Sunday Funnies
by digby
It’s times like this that we turn to the cartoonists:
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"what digby sez..."
Month: September 2016
QOTD: A six year old
by digby
Last night, on fighting ISIS:
“I will give you good results. Don’t worry how I get there, okay? Please.”
Ok then.
Here’s the whole thing:
Yes. Don’t worry your pretty little heads about “how he gets there.” He knows everything.
He really hit Robert Gates for his op-ed saying “there’s something wrong with him.”And this is amazing even for Trump. He said, “I am so much better at what he’s doing than he is. You won’t even believe it.”
What the right wing hears
by digby
Rush Limbaugh on health and fitness:
On Sunday, Hillary Clinton seizes up, she just started bopping up and down, she started wavering back and forth. She literally seized up trying to get into a double wide door van. After having had to leave the 9/11 ceremony early because of supposed overheating and dehydration. She had to be literally thrown into the van, and two people had to move in quickly to keep her from collapsing to the ground. She started convulsing.
What’s the big story today in the drive-by media? The big story today is the health of Donald Trump and his appearance on The Dr. Oz Show. Has Trump collapsed? Has Trump had to suspend campaigning? Has Trump disappeared for days at a time? Have doctors diagnosed Trump with any diseases whatsoever that would explain erratic physical behavior? Does he have to have people hold on to him and help him get up flights of stairs? Does he need a Secret Service agent or doctor rubbing his back telling her ‘just keep talking, everything’s fine. We’re going to get through it?’ Does he need that like she does? Does he have a health care worker on standby taking his pulse simply walking down the sidewalk? Is Donald Trump chronically dehydrated? Have we heard stories about how Donald Trump hates water, doesn’t like to drink water, has to have water forced in him? She’s the smartest woman in the world and doesn’t drink water, doesn’t like it.
Yet the drive-bys are so concerned Trump’s 15 pounds overweight, and he gets criticized for eating junk food. I think a lot of 70-year-old guys would love to have Trump’s weight to size ratio, they would love to have the amount of hair he’s got, they might do something different with it. But I know a lot of 70-year-old people who would love to have Trump’s energy and stamina. He sleeps four or five hours a night max. He’s one of these people, by the way, who loves getting up. I don’t know how many of you do. He loves it. He loves waking up. He loves getting up. This is the news about him, this is the stories, anyway.
Speaking of overweight, have these drive-by media people actually taken a moment to look at the size of the pants Hillary wears in her pantsuits? I know it’s sexist to talk about things like women being overweight and all that, but come on. This is just one of any number of examples I could give you to explain why the news media’s trust and believability is at an all-time low.
And this is why the media believes their coverage is perfectly fair. It’s not like they’re saying this, right? They’re being much more circumspect. What’s the problem?
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Chelsea morning: The first thing that I heard
by Tom Sullivan
Details are still trickling out about the explosion last night in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. Not far from Josh Marshall’s window, it turns out. (He and his family were away at the time.)
Per the Guardian, “29 people were injured in the explosion, including one seriously.”
CNN reports:
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters early indications are that the explosion at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan at about 8.30 p.m. Saturday “was an intentional act.”
But, he said, “there’s no specific and credible threat against New York City at this time from any terror organization.”
Investigators believe the blast was caused by an explosive device in or near a dumpster, a law enforcement source told CNN.
The New York Times reports the police believe it was a homemade bomb:
Where was the second device found?
It was found on West 27th Street between the Avenue of Americas and Seventh Avenue almost three hours after the explosion. The authorities described it as a pressure-cooker device like the one used in the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.
A photograph of the device that was shared on social media showed a silver piece of cookware with wires and a cellphone attached. The police confirmed the photo was authentic.
BREAKING PHOTO! Here is the second device found by a NYSP Sgt. At 27 street and 7 Ave. investigation is ongoing pic.twitter.com/x7o9Rr30I3— New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) September 18, 2016
A surveillance camera caught the blast on camera from across the street:
Reports do not connect the blast to the three “rudimentary” pipe bombs found in a trash can earlier in New Jersey. Only one went off:
Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor’s office, said he believes the blast was meant to affect the Seaside Semper Five race.
