As Hate and Bigotry Rise, Time to Slash…

Shoes confiscated from prisoners at Majdanek, on loan from the State Museum of Majdanek, Lublin, Poland. –US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

$3 Million Dollars from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Yep. Whose fucking idiotic idea was this, you ask? The Tiny Tyrant’s, of course. Why?

According to the budget proposal, the cut “will assist in meeting the President’s budget objectives, while still providing adequate funds to cover pay increases and rising costs for current services for the Museum’s facilities and collections. The decrease is achieved by reductions in staff and selected non-pay areas.”

There has been, for once, a united backlash against this incredibly stupid move. That said, I have to wonder why it entered Donny’s little pea brain to cut funding from this specific museum. There are many museums to pick on, certainly there are many in Washington D.C., but Trump chose to single out the Holocaust Museum. With his history of refusing to speak out against domestic terrorism, and the sharp spike in hate crimes, along with his not-so-subtle embrace of white supremacists, I’m sure everyone has been shocked right out of their socks over this move. Apparently, having a Jewish daughter and son-in-law don’t count this time around, or they don’t much care, either. Personally, I think if the Fucking Idiot is so damn determined to fuel yet more monies into the military machine, he can start scooping out of his own capacious pockets.

The Hill has the full story.

NJ: No Mocking the Tiny Tyrant!

Morristown High School officials removed this artwork by junior Liam Shea from the school art show.

It seems that truthful depictions of the Tiny Tyrant aren’t allowed in a NJ high school art show. Why? Oh, some people got upset. Perhaps ‘some people’ should learn that you aren’t going to love, or like every piece of art you come across, so take a look, shake your fucking head or whatever, and move on. What you should not ever do? Decide it’s in your purview, as an onlooker, to decide what art is worth showing, and what is not. Supposedly, adults are supposed to be capable of coping rationally with something they don’t care for on a personal level. Two students had their work removed, after having only an hour to come up with it.

Honestly, people. When you see art you don’t like, suck it the fuck up. You can handle it. Stop looking at it, go on to something else. Oh, and if you’re parents, teach that to your sprogs, too. School Principals, you could grow a fucking spine and stand behind your students. That’s what you’re supposed to do, yes? While this has worked out well for young Mr. Shea, there’s nothing at all about the other student who had their work removed.

Morristown Green has the full story.

Mr. Tweet: Ever Incoherent.

HYDE & GO TWEET, © Justin Erickson.

Once again, the Tiny Tyrant tweets incoherently, and it’s another instance which may well prove to be quite troublesome, as while Trump might be capable of keeping his mouth shut on the odd occasion, he has no control when it comes to tweeting out every idiotic thought.

Donald J. Trump: Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!

As pointed out on Think Progress, the Tiny Tyrant seems to want things both ways here, a dismissal of Comey and his testimony as lies, and a complete vindication as well. It doesn’t work like that, which wouldn’t be news to most people on the planet, but as usual, the unpresident seems utterly clueless to anything connected to reality. This rather unpleasant, obsessive attachment to leaking has grown terribly old and weary. How many more times are we to be subjected to the hoarse cry of “Leaker!” as the walls of Castle Trump come crumbling down?

There’s a danger in Trump’s position. He and his lawyer are accusing Comey of perjury while not under oath themselves. Will Trump stand by his version of events if he has to give a sworn account of his interactions with Comey? If he does, it’ll be the word of a meticulous memo-writer against the word of a man who began his presidency by declaring war on reality itself and has,by one count, told 623 lies during the first 137 days of his administration.

Think Progress has the full analysis of the latest incoherence.

The Invocation of Senate Rule 14.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, accompanied by Senate Republican leaders, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill. CREDIT: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais.

While all eyes are on Comey right now, the ever oily ophidian Mitch McConnell is busy making sure that millions upon millions of American citizens will be thoroughly deprived of healthcare. This is the perfect time for sly and sleazy tricks, with all the scandals breaking like so many rotten eggs; and it is summertime, with all its enticing distractions, offering respite from the constant anxieties of American life. It would be so much easier, and nicer, to go off on my new bicycle for a rideabout, than to report on yet more of the machinations of the regime.

Senate Speaker Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he is striving to get a vote on the Republican health care bill by July 4, before Congress leaves for August recess. As ludicrous as this deadline seems, the Senate could pull it off — but it will be done without much public scrutiny.

Sen. McConnell implemented Senate “Rule 14” Wednesday to fast-track the GOP House health bill. This rule allows the Senate to skip the committee process (goodbye full senate committee debate) and instead “fast-tracks” the bill by moving it on the senate calendar so it can be brought to a vote.

