Donald Trump shows bunch of Trick or Treaters what scary really looks like.

WATCH: Pres. Trump talks with the children of reporters during a Halloween event in the Oval Office on Friday. https://t.co/3jaFD2cFLM

— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) October 27, 2017

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

President Donald Trump briefly met with children of the White House press corps on Friday as part of a Halloween celebration, and things got weird pretty quickly. 

The costumed kids were invited to the Oval Office before trick-or-treating in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Trump, ever eager to criticize the press, seized the opportunity to make fun of their parents. 

“I cannot believe the media produced such beautiful children,” Trump said, according to a pool report of the event. “How the media did this, I don’t know.”

I swear everything this guy does is creepy.

Personally I would not let my kids anywhere NEAR this pussy grabbing asshole. 

What a difference a year makes.

Creationists are trying to ruin Halloween for the kids again. Aw man, and they're using dinosaurs to do it!

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Anti-Halloween creationists have some ideas about the holiday that could turn your home into the least popular trick-or-treat stop in the neighborhood. 

Instead of handing out candy, Answers in Genesis wants you to give trick-or-treaters fake $1 million bills that warn children of the fiery hell that awaits them. 

“Have you ever lied, stolen or used God’s name in vain?” reads part of a fake bill with Noah’s Ark on the front. “The penalty for your crimes against God is death and eternal hell.” 

A bill featuring a picture of a dinosaur is just as pleasant. 

“Have you ever lied, stolen, hated or dishonored your parents? Have you looked with lust? God says that’s the same as committing adultery in your heart,” a message on the bill reads as it describes the Ten Commandments. 

And if you’ve broken any of these rules, you’re doomed: “The penalty of sin is death and eternity in hell.”

Answers in Genesis are that group of assholes trying to trick kids into thinking that Evolution is bullshit and that every animal we see today was rescued from a global flood in a physics defying wooden boat.

Any "Christian" adult who attempts to terrify children with visions of hell should be arrested for domestic terrorism in my book (I know that may seem extreme to some but I think purposefully giving children nightmares, and making them live a life of fear, is just about the worst thing you can possibly do.) and thrown in the same jail cell where they keep the child molesters and kiddie porn watchers.

Actually that is probably the best place for them to run into other members of their church.

By the way for the next knuckle dragging moron who comes over to IM to bitch that I am always going after religious people, shit like this is the reason why.

If religious folks want to stay in their little churches lying to each other about things their pee brains are too tiny to understand I would not think twice about them.

But when you push your religious point of view into the realm of politics, public education, and into our children's lives then you deserve whatever negativity you might receive.

Nancy French, channeling Bristol Palin, decides to speak for all indigenous native people living in the Arctic. No, seriously! Update!

So the image up above is of Kylie Jenner, you know one of the Kardashian family members, in her Halloween costume.

She called it her "Eskimo costume" and there was some backlash on social media.

It's not really any big deal to most people, but some people just like to get upset.

However Nancy French saw this as an opportunity to use Bristol's essentially non-relevant, barely  measurable, native heritage to weigh in on the topic in the hopes of getting some attention NOT focused on trying to figure out just who knocked Bristol up most recently.

Here is what she said: 

Well, as a person born and raised in Alaska (born on Alaska Day, no less) who is also part Yup’ik, let me say this. 

I’m not offended! 

In fact, I’m flattered that you think Eskimos looks this chic.

First off to be fair NO Alaska native woman that I am aware of has ever dressed like that.  Ever!

If Jenner were really interested in authenticity she would have dressed more like this.

But of course she was looking for attention, not heat stroke. And that's fine.

What is NOT fine is for Nancy French, a woman with absolutely no native Alaskan heritage to hide behind, to instead use this vacuous simpleton as a vehicle for expressing opinions that have absolutely NO relevance.

For one thing while it might be true that Alaska natives may not find Kylie Jenner's costume offensive, that is really for THEM to decide.

As for the word "Eskimo" that is a non-Alaskan native word that native Alaskans have been saddled with for over a hundred years now. It is NOT typically considered politically correct to refer to our indigenous population using that term.

