Many Of Donald Trump's 2017 Twitter Attacks/Rants/Spats

Here was Donald Trump's 2017, essentially, considering he and the Republicans passed just one bill of note:

And that's notwithstanding his Twitter was with North Korean President Kim Jong-un.

I'm sure glad he gets along with everybody, 'cause I'd hate to see a world where he doesn't.

Thank You, Keith Olbermann

I was going to post about Donald Trump's bullshit regarding the death of American troops in Niger, General John Kelly's bullshit in defending Trump, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders' bullshit in defending Kelly - and how it was all hypocritical.

I had a lot to say, but not only did Keith Olbermann beat me to it, he's so passionate about it that he spits when he talks a couple of times, so I thought I should share his rant instead:

Weird, tough times.

Today's Hypocritical Republican: Tim Murphy

Because of course he did:

Need we say more?

It's always those fuckers who are trying to infringe on people's rights who themselves require exceptions for the very thing they were against the most.

Remember when Florida Congressman Trey Radel, who wanted to force welfare recipients to test for drugs, got caught with cocaine?

How about the list of anti-gay Republicans?

Speaker Of The House Dennis Hastert coached a high school wresting team. And fondled them, too.

Jon Hinson who exposed himself to an undercover cop, and years later was caught having sex with an underage clerk in the House of Representatives washroom, then died of AIDS.

Troy King, former Attorney General, was against the sale of sex toys. Oh, and called homosexuality "the downfall of society", was caught in bed with a male aide by his wife.

California Senator Roy Ashburn, who always voted against LGBT rights, was caught driving drunk coming out of a gay club with a male penis receptacle. He then officially came out.

Washington State Representative Richard Curtis voted against same-sex domestic partnerships and against an anti-discrimination law protecting gay people. He was blackmailed by a male escort. It was found he liked to have same-sex in adult book stores and video stores. A very cultured man.

Representative Ed Schrock was against any gay rights. As a matter of fact, he thought "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was too lenient. Which didn't stop him from soliciting men on a gay chat line.

Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe was for the Defense of Marriage Act but was forced to come out by a full-page ad in the paper telling him to embrace "his true community". Oh, yeah, he liked to go campaign with pages.

The mayor of Spokane, Washington, Jim West, sent two Boy Scouts gifts and money so they'd shut up that he fondled them. That was after he voted for a bill banning any discussion of gay rights in schools.

Pinal County, Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeau was a rising star in the Republican Party, until he threatened to deport a former boyfriend. It was also revealed that he ran a private boarding school in Massachusetts in the late ’90s that had been investigated for abusive disciplinary practices. I'm guessing broom sticks in anuses.

Congressman Robert Bauman was a big "morality" guy. Until he was arrested for attempting to solicit sex from a 16-year-old male prostitute.

Mark Foley also voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and was caught having sex with two male pages. In his defense, when he started sexting with them they were 16 and 18, and he waited for each to turn legal before porking them.

Florida State Representative Bob Allen usually voted against gay rights. He was then arrested for offering a male undercover cop $20 to receive oral sex in a restroom, then claimed he "only did it because he was afraid of black people". Yes, you read that correctly.

Republican mayor of Medford, New Jersey Chris Myers had sex with a male prostitute in a hotel room. He paid $500 for the services rendered and should have been in the clear. Except he promised lavish gifts and a car, and didn't deliver. The prostitute called bullshit. Publicly.

Phil Hinkle, from the Indiana House of Representatives, wanted to ban gay marriages. But he was fine with meeting 18-year-old men on Craigslist for sex.

Bruce Barclay, chairman of the Cumberland County commissioners office, believed homosexuality was a sin. Publicly. Very publicly, and very loudly. In private, however, he was quite the documentary filmmaker, having filmed hundreds of sexual encounters with men in his home, whom he usually met on "rentboy" sites.

Senator Larry Craig was arrested for solicitation in an airport bathroom. That was fucking hilarious.

Senate candidate Steve Wiles had a chance at getting elected... until he was found to have a double life as a drag queen.

Randy Boehning, of the North Dakota House of Representatives, voted against gay rights a lot. That was his daytime job. At night, he was a frequent Grindr user.

Mayor of Kenner, Louisiana Mike Yenni met a 17-year-old boy in a washroom, gave him underwear and kissed him. Then he started sexting him way too much, enough that it freaked the kid out.

Yeah, I mean, hey. Welcome to "your people", Tim Murphy.