“If it was just a matter of minutes, in terms of difference, there would have been a good number of people running past that explosive device” because of its location along the race route, Della Fave said.
Registration problems at the starting line delayed the start of the race, which meant no one was near the garbage can when the explosion happened, a law enforcement official said.
“We were lucky,” the official said.
The explosion quickly became an issue in the presidential race, with Republican candidate Donald Trump remarking about the explosion when he appeared at a Colorado rally.
“Just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York, and nobody knows exactly what’s going on,” Trump said a hours before New York officials spoke publicly about the blast.
“We better get very tough, folks.”
Democratic rival Hillary Clinton made a statement on her campaign plane on the ground in New York, saying she had been briefed on “the bombings in New York and New Jersey.” But she said she would wait until she had more information before commenting further.
Clearly, this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part. And Donald J. Trump – the man-child ready to go to war over somebody flipping off U.S. sailors – is just the guy to do it.
what is obama waiting for? president trump would have launched like a billionty nukes by now #ChelseaNYC— (((Jeff Tiedrich))) (@jefftiedrich) September 18, 2016
Saturday Night at the Movies
Being human: For the Love of Spock *** & Max Rose **
By Dennis Hartley
While he was undeniably a “beloved” creation, even the unflappable Mr. Spock himself (if he actually existed) might have arched an eyebrow at the prodigious outpouring of sentiment surrounding the passing of “his” alter-ego Leonard Nimoy last year. That, coupled with recent TV marathons and associated hoopla marking the 50th anniversary of the original Star Trek series, makes Adam Nimoy’s heartfelt documentary about his father all the more timely (and touching).
While careful to compartmentalize Leonard Nimoy the human being from his Star Trek character’s indelible legacy, For the Love of Spock still maintains a fairly even tone between personal reflection and fan-pleasing celebration. Like a lot of show-biz kids, Adam had to come to terms fairly early in life with having to “share” his famous parent with legions of adoring fans.
Between the ages of 10-13, Adam saw very little of his father, due to Leonard’s involvement with the original run of Star Trek (1966-1969). While he doesn’t go into specifics, Adam refers to periods where he and his father were having “issues” communicating with each other. Undoubtedly, not having one of his parents around while he was weathering the raging hormonal changes of puberty may have been a contributing factor. Nimoy doesn’t sugarcoat the bad times, either; particularly in reference to his father’s career slide in the early 70s (in the wake of the unceremonious cancellation of the series by the network), which led to his problems with alcohol.
Thankfully, however Nimoy avoids descending into the kind of navel-gazing that has sunk a few similar documentaries that deal with growing up in the shadow of a famous parent. He reminds mindful of the film’s core audience, and devotes the lion’s share of time to, well, the love of Spock. There’s lots of archival footage, plus snippets Leornard Nimoy did for this film (which was still in production when he passed away). There are also observations by fans, cast members of the current Star Trek film franchise, and former colleagues like William Shatner, George Takei, Michelle Nichols and Walter Koenig (Koenig shares a little-told backstage tale about the voice casting for the Star Trek cartoon series that speaks a lot about Nimoy’s generosity of spirit).
If I have any quibbles, it would be with the syrupy music score, which is over-intrusive at times. The film might be a tad overlong (especially if you’re not a Trekkie), as it gets a little repetitive. But its heart is in the right place; and for those of a certain age, it’s a pleasingly nostalgic wallow.
“Have you heard about the restaurant on the moon? Great food, no atmosphere.” For better or worse, that’s the best line in Max Rose, Jerry Lewis’ first starring vehicle since Peter Chelsom’s 1995 sleeper Funny Bones. Not that Max Rose is intended to be a comedy…far from it. Writer-director Daniel Noah’s film has much more gravity (ahem) than that timeworn groaner may infer.
Lewis is the titular character, a retired jazz pianist grieving over the recent death of his wife (Claire Bloom, relegated to flashbacks and the odd hallucination). Understandably, Max is a little morose (endless static shots of a brooding, stone-faced Lewis ensure that we “get” that). Even his sunny-side up granddaughter Annie (Kerry Bishe) can barely get him to crack a smile. Again, Max did just lose his wife of 60 years; yet some deeply buried injury seems to be tugging at him.
