Some people belong in hell because they make other people's lives a living hell here on earth. One such person? Mark Robinson. Molly Sprayregen (LGBTQ NATION) reports:
North Carolina’s viciously anti-LGBTQ+ Lieutenant Governor has announced he is running for governor of the state.
In his campaign announcement video,
Republican Mark Robinson said he didn’t care “about the zip code you
live in, the size of your paycheck, whether you’re Black, white,
straight, or gay,” but everything he has ever said about LGBTQ+ people
contradicts that claim.
Just this past March, Robinson declared
that God created him to battle against LGBTQ+ rights and added, “Makes
me sick every time I see it — a church that flies that Rainbow flag,
which is a direct spit in the face of God almighty.”
What a piece of garbage. If this is his idea of God's love, he's sure to rot in hell. He also surely belongs there.
If you're not getting just how vile and disgusting he is, let me excerpt one more section of the article:
He also said people who support events like Drag Queen Story Hour do so because they desire to molest children.
Wednesday, April 26, 2023. Threats again of attacks on US service
members in Iraq, a US general uses a narrow time frame to try to claim
victory (when it's probably weather related), Joe Biden declares he's
running for re-election, and much more.
Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, an Iraqi resistance group,
has announced that it is prepared to expel American forces from Iraq if
the United States decides to keep them in the country.
"If
Washington insists on not withdrawing its military forces from Iraq,
the resistance groups are at the peak of their readiness to expel them
from this country's soil," said Kadhim al-Fartousi, the group's
spokesperson, in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
You
can check the timeline, it's today. It just seems like a rerun because
it is. Over and over that threat is made. It's as old as the Iraq
War.
The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, confirmed that his
country’s forces will not withdraw from northern Iraq and Syria at
present, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
In an interview, Cavusoglu said that the withdrawal from northern
Iraq and northern Syria means the cessation of the Turkish military
operations against terrorism and allowing terrorists to get closer to
the borders, and this poses a threat to Turkey’s national security.
The Turkish Foreign Minister explained that the Turkish forces will
leave a security vacuum if they withdrew from northern Syria, and that
national security and border security are very important for Ankara.
A
security vacuum? They're violating Iraq's national sovereignty by
putting troops on the ground in Iraq and setting up military bases in
Iraq. But they think they're the ones in the right? Weeks ago, they
attacked a convoy in northern Iraq that included US military personnel.
Why? Well as Cavusoglu makes clear later in his remarks, they don't
trust the US. Interesting.
Monday, the US
State Dept held a press briefing with Major General Matthew McFarlane
("the commanding general of the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation
Inherent Resolve") that's resulted in a lot of stenography but no
reporting and certainly no analysis.
"If
you walk away with one thing tonight, I
want it to be the progress we have made, our partners have made, and
the coalition in support of them, in the campaign against [. . .] ISIS,"
the general declared and like good stews in the secretarial pool, they
all did just that.
He
wanted people to know that ISIS holds "no territory." Terrorist groups
rarely do. That's not their real motive. Disruption is their motive.
The US government -- and lying generals -- still want to play like ISIS
taking over Mosul was normal.
He
then wanted to lie that ISIS "remains military defeated." What does
that even mean, you liar? They're a terrorist organization. As such,
they're active or they're inactive. You'd have to be a complete idiot
not to grasp that.
There's been a reduction in activity!!!! And everyone ran with that.
He insisted, "Since
the beginning of this year in Iraq -- so that's January 1st through the
first week of April -- we've seen a -- recorded a 68 percent reduction
in attacks when compared to the same
period last year."
That's so impressive . . . if you believe any lie you're told.
Ramadan just concluded. Do you know what his narrow period saw with regards to Ramadan?
Fewer pilgrimages.
Why?
The flooding.
What marks the end of fasting (from sunrise to sunset) of Ramadan? Eid al-Fitr.
Compared to previous religious and national holidays, the number of
tourists visiting the main attraction spots in Erbil province has
dropped due to the most recent flash floods and cold weather, according
to local authorities.
Heavy rainfall and floods over the past weekend caused serious damage
to resorts at Erbil’s tourist attractions and brought traffic to a
standstill. As Muslims in the Kurdistan Region celebrate Eid al-Fitr,
the number of tourists was lower than expected.
"The number of tourists that have come was not what we predicted due to
two key reasons; first, final examinations, second, most recent
floods... However, we believe, from after [Eid al-Fitr] the number of
tourists will go back to normal as the temperature degrees increase,"
Laween Jabar, owner of a resort in Soran told Rudaw’s Andam Jabbar.
Hey,
here's an idea for the US government: The next time Iraq's hit by a
bad sand storm and government offices have to close down, put Major
General Matthew McFarlane back before the press the next day so he can
claim victory again for a day where ISIS was inactive, take credit for
that too.
The press may be that stupid -- or that whorish -- the rest of us aren't.
Yesterday, US President Joe Biden became the third
candidate to declare that they were running for the Democratic Party's
2024 presidential nomination. Immediately, Marianne Williamson had
comments. Ryan King (WASHINGTON EXAMINER) reports:
"I think that video was very out of touch, and that's what people are feeling," Williamson told the Hill's Rising.
"I think an entire younger generation would stay home in droves in
response to what that video is advancing as the administration's pitch
to the American people."
Hey,
Marianne, what voice in your head told you that? I don't know that I'd
be calling anyone else out of touch if I were the candidate whose
support evaporated the moment Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared he was also
running for the nomination. Disclosure -- and I'm not doing this every
day -- I know all three. I know Joe, I know Marianne, I know Robert.
