Monday, November 04, 2024

No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake in the Kitchen

tucker carlsons deamon lover

 

That's Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Tucker Carlson's Sexual Demon" and it just went up a little while ago. 

Susan e-mailed to note that she loves Market Grow for recipes (last time, Lyla noted Market Grow's  "Cajun Shrimp And Rice in the Kitchen," ).  She's signed up for their e-mails and plans to make No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake to take to her mom's for Thanksgiving:

Ingredients

Crust:
  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 cups whipped cream (or 1 cup heavy cream whipped)

Topping (optional):

  • Whipped cream
  • A sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg

Instructions:

  1. Prepare the Crust: In a medium bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until the crumbs are evenly coated. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan or pie dish, using the back of a spoon to compact it into an even layer. Place the crust in the refrigerator to set while you prepare the filling.
  2. Make the Filling: In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add the pumpkin puree, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Beat until everything is well combined and smooth.
  3. Fold in the Whipped Cream: Gently fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin-cream cheese mixture until it’s fully incorporated and light. Be careful not to overmix, as you want to maintain the light, fluffy texture.
  4. Assemble the Cheesecake: Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour the pumpkin cheesecake filling over the crust. Spread it out evenly with a spatula. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight to allow the cheesecake to set.
  5. Serve: When ready to serve, top the cheesecake with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg if desired. Slice and enjoy!


News? Sarah K. Burris (Raw Story) reports:


Former right-wing operative turn progressive writer Matthew Sheffield believes that, after nine years, it appears Trump has oversaturated his followers.
Trump rallies have been emptying out early in the last several months, and the crowd sizes are down compared to the man who once had overflow event sites, Sheffield pointed out with a video of MSNBC showing the 70 percent-full rally in North Carolina on Monday around lunch time.
With Trump showing up late and speaking for hours, those who do stick around can get stranded.


Meanwhile, the campaign is blowing up phones, begging for money, or voting in polls that don't matter. Frustrated people who were signed up to the Trump list can't get them to stop, the San Francisco Chronicle reported over the weekend. The FCC rules mandate that replying "STOP" would stop the texts, but for some, unsolicited Trump texts persist.

"In a base turnout election, Trump loses," said Sheffield, revealing data from Gallup showing Democrats more enthusiastic for vote this year than Republican voters.

"Trump lost in 2020 because he failed to get some of his 2016 voters to come back to support him," he continued. "You can slice who these people were, but demographically, it was primarily white men. Trump improved his share among most other demographic groups."


If you haven't already voted, please vote tomorrow for Kamala Harris.


This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Monday:

Monday, November 4, 2024. Con man and convicted felon Donald Trump mimes a blow job onstage, is unaware what state he is in, threatens reporters and boasts of his "beautiful White skin," while Kamala Harris seals the deal.


Tomorrow the US presidential election concludes.  Over the weekend, things only got worse for Convicted Felon Donald Trump and his crazed MAGA cult. 



Less than four hours ago, Ava and my "Media: The election winds down" went up:


The whole last week has been crazy as Donald's mouth has bled out blather.

For example, he again wished violence on former US House Rep Liz Cheney -- this time guns pointed at her head in a firing squad.   Threats of violence are all the tired, old crook had to offer.  THE TIMES OF ISRAEL noted today:


Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested at a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden, and said he wouldn’t mind if someone shot reporters at the campaign event.

In a meandering 90-minute rally speech two days before Tuesday’s US presidential election, Trump attacked the news media at length, at one point gesturing to TV cameras and saying, “ABC, it’s ABC, fake news, CBS, ABC, NBC. These are, these are, in my opinion, in my opinion, these are seriously corrupt people.”


Between those threats?  He managed to mime jerking off a microphone and going down on it in Milwaukee.  He also managed to threaten violence from the stage, "You've gotta be kidding. Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?"  Warren, Michigan found him unable to say "recession," in Atlanta, George he called Kamala "a twain weck."  He's an embarrassment who long ago lost his cognitive skills and just stands in front of smaller crowds speaking about his "beautiful white skin" and his hair and other topics that have nothing to do with our lives and that's why more and more people are walking out of these rallies long before he completes his free association remarks passed off as speeches.  In Latrobe, Pennsylvania, he'd already began speaking when he announced he was leaving the stage to comb his hair but he would be right back.  While in North Carolina, Trump didn't know he was . . . speaking in North Carolina.


At COMMON DREAMS, Jake Johnson reports:


During a rally on the final Sunday before the presidential election, Republican nominee Donald Trump told an audience gathered in the battleground state of Pennsylvania that he wouldn't mind if a gunman shot through the group of reporters covering the event.

After discussing the protective glass surrounding him, the former president said a would-be assassin "would have to shoot through the fake news" to get to him.

"I don't mind that so much," Trump said, drawing laughter and applause from his supporters. "I don't mind."

