How Donald Trump uses his tweets to control the narrative.

Trump uses social media as a weapon to control the news cycle. It works like a charm. His tweets are tactical rather than substantive. They mostly fall into one of these four categories. pic.twitter.com/XaK8tCpRy6

— George Lakoff (@GeorgeLakoff) January 3, 2018

Yep, that sounds about right to me.

An example of the Right Wing propaganda that Sinclair owned news stations are forced to broadcast daily.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

On an otherwise regular morning in mid-August, viewers in Providence, Rhode Island were treated to a segment called Behind the Headlines with Mark Hyman, which immediately followed the local weather report. 

“We have the greatest health care in the world,” Hyman says, despite the fact that some 27 million people in the U.S. do not have health insurance, and millions more are underinsured. 

“Did Obamacare make us healthier? No,” Hyman declares. “With Obamacare in place, more Americans are dying than ever before. Now this doesn’t mean Obamacare is killing people, but it does mean that Obamacare isn’t making people healthier.”

The connection between Obamacare and a higher mortality rate has no correlation whatsoever, and experts actually cite more car crashes, drug overdoses, and gun deaths as the driving reasons for that rate — not Obamacare. 

And despite the fact that millions of people in the United States are under- and uninsured, the Affordable Care Act has given an estimated 20 million people access to health insurance. Access to care saves lives, not the opposite. 

Despite his concession that higher mortality rates don’t mean Obamacare is killing people, Hyman ends his segment with the conclusion that “government-directed health care can kill.”

The segments are aired daily on Sinclair owned news outlets, and are only one example of a number of similar "must run" segments that are forced on the local affiliates.

Rarely do they offer data to back up their talking points, and when they do it is heavily skewed or misrepresented.

But of course data is unimportant to their target audience anyway.

Sinclair owned news outlets give frightening daily terrorist updates whether there is an actual threat or not.

Courtesy of Providence Journal:  

The company that owns WJAR-TV is mandating the broadcast of multiple programs favorable to President Donald Trump on the state’s most-watched television station. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group, a rapidly growing media company that bought Channel 10 in 2014, produces “must-run” segments and distributes them to its local stations nationwide. They must air during daily news programming, Sinclair executives said. 

Three of the segments have rattled viewers and WJAR’s own news reporters, according to Fletcher Fischer, the business manager and financial secretary of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1228, the union that represents broadcast workers there:

 ‒ The Terrorism Alert Desk, advertised as a daily news update about terrorist activity. 

‒ News pieces from Epshteyn, Sinclair’s chief political analyst. 

‒ A clearly labeled opinion show featuring Mark Hyman, a former vice president of the company. 

These pieces are fed to Sinclair’s 174 stations in the United States every day. Sinclair’s insertion of the segments into news programming has been harshly critiqued by Rhode Islanders and national commentators.

One of the main problems is that "Terrorism Alert Desk" which plays daily, along with its ominous theme, even if there is nothing really to report.  

The Terrorism Alert Desk’s updates, even in the absence of any real terrorism-related events, is scary for some, said Moni Chea, a 32-year-old Providence woman who works in a nursing clinic. Chea’s 85-year-old grandmother fled conflict in Cambodia and now lives in Portland, Maine, where Sinclair owns a local station. 

“It’s very captivating. She hears the music and it sounds very important. I try to tell her it’s just an update about national security, but she worries,” said Chea. “She fled a war. For her, terrorism — that’s her biggest fear.”

I am sure many of you remember the Bush Administration terror alerts, which were liberally used to keep us on edge and to maintain support for their unnecessary wars.

The Bushies also experimented with their own media outlets (Besides the always reliable Fox News.) and this just feels like another version of the same old propaganda.

Of course the conservatives will argue that this is just to offset the mainstream media's liberal bias, but that is just Right Wing slang for "responsible journalism."

What is more insidious, as we have previously pointed out, is that this is being disguised as local coverage, and viewers are not made aware of their local station's change in agenda or that they may in fact be watching "fake news" served with a healthy side of Right Wing propaganda.

Trump's America is looking more and more like Hitler's Germany every day.