If you talk crazy, I'll call you out. I'm not afraid to smack you
around. Marianne got off easy in 2019 and got off rough. Easy in that,
she was part of a group of women running so we focused on that and,
except for psychotic cult member Tulsi Gabbard, the women all got
along. Rough in that, when she called for everyone to send positive
energy to defeat something (COVID, I don't remember), I thought about
whether or not I wanted to write a piece on how positive thinking can be
a form of prayer before deciding, "No, I really don't feel like writing
something I don't believe in just because she's made a fool of
herself."
With a smaller
field, Marianne will have even more opportunities to make a fool out of
herself. She'll also have more opportunities to shine.
But
that would require Marianne learning to speak for Marianne. RFK Jr.
will face his own obstacles. But he's speaking for himself. His
remarks are authentic to who he is.
Marianne? "I think an entire younger generation . . ."
Are
you a younger generation, Marianne? Why don't you speak for yourself
or are you not able to? You've got Peter Daou handling your campaign
but are you listening to him? You're not making statements that appeal
to people. If you want to be a critic, go for it. We can use more.
But if you're a candidate, you need to learn to craft those soundbytes
better. This one is so bad, it's laughable.
Joe was actually the reason I was going to cover the campaigns today.
Some
people just can't turn the offense meter off. I don't like Donald
Trump but go back and you will see that when I thought he was being
misunderstood over a remark -- willfully or not -- I would weigh in. I
did not cover his Tweets. I felt the media was obsessed with his Tweets
and ignoring his harmful policies.
But
Joe Biden made comments about children. And the offense industry got
butt hurt over his comments: "Our nation's children are all our
children."
This is nothing controversial but when you're one of those Jonathan Turleys paid to create outrage every fifteen minutes . . .
Joe
grew up in a different time when the neighborhood children were
everyone's children. The adults watched out for all of them. Equally
true, only the most rabid would disagree with Hillary Clinton that it
takes a village. Joe's remark was not about stripping anyone of their
rights as parents. They were noting that children are our resources,
our most treasured resources.
There
are many things going on to take actual offense over. As I've said in
other election cycles, if we're going to be this stupid, it's going to
be a long election cycle.
To drop back to Gen Z Marianne Williamson, I think this is a strategy that will appeal to many. Here's Joe's announcement.
Why
do you need to vote for Joe again? The ad makes the argument that there
are too many crazies out there (no, Marianne, he doesn't mean you) who
are destroying our way of life and our democracy. They think they can
overturn established law. They think they can destroy women's
reproductive rights -- first with abortion and now with pills. They
think they can deny trans care to adults -- or, for that matter, to
children whose parents have made the decision that trans care is
needed. They think they can attack LGBTQ+ members. They think they can
tell us what we can read. They think they can tell us -- grown adults
-- how to dress -- don't dress in the opposite gender or they'll arrest
you.
And you think, on
that last one, that I'm talking about drag queens and kings? I am but
I'm talking about more than that as well.
The head of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) has issued a
memorandum telling all employees to dress “in a manner consistent with
their biological gender.” The revised dress code would not only force
transgender people to present in a way that feels inauthentic, it could
also be used to punish cisgender people who wear gender-neutral
clothing.
The memo, which experts say violates federal free speech and
non-discrimination protections, is just the latest move by Texas
Republicans to erase trans identities from the state.
The April 13 memorandum, signed by Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller
(R), was entitled “Texas Department of Agriculture Dress Code and
Grooming Policy.”
Miller’s two-page memo said that in order to “reflect the culture,
dignity, and professionalism of the TDA… All employees are expected to
comply with this dress code in a manner consistent with their biological
gender.” The memo effectively revises the department’s former dress
code, which didn’t mention “biological gender,” The Texas Observer noted.
The new dress code requires employees to wear “traditional business
wear, including Western business attire.” This includes button-down
shirts for men and skirts or pants for women. The code applies to all
work settings that don’t require uniforms or protective gear for
agricultural fieldwork.
Ladies, they don't
just want to control our reproductive rights, they also want to control
what we wear. This is the American Taliban.
If Marianne can't grasp that, she has no business running for office.
Joe's a known
quantity. He can't change his brand. He can't pretend to be something
he's not. So what he can he do? He can present himself as a voice of
sanity who is going to stand with Americans and tell the bullies to back
off.
That's what the campaign's going to run on and it's a smart move.
I believe former
Senator Claire McCaskill was on Andrea Mitchell's show just yesterday
talking about how the "Republican Party is worshiping at the alter of
extremism." She is correct.
Now for those who believe I'm trying to steer people away from Marianne to Robert, let's do Robert.
Robert, the American people want to stand behind you. They'll accept your stands on vaccines.
They will not accept you standing with crazy.
There's a reason I'm not endorsing RFK Jr.
I thought I would. Then I saw him too tight with someone.
Tucker?
Mother Tucker was media, I could care less.
But
Robert, if you're going to stand with a registered sex offender, a
convicted pedophile, you're going to watch your own campaign burn down
into flames.
You cannot survive that.
I'm sure some of the wack jobs are lying and telling you that you can.
These
same pieces of trash insisted that Scott Ritter -- the registered sex
offender and convicted pedophile -- was not going to hurt their DC rally
for 'peace.'
But what happened there?
Even the crazies had to back down and disinvite Scott Ritter.
The
media's not really paying attention to you, Robert, because they think
"anti-vax" is going to take you out. It's not. It's who you are and
it's not a surprise to anyone supporting you.
You're standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a registered sex offender?
Robert, that's not a dream of Camelot.
Basic rule of politics, don't stand next to a child molester for a photo op.
You're
going to need to stop associating with crazies or you're going to hand your current lead over to Marianne. I'm not joking on
this. Scott Ritter is going to run off support and if the media picks
up on this relationship and runs with it, it could kill your campaign in
a matter of weeks. That's your warning.
