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Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-16: Bed Bugs & Broomsticks Edition
Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-16: Bed Bugs & Broomsticks Edition
Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up UNLV?? ? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! I want to say first off congratulations to the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals for winning the pennants and Houston especially for sending the Yankees home packing with that amazing walk off two run home run in the 9th inning. Yankees, you can rest easier knowing you won’t have to go to the White House to eat Big Macs with Trump. Do we have time for the thing? Yeah so did anyone hear the story of Jared Leto trying to shut down the Joker? Yeah that happened – I mean did you see the Joker movie? I did and it was great. Did you see Suicide Squad? I did and that was torture. Thank you sir, yeah the 21 Pilots song is the best thing to come out of Suicide Squad, though I can’t wait to see Birds Of Prey. That of course is the stand alone movie about the Joker’s girlfriend Harley Quinn. But here’s the thing, like I said did you see Suicide Squad? Remember how bad the Joker’s performance was in that movie? Yeah so do I. Just because you play that character doesn’t mean that you own that character. Maybe Mr. Leto should take a page from his character and say that everything burns. Even an iconic character like the Joker can collapse. Although it could be worse – it could be Gemini Man. Hey o!!! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first Bill Maher is back and he has an interesting idea to get Trump to leave the Oval Office – the only language he speaks:
Man the news just keeps getting weirder doesn’t it? In the number one slot we’re going to bring back one of our favorite new segments. Which is when there’s too much batshit crazy news happening, like your favorite pasta sauce, we throw a whole bunch of stories into a blender and hit “puree” in “So That Happened” (1). In the second slot this week, sadly we lost a living legend when longtime Baltimore representative Elijah Cummings passed away. And of course, since the MAGA world is insane and completely predictable, we’re going to talk about their disgusting reactions to his death. Taking the number three slot, is of course the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump (3), and his attempt at international diplomacy in regards to the Turkey – Syria situation, is what the military would call a colossal SNAFU. Mad e even worse by a letter that Trump wrote to PM Erdogan, and it is quite insane. In the fourth slot this week, is also our current president, @realDonaldTrump (4). Could the international meeting of economic leaders known as the G-7 Summit be headed to Mar-A-Shithole? Well, yes, and no, and by the way, Trump treated the US Constitution about as well as Erdogan treated his letter! At slot number 5 is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigate (5) and this week – a shocking study was done on baby food and the food that you’re giving your kid, might be laced with toxins! Hooray for extreme corporate deregulation! At the sixth slot is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and the apocalypse is evident, people! Our resident pastor is going to weigh in on some recent doomsday theories and offer a few of his own! At slot number 7 this week we have a new edition of “This Fucking Guy” and we’re going to introduce you to conservative Christian firebrand conspiracy theorist podcaster Chris McDonald and whew, this fucking guy. At slot number 8 is our segment “Unpopular Opinions”, and this week – after student loan tycoon Sallie Mae was caught grifting with their pants down, we’re going to tell you what we really think about them! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week we have a new “People Are Dumb” (9) because of course they are! Finally our 2020 voters’ guide “Keeping Up With The Candidates” is going to touch on the issues this week – in particular Beto O’Rourke’s controversial gun buyback program. What is it and how do you explain it to your gun loving NRA member relatives? And the palate cleanser this week, we have some live music from country’s outlaw anti-hero, Sturgill Simpson! Really buy his new album “Sound & Fury” or you’re no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!
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[font size="8"]So That Happened
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Yeah that happened! Just like your favorite pasta sauce, we dump all the ingredients into a blender and hit “puree” because there’s so much crazy stuff that happens on an almost daily basis. We live in an era where there’s no off switch from the daily news and it gets crazier by the day. And this segment is basically free-floating crazy news. Almost kind of like People Are Dumb. I want to start with this story out of course our nation’s capital. So there was a pro-Trump rally on the National Mall. And this story is pure what happens when you get a bunch of Trump supporters together and they decide to do something to imitate their dear leader? Well, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so…
A couple hundred Donald Trump fans rallied outside Congress on Thursday for the “March for Trump,” an event meant to oppose House Democrats’ impeachment investigation. According to organizers, though, there would have been hundreds more people shouting “stop the coup” in Washington’s streets if not for a liberal plot against their buses. That’s because, as would-be rally attendees gathered across the East Coast for the US Coachways buses that the organizer had promised would take them to Washington, those buses never showed. The no-shows provoked a wave of anger, accusations that the “deep state” had colluded to stop a show of Trump support in Washington, and negative reviews aimed at US Coachways.
But US Coachways has a simpler explanation for what happened—it was never paid for the requested buses due to a series of declined credit card payments. “We want to get people down there,” Joseph Heap, US Coachways’ chief marketing officer, told The Daily Beast. “But unfortunately, payment is required.”
For those who made it to the rally, the missing buses were a subject of anger, consternation, and conspiracies. Rally speaker and One America News personality Jack Posobiec compared the bus issue to social media companies “deplatforming” conservatives.
“I hear there was a buses issue today,” Posobiec said. “The company refused to work with folks.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-coachways-charter-bus-company-did-not-sabotage-the-march-for-trump?ref=author
But US Coachways has a simpler explanation for what happened—it was never paid for the requested buses due to a series of declined credit card payments. “We want to get people down there,” Joseph Heap, US Coachways’ chief marketing officer, told The Daily Beast. “But unfortunately, payment is required.”
For those who made it to the rally, the missing buses were a subject of anger, consternation, and conspiracies. Rally speaker and One America News personality Jack Posobiec compared the bus issue to social media companies “deplatforming” conservatives.
“I hear there was a buses issue today,” Posobiec said. “The company refused to work with folks.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-coachways-charter-bus-company-did-not-sabotage-the-march-for-trump?ref=author
Well pay up suckas! I mean isn't that typical? You build up all this hype and then skimp out on the bill. Who does that sound like? Wait, do I even need to ask that question? I mean it's pretty obvious that he's inspiring this! And no idiots, it’s not some “deep state conspiracy”. Pay your bills, deadbeats! And by the way you know how I love it when the pro-Trump bullies known as Alt Right get taken down more than a few pegs? Well this happened to one of our favorite groups.
Two members of the far-right group the Proud Boys were each sentenced to four years in prison and five years post-release supervision on Tuesday for their involvement in a violent 2018 clash with anti-fascist protesters in New York City, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said.
Maxwell Hare, 27, and John Kinsman, 40, had been convicted of attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot in August. The jury in State Supreme Court had rejected the defendants’ claims that they had acted in self-defense.
Hare and Kinsman are two of 10 Proud Boys members who were charged in connection with the October 2018 brawl, in which they beat four anti-fascist – also known as “antifa” – protestors after an event featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes at the Metropolitan Republican Club on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
“These defendants transformed a quiet, residential street into the site of a battle-royale, kicking and beating four individuals in a brutal act of political violence,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/proud-boys-members-sentenced-four-years-prison-violent-clash-antifa-n1070166
Maxwell Hare, 27, and John Kinsman, 40, had been convicted of attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot in August. The jury in State Supreme Court had rejected the defendants’ claims that they had acted in self-defense.
Hare and Kinsman are two of 10 Proud Boys members who were charged in connection with the October 2018 brawl, in which they beat four anti-fascist – also known as “antifa” – protestors after an event featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes at the Metropolitan Republican Club on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
“These defendants transformed a quiet, residential street into the site of a battle-royale, kicking and beating four individuals in a brutal act of political violence,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/proud-boys-members-sentenced-four-years-prison-violent-clash-antifa-n1070166
But the bullies known as the Alt Right simply refuse to go quietly. This happened in Santa Monica on Saturday and I was just hanging out there on Friday. It’s getting ugly and the alt right refuse to go down, they’re pulling no punches. Or they are pulling several punches depending on which side you are on during the protests on the pier.
Video shows a man in a MAGA hat being detained after a crowd of Trump protestors and supporters were sent screaming and running on the Santa Monica Pier after at least one person pepper sprayed the crowd Saturday.
A witness who is a KTLA employee caught the incident on camera.
The Santa Monica Police Department said they received reports that a young man pepper sprayed four or six people at the pier at about 1:20 p.m. It's unclear if that's the same person seen being detained after the incident.
The crowd, some holding Trump flags and U.S. flags, others holding orange posters that read "Trump Pence Must Go" appeared to be involved in an argument before the the substance is sprayed at the panicked crowd.
Many ran away screaming and coughing. One woman was vomiting nearby, the witness said.
https://ktla.com/2019/10/19/video-man-in-maga-hat-detained-after-protestors-pepper-sprayed-at-santa-monica-pier/
A witness who is a KTLA employee caught the incident on camera.
The Santa Monica Police Department said they received reports that a young man pepper sprayed four or six people at the pier at about 1:20 p.m. It's unclear if that's the same person seen being detained after the incident.
The crowd, some holding Trump flags and U.S. flags, others holding orange posters that read "Trump Pence Must Go" appeared to be involved in an argument before the the substance is sprayed at the panicked crowd.
Many ran away screaming and coughing. One woman was vomiting nearby, the witness said.
https://ktla.com/2019/10/19/video-man-in-maga-hat-detained-after-protestors-pepper-sprayed-at-santa-monica-pier/
I only hope that it wasn’t like that! I mean come on, pepper spray isn’t something to be taken lightly and it makes a great taco hot sauce! And finally in a serious case of telling Trump to shut the hell up, he appears to be beating the proverbial war drums quite loudly. And considering all the horrible things that are going on in the world, this definitely isn’t helping.
President Donald Trump on Monday offered a confusing description of his foreign policy priorities as commander in chief — insisting that he is working to bring home American soldiers, while warning the U.S. may soon enter into new military conflicts.
“I'm trying to get out of wars. We may have to get in wars, too. OK? We may have to get in wars,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Story Continued Below
“We're better prepared than we've ever been,” he continued. “If Iran does something, they'll be hit like they've never been hit before. I mean, we have things that we're looking at.”
Story Continued Below
The remarks from the president come as his administration confronts escalating tensions across the Middle East and navigates new troop movements in the region.
Trump in recent days has sought to promote a temporary cease-fire agreement Vice President Mike Pence negotiated last week with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, aimed at halting the slaughter of U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria by Turkish forces.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/21/trump-united-states-wars-iran-053341
“I'm trying to get out of wars. We may have to get in wars, too. OK? We may have to get in wars,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Story Continued Below
“We're better prepared than we've ever been,” he continued. “If Iran does something, they'll be hit like they've never been hit before. I mean, we have things that we're looking at.”
Story Continued Below
The remarks from the president come as his administration confronts escalating tensions across the Middle East and navigates new troop movements in the region.
Trump in recent days has sought to promote a temporary cease-fire agreement Vice President Mike Pence negotiated last week with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, aimed at halting the slaughter of U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria by Turkish forces.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/21/trump-united-states-wars-iran-053341
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[font size="8"]Death Of Elijah Cummings
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Sadly we lost a living legend last week when longtime Baltimore representative Elijah Cummings passed after severe health complications. Made even sadder by Trump’s comments on Baltimore back in August. I would link to a previous edition, but that was the one that got cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Anyway, back on topic., politics is a weird game. Whenever someone from their side dies, it’s revealed just how horrible of a person he was. But when someone on our side dies, the other side cackles with glee and says that they had it coming to them. That’s where we come in. Yeah fuck those people.