[. . .] 

Journalist Jeff Sharlet wrote in response that during his time covering "the fascism beat," he's met "men who've been itching for that encouragement, who openly fantasize about beating or killing reporters."

"It's not a joke," Sharlet wrote. "It's fascism."

Trump has long reveled in attacking members of the press, vilifying them as "the enemy of the people" and directing the ire of his supporters in their direction. Kash Patel, a Trump confidant who's expected to get a senior national security post if the former president wins Tuesday's election, suggested earlier this year that a second Trump administration would go after "the people in the media" with criminal or civil charges, underscoring the threat the Republican nominee poses to press freedom.

Facing backlash over Trump's latest attack on the press, his campaign issued an absurd statement claiming the former president was "actually looking out for [reporters'] welfare" by "stating that the media was in danger." 


The desperation never ends with the convicted felon and his crazies.  Marco Rubio and other idiots had a fit that Kamala Harris was on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.



Liars like Marco Rubio are trying to claim that The Fairness Doctrine has been violated.  No, it has not. 


They're so stupid.  


First off, the Fairness Doctrine was something Ronald Reagan was gunning to overturn when he became president.  And, in 1987, in his second term, his FCC did just that.


But it did not cover humor.  It never covered humor.  


Now I know that they're ignorant because they were home 'schooled.'  Inappropriate behavior meant that they had to leave their schools.  But we all grasp it was never the children's fault, it was always the parents.  That's where they learned the behavior.


But in the real world, where many of us strive to learn, your ignorance is appalling.



That's Richard Nixon in 1968, while running for president.


There was no outrcy of "UNFAIR!" from Hubert Humphrey.  No one dared cite The Fairness Act -- which was in effect then.


A year later, Lily Tomlin's Ernestine did the following sketch.




Again, no outcry or pretense that the sketch above violated The Fairness Act.  It didn't.


Never, while The Fairness Act was in effect, did anyone try to, for example, calculate Johnny Carson's jokes on THE TONIGHT SHOW to see if one party was favored and to make some sort of case over that.  The Fairness Act was never intended to cover humor and Little Marco is foolish idiot for even attempting to make that argument.

Donald Trump is ignorant of the law.  That's how he ended up a convicted felon, after all.  His groupies are equally uninformed when it comes to the law.  Not just Little Marco, but all of them.   David Edwards (RAW STORY) reports:


An Ohio sheriff's office official has reportedly told Democrats that he would not respond to their emergency calls because of their party affiliation.

In the days leading up to the November presidential election, Clark County's Lieutenant John Rodgers said he would use voter registration records to determine which calls he responded to.

According to WHIO, Rodgers' posts had been shared over 250,000 times on social media as of Friday.

The station reviewed social media posts with the threats from Rodgers.

"I am sorry. If you support the Democrat Party I will not help you" and "The problem is that I know which of you supports the Democratic Party and I will not help you survive the end of days," he reportedly wrote.

[. . .]


The Clark County Sheriff's Office told WHIO that an investigation had been launched into the social media posts.

"It is understood that while these comments are highly inappropriate, they in no means reflect the Clark County Sheriff's Office delivery of service to ALL our community and does not reflect the mission and values of the Sheriff's Office. The community has a right to be upset over the actions of Lt. Rodgers and he, as well as the Sheriff's Office in general, will have to work even harder to replenish the trust of members of our community," a statement from the department said.


No, you uninformed asshole, that's not how it works.  How it works is that Rodgers is placed upon immediate suspension and then he's removed.  These are his posts and once that's established beyond any reasonable shadow of a doubt, he has to be removed.  You don't get to pick and choose who you defend.  And if you think you do -- and are stupid enough to express that publicly -- you're not fit to serve.  

This isn't open to interpretation.  This is the law.  


You can't talk about butt-hurt idiots without eventually working your way around to Miss Sassy JD Vance. Kathleen Culliton (RAW STORY) reports:


Former President Donald Trump's running mate has Democratic jaws dropping after he suggested there was one thing his boss would never do.

Sen. J.D. Vance told rally attendees in Aston, Pennsylvania, on Sunday that the Republican presidential nominee always had championed Americans' right to freedom of speech — and always would.

"You know something Donald Trump will never do?" Vance said. "Donald Trump will never go out there and say that his fellow citizens should be censored or silenced for disagreeing with them." 

Replied political commentator Justin Baragona, "Trump is literally demanding that CBS and ABC be taken off the air."

Trump and his allies have filed a complaint against CBS, sued ABC News and accused the Washington Post of illegally spreading propaganda supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.

Studies show reporters fear they'll be thrown in prison if Trump is reelected and have face violent threats at his rallies from supporters who tell journalists, "I hope you're dismembered."


They have spent months lying to the country, thinking we must be kin to Boo-Boo the Fool.  

MORNING JOE today offers a comparison of the weekend messages from both campaigns. 



And that's why people are rejecting Donald Trump.  Julia Conley (COMMON DREAMS) reports:


Political observers expressed shock Saturday evening as the Des Moines Register released its final poll before Election Day showing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris leading Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by three points.

Harris was supported by 47% of respondents compared to 44% who backed Trump.

The newspaper's poll, conducted by pollster J. Ann Selzer, is widely regarded as the "gold standard" survey of voters in the state and has been recognized as "predicting" numerous election results in Iowa and giving a potential preview of how candidates could fare in other Midwestern states with similar demographics.



We have the numbers.  When we fight, we win and, most important, when we vote, we win.  "Don't boo," Barack Obama has repeatedly advised at rallies in the last weeks and he's right.  If you've voted, great.  Now find out who you know that hasn't voted and see if they need help, maybe they need some persuasion, maybe they need a ride to the polls, maybe they need someone to watch their kids while they vote.  It's about the number of votes.  We have them but we have to get voters to the polls on Tuesday.


It was not a good week for grifters.  Donald got checked, JD Vance got checked, Little Marco got checked -- even queen grifter Jill Stein got checked.  Julia Conley (COMMON DREAMS) reports:


  Noting that the U.S. Green Party and its presidential nominee, Jill Stein, have strayed far from the values held by Green parties in countries across the globe, a coalition of European lawmakers representing the organization called on Stein to drop out of the U.S. presidential race to help prevent a victory by Republican nominee Donald Trump.

"The stakes of these elections could not be higher," reads an open letter from politicians and parties from countries including Norway, Belgium, France, Ireland. "We are clear that [Democratic Vice President] Kamala Harris is the only candidate who can block Donald Trump and his anti-democratic, authoritarian policies from the White House."

Stein, who has run for president in the last four elections and won 1.4 million votes in 2016, is now polling between 1.1% and 1.4% and is on the ballot in a majority of states, including almost every battleground state.

The European Greens noted that they advocate "for a politics that prioritizes the planet, people, and peace above corporate greed, systemic injustice, and violence."

"The U.S. Greens are no longer a member of the global organization of Green parties," reads the letter, spearheaded by European Greens co-chairs Mélanie Vogel, a French senator, and Thomas Waitz, an Austrian member of European Parliament. "In part this fissure resulted from their relationship with parties with authoritarian leaders, and serious policy differences on key issues including Russia's full-scale assault on Ukraine."

Stein attended a dinner in Russia in 2015 with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been critical of U.S. support for Ukraine's defense against the Russian invasion that began in 2022.

In mid-October, Stein joined former Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant at a rally where Sawant acknowledged that Stein has no chance of winning. At an event in Michigan, Sawant said the state was "ground zero to punish Kamala Harris and defeat her" for Harris' support for the Biden administration's policy in Israel and Palestine. The comment suggested to critics that Stein and her supporters view a Trump presidency as preferable to a Harris victory on November 5.

"The U.S. Green Party is attempting to go after the subset of voters on the left who don't like the Democrats," Carl Roberts, a spokesperson for Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, a political foundation affiliated with the German Green Party, toldThe Guardian in September. "I think this is quite out of step with other Green parties, who always center environmental concerns in their messaging and campaigns as one of their highest priorities." 

Here's the Tweet.




Margaret Kimberley and Anne Garrison had hissy fits on Twitter.  They're stupid fools and have too much say in the Green Party.  I said Jill would be suicide for the Green Party.  They could have gone with Kat Swift, Kent Mesplay, Dario Hunter, anyone -- anyone but the grifter who'd already held the title of presidential nominee two times before.  When you run the same failure three times, you make it clear that your party is not growing.  It's stagnant.  And when that loser is a grifter who grabbed millions from people for a 2016 recount that never really happened?  Your con artist is very close with Donald Trump's campaign for a reason.


Faced with reality, these idiots and kooks can't deal with it.  So you get Margaret Kimberely nuttier then when she used to claim that a plane didn't bring down the Twin Towers now insisting, "They are pro-war collaborators. So yes, they got a call from NATO and I'm guessing from the DNC too."


That's right, Margaret, it's a plot!  An international plot!  It's a plot!  The European Greens are actually CIA!  And NATO!!!!


Do you get how crazy you sound?  Do you?  People are laughing at you -- and, for a change, it's not because your buddies with registered sex offender Scott Ritter, nor is it because of your cheap ass weaves.  Open the purse, Margaret, spend some money on fake hair or wear your real hair.


They are a joke -- and a dirty joke at that.  Their response to this criticism -- accurate criticism -- is not to attempt to refute it but to instead serve up more nutty conspiracies.  

 


The following sites updated:



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Sunday, November 03, 2024

Cajun Shrimp And Rice in the Kitchen

 That's Nanci Griffith's "Working In Corners."  Elaine's "5 great Nanci Griffith performances" went up a little while ago and made me think of how much I enjoyed Nanci's work.  Like everyone, my favorite album is the live one One Fair Summer Evening.  Of the studio albums, my favorite is Storms.  But I'm a Nanci fan so I like pretty much all of them.  Men with half her talent became stars.  Nanci did the work, she had the talent.  Radio just wasn't a fan.  But long after some of these men are forgotten, Nanci will still be remembered. 



Lyla e-mailed to note Market Grow's recipe for Cajun Shrimp and Rice:


Ingredients:

  • 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup long-grain rice
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ½ teaspoon thyme
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)
  • Lemon wedges (for serving)

Instructions:

  1. Season the shrimp: In a bowl, toss the shrimp with Cajun seasoning until evenly coated. Set aside.
  2. Sauté the vegetables: Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and bell pepper, and sauté until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant.
  3. Cook the rice: Stir in the rice, smoked paprika, and thyme. Toast the rice for 2 minutes, stirring frequently to coat it with the spices. Add the diced tomatoes and broth, then season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15-18 minutes, or until the rice is tender and has absorbed the liquid.
  4. Cook the shrimp: While the rice is cooking, heat a separate skillet over medium-high heat. Add the seasoned shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until the shrimp are pink and cooked through.
  5. Combine and serve: Once the rice is done, gently stir the cooked shrimp into the rice mixture. Remove from heat and garnish with fresh parsley.

Serve your Cajun Shrimp and Rice with lemon wedges for a bright, zesty finish. Enjoy this comforting and flavorful dish on its own or with a side of crusty bread!


"Spanish Fried Egg in the Kitchen" remember?  Mona sent that recipe in.  Tried it this morning and loved it.  Thank you, Mona.

News?  Julianne McShane (LGBTQ Nation) reports:


Paris Alexander had been in a destructive relationship for over a decade, learning to tolerate the intolerable even as the abuse progressed—first mental and emotional torment, then physical and sexual torture. Like many survivors, Alexander, who is nonbinary, stayed in the relationship hoping that it would improve. “We stick it out,” they said, “because we think that they’re going to change and come to their senses.” 

Then, one day in September 2020, Alexander’s male partner beat them up and dragged them outside their Providence, Rhode Island, home by their hair. Wandering their neighborhood, covered in blood and desperate to flee, Alexander felt haunted by the years of forced isolation: “I had nowhere to go, no one to turn to,” they recall. A Google search on their phone led them to Sojourner House, which runs the state’s only shelter specifically for LGBTQ victims of intimate partner violence. Almost miraculously, there was some space. Finally, Alexander had caught a break. 

At the shelter, known as RISE, Alexander focused on taking “baby steps” toward independence. They got a library card. They started individual therapy. They joined a weekly virtual LGBTQ support group, where they heard terms like “nonbinary,” “gender-queer,” and “gender fluid” for the first time. Back then, Alexander identified as a transgender woman and felt pressured to “look female as much as possible.” The support group taught them, “You don’t have to be [male or female]—you can just simply be who you are, and that’s okay.” 

RISE is one of three shelters operated by Sojourner House, named for the 19th-century slave-turned-abolitionist Sojourner Truth, who was also an ardent advocate for women’s rights. Since its founding in 1976, the organization has served more than 60,000 people—1,800 last year alone. A small but critical part of this past year’s $7.4 million budget comes from the federal Crime Victims Fund, a pot of money created by the 1984 Victims of Crime Act, also known as VOCA. Across the country, VOCA helps pay for the hotlines survivors call in crisis, the shelters they flee to, and the advocates who accompany them to court and help them heal.

VOCA-supported programs helped almost 8 million people in fiscal year 2022–2023, funding nearly 3 million shelter beds and 2.3 million crisis-hotline calls, according to the Department of Justice. Those services have become more critical since the pandemic, as rates of intimate partner violence have soared, a housing crisis has made it even harder for survivors to flee, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade has given abusers another way to threaten pregnant survivors. But even as the need is growing, VOCA funding has been plummeting—and Congress has failed to act on what many advocates say may be the best hope for a legislative fix.

The current funding crisis is rooted in changes in DOJ policy that date back years. The Crime Victims Fund gets most of its money from financial penalties levied in corporate criminal cases, according to the department. Those fees and fines have been falling as federal prosecutors have pursued more deferred and non-prosecution agreements, which allow defendants more time to pay up or avoid charges entirely if they cooperate with the government. As a result, deposits into the pot shrank from a high of $6.6 billion in 2017 to $1.39 billion in fiscal year 2023. (Because of congressional caps, the actual amount of money disbursed is even lower.) These declines have trickled down to state agencies—which receive VOCA funds based on their state’s population size—and then to eligible programs. Rhode Island, which has one of the smallest populations, has seen a 54 percent drop in VOCA funds since 2017, to $2.9 million in the last fiscal year. California, the most populous state, went from receiving $218.9 million in VOCA funds in 2017 to $87 million over the same period.

Most states, including California, have managed to come up with some funding to offset the federal cuts, but the money is mostly temporary—lasting a year or two max. Fourteen states, including Rhode Island, did not appropriate any money in their most recent budgets to offset the VOCA cuts, I found in my reporting. This past spring, Rhode Island lawmakers proposed $2 million in supplemental funding, but the bill died in committee.

I’ve spent four months trying to understand how these extreme VOCA cuts are affecting domestic violence programs across the United States, doing more than two dozen interviews and tracking down budget data from every state. The picture that has emerged is deeply troubling: Lifesaving services for survivors are struggling to stay afloat, and experts fear what might happen if a long-term funding solution isn’t found.


This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Friday:

 Friday, November 1, 2024.  Donald Trump threatens violence against Liz Cheney, Jennifer Lopez nails down why we need to vote for Kamala, and much more





Jennifer Lopez:  The election is just five days away and there is so much at stake.  The choices facing Americans now are monumental.  And you guys have made this city a place where dreams come true, where people from all walks of life have planted a flag in hopes of creating a better future for themselves and their families.  And you are the ones who are going to send the message that Nevada is Harris country.  Kamala Harris is running for the people who dream, for the parents working overtime, the children studying by street light, the teenagers practicing in the basement.  She's the only candidate that wants to raise the minimum wage and make college more affordable, keep the Dept of Education and even put a teacher in the Vice President's job.  That's right.  On the other hand, her opponent wants to kill the Affordable Care Act and eliminated the Dept of Education.  Right now, we are on the brink of an election that demands a choice -- a choice between backwards and forwards, a choice between the past and the future, a choice between divided and united.  And if you are anything like me and you value the idea that in this country, any child, from any background, cannot only work their ass off to bring their dreams to life and to be able to do so with dignity and respect for their neighbors, then it isn't much of a choice at all.  Whether you're from Castle Hill in the Bronx -- yes, baby -- or Sunrise Manor in East Las Vegas, we all want a world where our kids feel safe and free and valued by their president because whoever lead this country matters -- that's how we make the greatest America.  Because I remember -- I remember growing up thinking my president cared about me, cared about my parents, cared about my neighbors and my community -- not just some Americans, but all Americans.  I believe that our kids and this wonderfully progressive, innovative and inclusive young generation deserve that too.  And it is in our hands -- it's our responsibility to provide that for them.  You know, when I started in TV and film, I could get roles playing the maid or the loud mouthed Latina, but I knew I had more to offer and I think there are a lot of people in this country who feel the same way, who know that they are capable of more  and we all just want a chance to prove it.  And elections are about choosing leaders who support that.  Not one who stands in the way. 



Jennifer Lopez laid out the case for Kamala Harris last night in Las Vegas.  


Surprisingly, Donald Trump also was making the case for why Americans should vote for Kamala.  Oliver O'Connell and Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT) explain:


Having already addressed two gatherings of his supporters, the former president ended his day in a sit-down interview with Tucker Carlson on stage in Glendale, Arizona, at which he shockingly fantasised about former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney being shot at.

He also attacked senior Democrats Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Adam Schiff and warned baselessly against “cheating” at the polls and forced sex-change operations in schools.

Vice President Harris closed out Thursday with a raully in Las Vegas in which singer and actor Jennifer Lopez emotionally endorsed her.


But we were also supposed to be in mourning when Trump went around with the maxipad taped to the side of his head.  He can talk about someone shooting Liz Cheney, but he wants sympathy when one of his nut job supporters takes a shot at him?  





Donald Trump said former Rep. Liz Cheney is a “war hawk” who should be fired upon, as he raged against one of his most prominent intra-party critics while campaigning Thursday night in Arizona.

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” the former president said at a campaign event in Glendale with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

Trump also hurled insults at Cheney, once the third-ranking Republican in House leadership, calling her “very dumb,” a “stupid person” and “the moron.”     

             Trump’s suggestion that Cheney be fired upon represents an escalation of the violent language he has used to target his political foes. And it comes days before an election in which the former president — who never accepted his 2020 loss — has already undermined public confidence. In recent weeks, he has also suggested a military crackdown on political opponents he has described as “the enemy within.”

Cheney is perhaps the most vocal Republican critic of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and his role in his supporters’ January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. She played a leading role on the House select committee that investigated the attack, and later was ousted from her deep-red Wyoming House seat by a Trump-backed primary opponent in 2022.

Cheney responded to Trump’s comments overnight, saying: “This is how dictators destroy free nations.”     



Trump is a danger to this country.  He cannot be allowed back in the White House.  We have all got to vote in this election.


As for his continued lies about transgender operations taking place at schools?  

Maybe he's scared or insulted.  Maybe someone's suggested to him that he have top surgery?

Watch Dave Bautista in the video below.


2.2. million views in less than two weeks.  "He's got jugs.  Big ones.  Like Dolly Parton," Dave notes. So maybe people have suggested breast reduction surgery to Donald one time too many and that's what has him obsessing over trans surgery?  Donald, don't panic.  Just buy yourself a bra.




Over the course of just four years, male voters under 30 have shifted a net of 14 points towards Republicans, according to polling by the Harvard Kennedy School of Politics.

Citing inflation, immigration, the withering of the American dream, the left’s war on “toxic masculinity,” and the former president’s ability to bro-out with their favorite podcasters, young men told The Post what made them ready to get behind Trump this November.

“As far as young male voters are concerned, I feel like the Democrats have no message for them. The Democrats have totally ignored that base,” Alex Bruesewitz, a 27-year-old campaign advisor for Trump, told The Post.


Is that what the incel feels?  He's been for Trump since he could vote.  He published a (bad, really bad) book in 2022 with additional lies because that's what a liar does.  And I guess Rikki's a liar as well since no research was done before rushing to quote the impotent male.

That's what's behind this -- impotency.  

"Toxic masculinity."  The term's been misunderstood by many -- especially by idiots like Impotent Alex.  

Masculinity is not toxic.  No feminist has argued that.  There is a strand of masculinity that is toxic.  That's the sort that bullies and batters.  

And while that strand is toxic, it doesn't just apply to men.  Ava and I long ago dubbed Ellen Barkin's Smurf on  ANIMAL KINGDOM as the best example of toxic masculinity -- see 2017's "TV: Conventions ingrained."

It's a point lost on Alex who'd rather spend time styling his hair -- what a big strong man he is using hairspray for his professional photo on AMAZON! -- than actually thinking.

These impotent incels worship a fat man with droopy boobs who craps himself -- as DeSantis' campaign kept whispering to the press (DeSantis had an accident in a Congressional bathroom, Trump knew about it and made jokes about it and whispered it to the press, in response DeSantis' campaign tried to get it known that Trump was crapping himself due to his age) -- and that's because they never learned what masculinity was -- toxic or otherwise.  

That's why they are afloat and aimless. Alex wanted to run against a sitting Republican in the House and thought he could win because he's just that stupid.  Then it was pointed out to him that the gay rumors swirl around him like no one since George Michael, that he's accomplished nothing with his life, and that his would be opponent was a  military veteran who served in Iraq (really served, not in some glorified steno pad like Miss Sassy).  Even though the US House Rep stepped down, the humiliating reality that Alex was greeted with prevented him from running for office.  Maybe he can get some life experience?

Incels do feel powerless and do dream of  Donald Trump's massive, saggy boobs.  

When I was gifted with a drive of Glenn Greenwald's web life -- it was left with my agent by someone I do not know -- a number of outlets were interested.  But then I guess it just didn't look believable.  That these incels could be as disgusting as they actually are.  But now they realize that, yes, that wasn't just Glenn's weird surfing habits, this was an actual movement of weak and powerless men trying to beat up women, beat up Black men and force themselves on gay men (submissives into humiliation like Glenn).  That is MAGA.  They pretend otherwise, but that is who they are.  And their violence against women was especially disturbing.  And you can find all that garbage on Elon Musk's Twitter.  

They're also strangely obsessed with Hasan Piker.  In the last few months, we've highlighted some videos by Hasan.  But when that drive was dropped off, I had no idea that Hasan was a real person.  I thought maybe he was a character on some teen show.  But they have all these fantasies -- these MAGA 'men' - of "breaking" Hasan -- of Charlie Kirk spanking him over the knee on live television, of them 'breeding' him, etc etc.  They are incels and they get really excited about sex with men despite their use of the f-term and their supposed hatred of gay men.

Since we're bringing up Glenn, the prisoner claiming to have had a relationship with Glenn, who's due out of prison shortly?  He specializes in humiliating other men.  So if he and Glenn did have a relationship, as the prisoner claims, let's be clear that Glenn was paying for degradation and humiliation.   Severe degradation and humiliation. 

Back to old man Trump, the busty babe the incels worship.  Meanwhile, Brad Reed (RAW STORY) reports:



Former President Donald Trump's most recent campaign speeches are not nearly as succinct or energetic as they once were, and riddled with gaffes, according to a new National Public Radio review.
The 78-year-old Trump's speeches are marked by "lower energy" and also a tendency to go off on "nonsensical tangents," NPR reported Tuesday. What's more, Trump seems to at times have difficulty recalling very basic vocabulary.