CNN refuses to have Kellyanne Conway on their Sunday show because of "serious questions about her credibility."

Courtesy of WaPo: 

CNN declined to welcome Conway onto the set of Jake Tapper’s “State of the Union” over the weekend. The reasons? Because Team Trump volunteered her instead of Vice President Mike Pence, but also because of “serious questions about her credibility,” according to the New York Times. 

Kellyanne Conway responded to that story with this tweet:

False. I could do no live Sunday shows this week BC of family. Plus, I was invited onto CNN today & tomorrow. CNN Brass on those emails https://t.co/LVOUWIytLK

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) February 6, 2017

But CNN was having none of that.

. @KellyannePolls was offered to SOTU on Sunday by the White House. We passed. Those are the facts.

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 6, 2017

Of course all of this started after Conway was caught lying about the now famous "Bowling Green Massacre."

Which Conway has repeatedly attempted to explain away as a simple one time misstatement.

However the Washington Post found that Conway had a history of telling that particular lie:

Kellyanne Conway thinks she took too much flak for citing a nonexistent “Bowling Green massacre” to justify President Trump's travel ban. She said she simply meant to say “Bowling Green terrorists,” and she later said, “I misspoke one word.” 

Except now she doesn't appear to have misspoken at all; she seems to have believed that the Bowling Green massacre was a real thing. 

How do we know? Because she cited the same nonexistent attack in separate interviews with two other outlets — Cosmopolitan magazine and TMZ. 

While discussing why former president Barack Obama halted refugees from Iraq in 2011, Conway explained to Cosmo on Jan. 29: “He did that because two Iraqi nationals came to this country, joined ISIS, traveled back to the Middle East to get trained and refine their terrorism skills and come back here, and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre of taking innocent soldiers' lives away.” 

And she echoed those comments when interviewed by TMZ that same day, as the Daily Beast pointed out Monday afternoon. 

“He did that because, I assume, there were two Iraqis who came here, got radicalized, joined ISIS, and then were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green attack on our brave soldiers,” she said. 

All bullshit.

Gee, no wonder CNN did not want her on their Sunday programs. 

In fact at this point why would ANYBODY invite her on to tell her lies?

And while we are on the subject why would new outlets invite ANY of Donald Trump's people on to lie?

Because none of them, not ANY of them, actually consistenly tell the truth.

Partisanship plays heavily into how news outlets cover Russia hacking our election process and helping Donald Trump win the White House.

Okay so yesterday I decided to take my antacids and flip the channel over to Fox News for a bit, just to see how they were handling the CIA contention that Russia interfered in our election process to help Trump win the White House.

Spoiler alert: They are denying it altogether.

Not only that but they are mocking news agencies that are covering the story and accusing them of planting "fake news."

And the same holds true on every other Right Wing news outlet that I could find online.

Despite the fact that virtually EVERY respected newspaper and online news outlet is reporting the information as accurate, many using their own intelligence sources, the Right Wing is in total denial.

Of course this comes on the heels of a denial from the Trump campaign as well.

A denial that is also now being voiced by RNC spokesman Sean Spicer.

Which is weird because remember the Republican leaders in the House and Senate were informed of this information by the CIA way back in September:

The Post's report cited Republicans who expressed skepticism about the available evidence when presented with it in September, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

That is almost two months before the election, and the Republicans did nothing. 

On the other hand Democrats like Dianne Feinstein and Harry Reid were desperately trying to get the word out before  the election.

But they were ignored and even blocked by the Republicans who refused to admit that the Russians were working to hand the election to the candidate from their party. The very definition of putting party before country.

So now we have a couple of Republicans who feel compelled to launch an investigation, even though the damage has already been done.

It is pretty clear that many of these same Republicans heard that CIA briefing back in September, and yet they are only NOW getting off their old asses and doing something about it?

And because they were so reticent to undermine their party's candidate we are now stuck with a wholly unqualified megalomaniac who is currently filling his cabinet with the modern day equivalent of robber barons.

Remember that old movie from the 80's, Red Dawn?

We all laughed back then at how paranoid and implausible the film seemed.

