Pushing Rope

The Midas Touch

2018-11-19T00:56:00.000-05:00

President Donald Trump certainly is right. More GOP candidates should have publicly embraced him. Trump had the Midas touch in 2018.

For People That Think White Supremacy Isn't A Problem

2018-10-25T02:44:00.002-04:00

Quote of the Day: Jared Kushner Edition.

2018-10-23T21:49:00.001-04:00

When Jared Kushner accidentally tells the truth about the Trump administration's lack of curiosity about the murder of Saudi journalist Jamel Khashoggi.

We’re getting facts in from multiple places. Once those facts come in, the secretary of state will work with our national security team to help us determine what we want to believe.

Is believing in the truth an option?

Trump Does Not Have Humility

2017-08-30T01:11:00.003-04:00

“With the gravity and responsibility of being president of the United States and commander in chief of our armed forces. I would say that with that gravity and responsibility has come a great deal of humility.”

Kellyanne Conway Besides people that loves Trump who buys that? remember Trump boasting about how smart he is.

Asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” who he talks with “consistently” about foreign affairs, Mr. Trump responded, “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things,” Politico reported.

Trump told Bloomberg that he is better looking than Sen. Marco Rubio.

"I watched somebody on Joe [Scarborough]'s show this morning and he's fawning over him," Trump said of blogger Matt Lewis' praise of Rubio's "boyish" looks. "He says how handsome he is. I don't know. I think I'm better looking than he is. Am I better looking than him?"

How about Trump saying he has the best words.

I’m telling you, I used to use the word incompetent. Now I just call them stupid. I went to an Ivy League school. I’m very highly educated. I know words, I have the best words...but there is no better word than stupid. Right?

Wrong. Oh so wrong>

The Mayo Clinic has a definition of narcissistic personality disorder

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultraconfidence lies a fragile self-esteem that's vulnerable to the slightest criticism. A narcissistic personality disorder causes problems in many areas of life, such as relationships, work, school or financial affairs. You may be generally unhappy and disappointed when you're not given the special favors or admiration you believe you deserve. Others may not enjoy being around you, and you may find your relationships unfulfilling.

Trump is a narcissist. He is emotionally incapable of humility.

Quote of the Day

2017-03-04T21:28:00.001-05:00

Take Nixon in the deepest days of his Watergate paranoia, subtract 50 IQ points, add Twitter, and you have Trump today.

Bruce Bartlett, on Twitter.

Friday Fox Blogging

2017-03-03T17:49:00.000-05:00

Meet Juniper. She is a super cute fox, and a star on Instagram.

Oops, Sean Spicer Did It Again

2017-03-02T12:19:00.000-05:00

Sean Spicer gets my vote for most incompetent Press Secretary ever.

The highly unqualified Ben Carson has been confirmed as HUD Secretary. Donald Trump already has a job being President if the United States.

Quote of the Day: LBJ Edition

2017-03-01T18:54:00.000-05:00

If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

President Lyndon B. Johnson

Now A Republican Disses Rubio For Skipping Town Halls

2017-03-01T10:03:00.000-05:00

Rep. Justin Amash delievers a mean diss to fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio for failing to do town hall meetings in Florida. Rubio's office recently said the Senator was in Germany and could not perform town hall meetings. Two amateur videos captured Rubio in Florida.

We finally caught up with Senator Marco Rubio at @FIU. He told us that he won't host a townhall because people act "rude and stupid." pic.twitter.com/DrefDkvrFD
— Tomas Kennedy (@Tomaskenn) February 23, 2017

Sen. Bernie Sanders was extremely hard on Rubio.

Bernie Sanders: "If you don’t have the guts to face your constituents, then you shouldn’t be" in Congress https://t.co/TySrkSyNcT
— CNN (@CNN) February 24, 2017

“If you need police at the meetings, that’s fine, have police at the meetings, have security at the meetings,” Sanders said. “But don’t use that as an excuse to run away from your constituents after you support repealing the Affordable Care Act, throwing 20 million people off of health insurance, doing away with preexisting conditions. If you are going to do all those things, answer the questions that your constituents have.”

Rubio told Jim Defede that town halls aren't town hall meetings, anymore. Rubio's reasoning is that liberal activists are coming to the meetings. Rubio does nopt see it, but those liberal activists are his constituents.

