Trump's Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, is loudly booed during commencement speech at historically black university.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

Drawing shouts of "Liar!" and "Just go," Education Secretary Betsy DeVos powered through her commencement address Wednesday at a historically black university, even as many of the graduating students turned their backs to her in protest. 

"Let's choose to hear one another out," DeVos said, reading her prepared text in a measured tone despite continuing waves of boos, catcalls and scattered applause at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. 

As the crowd kept trying to shout her down, university president Edison Jackson briefly took over the microphone to sternly lecture the class of 2017. 

"If this behavior continues, your degrees will be mailed to you. Choose which way you want to go," Jackson warned. 

DeVos alienated many African-Americans in February when she described historically black colleges as "real pioneers when it comes to school choice." After a storm of criticism, she acknowledged that these colleges were "born, not out of mere choice, but out of necessity, in the face of racism."

Look I am one who typically does not believe in publicly disrespecting people, or shouting over them when they are trying to speak, however the fact is that Donald Trump chose the people he chose to undermine and even damage the agencies that they now lead, and there is nothing to respect about that.

Betsy DeVos is criminally unfit for her job, and the damage she can do to the Department of Education, and the students who are still in the system is incalculable.

In light of that, she should expect to get booed and shouted down in virtually EVERY university, high school, and kindergarten class that she visits.

Made me laugh.

It seems like just about everything about this administration is joke.

Except for the fact that they occupy the White House.

I think this video fairly captures the relationship between Donald Trump and his wife Melania.

I think in this one moment Melania Trump echoes the sentiments of most Americans that are feeling that they are now being held against their will by a crazy person.

I know, I know, one incident does not really prove anything.

But there are others.

"No one respects women more" than Trump.#SpicerFacts #AltFacts #alternativefacts pic.twitter.com/whJkECcjYj

— Bryan Dawson (@BryanDawsonUSA) January 23, 2017

Pretty clear that to Trump his wife is just a possession.

Something he once really wanted, so he took it, and now it is just another pretty thing that he can show off to his friends so that they will admire his manliness for taking it.

Just like this country.

Donald Trump insults veterans who suffer PTSD by saying they are not strong and "cannot handle" the things they've seen in war.

Courtesy of Slate: Donald Trump appeared on Monday morning at an event hosted by the Retired American Warriors PAC in Herndon, Virginia.

..... you can see a response to a question about military suicides in which Trump's attempt to pander to the crowd by complimenting them for being "strong" and able to "handle" the trauma of war goes badly awry.

Here is a transcript of his remarks:  

When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat, they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over and you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it. And they see horror stories, they see events that you couldn't see in a movie, nobody would believe it, and we need a mental health help and medical and ... it's one of the things that I think is least addressed, and it's one of the the things I hear the most about when I go around and talk to the veterans. So we're going to have a very, very robust level of performance having to do with mental health. We are losing so many great people that could be taken care of if they had proper care.

I wonder if Trump removes his foot from his mouth just once is awhile to wipe the spit off of it and allow it to dry out a little.

Once again Trump has no fucking idea what he is talking about.

He just says words that he thinks his audience wants to hear.

However this time our veterans perhaps heard his remarks a little to well.

I guess my buddy who I deployed with, who suffered from PTSD, and who took his own life wasn't as strong as a roomful of Trump's supporters. https://t.co/iLb5V4PYs8

— Corbin Reiff (@CorbinReiff) October 3, 2016

My BF served 15 yrs in USMC w/ 3 tours in Iraq. He has a service dog for PTSD & now works for USSS. #Trump has no grasp of that kind of life https://t.co/qkQOUBOK7L

— LawBlarg‽ (@LawBlarg) October 3, 2016

@iava As a veteran of the USAF I cannot take the way this man speaks about any group of people including veterans. https://t.co/JTuxy9axyH

— Kevin Cracknell (@kevin_cracknell) October 3, 2016

And it made the usually cool as a cucumber Joe Biden just about lose his shit.

