Samantha Bee identifies the connection between numerous mass killers and the Alt-Right movement.

So how is this movement NOT officially identified as a terrorist organization?

Oh that's right, they're white.

Here is the SPLC article that Bee mentions in her story.

And here is an NPR article which reports that three recent murders were connected to a Neo-Nazi organization called the Atomwaffen Division.

Notice the pattern?

"Woman in the High Castle" from Samantha Bee's "Not the Correspondents' Dinner."

I actually did not see this the night that it was broadcast.

But once I did I knew that it needed to be shared.

In case you missed it here, is Hasan Minhaj's performance from last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Certainly did not pull any punches did he?

I also saw some of Trump's pathetic rally last night, which should be described as a public therapy session for the tragically insecure.

The entire bitch fest was overflowing with lies that Trump gleefully shared with the crowd, secure in the knowledge that most of them are functionally illiterate.

Not only did Trump tell the unwashed dipshits that his presidency was the greatest presidency since the dawn of presidencies, but that he had completed a long list of amazing achievements.

Why have we not heard of these achievements? Simple.

Mainstream (FAKE) media refuses to state our long list of achievements, including 28 legislative signings, strong borders & great optimism!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 29, 2017

Yeah, that's it.

Trump also claimed during his own version of the Nuremburg rallies that the crowd was "the largest every" in that venue and that people were left standing outside.

Unfortunately for Trump, there is a thing called Twitter.

Trump says "we have a lot of ppl standing outside" and he "broke the all time record" in this arena. There are rows of empty seats here pic.twitter.com/ixbErKjrQu

— Jonathan Tamari (@JonathanTamari) April 30, 2017

Here's another part of the arena where Trump says people have been left standing outside. Lots of ppl here, but not at all capacity pic.twitter.com/M6gtVF0PhN

— Jonathan Tamari (@JonathanTamari) April 30, 2017

All in all Trump's rally appeared to be a desperate cry for affirmation.

Perhaps the best ticket for entertainment last night would have been one for Samantha Bee's "Not the Correspondents' Dinner," which mocked...you know....pretty much everybody.

Here was my favorite part.  There was almost too much going on yesterday to keep up.

However if you had to miss anything, clearly the best event to skip was Trump's desperate cry for attention. 

Vox points out the important role that comedians play in helping us deal with Donald Trump.

Courtesy of Vox:  

The first few months of the Trump administration have been a goldmine for late-night comedians and political satirists. Shows like Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, Saturday Night Live, and Late Night With Seth Meyers have enjoyed ratings boosts thanks to their regular lampooning of the Trump White House. 

But beyond the jokes and sight gags, political satirists have done an excellent job of seriously covering the Trump administration — sometimes even better than major TV news networks. And that’s because while traditional journalists feel compelled to take President Trump’s often absurd statements and conspiracy theories seriously, political satirists have demonstrated an extremely low tolerance for bullshit.

I'm actually a little bit late in sharing this article.

I missed it when it first came out, but when I saw it on You Tube I knew it was worth sharing.

As I pointed out last night, it is getting harder and harder to find the humor in the Trump presidency.

However it is important to our mental health that we continue to do so.

Let's face it, most of us currently feel as is if our emotions are constantly under attack, and the only way to help alleviate the depression that accompanies such a feeling is to be able to mock and ridicule the individual responsible.

Donald Trump IS a giant joke, and being reminded of that, and that his presidency will likely be seen as illegitimate, is perhaps the best survival tool that we possess.

Personally I still wish that Jon Stewart had remained at the Daily Show, but Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver are doing a great job of taking up the slack.

Samantha Bee takes on Trump's inability to tell the truth and fake news stories. Excellent show.

My favorite line: 

“One of the major questions being debated in our country today is whether it’s okay for the president to lie his fucking face off 24 hours a day. Somehow, the jury is still out on that one.”

Next Bee takes on the fake news debacle and one of her correspondents interviews the " godfather of fake news."

I swear this show is getting better and better every week.

This episode in particular addressed very important topics in a consistently humorous and informative manner.

What more could you ask for?

Samantha Bee weighs in on the hiring of Stephen Bannon, and the other terrible choices Trump could be making to fill his cabinet.