David Bowie and Egon Schiele, totally nude, naked

2017-02-18T15:30:00.001-05:00

I made this paper (16 in. x 30 in) and I'm redrawing the David Bowie/Egon Schiele comic I did last year, and it will be part of a 2 person month long show I'm doing at with my wife at Public Space One in Iowa City in March.

Quote of the Day: Chris Hayes Edition

2017-02-12T15:47:00.001-05:00

"If your life depends on Marco Rubio having a spine, you're already dead."

Chris Hayes, on Rubio's decision to support Rex Tillerson's confirmation to become Secretary of State.

Quote of the Day: President Trump Edition

2017-01-21T13:30:00.001-05:00

"I did try and fuck her. She was married. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look. I've got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful – I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything… Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

President Donald Trump

I hear people say that the Russian hacking, conflicts of interests, allegations of sexual assault, and the sheer stupidity of Trump don't matter because he is he will President. The fact that Trump is President is why those thing matter.

Neil Young and Bob Dylan - Helpless + Knockin' on Heaven's Door

2017-01-17T22:50:00.000-05:00

Two of my favorite Neil Young and Bob Dylan songs.

Tampa Food Not Bombs Will Not Be Prosecuted

2017-01-17T22:41:00.000-05:00

This press release came from State Attorney Andrew Warren's office.

Tampa, FL – Andrew Warren, the newly-elected State Attorney for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County, will not prosecute volunteers from Tampa Food Not Bombs who were arrested for trespassing for feeding the homeless earlier this year. On January 7, 2017, seven volunteers were arrested for trespass for distributing food to the homeless in Lykes Gaslight Square Park, a Tampa-owned park, without the required city permit. The seven volunteers were issued notices to appear in court before a judge, at which time the case was referred to the State Attorney’s Office for prosecution. The first volunteer’s appearance was scheduled for January 18, 2017. Today, the State Attorney’s Office filed a Notice of Nolle Prosequi for the first of the trespassing arrests, which serves as a dismissal of the case. The State Attorney’s Office will dismiss the cases for the remaining six defendants after those appearances are scheduled.
Regarding his decision not to prosecute, Warren said, “My mission is to make our community safer while promoting justice and fairness for everyone. Prosecuting people for charitable work does not further that mission and is an inefficient use of government resources. Furthermore, our goal is to view each case not as a person to be prosecuted but as a problem to be solved. That is why we have spoken with the Tampa Police Department, members of Tampa City Council, the Mayor’s office, and the attorney for Tampa Food Not Bombs in order to facilitate a resolution, and we commend them for working together to find a sensible solution. We will not prosecute the trespassing charges so long as the Tampa Food Not Bombs organization willingly participates in reaching a resolution to this matter and remains non-violent.”
Andrew Warren was sworn-in as the State Attorney for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, serving Hillsborough County, on January 3, 2017, after being elected on November 8, 2016. He was previously a federal prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice in Tampa, FL, and Washington, DC, and earned multiple accolades from the Justice Department and federal law enforcement agencies for his prosecution of complex white collar crime, including the 2013 Attorney General Award for Trial Litigation. A native of Gainesville, FL, Mr. Warren graduated from Brandeis University as a double-major in economics and political science before earning his J.D. from Columbia University Law School.

This is a good decision. It does not help Tampa's reputation to prosecute a charity organization attempting to feed the homeless. Sadly, downtown Tampa is filled with homeless people. The City of Tampa needs to address the housing situation for the homeless. There are simply not enough shelter beds for the homeless.

Explaining a Nightmare

2016-11-09T10:52:00.001-05:00

[This is a guest post from your fav estranged guest-blogger, tas.]

So. What happened? Though difficult, I'm going to avoid delving into emotions and report the numbers. Just the facts.

(tl;dr version - Younger voters stayed home, older voters didn't; more white and black voters went Republican, but black voter turnout was down; and popularity of a third party / protest vote exploded.)

In 2008, 129.1 million Americans voted. I estimate that, after all of the votes for 2016 have been counted, 134.9 million Americans voted. Trump's victory can't be explained by voters staying home since this is a record turn out, so you have to look at who voted and how.

The only data we have on who voted and how are the exit polls. After this election, I don't know how much we can trust the polls... But it's the only data we've got.

Comparing the exit polls from 2008 and 2016, here's what stands out:

- In 2008, 74% of voters were white and 55% of them voted Republican. But in 2016, 70% of voters were white and 58% of them voted Republican.

- In 2008, 13% of voters were black and only 4% of them voted Republican. But in 2016, 12% of voters were black and 8% of them voted Republican.