Max’s eulogy at his wife’s funeral turns into an oddly self-deprecating rant, alarming both Annie and his son Christopher (Kevin Pollak). Soon thereafter, Max has a health scare while alone at home that prompts The Talk (the one we all dread…about assisted living). Max reluctantly acquiesces and checks in to a nursing home, but remains stubbornly aloof toward staff and fellow residents, until he gets liquored up one night with a posse of lively codgers (Mort Sahl, Rance Howard and Lee Weaver). Defenses down, Max now opens up about his deeper hurt, something he discovered about his wife’s past while sorting through her personal effects after her death. He realizes the only way he’s going to have closure is to go meet face-to-face with an involved party.
Despite the bevy of acting talent on board, this film (an uneven mash-up of The Descendents with The Sunshine Boys) ultimately feels like a squandered opportunity. Lewis has proved himself to be a capable enough dramatic actor in the past (particularly in The King of Comedy, Arizona Dream, and the aforementioned Funny Bones), but here his performance flirts with mawkishness. To give him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he was doing his best with the sappy script. There are good moments; a protracted scene between Lewis and the always interesting Dean Stockwell hints at what could have been, but is not enough to raise the film above its steady level of “meh”.
Previous posts with related themes:
What I Learned from Mr. Spock
This film is rated NCC-1701
The Descendents
The Discoverers
The Savages
Manglehorn
–Dennis Hartley
Conservative Evangelical throwdown
by digby
Yesterday at the National Press Club some conservative evangelicals held a throwdown over Donald Trump. Peter Montgomery of Right Wing Watch was there:
Representing the Never Trump position: pundit Erick Erickson and Bill Wichterman, who served in George W. Bush’s White House. Arguing that evangelicals should rally around Trump were radio host Janet Parshall and anti-gay activist Bishop Harry Jackson. The event was structured with two rounds, starting with an Erickson v Parshall bout, followed by a Jackson v Wichterman match-up.
Erickson got the ball rolling saying he wouldn’t tell people not to vote for Trump, but he said that Christians with public platforms should not support Trump publicly “because I think it’s harmful for our witness.” When asked about Jesus, he said Clinton called Him her savior, and Trump gave vague and rambling responses.
Justifying support for Trump based on “values,” he said, runs up against the reality of Trump’s behavior as someone who “has bragged in his books about multiple affairs, including with married women, has cheated widows and single moms and the elderly out of money through Trump University, has stiffed the low-income worker on his buildings, telling them if they want to collect everything they’re owed they need to sue. Why do you go with him instead of her? Well, you say, ‘our values.’ How does he represent our values?…If you want to advocate for that, OK, but how are you advancing the kingdom of God?” Trump, he noted, says he’s a Christian but has repeatedly said he has never repented or asked for forgiveness.
To those who have suggested God could be using Trump like he used biblical figures like King Cyrus, Erickson said God had done that on His own and “has never asked His people to choose the evil.” Erickson said that he’s sure that there were some in Babylon saying “go on and bow, it’s just a statue,” but that the names we remember are those who resisted.
Parshall seemed a bit peeved about Erickson’s arguments. She talked about the supermajority support Trump is getting from conservative Christians and adopted evangelical pollster George Barna’s nomenclature for “SAGE Cons” – Spiritually Active Governance Engaged Conservatives. Trump’s support from that group, she said, has grown from 11 percent early in the year to 80 to 85 percent now.
“I’m interested in keeping the republic,” Parshall said. She dismissed the question of Trump’s character by saying that everybody is a sinner and “God has a track record of using flawed and broken people, even when it doesn’t look right to us.” She read a long list of moral failings by presidents throughout history, saying, “We are not electing a Messiah.” She did a similar litany with biblical figures, saying, “Noah was a drunk. Abraham lied. Jacob was a liar. Moses was a murderer. Samson was a womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute. Elijah was suicidal. Isaiah preached naked. Jonah ran from God. Job went bankrupt. Peter denied Christ.”