Republicans need to pass a health care bill immediately. And they need to pass a bill that reconciles the needs of both the House and Senate, by September 30th in order to use reconciliation. Reconciliation is a 1974 act that expedites the senate’s consideration of bills that pertain to the budget. While Washington watches James Comey testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senate Republicans leaders and the health care working group will still be meeting for a working luncheon to continue negotiations.

[…]

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the Health and Human Services 2018 budget request on Thursday, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) vocalized her frustration with the senate leader invoking rule 14. She asked the chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), if there is going to be a public hearing on the Senate’s secret health bill. A befuddled Hatch said he did not know. “But we have no idea what’s being proposed,” McCaskill exclaimed.

McCaskill makes a valid point. Georgetown University congressional expert Josh Huder says what’s truly remarkable is the Senate will replicate what the House did: push this bill forward with little transparency.

It’s not transparent, but it’s a good way to get health care legislation passed. The Senate is using reconciliation to get this done, which prevents a Democrat filibuster. “This bill will not get 60 votes anywhere. If you want to the bill to pass, this is the only way to do it,” said Huder.

Think Progress has the full story.

“She’ll Cut Your Pee-Pee Off.”

Red Gate Arts.

Wayne Allyn Root is at it again, this time with a dire warning about liberal cat lovers. Well, liberal cat lovers who happen to be women. I guess the liberal cat lovers who are men are okay. Wayne seems to think that liberal cat ladies are all penis whackers. Hackers? Slicers? Dicers? Something.

Root was ranting about a federal contractor who was arrested for allegedly leaking classified information to a news outlet when he went off on a tangent about how liberal women who own cats are all insane.

Hmmm. So, if I say all 55+ white men who have radio programs are insane, that would be okay? Cool.

“Find me a woman who is a feminist and a liberal and likes cats and I will find you someone who ought to be in an insane asylum every single time,” Root bellowed. “Hey guys, if any of you out there are single and you ever meet a woman who admits to being a liberal and hating Trump and when you get to her house, she’s got cats, run for your life. Run, run, run. Like those ads in Britain, run and hide and tell other men to run and hide.”

I’m a feminist. I’m a liberal. I’m a woman. I have cats, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like them. I like some of them. I’m not the cat person in the family, I’m more on the dog and rat side. Most of the time, I’m fairly sure I don’t belong in an insane asylum, but we all have our days, do we not, Wayne? I’m thinking you might benefit from a quiet time out.

“No man can ever live with a liberal woman with cats,” he continued. “She’ll cut your pee-pee off, I promise you. Liberals are mentally unstable and mentally insane. They’re unhinged.”

I’m certainly not as unhinged as you are, you inflamed asspimple. I’ve lived with my partner for 40 years, and his penis remains intact. I know, amazing, ennit? Personally, I think anyone who goes on a radio show, no matter how little, and starts ranting about women cutting “pee-pees” off is somewhere in the lunatic fringe region. By the way, Wayne, the word is penis. It’s okay, you can use it.

Via RWW.

“Praying about the absurd, vitriolic energy…savaging Donald Trump.”

Praying Hands (Betende Hände) by Albrecht Dürer.

Lance Wallnau is at it again, and I think the kindest thing one could say is that he is very confused. That’s the charitable interpretation, I have no doubt the reality is of a more sinister nature, given Wallnau’s dedication to obscurantism. This time around, he is touting the power of prayer, one of the most useless activities ever dreamed up.

“Prayer is working but I don’t think we often see the connection between our prayers and what’s happening,” Wallnau declared, marveling that he had just been at an intercessory prayer gathering in Georgia and now there has been “a breakthrough regarding our prayers in [the] exposing of the deep state” directly related to Georgia.

No, prayer doesn’t work. This is known as wishful thinking, and as we’ll see, this particular instance has the distinct odor of desperation about it. Sweaty, hanging on by the fingernails desperation.

Wallnau was referring to the arrest of Reality Leigh Winner:

“We were praying for the deep state to start to get exposed,” Wallnau said, “and indeed, in the state of Georgia, I’m so pleased to see where the first deep state arrest is happening.”

Confusion would be the kind explanation. It’s hard to say exactly how they view this situation, but the reality of it is very far away from this particular, er, viewpoint.

Wallnau said that they were also “praying about the absurd, vitriolic energy … with which the left has been savaging Donald Trump” and, as a result, Trump critics like Griffin and Maher now find themselves at the center of controversy.