If you're curious about this news, you can check it out here and here. This goes beyond lying to yourself and your constituents, it's forcing your own "sin" (abortion) onto someone else to absolve yourself of it, when you also have another, worse "sin" (infidelity).

Florida Mayor Arrested for Dealing Oxycodone

When articles begin with a punchline - and you're the butt of it - you've sunken pretty low. Except in this case, I'm not sure of it's just Rob Ford or the whole city of Toronto who are ridiculed:

Hey, Toronto, we see your crack-smoking mayor with a coke-snorting congressman, and raise you a hillbilly heroin-dealing mayor. (...)

Upon announcing the arrest, the local sheriff couldn't help but take a shot at Rob Ford, either.

"This isn't Toronto. We will not tolerate illegal drug activity, in my jurisdiction, by anyone, to include our elected officials," Polk County Sheriff Gordon Smith said in a news release posted on his department's Facebook page.

So thank you, Barry Layne Moore, mayor of Hampton, Florida, for entertaining the masses while Ford's in rehab... and for looking the part, too:

Right out of Grand Theft Auto V.

Jim Flaherty Is Dead

After attempting to kill the CBC by slicing its budget to death (while financing private-sector TV networks like CTV and Global), I was hoping the network wouldn't cover Canada's Conservative former 8-year Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's death except by holding an office party.

Instead, they first reported on his death like it was just anyone's, then ran a whole other story to say he will have a state funeral in Toronto.

I understand the ''state funeral'' part, not because he was in charge of running Canada into austerity until just a few weeks ago, but because his friends and Party are still in charge and that's what those people do: spend our tax dollars amongst themselves.

But why Toronto? Hold it in Ottawa - the capital - where he worked and did his evil deeds. Picture this:

Flaherty died of a heart attack Thursday. Colleagues, including opposition MPs, are remembering him as a generous friend who could spar heatedly with someone in Parliament and later laugh over a drink outside the House of Commons.

Laugh over a drink. ''We sure screwed most Canadians on that one! No more benefits for the unemployed, let's toast with this 15-year-old bourbon!''

I don't mean to be an asshole, but the media overall are acting like fucking fanboys now that he's dead, and even the NDP's Thomas Mulcair saying how ''great of a man'' he was though pretty much every single thing Mulcair supposedly stands for and has been fighting for his entire political career was in complete and total opposition to Flaherty's views.

One piece stands in contradiction of them all, and I can't just quote from it since all passages are important, so here it is, from Socialist.ca:

Flaherty was part of Mike Harris’ government in Ontario, whose cuts to water inspection services led to an E.Coli outbreak that killed seven people in Walkerton, Ontario. The same government imposed massive cuts to welfare and social housing, killing Kimberly Rogers in the process, and years later people continue to die from homelessness.

Flaherty was also part of cuts to healthcare at both provincial and federal levels. As the Council of Canadians wrote last week in an article titled Broken Promises and Abdication: Flaherty’s Healthcare Legacy, “March 31 marks the end of the 2004 Health Accord and the last day Canadian health care will have equalization payments to have-not provinces, national standards, and federal funding tied to achieving set benchmarks. March 31 is also a day to mourn the fact that we remain the only wealthy country with a universal health-care system and no national pharmacare plan.” Healthcare cuts kill, including the Tories' inhumane cuts to refugee health--denying basic health care to people who had fled rape, torture and war.

Flaherty was also proudly part of the Harper government that turns its back on global health crises—boycotting the International AIDS conference in Toronto, imposing a maternal health plan denying abortion, cutting humanitarian aid to Gaza, and defunding Sisters in Spirit that investigates missing and murdered aboriginal women.

While destroying social services, Flaherty and the federal Tories have poured billions into the military, which has killed countless people in 13 years of occupying Afghanistan, the bombing campaign in Libya, and the UN occupation of Haiti. At the same time, Flaherty’s budget policies included the New Veterans Charter—cutting benefits from veterans despite an epidemic of suicides and protests across the country.

Flaherty also pioneered the technique of using omnibus budgets to hide life-threatening cuts, from Bill C-45’s attacks on environmental protection and indigenous sovereignty that sparked Idle No More, to the more recent Bill C-4 that attacks workers—including their health and safety.

We mourn these countless victims of Flaherty’s policies of austerity.

Too soon? It's never too soon for the truth.

1132 Years A Slav

I've avoided writing about Ukraine thus far, but too many people have chimed in with wild theories - and too many of those with no facts to back their points of view up - that I had to at least mention it...

The city of Kiev was officially founded in 482. That's not a typo. Founded mostly by Slavs, the settlement was also inhabited by Finnics (ancestors to modern-day Finns, among others), and Khazars (think Turks, Kazakhs, Tatars and Bulgars) very early on.