How were we to know how easy it would be for Russia to actually invade our country and undermine our democracy?

And where were the Wolverines when we really needed them?

Just in time for the election Google introduces new fact checking feature. Looks like bad news for Breitbart and Alex Jones.

Courtesy of World News Report: 

Internet search giant Google has introduced a new fact-checking feature in its new section to allow readers to determine whether or not a story is true. 

“In the seven years since we started labeling types of articles in Google News (e.g., In-Depth, Opinion, Wikipedia), we’ve heard that many readers enjoy having easy access to a diverse range of content types,” the company said in an announcement. 

“Today, we’re adding another new tag, “Fact check,” to help readers find fact checking in large news stories.” 

Through an algorithmic process from schema.org known as ClaimReview, live stories will be linked to fact checking articles and websites. This will allow readers to quickly validate or debunk stories they read online. 

Related fact-checking stories will appear onscreen underneath the main headline. 

I would tout this as the end of the Donald Trump campaign if I did not know that his supporters will view this with distrust and believe that any "fact" which Google calls into question must be true due to Google's liberal bias.

However for those of us who actually want to know the truth about the news, this will be an invaluable asset.

And it will be quite helpful during those torturous holiday meals with the conservative uncle who believes every bullshit claim that drops from the mouth of a Fox News host.

Glenn Beck's "The Blaze" may soon be headed to that great Right Wing graveyard in the sky.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Glenn Beck’s website The Blaze is coming apart, suffering from a lack of editorial direction, staff attrition and internal discord, according to sources inside the news outlet. 

The site, which Beck launched in 2010 to serve as the conservative counterpart to The Huffington Post, has dropped from 25 employees on its editorial side to just six. A source inside The Blaze, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, told HuffPost that the mood among the rapidly diminishing news team is somber. 

“The few people who are still left are looking for an exit because they know The Blaze is over,” the source said. “They haven’t told us straight up that they’re done with us, but all the signs point to it, and they’re not replacing people who are laid off or get out.” 

Other sources at the site say that reporters were notified in September that their phone and travel stipends had been eliminated. They were also notified over the summer that their health benefits would be reduced. 

The Blaze officially closed its New York newsroom, a 35,000-square-foot space in Manhattan, in June. The remaining employees are working from their homes.

HuffPo points out that at one time The Blaze was the gold standard of conservative new outlets and at one time had over 31 million visitors in one month.

However one thing I do know about running a website is that visitor numbers can fluctuate greatly in a very short time, ESPECIALLY when you are discussing sensitive and emotional topics.

I am not a fan of Glenn Beck's by any stretch of the imagination, and I could really care less if his little media empire disintegrates all around him, however if I were a friend I would tell him to sit tight and cut back where he needs to, because after the Donald Trump campaign crashes and burns he is going to seem like a pudgy overly emotional Nostradamus.

And those that abandoned him will slowly start to trickle back over after they recover from the shock of being so incredibly stupid that they bought Trump's bullshit.

If that doesn't work he can always sit in his house and bitch on Facebook to his few remaining fans.

After all look how well that worked out for Sarah Palin.

What we know: Explosion in New York City. Second device found intact. Donald Trump cannot be trusted with information.

Courtesy of CNN:

Police are hunting for answers on what caused an explosion that injured 29 people in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, shortly before a second suspicious device was found nearby. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters early indications are that the explosion at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan at about 8.30 p.m. Saturday "was an intentional act." 

But, he said, "there's no specific and credible threat against New York City at this time from any terror organization." 

Investigators believe the blast was caused by an explosive device in or near a dumpster, a law enforcement source told CNN.

There also another device found nearby:

Just blocks away from the explosion, a suspicious device was found at 27th Street, according to multiple local and federal law enforcement officials.

The object was a pressure cooker with dark colored wiring protruding, connected by silver duct tape to what appears to be a cellphone, officials said. A piece of paper with writing on it was found nearby.

There is as of yet no evidence that the explosion and the pressure cooker device are connected, and the police are still gathering evidence.

However the fact that the police were not yet ready to issue an official explanation for the blast did not stop a certain loudmouth presidential candidate.

