During a meeting to address the NFL players protesting during the
national anthem, the owner of the Houston Texans said something that
really upset players. Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, Francesca Fiorentini,
and Judah Friedlander, the hosts of The Young Turks, explain the fallout
from his comments.
HOUSTON -- Some Texans players considered staging a walkout following a
comment by team owner Bob McNair that compared NFL players to "inmates,"
a source told ESPN.
About 10 players, including Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, left
the facility Friday, the source said.
Sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter that Hopkins' absence from practice
was directly related to McNair's comment. Running back D'Onta Foreman
also did not practice over the quote, sources told ESPN.
Most of the players who left returned to the facility, the source said,
and the remaining players were talked out of their protest by the
coaching staff.
"When it happened, there's a thousand emotions going through your mind,"
left tackle Duane Brown said. "Obviously, one of the emotions is to
leave the building immediately. [But] we decided to go to work. The
situation's not over. It's something that we'll reconvene and talk about
again, but we had practice today."
Texans coach Bill O'Brien said Hopkins had taken a "personal day."
"I'm 100 percent with these players," O'Brien said. "I love these
players, I love this coaching staff. We will show up in Seattle and
play. We will play very hard. Seattle is a great football team with a
great coaching staff. But we will be there when the ball is kicked off
in Seattle."
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21185499/houston-texans-players-considered-walkout-bob-mcnair-comment
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Impeachment Ad Triggers Fox News Fans
Fox & Friends viewers were livid over an ad that ran during the
show. Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, Francesca Fiorentini, and Judah
Friedlander, the hosts of The Young Turks, show you the impeachment ad.
"Billionaire Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer is spending over $10 million to run a national advertisement calling for Trump's impeachment. Steyer made his fortune as a hedge fund manager. In 2016, he spent $65 million supporting Democrats and environmental causes, including Martin O'Malley.
Steyer is considering challenging Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in California, he's also mulling a 2020 presidential run.
In the ad, Steyer calls Trump "a clear and present danger" who is "mentally unstable" and armed with nuclear weapons. Friday morning Trump attacked Steyer on Twitter calling him "wacky and totally unhinged."
http://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-tom-steyer-releases-ad-video-donald-trump-impeachment-2017-10
"Billionaire Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer is spending over $10 million to run a national advertisement calling for Trump's impeachment. Steyer made his fortune as a hedge fund manager. In 2016, he spent $65 million supporting Democrats and environmental causes, including Martin O'Malley.
Steyer is considering challenging Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in California, he's also mulling a 2020 presidential run.
In the ad, Steyer calls Trump "a clear and present danger" who is "mentally unstable" and armed with nuclear weapons. Friday morning Trump attacked Steyer on Twitter calling him "wacky and totally unhinged."
http://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-tom-steyer-releases-ad-video-donald-trump-impeachment-2017-10
Friday, October 27, 2017
First charges filed in Mueller investigation
Updated 8:57 PM ET, Fri October 27, 2017
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/27/politics/first-charges-mueller-investigation/index.html
Washington (CNN)
A
federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday approved the first
charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller,
according to sources briefed on the matter.
The
charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were
prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as
Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are.
A spokesman for the special counsel's office declined to comment.
Mueller was appointed in May to lead the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Under
the regulations governing special counsel investigations, Deputy
Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has oversight over the Russia
investigation, would have been made aware of any charges before they
were taken before the grand jury for approval, according to people
familiar with the matter.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/27/politics/first-charges-mueller-investigation/index.html
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Crazed Republican Congressman Runs From CNN Reporter Yelling “You’re Fake News!”
Republican Congressman Paul Gosar has been pushing some wild conspiracy
theories recently, and when a CNN reporter finally got the chance to
question Gosar about his claims, he decided to yell at the reporter
saying “You’re fake news” before running away down the hallway.