On his radio program today, right-wing commentator and pastor Jesse Lee Peterson responded to the news that Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings had died by declaring “that’s what happens when you mess with The Great White Hope,” which is the term he uses to describe President Donald Trump.
“He dead,” Peterson said. “That’s what happens when you mess with The Great White Hope. Don’t mess with God’s children.”
“Don’t mess with The Great White Hope,” he repeated. “You see what happens.”
“If you notice, John McCain, he dead. Charles Krauthammer, he dead. And Elijah Cumming, now he dead,” Peterson declared. “They all didn’t like The Great White Hope, they went against him, they talked about him, now they all dead. That’s amazin’.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/jesse-lee-peterson-on-the-passing-of-rep-elijah-cummings-thats-what-happens-when-you-mess-with-the-great-white-hope/
“He dead,” Peterson said. “That’s what happens when you mess with The Great White Hope. Don’t mess with God’s children.”
“Don’t mess with The Great White Hope,” he repeated. “You see what happens.”
“If you notice, John McCain, he dead. Charles Krauthammer, he dead. And Elijah Cumming, now he dead,” Peterson declared. “They all didn’t like The Great White Hope, they went against him, they talked about him, now they all dead. That’s amazin’.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/jesse-lee-peterson-on-the-passing-of-rep-elijah-cummings-thats-what-happens-when-you-mess-with-the-great-white-hope/
Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! That’s amazing? Who are you? Huell Howser? I mean good god as if you couldn’t make any more of an insensitive statement. I’m actually kind of glad that Trump stayed silent on this one because he could have made it that much worse. Anyone remember what a dick he was about Baltimore just a couple of months ago?
President Trump on Friday joked about a middle-of-the-night break-in at the Baltimore home of his nemesis Rep. Elijah Cummings over the weekend. Cummings was at home during the incident but was not harmed.
“Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed,” the president tweeted. “Too bad!”
The message drew criticism from Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.
Police said the burglary at Cummings’s home in West Baltimore occurred at 3:40 Saturday morning, hours before Trump’s controversial tweets attacking the Democratic congressman and calling the city a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.”
A spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department said Thursday that it is unknown if any property was taken. In a statement Friday, Cummings said he was “notified of the intrusion by my security system.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/too-bad-trump-tweets-burglary-elijah-cummings-baltimore-home-142416146.html
“Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed,” the president tweeted. “Too bad!”
The message drew criticism from Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.
Police said the burglary at Cummings’s home in West Baltimore occurred at 3:40 Saturday morning, hours before Trump’s controversial tweets attacking the Democratic congressman and calling the city a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.”
A spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department said Thursday that it is unknown if any property was taken. In a statement Friday, Cummings said he was “notified of the intrusion by my security system.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/too-bad-trump-tweets-burglary-elijah-cummings-baltimore-home-142416146.html
Yeah you all suck! I’m tired of this shit. And I’m pretty sure that Jesus is too. Because when you point out what these morons are spouting, vs the kind of person that Elijah Cummings actually was, well, wouldn’t you rather by more like Elijah? I think we could all use more of that in our lives. And really, fuck the haters, especially those who dare to call themselves “Christian”. Maybe this is Death At A Congressman’s Funeral?
Following Cummings’ death, Christian fundamentalist Dave Daubenmire denounced him as an “enemy of the cross” and added, “Maybe he didn’t know Jesus.” Daubenmire went on to say, “I haven’t been sitting around praying that Elijah Cummings would die. But now that he did, I’m glad he’s gone . . . I bet he’s not pro-choice now. I bet he’s not pro-homo now.”
Actually, the African-American church had a major influence on Cummings’ civil rights work. Cummings’ association with the New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore spanned at least 40 years, and he would sing “This Little Light of Mine” (a Christian hymn) at civil rights marches. But to extremists like Daubenmire, only far-right white evangelicals and Trump supporters can truly “know Jesus.”
Radio host Jesse Lee Peterson, who is black, has been brutally mocked in the African-American community for calling Trump “the Great White Hope” — and he doesn’t mean it in an ironic way. As Peterson sees it, Cummings dared to take on “the Great White Hope” and paid for it with his life.
People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch posted a video of Peterson saying, “if you notice, John McCain, he dead. Charles Krauthammer, he dead. And Elijah Cummings, now he dead. They all didn’t like 'The Great White Hope;' they went against him, they talked about him. Now, they all dead. That’s amazing.”
Peterson warned Trump opponents, “Don’t mess with 'The Great White Hope.' You see what happens. Don’t mess with God’s children.”
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/21/these-far-right-christian-fundamentalists-believe-god-killed-elijah-cummings-for-opposing-trump_partner/
Actually, the African-American church had a major influence on Cummings’ civil rights work. Cummings’ association with the New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore spanned at least 40 years, and he would sing “This Little Light of Mine” (a Christian hymn) at civil rights marches. But to extremists like Daubenmire, only far-right white evangelicals and Trump supporters can truly “know Jesus.”
Radio host Jesse Lee Peterson, who is black, has been brutally mocked in the African-American community for calling Trump “the Great White Hope” — and he doesn’t mean it in an ironic way. As Peterson sees it, Cummings dared to take on “the Great White Hope” and paid for it with his life.
People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch posted a video of Peterson saying, “if you notice, John McCain, he dead. Charles Krauthammer, he dead. And Elijah Cummings, now he dead. They all didn’t like 'The Great White Hope;' they went against him, they talked about him. Now, they all dead. That’s amazing.”
Peterson warned Trump opponents, “Don’t mess with 'The Great White Hope.' You see what happens. Don’t mess with God’s children.”
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/21/these-far-right-christian-fundamentalists-believe-god-killed-elijah-cummings-for-opposing-trump_partner/
Yeah seriously, fuck Dave Daubenmire, fuck Jesse Lee Peterson, fuck Mark Taylor, fuck all these scumbags. You know what? I don’t want you to get out of here with a bad taste in your mouth, so let’s remember Elijah Cummings for the kind of person he was rather than the haters gloating about his untimely death. We could all stand to be more like Elijah.
America lost a great leader today with the passing of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the proud son of Baltimore who chaired the House Oversight Committee and played a key role in the Trump impeachment inquiry.
During his decades in Congress, Cummings earned a spotless reputation for integrity, intelligence, and commitment to progressive values. He coped superbly with the demands of his position, whether he was chairing a contentious public hearing on Donald Trump’s impeachable offenses or calming his city in the aftermath of a police killing. The respect he won for his political skills shaded into affection and even love, among Republicans as well as fellow Democrats, because he always led with humanity. He never lost the sense of dignity and gravity that motivated his public service, no matter how outrageous the behavior of his right-wing opponents.
He displayed that unshakeable righteous strength, so well expressed in his sonorous voice, last summer when Donald Trump assaulted him with a blatantly racist caricature of his district. Cummings responded by inviting the president to visit Baltimore with him — and then delivered a powerful denunciation of the white supremacist tropes and terrorism that have plagued the nation under Trump.
https://www.nationalmemo.com/a-mighty-voice-elijah-cummings-1951-2019/?fbclid=IwAR2mNH8ksgld165gxAGnnwr189hGCktYcBYNhWhM8hjjxh-4kV1rvYBvWKc
During his decades in Congress, Cummings earned a spotless reputation for integrity, intelligence, and commitment to progressive values. He coped superbly with the demands of his position, whether he was chairing a contentious public hearing on Donald Trump’s impeachable offenses or calming his city in the aftermath of a police killing. The respect he won for his political skills shaded into affection and even love, among Republicans as well as fellow Democrats, because he always led with humanity. He never lost the sense of dignity and gravity that motivated his public service, no matter how outrageous the behavior of his right-wing opponents.
He displayed that unshakeable righteous strength, so well expressed in his sonorous voice, last summer when Donald Trump assaulted him with a blatantly racist caricature of his district. Cummings responded by inviting the president to visit Baltimore with him — and then delivered a powerful denunciation of the white supremacist tropes and terrorism that have plagued the nation under Trump.
https://www.nationalmemo.com/a-mighty-voice-elijah-cummings-1951-2019/?fbclid=IwAR2mNH8ksgld165gxAGnnwr189hGCktYcBYNhWhM8hjjxh-4kV1rvYBvWKc
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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Sigh… We have to go from talking about a great man (Elijah Cummings) to talking about one of the worst scumbags on the planet who’s ever dared to call himself a “leader” and that’s the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump. The man is seriously unhinged and it might take World War III to get us out of this madness, and he might just be the mad man needed to start it. So what’s escalating the conflict between the US and Turkey? Not to mention the conflict between Turkey, Syria and the Kurdish people? Well Trump is alienating our allies, and Turkey might get Art Of The Deal’d. The whole clusterfuck is getting that much worse made by the asshole in the White House. And it could take decades to sort this madnesss.
President Donald Trump’s letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging him not to go after an enemy Kurdish military group in neighboring Syria as U.S. troops depart the war-torn country, indicates that the U.S. president wants to corner his Turkish counterpart. But Erdogan, who has run Turkey for nearly two decades, may well be smarter than to let himself be trapped.
So far, the Turkish president shows no sign of stopping his relentless advance despite the threat of American sanctions Trump delivered in his missive, made public Wednesday but penned last week. Erdogan has calculated that even if the sanctions come, they won’t be sufficient to disrupt the Turkish military strategy; he figures that what Trump wants most is to bring U.S. troops home, and he won't do much more to prevent the offensive against the Kurds.
Erdogan is without doubt the most consequential Turkish leader in nearly a century. The move is just the latest example of Erdogan’s ability to play off major world powers to get what he wants — though at the cost of his international relationships.
In 1923, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk established modern Turkey in his image as a secular state oriented toward Europe and the West. Styling himself as the new Ataturk since becoming prime minister in 2003, Erdogan has revolutionized Turkish politics, striving to recast the country from the top down in his own image: profoundly Islamic and socially conservative.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/turkey-s-erdogan-plays-trump-putin-he-tries-remake-middle-ncna1067736
So far, the Turkish president shows no sign of stopping his relentless advance despite the threat of American sanctions Trump delivered in his missive, made public Wednesday but penned last week. Erdogan has calculated that even if the sanctions come, they won’t be sufficient to disrupt the Turkish military strategy; he figures that what Trump wants most is to bring U.S. troops home, and he won't do much more to prevent the offensive against the Kurds.
Erdogan is without doubt the most consequential Turkish leader in nearly a century. The move is just the latest example of Erdogan’s ability to play off major world powers to get what he wants — though at the cost of his international relationships.