Marianne?
She doesn't suffer fools who harm what needs to be done. Just the
Scott Ritter relationship may be enough for some RFK Jr. supporters to
go elsewhere. If so, if Marianne will listen to Peter Daou, she can run
a solid campaign.
That's Marianne talking about issues which is what she needs to do if her campaign's going to have any real chance.
Can
we talk about John Stauber for a moment. The hate merchant felt the
need to reTweet Sean Ono Lennon. Hmm. He loves Sean but he hates Cher.
I'm
sorry who actually did something with their life? Right, that would be
Cher. Sean Ono Lennon is a 47-year-old man child who never learned
self-grooming and he's the definition of a nepo-baby. How many hits did
he have? Zero. Cher, by contrast, charted 63 songs in the US. Sean's
had zero gold albums and zero platinum albums in the US. Cher? 8 gold
albums and 6 platinum (and multi-platinum) albums. Sean has had two
albums make it on to BILLBOARD's Top 200 albums (both made it to 153)
while Cher's carried 44 albums onto BILLBOARD's Top 200. Both also
pursued acting careers. I don't know if you'd consider the episode of
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER or the episode of the original MELROSE PLACE
Sean's 'acting high.' But Cher carried three variety series. She made
films with Robert Altman, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jack
Nicholson, Mike Nichols, Meryl Streep, Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci,
Liam Neeson, Norman Jewison, Nicholas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, Sandy
Dennis, Karen Black, Kathy Bates, Lily Tomlin, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench,
Chazz Palminteri, Stanley Tucci, William Friedkin, Peter Yates, Anne
Heche, Rita Wilson, Sam Elliott, Laura Dern and Eric Stoltz -- among
others. She's been nominated for two BAFTA awards, she's been
nominated for six Golden Globes (and won three), won Best Actress at The
Cannes Film Festival and been nominated for two Academy Awards (winning
Best Actress for MOONSTRUCK). Oh, and she's performed on Broadway.
Cher
worked for what she has. Sean? Nepo-baby who will be handed billions
when Yoko passes away. He's wasted his life. If that seems harsh,
let's compare him to his half-brother Julian. Julian has a million
selling album in the US to his credit and a gold one. In all, he took 3
albums onto BILLBOARD's top 200. And he charted six songs in the US.
Unlike Sean, Julian didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Even so, he leaves behind a musical history. Sean was handed
everything -- he even had sleep overs with Michael Jackson -- but now,
at the age of 47, he has nothing to show for it.
Naturally, that's who John Stauber elects to celebrate. Why? Because they both hold the same vapid opinion.
I'll
celebrate the people who work and not the idle rich who've had
everything handed to them and gone on to do nothing with their lives.
John Stauber will just go on being pathetic. It's the only card he has
left to play. And when -- and if -- Sean ever does anything with his
lazy life, I might care what he thinks about Tucker Carlson but right
now he's just a spoiled brat who has wasted his life.
Harry
Belafonte has passed away. Activist, actor, singer, friend to the
world. His life mattered and he gave so much. While fools and liars
like Tucker Carlson cheered on the Iraq War, Harry called it out. We'll
wind down with this from David Bacon:
HARRY BELAFONTE, PRESENTE!
Harry
Belafonte was a true people's hero. He opposed war and racism, and was a
friend of revolutionary movements in Cuba and Venezuela. He was a
radical activist, in the tradition of Paul Robeson, in whose footsteps
he said he walked. In these photographs he came to Oakland on April 15,
2003, for a march and rally against the war in Afghanistan right after
it started. He was unafraid to oppose U.S. wars and intervention, a true
man of peace.
During the slightly over 3-minute video,
the president attacks "MAGA extremists" around the country who "are
lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms" he and his administration
are fighting for.
His
words are accompanied by footage of Greene dressed in a white fur coat
and shouting "liar" at Biden during the State of the Union address in
February. The video then cuts to an image of former President Donald
Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis together.
On
February 7, Greene, from Georgia, shouted at the president several
times and was joined by other GOP lawmakers after Biden mentioned
Republican efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Biden
repeated these accusations in his bid for re-election. "Cutting Social
Security that you've paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for
the very wealthy. Dictating what healthcare decisions women can make.
Banning books, and telling people who they can love. All while making it
more difficult for you to be able to vote," he said.
Here's the video announcement.
Best
campaign announcement I could imagine. As C.I.'s noted, the GOP crazy
is scaring voters who self-label independent as well as some suburban
moms who have voted Republican. They uncorked the crazy and now it
could drag them down. The election is months and months away so
anything can happen but C.I. has been saying this online and with
several Democratic senators and party officials. They need to make sure
that the American people know just how crazed and crazy the GOP is.
That's the path to success.
You
don't have to lie, you don't have to spin. You just need to show the
American people how out of step these reactionary fundamentalists are.
They want to destroy women's rights, they want to "eradicate"
transgender people, they are hateful and think they have the right to
tell us what we can read or what we can wear.
No
matter how some submissive like Glenneth Greenwald might salivate at
the thought of being under Ron DeSanits' dominion, the rest of us just
aren't that sick.
I hate to find happiness in the misfortune of others… oh, screw that.
The news that Fox fired racist misognyist authoritarian Tucker Carlson,
its top-rated host, makes me very happy indeed. I know they’ll replace
him with someone comparably monstrous. But Carlson is a uniquely awful
monster, and his departure is good news for truth, democracy—and women.