This is the kind of behavior that Trump has normalized since becomingresident,
as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins points out.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/youre-fake-news-conspiracy-theorist-gop-congressman-runs-away-from-cnn-when-interview-goes-off-the-rails/
This is the kind of behavior that Trump has normalized since becoming
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/youre-fake-news-conspiracy-theorist-gop-congressman-runs-away-from-cnn-when-interview-goes-off-the-rails/
Trump's Cabinet Crony Gave $300 Million No-Bid Contract To Friends At Whitefish Energy.
In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse addresses Whitefish Energy, which is the
TWO-PERSON company that was awarded a NO-BID 1/3rd of a BILLION DOLLAR
contract to restore power in Puerto Rico, seemingly because they're pals
with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and gave his son a job.
Stop Praising Horrible Republicans Just Because They Don't Like Trump
Many Republicans have come forward recently to admonish or outright
reject the presidency of Donald Trump.
And while the media is heaping praise on men like George W. Bush and Jeff Flake, they completely ignore the fact that the agendas of the dissenters are no different than those of Trump.
We have to stop forgiving these Republicans of their past sins just because they don’t like Donald Trump, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/senate-republicans-increasingly-see-trump-as-a-threat-then-give-him-a-standing-o-at-lunch
And while the media is heaping praise on men like George W. Bush and Jeff Flake, they completely ignore the fact that the agendas of the dissenters are no different than those of Trump.
We have to stop forgiving these Republicans of their past sins just because they don’t like Donald Trump, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/senate-republicans-increasingly-see-trump-as-a-threat-then-give-him-a-standing-o-at-lunch
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Barack Obama Speaks On Trump
Here are some comments on the monster that American society has created.
John Kelly And Sarah Huckabee Sanders Must Resign
To defend Trump and to criticize a widow, they lied—and lost all credibility.
Ricky Gervais Questions Sanity Of Trump Voters: “Why Are They Falling For Drain The Swamp?”
Comedian Ricky Gervais wants to know why Trump supporters are so dull
that they fell for his promise to “drain the swamp.” And that’s a fair
question. From everything we’ve seen from this administration, he’s not
only failed on that promise, but he’s made the government far worse than
we’ve seen in recent years. Gervais also offered some not-so-subtle
advice to the Democratic elites during a recent interview, as Ring of
Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/comedian-ricky-gervais-blames-authoritarian-liberals-for-trump-why-are-there-nazis-suddenly/
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/comedian-ricky-gervais-blames-authoritarian-liberals-for-trump-why-are-there-nazis-suddenly/
McCain Calls Out Trump's Draft Dodging
John McCain recently discussed people getting out of Vietnam by getting
doctors to write letters saying that they have bone spurs. Guess who did
that? Cenk Uygur, the host of The Young Turks, shows you McCain calling
out Trump’s draft dodging.
Regarding Senators Corker And Flake: So Fucking What?
Posted by Rude One
People on the sensible-shoes left, the lying-to-themselves center, and the semi-rational right are praising two Republican senators today for speaking honestly about the threat thatresident Donald Trump poses to
the nation and the world. In and of itself, in a vacuum, it's pretty
cool to see Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee and Senator Jeff Flake of
Arizona go all in on calling out Trump for being dumb, divisive, and
dangerous.
Corker, who previously had said that Trump is "crazier than a shit fight in a monkey house" (or words to that effect), was on several morning news programs today to say that Trump is a fucking liar who's gonna get us all killed. More precisely, on CNN, he said, "But I think at the end of the day, when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, and the - just the name calling, the things that I think the debasement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for." It barely needs to be mentioned that Corker doesn't think that Trump is a good role model for children, unless, you know, that child wants to grow up to be an asshole. Corker, by the way, has already announced he's not running for reelection in 2018.
Then, this afternoon, Flake got up on the Senate floor to announce he won't seek a second term basically because Trump's a dick and his voters are a bunch of goddamn nutzoids: "There is an undeniable potency to a populist appeal – but mischaracterizing or misunderstanding our problems and giving in to the impulse to scapegoat and belittle threatens to turn us into a fearful, backward-looking people." To put that in non-Senate-floor-ese, Trump's a lying douche who doesn't give a shit about ripping the country apart for his amusement, and a bunch of yahoos love him for the lulz.