Courtesy of Yahoo:

“I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York. And nobody knows exactly what’s going on. But boy, we are living in a time — we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough,” Trump told his supporters in Colorado Springs, Colo. 

“It just happened,” he added. “So we’ll find out, but it’s a terrible thing going on in our world and in our country. And we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant. And we’re going to end it. We’re going to end it. We’ll see what it is. We’ll see what it is.” 

About two hours later, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference that the explosion on 23rd Street appeared to be the result of an “intentional” act and that there was no indication it was linked to terrorism. According to de Blasio, it was “too early” to say whether a bomb caused the explosion. The NYPD is also investigating a second location on 27th Street.

You know typically law enforcement professionals discourage folks from speculating until there is evidence to back up any one conclusion. Especially if that person is a public figure or political candidate whose speculation can result in widespread panic.

And remember folks THIS is the guy who wants access to confidential information about this nation's security.

MSNBC to give Brian Williams his own show.

Courtesy of TV Newser:  

Brian Williams has his own show again. 

The former NBC Nightly News anchor will debut “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” Tuesday night at 11 p.m. ET., MSNBC announced today. Williams’ likely move to the 11 p.m. hour was first reported last month. 

“This new assignment is a natural extension of the hundreds of hours of political coverage Brian has anchored through this campaign cycle so far,” said MSNBC president Phil Griffin in a statement. “He and Rachel Maddow and the team have been great on the big nights, and now he’ll build on MSNBC’s prime-time momentum by taking us live into the 11 p.m. hour every night.”

I have to admit that I was never the biggest Brian Williams fan when he was anchoring the NBC Nightly News. No real definitive reason, I just wasn't.

However I felt a little badly for him when he was asked to step down from his post for exxagerating about his experiences covering the war zones, and then this crazy person starting going after his jugular like it was a Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme.

When one of their own repeats a lie for 12 years but is excused with the help of the media's herd mentality, tragic distrust and despondency blankets our land. The veil is torn, however, with the revelation of exaggerated, self-centered falsehoods like NBC's perpetual lie that belittled our soldiers and their truly courageous missions. The face of that network’s news lied about combat experiences in Iraq and then with false humility accepted the title of "war hero" while the press ignores, disrespects, and often destroys the good name of our true war heroes. To me, that's like soiling sacred ground.

Leftist media and their minions in politics tried for too long to fundamentally transform America with their shared assumption we would fall in line and bend our backs as they rode us with reins to control our individual sovereignty. America said enough is enough and we strengthened our spine so we could fight for freedom, sometimes requiring battles against our own leaders. 

Damn, has she EVER made any sense?

So ultimately Williams was fired, and for quite some time laid low.

And when he showed back up earlier this year to start covering the election cycle and debates, I was actually surprised at how good he was with his dry humor and ability to keep things lively and interesting during hours and hours of coverage.

So I am looking forward to watching Brian Williams in his new show, and even though there is no promise that it will last beyond November I think we will soon see a permanent place for him in the MSNBC lineup.

President Obama arrives in Louisiana now that his visit is less likely to interrupt the delivery of services to those who are suffering due to the flooding.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

President Obama met with survivors in flooded Louisiana Tuesday, touring a hard-hit Baton Rouge suburb strewn with debris and rubble. "Sometimes when these kinds of things happen, it can seem like too much to bear. But what I want the people of Louisiana to know is you're not alone, even after the TV cameras leave," Obama said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon after walking through destroyed homes and shaking hands with residents.

Obama said Americans are "heartbroken by the loss of life" and said the floods have cost survivors more than property.

Obama signed a federal disaster declaration over a week ago, freeing up $120 million in aid.

The article is filled with criticisms concerning how long it took the President to arrive in Louisiana  but I ignored them because we know that the Governor asked the President to stay away and that Obama signed that federal disaster declaration immediately which is really the most important thing he could do in response.

This press conference only has value in bringing attention to the crisis, which everybody is already paying attention to already, and quieting those on the Right who attack the President at every opportunity.

Our President is much more concerned with helping these people get the services and help they need rather than to use their suffering as a backdrop for political purposes.