The immediate reaction to the news: This must be another shoe falling
in the wake of the network’s massive $787 million settlement of the
lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems. Pretrial discovery featured a ton of
incriminating, embarrassing texts from Tucker, which swung wildly
between trashing Donald Trump—“I hate him passionately”—and trying to
get Fox colleagues fired for telling the truth about Trump’s
stolen-election lies. The Washington Post reported that his
texts included harsh criticism of Fox management. Probably in his favor,
at least to Rupert Murdoch, were texts showing that he was worried
about the fall in the company’s stock price after it declared Biden the
legitimate election winner and (occasionally) debunked Trump lies.
The
discovery process of the Dominion case revealed numerous texts from
Carlson—whose entire persona at Fox News rests on the wave of the Make
America Great Again movement—showing his intense dislike of Donald Trump
(New York Times, 3/8/23).
“What [Trump is] good at is destroying things” was among one of the key
texts, but everyone’s favorite, of course, is Carlson saying of Trump,
“I hate him passionately.”
No, Carlson’s on-air racism (Independent, 4/13/21; ADL, 4/22/21), transphobia (New York Post, 12/28/22), xenophobia (Washington Post, 12/15/18), admiration for authoritarians (FAIR.org, 8/3/21, 10/20/21) and flirtations with antisemitism (Daily Beast, 10/11/22, 12/23/22) were never the problem for Fox News. If the Washington Post’s
report that the Dominion texts were definitive is true, it’s poetic
justice: The texts exposed Carlson for who he is, a pompous, rich media
elitist who gives not one single damn about MAGA voters and hates their
king, only cynically using Trump’s political popularity for his own
media grift. That lifting of the veil, the end of the conceit for a
corporation whose entire modus operandi is disguising its ruling-class politics to sell faux populism to its viewers, is a major outcome of the Dominion settlement.
Ava and I covered it last night in "TV: The media circus" and we'd covered it before. Which is why I laugh at Brian Selter using a ton of words to say nothing at VANITY FAIR.
Say nothing, because he knows nothing. It wasn't a difficult decision
for Rupert Murdoch. They were paying Tucker a ton of money and he
wasn't delivering. It became our story because no one wanted to do the
work on FOX NATION -- a streamer in serious trouble. Tucker was
supposed to boost it and he didn't. B-b-b-but he gets good ratings!
He's not paid for what he did, he's paid for what he will do. And the
ratings weren't that great when they got better ratings -- and better
demographics -- for less money -- see THE FIVE which has a real return
on the dollars FOX "NEWS" invests into the program. Tucker is a
crater. They keep throwing money down there. Yes, he was number one
but advertisers didn't want him. And he wasn't the future. While no
one was paying attention, FOX "NEWS" was trying to branch out into
streaming and convinced this would be a huge success. People who pay
for streamers weren't impressed with Tucker. His content was only
streamed if it was Roseanne Barr. Otherwise, they ignored him and they
loathed him. Some people thought he was cruel and mean, yes. But he
even lost the right wingers many of whom referred to him as a "vicious
queen" and a "closet case" which makes me laugh to this day to think
that he preached so much homophobia but to some on the right that was
just an indicator that he himself was gay.
Those
surveys -- and I'm sure the press can get them -- probably without
paying for them -- I paid for them -- made clear that FOX "NEWS" had to
rethink because it's not the 20th century anymore and they're being left
behind.
Due to advertising, Tucker didn't generate a
return on the investment. It was a business decision. If you can't
grasp it, he was KNOTS LANDING. KNOTS LANDING ran for years and when it
got the axe it was a still a top-rated program. But it was now to
expensive to make. People were being paid too much to continue the
show. Tucker Carlson was paid a huge amount of money but he couldn't
deliver on it. He couldn't bring in big money in advertising and his
ratings that seemed so huge didn't justify the amount of money being
spent.
Has no one noticed how the audience for THE
FIVE has grown? I feel like I'm pitching the show here, and I'm not.
But FOX "NEWS" invests far less money in that show. It turns a better
profit and they're hopeful that shows like that -- built around groups
of people -- are the future for FOX "NEWS."
As for Tucker? He's "a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot."
Some videos on his departure (and that of Don Lemon).
Not a comedy video but Glenn
Greenwald went on Megyn Kelly's show as they wept over Tucker. I'd post
but Megyn's been 'freshened up' again and looks even less like a human
being while the left side of Glenneth's face continues to dip like he
had a stroke or, more likely, bad botox. First the bad hair dye out of a
box to save a few pennies and now Glenneth's going to third-rate
dermatologists for cheap botox?
And then there's Max Blumenthal. It's just like when MSNBC fired Phil Donahue!!!!
Except
. . . it's not. Phil was fired as the US was moving to war on Iraq.
And, more importantly, idiot, Tucker Carlson cheerleaded the Iraq War. I
guess you were too busy inspecting your newly sprouted hairs to grasp
that, Junior. I really don't have time for idiots, Max, try growing the
hell up. It takes a lot of nerve, with the Iraqi blood on Tucker's
hands, to compare him to Phil Donahue -- that's so insulting to Phil.
People
are dead in Iraq because of Tucker Carlson. That's the reality you and
Glenneth and Aaron will never cop to. You pretend you're honest, but
you're not. You're honest about A but dishonest about B and then turn
around and whine about others without ever grasping how much you are
part of the problem.
I'm looking at idiotic Tweets (including Jimmy Dore's) and I'm just not in the mood to write something new, Ava and I already covered it:
Mildly
amused is how Tucker Carlson always came across -- mildly amused and
slightly off. The boy with the bowl cut grew up to be the man with no
clue. After failing on CNN's THE SPIN ROOM, he got a job on CNN's
CROSSFIRE where he degraded the nation's intelligence and when Jon
Stewart pointed out what a mockery of news the garbage was, the Mother
Tucker was out of a job. He tried to spin it, insisting that he had
resigned from CROSSFIRE in April of 2004 -- guess he just forgot his
resignation as, week after week, he continued to do the show until
January of 2005. TUCKER CARLSON UNFILTERED lasted a year at PBS. Onto
MSNBC at a time when it was already featuring garbage like Michael
Savage and had plenty of room in the toilet for Tucker. TUCKER lasted a
little less than 3 years on MSNBC.