- In 2008, 29% of voters were ages 30-44 and 46% of them voted Republican. But in 2016, only 25% of voters were ages 30-44 and 42% of them voted Republican.

- In 2008, 37% of voters were ages 45-64 and 49% of them voted Republican. But in 2016, 40% of voters were ages 45-64 and 53% of them voted Republican.

Also, outside of the exit polls, these raw vote statistics must be mentioned:

- In 2008, 1,624,296 votes went for third party candidates. But in 2016, I estimate that 6.341,285 votes went for third party candidates.

What does this mean? From this point, it's impossible to be objective but I'll do my best to be constructive.

1) Hillary didn't connect with voters. I say this under the ironic cloud of her probably winning the popular vote, but younger voters didn't turn out. Of those aged 30-44 voters who came out, 8% voted for third parties.

It's tough to say how many of those votes were siphoned from Hillary, since Gary Johnson won the majority of them and he ran on a conservative platform.

2) Voter turnout among black communities was down. This is likely a result of the Voter Rights Act of 1965 being rescinded. Indeed, before Election Day, North Carolina GOP officials were bragging about suppressing early voting to keep turnout in black communities down.

There will be lots of accusations of racism, so it's important to note that this is not an accusation: it is empirical evidence of racism. Period.

3) Trump didn't do the best job of connecting with voters either. In 2008, with fewer total voters, Barack Obama won over 69 million votes. By contrast, in 2016 Trump will only get around 64 million votes despite higher voter turn out.

4) Young voters, aged 18-44, could have defeated Trump if they came out to vote. Hillary won more of their votes than Trump did, but the amount of the electorate they made up is down from 2008.

This doesn't answer any questions; probably raises a lot more inquiries. I just hope we have time to ponder those questions while facing down what is, essentially, the nightmare scenario of a Trump Presidency with a GOP controlled House and Senate.

Quote of the Day:Donald Trump Edition

2016-10-11T23:31:00.000-04:00

"There’s never been anything like this, so go and register, make sure you get out and vote Nov. 28."

Donald Trump, at a rally in Panama City.

General election day is Tuesday, November 8. Trump's stupidity knows no bounds.

Quote of the Day: Muhammad Ali

2016-06-04T14:38:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day: Hillary Clinton Edition

2016-04-13T14:35:00.000-04:00

"That’s right. And I feel like my political beliefs are rooted in the conservatism that I was raised with. I don’t recognize this new brand of Republicanism that is afoot now, which I consider to be very reactionary, not conservative in many respects. I am very proud that I was a Goldwater girl."

Hillary Clinton, in a 1996 NRP interview.

Rick Scott Meets An Angry Constituient

2016-04-05T21:53:00.000-04:00

A woman in a downtown Gainesville Starbucks unloads on Gov. Rick Scott for refusing to expand Medicaid. Scott makes a hasty retreat for the exit. Scott claims to the woman that he created a million jobs. Scott has yet to provide empirical evidence that his policies have created job.

Quote of the Day: Donald Trump Edition

2016-01-18T20:06:00.001-05:00

"The Art of the Deal is second to the Bible."

Donald Trump, at Liberty University, on Martin Luther King Day.

I can't think of a presidential candidate more narcissistic than The Donald. The man is insufferable.

Quote of the Day: David Bowie Edition

2016-01-17T01:13:00.003-05:00

If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.

David Bowie

Quote of the Day

2015-10-25T23:07:00.001-04:00

"If You Don't Want to Vote on Things, Don't Run for Office. Get a Talk Show."

Sen. Marco Rubio

Florida's junior Senator has missed the most votes in the Senate.

Tweet of the Day

2015-07-20T22:59:00.000-04:00

.@GovernorPerry: Every blue-collar worker should be listening when I say I'm going to lower the corporate tax rates.” #Hannity
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 21, 2015

I laughed my ass off when I saw this tweet. I can guarantee to Gov. Rick Perry that working class people aren't concerned about corporate tax cuts. The level of disconnect Perry has with the working class is staggering.

Quote of Day

2015-07-08T16:49:00.001-04:00

Go like Addicting Info on Facebook.

The Dollyrots - Almost

2015-06-17T22:54:00.000-04:00

The Dollyrots cover the Bowling For Soup song Almost. The original BFS version songs jokey. The Dollyrots version is a poignant song about life's regrets and missed opportunities.