Which is something that Bristol Palin SHOULD know, but since her mother still brags about "Eskimo Bingo" probably doesn't care to acknowledge.

However once again pasty white Nancy French is NOT an Alaskan native, so she really has no dog in this fight and therefore no opinion worthy of discussion.

Which also brings up the point that even if this were a post written by Bristol Palin (In crayon most likely.) it still would not have any validity because the native people of Canada and Greenland, who have also been derisively referred to as "Eskimo," most certainly DO have a problem with the word.

In short French just decided to not take offense on behalf of not just the Alaska native population, but also the indigenous people of the entire Arctic region. 

Update: Now Nancy is linking to the article as Sarah, that she wrote as Bristol. 

I wonder if this lunatic even knows who she really is anymore?

What better time than Halloween to terrify children about death, and of course promote your religious beliefs?

Source

You know if you don't want to participate in pagan celebrations then just keep you door closed, turn of the lights, and simply pray until the joyful voices of the children finally fades away into the darkness.

Oh and you might want to rethink your Christmas celebrations as well.

The return of the Graveyard of the Gods at the University of Wisconsin. A Halloween tradition.

Source

Courtesy of The Friendly Atheist:  

As they do every year, the Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison put together a fantastic “Graveyard of the Gods,” reminding students of all the deities who were worshiped, believed in, and eventually forgotten. 

The purpose is to get students thinking about when their God will join the ranks of the dead.

I hear there are still plots open for any new additions. 

President Obama meets the Pope again. Sort of.

Everyone else can just give up: the best costume of the year is, without a doubt, Baby Pope at the White House pic.twitter.com/HadOtfGq1g

— Rebecca Berg (@rebeccagberg) October 31, 2015

Here is more courtesy of Buzzfeed:

There's even some video of the momentous meeting.

Top prize goes to Lil' Pope. #HappyHalloween https://t.co/WJo1nYUWup

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 30, 2015

It never fails to make me smile to watch our President interacting with the children.

Trick-or-treat! pic.twitter.com/ZBkW1xrSLq

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 31, 2015

And after a week like this one, I think we could all use a reason to smile.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween IMers!!

Man do I love Halloween!

 Not only is it an excuse to spend a full week watching horror movies, but it is one of the few times that candy contains no calories. (Shh, don't say anything to ruin it.)

I just hope I have enough candy.

My house is pretty popular with the kids and I always worry about running out.

Of course my favorite thing about this holiday is that it never fails to freak out the Christians: 

Many Americans love to celebrate Halloween and eagerly take part in the holiday by dressing up in fun or spooky costumes and giving away candies. However, according to a recent survey, 23 percent of Christians in the US do not take part in the celebration because of the holiday's pagan roots and for other reasons. 

The survey, conducted by LifeWay Research, showed that three out of five Americans celebrate Halloween "all in good fun," but 21 percent of the respondents avoid it completely. Meanwhile, another 14 percent still observe it but avoid the pagan elements of Halloween, according to Charisma News.

The pagan elements of course are my favorite part. 

It took me awhile to choose my costume, but I finally settled on "The guy who's pissed off that kids keep interrupting him while he is watching TV."

Which I think is somewhat better than my original choice "The guy who has not showered for three days."

Anyhow here's hoping you have a spook-tacular holiday.

And remember if you are planning to come by my house,  come early, because after 9:00 PM all the remaining candy becomes the property of "The guy who spent too much money on candy and damned if he's not going to eat some of it."

Happy Halloween!

I thought I would share my favorite Halloween themed music video with you.

The director, John Landis, was also responsible for some of my favorite movies of the seventies and eighties like Animal House, An American Werewolf in London and The Blues Brothers.

And the video holds a very special place in my daughter's heart because it was instrumental in getting her interested in theater and movie making.

We had an old VHS tape of "The Making of Thriller" lying around the house that she found when she was two years old. That damn thing played non-stop for weeks, but the interesting thing is that she was just as fascinated with the behind the scenes makeup, choreography, and special effects, as she was with the actual music video itself.

Since then she has been fascinated with the way movies are made, and is now involved in making them herself.