Not
being a journalist, talk show host Tucker took time to do what many did
in recent years, take a spin around the floor on DANCING WITH THE
STARS. That he was the first celebrity eliminated should have told him
something about how beloved he wasn't.
When
Melissa Gates gave then-husband Bill the ultimatum, all the hate
merchants were kicked off MSNBC and Tucker landed eventually at FOX
"NEWS." He was a panelist, kind of the 21st century version of Kitty
Carlisle Hart. By toadying and creating many mini-'controversies'
passed off as news, Mother Tucker eventually worked himself up to a
weekend co-host on FOX & FRIENDS Finally, he was ready, he
thought, once again for prime time. TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT debuted in
2016 and got cancelled last week.
Tucker is homeless yet again.
It's greatly upset his friends -- racists and transphobes like the Great Glenneth Greenwald:
One reason there's so much hatred among left-liberal media types toward Tucker is petty jealously: that goes without saying. They always hate most those who succeed in journalism.
But he's also hated by that crowd because he holds up a mirror to the failures of their heroes.
The mirror Tucker held up was to his own ass. Is that what Glenneth found interesting?
Glenneth
and Tara wanted you to know that Tucker hosted plenty of lefties.
Tucker brought on lefties who played his game or served up the red meat
his deluded audience wolfed down. The same way Bill O'Reilly had done a
decade prior with, for example, Susara Taylor. Mother Tucker didn't
invent anything, he was just the new Bill O'Reilly.
And now he's fired.
And Glenneth tries to spin this as a good thing:
A major irony is that Tucker's separation from Fox may be the best thing that could happen to him in terms of his influence and impact.
The sector of media growing most explosively are independent platforms. Joe Rogan is vastly more influential than every MSNBC and CNN host.
Yeah,
but Joe Rogan has charisma. Tucker doesn't. Tucker is not Joe Rogan
who makes people laugh intentionally. Tucker is an uptight prig.
That's not going to play well in 'new media.' It didn't play well for
Bill O'Reilly when he tried to survive being fired from FOX "NEWS." And
Tucker already failed as a podcaster.
And
there are the internals. As the ones -- and only ones -- who have
reported the realities about FOX "NEWS" finances, we can tell you he was
not worth his salary. His podcast for FOX was a failure and then came FOX NATION and TUCKER
CARLSON TODAY.
And since some of them are whining about AOC, let's include this section too:
FOX "NEWS" has to
do more than tighten its belt. There are no friends on Wall Street
willing to bail it out -- NEWS MAX and other similar outlets can
continue even if FOX "NEWS" falters. And they're sinking in debt.
Tucker Carlson became an ugly face for the network -- an admitted liar
(in texts, he not only admitted to hating Donald, he also admitted that
despite making 'stolen election' claims on air, he didn't actually
believe them). This is a problem because AOC rightly noted the FTC when
she was on Jen Psaki's talk show over the weekend.
Glenneth and others didn't understand what AOC was talking about because they're not real smart. Oh, censorship! - they cried.
No.
She
mentioned the FTC which handles issues like fraud and consumer
protection. Viewers are consumers. A TV host telling them that an
election was stolen when the host admits privately that he didn't
believe it was stolen? That's fraud. And eliminating that type of
fraud is why the FTC exists. This had nothing to do with The First
Amendment.
I
would think even the idiots on Twitter could grasp that. Not the FCC,
the FTC. Remember, that's what did in Pat Boone -- the sanctimonious
liar who sold a pimple 'cure' that wasn't. The FTC came down on his
ass. And it could have come down on FOX "NEWS" because, as the texts
revealed, this wasn't an opinion that Tucker held, he was just lying to
viewers. That's fraud, it's not a free speech issue. Again, FTC, not
FCC.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 21, 2023 CONTACT: press@iava.org
Washington, DC- Following
is a statement from the CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of
America, Allison Jaslow, on the current proposal to address the need to
raise the debt limit and cut spending before the House of
Representatives:
“Earlier this week, in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange,
America was assured that our veterans would be taken care of as
Washington politicians prepared to address the upcoming need to raise
our country’s debt ceiling. Then veterans saw what was in their proposal
and whether the words spoken on a stage also translated to the words on
the pages of the bill that was unveiled on Capitol Hill.”
“There are zero guarantees that veterans care is protected in the bill
that will soon be before the House of Representatives to raise the debt
limit in exchange for spending cuts. And worse, it specifically targets
unspent COVID aid that news reports indicate is currently planned to be spent to support veterans’ medical care.”
“This is unacceptable. The Limit, Save Grow Act of 2023
should explicitly protect benefits and care for veterans. As this
debate continues, America needs to also know that veterans and their
families get support from programs like SNAP and Medicaid, so efforts to target those areas of the federal budget could also have an adverse effect on members of our community.”
“Politicians
can say they support our veterans, troops, and their families until
they’re blue in the face, but what matters is what happens when they
take action. Thankfully, the action to introduce a bill is only one step
in the process. The next step is a vote. IAVA urges any member that is
thinking of supporting the Limit, Save and Grow Act of 2023 to ask for a
written guarantee that veterans will be protected. We should prioritize
the needs of our nation’s veterans as spending cuts are considered in
this plan. No Congressmember should give their blessing to the bill
otherwise.”