The first agglomeration to consider Kiev as its capital was Kievan Rus', circa 882-1283 (that's where I start considering it the capital of a 'country', hence the title of this post). Mostly Slavic, modern-day Belarus, Ukraine and Russia all claim to descend from that federation.

With wars and power struggles a constant in Europe, Kievan Rus' made way for the kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia (a.k.a. Kingdom Of Rus). Like J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, the Kingdom wasn't a united country per se, more like autonomous provinces each with their own capitals within a loose border; Kiev was not a capital, but three other now-Ukrainian cities were: Volodymyr-Volynsky, Halych, and Lviv.

By 1283, the Grand Duchy of Moscow had come into effect, and though its leaders and official name came to change many times (Tsardom of Russia in 1547, Russian Empire in 1721, the USSR in 1922 after a few turbulent years of the 1917 Revolution, The Russian Federation of Independent States in 1991 and the current-day incarnation since 1993), was essentially the beginning of what is now Russia. Russians share the British taste for imperialism, as well as the ''father knows best'' mentality of many Eastern cultures. They like owning a large plot of land (currently occupying an eighth of the world's land mass though they are barely 2% of its population at 145 million people), and they really dislike opposition.

And so, Ukraine has shared countries, ownership or administrations (or been under the influence of) with Russia for over 1000 years. They only declared their actual independence in 1918, and though they tried to refrain Russians from formally entering and claiming ownership from then on by themselves being a socialist state (kind of like Canada signing on NAFTA with the U.S. in 1992), Russians took advantage of the turmoil caused by World War II (and a deal with Germany) to invade Ukraine in 1939, made easier by World War I-era territorial delimitations where the Ukraine was basically split in three.

There was another, short-lived declaration of independence in 1941 when the Soviet troops went back home, but the Nazis made sure to render that useless by jailing, torturing and killing the government in place, and when Germany fell to the Russians, the movement became nothing but a footnote in History.

When the USSR collapsed and became the Russian Federation, most Eastern European subject-states decided to assert their independence, and a lot were allowed to do so. Some chose to remain part of the Russian whole, others were forced to (see: Chechnya). Ukraine chose to proclaim its independence, if only for political reasons: the Russian version of communism/socialism/sovietism  was collapsing, and it was going to change political systems; Ukraine wanted to remain communist, so in an effort for self-preservation, decided to opt for a referendum asking its population if they wanted out of the union. 82% of the population voted, and 90% voted in favour of seceding.

Ironically, Canada was the first country to recognize Ukraine as an independent state, the minute the votes were in. Russian President Boris Yeltsin did the same in the evening, proving there were no hard feelings.

Fast-forward to 2014.

Ukraine was offered to enter the European Union - or at least enter into economic accords with them first, with a promise of future consideration - though many of its constituents (Spain, The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium especially) took issue with that, mostly for political reasons (how it treats its political prisoners chief among them). As a means of negotiation, some of the terms of the deal weren't as advantageous as those of other countries, with the underlying message being ''if you play nice, we'll be nicer with you later''.

President Viktor Yanukovych, rightly, refused to sign the deal because it wasn't advantageous for his country. He then signed a trades agreement with Russia, mostly for natural gas purchases, which could have worked in addition to a deal with the EU. Protests started as people demanded closer ties to the rest of Europe and European integration, and like scared leaders do (and like we saw here in Québec in 2012), the government passed anti-protest laws, which just fueled the violence.

Also, like here in Québec, the protests soon included anger towards the perception (and fact) of widespread corruption. Ironically, though, in Ukraine, a lot of that can be traced back to Yanukovych's opponent in the last election, the country's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is among the imprisoned that the EU is demanding better treatment for; Tymoshenko owns a bunch of gas companies, which made her one of the richest people in her country (Forbes ranked her as the third most powerful woman in the world). And though her arrest and eventual mistreatment when she was found guilty were undoubtedly politically-motivated by a direct adversary, the fact remains that she was convicted of embezzlement and abuse of power, two facts that point to the sense that she at least participated in the corruption of the State.

And as the protests gained traction and Yanukovych resigned and political pressure mounted, she was released from prison - but she wasn't acquitted or even pardoned: the actions she was found guilty of were instead decriminalized. That's a big fucking difference, folks.

That is to say that all is neither all black nor white.

