Trump 5: Coming up trumps

[Mecca]

And for your viewing displeasure, we now have two armed Trump supporters showing up outside a Democratic campaign office only to stare at the workers for 12 hours. How this can go on is beyond me, but apparently they can do this. Unreal. 

 

[AmazonGrace]

Great article:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/trumps-rigged-game/504299/

Trump's Rigged Game

Two ways the candidate charges this election is “rigged” are absurd. The third is absurdly dangerous

About the perceived media bias:

Quote

The media made Donald Trump’s business career possible, and The Apprentice made him a fixture on the national stage. Perhaps no candidate in history has so masterfully generated wall-to-wall coverage of his every move. Outside of the Trump campaign, the media is more often blamed for facilitating his rise than for imperiling his chances. The man running his campaign, Steve Bannon, is the executive chairman of Breitbart—a media outlet sometimes accused of functioning as the propaganda arm of a campaign.

I don’t know how many reporters now oppose Trump—and neither does Giuliani. I don’t know how much support recent stories have cost Trump—and neither does Gingrich. What I do know is that Trump is not the passive victim of a vast conspiracy. For one thing, media outlets don’t conspire; they compete vigorously, sometimes viciously.

But even that elides the more central truth: Trump did this to himself. His conduct over decades, and his statements in recent months, generated the stories about which he now complains. He bragged, on video, about doing the very things women have stepped forward to allege he did, and which he now denies having done. He’s said things on the campaign trail that no modern candidate has said—and then complained when the press points this out.

Moreover, he unilaterally disarmed, depriving himself of the mechanisms other Republicans, who have also complained about media bias, often use to respond. He alienated staunchly conservative outlets, feuding with Fox hosts, and leading National Review to call an entire issue, “Against Trump.” He failed to raise the funds that other candidates use to speak directly to voters, bypassing media outlets by using direct mail, phone calls, television advertising, and extensive field operations.

If media coverage is rigged against Donald Trump, it was Donald Trump who rigged it.

 

 

Voter fraud is a non issue...

and then there's this: 

 

Quote

 

To say that a Trump defeat would be illegitimate, then, is necessarily to suggest that the votes of those groups to which Trump habitually prepends a definite article—the Hispanics, the African Americans, the women—ought to be worth less than the votes of white men. That’s simply how the math works.

The Boston Globe recently rounded up voices from a Trump rally in Cincinnati, where one voter was already refusing to accept the legitimacy of a Hillary Clinton presidency:

“If she’s in office, I hope we can start a coup. She should be in prison or shot. That’s how I feel about it,” Dan Bowman, a 50-year-old contractor, said of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. “We’re going to have a revolution and take them out of office if that’s what it takes. There’s going to be a lot of bloodshed. But that’s what it’s going to take. . . . I would do whatever I can for my country.”

Another was less sanguinary, but no less resolute:

“All I know is our country is not going to be a country anymore,” she added. “I’ve heard people talk about a revolution. I’ve heard people talk about separation of states. I don’t even like to think about it. But I don’t think this movement is going away. We don’t have a voice anymore, and Donald Trump is giving us a voice.”

The “we” in the sentence is left implicit. But looking at the electoral coalition Trump has assembled, and contrasting it with the coalition that opposes him, it’s hard not to hear it as “white voters.” She’s suggesting that if most Americans disagree with her, she won’t be bound by the results of the election. She’d rather flirt with secession than accept an outcome in which the “us”—Americans as she’s used to defining them—get outvoted in an increasingly diverse nation. That represents a betrayal of the democratic faith.

It is also vile.

An American is an American. Our votes are equal. And the agreement to abide by the results of elections, particularly those whose outcomes we regret, is the pact that sustains our democracy.

 

 

Nah, what am I talking about.

Of course it's rigged because the people who don't vote for Donald Trump have a say. 

[apple1]

7 hours ago, Bethella said:

Michigan has a voter ID law, if you have an ID you are required to show it, if you don't have one you can fill out an affidavit that you are who you claim to be but if you have one and refuse to show it you can't vote. We scan the IDs to pull up the correct voter registration, it leads to a lot fewer mistakes where someone votes in the wrong precinct. In the old days when they had to compare the voter's signature on the poll book to the the signature from their registration a lot of mistakes would happen.

Ohio also has a voter ID law -- and the process where I vote is the same as this.