Yes I realize that Ben Carson has now taken his name out of contention, but it's still funny to see him chasing after his luggage.

I almost forgot this show was on last night, and only caught it becasue I was channel surfing.

Glad I did though because Samantha Bee has a gift for putting things into perspective.

Which is important, especially since this guy is out of the picture.

Samantha Bee lays the blame for the election of Donald Trump where it rightfully belongs, on white people.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

“It’s pretty clear who ruined America,” Bee began. “White people. I guess ruining Brooklyn was just a dry run. The Caucasian nation showed up in droves to vote for Trump so I don’t want to hear a goddamn word about black voter turnout. How many times do we expect black people to build our country for us? White people, this is the worst.” 

“And don’t try to distance yourself and say #notallwhitepeople,” she continued. “If Muslims have to take responsibility for every member of their community, so do we. Oh, does that feel awful? Yeah. 63 percent of white men said ‘If I can’t be in charge, burn it down!’ And a majority of white women faced with the historic choice between a female and a vial of weaponized testosterone said, ‘I’ll take option B. I just don’t like her.’ Hope you got your stickers, ladies. Way to lean out!”

You know I was really enjoying this bit and yelling out "You tell'em Samantha!" right up until I passed a mirror in my house and remembered that I am not only super duper white, but I am also a male.

Well crap!

Then I just felt all sad and self loathing.

But then I took solace in the knowledge that in just a couple of months, after Trump voters realize that he either has not intention, or no ability, to keep the idiotic promises that he made while running, and that the policies he WILL enact will do great harm to them personally, that I will soon be joined in my self loathing by white women, lower income Southern men, Teabaggers, white Evangelicals, the GOP establishment, and essentially EVERYONE whose last name is not "Trump."

And at least I TRIED to do the right thing.

Samantha Bee interviewed her first sitting President last night.

I am just going to sit here and try really hard not to make comparisons with Trevor Noah's abysmal interviewing skills.

I already blew it, didn't I?

Okay now as impressive as that was, and that was the marquee piece of last night's show, Bee's interview with the Russian trolls may have been even more impressive and important to this election cycle.

Now I have absolutely NO idea how Full Frontal was able to get two folks who are clearly worried about protecting their identity to consent to an interview, but it is a pretty impressive accomplishment.

In fact I am not sure that any so-called REAL media outlet has bothered to do the same.

After watching that piece it put a couple of things into perspective for me.

Such as the possibility that the reason that this photo gets the trolls so pissed off is not because it demonstrates a collusion between Putin and Trump, or makes Trump seem like Vladimir's little bitch, but because they see it as showing their dear leader as a possible homosexual which they find intolerable.

So now that we have established that the majority of the pro-Trump trolls are likely Russian shit posters, we can finally rest assured that his support is largely financed by Russia and NOT the result of inbreeding and our broken education system.

I don't know about you but I feel a little better.

Last night Samantha Bee addressed misconceptions about abortion and the negative impact that religion has on women's health and it was epic.

(Samantha Bee's abortion public service announcement starts at the 20 second mark.)

If that was not satisfying enough Bee then went on to address the insanely dangerous impact that Catholic hospitals have on women's health.
It is extremely gratifying to see a presidential candidate who understands what women's health is all about and understands the importance of having control over your own reproductive organs.

Hillary Clinton clearly understands both, and Samantha Bee is the unapologetic pro-choice advocate that we need to explain why that is important in this election.

This was a damn good show and I thought that Samantha Bee was really in her wheelhouse while explaining this topic to her audience.

Let's face it neither Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, or even Jon Stewart could have handled this topic nearly as well as Samantha Bee just did.

Which I guess also goes to show why we need more female hosts taking on controversial topics and explaining them to the American people.

Samantha Bee's take on the 2nd presidential debate is a "must see."

Courtesy of Raw Story:

Just hours before the debate, Bee describes Trump attempting to grab the media narrative by enlisting the help of four women who say that they’ve been victimized by the husband of his political opponent. Using the women as some sort of “rape victim human shield” was never going to work, however, and the answer for why can easily be found looking at Jennifer Aniston. 

“Rubbing a woman’s face in her husband’s infidelities is not the way to America’s heart,” Bee explained. “We love wronged wives. This is the same America that is still obsessed with Jennifer Aniston. Her ex-husband has split up with the woman he cheated on her with and we still want to know if she’s alright.” 