Well I guess we should all just sit back and wait for Sarah Palin, that "combat veteran's" mother (With a son who she also clams also suffers from PTSD.), tear Trump a new asshole for being an insensitive POS.

Yep, going to wait right here for that. Should be any minute now.

Yep, still waiting.

Probably taking awhile because you know she is all the way up in Alaska. Wait.....

A couple of photos that should help put a certain rationalization to rest for good.

I grew up in the sixties and seventies, which was essentially right in the middle of the women's movement, and I well remember the kind of trash that my male peers spoke about girls in those days.

They were essentially separated into three categories:

Sluts.

Bitches.

And dykes.

If they dressed to attract attention they were sluts. If they were unimpressed with the juvenile antics of the boys they were bitches, And if they turned down their advances they were dykes.

And the sad thing is that many of those young men really bought into that mindset. The even sadder thing is that many of today's young men still do.

You might want to make sure you have your morning cup of coffee ready and are sitting down before reading of the horrendous incident that recently happened to a young girl in Steubenville, Ohio.

P.S. For those of you wondering if I joined in with my peers who referred to women as sluts, bitches, and dykes, no...no I didn't.  But to my eternal shame I did not stop them either.

Of course that is no longer the case. Since those high school years I have not only stopped conversations like that, I have also trained dozens of women in how to defend themselves against attack and taught dozens of young men how to properly respect a lady.

In my opinion the latter is more important than the former, and if EVERYBODY taught their boys how to treat women as all men should, then our society would be much the better for it.

What happened in Steubenville should NEVER happen in this country, and the distasteful fact is that of course it does. And it happens far more often than any of us would like to believe.

Mitt Romney to teacher: "I didn't ask you a question."

Courtesy of the Daily Kos:  

When I was asked to speak with Mitt Romney it seemed like a very important thing to me, and I wanted to put a lot of careful thought into what I would say. So, I went to the round table discussion very optimistic and interested in hearing what he had to say. 

When he sat down, one of the first questions he asked was, he said "I understand there is a teacher here today, which one of you is a teacher?" 

So, I raised my hand, thinking that's a good thing, he's interested in education, but it wasn't a good thing. I felt like his view was a little old-fashioned and I was surprised by it. He went on to kind of lecture me about schools and how bad they are. He talked bad about the teacher's union. He was talking about the importance of private schools and voucher systems. 

At one point, I said to him, "I have an answer for that." And he said, "I didn't ask you a question."

So Mitt the Twit makes a bunch of ignorant remarks about the state of education in this country, and a teacher offers to explain what is REALLY going on, and he refuses to allow her to speak.

I think that just about sums up why Romney should never be allowed to have ANY say over the education system in this country.

One of the things I most despise about this current crop of Republicans is their flagrant disdain for our teachers. The idea that these incredibly important public servants have been vilified and mistreated to the point of driving many of them out of education entirely is a national crisis, and want desperately to see it changed in the next four years.

The military porn show, "Stars Earn Stripes" lost over a third of its audience in only its second week. The Palin curse lives!

Courtesy of TV By the Numbers:

On NBC, the second episode of Stars Earn Stripes garnered a 1.1 adults 18-49 rating, down 35% from last week's 1.7.

What? Do you mean that NOBODY is interested in watching a  program about a bunch of third rate "celebrities" playing at being soldiers, while pimping wach other like the second coming of "Rambo?"  But, but it even features "Macho man" Todd Palin!

How could it lose?

Well yeah, I'm sure THAT didn't help, but let's face it the entire premise for the show was insulting to the military, to the audience, and to the families whose loved ones have lost their lives in various wars to protect this nation.

If NBC had any sense at all they would pull this crap from the air before next week, and save the participants the embarrassment of watching their viewer numbers shrink to the same levels once enjoyed by the likes of "Sarah Palin's Alaska" and "Life's a Tripp."

Hell even Nick Lachey doesn't deserve THAT!