Parshall suggested that Trump’s victory over the huge field of Republican competitors was a sign of God’s favor: “For those who have been praying and fasting through, during and for this process, have we now believed the sovereignty of God didn’t apply? Did He take off to Philadelphia, as W.C. Fields said? Or was a God sovereign in this entire process? Can God raise up a leader who just doesn’t look right to us, but is exactly who God wants for such a time as this?”
During a Q&A session, Parshall said that evangelicals should look to Trump’s pick of Mike Pence, “who represents everything we evangelicals love and support,” as his running mate. Wichterman said that the vice president has as much power as the president wants him to have. Trump, he said, is not someone who surrounds himself with people who challenge his authority or is willing to hear from dissenting opinions. “I don’t have any confidence that Mike Pence, a good man, will be able to have that influence on Donald Trump,” he said.
In his response to Parshall, Erickson said essentially that yes, we are all sinners, but do we revel in our sin or repent of it? Are we to lower the bar or strive for something higher? Embracing Trump, he said, neither glorifies God nor advances the kingdom. Parshall responded that Christians have responsibilities on earth to be engaged culturally and politically. She said she doesn’t care that Hillary Clinton says Jesus is her savior if she also supports “the denigration of marriage” and the “annihilation of the pre-born.” She said she was interested in what a candidate will do for the country and “first, last, and always, what will you do with the court?” She said the difference between the judges Hillary Clinton would nominate and Trump’s list is “the difference between darkness and light.”
Harry Jackson started the second round, making the astonishing assertion that Trump “may be the only one who’s able to bring some substantive healing to the racial divide,” because, Jackson said, he could help the country by advancing “practical answers” on educational and economic opportunity. Black and Hispanic voters, he said, have too often settled for “the politics of grievance.”
Jackson’s top three reasons for all Christians to vote for Trump were religious liberty, the Supreme Court, and support for Israel. He cited other reasons of particular interest to Black and Hispanic Christians to back Trump, including educational reform, economic development in urban areas, and family-oriented tax policies.
Trump isn’t perfect, Jackson said, but he’s getting better. Besides, he said, a little “organized and strategic chaos” might be just what the country needs to shake up the status quo of generational poverty and explosive racial tension. “We are at a place in our culture that the folks who control the system, their grasping little fingers need to be broken off the controls.”
Wichterman, a former special assistant to George W. Bush who now runs a ministry to congressional staff, established his conservative bona fides by saying that “you’ll have a hard time getting to my right. I’m a Republican because I’m a conservative, and a conservative because I’m a Christian. I believe conservative policies best reflect a Christian worldview.” Wichterman said he had been ready to support any of the other 16 Republican candidates, but is not willing to support Trump. Wichterman said he will vote for third-party candidate Evan McMullin.
Wichterman took on three of the arguments being used to justify evangelical support for Trump: Trump is the lesser of two evils; God uses bad people for good purposes; and Trump is a “good man”—a phrase Pence repeats over and over when talking about Trump.
Wichterman says the lesser of two evils argument is the most compelling. He said he has used it himself over the years, and understands that Trump is more likely to nominate conservative judges. But that’s not enough, he said, because Trump may actually be “a threat to our democratic republic”:
I care about the Supreme Court because I care deeply about the government handed down to us by the founders…Trump, on the other hand, has too often demonstrated contempt for the rule of law. He has sounded more like a strongman impatient with constitutional constraints. He advocates death to the innocent family members of terrorists…He advocates torture, not as a means of extracting important intelligence, but as a means of retribution. He said he would do a hell of a lot more than waterboarding.
Wichterman slammed Trump for praising dictators like Vladimir Putin – who is a strong leader in the same way arsenic is a strong drink – and the Chinese officials who Trump says showed “strength” by slaughtering peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square. He cited examples of Trump encouraging violence against protesters. “Trump admires strength whatever form it takes,” he said, which is “inimical to the Gospel.”
Wichterman challenged people who say they won’t vote for Clinton because they believe she’s a liar, but will vote for Trump hoping that he’s been lying and doesn’t really mean what he says. Trump, he said, corrupts his supporters and corrupts “what it means to be a Republican.”