In fact, Flake asserted that Republicans should stop being such dumb asses about Trump: "With respect and humility, I must say that we have fooled ourselves for long enough that a pivot to governing is right around the corner, a return to civility and stability right behind it. We know better than that. By now, we all know better than that." Of course, it would have been more potent a speech had Flake had the balls to say Trump's name.
So, yeah, relative to the silent complicity of most Republicans, it's refreshing to see two well-respected and pretty damn conservative senators state the obvious.
But so fucking what? They're both leaving. Neither is willing to get into the trenches and fight. One can imagine they're sick of getting Pepe the Frog death threats. Still, they're bailing. Other than Corker making a vague promise that "we're going to be doing some hearings on some of the things that he purposely is breaking down, relationships we have around the world that have been useful to our nation," they aren't pledging to do a goddamn thing to stop Trump, even though, according to them, he's a potential despot who stokes fear and anger, a lying ignoramus who has no desire to understand issues that involve the life and death of millions of people.
What could they do?
If they were really brave, they'd say, "Yeah, you know what? Fuck the Republican Party." And they'd bail, offer to caucus with the Democrats for the rest of their terms, even if it defies their core ideology (as if supporting Trump didn't), and get Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski to do the same. Thus that changes the leadership of the Senate and puts a halt to Trump's agenda and a mighty big fucking check on his power.
Obviously, Republicans aren't gonna do anything about Trump. Otherwise, senator after senator would have risen after Flake to say they agree. If Republicans are the cowardly shitheels that Flake described, why stick with them?
Or they could have called for impeachment proceedings to begin. They could have said that the president has committed many high crimes and misdemeanors, and, c'mon, people, we fuckin' impeached Clinton for lying about a blow job. What the fuck is wrong with us now?
Not only are Corker and Flake moral cowards on this count, but, fer fuck's sake, they both eagerly support every effort by Trump, having both voted for gutting the Affordable Care Act, for the cruel budget agreement, and for every shitty administrator and judge Trump has nominated. Perhaps we should hold off on the hosannas until they fucking do something to prove they hold the beliefs they speak of. Maybe we can stop giving them rhetorical hand jobs because they said shit that we like.
Because right now, it's just words. And, sorry, that's as good as nothing, as good as a series of tweets into the abyss.
People on the sensible-shoes left, the lying-to-themselves center, and the semi-rational right are praising two Republican senators today for speaking honestly about the threat that
Corker, who previously had said that Trump is "crazier than a shit fight in a monkey house" (or words to that effect), was on several morning news programs today to say that Trump is a fucking liar who's gonna get us all killed. More precisely, on CNN, he said, "But I think at the end of the day, when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, and the - just the name calling, the things that I think the debasement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for." It barely needs to be mentioned that Corker doesn't think that Trump is a good role model for children, unless, you know, that child wants to grow up to be an asshole. Corker, by the way, has already announced he's not running for reelection in 2018.
Then, this afternoon, Flake got up on the Senate floor to announce he won't seek a second term basically because Trump's a dick and his voters are a bunch of goddamn nutzoids: "There is an undeniable potency to a populist appeal – but mischaracterizing or misunderstanding our problems and giving in to the impulse to scapegoat and belittle threatens to turn us into a fearful, backward-looking people." To put that in non-Senate-floor-ese, Trump's a lying douche who doesn't give a shit about ripping the country apart for his amusement, and a bunch of yahoos love him for the lulz.
In fact, Flake asserted that Republicans should stop being such dumb asses about Trump: "With respect and humility, I must say that we have fooled ourselves for long enough that a pivot to governing is right around the corner, a return to civility and stability right behind it. We know better than that. By now, we all know better than that." Of course, it would have been more potent a speech had Flake had the balls to say Trump's name.