In the end, “none of it is Hillary’s fault and none if it erases what Donald did,” Bee said. 

I swear this show is getting better all of the time.

Now I would like to take a moment to delve into Trump mocking Hillary over her answer to the Wikileaks kerfuffle in which she referenced Spielberg's movie "Abraham Lincoln."

Trump went after her and essentially accused her of hiding behind Honest Abe and somehow smearing him at the same time.

However the thing is, she was not lying. And it was those hacked e-mails from Wikileaks which prove it.

Courtesy of Quartz:

Hillary Clinton invoked American luminaries Steven Spielberg and Abraham Lincoln to get out of a tight spot in tonight’s presidential debate. 

The moment came when she was asked about comments in paid speeches that have dogged her presidential campaign. 

Specifically, she was asked about an excerpt of a hacked e-mail containing potentially controversial excerpts from a $225,000 paid speech she delivered to the National Multi-Housing Council in 2013, after she left public office. 

In her speech to the nonprofit, she argued that politicians “need both a public and a private position” in order to accomplish anything. The debate moderators asked Clinton on behalf of a voter, “Is it ok for politicians to be two-faced?”

As you see in the video above Hillary responded to that question by saying that she was actually talking about the Spielberg movie and how brilliantly Lincoln held his cards to his chest while working to get the 13th Amendment approved.

Trump then made his derisive comments, and Hillary simply let them stand. And the fact that she let them stand should have been Trump's first clue.

Here is the entire excerpt from that e-mail in question:

*CLINTON SAYS YOU NEED TO HAVE A PRIVATE AND PUBLIC POSITION ON POLICY* *Clinton: “But If Everybody’s Watching, You Know, All Of The Back Room Discussions And The Deals, You Know, Then People Get A Little Nervous, To Say The Least. So, You Need Both A Public And A Private Position.”* CLINTON: You just have to sort of figure out how to — getting back to that word, “balance” — how to balance the public and the private efforts that are necessary to be successful, politically, and that’s not just a comment about today. That, I think, has probably been true for all of our history, and if you saw the Spielberg movie, Lincoln, and how he was maneuvering and working to get the 13th Amendment passed, and he called one of my favorite predecessors, Secretary Seward, who had been the governor and senator from New York, ran against Lincoln for president, and he told Seward, I need your help to get this done. And Seward called some of his lobbyist friends who knew how to make a deal, and they just kept going at it. I mean, politics is like sausage being made. It is unsavory, and it always has been that way, but we usually end up where we need to be. But if everybody’s watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals, you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position. And finally, I think — I believe in evidence-based decision making. I want to know what the facts are. I mean, it’s like when you guys go into some kind of a deal, you know, are you going to do that development or not, are you going to do that renovation or not, you know, you look at the numbers. You try to figure out what’s going to work and what’s not going to work. [Clinton Speech For National Multi-Housing Council, 4/24/13]

As you can see in context is says something completely different than what was reported by the media, and  certainly different from how Trump tried to characterize it.

Here is a helpful hint for Donald Trump to keep in mind for his next debate with Hillary.

If she says something definitive like this, with the full knowledge that fact checkers are going to scrutinize every word, you should know right up front that it is highly unlikely that she is telling a lie.

National treasure Samantha Bee eviscerates the media for not doing their jobs.

Part Two Here is my favorite part of this segment:

"On the one hand you have the most breathtakingly unqualified ignoramus to heave his spray tanned bulk within striking distance of elected office. A race baiting bully who, according to two meticulously researched biographies, is a tax cheating, investor swindling, worker shafting, dictator loving, pathologically lying, attorney general bribing, philandering, mobbed up, narcissistic, serial con artist, who hasn't got the attention span to read a fortune cookie much less a fucking intelligence briefing. But on the other hand Hillary Clinton used a private email server. See? Perfectly even."

I feel bad I did not bring this to you earlier, as it is quite brilliant.

However I apparently was distracted by a bunch of breaking news items and then forgot to get back to it. 

I really don't think the wait time has damaged its relevance or brilliance.