[TeddyBonkers]

10 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

I just read on Daily Kos that Democrats started a GoFundMe to rebuild the firebombed GOP office in NC and exceeded their fundraising goal in 4 hours.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/16/1583344/-Democrats-start-Go-Fund-Me-for-NC-GOP-Campaign-office

I took an unholy amount of pleasure in linking the GFM to a comment on a Facebook post complaining about how "if it was a Democrat office, the media would be out in force".  Guess those "tolerant fascists" (actual quote from a FB person) aren't the devil he's portraying.

[47of74]

Saw this today about Trump's threat to have SNL cancelled

cnn.com/2016/10/16/opinions/trump-tweets-snl-obeidallah/index.html

Quote

Nothing says Donald Trump has the judgment and temperament to be President of the United States like tweeting at 7:14 on Sunday morning that he thinks "Saturday Night Live" should be canceled.

Apparently Trump was upset with the way SNL depicted him in a sketch based on the second presidential debate. While the sketch mocked Hillary Clinton on numerous occasions for being too calculated and insincere, apparently that was not good enough for Trump.

All kidding aside, Trump's tweet that "SNL" needs to be canceled because the show did a "hit job" on him should concern every American. We have a rich tradition of comedy shows skewering our politicians. I can't recall any President or presidential nominee responding to a TV show mocking him or her by saying it's time to take that show off the airwaves.

Although I have performed stand-up in the Middle East, where leaders have shared a similar sentiment. In fact, Egypt's Jon Stewart, Bassem Youssef, was arrested for mocking the then leader of Egypt and his TV show was ultimately canceled. But is that really a model we want to emulate in the United States?

Yeah.  Do we want the Orange Anus Shit Gibbon to be able to emulate that model here?

[AmazonGrace]

He certainly doesn't seem like a First Amendment fan. There should be freedom of speech and press only as far as everybody agrees with him.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/documenting-trumps-abuse-of-women

Also in this story, intimidation of people who wanted to talk about when Ivana said he raped her

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-tweets-biden-groper-229877

Now tweet attacking Republicans who do not think the election is rigged, and saying Joe Biden is a groper.

[VelociRapture]

11 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

I just read on Daily Kos that Democrats started a GoFundMe to rebuild the firebombed GOP office in NC and exceeded their fundraising goal in 4 hours.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/16/1583344/-Democrats-start-Go-Fund-Me-for-NC-GOP-Campaign-office

This makes me very happy. For all my differences with the Republican party, I was honestly shocked to hear about this. I'm really glad that no one got hurt, but it's horrifying to me that anyone would do something like that. The fact that so many Democrats (and people affiliated with other Parties) want to help is really encouraging for me. 

10 hours ago, PreciousPantsofDoom said:

This business of the polling people knowing and/or posting the party affiliation informationis seriously weirding me out!  WTF?  I get the concept of having only registered party members voting in the primaries, but beyond that it shouldn't be anybody business but their own. In most normal election cycles, people will usually vote for the candidate of their registered party, but it was my understanding that they are technically free to vote for whomever they choose on election night.  And that vote would be kept private, because of the same reasons I make kids in the class close their eyes to vote on what game we will play for gym class-if they can see what the others are doing, they don't always follow their own convictions.

Here (Canada) you can belong to a particular party if you wish, or belong to none.  On election day you take your elections card, which does not have any party affiliation information on it, and your ID to prove you are you, to the voting place in your riding.  There are procedures to deal with people with no ID or no voter registration card, so, generally, if you are eligible to vote, you can.

 They will check you off the list of voters (to make sure you don't come back later and go again) and hand you the ballot.  You go behind a cardboard screen, check it off,  fold it up and then hand it in to the voting officer who rips off a tear strip on the bottom (I believe they later tally these strips against the number of ballots in the box to make sure the box wasn't stuffed ahead of time) Then they let you stick the folded ballot into the ballot box. At no time does anyone see your ballot or know what your party affiliation might be.  If you want to tell the exit polls anything, you can, but it's not required. 

I cannot get my head around walking up to a polling booth with my party affiliation posted for all to see. It's one thing if I choose to put up a sign in my yard, but that would be by choice.   

 

 

In the States we don't really have one universal law for voting. It's pretty much left up to the individual states. Which can cause a lot of issues depending on where you live. Some states have very strict rules regarding voting hours or acceptable voter IDs. We used to have the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which was written to overcome legal barriers to the state abd local levels that prevented voting discrimination aimed towards Blacks. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court struck down parts of it in June 2013 - meaning that jurisdictions that previously had heavy histories of discriminating no longer need Federal approval to make changes to voting procedures. Which, of course, means certain very conservative states have changed things enough to make it difficult for minorities (who often support the Democrats) to vote.