Montana Republican party trots out bullet riddled outhouse to represent the "Obama Presidential Library." Nothing violent, or disrespectful about THAT imagery, now is there?

Courtesy of TPM:

Outside the Montana state Republican Party convention this weekend was an outhouse labeled the “Obama Presidential Library” and covered in painted-on bullet holes. 

Inside the outhouse contained a fake birth certificate for Barack Hussein Obama, according to the Helena Independent Record. 

It was stamped “Bull——.” A graffito advised “For a Good Time call 800-Michelle (crossed out), Hillary (crossed out) and Pelosi (circled in red.)” 

State GOP Chairman Will Deschamps said he didn’t know who was responsible for the outhouse but called it a “sideshow,” the paper reported. 

“It’s not something I’m going to agonize over,” he said. “Some of that stuff is not real good taste. We do have a president of the United States, and we have to honor that.”

I think it is clear, beyond any shadow of  doubt, that the disrespect for this President permeates the Republican party like we have never seen before in out political history.

They don't just oppose his policies (Many by the way that one time were Republican policies), they simply despise HIM on a very personal level.

Gee, I wonder why that is?

Arizona Governor, and plantation owner in a past life, Jan Brewer is ACTUALLY raising money using the image of her disrespectful finger wagging at our President.

From Phoenix New Times:

For a lot of Arizonans, the photo taken last week of Governor Jan Brewer sticking her finger in the face of President Barack Obama was humiliating. If you're like us, you spent the past several days explaining to out-of-state friends that not everyone in Arizona is a classless sand-billy -- despite the state's dopey governor. 

Jan, however, seems quite proud of her lack of poise while welcoming the president to the "Colt Single-Action Army Revolver State" -- as we predicted, the governor already is politicizing the photo and using it to raise money. 

Here is the text that Miss Daisy is using to play the victim and convince the racists around the country to send her money in order to soothe her ruffled feathers and cure her of the vapors after that uppity black man done got right up in her face and refused to accept his station in life.

Friends, 

I need your help! 

When I met President Obama this week, I really wasn't pointing at him. I was telling him, "You have ONE more year!" The President needs to be reminded that he is the President of the FEDERAL REPUBLIC and not a KING lording over state governors. 

While I wanted to talk to him about jobs, our economy and visiting our border, President Obama criticized my book, Scorpions for Breakfast, and then walked away from me. 

We deserve results over rhetoric, but this is a President who had the audacity to sue me and Arizona in my efforts to protect our country from illegal immigration! 

Donate today to Jan PAC and help me stop President Obama in 2012 and others like him who are taking our country down the wrong path. 

Click Here to donate!

So now her version is that she was telling the President of the United States, a guest in her state, that he has only "one more year" in office. And yet she is claiming that SHE was the one that "felt a little bit threatened?" (By the way, unless you have been living under a rock, you probably know that her version of the incident is a complete fabrication.)

What is with these horrible disrespectful old bitches in the Republican party?

From Ann Coulter, to Sarah Palin, and Jan Brewer, I swear these women have the darkest, most hateful hearts I have ever seen!

Come on Arizona!  Kick her ass to the curb!

American soldiers shown urinating on dead Afghans.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail:

Footage showing American soldiers urinating on dead Afghan bodies has sparked outrage across the world - with Afghanistan's leaders labelling it as a 'recruitment tool for the Taliban'. 

The 'disgusting' and 'highly reprehensible' 40-second clip shows four men in combat gear standing over the three corpses with their genitals exposed as they relieve themselves. 

The men can be heard joking 'Have a great day, buddy', 'Golden like a shower' and 'Yeahhhh!' as they groan with relief whilst urinating. 

It has sparked anger from Afghans, with top negotiator from President Hamid Karzai's High Peace Council Arsala Rahmani, saying it will have a 'very, very bad impact on peace efforts'. 

He added: 'Looking at such action, the Taliban can easily recruit young people and tell them that their country has been attacked by Christians and Jews and they must defend it.' 