Covering the RNC was such a herculean undertaking that Stephen Colbert not only enlisted the help of Jon Stewart, but he took the REAL/FAKE Stephen Colbert out of mothballs.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

Stephen Colbert tromped out to a cabin in the woods to find Jon Stewart on last night’s “Late Show,” in hopes that the former “Daily Show” host could explain how Donald Trump came to pass. 

Putting aside his chi kombucha, Colbert invited his friend in for some kale jerky, but desperately begged him to forego his beard care to explain how Donald Trump became the Republican nominee for president.

And ye shall know him as Colbert.

The Word, I thought I was going to die and go to heaven.

As if that was not exciting enough, and it was exciting enough, Daily Show alumna Samantha Bee also took a turn at mocking the convention. And she even brought a little Sarah Palin into the mix.

Courtesy of The Wrap:

Samantha Bee kicked off her Republican National Convention coverage with a scorching indictment of — well, pretty much everything about the convention. 

She began by mocking the fact that numerous sponsors pulled their support from the RNC due to Donald Trump’s controversial nature and the fact that many popular Republicans like Sarah Palin have declined to speak at the event. 

Bee also ripped the party’s ultra-conservative platform, which solidified its staunch stances on transgender bathroom use and against gay marriage.

There is literally so much to mock that I think these shows may have to hire extra staff.

I can hardly wait to see what is in the offing for tomorrow. 

So guess whose fancy new logo just got scrubbed from the Trump campaign website.

Breaking the mattress of America. pic.twitter.com/M4Cq62YS2c

— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) July 15, 2016

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

After a day of ridicule for a poorly designed Trump/Pence campaign logo that launched a thousand memes, the Trump campaign disappeared the design from their official website overnight. 

Following the Twitter announcement of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as businessman Donald Trump’s choice of a running mate should he still be given the GOP presidential nomination, the logo was unveiled online and immediately became the object of derision. 

With some commenters noting the T&P styling and comparing it to dangling toilet paper coming off a roll, others pointed out the penetration of the Trump ‘T’ into the Pence ‘P’ had a disturbing sexual connotation that became the subject of much mirth.

And then there was also this:

Scoop: @realDonaldTrump was so unsure about @mike_pence that around midnight last night he asked top aides if he could get out of it

— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) July 15, 2016

Boy it sure looks like the Donald Trump/Mike Pence campaign is off to a great start.

Don't you agree?

I can hardly wait to see which epic fail they trot out next.

Samantha Bee on Democrats fighting the good fight concerning assault weapons in this country. Update!

By the way the filibuster was only the beginning, yesterday the Congressional Democrats staged a freaking sit in on the floor of the House., which is STILL going on!

Courtesy of The Hill:

Democrats are staging a sit-in on the House floor to push for action on gun control legislation. 

Dozens of Democrats were participating in the sit-in after it began Wednesday morning, with some lawmakers seated cross-legged on the floor. 

Democrats have been pressing for action on gun control before the House leaves at the end of this week for a planned recess. 

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the veteran lawmaker who was brutally beaten by police in the 1965 civil rights march in Selma, Ala., began the sit-in by giving a speech while surrounded by his colleagues. 

"We have turned deaf ears to the blood of the innocent and the deaths in our nation," he said. "Mr, Speaker, where is the heart of this body. Where is our soul? 

"How many more mothers, how many more fathers have to share tears of grief before we decide to do anything?" 

Shortly after Lewis spoke, the Democratic lawmakers sat down in the well of the House.

More Than 65 Members Of Congress Are Participating In The Ongoing Sit-In For Gun Control https://t.co/myq7445uh0

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) June 22, 2016

Okay, pretty sure nothing like this has ever happened before.

By the way is it wildly inappropriate to discuss the man crush I have on Rep. John Lewis?

Simply put the man rocks!

Let me also point out that these are the Democrats that a certain somebody once claimed were no different than the Republicans and who also claimed they no longer represented the will of the people.

 If you want to try and hijack their party, at least show some fucking respect.

Update: This is getting better all of the time.

 So what are we up to? Twenty two, twenty three hours now?

Samantha Bee with part two of her examination into the history of the Religious Right.

Okay now I really liked this show before, but right now I am nursing a serious admiration boner for Samantha Bee. (Yes admiration boners are a real thing, that I totally just made up for this post.)