In 1923, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk established modern Turkey in his image as a secular state oriented toward Europe and the West. Styling himself as the new Ataturk since becoming prime minister in 2003, Erdogan has revolutionized Turkish politics, striving to recast the country from the top down in his own image: profoundly Islamic and socially conservative.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/turkey-s-erdogan-plays-trump-putin-he-tries-remake-middle-ncna1067736
And by the way in case you’re wondering if Tayyuip Erdogan is the world’s newest middle eastern Warmongerer, well, he’s getting some massive help from Trump. and Trump is about to go full Art Of The Deal on this guy. But if you’re guessing, Trump treated Erdogan about as well as you’d expect Trump to, and Erdogan retaliated in about the same way that you would expect an insane leader and potential mass murderer to react.
When Fox News’ Trish Regan first reported President Donald Trump’s October 9 letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, some journalists and pundits wondered whether it was a joke or a hoax. But the White House confirmed: It was genuine.
“History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen. Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” Trump wrote, signing off incongruously, “I will call you later.”
As it turns out, the Turkish government didn’t stop to puzzle over whether the missive was authentic or a joke: It quickly concluded that it was both.
The letter “was not taken seriously at the time, especially given its lack of diplomatic finesse,” Gülnur Aybet, a senior adviser to Erdoğan, told NPR’s Morning Edition today. The BBC quoted a Turkish source saying that “President Erdoğan received the letter, thoroughly rejected it, and put it in the bin.”
The letter’s language and the puerility of Trump’s attempt at forestalling a Turkish invasion of northern Syria are embarrassing on their own—the language and syntax resembling a tense note exchange in a middle-school classroom far more than the stilted conventions of international relations.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/trump-erdogan-letter/600214/
“History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen. Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” Trump wrote, signing off incongruously, “I will call you later.”
As it turns out, the Turkish government didn’t stop to puzzle over whether the missive was authentic or a joke: It quickly concluded that it was both.
The letter “was not taken seriously at the time, especially given its lack of diplomatic finesse,” Gülnur Aybet, a senior adviser to Erdoğan, told NPR’s Morning Edition today. The BBC quoted a Turkish source saying that “President Erdoğan received the letter, thoroughly rejected it, and put it in the bin.”
The letter’s language and the puerility of Trump’s attempt at forestalling a Turkish invasion of northern Syria are embarrassing on their own—the language and syntax resembling a tense note exchange in a middle-school classroom far more than the stilted conventions of international relations.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/trump-erdogan-letter/600214/
I can only imagine Erdogan throwing the letter away and it comes back to hit him in the face. In fact the conflict over in that region is escalating and I’m not sure which side I would want to be on – the US’s side or Ankara’s side? Yeah I don’t think I am choosing either side because both sides are incredibly dangerous and have unhinged lunatics at the helm. This isn’t going to end well no matter who’s involved.
Donald Trump is said to be “not happy” after his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, appeared to confirm the US had withheld military aid to Ukraine for political purposes, acknowledging the quid pro quo Democrats pursuing the president’s impeachment have sought to prove.
The close of the week brought a new round of fresh controversies enveloping Mr Trump’s White House, from his acting chief of staff’s comments during a press briefing on Thursday, to the violence in Syria after his decision to withdraw troops from the region.
Mr Trump was quick to hail the ceasefire his vice president Mike Pence agreed with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara over the Syria crisis. The president said on Twitter it was a “great day for civilisation” shortly after Turkey agreed to a 120-hour ceasefire that provided the country with many of its demands made prior to the deadly violence that shook northeastern Syria.
But his DC rivals denounced the measure as a “sham” as the fighting continued between the Turkish military and the Syrian Democratic Forces.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-live-twitter-today-schiff-ivanka-erdogan-letter-ukraine-impeachment-biden-syria-turkey-a9162256.html
The close of the week brought a new round of fresh controversies enveloping Mr Trump’s White House, from his acting chief of staff’s comments during a press briefing on Thursday, to the violence in Syria after his decision to withdraw troops from the region.
Mr Trump was quick to hail the ceasefire his vice president Mike Pence agreed with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara over the Syria crisis. The president said on Twitter it was a “great day for civilisation” shortly after Turkey agreed to a 120-hour ceasefire that provided the country with many of its demands made prior to the deadly violence that shook northeastern Syria.
But his DC rivals denounced the measure as a “sham” as the fighting continued between the Turkish military and the Syrian Democratic Forces.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-live-twitter-today-schiff-ivanka-erdogan-letter-ukraine-impeachment-biden-syria-turkey-a9162256.html
I’m pretty sure that’s a dramatic reenactment of what happened! Now the flip side – as if this side wasn’t horrifying enough – the flip side is that Trump is currently laughing at Erdogan for how he is treating him. Oh President Stable Genius, do we really need you to placate your ego in this increasingly escalating conflict? Easy answer: Hell no!!!
US President Donald Trump has compared the deadly conflict between Turkish forces and Kurds in north-eastern Syria to a fight between children.
"Like two kids in a lot, you have got to let them fight and then you pull them apart," he told a rally in Texas.
Turkey has agreed to a US request to suspend operations so long as Kurdish fighters leave the border area.
But fighting appeared to continue on Friday despite a denial by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron complained he had only learned about the US withdrawal from Syria via a tweet from Mr Trump.
"I understood that we were in Nato, that the United States and Turkey were in Nato," Mr Macron told reporters at an EU summit.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50094738
"Like two kids in a lot, you have got to let them fight and then you pull them apart," he told a rally in Texas.
Turkey has agreed to a US request to suspend operations so long as Kurdish fighters leave the border area.
But fighting appeared to continue on Friday despite a denial by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron complained he had only learned about the US withdrawal from Syria via a tweet from Mr Trump.
"I understood that we were in Nato, that the United States and Turkey were in Nato," Mr Macron told reporters at an EU summit.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50094738
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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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In case you’ve been living under a rock, or at least subscribe to @realDonaldTrump’s Twitter feed, in the last week, you would know that he attempted to use his Mar-A-Lago property in Miami to host the international summit of economic leaders known as the G-7 Summit at the property. And in case you’re wondering, yes, this is an extremely terrible idea. For a number of reasons. Trump owns the property as well as several surrounding properties. Which means that he could ostensibly profit off it which would in effect violate the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution. That is an impeachable offense as it is actually written in the Constitution. But in this day and age where fake news exists, Trump don’t play that way!
After days of relentless criticism, President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course late Saturday when he announced he would scrap plans to hold next year’s G-7 gathering of world leaders at one of his family’s resorts.
Trump made the change after members of Congress and government ethics experts accused him of violating the Constitution by holding the summit at his financially struggling Trump National Doral Miami resort.
"Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020," Trump tweeted just 30 minutes after he defended the decision on Twitter.
It was a rare about-face for Trump on his businesses. He has spent nearly three years in office insisting he is allowed to visit and promote his properties around the globe. But his decision to hold the G-7 at Doral brought him criticism from even pundits on Fox News, his favorite television network and a growing number of his own party — the same lawmakers he needs to help him fight impeachment.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/19/trump-says-his-doral-resort-will-no-longer-host-g7-summit-000292
Trump made the change after members of Congress and government ethics experts accused him of violating the Constitution by holding the summit at his financially struggling Trump National Doral Miami resort.
"Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020," Trump tweeted just 30 minutes after he defended the decision on Twitter.
It was a rare about-face for Trump on his businesses. He has spent nearly three years in office insisting he is allowed to visit and promote his properties around the globe. But his decision to hold the G-7 at Doral brought him criticism from even pundits on Fox News, his favorite television network and a growing number of his own party — the same lawmakers he needs to help him fight impeachment.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/19/trump-says-his-doral-resort-will-no-longer-host-g7-summit-000292
Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! So Trump was going to profit from world economic leaders staying at his own resorts. But then again he also threw the US Constitution under the bus because fuck it, that’s his philosophy. At least world leaders won’t be exposed to the bedbugs crawling under the mattresses at Doral. Bedbugs and Broomsticks, people. Bedbugs and broomsticks.
The hashtag #BedBugSummit trended on Twitter Friday due to allegations of past infestation at President Trump’s resort in Doral, Fla. The news resurfaced following the announcement that the U.S. will host next year’s Group of Seven (G-7) summit at the Trump property.
In the day after White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters that the 2020 G-7 summit would take place at Trump National Doral, nearly 30,000 tweets had been sent using the hashtag.
Holly Figueroa O’Reilly, a songwriter and founder of the Blue Wave Crowdsource — an organization that aims to support Democratic candidates — tweeted a January 2017 Miami Herald article covering a lawsuit against Trump Doral over bedbugs.
"Bring the leaders of the free world to Doral, he said. What could go wrong, he said," she tweeted.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/466486-bedbugsummit-trends-as-allegations-of-infestation-at-trump
In the day after White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters that the 2020 G-7 summit would take place at Trump National Doral, nearly 30,000 tweets had been sent using the hashtag.
Holly Figueroa O’Reilly, a songwriter and founder of the Blue Wave Crowdsource — an organization that aims to support Democratic candidates — tweeted a January 2017 Miami Herald article covering a lawsuit against Trump Doral over bedbugs.
"Bring the leaders of the free world to Doral, he said. What could go wrong, he said," she tweeted.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/466486-bedbugsummit-trends-as-allegations-of-infestation-at-trump
First off, interesting use of the word “swarm” in the headline there. So where could the G-7 be held? There’s plenty of possibilities! Of course you could hold it at Hawaii or even Mackinac Island as some are suggesting. And we all know how much Mackinac Island loves them some Trump and Pence (see: Idiots #7-13 ) after Pence drove an 8 SUV motorcade through an island which had famously not allowed cars for the last 100 years. Proving once again… that bad guys drive black SUVs!
President Donald Trump's decision over the weekend to no longer use his Doral golf resort in Miami to host next year's G7 Summit may rekindle chances for holding the large international event on Mackinac Island.
A spokesperson for the island's famous Grand Hotel said Monday that earlier this year, a group in charge of selecting the G7 host site did visit and tour the 397-room hotel.
The hotel spokesperson declined any further comment or speculation on what the recent change of plans could mean for the Grand Hotel being a future G7 site.
A Washington Post reporter said last month that Michigan was one of 12 sites in eight states that President Trump's team is said to have "vetted" as potential G7 hosts.
On Monday, a representative for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told the Free Press in a statement that "the state of Michigan is not aware of any formal vetting by the White House or the federal government to host the G7 Summit in Michigan at this time."
https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2019/10/21/mackinac-island-possible-g-7-summit/4053384002/
A spokesperson for the island's famous Grand Hotel said Monday that earlier this year, a group in charge of selecting the G7 host site did visit and tour the 397-room hotel.
The hotel spokesperson declined any further comment or speculation on what the recent change of plans could mean for the Grand Hotel being a future G7 site.
A Washington Post reporter said last month that Michigan was one of 12 sites in eight states that President Trump's team is said to have "vetted" as potential G7 hosts.