Those “controversies” are pretty much yesterday’s news. Apologies were issued, one a notpology, and the other sincere. That said, Maher was not being disparaged over a criticism of the Tiny Tyrant, he said something extremely bigoted and offensive, had to do with People of Colour. Maher is always shoving his ass in his mouth over something, and he will most likely never cross a line that HBO won’t forgive. As for Griffin, in a thread elsewhere, I said that what irked me so was that she gave the Tiny Tyrant a sympathy card to play. That’s not helping. Anyroad, I don’t see how this could be the answer to a prayer. It’s not as if El Shaddai got off his arse and pinpointed tornadoes with unaccustomed accuracy at every single person on the planet who is engaged in daily criticism of the TCO (Trump Criminal Organization). Something like that would have been impressive. A couple of comedians who are known for crossing lines being smacked a bit? Sorry, but that’s pathetic.

“My contention is that when there is such sustained disrespect for authority,” he said, “especially authority that we are of the opinion that God has anointed, God has blessed, when you have that kind of obnoxiousness going on, you simply want to pray and say, ‘Lord, do something’ and I believe God has … I see that as a silencing of the left in these critics.”

Oh, if only that “god” of yours would do something about obnoxiousness, you’d have to say bye bye, wouldn’t you, Lance? Hell, he won’t even arrange for you to have a show on HBO, basic cable, or network television. Nope. Pray harder. Pray so much you don’t have time to get up off your knees. Pray so much you won’t have time to run your mouth.

“I believe this is really, in a strange way, an answer to prayer,” Wallnau said.

Oh, it’s strange alright, just not the way you believe.

Via RWW.

Trump Morality.

CREDIT: Eric Trump steps off Air Force One as he arrives Sunday, April 16, 2017, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. President Donald Trump and family are returning from his Mar-a-Largo resort in Florida. CREDIT: AP Photo/Alex Brandon.

After Eric Trump spent some time with Sean Hannity, spitting bitterness and claiming that democrats aren’t even people to him, as he opined over the complete lack of morality these days (the fault of liberals, natch),  a report from Forbes has revealed an instance of what passes for morality in the Trump Klan.

On Tuesday, Forbes reported that Eric Trump has diverted more than $1 million donations to his kids-cancer charity to Trump golf courses. These costs were incurred during the Eric Trump Foundation’s annual golf fundraiser. But according to charity experts, “the listed expenses defy any reasonable cost justification for a one-day golf tournament.”

The golf fundraiser was marketed as an opportunity for donors to have nearly their entire gift go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, since the golf and other services were provided free of charge.

A former employee of the club, however, told Forbes that beginning in 2011, the charity was charged for the use of course and other services. Ian Gillule, membership and marketing director at Trump National Westchester, said the club began billing Eric Trump’s foundation after Donald Trump “had a cow.”

“I don’t care if it’s my son or not — everybody gets billed,” Donald Trump said, according to Gillule.

The payments by the charity to the Trump Organization for its one-day tournament were also confirmed by a former member of the Eric Trump Foundation board. And the payments increased dramatically over time — from $46,000 in 2011 to $322,000 in 2015.

Eric Trump appears to have gone to significant lengths to cover up these payments. Last year, he told Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold that none of the money actually went to the Trump Organization. Rather, Eric Trump insisted, the money was simply passed from the Trump Organization to “to cover the cost of outside vendors.”

In July, Eric Trump excoriated Fahrenthold for even suggesting otherwise:

Eric Trump also criticized The Post for a recent blog post — and recent Twitter messages by this reporter — about a payment made by the Eric Trump Foundation to one of Donald Trump’s golf courses.

“It’s disgusting. It is so disgusting what’s happening,” Eric Trump said. “I’m saving dying children. We do tremendous good for people. And you’re sitting there tearing us apart.”

“I save dying children! I do! There’s nothing wrong with profiting from that! This speaks to one of the worst things about the Trump Criminal Organization – the insistence that they are prime signifiers of morality; of being truly good and decent people. Ivana Jr. wants to profit by pretending to identify with working women. The elder sons slaughter animals for fun, are up to their necks in sleazy business, and now do whatever they must to protect their sire, lying and spreading bullshit by the fucktonne.

Think Progress has the full story.

BOTulism.

Twitter Audit.

Bots have always been a problem. They are now a much bigger problem, on Twitter in particular. Too many people are gullible, and far too many people simply do not take minutes out to fact check things. Fact checking can be tedious, but it’s part and parcel of being informed these days. Twitter bots have gotten a bit more sophisticated, not much, but enough to fool people, and that’s really all they need to do. This makes it much more difficult to refute all the fakery and Trakery™ out there. Bots can also outperform people, so there’s much more nonsense than valid information on the loose.

A bot will write on Twitter in clunky English, reciting paragraphs of propaganda or fake news in compartmentalized tweets, often featuring rudimentary linguistics and nondescript profiles. Unlike computer programs, frustrated citizens and real people online engage with the context of specific posts, respond to counterpoints and typically use profiles that reflect human personalities. “They’re yelling fools,” Philip N. Howard, a sociologist at the Oxford Internet Institute, told the New York Times, “and a lot of what they pass around is false news.”