By the way Hillary is also not planning to visit the area until she knows that her appearance will not disrupt the response to the crisis.

P.S. It appears that Donald Trump's $100,000 donation (If he actually donated it.)  may have gone to Tony Perkins and his anti-LGBT ministry.

Trump donated $100k to a La. church helping w/ flood relief effort, along w/ truck of supplies he helped unload Friday, per his spokeswoman

— Ashley Killough (@KilloughCNN) August 21, 2016

The church is Greenwell Springs Baptist Church, which Trump visited Friday and where Tony Perkins is interim pastor https://t.co/iw9dbipEdF

— Ashley Killough (@KilloughCNN) August 21, 2016

Gee, that's really helpful.

Good news for Donald Trump, the media says poll numbers are up and the campaign is making a comeback. Bad news, it's the Russian media.

Courtesy of Sputnik News:

Donald Trump appears to have made a political comeback for the ages, but the media has gone silent about a major new poll that shows the Republican has catapulted back into the lead instead showing their viewers polls from three weeks ago. 

Following a major shake-up in his campaign’s leadership with the hiring of seasoned political operative Kellyanne Conway to manage the effort and controversial Brietbart CEO Steve Bannon to consult on messaging, Donald Trump has seen a meteoric rise in daily tracking polls jumping eight points to somersault past Hillary Clinton calling the corporate media’s coronation of the former Secretary of State into question. 

The poll, released by USC/LA Times asks a portion of 3,000 US citizens randomly across all households and demographic groups who they prefer for president. The poll is conducted each day to measure any volatile shifts in the candidates’ performance and to gauge the momentum of the race. 

The poll finds that Trump now holds a two point lead over Clinton, nationally. The poll found Donald Trump seven points ahead of Hillary Clinton at the start of the Democratic National Convention marred by WikiLeaks revelations of a coordinated effort by Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the DNC, and the mainstream media to undermine the electoral chances of opponent Bernie Sanders. The press were actually told to report spoon fed lines from political operatives “without attribution” in order to create a false narrative. Esteemed journalists such as dean of the Nevada political press corps and MSNBC correspondent Jon Ralston happily did as they were told.

Wow! That sounded like it could have come directly from Breitbart News instead of a Russian new outlet.

As you might imagine that USC/LA Times poll is an outlier and a quick check over at Real Clear Politics shows that most of the polling has Hillary up significantly over Trump in every other poll.

Of course to get the straight poop the best source is Nate Silver over at FiveThirtyEight: 

Hillary Clinton moved into a clear polling lead over Donald Trump just after the Democratic convention, which ended on July 28. Pretty much ever since, the reporters and poll watchers that I follow have seemed eager to tell the next twist in the story. Would Trump’s numbers get even worse, possibly leading to the first double-digit victory for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964? Or would Trump mount a comeback? As of last Tuesday, there wasn’t much evidence of an overall shift in the race. Trump was gaining ground in some polls but losing ground in a roughly equal number of them. 

Since then, Trump has gotten some slightly better results, with national polls suggesting a race more in line with a 5- or 6-percentage-point lead for Clinton instead of the 7- or 8-point lead she had earlier in August. But state polls haven’t really followed suit and continue to show Clinton with some of her largest leads of the campaign. Trump received some decent numbers in Iowa and Nevada, but his polls in other swing states have been bad. 

Overall, Trump has gained slightly in our forecasts: He’s up to a 15 percent chance of winning the Electoral College in our polls-only model, up from a low of 11 percent a week ago. 

In other words Trump is still getting slaughtered, but the slaughter is only slightly less bloody.

However for the Russian news agency that signifies a "comeback."

Is this the moment in time that we can stop arguing that Russia is NOT trying to get Donald Trump elected? 

Guess who's slinking back into the limelight.

.@SarahPalinUSA joins @jaketapper this Sunday on #CNNSOTU to talk Trump, 2016 and more. #PalinOnCNN pic.twitter.com/BaiNDoKYt8

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) May 6, 2016

Palin has been hiding out on Facebook essentially since that whole Climate Hustle fiasco.

But now it looks as if she is ready once again to come out of the shadows and shake her water filled pom poms for her pudgy orange boyfriend.