IAVA
is the voice for the post-9/11 veteran generation. With over 425,000
veterans and allies nationwide, IAVA is the leader in non-partisan veteran advocacy and public awareness. We drive historic impacts
for veterans and IAVA’s programs are second to none. Any veteran or
family member in need can reach out to IAVA’s Quick Reaction Force at quickreactionforce.org or 855-91RAPID (855-917-2743) to be connected promptly with a veteran care manager who will assist. IAVA’s The Vote Hub is a free tool to register to vote and find polling information. IAVA’s membership is always growing. Join the movement at iava.org/membership.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene smeared transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on the first episode of her new podcast, which has now been deleted.
Greene’s podcast on Rumble launched last Tuesday and by Thursday, the first episode had completely vanished. But that wasn’t before eagle-eyed Twitter users were able to grab clips from the show.
One
clip in particular highlighted Greene’s comments towards trans
influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who has been at the center of the Bud Light
controversy after the company partnered with her for a brand deal. The
clip was shared via Patriot Takes on Twitter.
“I’d
like to bring up one of the biggest pedophiles in America today. His
name is Dylan Mulvaney, and I won’t be referring to him as a ‘She’ or
‘Her.’ Let’s go ahead and play this video,” Greene said before playing
the branded video featuring Mulvaney.
Dylan is not a pedophile. But Marjorie does know pedophiles. She knows Milo Yiannopoulos, after all. She hired him to work for her in Congress. Grasp that,
this "America first!"er hired a British creep to work for her. A man
who would brag about how 'normal' and 'great' pedophilia was forcing
SIMON & SCHUSTER to cancel his book contract. Only then would
Marjorie fall out of love with Milo.
Marjorie
Taylor Greene needs to go. She is a danger to this country.
Democrats, in 2024, better do a lot of ads about her to remind everyone
why she needs to go. She's unbalanced.
By
the way, "unhinged." That's popping up everywhere. I had seen that
term in years. C.I. was on the phone with a friend a few weeks ago and
when she showed up at C.I.'s and C.I. was praising her -- the woman's an
actress -- she was like, "I'm not that good." C.I. says some date in
1980 and launches into a monologue the woman delivered then which
involved calling another woman "a little bit unhinged." After that C.I.
used in two snapshots and it's become the word of the month.
Monday, April 24, 2023. Crooked Clarence Thomas remains on the bench,
THE PROGRESSIVE comes out strong against the attacks on the trans
community, the Glenneth Greenwalds are upset that AOC said in an
interview that FOX "NEWS" might need to face some response for inciting a
mob but they don't care that the Republican-controlled Montana
legislature has actually silenced a trans member.
+ We now know that in addition to lavishing Clarence and Ginni Thomas
was luxury trips around the world, Harlan Crow also secretly bought
property from Thomas, including the house his mother continues to live
in, and Thomas failed to disclose the financial transactions in
violation of federal law.
+ Thomas isn’t being bribed to make decisions; he’s being rewarded
for the fact that he’d make these decisions without being bribed. So
would Alito. Yes, they’re corrupt. But their retro judicial views were
always clear & the senate approved their elevation to the high court
anyway.
+ Harlan Crow is a billionaire with a bulging stock portfolio and
vast real estate holdings. Almost everything that comes before the court
will have an impact him.
+ Does Crow collect child porn to demonstrate how much he abhors pedophiles?
+ When Ginni Thomas worked for the Heritage Foundation, Justice
Thomas checked the box “none” on his financial disclosure form for his
wife’s income. She’d actually been paid more than $686,000. When the
deception was disclosed, Thomas said it was “due to a misunderstanding
of the filing instructions.”
+ This seems like a fairly minor blunder to me, except for the fatal
fact that Thomas considers himself a “textualist”, where the precise
meaning (in 1789) of every word can be a matter of life and death. So
petard prepare to be hoisted…
+ Thomas isn’t the only recipient of Crow’s largesse. The coffers of rightwing lawmakers Texas have been infused with at least $19 million from the Dallas-based real estate tycoon.
+ Cory Doctorow:
“The reason the rich pour money into campaigns to stoke divisions among
working people isn’t because they get off on hatred. The hatred is a
tactic. The cruelty is a tactic. The strategic goal is wealth and
power.”
Calls for impeachment proceedings against U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas intensified Thursday amid new reporting that revealed
several specific conflicts of interest related to the justice's
financial ties to right-wing real estate magnate and Republican donor
Harlan Crow.
Following a bombshell report by ProPublica earlier this month regarding trips Thomas took
on Crow's private jet, his superyacht, and to his properties in New
York and Texas which had not been included in financial disclosures as
required by federal law, the conservative justice brushed off criticism
by saying he benefited only from "personal hospitality from close
personal friends" and that Crow "did not have business before the
court."
While also denying any ethics breaches, Crow, who has donated at least $13 million to Republican politicians, acknowledged in an interview with TheDallas Morning News that "every single relationship... has some kind of reciprocity."
The truth of that admission became clearer Thursday as The Guardian reported
on findings in the judicial record, which showed Crow's ties to
right-wing groups that have been involved in Supreme Court cases since
Thomas was first confirmed to the bench in 1991.
The Texas billionaire was part of anti-taxation group Club for Growth's
"founders committee," which helped direct its policymaking, in 2003
when the group filed an amicus brief challenging the McCain-Feingold
Act, a campaign finance reform law.
Thomas wrote a blistering dissent when the court permitted the law to
stand against the wishes of Club for Growth and other right-wing groups.
As The Guardian reported, at this point Crow had already "showered Thomas with several lavish gifts" including "a 1997 flight
from Washington to northern California on Crow's private jet to attend
an all-male retreat at Bohemian Grove" and a $150,000 donation to create
a wing dedicated to the justice at a library in Savannah, Georgia.