Now if you will excuse me I think there are some scary creatures at my door.

I wonder what they want?

Chances are when it comes to terror tonight will have NOTHING on November the 4th.

Courtesy of Salon: 

Consider the remarkable number of races that remain tossups at this late stage. According to RealClearPolitics’ polling averages, less than three points separate the candidates in Alaska, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Kansas, Georgia, and Iowa. Moreover, based on pollsters’ recent history of overestimating GOP strength and underestimating Hispanic turnout, there’s reason to believe that the Colorado Senate race is even closer than the 3.6 point edge held by Republican Cory Gardner over Democratic Sen. Mark Udall suggests. The razor-thin margins that separate the candidates in these contests all but ensure that at a clear victor won’t emerge in at least one or two of them on election night. Accordingly, some candidates, including Iowa GOPer Joni Ernst and Republican Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan in North Carolina, are gearing up for weeks-long legal battles. 

Meanwhile, up in Alaska, where Democratic Sen. Mark Begich appears to be making something of a comeback, the state’s time lag and relatively slow vote-counting process mean that a winner probably won’t be declared until November 5 at the earliest. In 2008, Begich wasn’t proclaimed the winner of his race against Sen. Ted Stevens until two weeks after Election Day. Though polls suggested Begich was headed to an easy victory, he ultimately only won by a point. Observers expect the Democrat’s race against Republican Dan Sullivan this year to be similarly close. 

Add it all up, and it’s increasingly clear that political junkies hoping for a firm Senate result next Tuesday night will probably find themselves disappointed. At this point, the likeliest scenario for a definitive election night answer is a GOP wave. If Republican Scott Brown knocks off Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire early Tuesday night, for instance, that portends an excellent night for the Republicans and substantially increases the odds that the GOP will have 51 Senate seats in its column by the end of the night. Despite polls indicating a tightening race, however, Brown’s ceiling of support appears to be roughly 48 percent, and a new survey showing Shaheen with an eight point lead underscores the likelihood that she’ll ultimately hold on. 

So fasten your seat belts — it could be a bumpy few weeks.

You know I am a tried and true TV watcher, and I get really sucked into the reality of my favorite shows sometimes.

For instance I about jumped out of my skin when the Mountain suddenly gained the upper hand during his epic battle with Prince Oberyn Martell. (NSFW gore.) And I was on the edge of my seat during that Terminus Slaughter Scene. (More gore.) But I have no doubt that all of that will seem like nothing compared to my stress level while waiting for the votes to be counted and the elections to finally be decided.

There is just so much hanging in the balance here.

Part of me wants to have confidence in the voting public. but then the other part of me thinks "Fuck those people they never know what's good for them."  So you see I am conflicted.

It's an easy choice folks. Either we embrace the future, and cast our votes to move the country toward a brighter tomorrow. Or we allow fear and cowardice to rule the day and choose once again to give power to the party of "You have to be this white, and this male, to ride this ride."

How hard of a choice is that?

Wanna a really scare your neighbors this Halloween? Dress up like a Palin family member.

So Raw Story decided to list possible ideas for Christian or hypocrisy meme themed Halloween costumes.

Among others they list science deniers, gay marriage, the Marxist-Nazi-Anti-Christ version of President Obama, and of course the Abstinence Spokesperson.

Under that last one they use the following description:  

ABSTINENCE ONLY 

What You’ll Need: Long brown hair or a wig; a suit (skirt and jacket) or a professional dancer outfit; name tags; a sharpie; a pillow; a real life or toy baby or toddler; a bottle of Mountain Dew or a bottle of Bleach; condoms; a hole-puncher. 

Instructions: Put on a suit or a Dancing with the stars outfit and shove a pillow in it so you look pregnant. Also wear a long brown hair wig. Write Bristol Palin on a name tag and put it on yourself. Write Tripp Palin on a name tag and put it on real or doll baby. Take the condoms out of the wrapper and hole punch through each one in a few places. Then put the condoms in your pocket. Carry around the baby in one hand all night. In the other hand carry the bottle of bleach or Mountain Dew. Offer people sips and explain that abstinence only is the best policy but that if they’re in a jam, they should drink some Mountain Dew so they don’t get pregnant. Take out the hole-punched condoms and explain that those never work.