Perhaps that's because some third rate Fox News wannabe just identified her as the number one Influential Female Republicans.

Of course this is the same group of pinheads who once determined that Bristol Palin was among the 30 most influential Republicans under 30.

Well I for one welcome Sarah Palin back to the Sunday shows.

After all we can use as much help damaging Donald Trump's candidacy and keeping him out of the White House that we can get.

Do your kids know what to do when they find a gun? Watch this video and then ask that question again.

Part two.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Toddlers have shot a total of 23 people this year, and the issue of accidental shootings involving small children getting hold of guns has been making headlines. 

So local Charlotte station Fox46 investigated the issue to see just what children would do when faced with the opportunity to pick up a gun. They enlisted the help of Mecklenburg County Sheriff Irwin Carmichael and some pint-sized volunteers using a harmless but authentic-looking BB gun. 

“So if you find a gun do you touch it? No. No, what should you do? Tell and adult…go tell an adult,” is the message Carmichael sends to children. 

But as it turns out, curiosity and the desire to play can override the instructions of adults when children don’t think they’re being watched. 

About a half-dozen parents, including Carolina Panthers player Thomas Davis and his wife Kelly, along with station employees. volunteered with their children to participate. The guns were placed in a conference room along with toys and games, and the parents watched their children via hidden cameras. 

Within 60 seconds, a little boy picked up the BB gun and dropped it. Within four minutes, the kids were pointing and firing the gun at each other. 

“It happens that easy,” a Davis said.

If you are anything like me your heart was in your throat the minute that first child picked up the gun.  And I don't think I took another breath until the end of that first video.

As somebody who has worked around children my entire life, and spent hours teaching them about being safe, that represents just about every nightmare I have ever had. 

And the incredibly sad part is that this is something that happens every single day in this country. Only in many cases the gun is not a toy and the child does not survive the encounter.

Here are today's horrible reminders of what it is like to live in the NRA's America.

Courtesy of NBC 4:  

Police say a teen was accidentally shot by his own father Tuesday morning. It happened just after 6 a.m. on Skywae Drive in northeast Columbus. 

According to Columbus police, a teen was taken to an area hospital in stable condition after he was unintentionally shot in the leg.

Now at first the father blamed the shooting on some stranger, but then it turned out that he shot his own son thinking he was an intruder.

Yes not only did he shoot his own child with the gun that he most likely purchased to protect his family, he then also lied to the police about it.

Next up.

This one comes courtesy of the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:

A 26-year-old woman was shot to death while driving in Milwaukee on Tuesday morning and the shot came from a child in the back seat who somehow got hold of a gun. 

The woman was struck once in the back as she drove south on Highway 175 near W. Vliet St., at the southwest end of Washington Park, about 10:30 a.m., the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office said. 

The woman was not breathing and had no pulse when deputies arrived. Officials began CPR but she was pronounced dead at the scene. 

An update to the story identified the child as the woman's two year old son who shot her with her security guard boyfriend's handgun which was carelessly left in the back seat.

Yeah, that's pretty horrible. But sadly not the most horrible.

Courtesy of WSB-TV Atlanta:

A 3-year-old Paulding County boy who accidentally shot and killed himself used his father’s gun, according to police. 

Officers say Holston Cole found his father’s Ruger LCP .380 caliber semiautomatic pistol inside the home on Camp Circle Tuesday morning.

The three year old apparently pressed the gun against his chest and pulled the trigger.

Do we still agree with Bernie Sanders that gun manufacturers should not be sued for making a product so inherently dangerous that a small child can use it to kill themselves or somebody else in their families?

And finally.

Courtesy of WABC-TV:

Police say a doctor and a retired NYPD officer were accidentally shot when the officer's gun accidentally discharged inside the doctor's Long Island office Wednesday morning. 

It happened at about 10:30 a.m. inside the office of Dr. Matthew Nester, a podiatrist, on Long Beach Road in Oceanside. 

According to Nassau County police, the 77-year-old retired officer had removed his licensed .10-mm semi-automatic pistol from a leather briefcase to show to the doctor. 