But bots—including those designed to support the Trump presidency—are continuing to invade social media and create chatter at such a rapid speed, that the differences are becoming blurred for many users attempting to keep a grasp on reality in 2017.

[…]

But as of recently, many of those bots appear to have one common and undeniable goal: to protect and defend the 45th president of the United States.

[…]

The Trump bots are active virtually 24/7, and especially during times when the president is furiously tweeting.

“A bot army can be utilized for a number of dishonest purposes, chief amongst them, misrepresenting public sentiment about whichever topics the controller has interest in,” Brad Hayes, fellow at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab’s Interactive Robotics Group, told NY Daily News Saturday. “If 3 million people started tweeting in favor of or against a particular topic, would it shift public perception? What if those same 3 million people targeted every source you use for information? It’s fair to say that this kind of written ‘show of force’ can certainly alter perceptions.”

There’s much more at Raw Story.

Reality Winner.

The Intercept.

The Department of Justice on Monday filed a criminal complaint against Reality Leigh Winner, a federal contractor from Georgia, on charges of removing classified information and disseminating it to a news outlet.

According to the complaint, Winner, a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation, held Top Secret security clearance at a U.S. government facility. She allegedly printed classified information and sent it to an online news organization. Per the DOJ, she admitted to the offense while the FBI executed a search warrant at her home.

As the Washington Post’s Mark Berman reports, the information aligns with a bombshell report published Monday by the Intercept. According to that report, Russia “targeted at least one U.S. voting software supplier” in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. Both the Intercept report and the FBI’s affidavit reference a May 5 report.

That hole just gets deeper and deeper. Via Raw Story and The Intercept.

“Trump is an embarrassment to America,”

“Trump is an embarrassment to America,” Farron said. “In the wake of the recent terrorist attack, two of which killed people on the streets of London, Donald Trump decides to use his time in the Oval Office to attack the Mayor of London on Twitter.”

“Theresa May absolutely must withdraw the state visit,” he added. “This is a man insulting our national values at a time of introspection and mourning.”

“We need a special relationship not a supine relationship,” the statement concluded.

I couldn’t agree more. The Tiny Tyrant wants to bully and showboat, and I do not think anyone in London is remotely interested in the Narrenkaiser show, or talk of how guns, guns, guns, would solve all their problems. Trump’s repeated smears of Sadiq Khan should not be countenanced in any way. I don’t want him here either, but that should not be an excuse to foist him off on anyone else.

Via Raw Story.

Facebook, Oh Facebook XVII.

Clay Higgins. © Facebook.

We open with republican congressman Clay Higgins, who seems to be a tad fuckin’ bloodlusty.

In a Facebook post, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a viral YouTube star who was elected to Congress last November, argued that Christendom “is at war with Islamic horror.”

“Their intended entry to the American homeland should be summarily denied. Every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down,” Higgins wrote. “Hunt them, identity them, and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all.”

Oh, but it’s ever so bad that some of those people you so demonize feel exactly the same way, right? That makes them evil, but being an indiscriminate bloodthirsty killer is okey dokey if you’re white and at least nominally christian. Got it. Don’t go speaking like you represent America, either, because you sure as hell don’t represent me.

“Not one penny of American treasure should be granted to any nation who harbors these heathen animals. Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter,” Higgins said in the post.

Oh stuff it, you obnoxious blowhard. This isn’t pirate land, and no one is after your “treasure”. What other nations do isn’t any of your business, Clay. Many of them are setting a fine example of how to be an excellent nation, and how to focus on integration, love, and empathy, rather than how to be a self righteous psychopath. Every single person who elected this fucking idiot? You should be godsdamned ashamed of yourselves.

Via The Hill.

Then there’s Harvard students…

Harvard College rescinded admissions offers to at least ten prospective members of the Class of 2021 after the students traded sexually explicit memes and messages that sometimes targeted minority groups in a private Facebook group chat.

A handful of admitted students formed the messaging group—titled, at one point, “Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens”—on Facebook in late December, according to two incoming freshmen.

In the group, students sent each other memes and other images mocking sexual assault, the Holocaust, and the deaths of children, according to screenshots of the chat obtained by The Crimson. Some of the messages joked that abusing children was sexually arousing, while others had punchlines directed at specific ethnic or racial groups. One called the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child “piñata time.”

After discovering the existence and contents of the chat, Harvard administrators revoked admissions offers to at least ten participants in mid-April, according to several members of the group.

The Harvard Crimson has the full story.