Except that Russia didn't have to send troops in Crimea, though it claimed it hadn't at first but eventually will/did. (of note, under international treaties, if an elected official asks another country for military help, that country is allowed to step in and intervene on a local level, which is what Russia claims Yanukovych has asked.) And while I'm not one to blindly trust Vladimir Putin, I will contend a point Jon Stewart hammers on daily since first reporting on the story a month after it had started, to wit: Putin claims the groups in place are local militias (or ''self-defense forces''), ''but they speak Russian, support Russia and have Russian weapons - so they have to be Russian''.

Dear Jon,

pretty much everyone in the area speak Russian, and they have for over 1000 years. Also, most Finns speak Swedish, a shitload of European countries have German as a first or second language, and most Quebecers understand English; surrounded by imperialists and conquerors, borders change, wars are started, people are annexed and/or assimilated. Until they no longer are... until they are again. Anglo-Saxons and Russians are expansionists and imperialists; one day they wake up and feel the need to own other people and/or their land and/or their toys and/or their food; it's what they do, whether it's to feel like Kings or to spread their ''superior'' culture (or race). Or to sell their sub-par fast-food culture. Or to ''spread democracy'' (still laughing at that one more than a decade later, by the way).

As for the Russian weapons, weren't those all for sale at discount stores in 1991? Doesn't the Russian mob own more nukes than the Russian Army? Why wouldn't a bunch of people buy some AK-47s and military garb, don't you guys have a right to purchase M-16s even with a criminal record and mental health issues, and can't you buy military clothes at both Army Surplus stores and The Salvation Army? And if you can, why shouldn't they?

'Cause to me, equating people who kind of wear military uniforms with no specific designation with the official military kind of makes it seem like your Bible-belt gun nuts and anti-Obama armed militias would then be a representation of your Army, and I guess that would make the Tea Party an actual political party, not just a fringe unrepresentative proportion of your political debate.

Thanks.

Seb

As I said, neither black nor white.

The whole world is going to shits, because the worst people have been in power for so long that they have instituted corruption as a rule rather than an exception. And those who lose their elections (or get ousted by the population) are only replaced by equally-minded career white-collar criminals, so the wheel keeps turning and, in doing so, always finds newer and better ways to keep its rhythm going.

Money needs out of politics. It needs out completely in everything, but especially in politics. And leaders need to feel they are liable for their crimes; I've long proposed their sentences be double those of civilians' when found guilty of crimes, but that's just the tip of the iceberg, because those fuckers are usually so well connected that they rarely even get prosecuted. They only lose their friends in high places when the shit has completely hit the fan and there is no longer a way for them to hide and melt back into the general population with their golden toilets and billions of dollars. They are but a small minority.

But, uh, yeah, Ukraine. How that turned into a battle of wits between Putin and Barack Obama is beyond me (and further proof that Americans don't view their own imperialism as such), I will never truly get it, but here's a novel idea: why don't we let the people of Ukraine decide for themselves? It worked in Iceland (where was Fox then, by the way?) recently, though there is something to be said both for and against how they made it impossible for foreigners to withdraw money out of the country (for: promotes re-investing within the country, which even foreigners can take advantage of, i.e. you cant leave with your millions but you can buy millions' worth of stuff; against: detracts foreign investors from coming in to invest for profits that would leave the country - theoretically, though, what it is meant to do is keep the economy rolling and increasing).

Today's Hypocritical Republican: Trey Radel

Motherfucker, it happened again.

This time, his name is Trey Radel. His main gripe was welfare and food stamp recipients, or so we thought, and he wanted them all to have to test for drugs to receive government help and services.

He's a GOP Congressman, whose salary is paid by the government. He just got caught buying cocaine from an undercover cop, and has resigned.

Don't get me wrong - I'm happy he got caught.

But these fucking Republicans with their holier-than-thou causes always seem to get caught doing that very thing they were most against.

Hypocrites, the lot of 'em!

I tell ya, when one of them wants to outlaw something, just watch them closely for a year or two... they're the ones they're really afraid of.

Priests And Porn

The good people at Torrent Freak did a little digging, and found out Irish priests like to pirate Hollywood films (via screener DVDs) while people in Vatican City have a preferrence for... well, not much, except porn.

And while TF don't mention what those guys are into and make you Google it yourself, I shall save you the trouble: RS stands for ''Russian slaves'' - chapter 77 seems pretty deep in the series.

When Bigots Are Criminals

After my post earlier this week about Republican candidate Eric Bodenweister's indictment on 113 counts of sexual crimes came this story, about Christian/anti-gay lawyer/activist Lisa Biron: a member of the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund, which has filed numerous lawsuits in opposition to LGBT rights nationwide, she has been arrested on multiple felony charges related to child pornography.