Regarding the argument that God uses bad people for good purposes, Wichterman said that doesn’t mean Christians are called to do bad so that good may result. “I’ve heard some evangelical leaders say we need a bad man to stand up to the bullying of the left…It’s almost as if we’re hiring a hitman to play dirty for the sake of good government,” which is an idea, he said, that “has nothing to do with our faith.”
Wichterman said the argument that Trump is a good man, a humble man, a truth-teller, “completely mystifies me.” He cited a litany of Trump outrages, including the implication that liberal judicial nominees should be assassinated and his reckless talk about rigged elections, which could be a set-up to civil strife. “If Trump is a good man, then I’ve got an entirely different definition of what ‘good’ is,” he said.
There’s a lot more. When all this is said and done, how are they going to put themselves back together again?
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ICYMI Stuntman Flies over Snake River Canyon on Evel Knievel’s Skycycle
by Spocko
Because a certain short-fingered vulgarian sucked up all the media’s time and attention, you might have missed this really exciting and suspenseful story yesterday.
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| Stuntman Eddie Braun successfully launches rocket over Snake River Canyon AP ©2016, by Times-News and MagicValley.com |
Stuntman Eddie Braun successfully flew over Snake River Canyon on an exact duplicate of Evel Knievel’s X2 Skycycle. Link to KBOI video
Braun has said the rocket was identical to the model Knievel used for his failed canyon attempt on Sept. 8, 1974.
Months of testing was performed on the rocket designed by Scott Truax, whose father constructed the original “X2 Skycycle” for Knievel.
Truax followed his father’s blueprints down to the last bolt and deviated only by updating the parachute system.
THIS is the event the news networks should have gone to yesterday instead of a hotel launch promo.
THIS was a real suspenseful story, it has never been done successfully. The last attempt was 42 years ago. Braun could have literally crashed and burned, not just metaphorically.
THIS would have justified multiple film crews and live reporters at the location.
Instead they got conned. A few fought back though, Robert Mackey of the Intercept tells that story. My favorite part is this.
After Trump left the room, the ABC News producer Candace Smith, who was designated to follow him on his tour of the new hotel on behalf of her colleagues in the press pool, reported that she was physically restrained from accompanying her camera operator.
That led to a decision to delete footage of Trump giving his hotel an inspection tour.
A source says Trump broadcast pool just erased tape of his tour of the hotel in protest of bait-and-switch w no editorial access.— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 16, 2016
That’ll show him! Too bad the show of solidarity among the MSM didn’t happen earlier. That video deleting protest won’t be seen or known about by most of the public. I won’t say the act is futile, but if the broadcast journalists who got conned REALLY wanted to make a statement, they’ll do their job, get in there and ask real questions, with follow-ups and do real-time fact checking.
Meanwhile, breaking news about the media in Texas.
VICE News reporter arrested outside a Donald Trump campaign event | VICE News https://t.co/AaXY7XMK2z— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) September 17, 2016
What’s that old line by the guy on the 100 bill? “If we don’t hang together…
The media admit they chase ratings. They know people like races and they cover stunts all the time. At least after going to this real stunt and filming it they wouldn’t feel so dirty and used afterwards.
Going for the gut
by digby
I’m going to guess this will actually blow back on Clinton with average voters if they hear about it since it plays into some primal beliefs about proper leadership, but it will probably make some elites a little bit more uncomfortable supporting Trump. Not that that matters much as we are in the final stretch and the narrative of Clinton’s cravenness with her email combined with the likely secret brain damage and general ineptitude is now considered to be an equal problem with … well everything about Trump. People who haven’t made up their minds are going with their gut at this point and we just don’t know how it’s going to break. Still, it will be an interesting historical footnote.
Of Clinton, Gates writes that she has “has much-discussed credibility issues apart from national security, but these also influence foreign perceptions of reliability and trust.” He criticizes the Democratic candidate for her role in the United State’s intervention in Libya, and for her decision to support — and then oppose — the Iraq War.