On Monday, a representative for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told the Free Press in a statement that "the state of Michigan is not aware of any formal vetting by the White House or the federal government to host the G7 Summit in Michigan at this time."
https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2019/10/21/mackinac-island-possible-g-7-summit/4053384002/
Yeah the Grand Hotel pretty much is a giant house, much like Mar-A-Lago. Only difference is that Trump doesn’t own it! I’ve been there, prove me wrong, people! But if Mackinac Island doesn’t work, and it most likely won’t, how about Hawaii? It’s a nice, clean place that won’t offend anybody and our leaders are free to drive their SUVs on it!
Next year's G7 summit could be coming to the islands.
White House officials confirmed Hawaii was on the short list of locations being considered, prior to the President dropping plans to hold the international conference at his Miami resort.
There’s no word yet on a specific location the Trump administration may be interested in, but local tourism officials say besides Oahu –- Maui could have a shot at hosting the event.
“It’s not like the President’s unfamiliar with Hawaii. He has a presence here,” said Mufi Hannemann.
That’s one reason the head of the state’s Lodging and Tourism Association believes Hawaii stands a good chance of winning out over other destinations.
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/10/22/hawaii-is-list-potential-sites-host-next-years-g-summit/
White House officials confirmed Hawaii was on the short list of locations being considered, prior to the President dropping plans to hold the international conference at his Miami resort.
There’s no word yet on a specific location the Trump administration may be interested in, but local tourism officials say besides Oahu –- Maui could have a shot at hosting the event.
“It’s not like the President’s unfamiliar with Hawaii. He has a presence here,” said Mufi Hannemann.
That’s one reason the head of the state’s Lodging and Tourism Association believes Hawaii stands a good chance of winning out over other destinations.
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/10/22/hawaii-is-list-potential-sites-host-next-years-g-summit/
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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Contaminated Baby Food
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 Investigates!
Is the food being ingested by your baby contaminated? Well thanks to our nation’s distaste for corporations to abide by regulation rules, it very well could be. After Senator Chuck Schumer demanded an investigation into America’s food and baby food manufacturers, the results are far more horrifying than you could ever possibly imagine. And once again, nearly all of our problems go back to when America decided that corporations rule every aspect of our lives and are above the law. But the real answer is far more complicated than that.
The Senate’s top Democrat is calling on the Food and Drug Administration to examine a report that found dozens of baby food products contaminated with lead and other metals.
Sen. Chuck Schumer says Sunday the FDA must take more action to regulate the baby food industry. A study by Healthy Babies Bright Futures found the presence of heavy metals in 95% of the 168 baby foods that were tested.
The study found 95% of the food tested contained lead, arsenic, mercury or cadmium. It found one in four baby foods that were tested contained all four metals.
The New York senator says consumers “rightfully expect those foods to be undeniably safe, appropriately regulated and nutritiously sustaining.”
He says federal regulators should examine the study and release a public statement of their findings.
https://www.apnews.com/0c400acc0dc04bd18fc1b92928acc537
Sen. Chuck Schumer says Sunday the FDA must take more action to regulate the baby food industry. A study by Healthy Babies Bright Futures found the presence of heavy metals in 95% of the 168 baby foods that were tested.
The study found 95% of the food tested contained lead, arsenic, mercury or cadmium. It found one in four baby foods that were tested contained all four metals.
The New York senator says consumers “rightfully expect those foods to be undeniably safe, appropriately regulated and nutritiously sustaining.”
He says federal regulators should examine the study and release a public statement of their findings.
https://www.apnews.com/0c400acc0dc04bd18fc1b92928acc537
That’s actually what all the poison in your baby food might do to you. But what’s even scarier is that there’s more likely a chance that you’ll encounter contaminated food or have toxins in your food because of the fact that America doesn’t regulate anything. Regulations mean health inspections which means cleaner machines, and well, you get the rest.
A report out this week saying that baby food sold in the U.S. often contains potentially dangerous substances known as heavy metals has many parents wondering what, if anything, they can feed their babies, and just how serious the risks are.
Here’s what you need to know about the new research, what Consumer Reports and other experts say needs to be done to fix the problem, and, until then, some safer alternatives for infants.
The new study comes from Healthy Babies Bright Futures, a national alliance of scientists and child health advocacy organizations. The organization looked at 168 products across 61 brands, measuring the amount of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in one sample of each product. Thirteen categories of food were tested, including infant cereals, fruits, vegetables, juices, and snack foods, such as puffs.
Overall, they found at least one of the substances in 95 percent of the products. Such heavy metals have been linked to lower IQs and learning problems in children in the short term, and to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and reproductive problems later in life.
https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/most-baby-foods-contain-arsenic-lead-and-other-heavy-metals/
Here’s what you need to know about the new research, what Consumer Reports and other experts say needs to be done to fix the problem, and, until then, some safer alternatives for infants.
The new study comes from Healthy Babies Bright Futures, a national alliance of scientists and child health advocacy organizations. The organization looked at 168 products across 61 brands, measuring the amount of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in one sample of each product. Thirteen categories of food were tested, including infant cereals, fruits, vegetables, juices, and snack foods, such as puffs.
Overall, they found at least one of the substances in 95 percent of the products. Such heavy metals have been linked to lower IQs and learning problems in children in the short term, and to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and reproductive problems later in life.
https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/most-baby-foods-contain-arsenic-lead-and-other-heavy-metals/
Is the food going in or coming out? We’re not sure that we would want to know the answer to either question, since both are probably equally disgusting. Here’s the scary facts – it wasn’t just one brand or a few, it was over 150 different brands and foods that were found to be guilty of selling us toxic products, and these are aimed at babies! Babies! Yes, there is an extremely high probability that your baby food could be contaminated.
Researchers at Healthy Babies Bright Futures tested 168 different baby foods to see if they contained traces of heavy metals.
The study found that 95 percent of them contained arsenic, cadmium, lead, or mercury, and 25 percent contained all four toxic metals.
“It's not surprising to me and it's really sad that I have to say that,” says Stephanie Kemp.
Kemp owns Macro Mama Baby Food, LLC., a company promising fresh food by using organic and local produce. She had her first child in 2010 and realized there weren't any healthy food options for babies, so she decided to make her own.
“I don’t trust big companies because I don't know the manufacturing process. I don't know who chopped that up, who washed it, where did it really come from.”
Kemp is also a certified personal trainer and macrobiotic health coach so she understands the vital importance of proper nutrition for developing babies, but also knows the consequences that come putting toxic chemicals in their tiny bodies
https://fox17.com/news/local/mid-state-alternative-to-big-brand-baby-foods-after-toxic-metals-finding
The study found that 95 percent of them contained arsenic, cadmium, lead, or mercury, and 25 percent contained all four toxic metals.
“It's not surprising to me and it's really sad that I have to say that,” says Stephanie Kemp.
Kemp owns Macro Mama Baby Food, LLC., a company promising fresh food by using organic and local produce. She had her first child in 2010 and realized there weren't any healthy food options for babies, so she decided to make her own.
“I don’t trust big companies because I don't know the manufacturing process. I don't know who chopped that up, who washed it, where did it really come from.”
Kemp is also a certified personal trainer and macrobiotic health coach so she understands the vital importance of proper nutrition for developing babies, but also knows the consequences that come putting toxic chemicals in their tiny bodies
https://fox17.com/news/local/mid-state-alternative-to-big-brand-baby-foods-after-toxic-metals-finding
At least Fat Stewie not being able to eat the food might be a bit of a savior because at least Fat Stewie won’t be ingesting any toxins. But the commonality of the products should not just alarm parents, but alarm anybody. We need proper food inspections and food inspectors who know what they are doing, how can these possibly pass the test? We will keep an eye out on this subject.
Sleep deprivation, diaper changes and late-night feedings are a few of the many common challenges faced by parents with a new baby at home. To ease the transition, parents often rely on the convenience of store-brand baby foods to provide the nutrients their children need in order to develop into healthy toddlers, young adults, teenagers and eventually adults. But there is a strong likelihood that nearly every can, jar and pouch of store-bought baby food contains traces of toxic heavy metals, including arsenic and lead, according to a new study.
The research, commissioned by Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF) and detailed in a report published Thursday, tested 168 baby foods from major manufacturers in the U.S. for the presence of four heavy metals: arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium.
The study found that 95 percent of the baby foods tested were contaminated by at least one of the four heavy metals, and 25 percent contained all four metals. Only nine of the 168 baby foods tested were not found to contain detectable traces of any of the four metals.
"Any amount of heavy metal can be potentially dangerous to a growing and developing baby," Dr. Jen Trachtenberg, MD, a nationally-recognized parenting expert, explained to Salon. "There is metal contaminants everywhere in the environment, water air and soil.”
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/19/95-percent-of-baby-foods-tested-contain-toxic-metals-that-could-harm-brain-development-study-finds/
The research, commissioned by Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF) and detailed in a report published Thursday, tested 168 baby foods from major manufacturers in the U.S. for the presence of four heavy metals: arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium.
The study found that 95 percent of the baby foods tested were contaminated by at least one of the four heavy metals, and 25 percent contained all four metals. Only nine of the 168 baby foods tested were not found to contain detectable traces of any of the four metals.
"Any amount of heavy metal can be potentially dangerous to a growing and developing baby," Dr. Jen Trachtenberg, MD, a nationally-recognized parenting expert, explained to Salon. "There is metal contaminants everywhere in the environment, water air and soil.”
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/19/95-percent-of-baby-foods-tested-contain-toxic-metals-that-could-harm-brain-development-study-finds/
That’s it this week for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.
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[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Oregon State! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:
My fair congregation! Please, be seated! For the end of the world is upon us! Now, now, I should have lead you into it. But this is not that kind of church and this isn’t that kind of sermon. But if you listen to our brothers and sisters on the right, you would think that the world is going to systematically collapse and that we’re all going to die at any minute. Oh wait, we’re not gonna die. We’re going to get… raptured, at least half of us will get snapped up by the LAWRD JAYSUS. Wait, is he Thanos? Yeah I get those two stories confused. Now look, every religion has their own end of the world theories, even ours does! The difference is we don’t try to sell you $200,000 doomsday shelters.
Tucked into the the rolling Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, in a corner of the state brimming with churches and crosses in front yards, there is a hidden camp next to a quiet lake.
This private campsite is where over a thousand doomsday preppers gathered one weekend in late September for their annual Prepper Camp, a mash-up of a wilderness survival course-meets-summer camp for people who love guns, getting off grid, and God. The New York Times has referred to it as a "survivalist's Burning Man."
The group is made up mostly of gray-haired retirees and couples toting kids for a weekend away from home. They are nearly all white, staunchly conservative, and eager to share what they've learned about organic farming, raising livestock, tying ropes, fermenting cabbage, and filtering drinking water in the wild.
Yet this backwoods crowd makes it known that when the end of life as we know it arrives, whether by hurricane, flood, nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP), or exploding civil warfare, they won't be so friendly anymore. That's when they'll take to their predetermined secret locales, shoot would-be intruders, and do whatever it takes to protect their families and their stockpiled food.
https://www.insider.com/who-are-doomsday-preppers-preparing-for-the-apocalypse-2019-10
This private campsite is where over a thousand doomsday preppers gathered one weekend in late September for their annual Prepper Camp, a mash-up of a wilderness survival course-meets-summer camp for people who love guns, getting off grid, and God. The New York Times has referred to it as a "survivalist's Burning Man."