So, yeah, relative to the silent complicity of most Republicans, it's refreshing to see two well-respected and pretty damn conservative senators state the obvious.
But so fucking what? They're both leaving. Neither is willing to get into the trenches and fight. One can imagine they're sick of getting Pepe the Frog death threats. Still, they're bailing. Other than Corker making a vague promise that "we're going to be doing some hearings on some of the things that he purposely is breaking down, relationships we have around the world that have been useful to our nation," they aren't pledging to do a goddamn thing to stop Trump, even though, according to them, he's a potential despot who stokes fear and anger, a lying ignoramus who has no desire to understand issues that involve the life and death of millions of people.
What could they do?
If they were really brave, they'd say, "Yeah, you know what? Fuck the Republican Party." And they'd bail, offer to caucus with the Democrats for the rest of their terms, even if it defies their core ideology (as if supporting Trump didn't), and get Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski to do the same. Thus that changes the leadership of the Senate and puts a halt to Trump's agenda and a mighty big fucking check on his power.
Obviously, Republicans aren't gonna do anything about Trump. Otherwise, senator after senator would have risen after Flake to say they agree. If Republicans are the cowardly shitheels that Flake described, why stick with them?
Or they could have called for impeachment proceedings to begin. They could have said that the president has committed many high crimes and misdemeanors, and, c'mon, people, we fuckin' impeached Clinton for lying about a blow job. What the fuck is wrong with us now?
Not only are Corker and Flake moral cowards on this count, but, fer fuck's sake, they both eagerly support every effort by Trump, having both voted for gutting the Affordable Care Act, for the cruel budget agreement, and for every shitty administrator and judge Trump has nominated. Perhaps we should hold off on the hosannas until they fucking do something to prove they hold the beliefs they speak of. Maybe we can stop giving them rhetorical hand jobs because they said shit that we like.
Because right now, it's just words. And, sorry, that's as good as nothing, as good as a series of tweets into the abyss.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
This Amazing Pic Of Trump And Mitch McConnell Having Russian Flags Thrown At Them Is Priceless
By Jason Easley
A picture captures the precise moment when Trump and Mitch McConnell had Russian flags thrown at them as they arrived for the Republican Senate lunch.
A picture captures the precise moment when Trump and Mitch McConnell had Russian flags thrown at them as they arrived for the Republican Senate lunch.
The picture was taken by Roll Call photographer Bill Clark.
Pictures are capable of capturing the mood of a nation better than words ever could. This is one of those moments as a smiling Mitch McConnell, and thumbs up Trump are reminded of what they did to win an election as Russian flags fly toward them.
McConnell has been one of the cover-up artists for Trump in the Russia campaign. Going back to the 2016 campaign, McConnell refused to work with President Obama and issue a joint statement condemning Russian interference in the presidential election.
McConnell also allowed Russia to attack the election by expressing skepticism about the intelligence that Russia was interfering in the US presidential election.
Mitch McConnell is still working hard to cover-up Trump's crimes.
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case, one stolen presidential election.
A picture captures the precise moment when Trump and Mitch McConnell had Russian flags thrown at them as they arrived for the Republican Senate lunch.
A picture captures the precise moment when Trump and Mitch McConnell had Russian flags thrown at them as they arrived for the Republican Senate lunch.
The picture was taken by Roll Call photographer Bill Clark.
Pictures are capable of capturing the mood of a nation better than words ever could. This is one of those moments as a smiling Mitch McConnell, and thumbs up Trump are reminded of what they did to win an election as Russian flags fly toward them.
McConnell has been one of the cover-up artists for Trump in the Russia campaign. Going back to the 2016 campaign, McConnell refused to work with President Obama and issue a joint statement condemning Russian interference in the presidential election.
McConnell also allowed Russia to attack the election by expressing skepticism about the intelligence that Russia was interfering in the US presidential election.