The weapon accidentally discharged a round, which struck the owner in the thigh and continued through his leg and into doctor's right foot. 

"They both came out on a stretcher," witness Hope Pearlstein said. "They were very alert, and then I heard that he was showing the doctor his gun, and he accidentally shot him in the foot."

You know you might think that a doctor would be just a little cautious about a guy showing off a deadly weapon. But apparently not in the NRA's America.

As always I should mention that there were so many more stories like these that I could have included, and I could literally write something like this up every single day.

But the thing is that at some point we just get numb to it all, and they simply fail to elicit the kind of emotional and fearful response that one might expect.

And that my friends is the scariest part.

One key reason why Democrats and Republicans will NEVER see eye to eye.

Courtesy of Vox:  

Here's a telling fact about modern American politics: Republicans only trust Fox News. Democrats trust every network but Fox News. 

The numbers come from a new study from political scientists Matt Grossmann and Dave Hopkins collating five years of Public Policy Polling data on which major news networks people do and do not trust. PPP's data shows that Republicans are just as distrustful of mainstream outlets as of MSNBC, and Democrats are about as trusting.

Personally I would suggest that the reason why Democrats trust other news networks more than Fox, is because they are all infinitely more factually based than Fox News.

Which I would contend is exactly why the Republicans trust Fox News more.

Fox News tells its viewers what they want to hear, rather than the facts that they simply do not want to hear.

After all as everybody knows, facts have a liberal bias.

Apparently Sarah Palin does not know the difference between Facebook memes and actual news.

If it's on Facebook it must be true. Right?

Courtesy of the Moosenugget Moron's Facebook page:  

Want a great summary of memes and reports to keep you up to speed on a myriad of news topics? If you only read one thing throughout the day, THIS IS IT. Hat tip to my Minnesota buddy Mike who is always on top of the issues for all of us, and he's allowed me to share his email address so you can receive his email report, too! To be added to his list just shoot Mike an email. mpdecker2003@yahoo.com (Oh yeah, I think we should totally shoot this Mike guy an e-mail. I'll bet by the end of the day he will be SO happy that Palin shared his e-mail address.)

(Purveyors of imperative info like this are the type of guys I pal around with!)

(Actually I think we knew that already.)


Here's a sample of yesterday's email from this true American patriot who's fed up with politics-as-usual, and he's doing something about it!

Here is an example of the kind of "imperative info" that this Mike guy provides.

You may recognize it as yet another failed attempt by the Right Wing to get Americans outraged over something that Obama did that every other President has also done before him.

We simply cannot have a US President appear in a Communist country in front of image of a murderous revolutionary pic.twitter.com/0EojdnVRMG

— Peter Ubertaccio (@ProfessorU) March 21, 2016

Now see dammit I KNEW that Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush were secretly communists!

Can't say I'm surprised that Sarah Palin is bragging that she gets her "information" from the same place that your Aunt Ethel gets her proof positive that Michelle Obama is a pre-op transsexual and the President is her gay love slave. After all we've read her posts, where else would be be getting it?

However I take it as real evidence that she really does not have a full time advisor on staff who would surely have told her that this was a really stupid thing to do.

BTW Sarah we are still waiting for more information about Todd's accident. Remember, pics or it never happened.

Muslim sixth grade girl attacked while assailants call her "ISIS."

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

A Muslim girl was attacked at her New York middle school by three schoolmates who referred to the girl as a terrorist organization and tried ripping off her religious garb, INSIDE EDITION has learned. 

The sixth grade girl, whose identity IE is withholding, was playing during recess when three boys allegedly went after her on November 19 at P.S. 89 in the Bronx, a school source who spoke on the condition of anonymity told IE. 

The boys, who are in the same grade as the girl, allegedly put her in a headlock and punched her as they tried to take off her hijab, the source said. 

While beating up the girl, the boys also allegedly called her "ISIS," the source said.

Gee, I can't imagine what kind of things in the news these days might inspire such anti-Islamic hatred. 

Hang on, it'll come to me.

New image released showing one of the zombies from the new AMC series "Fear the Walking Dead" based in California. Kinda looks familiar.

Wait, that's not one of the hideous creatures from that new TV series.

That's the hideous creature who used to live in Wasilla, Alaska.

WTF is she doing in California?

Hang on I found the source:

Cheetah444 8 hours ago Good morning! 

Not sure this was posted here or not, but here is a photo of Sarah in San Diego earlier this week. Never heard of Pearson Sharp, but he's an author and Sarah is holding a copy of his newest book entitled The Sovereign. Sharp also works at One America Network News in San Diego. 

Pearson Sharp ‏@PearsonSharp 20h 

Got to meet @SarahPalinUSA at work! #Oann #theSovereign 

Okay well you have to admit that it was an honest mistake.

Gee could Palin be looking to get a job with this conservative One America News Network?

Could be, after all she certainly doesn't have much of anything else going for her right now.

If she gets the job we can start a pool as to how long she will last THIS time.

My money's on not more than a year tops.

But if you think Palin's planning to go legit, and leave her grifting ways behind, well you my friend do NOT know Sarah Palin.

Here is the twenty two minute long Palin infomercial recently released by SarahPAC :

Did anybody else notice how old most of that footage was?

Here was Wonkette's take on the video.

You know something tells me that the Huffington Post is not taking Donald Trump's presidential campaign seriously.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president, we have decided we won't report on Trump's campaign as part of The Huffington Post's political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette.

I know it's vague, but if you read between the lines it definitely feels like they think Trump is full of shit.

Anybody else picking up on that?

Of course Trump being Trump, he just had to respond:  

Donald J. Trump Response to Huffington Post 

Mr. Trump is number one in the unimportant Huffington Post poll, along with all other recently released polls including Reuters, FOX, USA Today/Suffolk University and The Economist. 

Mr. Trump is in first place in Nevada, where he is also number one, by a wide margin, with Hispanics. He is number one in North Carolina and expects to win Iowa and New Hampshire. 

Mr. Trump singlehandedly raised the issue of illegal immigration and started a national conversation about what has turned out to be one of the most important topics of this election cycle. 

Likewise, Mr. Trump is the leader on issues such as the terrible United States trade deals, strengthening our military, taking care of our great Vets and the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. 

If you read previously written Tweets, Mr. Trump has never been a fan of Arianna Huffington or the money-losing Huffington Post. 

The only clown show in this scenario is the Huffington Post pretending to be a legitimate news source. Mr. Trump is not focused on being covered by a glorified blog. He is focused on Making America Great Again.

As you can tell Donald J. Trump also likes to speak in the third person like a cut rate villain in a D.C. Comic book.

Mayoral candidate Dan Coffey threatens to sue media outlets that report on that time he talked about bribing Anchorage Assembly members to vote his way. Oops.

Courtesy of KTVA:  

Mayoral candidate Dan Coffey has stated he doesn’t want the public to hear a private conversation he had with current Anchorage Assembly member Bill Starr back in 2008. The conversation with Starr was recorded onto an answering machine. 

Coffey said Thursday he hired Anchorage lawyer Thomas Amodio to “look into the issue” — referring to whether or not it is legal for media to broadcast or publish the conversation that took place when Dan Coffey was on the Anchorage Assembly. Coffey has already made public a transcript of some of the conversation, which is posted on his campaign website. 

The transcript has profanity in it, but more concerning to some people is the reference Coffey makes to paying Assembly members to vote his way. In an accompanying letter, Coffey says he was “joking” when he said “I’m doling it out 250 at a crack.” 

In a letter to KTVA 11 News, Amodio writes, “With the election merely weeks away, we strongly urge you not to violate state and/or federal law by broadcasting the conversation or any portion of it.”

Yeah why should Anchorage citizens be made aware of the fact that one other candidates for mayor of their fair city might be a person who plays fast and loose with ethics rules.

I mean after all how could THAT help them decide who not to vote for?

What I find interesting is that this is essentially old news that was reported on way back in 2008, and Coffey himself has part of the transcript on his website so seriously on what grounds could Coffey file suit against a news agency that reported on this story?

He's such an asshole, I would not vote for him if he were running against Charles Manson.