The group is made up mostly of gray-haired retirees and couples toting kids for a weekend away from home. They are nearly all white, staunchly conservative, and eager to share what they've learned about organic farming, raising livestock, tying ropes, fermenting cabbage, and filtering drinking water in the wild.
Yet this backwoods crowd makes it known that when the end of life as we know it arrives, whether by hurricane, flood, nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP), or exploding civil warfare, they won't be so friendly anymore. That's when they'll take to their predetermined secret locales, shoot would-be intruders, and do whatever it takes to protect their families and their stockpiled food.
https://www.insider.com/who-are-doomsday-preppers-preparing-for-the-apocalypse-2019-10
Oh wait, that was Terminator 3. So in North Carolina they are busy preparing for the apocalypse. But what are they preparing for? It’s not like there’s going to be a planet-destroying doomsday event any time soon. By the way if you want to see an actual doomsday cult in action, look no further than what happened at one of the hotels owned by the unholy, ungodly Dark One!
Last year’s American Priority conference held at a Marriott in Washington, D.C., was not very well attended, according to Politico. The conference’s organizer Alex Phillips said that security at the D.C. hotel was not as tight as the organizers would have liked.
“We didn’t find the area very hospitable and friendly to what we were trying to do,” said Phillips in an interview.
This year the group migrated south to the Trump property in Miami, which has been more receptive to its message, Phillips said. Of the hotels American Priority considered, Trump Doral was among the cheaper bids, he said.
This year’s preliminary agenda features a topic called “Is America in a Great Awakening?” — a slogan associated with the Internet conspiracy theory called QAnon, which alleges Trump is working with former special counsel Robert Mueller to take down a ring of “deep state” actors.
Phillips said the topic on the group’s website is a reference to a Trump speech in which the president called for a “great reawakening.”
QAnon was repeatedly referenced at the group’s 2018 event. Phillips likened followers of QAnon to people who are devoted to checking their horoscopes.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article233307232.html
“We didn’t find the area very hospitable and friendly to what we were trying to do,” said Phillips in an interview.
This year the group migrated south to the Trump property in Miami, which has been more receptive to its message, Phillips said. Of the hotels American Priority considered, Trump Doral was among the cheaper bids, he said.
This year’s preliminary agenda features a topic called “Is America in a Great Awakening?” — a slogan associated with the Internet conspiracy theory called QAnon, which alleges Trump is working with former special counsel Robert Mueller to take down a ring of “deep state” actors.
Phillips said the topic on the group’s website is a reference to a Trump speech in which the president called for a “great reawakening.”
QAnon was repeatedly referenced at the group’s 2018 event. Phillips likened followers of QAnon to people who are devoted to checking their horoscopes.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article233307232.html
That’s not how this works! And if you support the Dark One at this point after everything that we’ve been through in the last 3 years, you are clearly ignorant as to how this works! Thank you, I will take that one! And by the way recent signs of the end of the world point to… a math equation. That’s right – it’s a doomsday equation that has sent the believers of the apocalypse trying to find out what it means. But really, don’t ask the guy who created it how it works!
Despite wild claims from the Daily Express, the world isn't going to come to an end today (April 23).
Quoting conspiracy theorist David Meade, the Express said a passage in the Bible, Revelations 12:1-2, "suggests the end of the world is imminent, with Earth set to be destroyed on April 23."
Right in the middle of the NBA playoffs? How rude.
The Bible passage (which of course doesn't specify April 23 as Doomsday), also signals the start of the Rapture and the second coming of Jesus Christ, Meade said.
He also said the position of the planets and constellations is another harbinger of doom, but Space.com said Meade's predicted sky arrangement is totally wrong.
The wild theory mentions the planet Nibiru, aka Planet X, will appear on April 23. Meade claims it will then pass the Earth in October, causing the start of the Rapture with huge volcanoes and volcanic eruptions due to its gravitational force.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/04/13/no-world-isnt-ending-later-month-we-hope/515516002/
Quoting conspiracy theorist David Meade, the Express said a passage in the Bible, Revelations 12:1-2, "suggests the end of the world is imminent, with Earth set to be destroyed on April 23."
Right in the middle of the NBA playoffs? How rude.
The Bible passage (which of course doesn't specify April 23 as Doomsday), also signals the start of the Rapture and the second coming of Jesus Christ, Meade said.
He also said the position of the planets and constellations is another harbinger of doom, but Space.com said Meade's predicted sky arrangement is totally wrong.
The wild theory mentions the planet Nibiru, aka Planet X, will appear on April 23. Meade claims it will then pass the Earth in October, causing the start of the Rapture with huge volcanoes and volcanic eruptions due to its gravitational force.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/04/13/no-world-isnt-ending-later-month-we-hope/515516002/
Well, of course the Daily Express is where one turns to for quality conspiracy theory based journalism, and what is it about the ultra radical right wing and conspiracy theories? We might have to do a deep dive on that subject in a future edition. But really when it comes to predicting the apocalypse or doomsday theories, just don’t. Save your brain waves for something more productive!
Score another accomplishment for the Trump administration: An increase in Doomsday Preppers. In your face, those of you who say he can’t get anything done.
The Washington Post recently featured a West Virginia survivalist camp where 100 people have already bought memberships so they will be able to ride out any of a number of horrific disasters. Sort of like an apocalypse timeshare.
They say they are prepared for the worst — famine, disease, chemical warfare, the New York Yankees winning the World Series.
Fortitude Ranch has won the endorsement of David Jones, whom the Post calls a “celebrity prepper” (which strikes me as being like a “celebrity hermit”) for his podcasts and television appearances. Like others, he worries that “the veneer of civilization is very thin.” Funny. He says that like it’s a bad thing.
Drew Miller, who runs the camp, says in an emergency, it can hold up to 500 people crammed together in buried culverts, feeding off of a stock of canned and dried foodstuffs.
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/opinion/tim_rowland/betting-on-doomsday/article_960d22f2-fe58-5345-96cd-dee7f788c618.html
The Washington Post recently featured a West Virginia survivalist camp where 100 people have already bought memberships so they will be able to ride out any of a number of horrific disasters. Sort of like an apocalypse timeshare.
They say they are prepared for the worst — famine, disease, chemical warfare, the New York Yankees winning the World Series.
Fortitude Ranch has won the endorsement of David Jones, whom the Post calls a “celebrity prepper” (which strikes me as being like a “celebrity hermit”) for his podcasts and television appearances. Like others, he worries that “the veneer of civilization is very thin.” Funny. He says that like it’s a bad thing.
Drew Miller, who runs the camp, says in an emergency, it can hold up to 500 people crammed together in buried culverts, feeding off of a stock of canned and dried foodstuffs.
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/opinion/tim_rowland/betting-on-doomsday/article_960d22f2-fe58-5345-96cd-dee7f788c618.html
There you have it folks, the Dark One has sparked an increase in people who are preparing for the end of days! As predicted in our Good Book and every other Good Book out there! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:
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[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Chris McDonald
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This week’s This Fucking Guy is conservative Christian right-wing firebrand podcaster Chris McDonald, who is not to be confused with Christopher MacDonald, the somewhat charming yet extremely angry Shooter McGavin, the golfing antagonist to Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore. No, Chris McDonald is the host of a podcast called “The MC Files”. And no, where the motto of the X-Files was “The Truth Is Out There”, there’s literally no ounces of truth in Chris McDonald’s podcast. In fact all you’ll probably find on this podcast is a bunch of batshit crazy pro Trump conspiracy theories and maybe some advertisements for nutritional supplements. Which makes us wonder what the hell are they putting in these supplements? Well they make you say batshit crazy stuff like this!
Right-wing commentator and radical conspiracy theorist Chris McDonald streamed a special edition of his “The MC Files” program this morning in response to the news that Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings had died. McDonald and his guest, Maryland pastor Stacey Shiflett, spent the entire program attacking Cummings as corrupt, unbiblical, and ungodly, and asserting that God had taken his life because of his opposition to President Donald Trump.
“We know the Bible,” McDonald said. “You’ve got a leader that has been in office for over 30 years, that opened the door on unfettered abortion in this country. His civil rights icon status was a joke because he did nothing to bring rights to his people; all he did was divide, all he did was play the race card.”
McDonald said that Cummings was a corrupt and lawless leader who waged “a cooked, deceptive, demonic attempt” to take down Trump.
“Everything that he’s done has been nothing but trying to take this president out,” he said. “I believe that God had had enough, and God moved.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/god-had-had-enough-chris-mcdonald-says-god-killed-rep-elijah-cummings-for-opposing-trump/
“We know the Bible,” McDonald said. “You’ve got a leader that has been in office for over 30 years, that opened the door on unfettered abortion in this country. His civil rights icon status was a joke because he did nothing to bring rights to his people; all he did was divide, all he did was play the race card.”
McDonald said that Cummings was a corrupt and lawless leader who waged “a cooked, deceptive, demonic attempt” to take down Trump.
“Everything that he’s done has been nothing but trying to take this president out,” he said. “I believe that God had had enough, and God moved.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/god-had-had-enough-chris-mcdonald-says-god-killed-rep-elijah-cummings-for-opposing-trump/
No, no you don’t know the Bible. At fucking all! Yeah that might be one of the worst reactions to the death of Elijah Cummings. And really, that “pastor” ought to be ashamed of themselves! Seriously if you think that God wanted this to happen because people oppose Trump, you might want to read that book again because I’m pretty sure that’s not how this works! And it gets better! Yes I did a deep dive on this moron searching through RWW because well, I did so you don’t have to! In fact if you want a window into the mind of a super paranoid RW Christian, look no further than this. I swear we need to do a whole edition on the crazy things Trump supporters actually believe. Like this:
Right-wing commentator and radical conspiracy theorist Chris McDonald closed out his “The MC Files” program last night by warning that God will destroy the Democratic Party for opening an impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
“There is a spiritual component to this folks,” McDonald said. “The Lord of Heaven is looking down on this travesty, he’s looking down on this political witch hunt, he’s looking down on this false accusation, this sowing discord among the brethren tearing the country to pieces; these are the things that God hates. And whenever a political party is invested, like the Democratic Party is, in things that God hates, they’re headed for destruction.”
“They are coming up against a power that they do not want to come up against,” he continued. “All the atheists in the Democratic Party are going to find out very soon that God does exist and he’s going to deal with this in the strictest of ways … There is going to be hell to pay when this is all over with and it’s not going to end bad for the president, it’s going to end bad for these people that are doing it.”
McDonald likened to situation to the Book of Esther in the Bible, in which Haman, an adviser to the king, plotted to destroy the Jews, only to be hung on the gallows that he had intended to use on his rival, Mordecai.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/chris-mcdonald-god-will-destroy-the-democrats-for-trying-to-impeach-trump/
“There is a spiritual component to this folks,” McDonald said. “The Lord of Heaven is looking down on this travesty, he’s looking down on this political witch hunt, he’s looking down on this false accusation, this sowing discord among the brethren tearing the country to pieces; these are the things that God hates. And whenever a political party is invested, like the Democratic Party is, in things that God hates, they’re headed for destruction.”