"When ad-libbing about a visit to a McDonald’s where he served food to supporters in a campaign stunt meant to attack Vice President [Kamala] Harris, he couldn’t remember the word fryer," NPR reported.

During the event, Trump reportedly said he took French fries "right out of whatever the hell they may come out of.”


Senile and getting worse.  Melody Schreiber (THE NEW REPUBLIC) reports:

In June 2019, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Samoa with his anti-vaccine organization, Children’s Health Defense, meeting with local anti-vaxxers and government officials at a time when the country’s measles vaccine was under attack. Prominent anti-vax voices, including CHD, blamed the vaccine for two infant deaths the prior year, even after the true reason was discovered. Amid the swirling misinformation, vaccine rates plummeted from 60–70 percent to 31 percent.

A few months after RFK Jr.’s visit, measles swept through the freshly vulnerable Pacific island nation, killing 83 Samoans—mostly children. Kennedy doubled down, writing to the Samoan prime minister to question whether a “defective vaccine” was responsible for the outbreak. Even two years later, in 2021, Kennedy called a Samoan anti-vaxxer who had reportedly discouraged people from getting vaccinated during the 2019 crisis a “medical freedom hero.” Kennedy has also insisted for years, against all available scientific evidence, that vaccines cause autism, blaming them for a “holocaust” in the United States.
 

This week, Kennedy told supporters that if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wins, he has promised Kennedy “control of the public health agencies,” including the Department of Health and Human Services. Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnik later denied that Kennedy would have a job with HHS—although, at the same time, he said Kennedy had convinced him to pull vaccines from the market. Trump himself, at his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, seemed to lend credence to the idea of Kennedy leading on health: “I’m gonna let him go wild on health. I’m gonna let him go wild on the food. I’m gonna let him go wild on medicines,” Trump said. Trump also said on a three-hour podcast episode with Joe Rogan last week that he’s told Kennedy, “Focus on health, focus—you can do whatever you want.” It’s not clear whether such a promise would have been made in exchange for Kennedy’s political endorsement, which would be illegal. But if Kennedy were to be put in charge of HHS, he would be leading the executive department that oversees the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health, among others. In the meantime, Kennedy is an honorary co-chair on the Trump transition team, and claims to be “deeply involved in helping to choose the people who can run FDA, NIH, and CDC.”

In his own speech at Madison Square Garden, Kennedy took aim at Democrats, saying they were once “the party that wanted to protect public health, and women’s sports”—a bizarre pairing that highlights his recent pivot to attacking trans athletes and gender-affirming care. Kennedy, who ran as a Democratic and then independent presidential candidate before throwing his support behind Trump, is also spreading misinformation on chronic health issues such as obesity, diabetes, drug overdoses, and autism; on Tuesday, for example, he said diabetes could be “cured with good food.” In his Sunday speech, Kennedy characterized Trump as a president who would “protect our children … and women’s sports,” as well as “end the corruption at the federal agencies—at FDA, at NIH, at CDC, and at the CIA”—a constellation of bodies rarely joined together, which he implied are conducting surveillance upon and acting against the interests of the American people.

“This unbridled assault on science and scientists, it’s highly destabilizing for the country,” Baylor College of Medicine dean Peter Hotez, author of The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science, told me earlier this year, a few months after Kennedy announced his run. But it’s not just Kennedy—Trump and other Republicans in Congress are also leading the charge to undermine expertise and further erode public trust in the government, he said. “This is what authoritarianism is all about,” Hotez said, lamenting “the collateral damage that it’s going to do to our democracy” and pointing to the ways Stalin portrayed scientists as public enemies during the Great Purge.





Junior as Secretary of HHS?  That's the death Donald wants to sentence us all too.  

He is a menace who must be defeated at the ballot box -- a fact most Americans recognize.  Susan Benjamin -- better known by her stage name Medea -- has never been one to express patriotism so her decision to put her name to another column written by the man who controls her really isn't a surprise nor is its nonsense of pretending grifter Jill Stein is the 2024 answer for the United States.  

No link to trash -- and Susan made it clear she was trash when she wanted to share the stage with the Proud Boys because cameras would be present.  We will, however, note this comment to her garbage:


Mitchell_Zimmerman
6h

Benjamin and Davies write: “Most Americans have been persuaded that Stein cannot win the election.” It’s not a matter of being “persuaded”, any more than we are “persuaded” that Trump did not win the last election. It’s simply a fact. No one seriously imagines that Jill Stein will get more than a few percent of the votes anywhere, so I don’t understand what is served by encouraging anyone to think maybe she’'ll actually win. It’s not honest.
I also don’t see that we should regard voting for Jill Stein as just another individual decision, for which no one need be apologetic. If it leads to a disaster, you should feel bad about it. And it very well may.
I’ve fleshed out some of the reasons voting for the Green Party is destructive, in these pages; I won’t repeat them all. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/kamala-harris-gaza-2669543360.
Two points. First, I don’t see how anyone here can honestly take the position it doesn’t matter whether Trump or Harris is elected. We now have a full fledged fascist party, the Republican Party. The Democrats are far from a fascist party. Are progressives so locked into hating the Democrats that they cannot see the dangers of fascism? Is Gaza the sole issue that matters? Not whether we have a president who plans to deport 11 million people? Not climate change, not the elimination of honestly counted elections? Not abortion rights? Not whether reactionaries control the Supreme Court for another generation?
Yes, I know the Democratic Party is a capitalist party dominated by capital. But that doesn’t mean all the differences between Democrats and Republicans are trivial. I’m actually mystified anyone could believe that or pretend to.
Second, on whether building a third party is a realistic goal: There are structural issues that make this very challenging in a political system with single member districts, as opposed to multiparty list systems. The single-member district system pushes very hard toward two major parties. The trend is supported by the fact that – as is obviously the case here – third parties tend to injure the party closest to them, and voters grasp that, actually, yes, the lesser of two “evils” is better than the worse of two evils. Especially when the supposedly ideal party has no plan that would lead to victory.
Below is the Green Party’s percentage of the popular vote for President for every presidential election of this century:
2000 2.74%
2004 0.38%
2008 0.10%
2012 0.36%
2016 1.07%
2020 0.26%

There have been downs and ups. But the Greens have had more than twenty years, and we see no progression toward the Green Party playing a significant role in American politics. Other than as a spoiler.
Can someone explain to me what the plan is to break out of this role, in which the Greens are either irrelevant or destructive?


There is no plan.  The Greens committed political suicide this year by making Jill their presidential nominee for the third time. At 74, she's too old to run.  The Green Party was supposed to be a different party, a new party.  Yet they've run Jill three times now.  And she just gets older.  They could have made a break with the past, they could've run someone young and vital.  Instead, they went with tired, old Jill making it clear that there is no life left in the party.  

Jill's a gifter and a con artist sitting on millions but her fans don't know that.  Just like they didn't know she even had children, let alone that they weren't voting for mom.  

She's a grifter and a con artist.  

Maybe in 2025, the Green Party can rebuild and maybe they'll start focusing on real races and on building up a presence in the US Congress?  








LeBron James endorsed Kamala yesterday and Tavis Smiley participated in a discussion about that on CNN.




 I believe today's the last day of early voting in states that allow it.  Absentee ballots need to be mailed off as well.  Tuesday will conclude voting.  We have to vote.

And we have to vote wisely.

But we have to do more than that.

I'm tired and I know you're tired.  We've all done everything we could.  Or we think we have.

None of us like having to justify ourselves.  Having to explain ourselves.

Dana Bash tried to pull that trick on Kamala, remember.  'Trump says you're not Black.'  Whether it's your race, your gender, your sexuality, your religion, your ethnicity, whatever.  We are a nation of people with various possibilities and traits.  And we don't often fit the straight, White,  hateful model that Donald Trump represents.  

But we do usually have friends and lovers and spouses that care about us but may not grasp how much is at stake this election.  It can really be tiring to feel that you are always having to explain yourself to other people or to justify yourself.  But if you know even one undecided voter or one voter planning on staying at home and sitting this election out, there's one more thing you can do and that's share your own story with that person.  Share what Trump back in the White House means for you, how your life will suffer.  Try to enlarge just one person's understanding of how much damage Trump can cause to someone they know.  

The election will wrap up Tuesday night.  I think Kamala's run a great campaign.  I think she's brought real hope that we did not have in June -- 'we' meaning We The People as well as the Democrats running for office lower on the ballot.  She's done an amazing job in such a short time.  When I started THE COMMON ILLS, it was right after the 2004 election and it was after a meeting where we talked about what worked and what failed and what we could do differently.  Since starting THE COMMON ILLS, I have campaigned to end the Iraq War but not for politicians.  I haven't used this space for that.  But this is a very important election that determines the fate of our country and whether or not we have a democracy.

We've spoken in 48 states since Kamala became the nominee (all but Hawaii and Alaska) and there is so much excitement for Kamala to be our next president.  But to make that happen, we need everyone to vote.  So if you know anyone on the fence, please reach out to them this weekend.  And if you have the time on Tuesday to drive someone to the polls so they can vote, consider doing that.

Every vote counts -- even 'safe' states.  We've got until Tuesday and then we can all take a deep breath again.

Lastly, a number of e-mails on why I didn't post in the afternoon yesterday.  I did:


I just posted them to THIRD by mistake.  I was in the wrong account and didn't even realize it.  That's how tired and exhausted I am.  But we're almost there.



The following sites updated:

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