The Marine spokesman claims that the video has not yet been "verified as authentic" but you can watch it here and judge for yourselves. Let me first warn you that it is quite unsettling.

This is, of course, the LAST thing the US military needs at this time. As it will indeed make it much harder to convince the Afghanistan people that the soldiers are there to protect them, and to move forward in efforts to end the war.

No matter how the US spins this, the video clearly depicts Americans urinating on Afghans, or to the Islamic mind, Christians pissing on Muslims.

And we have to realize that if this one incident was caught on film that there are undoubtedly dozens of other episodes of similar behaviors that are happening which are not. Which tends to suggest that incidents like Abu Ghraib, the 2007 shooting of Iraqi civilians from a helicopter, and Jeremy Morlock and his "kill team," may in fact be far more widespread within the US military than we have wanted to believe.

But really, how could we expect any different?

These young men are trained to see the individual they are aiming their weapons at not as human beings, but simply as the "enemy." They dehumanize them by calling them "camel-jockeys," "ragheads," "Haji," "sand niggers," or any other epithet which makes blowing the top of their skulls off more palatable.

Essentially it is no different than what was done in other wars.  Krauts, Japs, Charlie, have all been used to differentiate the enemy from the REAL human beings fighting them, right?  And it is that very method of ritually stripping away what makes them like those who are killing them, which allows for these kinds of atrocities.

How effective would a soldier be if he allowed himself to think of the person he was shooting at as somebody's father? Or uncle? Or son?

And once you kill this inhuman monster how do you feel about them then?  I think the soldiers in the video linked above have answered that question very clearly.

I am painfully aware that President Obama cannot end this war in Afghanistan before this next election, though the realization for why that is the case leaves a disgusting taste in my mouth.

But when this election is over I think it is time for the anti-war effort to go into overdrive.

There never WAS a reason for American troops to kill the people living in Afghanistan, or Iraq for that matter, and it is way past time for that killing to stop. WAY past time Mr. President, way past time.

President Obama the subject of even more racist Republican e-mails.

From the AP:

A Southern California Republican Party official is under fire after allegedly sending an email that included an altered photo depicting President Barack Obama as an ape.

An e-mail allegedly sent by party central committee member Marilyn Davenport depicts a family portrait-style image of apes with Obama's face artificially superimposed on one of them. Text beneath the photo reads, "Now you know why no birth certificate."

Davenport could not immediately be reached for comment.

The alternative newspaper OC Weekly first reported the story, and was told by Davenport that the e-mail was "just an Internet joke." She also asked the Weekly, "You're not going to make a big deal about this are you?"

Yeah, you know I think it is a good idea to make a VERY big deal out of this racist bullshit!

No matter how often these Republican Teabaggers claim they oppose President Obama for his "policies" or because they believe he is "un-American" nobody is fooled.  What they are really saying is that simply because he is a black man they will neither respect him, nor the office that he holds, regardless of the good that he does for the people this country.

All this talk about protecting the Constitution is really code for their desire to take the country back to a time before the 13th Amendment, which freed the slaves, and the 15th Amendment, which gave them the right to vote. THAT is the America these racist scumbags are fantasizing about.

And it should come as no surprise that this is not the first time this particular individual has provided a peek at her inner racist.



We always knew that the first African American who became President of this country would face serious obstacles and possibly some racist blowback, but this shit is deeply, deeply entrenched in the psyches of far more people than I could possibly have imagined.

Teacher uses humor and slam poetry to answer the question, "What do teachers make?"

I have become very defensive about teachers lately and was thinking about how incredible some of my teachers were in the Anchorage School District.  I was getting prepared to write a long post about it, which I still might do, when somebody sent me this.



I was struck by the sound of frustration in his voice, as if he has dealt with this question his entire career. How cathartic it must be to stand up in front of an audience at to just let it rip like this. 

I guess that is why I started blogginig.