For Connecticut (where I live), the rules are found here:

http://www.ct.gov/sots/LIB/sots/ElectionServices/HAVA/HavaPDF/IDRequirements.pdf

Basically, to vote in person you show a valid photo identification that shows your name and address (like a Driver's License) or you can show an official piece of mail that shows your name and address (like a utility bill, pay stub, or government mail.) In-person voting takes place in  private booths and you simply fill in the bubbles for the candidates you want to vote for. Then you bring it face down to a scanner and a poll volunteer watches you scan it in. No one else sees your picks if you follow the rules.

We also have mail-in absentee ballots for people who know ahead of time that they won't be able to vote in person because they won't be in the arena. It's popular with college students and members of the Military. You have to fill out an application and send it in, but I don't think you need to provide any documentation proving your identity. You just need to apply for it early enough to ensure that you have enough time to fill out your ballot and send it back to be counted (by the close of polls on Election Day.)

ETA: We also don't need to specify our party affiliation here when voting in a general election. We do during a primary because you need the proper ballot, but that takes place within the voting location where people are legally prohibited from being assholes about that stuff.

[47of74]

2 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

In the States we don't really have one universal law for voting. It's pretty much left up to the individual states. Which can cause a lot of issues depending on where you live. Some states have very strict rules regarding voting hours or acceptable voter IDs. We used to have the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which was written to overcome legal barriers to the state abd local levels that prevented voting discrimination aimed towards Blacks. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court struck down parts of it in June 2013 - meaning that jurisdictions that previously had heavy histories of discriminating no longer need Federal approval to make changes to voting procedures. Which, of course, means certain very conservative states have changed things enough to make it difficult for minorities (who often support the Democrats) to vote.

I personally think a few things should be done in regards to voting.

A. First make the right to vote absolute for everyone over the age of 18.  Even for people judged mentally incompetent and people in prison, regardless of the crime they committed.  No exceptions whatsoever.  If an incompetent person wants to write in Joe Blow, let him or her.

B. Define voter suppression/intimidation as a crime in the constitution and make it punishable by 25 to life.  It may not seem like it, but these are crimes because the end result may cost millions their lives. 

C.  Write the voting rights act into the Constitution, and make all states adhere to it, not just the old confederacy.  Require all states to make it as easy as possible to vote for citizens.

 

[AmazonGrace]

I think he probably hasn't heard this yet because he hasn't declared war yet

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/13/nsw-parliament-passes-motion-saying-donald-trump-is-a-revolting-slug

[AmazonGrace]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/trump-women-vow-were-with-him?utm_term=.psKJ4DXkkr#.fuew60KooP

Some nice quotes in this story. My favorites:

"Trump will screw anything that walks. I'm telling it like it is. that's why I like Donald Trump."

 

"I don't think Donald Trump could do anything to upset me. There's nothing he could do to make me change my vote for him. Absolutely nothing."

"Women love that. I'm not talking about assault here, but getting grabbed at, it's a way of saying you're still cute - I'd like it and I'm 65"

[PennySycamore]

@AmazonGrace,  I'd like the send the woman who said that last quote to some good old fashioned '70s feminist consciousness  raising sessions.

[Cartmann99]

43 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@AmazonGrace,  I'd like the send the woman who said that last quote to some good old fashioned '70s feminist consciousness  raising sessions.

She's blissfully unaware of how much she has revealed about her own issues. If you need strange men groping you to feel good about yourself, please find a qualified therapist who can help you find healthier ways to get your needs met. 

[Dandruff]

Assuming that Trump loses, I wonder if or how this campaign will affect his future businesses.  Who has contributed to Trump's financial success?  Will the same people be willing to invest or spend on him after the election?  I really don't know how he makes most of his money, or whether it could take a few key investors and/or say a mass of hotel patrons going elsewhere to make a dent.  And if some of his supporters were to go berserk following a Hillary win, could this further reduce spending in his direction by those who resent the chaos?

I also can't help but wonder how all this might affect his youngest child, who I believe is 10 or 11.  He's probably well aware that his dad has a lot of supporters, but what will he learn about his dad later on?