Mitch McConnell is still working hard to cover-up Trump's crimes.
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case, one stolen presidential election.
Monday, October 23, 2017
John McCain Brutally Mocks Trump For Being A Draft Dodging Coward
Sen. McCain (R-AZ) said, “One aspect of the conflict by the way that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America and the highest income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur. That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.”
Donald Trump has been insulting and threatening Sen. McCain even after his brain cancer diagnosis, but McCain has been through way worse than anything Trump can dish out on Twitter. Sen. McCain was right on one critical point. Trump is a man who wrapped himself in the flag but used his family’s wealth to avoid serving his country. A
The prognosis may not be good for John McCain, but if he is in the final act of his life, he is using it to defend his country against the threat that is Donald Trump.
12 Days of Silence On Niger Tragedy Exposes Donald Trump As A Fake Patriot
Donald Trump’s handling of the aftermath of the Niger tragedy, which claimed the lives of four American servicemen, has caused considerable outrage and raised troubling questions. But what it didn’t do, was reveal anything about Trump that we didn’t already know. Contrarily, it only reinforced perceptions that were previously witnessed, but somehow ignored by his voters. For twelve days Donald Trump publicly ignored the deaths of four men who he claims to hold so dearly.
Twelve days of silence proved him yet again, to be a malignant political fraud.
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly showed a disgusting lack of empathy and respect for members of the military. He derided Gold Star parents and proclaimed himself more astute in military strategy than battle tested generals. He accepted a veterans Purple Heart medal, famously declaring that “was much easier” than serving in combat. He held a fundraiser for veterans but didn’t disperse the funds until he was prodded by the media about monies raised. He also dodged the draft with five deferments, including one instance in which he claimed to suffer from bone spurs in his foot. But when questioned, Trump couldn’t remember which of his feet were afflicted. Later his campaign released a statement, which said both of his feet suffered from the condition. He insulted the record of former P.O.W. John McCain.
Does any of this sound like a man who has the utmost respect for our armed forces?
Four American lives were lost in Niger on October 4th. Donald Trump, self-proclaimed patriot, didn’t bother to mention their deaths until October 16th. Twelve days passed before Donald Trump,
Donald Trump made a mockery of a call of condolence to the family of fallen soldier La David Johnson, lied about it and his deplorable minions covered for him with more lies. For a self-professed patriot, this was an unforgivable sin. Trump lied about the content of his call, lied about calling the families of other slain servicemen and doubled down, impugning the reputations of past presidents and stating that they didn’t do as much as him in this regard.
In the ensuing twelve days between the time of the demise of our fallen soldiers and his public acknowledgment, Trump continued his attack on the NFL calling their patriotism in question. What must be understood is that his position has nothing to do with his fraudulent love of the flag. His attack is fueled by greed and bigotry.
Trump attempted to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014 and was denied entrance into the exclusive boys club. This is after famously making a fool of himself, while simultaneously bankrupting the league when he led the now-defunct USFL, into a court battle against the NFL and was summarily crushed.
The USFL was a fairly successful venture until the idiocy of Donald Trump came into play.
The other stunningly obvious reason for his war on football is his unmitigated bigotry and that of his supporters. Trump is playing the race card by inflaming the emotions of his bigoted base, who are wholly threatened by the concept of wealthy men of color fighting for change. Trump went as far to initiate a fake protest by his despicable underling, Mike Pence. He cost taxpayers over $250,000 for a hoax designed to further divide the nation. For twelve days Trump also continued golfing and his dimwitted use of social media.
Trump’s narcissism is being enabled by everyone around him. His con game is moved forward by his sad sack administration. Once respected, John Kelly, has proven that he is not in the White House to keep Trump in line, but rather to fall in line with the Trump vision. Kelly forever tarnished his legacy by committing classic Trumpisms of dishonesty and distortions. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has repeatedly proven there was never a lie or fabrication that she wouldn’t bestow upon American citizens. The entire White House staff colluded in Trump’s deception when they scrambled to form a list of soldiers killed in action, so Trump could contact them, after saying he had already done so. Where exactly is his profound patriotism in any of this? You won’t find it because it doesn’t exist.
Donald Trump is a shameless liar, a conniving con artist, an emotional wreck who is intellectually deficient and historically incompetent. But make no mistake. Donald Trump is not now or ever was a patriot. #RESIST…
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Andy Borowitz: The End of Trump | The New Yorker
New Yorker contributor Andy Borowitz discusses Nazis, Donald Trump and impeachment, and starting his own movement, élitism.
Trump Says The “Piss Tape” Dossier Is A Conspiracy Funded By The FBI, Democrats, And Russia
Donald Trump is not happy about the resurgence of the “piss tape dossier”
that claimed that Trump paid prostitutes to piss on him in a Russian
hotel.
While there were far more explosive claims in the report, the “Golden Shower” claim has gained the most attention due to the overall creepiness of that assertion.
But Trump is fighting back, and he now says that this entire dossier was the result of the FBI, the Democratic Party, and Russia coming together to smear him. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/trump-floats-conspiracy-by-democrats-fbi-and-russia-to-pay-for-pee-pee-tape-dossier/
While there were far more explosive claims in the report, the “Golden Shower” claim has gained the most attention due to the overall creepiness of that assertion.
But Trump is fighting back, and he now says that this entire dossier was the result of the FBI, the Democratic Party, and Russia coming together to smear him. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/trump-floats-conspiracy-by-democrats-fbi-and-russia-to-pay-for-pee-pee-tape-dossier/
Trump Rates His Puerto Rican Response A Perfect 10 As Residents Continue To Suffer
Donald Trump says that he would rate his handling of the dire situation
in Puerto Rico a perfect 10, even though 28% of people on the island
still don’t have access to clean water.
Trump has bungled the situation in Puerto Rico just as bad, or possibly even worse, than George W. Bush with Katrina, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/356227-trump-on-puerto-rico-id-give-myself-a-10
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/trump-gives-his-response-to-puerto-rico-a-ten-even-as-28-of-residents-still-lack-drinking-water/
Trump has bungled the situation in Puerto Rico just as bad, or possibly even worse, than George W. Bush with Katrina, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/356227-trump-on-puerto-rico-id-give-myself-a-10
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/trump-gives-his-response-to-puerto-rico-a-ten-even-as-28-of-residents-still-lack-drinking-water/
Friday, October 20, 2017
Oh, Just Fuck Off, John Kelly
Posted by Rude One
Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: No matter where the fighting is and no matter the cause, most soldiers will act bravely, sometimes even heroically, to support their fellow soldiers. In every bullshit war, there are men and women who fight, get wounded, and die, and their sacrifice should be honored and respected. They went to war because the leaders we elected made them go there.
But let's also get another thing straight: We have not fought a war that wasn't bullshit since World War II. And every death and every wound has been for nothing (beyond the soldiers protecting each other.) Korea was bullshit. Vietnam was bullshit. The Persian Gulf was bullshit. Iraq was bullshit. Afghanistan is bullshit. They are all built on lies. Sometimes we allow ourselves to believe they weren't lies. But each and every one was based on lies to advance some policy or ideology that no Americans should have had to die for.
Which gets us to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general. Yesterday, Kelly appeared at the White House press briefing to set the record straight or some fucking thing about President Trump's callous phone call to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, killed in Niger earlier in this month.
In doing so, Kelly took his career and any respectability he had, which he had already handed over to Trump when he agreed to work for him in the first place, and he allowed Trump to fuck it in the ass while he cheered Trump on.