But Gates saves his harshest words for Trump, who he says is “in a league of his own” when it comes to credibility issues. He brings up Trump’s support of autocrats like Vladimir Putin and dictators like Saddam Hussein, Trump’s calls for torture and the killing of terrorist’s families, and Trump’s willingness to allow Japan and South Korea to develop their own nuclear weapons.
“At least on national security, I believe Mr. Trump is beyond repair,” Gates concludes. “He is stubbornly uninformed about the world and how to lead our country and government, and temperamentally unsuited to lead our men and women in uniform. He is unqualified and unfit to be commander-in-chief.”
So there you have it. Liar and cheater or unqualified and unfit. You decide.
Trump, of course, took to twitter like a real man:
Yeah, baby. That just proves that he’s not going to take any crap from lily-livered tin-horned dictators, tyrants and terrorists,not to mention liberals and bitches (which amounts to the same thing) amirite? What does your gut say?
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A common sense gun owner
by digby
I guess he’s a tyrant:
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Polls don’t vote
by Tom Sullivan
National presidential polls have tightened a little, so skittish lefties are getting skittish again. Or could it be breathless reports about which Democrat will replace Hillary Clinton when she drops out of the race are clumsy attempts at a mind f**k by our friends on the right?
Nah.
On Monday, it was Cokie Roberts on NPR claiming (in response to Hillary Clinton’s walking pneumonia) that Democrats are “nervously beginning to whisper about … having her step aside.” You know, Democrats. Democrats like Dick Morris.
On Friday, it was The Hill and the Washington Times hyping polling that found “48% of Likely Democratic Voters believe Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s primary rival, should be their party’s nominee if health issues forced her out of the race.” You know, polling. By pollsters like Rasmussen.
Nancy LeTourneau at Washington Monthly pushed back against nervousness from the merchants of doubt on Thursday. She cited Sam Wang (Princeton Election Consortium) and others, writing:
Wang says Clinton’s probability of winning is 90%. The Upshot has it at 76%. FiveThirtyEight says its at 64%. In other words, none of them are saying that Trump has more than a 36% chance of winning. Those are not great odds for him. If this were any other presidential election in recent memory, it would constitute pretty good news for Democrats. But coming off the talk about a landslide, it has some people worried.
Those would be people who think polls vote. [Pro Tip: They don’t]
The Hill went to bat twice yesterday, citing Donald Trump’s staying power (you knew there was a reason he released test results on his testosterone level). The Hill writes:
One reason for his strength: People who intend to vote for him are more enthusiastic about doing so than those planning to back Clinton, according to three major recent polls.
That fact alone makes some Republicans bullish about Trump’s prospects.
Testosterone. Strength. Bullish. You get the picture. Skirts need not apply. This is man’s work.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 46 percent of Trump backers were “very enthusiastic,” compared with only 33 percent of Clinton supporters. And a New York Times/CBS News poll saw Trump outperforming Clinton by the same metric, 45 percent to 36 percent.
So with all that enthusiasm on paper, how is Trump doing on manpower? The Hill again:
Earlier this month, the RNC communications director Sean Spicer told CNN’s “New Day,” “I don’t mean to be facetious, but offices don’t vote. People do.”
That’s just as well for the Trump campaign. An analysis by “PBS Newshour” found that at the end of last month, Clinton had 291 field offices in battleground states to just 88 for Trump.
From what I’ve seen here, not only does Clinton have offices, she has staff filling them and people volunteering for them. They sent me the first name of a voter who might need a ride to the polls in mid-August.
LeTourneau believes the hiring of Kellyanne Conway represents (again) the long awaited Trump pivot:
… we have now passed Labor Day and Ms. Conway’s work is focused on connecting with groups that have typically voted Republican. Beyond that, their challenge will be to convince “persuadables” and get out the vote. That has usually been the function of the campaign’s ground game – which basically doesn’t exist for Trump.
Polls don’t vote. Voters do. Percentages of enthusiastic supporters don’t win elections. Numbers of raw votes do. Enthusiasm helps motivate voters, sure. But making sure they actually register and show up at the polls takes a strong ground game. Trump doesn’t have one. As the Good Book says in large, friendly letters: ‘DON’T PANIC’.
Volunteer.