[47of74]

21 minutes ago, Dandruff said:

Assuming that Trump loses, I wonder if or how this campaign will affect his future businesses.  Who has contributed to Trump's financial success?  Will the same people be willing to invest or spend on him after the election?  I really don't know how he makes most of his money, or whether it could take a few key investors and/or say a mass of hotel patrons going elsewhere to make a dent.  And if some of his supporters were to go berserk following a Hillary win, could this further reduce spending in his direction by those who resent the chaos?

I also can't help but wonder how all this might affect his youngest child, who I believe is 10 or 11.  He's probably well aware that his dad has a lot of supporters, but what will he learn about his dad later on?

If I wasn't going to patronize that son of a bitch's businesses before hand, I sure as fuck wouldn't do so now.  I'd rather stay in a tiny room in the worst part of town than stay in one of his rooms. 

[Destiny]

"I don't think Donald Trump could do anything to upset me. There's nothing he could do to make me change my vote for him. Absolutely nothing."

To be fair, I am not too far off from that with Hillary. There's damn few things she could do that would change my mind on voting for her. I'd vote for Satan himself if it meant that Trump didn't get his finger on the button.

[GreyhoundFan]

On Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 10:45 PM, AuntK said:

I can't even. I don't know who I'm responding to, but I feel your pain! This 60+-year-old Southern Baptist church-going Democrat, (yes, there are a few of us), has said, "FUCK," more in the last 3 months than in my entire life!  The fact that that orange turd is within a whisper of the White House and his shit-for-brains followers don't have enough brain cells among them to realize that he is not going to do jackshit for them and will probably immerse this country into a war, a depression, a civil war, the likes of which we have never seen is enough to make me want to pack up and head to Canada.  And I HATE cold weather! I can't watch the news, I can't even speak to some of my own family members, who have obviously completely lost their minds, and are voting for this 250 pound pile of shit! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?

Thank you. I need to go get my inhaler now. 

I seriously looked into moving to a couple of different countries if Agent Orange wins.

On Sunday, October 16, 2016 at 7:28 AM, AmazonGrace said:

It totally makes sense though... Gotta ban all the Muslims from entering because the Muslim terrorists are taking the jobs that rightfully belong to American terrorists..

On Friday's "Real Time with Bill Maher", he had some seriously funny T-shirts that he threw into the audience in response to some of the trumpster's nasty T-shirts. One was "Mexican Rapists Stealing Jobs From American Rapists" with a picture of Drumpf.

 

22 hours ago, Mecca said:

As we have seen in this election cycle, the above is clearly not the case. We have witnessed a multitude of brain dead people throw their support behind Trump. 

The Trumpster keeps asking his minions to stake out polling places. I dare one of these fools to play that mess at my precinct and confront me or any other voter. You might see a news story of some liberal lady losing her shit on some folks. I hope they realize trying to intimidate and hinder voting will land their cans in hot water. 

 

I have a large black dog who is a big goofball, but many people are afraid of him. I think I may have to take him with me to my polling place.

 

17 hours ago, sophie10130 said:

Holy shit.  The fact that this election is drawing out fanatics, or, I'll say it: DOMESTIC TERRORISM is so so so scary.

The Orange Cheetoh has yet to say anything about domestic terrorism by white dudes, just brown ones. Strange that saying most acts of terrorism are caused by white men in this country is something that is controversial to his supporters.

Because in his eyes, no white dudes are responsible for domestic terrorism. They aren't terrorists, they are just expressing their views. Please note, this is NOT my view...

 

13 hours ago, Bethella said:

@sawasdee Voting in the US varies by state. @church_of_dog was talking about California.

I'm a poll worker in Michigan and we don't have access to the voter's registered party much less post it publicly. During our presidential primary elections the voter does have to specify which party's ballot they want, but using this year as an example a democrat could request a republican ballot to vote against Trump. In our state primary the voter has to pick a party to vote within although they're on the same ballot so no one knows which party they picked. We had a lot of people get upset with us about being limited to a single party during the primaries this year.

I have to say I'm worried about working this election. We always have the police on-call in case of issues but the presidential primary in March was the first time I'm aware of that we actually had to call them. Two friends came in together to vote, one got a democratic ballot, the other a republican ballot- they ended up getting into a fist fight over it.

I am good friends with several employees of both our local and state police. All time off has been cancelled around the election and everyone has been ordered to be on alert. This has never happened before.