Crow also held seats
on the boards of at least three right-wing organizations that have
written amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases; is a longtime trustee of
the conservative American Enterprise Institute, which has filed numerous
supporting briefs; and is on the board of the Hoover Institution, which
filed an amicus brief challenging student debt relief.
Thomas' involvement with Crow raises questions not only about whether the billionaire has "business before the court," said Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). "Nowadays it's consorting with those... whose business is the court—who are deeply enmeshed in the efforts to capture and corrupt the court."
Law enforcement is fond of saying "no one is above the law."
But
the questions surrounding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas'
unreported luxury gifts from a conservative billionaire over two decades
are shedding light – once again – on the imbalance that ethics
watchdogs say exists when it comes to who is held accountable and who is
not.
"There's definitely a double standard at play here," said
Walter Shaub, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Project on Government
Oversight. "An executive branch employee or, for that matter, even a
member of Congress who so flagrantly violated the financial disclosure
law as Clarence Thomas had, would certainly face some sort of
consequences for their actions."
Shaub is also a former head of the Office of Government Ethics, which
oversees how executive branch employees comport themselves – that's
everyone from Census and National Parks workers to military generals and
even the president of the United States.
He argues that
there's one standard for the high-profile and politically connected and
another for the almost two million lower-level federal workers.
"The
Department of Justice has shown a real unwillingness to hold the top
officials in government to the same standard it holds lower-level
officials to," Shaub said. "And if you think about it, that's government
ethics standing on its head, because the higher up you go and the more
power you have to do harm, the more you should be held accountable,
because the stakes are so much greater.
You
know who's not writing about Crooked Clarence? Bigot Jonathan Turley.
He's writing less about transgender people because he's been warned to
"knock it off" and that it's hurting the university. But that didn't
mean he turned his attention to what he's supposed to write about. All
his best efforts to defend Crooked Clarence failed because there is no
defense of him so now he writes about anything else.
But
watch him pretend to be the legal expert on the Court when he finds a
topic about the Supreme Court which he wants to write about. Calling
out Clarence would be too much. He's got a right-wing base now -- on
the blog and on FOX "NEWS." That's why he couldn't weigh in on how
ocrrupt FOX "NEWS" was -- even though Howie Kurtz fought to cover the
story on FOX "NEWS." But not Jonathan. He's just a noted transphobe
desperate to pull in as much coin as he can. He's destroyed his own
image and things will not be easier for him, not should they be.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Turley, Mother Tucker Carlson, John Stauber,
Glenn Greenwald and the other hate merchants going after transgender
people are creating a very violent climate. Edward Helmore (Guardian) reports:
Rasheeda Williams, an Atlanta-based transgender
woman who features in a forthcoming documentary that highlights the
stories of four Black transgender sex workers in New York City and
Georgia, was fatally shot this week, the film’s publicist said on
Friday.
Williams, 35, who performed under the
name Koko Da Doll, was killed on Tuesday evening at a shopping center in
the south-west of the city. It was the third fatal shooting of a
transgender woman in the city since the beginning of the year, Atlanta
police said in a statement.
Koko, whose non-performance name was Rasheeda Williams, starred in the Sundance Film Festival documentary Kokomo City
along with Daniella Carter, Liyah Mitchell and Dominique Silve. The
film was the directorial debut of Grammy-nominated producer D. Smith.
The documentary depicts the lives of several Black transgender sex
workers who live in Atlanta and New York City. It has been lauded for
its realistic depiction of the various ways the women navigate their
identities and their work.
Atlanta Police found Koko with a
gunshot wound around 11 p.m. Tuesday night at a shopping center.
Authorities announced her dead at the scene.
[. . .]
Koko’s co-star Carter wrote on Instagram, "Never thought I'd lose you,
but here I am, standing alone without you by my side. We're sisters for
life, we promised, but now you're gone. I don't know what to do without
you. I'm going crazy, I'm trying to hold on to keep strong, but it just
doesn't feel right. I'm waiting here, my arms wide open, tears running
down my face, ready for you to return even if it takes forever, my
sister. I will truly miss you, sis."
I
never, ever want to see the left welcome back John Stauber. He has
fostered hate against the transgender community and that should never be
forgotten. His past accomplishments aren't all that to begin with but
by going after the most vulnerable in our society, he has roped himself
off from the left forever.
Agreed.
There is no defense for those people as they have cheered on attacks on
transgender persons and made 'jokes' that were not jokes. People like
John Stauber are truly beyond redemption at this point. They chose to
side with a mob egged on by right-wing money. There's no defense for
what they're doing. Dave Zirin (THE PROGRESSIVE) notes:
The April 16 issue of The New York Times included an article that would chill even the most cynical of leftists. Called “How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives,”
it is about how Republican operatives, public relations hacks, and
careerist message makers came to settle upon the demonization of
transgender people as their culture war battle du jour.
Stymied by the waning opposition to gay marriage that exists even
among Republicans, they ferreted about trying to figure out the next
community to demonize. Eventually, they decided to target transgender
people, regardless of the violence that has already been inflicted upon them.
It was a rocky start for the right, with “bathroom bills” in North Carolina roundly defeated and mocked
in 2016. This stoking of anti-trans animus proved more difficult than
they had thought it would be. Then they finally found their “in,” and
this is where they confirm what has been transparently clear for the
last several years: it would be girls' sports.