Now where do we think they got the idea for a Dancing with the Stars outfit with a pillow shoved up into it?

 Boy THAT would certainly frighten the neighbors into giving up their candy.

Gee it's almost as if not everybody was fooled by this explanation for Bristol's DWTS weight gain from her book:

 "This show actually took my activity level down a notch."

I guess the Palins simply think that EVERYBODY is as stupid as they are.

I know people do this for Christmas, but Halloween too?

 If this house were in my neighborhood I wouldn't even bother to decorate.

I have a couple of Styrofoam tombstones and a skeleton for the door, but that's about it.

Still I bet they hand out full size candy bars and homemade popcorn balls.

I love homemade popcorn balls. 

Final Halloween image of the day.

Photo courtesy of the Obama Diary

Just for fun, Jimmy Fallon sings "Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet" as Bob Dylan.

I totally had another post ready for this slot, but seriously how if could I not share this?

Happy Halloween IM'ers!

In honor of Halloween I thought I would take a moment to frighten the Republicans. Update!

BOO!

You can read more here.   

IF you dare! 

(Click here for maniacal laugh.)

Update: Oops I don't  think the Romney people like this new polling information:

The (Romney) pollster complained broadly about each day bringing another unfavorable public survey. Romney’s campaign and others in the GOP believe the samples in the media polls show a partisan breakdown that is overly favorable to Democrats and is therefore misrepresenting the electorate. Most pollsters don’t weight by party, but rather attempt to gauge partisan identification along with other preferences. The new Quinnipiac Ohio poll was made up by 37% of Democrats, 30% independents and 29% Republicans. That’s comparable to what exit polls showed as the composition of the Ohio electorate in 2008. 

Mitt Romney’s pollster lashed out Wednesday at a new Ohio poll showing President Obama up five in the state, calling the survey “a piece of crap.” 

 Neil Newhouse, in a conversation with Washington supporters, was harshly critical of a Quinnipiac-New York Times-CBS survey that has raised concerns among Republicans about whether Romney can win the crucial state, according to a source familiar with the conversation. 

The poll, which was released Wednesday morning, shows Obama taking 50 percent of the vote to Romney’s 45 in crucial Ohio.

Like I said, BOO!

Update 2: I thought this belonged here.

In honor of Halloween, meet the "big, bad thing" that frightens Mitt Romney and the Right Wing. Nate Silver.

Courtesy of The Telegraph:

When Charles Foster Kane takes one final look back at his tumultuous life, he encapsulates it in a single, immortal word: “Rosebud”. (Citizen Kane reference fro the uninitiated.)In years to come, when Mitt Romney takes a look back at this tumultuous election campaign, I suspect he may very well do the same. Except he will not speak of a cherished object, but a person: “Poblano”. 

Poblano is the pseudonym of Nate Silver, the sabermetrician and political psephologist who has done more to influence the 2012 presidential election than other political analysts and commentator. Silver is behind The New York Times' FiveThirtyEight blog, which conducts a complex statistical analysis of the state of the race, and boils it down to daily estimate of the two candidates chances in the form of a mathematical percentage. Where most political commentators output is the product of briefings, gossip and personal perception, Silver deals in cold, hard facts. And at the moment, Silver’s facts are being fired like bullets into the heart of the Romney campaign. 

Over the past week Romney has had a clear strategy; give the impression of momentum. Demonstrate the post-debate surge is continuing. Get people talking about how the race is his to lose. 

Nate Silver is Mitt Romney’s nemesis. Not intentionally; although he admits to being an Obama supporter, his whole career is predicated on getting his predictions right. Like he did in 2008, when "Poblano" accurately predicted the result of 49 of the 50 states, and all 35 senate races. 

And it is that reputation for accuracy that is so damaging to the Romney campaign’s attempt to sustain their precious “momentum” narrative. People listen to Silver. And over the past 48 hours, the narrative is starting to shift. “Mitt-mentum? Not so fast” – US News & World report. “Romney’s Momentum Seems To Have Stopped” – Political Wire. “The momentum myth” – Washington Post. 

