trippin." But Willow doesn't give an inch. "No. Im sticking up for my family," she writes. "How would you like it if I posted shit about your family? Soo stfu." At this point, I had a moment of sympathy for her. She and Bristol should never have entered into this exchange, but now they're here, and once they've decided they're defending their family's honor, how can they back out?

Yeah, quite a lot of experience actually, which by the way also includes getting her friends to attack Mercede on Facebook just about every chance she gets, and going behind her back to tell whoever she is dating terrible things about the Johnston's in an attempt to break them up. (Happened more than once.)

Personally I would like to say that IF those threatening remarks that Brancy listed WERE posted on her blog by real commenters, that I certainly condemn that kind of activity. That is never something that should be done by anybody!

However I would also like to say that if Bristol really does not want to receive any kind of negative blowback, she could dramatically reduce it by no longer allowing her mother to pay Nancy French to write posts attacking the President under her name. After all the President is also somebody who people are CONSTANTLY trying to bully, and some of us understandably get kind of defensive about that.

Just a thought.

I have a new hero, MSNBC's Tamron Hall. Check out how she shuts down a conservative guest who attempts to derail questions about Mitt Romney and slam MSNBC.

Here is part of the conversation courtesy of the Huffington Post:  

"What you're doing here is a typical media trick," Carney charged. "You hype up a story and justify the second-day coverage of the story." 

That set Hall off. She began to tell him that he didn't have to "answer a single question" she asked or "accept the invitation to come on" and speak. 

Carney tried to interject, but she told him, "You're kind of in my house," and proceeded to smack him down for over a minute. 

"You're not gonna come on and insult me, you're not gonna come on and insult the network when you knew what we were gonna talk about," she concluded. "Done." With that, she cut to another guest.

I watched this rather amazing exchange live today while i was working out, and it actually stopped me in mid-lift and made my jaw drop.  "Holy shit," I thought.

Personally I thought that Tamron Hall was MORE than fair with her questioning and I certainly would have been far less willing to give Romney the kind of leeway that she afforded him.

However her response to Carny was bad-ass, and I LOVED the way she schooled him for trying to hijack her interview and make accusations against MSNBC.

Currently #TamronHall owns Twitter, and the accolades are coming fast and furious.

Rick Perry shows what a man he is by bullying 76 year old Ron Paul!

These are pictures taken during a commercial break in the Republican debate.

Notice that he has grabbed hold of Paul's wrist.

What do you think he needed to lean in so close to say? I doubt it was reasonable.

Jon Huntsman decides to step in between them to protect Ron Paul.

I fucking hate bullies!  And though I am not sure what was said here, I can certainly tell from Perry's body language that he was trying to intimidate Ron Paul, who might be a nut, but he is a harmless nut, and does NOT deserve to be disrespected in this manner!

(Big Hat tip to Market Ticker Forum.)

Update: I have no idea if this means I have slipped into an alternate universe or just eaten a batch of bad mushrooms, but somehow I found myself in agreement with the Sea O'Pee on Rick Perry and his bullying techniques.  I will try to make sure that NEVER happens again.

I mean talk about "jumping the shark!"

Kathy Griffin addresses Sarah Palin calling her a "50 year old bully."

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Somehow I don't think that Kathy Griffin is the one who comes off as a bully here.

Right wing religious groups fight against anti-bullying legislation for fear that it promotes an acceptance of homosexuality. Are you thinking "WTF?" Yeah, me too.

From Think Progress:

Last week, Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi jumped to his death after two classmates secretly recorded his sexual relationship with a man and broadcasted it over the internet. Tragically, Clementi marks the fourth gay student to commit suicide in three weeks because of anti-gay harassment from fellow students. Seth Walsh, 13, Asher Brown, 13, and Billy Lucas, 15, also took their own lives last month because fellow students bullied them in school.

Many states across the country are taking laudable steps to enact measures that bolster administrators’ ability to protect students who face such harassment. However, despite the evidence supporting the need, right-wing lawmakers and activists insist that anti-bullying measures are nothing more than insidious tools of the “homosexual agenda”:

– The American Family Association of Michigan has spent years decrying a proposed anti-bullying measure as “a Trojan Horse to sneak [homosexual activists'] special rights agenda into law” and to “legitimize homosexual behavior” which is “a practice scientifically proven to result in a dramatically higher incidence of domestic violence, mental illness, illegal drug use, promiscuity, life-threatening disease, and premature death.” The bill “died in 2008 in the state Senate because senators could not agree” on whether to address bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the measure.

– In Minnesota, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer said he would not sign the anti-bullying Safe Schools For All bill because “I don’t want the government” instead of parents to be on “the front line of defense of our children.” Indeed, Emmer voted against and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) vetoed the same bill in 2009 after the right-wing Minnesota Family Council pushed legislators to reject the bill in 2009 because it would “promote acceptance of homosexuality.”

– The right-wing Christian media ministry Focus on the Family is attacking an anti-bullying standard on the federal level. Insisting that bullying prevention is being “hijacked by activists” who are “politicizing or sexualizing the issue,” Focus on the Family’s Candi Cushman claims that the anti-bullying bill currently before Congress “cater[s] to a narrow political agenda” that “becomes a gateway for homosexuality promotion in school.” In their current back-to-school guide “equipping” parents with tools against the “sneaky” gay agenda, Cushman told parents to look out for bullying seminars, diversity lessons, and “cute little pictures of furry animals” as “red flags” signaling the “gay agenda.”

If this were forty, to forty five, years ago how many of us believe that the argument then would have been "The anti-bullying agenda is being hi-jacked by racial equality activists?"  Same argument, just targeting a different minority.

Obviously this is ridiculous and feeds into the Fundamentalist's idea that homosexuality is contagious and that the more accepted it is the more likely that the gays will be viewed as equal to the breeders that are now the dominant force in America.  And doesn't THAT remind you of the Teabagger's fear of brown people coming over the border in Mexico, their fear of Socialism replacing Capitalism in our government, and their barely contained rage at the African American sitting in the White House?

It seems like everything that drives these groups is fear of change.  Fear that what they have always seen as "normal" will be forever altered and that they will no longer be able to victimize groups different then their own like they did back in the "good old days,"  Did you ever notice that the "good old days" seemed to be much better for the white males in this country over every other demographic?

"Hey Frank!  Remember how we used to be able to make those lewd jokes around the break room, without fear of one of these skirts accusing us of sexual harassment?  Yep, them was the good old days alright!"

Sadly it is natural for the dominant groups to harass and bully, and even kill, those different from themselves.  We see that same savagery play out in the animal world all of the time.

However the difference is that we are self aware.  We can choose to resist our natural instincts, and learn to accept, and even care, about those who are not exactly like us. That is what makes us human. And for those of you with faith in the bible, I am sure you have read that humans were made in God's image, therefore to use the abilities that God bestowed on his children is to honor God, don't you think?

I would think that if EVERY Christian stopped for just a minute, and asked themselves "How would Jesus treat this person?" That it would fundamentally change our county, hell even our world, for the better.

Or am I simply misunderstanding the message that Jesus tried to teach mankind?

Wonkette is all over Sarah's pity party concerning the e-mail trial.

From Wonkette:

Sarah Palin is now using her vast political knowledge and expertise as one of America’s greatest leaders to help brutally prosecute a dumb college student who figured out her incredibly easy e-mail password hint two years ago and uploaded a few screen shots to some web forum leading to a day or two of pranks which meant nothing in the end and probably just boosted her career through faux-victimization, the only weapon in her arsenal; she is awful.

As usual Wonkette does not pull any punches.

And don't forget to check the comment section kids, that is always good for a chuckle or two.