 

[AmazonGrace]

9 minutes ago, Destiny said:

 

To be fair, I am not too far off from that with Hillary. There's damn few things she could do that would change my mind on voting for her. I'd vote for Satan himself if it meant that Trump didn't get his finger on the button.

 

There is a lot to be said for Satan as a candidate. He is shrewd, experienced, a persuasive negotiator, he keeps his cool when things get hot around him, and he's been hobnobbing with a lot of great statesmen in hell so he's got good advisors.

[47of74]

51 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I am good friends with several employees of both our local and state police. All time off has been cancelled around the election and everyone has been ordered to be on alert. This has never happened before.

 

I'm sad that we've gotten to that point, but I guess that's a good thing that they're going to be on alert in case some dummy assholes who decide to try reenacting Kristilnacht regardless of how the election goes.

[Destiny]

There is a lot to be said for Satan as a candidate. He is shrewd, experienced, a persuasive negotiator, he keeps his cool when things get hot around him, and he's been hobnobbing with a lot of great statesmen in hell so he's got good advisors.

#bettersatanthantrump #satanforpresident2k16

[47of74]

And now Iowa Governor Brainfuck has to speak up;

kcrg.com/content/news/Iowa-Gov-Branstad-backs-Trump-assertion-of-rigged-election-397338091.html

Quote

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is supporting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's claim that the election is rigged and media organizations are intentionally helping Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Speaking Monday at his weekly news conference, Branstad said he agrees with Trump that there are efforts to cheat the system and that national media organizations are "colluding" with Clinton.

Branstad, a Republican whose son leads Trump's Iowa campaign, said media bias and voter fraud are "one in the same."

Branstad's position contrasts with other Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, who have expressed confidence in the election.

Ugh.  Fucking ugh.  This j--z trumpet really needs to retire.

[AmazonGrace]

http://time.com/4533059/donald-trump-election-poll-hillary-clinton/

He is getting so little media time that no one believes his claim that media is stealing it from him... Oh wait..

[sophie10130]

14 hours ago, Mecca said:

And for your viewing displeasure, we now have two armed Trump supporters showing up outside a Democratic campaign office only to stare at the workers for 12 hours. How this can go on is beyond me, but apparently they can do this. Unreal. 

 

IF THIS HAPPENS AT THE POLLS, THIS IS INTIMIDATION. CALL THE POLICE. If you don't trust the police (in my hometown, the police are all Trump Supporters) GOOGLE WHO TO CALL WHEN SOMEONE IS SUPPRESSING YOUR VOTE. In some cases they list the FBI.

If that man showed up to vote with that hat on (if they are voting in Virginia like the other dude's shirt leads me to believe), legally he is NOT ALLOWED to vote until he changes. It's called electioneering. You can't have campaign material.

Here are the laws for each state: electioneering pdf

jesus christ. Also, are guns allowed on polling property? They shouldn't be. At all. 

 

In better news, I read this article and it made me feel good about humanity:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-white-flight-of-derek-black/2016/10/15/ed5f906a-8f3b-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html

It's about the son of a White Nationalist (what White Supremacists are calling themselves these days) who grew up entrenched in the White Nationalist community from birth (His mother was married to David Duke and David Duke is his godfather) and has recently disavowed it. It's a long read, but so so so worth it. It made me feel better about needing to keep talking to the people in my life who are voting for the Orange Cheeto because of ill-conceived notions that America is under siege by Muslims and ISIS.

[AmazonGrace]

Today I learned.....it is hypocritical if you object to people talking about how they have got the right to grab your pussy because JFK was not monogamous

http://www.businessinsider.com/carl-icahn-defends-donald-trumps-vulgar-comments-about-women-on-cnbc-2016-10?r=US&IR=T&IR=T

What the hell do extramarital girlfriends have to do with sexual assault?

[Cleopatra7]

18 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Today I learned.....it is hypocritical if you object to people talking about how they have got the right to grab your pussy because JFK was not monogamous

http://www.businessinsider.com/carl-icahn-defends-donald-trumps-vulgar-comments-about-women-on-cnbc-2016-10?r=US&IR=T&IR=T

What the hell do extramarital girlfriends have to do with sexual assault?

More importantly, what does a president who has been dead for over fifty years have to do with anything? Is the ghost of JFK running for president? Besides, in those days the press didn't report on presidential extramarital affairs, Republican or Democrat, so voters in the 1960s wouldn't have had this information anyway.