In fact, Silver is proving so damaging to their chances that Republican’s are drawing up a strategy for countering him. “Nate Silver continues to lead the Democrat Graveyard whistling choir”, Republican blogger Robert Stacy McCain wrote on Tuesday. National Review decried “Nate Silver’s Flawed Model”. “Everyone but Nate Silver thinks Obama’s lead is evaporating fast”, said Business Insider. 

But the truth is we don’t. And the Romney camp knows it.

Yes they do know it, but they are counting on Right Wing radio, conservative blogs, and Fox News to keep everybody else from knowing it.

At that is why Nate Silver scares the living crap out of them. Because he is a numbers guy, and is therefore immune to obfuscation and slick advertising campaigns. He simply hunkers down with his vast array of poll numbers and crunches them until he comes up with the kernel of truth contained within.

And right now that truth looks a little something like this.

BOO!

(P.S. For those who missed it Nate was on Real Time last night, which you can watch for yourself by clicking here.)

Seriously Alaska? WTF?

Okay so I woke up this morning to my daughter coming home at 5:30 a.m. after driving her drunken co-workers home last night. (She is a nondrinker and therefore always tapped to be the designated driver.)

First she says "Good morning Dad," quickly followed by "Have you SEEN what is going on outside?"

Well I was just then sipping my first cup of coffee, so no I had not seen what was happening outside as I was still not completely sure what was happening directly in front of me.

So I looked.

Gryphen front porch

Crappy cell phone picture of Gryphen front yard featuring denuded, snow encrusted, tree.

Gryphen back yard. Well at least you can no longer see the dog poop!

Okay what the actual fuck, Alaska?

I had to check my calendar three times just to make sure I was the appropriate amount of freaked out about this. Yep, it is ONLY September 29th!

Again, WTF Alaska?

Okay you know we do get early snowfalls. Usually around the end of October. But never this early, right?

I know that because I live here. And also because it is part of my childhood trauma.

Here let me explain, you see when I was a little boy I wanted to dress up like Spider-man, because you know Spider-man was the shit.

However we were pretty poor, so my mom tried to talk me into dressing up as something she could put together from items around the house. You know like a hobo, or a ghost, or a little boy whose heart was broken because he could NOT be Spider-man!

Anyway after I whined the sufficient amount and promised to eat my vegetables (Yeah right!) and clean my room (Never happened!), she caved in and bought me a cheap ass Spider-man costume at Woolworths.

And let me just tell you that I looked EXACTLY like Spider-man! (YOU know if Spider-man had been a hyperactive little midget, with a speech impediment.)

I loved the hell out of that costume and wore it to bed, at the dinner table, and even tried to wear it to school but my mother stopped me because apparently she did not want me to be the most awesome kid on the playground. (Mom was always holding me back like that.)

So after two weeks of waiting it was FINALLY Halloween, and I was so amped up I was crawling on the walls even without web-shooters. (Which this cheap ass costume did not have, even though it was an obviously imperative accessory.)

However when I woke up, you guessed it, we had snow.

A butt load of snow.

In response my mother made one of those executive decisions that all kids dread, and told me it was now too cold and that I would have to wear my Spider-man costume UNDER my snowsuit. Aaagghh!!!

Anyhow after some calm negotiations (Well essentially after fifteen minutes of my screaming and banging my head on the floor) we compromised. I COULD wear my Spider-man costume for all the world to see on the OUTSIDE of my snowsuit.

My throat was dry, I was having trouble breathing, and my head hurt like crazy, so I acquiesced.

However after my mother squeezed my snowsuited body into the costume I ended up looking like Spider-man with a serious pituitary problem. I was so bloated that I looked like a candidate for a superhero fat farm.

Well what could I do?  There was candy just waiting for me on the streets of Anchorage, so I "Spider-manned up" and went out to claim my booty.