“They are coming up against a power that they do not want to come up against,” he continued. “All the atheists in the Democratic Party are going to find out very soon that God does exist and he’s going to deal with this in the strictest of ways … There is going to be hell to pay when this is all over with and it’s not going to end bad for the president, it’s going to end bad for these people that are doing it.”
McDonald likened to situation to the Book of Esther in the Bible, in which Haman, an adviser to the king, plotted to destroy the Jews, only to be hung on the gallows that he had intended to use on his rival, Mordecai.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/chris-mcdonald-god-will-destroy-the-democrats-for-trying-to-impeach-trump/
So if you watch or listen to the MC Files – there’s two things t that are perfectly clear. 1. Democrats hate God because we hate Trump. Hey, they figured us out! 2. God will smite those who don’t agree with the Christian right 100%. That’s pretty much a cult. And Chris McDonald is of course what a glimpse into being a member of this cult is like. Just watch his show and you’ll get not only shit like this, but you’ll get insights from people like everyone’s favorite Liberty University “prophet”, Mark Taylor!
Mark Taylor, the so-called “firefighter prophet” and a radical right-wing conspiracy theorist about whom Liberty University made a movie last year, appeared on Chris McDonald’s “The MC Files” program earlier this week, where he declared that those who criticize him are under demonic control.
Taylor, who has repeatedly warned that those who mock or criticize him are literally putting their lives at risk because God will strike them down for disrespecting his prophetic calling, said that some people are “obsessed” with attacking him because they are controlled by a Jezebel spirit.
“I’ve got people now attacking me,” he said. “They’re obsessed. Now, you have to ask yourself, ‘What is the spirit behind this obsession to attack a prophetic voice?’ It’s Jezebel. Every bit of it is Jezebel. Jezebel was obsessed with taking down Elijah. Period. And it’s to shut the true prophetic voice up.”
“These people that do this are driven by forces that are greater than themselves, they’re driven by demonic forces,” Taylor added. “You cannot reason with demons.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mark-taylor-says-his-critics-are-driven-by-demonic-forces/
Taylor, who has repeatedly warned that those who mock or criticize him are literally putting their lives at risk because God will strike them down for disrespecting his prophetic calling, said that some people are “obsessed” with attacking him because they are controlled by a Jezebel spirit.
“I’ve got people now attacking me,” he said. “They’re obsessed. Now, you have to ask yourself, ‘What is the spirit behind this obsession to attack a prophetic voice?’ It’s Jezebel. Every bit of it is Jezebel. Jezebel was obsessed with taking down Elijah. Period. And it’s to shut the true prophetic voice up.”
“These people that do this are driven by forces that are greater than themselves, they’re driven by demonic forces,” Taylor added. “You cannot reason with demons.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mark-taylor-says-his-critics-are-driven-by-demonic-forces/
Hey it’s always the ones you least suspect! But really this fucking guy is crazy! And anyone who has previous “This Fucking Guy” Mark Taylor on his program is a beacon of sanity and intelligence. Yeah thanks for the sarcasm tag, sound effects guy! But this might be one of my favorite points of the MC Files, you know how the right loves them some pedophilia comparisons? Well there’s only one person who’s allowed to make them!
Near the end of his “The MC Files” program on Monday night, radical conspiracy theorist Chris McDonald criticized some of his viewers for filling the comments on his livestream broadcast with baseless allegations that Vice President Mike Pence has some involvement with pedophilia.
“You can believe what you want to believe about Vice President Mike Pence,” McDonald said, “but I would prefer your comments not to come into this chatroom accusing things that you have no knowledge of. It’s slander and it’s not right and we’re not going to tolerate it here on The MC Files.”
“I don’t think that it is fair to his family and it is not fair to him,” McDonald added. “If this was you in his place and somebody had an ax to grind with you … and they get out there and they put your name in a tweet and say, ‘You’re a pedophile,’ let me tell you something, you wouldn’t like that. None of us would like that. With no proof, nothing, just say it just to say it. You wouldn’t like that. So just understand that tonight that we’re not going to do that on this show. We don’t do that stuff here.”
“We are going to protect the integrity of the show and not become slanderers and people that trash other people without proof,” he said. “You don’t take a matter that you don’t have any proof of and you repeat it and it becomes gossip and it becomes innuendo and it becomes slander. And let me tell you something: You don’t want to get on the wrong side of that because it’s the devil’s tool, that is the devil’s workshop, and people are destroyed by it. And we are not going to do it.”
“We as believers and we as people of faith cannot do the devil’s bidding with our tongues,” McDonald declared. “We are not going to become slanderers. We are not going to slander people.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/only-chris-mcdonald-is-allowed-to-use-his-show-to-slander-people-with-allegations-of-pedophilia/
“You can believe what you want to believe about Vice President Mike Pence,” McDonald said, “but I would prefer your comments not to come into this chatroom accusing things that you have no knowledge of. It’s slander and it’s not right and we’re not going to tolerate it here on The MC Files.”
“I don’t think that it is fair to his family and it is not fair to him,” McDonald added. “If this was you in his place and somebody had an ax to grind with you … and they get out there and they put your name in a tweet and say, ‘You’re a pedophile,’ let me tell you something, you wouldn’t like that. None of us would like that. With no proof, nothing, just say it just to say it. You wouldn’t like that. So just understand that tonight that we’re not going to do that on this show. We don’t do that stuff here.”
“We are going to protect the integrity of the show and not become slanderers and people that trash other people without proof,” he said. “You don’t take a matter that you don’t have any proof of and you repeat it and it becomes gossip and it becomes innuendo and it becomes slander. And let me tell you something: You don’t want to get on the wrong side of that because it’s the devil’s tool, that is the devil’s workshop, and people are destroyed by it. And we are not going to do it.”
“We as believers and we as people of faith cannot do the devil’s bidding with our tongues,” McDonald declared. “We are not going to become slanderers. We are not going to slander people.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/only-chris-mcdonald-is-allowed-to-use-his-show-to-slander-people-with-allegations-of-pedophilia/
Yeah so you’re not going to slander people, except when you do slander them. That’s Chris McDonald, this week’s:
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[font size="8"]Unpopular Opinions
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One of the principal campaign points that has driven the Bernie Sanders campaign has been the student loan crisis. And one of the biggest corporations that has been swindling and grifting consumers until we’re hung out to dry has been Sallie Mae, one of the largest student loan providers in the country. Our student loan crisis is currently hovering at about a trillion dollars in debt. Now in an era where corporations are people and giant banks like Goldman Sachs are making hundreds of billions a year and giving it all to themselves, it really hurts to see when stories like this break. Because we all know where it’s leading.
Student loan company Sallie Mae flew more than 100 sales team employees to Hawaii earlier this year to celebrate $5 billion in student loans, as the student debt crisis has reached $1.6 trillion.
In August, Sallie Mae brought the employees to Maui’s luxury Fairmont resort on Wailea beach as it celebrated a record-high year in sales, NBC News reports.
The $5 billion in student loans went to 374,000 borrowers, totaling nearly $13,400 per person.
“We said, ‘Hey, look, Maui is a pretty nice spot.’ And so if you wanted to stay a few days or want to bring your family, that’s up to you,” Sallie Mae CEO Ray Quinlan told NBC News.
He added that the venture was not an “incentive trip” but instead a “sales get-together for all of our salespeople.” The company has taken similar retreats since it was founded in the 1970s, NBC News reports.
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/466492-sallie-mae-execs-flew-over-100-employees-to-hawaii-to-celebrate-record-5
In August, Sallie Mae brought the employees to Maui’s luxury Fairmont resort on Wailea beach as it celebrated a record-high year in sales, NBC News reports.
The $5 billion in student loans went to 374,000 borrowers, totaling nearly $13,400 per person.
“We said, ‘Hey, look, Maui is a pretty nice spot.’ And so if you wanted to stay a few days or want to bring your family, that’s up to you,” Sallie Mae CEO Ray Quinlan told NBC News.
He added that the venture was not an “incentive trip” but instead a “sales get-together for all of our salespeople.” The company has taken similar retreats since it was founded in the 1970s, NBC News reports.
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/466492-sallie-mae-execs-flew-over-100-employees-to-hawaii-to-celebrate-record-5
Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Another corporation that’s celebrating off the course of human misery! Now let’s let that number sink in: $5 BILLION. And you thought your car loan on your 2020 Subaru Legacy was insane! So we get saddled with debt that we might never pay back, they get to take trips on the company dime. In case you’re wondering how insulting this is, well, look no further.
As Americans across the country struggle to pay off their student loan debts—a whopping $1.6 trillion nationally—often working multiple jobs and sometimes declaring bankruptcy to protect what little assets they have left, the people authorizing those loans at one of the largest lending companies in the United States, Sallie Mae, are getting rewarded with a free trip to Maui.
Originally reported by NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Sallie Mae flew 100 employees to Hawaii in August for a little fun in the sun to celebrate the $5 billion in student loans they sold to more than 370,000 people. Meanwhile, of the nearly 45 million Americans who have some kind of student debt, according to Forbes magazine, many struggle to pay back the loans because of alleged suspicious lending practices (like engaging in subprime lending practices and authorizing loans to people who likely cannot pay them back) on behalf of lenders like Sallie Mae.
Paige McDaniel, 39, described to NBC News the reaction she received from Navient—a lending company created as an off-shoot from Sallie Mae in 2014 (yet financially a separate independent company from Sallie Mae)—when she was hit with a $1,500 a month bill for the $120,000 loan she took out to get her Master's degree.
"When I told them that, you know, I couldn't afford that, could we make some payment arrangements, they essentially said, 'So sorry, we'll put a lien on your house and garnish your wages if you don't make those payments,'" McDaniel told NBC News.
https://www.newsweek.com/sallie-mae-executives-celebrate-hawaii-americans-are-crippled-student-loan-debt-1466100
Originally reported by NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Sallie Mae flew 100 employees to Hawaii in August for a little fun in the sun to celebrate the $5 billion in student loans they sold to more than 370,000 people. Meanwhile, of the nearly 45 million Americans who have some kind of student debt, according to Forbes magazine, many struggle to pay back the loans because of alleged suspicious lending practices (like engaging in subprime lending practices and authorizing loans to people who likely cannot pay them back) on behalf of lenders like Sallie Mae.
Paige McDaniel, 39, described to NBC News the reaction she received from Navient—a lending company created as an off-shoot from Sallie Mae in 2014 (yet financially a separate independent company from Sallie Mae)—when she was hit with a $1,500 a month bill for the $120,000 loan she took out to get her Master's degree.
"When I told them that, you know, I couldn't afford that, could we make some payment arrangements, they essentially said, 'So sorry, we'll put a lien on your house and garnish your wages if you don't make those payments,'" McDaniel told NBC News.
https://www.newsweek.com/sallie-mae-executives-celebrate-hawaii-americans-are-crippled-student-loan-debt-1466100
I can picture the Hawaii retreat with Sallie Mae executives going down something like that! Now here’s where we take the unpopular opinion. This is the post Citizens United world that we are talking about here, where corporations are people and money is free speech. How about this? Since corporations are people, can we start executing some of them? Perhaps if we rose up as one and slayed Sallie Mae and Goldman Sachs, it might have other bank executives running scared, because fuck them! Oh and by the way in case you were wondering, yes, Sallie Mae has figured out a way to make your unpayable student loan that much worse! Just add Visa and Mastercard!
For those struggling with student debt, a new credit card is hardly the answer.
Yet, lender Sallie Mae is banking on a few new offerings specifically geared toward recent grads with college loans.
As more people in the U.S. struggle to keep up with their credit card and student debt, the student loan lender recently rolled out three new cash-back cards with Mastercard — Ignite, Accelerate and Evolve.
The Accelerate card comes with 1.25% cash back on all purchases plus an extra incentive for student loan borrowers: a 25% bonus on cash-back rewards that are used to pay down any federal or private student loan.
With Ignite, cardholders earn 1% back on purchases and a 25% bonus on cash-back rewards after making six consecutive on-time payments.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/sallie-mae-launches-credit-cards-aimed-at-student-loan-borrowers.html
Yet, lender Sallie Mae is banking on a few new offerings specifically geared toward recent grads with college loans.
As more people in the U.S. struggle to keep up with their credit card and student debt, the student loan lender recently rolled out three new cash-back cards with Mastercard — Ignite, Accelerate and Evolve.
The Accelerate card comes with 1.25% cash back on all purchases plus an extra incentive for student loan borrowers: a 25% bonus on cash-back rewards that are used to pay down any federal or private student loan.
With Ignite, cardholders earn 1% back on purchases and a 25% bonus on cash-back rewards after making six consecutive on-time payments.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/sallie-mae-launches-credit-cards-aimed-at-student-loan-borrowers.html
That’s right – you get 1% cash back on all your major purchases. Just a friendly reminder from the good folks at Sallie Mae just how fucked your credit is! 1% back on a $13,000 loan is… $130. I want to take a trip to Hawaii, don’t I need a credit card for that? Oh shit!! Yeah that really makes me wonder why we don’t rise up as one and slay them! Because then they pull shit like this! By the way students, did you fill out your FAFSA yet? Because you’re missing out on valuable financial aid!
As of Oct. 1, college-bound students can apply for their share of $150 billion in federal student aid, including grants, loans and work-study. To apply, they need to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA.
FAFSA funds are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Sallie Mae recently polled 2,000 undergraduate students and parents and asked if they submitted the FAFSA. According to Sallie Mae’s analysis, during the 2018-2019 school year, only 25% of undergraduate students completed the FAFSA the first month it was open, and just 77% of undergraduate students completed it at all.
By not filling out the FAFSA, American college students are missing out. Federal grants do not need to be repaid, federal student loans have low interest rates, and work-study programs can be a convenient way to simultaneously fund an education and build a resume.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/if-you-dont-fill-out-fafsa-you-miss-out-on-billions-in-financial-aid.html
FAFSA funds are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Sallie Mae recently polled 2,000 undergraduate students and parents and asked if they submitted the FAFSA. According to Sallie Mae’s analysis, during the 2018-2019 school year, only 25% of undergraduate students completed the FAFSA the first month it was open, and just 77% of undergraduate students completed it at all.
By not filling out the FAFSA, American college students are missing out. Federal grants do not need to be repaid, federal student loans have low interest rates, and work-study programs can be a convenient way to simultaneously fund an education and build a resume.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/if-you-dont-fill-out-fafsa-you-miss-out-on-billions-in-financial-aid.html
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[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Hit it!!!
Of course you know by now that people are people and people are dumb. This is one of my favorite segments because there are so many stupid and crazy people out there that you could easily interchange any of them and they would be about the same. Of course it always helps that the Sunshine State remains one of the craziest places in the world. So who is stupid this week? Well I want to start with this story coming from… international waters! You would think that cruise ships would be rife with stupidity, and there’s plenty of things that can go wrong on a cruise ship. And then there’s selfies. Really, stop it with this shit.
They get too close to wild animals. They perch on statues. They pose at the edge of a cliff hours after a woman’s deadly fall.
Stories abound of tourists dangerously eager for the perfect photograph — and a group that caters to travelers has had enough.
Cruise company Royal Caribbean said this week it has banned a passenger for life after she was spotted “recklessly” standing on a balcony railing for a picture. The guest and her companion, who helped with the shot, disembarked in Jamaica “as a result of their actions,” the company said in a statement to media. The companion is banned, too.
A fellow passenger on the Allure of the Seas ship told CNN he witnessed the risky photo shoot from his balcony and brought it to the crew’s attention. He documented the transgression in a grainy picture of his own posted online that shows a woman gazing out at the ocean in a blue bathing suit, hands held above her head.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/10/20/cruise-company-bans-passenger-life-after-she-recklessly-stands-railing-photo/
Stories abound of tourists dangerously eager for the perfect photograph — and a group that caters to travelers has had enough.
Cruise company Royal Caribbean said this week it has banned a passenger for life after she was spotted “recklessly” standing on a balcony railing for a picture. The guest and her companion, who helped with the shot, disembarked in Jamaica “as a result of their actions,” the company said in a statement to media. The companion is banned, too.
A fellow passenger on the Allure of the Seas ship told CNN he witnessed the risky photo shoot from his balcony and brought it to the crew’s attention. He documented the transgression in a grainy picture of his own posted online that shows a woman gazing out at the ocean in a blue bathing suit, hands held above her head.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/10/20/cruise-company-bans-passenger-life-after-she-recklessly-stands-railing-photo/
Next up – dumb judges! Yes, that’s a new category here on People Are Dumb. Of course the opioid crisis is one of the most devastating stories that affects everyone in the country and people are demanding answers as to how this got so out of hand. But this is one of those cases where if you fuck up that badly, you might as well do so in a way that makes you question how the fuck you did it.
The Oklahoma judge who recently ordered pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its role in the state's opioid crisis says he made a mathematical error when calculating the judgment.
As part of the landmark verdict in August, Judge Thad Balkman set aside $107,683,000 to help combat neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS. The problem -- he added three too many zeroes and meant to award $107,683.
The state had asked for nearly $17.2 billion to compensate for the deaths of state residents.
On Tuesday, Balkman agreed with Johnson and Johnson regarding the error. "That's the last time I use that calculator," he said.
It's not clear how this will impact the overall judgment.
This was the first state trial attempting to hold a pharmaceutical company accountable for one of the worst epidemics in history.
The judge still needs to decide if the court will continue to monitor the opioid crisis for the next 20 years and potentially award more money to the state. He also needs to decide if Johnson & Johnson should receive credit for the $300 million Oklahoma will be receiving from Teva Pharmaceuticals and Purdue Pharma -- those two companies settled with the state before the judge's initial ruling.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/15/health/oklahoma-opioid-judgment-miscalculation/index.html
As part of the landmark verdict in August, Judge Thad Balkman set aside $107,683,000 to help combat neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS. The problem -- he added three too many zeroes and meant to award $107,683.
The state had asked for nearly $17.2 billion to compensate for the deaths of state residents.
On Tuesday, Balkman agreed with Johnson and Johnson regarding the error. "That's the last time I use that calculator," he said.
It's not clear how this will impact the overall judgment.
This was the first state trial attempting to hold a pharmaceutical company accountable for one of the worst epidemics in history.
The judge still needs to decide if the court will continue to monitor the opioid crisis for the next 20 years and potentially award more money to the state. He also needs to decide if Johnson & Johnson should receive credit for the $300 million Oklahoma will be receiving from Teva Pharmaceuticals and Purdue Pharma -- those two companies settled with the state before the judge's initial ruling.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/15/health/oklahoma-opioid-judgment-miscalculation/index.html
Yeah sure, blame the calculator! That would be like blaming your bankruptcy on the pen you used to sign the checks! Next up, we go to the Volunteer State of Tennessee. Yes, we will get to some crazy Florida stuff but not just yet. Look, we’ve all been desperate for money but has anyone ever resorted to favors from… your grandma? I mean really what the fuck???
A Tennessee man forcibly removed $10 from his own grandmother’s undergarments after she refused his demand for cash, according to a robbery complaint.
Jared Otte, a 19-year-old Memphis resident, entered the 63-year-old victim’s home in late-August and “demanded she give him cash,” according to a complaint affidavit.
Otte’s grandmother told police that when she declined to hand over any money, Otte pushed her onto on the bed and “held her down, raised her dress, and removed $10 from her undergarments.”
The woman, a detective reported, “suffered bruising on her arms and leg during this incident.” The complaint does not indicate why Otte needed the cash.
Pictured above, Otte was arrested Tuesday on a felony robbery charge and booked into the Shelby County jail. He was released from custody yesterday after posting $10,000 bond.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/grandmas-drawers-214039
Jared Otte, a 19-year-old Memphis resident, entered the 63-year-old victim’s home in late-August and “demanded she give him cash,” according to a complaint affidavit.
Otte’s grandmother told police that when she declined to hand over any money, Otte pushed her onto on the bed and “held her down, raised her dress, and removed $10 from her undergarments.”
The woman, a detective reported, “suffered bruising on her arms and leg during this incident.” The complaint does not indicate why Otte needed the cash.
Pictured above, Otte was arrested Tuesday on a felony robbery charge and booked into the Shelby County jail. He was released from custody yesterday after posting $10,000 bond.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/grandmas-drawers-214039
I’m sure that was probably Nana’s reaction too! Ah, now it’s time for news from America’s most penis shaped state. Yup, there’s plenty of crazy stories of stupid people and stupid criminals coming out of the Sunshine State. So for this story we go to of course Orlando, where if you call 911, you’d better have a good reason for calling 911 but reporting to the cops that someone stole your weed, yeah, you might want to chalk that one up to a loss!
A Florida man who kept calling 911 about a roommate who “stole his weed” was asked to please top calling 911, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Department.
In a video posted to the sheriff’s department Twitter page, Sheriff’s Deputy N. Zalva said, “The guy’s calling in saying his roommate stole his weed, $20 worth and he’s upset and he keeps calling 911, so I had to give him a call and tell him to stop calling about his weed.”
The video was part of a Tweet Along held Saturday night.
Deputy Zalva did a followup video in which he said, "I called him to let him know not to call the sheriff’s office to report his drugs. He started to freak out a little on the phone, and then hung up on me shortly after.”
Read more: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-florida-man-calls-911-roommate-stole-his-weed-20191014-vcadddljjva4dgtz2dzlniodrq-story.html
In a video posted to the sheriff’s department Twitter page, Sheriff’s Deputy N. Zalva said, “The guy’s calling in saying his roommate stole his weed, $20 worth and he’s upset and he keeps calling 911, so I had to give him a call and tell him to stop calling about his weed.”
The video was part of a Tweet Along held Saturday night.