In fact, what she was in possession of was evidence of a sexual encounter she had with a female minor, which she took to Canada to film and fuck. So, all told, here's what happened:

FBI agents swiftly arrested Lisa Biron yesterday morning as she awaited a hearing on child pornography charges at Manchester’s district court. About 9 a.m. FBI agents entered the courtroom, told Biron to leave her belongings and took her into an adjoining conference room where she remained for several minutes before coming out in handcuffs.

Outside, Biron ducked her head below the backseat window of a white vehicle as it was driven away from the courthouse.

A few hours later in U.S. District Court in Concord, Biron, who is associated with a national coalition of Christian lawyers, was formally told of the federal charges against her: transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, possession of child pornography and five counts of sexual exploitation of children.

So I guess in her opinion - a ''respectable'' one since she's a lawyer and all - same-sex sex is wrong, unless it's done with a minor, in which case I assume it's just ''experimenting''. I'm sure her God would agree, since he's the same one who is prayed to from pedophile priests and Republicans...

These people have no clue are the reason why folks no longer believe in the Institutions, public office, or anyone with power and/or authority. Their so-called morals shame them, and in turn, they try to ruin life for everyone else by trying to ban everything. That, and they keep putting themselves in positions of authority to gain access to their victims. Here's another charge that should be brought against people like that: being fucking assholes, worth three years in prison to be added to the rest of their sentence.

When Republicans Are Criminals

This one predates the (U.S.) election by a few days, and I just hadn't gotten around to it - I'm pretty late on a lot of things I've wanted to share/do/work on.

It's about a candidate for senate who had a hard stance on homosexuality, and as is often the case when those bastards try to regulate stuff that should be of no concern to others, he turned out to actually be worse than what he was against - he didn't just enjoy the company of males, he liked them underage, which I think is the only illegal/sinful thing in that sentence. Oh, and he wasn't just indicted on one count, either... 113.

It has been reported by delawareonline.com that Eric Bodenweister's indictment included 74 counts of unlawful sexual contact, a felony in the second degree. Also attached were 39 first-degree felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Yeah. Hypocrisy at its worst. Plus, his name sounds like a bad beer that claims it's the King Of Beers - another case of lies and hypocrisy. Should have seen that one coming...

Texas Justice

Have you heard of Texas judge William Adams?

His job, at times, require he pass judgement on cases in which adults abuse minors, be it physically, sexually or morally. But as is often the case with hardcore Conservatives, in the confines of his own fucking home, Judge Adams beats his own kid. A girl, named Hillary Adams.

Here he is beating her 17 times with a fucking belt, seven years ago - Hillary was 16. It wasn't the first nor last time, but she did film it secretly. Warning: these are troubling fucking images.



That, my friends, was her punishment... for illegally downloading music on the internet.

I said it before and I'll probably have to say it again, but people in a position of authority in our society should be punished twice as long for having been hypocrites when they, themselves, do what they set out to eliminate.

On the other hand, Texas is known for having no remorse when giving retarded teenagers the death penalty; this retarded man is lookin' for a hangin'.

Van Nailed 'Em!

Some stories deserve to be read elsewhere than just on music-specific websites...

Here's the deal: Irving Azoff has a day job: he manages rock band Van Halen. Now, I don't want to debate over the quality of the rock that Van Halen delivers - at least not today - but we can all agree that they've reached some level of success.

As their manager, Azoff has time and time again criticized scalpers and bootleggers as being the worst possible scum on earth.

When came the time to expand his horizons, however, he decided to found Front Line Management, a concert ticket 'brokering' company that profits from selling tickets at a higher price than face value.

Oh, but that wasn't enough. Front Line Management was co-owned by ticket giant Ticketmaster, a major ticket distributor if there is one... you can see it coming can't you?

Like every stupid idea, this one needed an obvious name, hence 'Project Showtime', which consisted of pulling (i.e. never putting on the actual market) the best tickets in the house and giving them to private sellers, who would sell them on Ticketmaster's affiliate, Front Line Management. At a 70% cut of all profits above face value (sometimes twenty times the actual cost), of course, for the band, its manager, and Ticketmaster.

And who came up with this scheme? Azoff, of course. But he also called it off, because none of the thieves who were part of it trusted each other enough to keep it going.

And what is Azoff's new side-job nowadays? Ticketmaster’s chief executive, of course.

And only Gibson Guitars' website has run this story so far, apart from the Wall Street Journal who did the investigating. Nice.