She is not only making me miss Jon Stewart less she has inspired me to write a letter to the folks over tat TBS to ask why in the fuck the show is not on five days a week, instead of once.

Dammit I need more programming like this.

Hell we ALL need more programming like this.

Samantha Bee just did to the Religious Right what they have been doing to America for the last forty years.

Okay first off let me just say that Samantha Bee is singing my song and the melody sounds delightful.

This is what I have been talking about since the very beginning of IM. In fact this issue is why IM even exists.

And damn did she do a good job or what?

This is right up there with the deep dives that John Oliver has been doing over at HBO, and that is high praise indeed.

Do yourself a favor and watch this entire segment.

And then do the country a favor and spread it far and wide.

Samantha Bee talks about "numbnut" Republican laws and takes Democrats to the woodshed for sleeping through the 2010 midterms.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

“After the 2010 landslide, policies started happening to states the way sex happens to people who drink with Bill Cosby.” Bee shows maps that color in the states that have done the most damage since 2010 restricting freedoms for everyone but gun owners. “No wonder Democrats are so hung up on appointing the next Supreme Court Justice. They need him to strike down all the sh*tty state laws that might not have passed if they’d bothered to vote in 2010.” 

Bee closes with this: “Look, I know state elections aren’t fun. They don’t have cool concerts or dank memes. But, voting in them is important. Just think of it like a mammogram. It’s painful and inconvenient, but you gotta do it. Because early prevention prevents a lot less than late stage treatment.” 

You know I totally feel Samantha Bee's pain here.

I personally feel that there are far more likely Democratic voters in this country than Republican voters by quite a large margin, but they are almost catatonic during midterm elections and seem to think that if there is no headliner to capture their attention that they can skip the party altogether without any real consequence.

But the consequences are all around us and we need to find a way to inspire, incite, and perhaps even frighten liberals to vote in every single, Municipal, State, and Federal election.

If we really want to make this country a better place we have to do the work to make that happen.

And don't forget your response to somebody working hard to keep you from exercising your rights as an American should be to work even harder to exercise those rights.

Samantha Bee tries to "Feel the Bern." But fails.

Courtesy of Vox:

"I'm not here to bash Bernie," Bee said. "I'm just here to understand your optimism, and stick my fingers in it, and just roll it around in my hands, and restore myself to the person I used to be." 

But try as she might, Bee just couldn't get it. She kept asking them about the political process and Sanders's chances of sustaining a movement to change America, and they repeatedly came back with the same determined enthusiasm for their presidential candidate. Why couldn't President Barack Obama deliver on some of his campaign promises? "He faced tremendous opposition and a lot of prejudice." 

So how will Sanders be different? "It takes a movement to get this stuff done." "The difference is that the people will rise and stay awake after Bernie is elected." "If he has problems with Congress, I think he would call on support. … 'Let's have a big protest.'" 

Bee wasn't buying it. "So are you literally saying to me right now that the difference between Obama and Bernie Sanders is that the people of America are going to continue to be motivated within the political process, and they're going to keep putting pressure on our elected leaders to make change?" she asked. "Have you met people?"

I think Samantha Bee did in this segment exactly what I have been trying to do for weeks now, and she did it much better and with humor. 

Yes the obvious question to ask is if President Obama, with all of his charisma and energetic support from the voters of this country, could not push through all of his agenda in the face of entrenched GOP opposition, what makes anybody think that a 74 year old Democratic Socialist will be any more successful?

Samantha Bee laments the death of the once great GOP.

Good stuff.

However one part caught my attention last night, and I have to admit confused me a little.

You see around the 3:00 mark Bee refers to Sarah Palin as the "Arctic Maenad," a term I had not heard before.

So I looked it up: 

Often, the Maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a combination of dancing and drunken intoxication. In this state, they would lose all self-control, begin shouting excitedly, engage in uncontrolled sexual behavior, and ritualistically hunt down and tear animals (and sometimes men and children) to pieces, devouring the raw flesh.

Yep, sounds about right. You may proceed. 

Samantha Bee reminds us of the most important election of our lifetime and how most of us missed it.

She is absolutely right about this.

Keep this in mind when 2018 rolls around.

If Democrats keeps missing these midterm elections then we are NEVER going to get the government that we want, or the government that we deserve.