You can read about the many ways in which Kelly lied about Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. You can get confused at Kelly's statement that Wilson "listened in" on a conversation that was on a fucking speakerphone in the car she was riding in and therefore she had no fucking choice but to listen in. You can roll your eyes at Kelly calling Donald Trump "brave" for reaching out to the family of a fallen soldier, as if Donald Trump has ever done anything braver than eat one too many Big Macs in a single sitting. You can even shake your head at Kelly's beyond ignorant invocation of the past when "Women were sacred, looked upon with great honor."
But I'm saying, "Oh, just fuck off" to John Kelly for a couple of reasons.
First, he should fuck off for talking about how Gold Star families (those who lost someone in battle) are no longer sacred because "I think that left in the convention over the summer." He is probably invoking the Khan family, who criticized Trump at the Democratic Convention, and not Patricia Smith, who lost her son in the Benghazi attack and called Hillary a murderer, more or less, at the Republican Convention.
And Kelly should fuck off because in the rest of his fucked-up appearance he completely politicized Gold Star families - who, it should be noted, often politicize themselves in honor of their lost loved ones. He ignored that the president didn't treat those families as sacred when he attacked the Khans. That didn't fucking crop up in his obsequious fluffing of Trump. As if to make his point clear about who he values, Kelly took a couple of questions but only from reporters who are in Gold Star families or are related to them.
Then he pretty much said that you're an asshole if you don't serve in the military: "We don't look down upon those of you who that haven't served. In fact, in a way we're a little bit sorry because you'll have never have experienced the wonderful joy you get in your heart when you do the kinds of things our service men and women do - not for any other reason than they love this country. So just think of that."
To which one can only say, "Fuck off. There are so many ways to serve your country and your community that don't involve the military and how fucking dare you diminish those."
Even more, John Kelly can fuck off because of what I started with here. Kelly said he was so upset that Rep. Wilson said mean things about Donald Trump (by, you know, quoting Donald Trump) that he had to take a walk. So, as one does, he went to Arlington National Cemetery, and "I went over there for an hour-and-a-half, walked among the stones, some of whom I put there because they were doing what I told them to do when they were killed."
What were they doing under his orders? Fighting in a bullshit war in Iraq, where Kelly had various commands, up to being in charge of the whole damn show in 2008. Yeah, Kelly led men to die for nothing. And so many in the military know that they were it was a war for nothing. Oh, he could have retired, but he didn't. Which means he believed in the bullshit war and sent soldiers to die for bullshit. I'm pretty fucking sure they didn't sign up for that.
But let's go even further here because, you know, if you're gonna tell someone to "Fuck off," you may as well go all the way. One of Kelly's sons died in combat. He usually doesn't talk about it because it's horrific and personal and why should he. But Trump dragged the corpse of Kelly's son into this shitpool. And Kelly brought him up yesterday. Kelly's son died in Afghanistan in 2010 in a war that should never have been started and was fucked up from the start by President Bush and it wasn't even unfucked by President Obama. Like every other soldier in this war, he died for nothing because he shouldn't have been there in the first place. Kelly's younger son is now on his fifth tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Yeah, John Kelly walked out in front of the world yesterday to announce that he is just another piss whore in Trump's bed, and he'll willingly degrade himself and his family in order to stay there.
(Note: I support the troops so much that I don't want them to have to fight because some politician needs to prove that a think-tank's position on democracy or terrorism is correct. I want them to defend us and defend our allies. And, yes, I have family in the military. I don't want them to die for bullshit.)
Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: No matter where the fighting is and no matter the cause, most soldiers will act bravely, sometimes even heroically, to support their fellow soldiers. In every bullshit war, there are men and women who fight, get wounded, and die, and their sacrifice should be honored and respected. They went to war because the leaders we elected made them go there.
But let's also get another thing straight: We have not fought a war that wasn't bullshit since World War II. And every death and every wound has been for nothing (beyond the soldiers protecting each other.) Korea was bullshit. Vietnam was bullshit. The Persian Gulf was bullshit. Iraq was bullshit. Afghanistan is bullshit. They are all built on lies. Sometimes we allow ourselves to believe they weren't lies. But each and every one was based on lies to advance some policy or ideology that no Americans should have had to die for.
Which gets us to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general. Yesterday, Kelly appeared at the White House press briefing to set the record straight or some fucking thing about President Trump's callous phone call to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, killed in Niger earlier in this month.
In doing so, Kelly took his career and any respectability he had, which he had already handed over to Trump when he agreed to work for him in the first place, and he allowed Trump to fuck it in the ass while he cheered Trump on.
You can read about the many ways in which Kelly lied about Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. You can get confused at Kelly's statement that Wilson "listened in" on a conversation that was on a fucking speakerphone in the car she was riding in and therefore she had no fucking choice but to listen in. You can roll your eyes at Kelly calling Donald Trump "brave" for reaching out to the family of a fallen soldier, as if Donald Trump has ever done anything braver than eat one too many Big Macs in a single sitting. You can even shake your head at Kelly's beyond ignorant invocation of the past when "Women were sacred, looked upon with great honor."
But I'm saying, "Oh, just fuck off" to John Kelly for a couple of reasons.
First, he should fuck off for talking about how Gold Star families (those who lost someone in battle) are no longer sacred because "I think that left in the convention over the summer." He is probably invoking the Khan family, who criticized Trump at the Democratic Convention, and not Patricia Smith, who lost her son in the Benghazi attack and called Hillary a murderer, more or less, at the Republican Convention.
And Kelly should fuck off because in the rest of his fucked-up appearance he completely politicized Gold Star families - who, it should be noted, often politicize themselves in honor of their lost loved ones. He ignored that the president didn't treat those families as sacred when he attacked the Khans. That didn't fucking crop up in his obsequious fluffing of Trump. As if to make his point clear about who he values, Kelly took a couple of questions but only from reporters who are in Gold Star families or are related to them.
Then he pretty much said that you're an asshole if you don't serve in the military: "We don't look down upon those of you who that haven't served. In fact, in a way we're a little bit sorry because you'll have never have experienced the wonderful joy you get in your heart when you do the kinds of things our service men and women do - not for any other reason than they love this country. So just think of that."
To which one can only say, "Fuck off. There are so many ways to serve your country and your community that don't involve the military and how fucking dare you diminish those."
Even more, John Kelly can fuck off because of what I started with here. Kelly said he was so upset that Rep. Wilson said mean things about Donald Trump (by, you know, quoting Donald Trump) that he had to take a walk. So, as one does, he went to Arlington National Cemetery, and "I went over there for an hour-and-a-half, walked among the stones, some of whom I put there because they were doing what I told them to do when they were killed."
What were they doing under his orders? Fighting in a bullshit war in Iraq, where Kelly had various commands, up to being in charge of the whole damn show in 2008. Yeah, Kelly led men to die for nothing. And so many in the military know that they were it was a war for nothing. Oh, he could have retired, but he didn't. Which means he believed in the bullshit war and sent soldiers to die for bullshit. I'm pretty fucking sure they didn't sign up for that.
But let's go even further here because, you know, if you're gonna tell someone to "Fuck off," you may as well go all the way. One of Kelly's sons died in combat. He usually doesn't talk about it because it's horrific and personal and why should he. But Trump dragged the corpse of Kelly's son into this shitpool. And Kelly brought him up yesterday. Kelly's son died in Afghanistan in 2010 in a war that should never have been started and was fucked up from the start by President Bush and it wasn't even unfucked by President Obama. Like every other soldier in this war, he died for nothing because he shouldn't have been there in the first place. Kelly's younger son is now on his fifth tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Yeah, John Kelly walked out in front of the world yesterday to announce that he is just another piss whore in Trump's bed, and he'll willingly degrade himself and his family in order to stay there.
(Note: I support the troops so much that I don't want them to have to fight because some politician needs to prove that a think-tank's position on democracy or terrorism is correct. I want them to defend us and defend our allies. And, yes, I have family in the military. I don't want them to die for bullshit.)
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