Well to make a long story short (I know, too late right?) I ended up having one of the WORST Halloweens ever!  The snow was up to my knees, so my costume got drenched and started to fall apart. It was cold outside but hot inside my mask, so my face was sweating, and then the sweat was freezing to my cheeks. And to make matters worse my eye-holes got all frosty and I couldn't see where the hell I was going and kept wandering into traffic.

But possibly the worst thing was that I also could not see the top of my little orange pumpkin Halloween candy bucket and I kept missing it and dropping my candy in the fucking snow! And when I reached down to get my hard earned popcorn ball, the back of my costume split from crotch to hairline, and suddenly I was only a cool pudgy Spider-man from the front, and a sweaty little sobbing child from the back. Fuck that Halloween!

But I digress.

Really the important part of this post, is why in they hell is it snowing already?

Okay kiddies tell your Uncle Gryphen the name of YOUR favorite horror film in celebration of this All Hallow's Eve.

I believe I have mentioned before that I was torn between starting this political blog or a blog dedicated to movies.  However due to my fixation at the time on Kerry's loss to George W. Bush, and my anger at the Iraq war, politics won out.

However I remain a true fan of the cinema and watch dozens, and dozens of movies a year. And my favorite ones are, you guessed it, horror movies.

These last few days my television has been playing nothing but non-stop horror, from the Halloween series, to The Omen, and even including back to back viewings of both the original and updated version of "The Fog." (Yeah, you're right, neither one was very good.)

So I got to wondering. exactly what is YOUR favorite horror movie my IM friends?

Here let me start you off with my favorite horror genre:

The Werewolf movie.

My favorite in that category:

American Werewolf in London.

And my favorite scene (Okay if you are at work you are going to DEFINITELY have to wait to watch this clip until after you get home. It contains inappropriate language, a truly epic and disturbing werewolf roar, and a brutal attack scene. You have been warned.):

One of the best scenes ever filmed for a horror movie in my opinion. Though to be honest it was almost a toss up between that one and the amazing John Landis directed transformation scene, featuring the unparalleled make up of Rick Baker. (Just a bit of trivia, werewolf movies live and die based on their transformation scenes.)

So tell me you ghouls and goblins, what was the movie that scarred YOUR psyche and kept you up at night?

New definition for heartless: Throw a Halloween themed party at the expense of those your law firm threw out into the streets.

Courtesy of TPM:

A New York Times opinion column from Joe Nocera out on Saturday tells the story of last year’s Halloween Party at the law firm called Steven J. Baum, a practice outside Buffalo that the column refers to as a “foreclosure mill.” The firm thought that they would celebrate last Halloween by throwing a homeless-themed party, complete with the staff dressing costumes that made them look destitute and signs describing the various faux problems their characters had. One sign seems to read “Will Worke For Food [sic]” and photos show part of an office named “Baum Estates.” 

The pictures were sent to Nocera by a former employee of the firm. Nocera described their conversation like this: 

When we spoke later, she added that the snapshots are an accurate representation of the firm’s mind-set. “There is this really cavalier attitude,” she said. “It doesn’t matter that people are going to lose their homes.” Nor does the firm try to help people get mortgage modifications; the pressure, always, is to foreclose.

This firm in particular seems to have quite a history of foreclosing on homes that they had NO right to foreclose on.

I guess we should really not be that surprised to learn they thought so little of the people whose lives they destroyed that they would mock them by throwing a party, the theme of which was built around the devastation that they so callously visited upon them.

Hopefully Karma is paying attention.

President Obama proves he's a socialist by offering free handouts to children.

Well I guess there is not denying it now, since the whole thing was caught on video.

It looks to me like the President was thoroughly enjoying himself.

(H/T to The Obama Diary.)

P.S. On a personal note I have to admit that I LOVE Halloween, and have spent much of my free time watching horror marathons on cable. It kind of interferes with a my blogging a little as I am always distracted by what is about to jump out and get the teenagers on my TV.

Personally I find these kids more intimidating than the real thing.

From Yahoo New:

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), center, poses with her Halloween 'security guards,' from left, nephew Tate Hart, 6, Luka Hart, 4, and Jack Schroeder 6, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Okay regardless of you political point of view (unless of course you are a Joe Miller supporter) you have to admit THAT is pretty funny.