Deputy Zalva did a followup video in which he said, "I called him to let him know not to call the sheriff’s office to report his drugs. He started to freak out a little on the phone, and then hung up on me shortly after.”
Read more: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-florida-man-calls-911-roommate-stole-his-weed-20191014-vcadddljjva4dgtz2dzlniodrq-story.html
Hey don’t get mad, get Tegridy! Tastes like shit, you won’t care! Finally this week for People Are Dumb, of course it takes place in the Sunshine State. And here’s the thing – you know how Florida is one of the states that has that controversial Stand Your Ground law? Well, apparently, shocker, Stand Your Ground doesn’t apply to AK-47s and hand grenades!
Video released Tuesday shows a Florida store owner firing an AK-47 to shoot an unarmed customer after a verbal dispute on Christmas Eve 2017.
Saf Ahmad, the owner of a Kwik Pic convenience store in Lauderhill, Florida, was arrested in December 2017 on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after shooting Jason Morris, according to a Broward County Sheriff's Office report.
The store owner has claimed that he fired the AK 47 in self-defense after Morris got into his car and threw something, later identified as a bottle of Castor Oil, at the store.
Ahmad's next hearing is set for November 1.
Surveillance video from inside and outside the store released by the store owner's attorneys shows the confrontation and the moment Ahmad fired the AK-47.
Morris is seen on the video getting into a verbal disagreement with a store employee and kicking over a large trash can into the store before exiting. He then threw another trash can from outside the store before he got into his car, the video shows.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/video-captures-florida-store-owner-firing-customer-ak-47-n1064036
Saf Ahmad, the owner of a Kwik Pic convenience store in Lauderhill, Florida, was arrested in December 2017 on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after shooting Jason Morris, according to a Broward County Sheriff's Office report.
The store owner has claimed that he fired the AK 47 in self-defense after Morris got into his car and threw something, later identified as a bottle of Castor Oil, at the store.
Ahmad's next hearing is set for November 1.
Surveillance video from inside and outside the store released by the store owner's attorneys shows the confrontation and the moment Ahmad fired the AK-47.
Morris is seen on the video getting into a verbal disagreement with a store employee and kicking over a large trash can into the store before exiting. He then threw another trash can from outside the store before he got into his car, the video shows.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/video-captures-florida-store-owner-firing-customer-ak-47-n1064036
That’s what happens when Florida Man attempts to logic his way out of a situation! That’s it this week for:
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[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep. 12: Tusli Gabbard WTF
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Welcome back to our 2020 voters’ guide Keeping Up With The Candidates! Where there are 24 candiates running. Actually I’m being told it’s just down to Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and a cardboard cutout of former vice president Al Gore. Well OK maybe not that dramatic. But in the interest of your favorite spy and super hero movies, one candidate has gone rogue. And that’s Hawaii democrat and possible Russian asset Tulsi Gabbard. So what made her go off the rails this weekend? Well there’s plenty of blame that could be passed around for this. Ah, really, fuck it, I’m just blaming Tulsi for this mess because well, I’m out of fucks to give. Well, there’s one man endorsing Gabbard and it’s not going to be good for anybody.
Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has apparently gotten an endorsement she said she can do without — from former KKK leader David Duke.
The 68-year-old white supremacist and former GOP Louisiana state senator plastered a banner on his Twitter page prominently featuring a photograph of the Hawaiian lawmaker, the New York Post reported.
“Tulsi Gabbard for President,” it blares, along with the tagline: “Finally a candidate who will actually put America First rather than Israel First!”
“Tulsi Gabbard is currently the only Presidential candidate who doesn’t want to send White children off to die for Israel,” the former Grand Wizard tweeted his more than 50,000 followers along with a photograph of Gabbard meeting a US service member and his child.
But Gabbard wasted no time in lashing back at Duke and rejected his backing.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/rep-tulsi-gabbard-gets-2020-endorsement-from-david-duke-2019-10-19
The 68-year-old white supremacist and former GOP Louisiana state senator plastered a banner on his Twitter page prominently featuring a photograph of the Hawaiian lawmaker, the New York Post reported.
“Tulsi Gabbard for President,” it blares, along with the tagline: “Finally a candidate who will actually put America First rather than Israel First!”
“Tulsi Gabbard is currently the only Presidential candidate who doesn’t want to send White children off to die for Israel,” the former Grand Wizard tweeted his more than 50,000 followers along with a photograph of Gabbard meeting a US service member and his child.
But Gabbard wasted no time in lashing back at Duke and rejected his backing.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/rep-tulsi-gabbard-gets-2020-endorsement-from-david-duke-2019-10-19
Seriously, Tulsi is just a red hat away from going full MAGA on this campaign. I mean she’s already checked all the boxes including appearing on Russia Today and an endorsement from white supremacists over Isreal support. And in case you’re wondering what may have attracted the attention of David Duke to the Gabbard campaign, it might very well be this:
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was the subject of several trending topics on Twitter on Saturday morning. However, her recent spat with former presidential candidate, First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to cause former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke to trend after users remembered that he had announced support for Gabbard’s candidacy earlier this year.
“Tulsi Gabbard is currently the only Presidential candidate who doesn’t want to send White children off to die for Israel,” Duke said on Twitter in February, per The New York Post.
However, many were quick to point out that Gabbard had previously rejected Duke’s support. In a statement issued in February, she said she disavowed Duke’s white supremacist views.
“Publicizing Duke’s so-called ‘endorsement’ is meant to distract from my message: that I will end regime-change wars, work to end the new cold war and take us away from the precipice of a nuclear war, which is a greater danger now than ever before,” Gabbard said, per The New York Post.
https://www.inquisitr.com/5700334/david-duke-endorse-tulsi-gabbard/
“Tulsi Gabbard is currently the only Presidential candidate who doesn’t want to send White children off to die for Israel,” Duke said on Twitter in February, per The New York Post.
However, many were quick to point out that Gabbard had previously rejected Duke’s support. In a statement issued in February, she said she disavowed Duke’s white supremacist views.
“Publicizing Duke’s so-called ‘endorsement’ is meant to distract from my message: that I will end regime-change wars, work to end the new cold war and take us away from the precipice of a nuclear war, which is a greater danger now than ever before,” Gabbard said, per The New York Post.
https://www.inquisitr.com/5700334/david-duke-endorse-tulsi-gabbard/
Yeah seriously… WTF. The question on the table here is – is Tulsi Gabbard a Russian agent? Well, her flat out denying that she might be a Russian agent is clearly the sort of thing someone like that would say out loud in public. And come on, using the term “regime change”? I mean where have we heard that term before? I can’t quite put my finger on it.
“The New York Times and CNN have also smeared veterans like myself for calling for an end to this regime-change war,” she said, adding that the Times put out an article calling her a Russian asset, and claiming that a CNN commentator said the same that very morning.
“Completely despicable,” Gabbard said of such allegations.
Gabbard’s campaign has been plagued by accusations that she is either aligned with or supported by the Russians. It has been widely and repeatedly reported that Russia supports her candidacy. It is also undeniable that her more isolationist platform aligns more closely with Russia’s preference for American foreign policy than that of any other candidate.
Even as she attempts to distance herself, Gabbard has been admittedly popular with both the Kremlin and people on the far- and alt-right. She was endorsed by David Duke. The Times article inspired a pearl-clutching defense of Gabbard by none other than deeply conservative Washington Examiner.
Accordingly, most people weren’t convinced by Gabbard’s disgust over the assertion that she’s working for Moscow. They also couldn’t quite figure out why she’d bring up one of the biggest criticisms of her candidacy.
https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/tulsi-gabbard-russian-asset/
“Completely despicable,” Gabbard said of such allegations.
Gabbard’s campaign has been plagued by accusations that she is either aligned with or supported by the Russians. It has been widely and repeatedly reported that Russia supports her candidacy. It is also undeniable that her more isolationist platform aligns more closely with Russia’s preference for American foreign policy than that of any other candidate.
Even as she attempts to distance herself, Gabbard has been admittedly popular with both the Kremlin and people on the far- and alt-right. She was endorsed by David Duke. The Times article inspired a pearl-clutching defense of Gabbard by none other than deeply conservative Washington Examiner.
Accordingly, most people weren’t convinced by Gabbard’s disgust over the assertion that she’s working for Moscow. They also couldn’t quite figure out why she’d bring up one of the biggest criticisms of her candidacy.
https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/tulsi-gabbard-russian-asset/
I think that’s more the question on everyone’s minds – what the actual fuck? And by the way why do the far right conservative media and neo Nazis love Tulsi? The answer might be more complicated than you would think. But yeah she’s really just a red hat and an R endorsement away from going full MAGA, and you never, ever want to go full MAGA.
The latest Democratic candidate to enter the 2020 race has an unexpected base of support: The far right and conservative media.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who announced her candidacy last Friday, has cultivated a fandom among the right by bashing fellow Democrats and espousing views that break with the party line.
Since taking office in 2013, Gabbard, 37, has established a reputation as an unorthodox politician. While holding familiar Democratic positions on environmental issues, health care, and gun control, Gabbard was a frequent critic of President Obama’s foreign policy, met with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and has questioned whether he used chemical weapons on his own citizens.
Once discussed among party insiders as a rising star who signed on to be a vice chair at the Democratic National Committee, she quit in protest during the 2016 election and endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
When she ran for re-election in 2018, she had the backing of liberal groups including the AFL-CIO and Planned Parenthood, yet she was briefly considered as a potential member for Trump’s cabinet, and cheered on his diplomatic overtures to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-conservative-media-and-the-far-right-love-tulsi-gabbard-for-president
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who announced her candidacy last Friday, has cultivated a fandom among the right by bashing fellow Democrats and espousing views that break with the party line.
Since taking office in 2013, Gabbard, 37, has established a reputation as an unorthodox politician. While holding familiar Democratic positions on environmental issues, health care, and gun control, Gabbard was a frequent critic of President Obama’s foreign policy, met with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and has questioned whether he used chemical weapons on his own citizens.
Once discussed among party insiders as a rising star who signed on to be a vice chair at the Democratic National Committee, she quit in protest during the 2016 election and endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
When she ran for re-election in 2018, she had the backing of liberal groups including the AFL-CIO and Planned Parenthood, yet she was briefly considered as a potential member for Trump’s cabinet, and cheered on his diplomatic overtures to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-conservative-media-and-the-far-right-love-tulsi-gabbard-for-president
[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]
Next week we’ll get back to business by talking about Beto O’Rourke’s controversial gun buy back program!
[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Sturgill Simpson[/font]
Ladies and gentlemen my next guest is country music’s anti-hero! His latest album is called “Sound And Fury”. Playing his song “Make Art, Not Friends”, give it up for Sturgill Simpson!
https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5d8d0e675d366d000838d1eb/1:1/w_320/sturgill_soundandfury.jpg
Thank you Las Vegas! This was fun! We’re off to Oregon State next for our big Halloween specia! See you next week!
Credits
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Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: University Of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
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Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo
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K & R
Thanks
Now to get a publisher and a marketing firm! 