The hate machine—dark money, billionaire Nazi fetishists, think
tanks, news networks—of the far right found a foothold by focusing on
transgender girls in sports and the “unfair advantages,” and even
“threat,” that they posed to cisgender girls. In many states, there are
no transgender girls on sports teams, or at least none that rightwing lawmakers can name. But that didn’t stop dozens of states from enacting bans, pressuring hesitant but craven rightwing governors
to sign these bans while using their political pulpit to whip up a
fury. They were joined in this effort by organizations formed by
self-proclaimed “liberal feminists” willing to link arms with the far
right for a frenzied common goal, whose very slogan is a negation of the
existence of trans women: “keeping men out of women’s sports.” They
abided by this alliance even when states like Kansas opened the door for “sex tests” to inspect the genitals of girls to ensure they were not trans.
Well, congrats to all the sports folks who fight to keep trans kids from
playing sports. You’ve unleashed a hatred you can no longer control.
The anti-trans sports laws, as the operatives crowed, played into issues of “parental control,” which has been weaponized legislatively against gender-affirming care for minors and increasingly adults as well. It is the same framework that was used against books by authors like Toni Morrison or Anne Frank
appearing in public libraries because they made white parents
uncomfortable. Lectures have been canceled. Books have been banned.
Library systems may be closed. And it started with that narrow entry
point: attacking trans kids in sports. (The focused fusillade against
critical race theory stems from a different space—reaction to the
massive multiracial protests in 2020, following the murder of George
Floyd by police—but have become utterly intertwined in the agenda of the
same legislators.)
People
like Jonathan Turley and John Stauber were part of spreading the hate
and there is no forgiveness because there is no taking back the hate
that has been hurled at the transgender community or the fear that they
have had to live under.
They've taken sides in a
war and it was on the side of the corrupt and the crooked, not on the
side of those in need. They can't come running back when it all
explodes in their face and they have no where else to turn.
This
was not a disagreement over a nominee. This was about basic human
rights. They chose to back racists and bigots and that's who they
should have to break bread with forever more.
Recently, at least 11 states threatened
to restrict drag shows, which is an extension of the slew of
anti-LGBTQ+ legislation passed within the past few years. Tennessee is
among the most notorious in enacting oppressive anti-drag legislation
within the last few weeks, and for its anti-trans laws.
There have been laws which restrict gender expression for centuries. One of the first was enacted
in 1863 in San Francisco, where people were prohibited from being in
public places if they were wearing clothes that were “different” from
their assigned sex. Other laws like this became common in the late 19th
century.
In 2022 alone, 29 out of 315 anti-LGTBQ bills were passed
into law, with hundreds of others being introduced in state
legislatures. Restricting drag shows and gender expression takes it a
frightening step further, and The Guardian describes it as nearing “draconian restrictions.”
Tennessee has adopted
14 anti-LGBTQ bills since 2015, more than any other state according to
Human Rights Campaign. Last week, a bill was passed in Tennessee that restricts
“adult cabaret performances” in public or in front of children. The
bill also specifies that the “performances” cannot happen within 1,000
feet of schools, public parks or places of worship.
Critics of this bill in Tennessee say the
language is ambiguous, making business owners and performers wary of the
extreme range of responses people will have. Despite little
constitutional clarity, the punishments are significant. In the first
offense of violating this law, people will face
misdemeanor charges with fines up to $2,500 and/or up to a year in
jail. Further violations could result in felony charges resulting in up
to six years in jail.
If you missed
it, AOC made some comment on CNN about FOX "NEWS" -- about some of their
actions inciting violence. This has Glenneth grabbing a pair of clean
drawers as he soils himself in shock. FOX "NEWS" did incite. It's one
thing for me to defend Mother Tucker Carlson expressing his opinion that
the election was stolen from Donald. But when we find out that this
wasn't his opinion, when we find out that he and others went on air with
claims that they didn't even believe them and passed them off to an
already angry mob?
That's a different animal.
AOC's
plan will go nowhere. But it's amazing how quick the Glenneths are to
GOOP onto this and to make it their whole world. While they ignore
someone who has truly been silenced. Which proves they don't care about
equality or fairness or a public square everyone can engage in. They
just care about the right-wing. Julia Conley reports:
Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr said ahead of a scheduled legislative
session in the state House on Friday that she is "ready to speak" on
behalf her constituents, but Republican leaders have given no indication
that they'll allow her to do so after silencing her this week in
retaliation for comments she made about transgender rights.
State House Speaker Matt Regier (R-4) has refused to acknowledge
Zephyr (D-100), the state's only transgender lawmaker, on Thursday when
she tried to speak during a debate about a bill that would include
binary definitions of "male" and "female" in the state code, and other
legislation unrelated to the rights of transgender and nonbinary people.
The Republicans' refusal to allow Zephyr to speak on the House
floor follows her comments made on Tuesday about a bill that would ban
gender-affirming health care for transgender youths.
"If you
are denying gender-affirming care and forcing a trans child to go
through puberty, that is tantamount to torture, and this body should be
ashamed," said Zephyr. "If you vote yes on this bill, I hope the next
time you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands."
Soon after, the right-wing Montana Freedom Caucus wrote a letter to the Legislature—posted on Twitter
along with a message that misgendered Zephyr—calling for the lawmaker
to be censured for using "inappropriate and uncalled-for language"
during the debate, unless she issued a formal apology.
Zephyr has
refused to do so, saying in a statement that the Republicans' goal is
not securing an apology, but "silence as they take away the rights of
queer and trans Montanans."
Winding down with snakes in Iraq.
AL MADA reports
on the fifth most dangerous snake in the world which is also known as
the Sayad Dakhil snake because of the number of people who've been
bitten in that area. Six to seven people used to die a year from the
snake bites before a vaccine was introduced about 18 months ago. The
dangers of that one snake has resulted in the deaths of many snakes of
different species in the area as a result of people fearing the
saw-scaled viper.
Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Witch, Please" went up Saturday night. The following sites updated:
