The Ledes

Friday, September 6, 2024

CNBC: “The U.S. economy created slightly fewer jobs than expected in August, reflecting a slowing labor market while also clearing the way for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates later this month. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 142,000 during the month, down from 89,000 in July and below the 161,000 consensus forecast from Dow Jones, according to a report Friday from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

New York Times: “Colin Gray, the father of the 14-year-old accused of killing two teachers and two students at his Georgia high school, was arrested and charged on Thursday with second-degree murder in connection with the state’s deadliest school shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. In addition to two counts of second-degree murder, Mr. Gray, 54, was also charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to a statement. At a news conference on Thursday night, Chris Hosey, the G.B.I. director, said the charges were 'directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon.'” At 5:30 am ET, this is the pinned item in a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's report is here.

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The Ledes

Thursday, September 5, 2024

CNBC: “Private sector payrolls grew at the weakest pace in more than 3½ years in August, providing yet another sign of a deteriorating labor market, according to ADP. Companies hired just 99,000 workers for the month, less than the downwardly revised 111,000 in July and below the Dow Jones consensus forecast for 140,000. August was the weakest month for job growth since January 2021, according to data from the payrolls processing firm. 'The job market’s downward drift brought us to slower-than-normal hiring after two years of outsized growth,' ADP’s chief economist, Nela Richardson, said. The report corroborates multiple data points recently that show hiring has slowed considerably from its blistering pace following the Covid outbreak in early 2020.”

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Georgia school massacre are here, a horrifying ritual which we experience here in the U.S. to kick off each new School Shooting Year. “A 14-year-old student opened fire at his Georgia high school on Wednesday, killing two students and two teachers before surrendering to school resource officers, according to the authorities, who said the suspect would be charged with murder.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I heard Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) speak during a press conference. Kemp is often glorified as one of the most moderate, reasonable GOP elected public officials. When asked a question I did not hear, Kemp responded, "Now is not the time to talk about politics." As you know, this is a statement that is part of the mass shooting ritual. It translates, "Our guns-for-all policy is so untenable that I dare not express it lest I be tarred and feathered -- or worse -- by grieving families." ~~~

~~~ Washington Post: “Police identified the suspect as Colt Gray, a student who attracted the attention of federal investigators more than a year ago, when they began receiving anonymous tips about someone threatening a school shooting. The FBI referred the reports to local authorities, whose investigations led them to interview Gray and his father. The father told police that he had hunting guns in the house, but that his son did not have unsupervised access to them. Gray denied making the online threats, the FBI said, but officials still alerted area schools about him.” ~~~ 

     ~~~ Marie: I heard on CNN that the reason authorities lost track of Colt was that his family moved counties, and the local authorities who first learned of the threats apparently did not share the information with law enforcement officials in Barrow County, where Wednesday's mass school shooting occurred. If you were a parent of a child who has so alarmed law enforcement that they came around to your house to question you and the child about his plans to massacre people, wouldn't you do something?: talk to him, get the kid professional counseling, remove guns and other lethal weapons from the house, etc.

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, but Akhilleus found this new one that he says is easy to use.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass.

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Saturday
Jun252016

The Commentariat -- June 25, 2016

Steve Erlanger of the New York Times: "Britain's startling decision to pull out of the European Union set off a cascade of aftershocks on Friday, costing Prime Minister David Cameron his job, plunging the financial markets into turmoil and leaving the country's future in doubt.... The British pound and global stock prices plummeting in value as the vote tally showed the Remain camp falling further behind.... European officials met in Brussels to begin discussing a response and to emphasize their commitment to strengthening and improving the bloc, which will have 27 members after Britain's departure.... [Brexit] was seized on by far-right and anti-Brussels parties across Europe, with Marine Le Pen of the National Front in France calling for a 'Frexit' referendum and Geert Wilders of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands calling for a 'Nexit.'" CW ...

... OR, as a wag named Jaideep Krishna put it, "Upcoming risky events in Europe: Brexit to be followed by Grexit. Departugal. Italeave. Fruckoff. Czechout. Oustria. Finish. Slovlong. Latervia. Byegium, until EU reach the state of Germlonely." Thanks to LT for that. ...

... Ylan Mui of the Washington Post: "The domino effect of Britain's vote was on full display as the Dow plummeted more than 600 points, with even more dramatic effects in Europe and Asia. Experts said Britain's exit from the E.U. could prove to be the final straw to send the economy into recession.... Britain will spend at least two years negotiating the terms of its departure from the 28-member alliance.... Britain must elect new leadership, strike new trade deals and craft a dizzying array of new regulations about issues such as immigration and investment." -- CW ...

... Kevin Liptak of CNN: "Instability in Europe and beyond is providing 'fertile terrain for reactionary politicians and demagogues,' Vice President Joe Biden cautioned during remarks in Ireland on Friday. Listing global irritants like mass migration, terrorism, climate change, Biden said those factors are leading to leaders 'peddling xenophobia, nationalism, and isolationism,' including in the United States.... Biden is on a mutli-day trip to Ireland, meeting with leaders there and visiting sites in the West that relate to his ancestry.... The White House was vocal in its opposition to Britain's exiting the EU, a rare foray into another country's political affairs." -- CW ...

... Charles Pierce: "Some of the Oldest and Whitest people on the planet leapt at a chance to vote against the monsters in their heads.... Without the accelerant of pure racism -- the existence of which among the British comes as no surprise to those of who descend from involuntary members of their old Empire -- this thing never gets off the ground." -- CW ...

... Could Be Why George Will, one of the oldest, whitest people on the planet, likes it. CW: George's favorable opinion remains one of the best ways to tell something is awful. ...

... Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "The British are frantically Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it." -- CW ...

... Haroon Siddique (June 23): "The simple answer to the question as to whether the EU referendum is legally binding is 'no'. In theory, in the event of a vote to leave the EU, David Cameron, who opposes Brexit, could decide to ignore the will of the people and put the question to MPs banking on a majority deciding to remain. This is because parliament is sovereign and referendums are generally not binding in the UK." CW: Siddique's report is echoed elsewhere in the news. Of course, Cameron now says he's leaving on a slow train to his country estate, but it does seem possible that a new government could just say "Never mind." ...

... BUT. Ta-Ta, Mofos. Jennifer Rankin, et al., of the Guardian: "The EU's top leaders have said they expect the UK to act on its momentous vote to leave the union 'as soon as possible, however painful that process may be' and that there will be 'no renegotiation'.... There were early warnings of difficulties ahead. The German MEP Elmar Brok, who chairs the European parliament's committee on foreign affairs, told the Guardian ... 'They will have to negotiate from the position of a third country, not as a member state. If Britain wants to have a similar status to Switzerland and Norway, then it will also have to pay into EU structural funds like those countries do. The British public will find out what that means.'" -- CW ...

... MEANWHILE, We're Stuck with at Least One Texas. Aneri Pattani of the Texas Tribune: "In the wake of Britain’s historic vote to leave the European Union ... speculation of a Texit on the horizon has cropped up once again. The secessionist movement has a long history in the Lone Star State. Delegates for the Texas Republican Party even recently debated adding secessionist language to the party's platform. But ... historical and legal precedents make it clear that Texas could not pull off a Texit -- at least not legally.... The European Union is a loose association of compound states with pre-existing protocols for a nation to exit. In contrast, the U.S. Constitution contains procedures for admitting new states into the nation, but none for a state to leave.... Texas can split itself into five new states.... Even before Texas formally rejoined the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession was not legal...." -- CW ...

... Andy Borowitz: "Across the United Kingdom on Friday, Britons mourned their long-cherished right to claim that Americans were significantly dumber than they are." -- CW

Katia Hetter & Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Barack Obama announced Friday he was designating the area around the Stonewall Inn in New York City as the country's first national monument to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights." President Obama's statement is here. ...

Tom Vanden Brook of USA Today: "The Pentagon plans to announce the repeal of its ban on transgender service members July 1, a controversial decision that would end nearly a year of internal wrangling among the services on how to allow those troops to serve openly, according to Defense officials. Top personnel officials plan to meet as early as Monday to finalize details of the plan, and Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work could sign off on it by Wednesday...." -- CW

Presidential Race

The people of the United Kingdom have exercised the sacred right of all free peoples. They have declared their independence from the European Union and have voted to reassert control over their own politics, borders and economy. Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first. They will have the chance to reject today's rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by and for the people. -- Donald Trump, Friday, on a promotion tour of his golf courses in Scotland, where the majority of the people did not exercise their sacred right ...

... ** How to Make Dubya Look Like a Statesman. Steve Benen: "Even by the low standards of Donald J. Trump, it was among the most baffling press conferences anyone has ever seen. The entirety of Scotland is reeling; the future of the U.K. and the continent is uncertain; and an American presidential candidate arrived to deliver a testimonial about a country club and how fond he is of the design of a golf course. Wait, it gets worse.... This was a test he failed so spectacularly, it's as if Trump isn't even trying to succeed." (Emphasis added.) CW: Now, there's a thought. Read the whole post. ...

... Hunter of Daily Kos: "And now here's Donald Trump, human NASCAR crash, promising in a hastily-scribbled fundraising letter to do for America what Brexit is doing for the United Kingdom.... 'With your help, we're going to do the exact same thing on Election Day 2016 here in the United States of America.... Let's send another shockwave around the world.'... In general, mind you, financial 'shockwaves' are considered a bad thing. Promising that if you're elected, financial markets will tank three percent in an afternoon is certainly not your average campaign vow -- but it may be the one promise Donald Trump can keep." -- CW

Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Although [Donald] Trump may struggle to convert a message of national retrenchment into victory here, some of the stark divisions on display in Britain do mirror political trends in this country.... But beneath those generalities, there are crucial distinctions between the Brexit vote and the 2016 presidential election.... American presidential elections are largely decided by a diverse and upscale electorate, anchored in America's cities and suburbs. These communities more closely resemble London than Lincolnshire.... And while Britain decided to leave the European Union through a popular vote, the White House race will be determined by the Electoral College, which is tilted toward the Democrats.... Further, the vote in Britain was a referendum on a European entity that was easy to rally against, while the presidential vote here is increasingly becoming a referendum on a polarizing individual." -- CW ...

... Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "The biggest difference is that the UK is a lot whiter. According to the most recent census data, 86% of the British population is white. In the US, only 63% is non-Hispanic white.... The Brexit vote looked a lot more like that in a Republican presidential primary.... Trump may yet regret this attempt to tie his campaign to the Brexit victory. After all, he is facing a different electorate, one familiar with the precipitous collapse in global markets that followed Thursday's vote." -- CW

Henry Paulson, former Bush II Treasury Secretary & current CEO of Goldman Sachs, in a Washington Post op-ed: "The GOP, in putting Trump at the top of the ticket, is endorsing a brand of populism rooted in ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism. This troubles me deeply as a Republican, but it troubles me even more as an American. Enough is enough. It's time to put country before party and say it together: Never Trump.... When Trump assures us he'll do for the United States what he's done for his businesses, that's not a promise -- it's a threat.... [blah, blah] ... reforming entitlements... [blah, blah]. I'll be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world." -- CW

Tierney Sneed of TPM: "A delegate to the Republican national convention from Virginia filed a federal lawsuit Friday to avoid being bound to vote for Donald Trump on the first ballot in Cleveland. The delegate, Carroll Boston Correll, is a longtime local GOP official who claims Trump is 'unfit to serve' as President. Correll alleges in the lawsuit that state law which binds him to vote for Trump on the first ballot at the convention violates his constitutional right to free speech. Correll is seeking class action status for the suit on behalf of other bound delegates in Virginia, where Trump won 17 delegates in March." -- CW ...

... BUT Kevin Drum outlines how Trump could win the election. CW: Then again, I think Steve Benen is on to something when he suggests Trump is trying to lose. Even if his campaign evolves into a professional organization, he gets an infusion of money from the party & he betters learns how to use a teleprompter, the Real Donald Trump seems either incapable of or unwilling to STFU.

Beyond the Beltway

Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Bill Rankin of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "With a murder defendant shouting obscenities at him and threatening to kill his family, a Superior Court judge in Rome[, Georgia,] last week became so enraged that he threatened to lock the man up for years and said, 'You know, you look like a queer.' A transcript of the hearing shows how an attempt by defendant Denver Fenton Allen to get a different public defender devolved into heated and nasty exchanges with Judge Bryant Durham Jr. At one point..., [the judge] even challenged the defendant to masturbate in front of him in the courtroom.... He also said it was his 'guess' that he'd find Allen guilty and that Allen would find out 'how nasty I really am.'" -- CW

Let's Get Stupid! Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "Five people were taken to the hospital and about 30 to 40 were evaluated after sustaining 'burn injuries to their feet and lower extremities' after attempting to walk across hot coals" during a "motivational seminar" in Dallas, Texas, led by goofball Tony Robbins. "A total of 7,000 people participated in the fire walk.... This isn't the first time a Robbins coal walk has resulted in injuries. In 2012, nearly two dozen people were injured during a 'Unleash the Power Within' seminar in San Jose, Calif." -- CW

News Lede

Washington Post: "As storms have swept West Virginia, roads have turned into rivers, cars have been swallowed whole and at least 23 people have been killed -- including a preschooler who fell into floodwaters that carried him away.'" -- CW

Comments Off

Reader Comments (10)

NJ Star Ledger editorial: Without apparent irony, Trump calls Clinton a 'world-class liar'
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/06/without_apparent_irony_trump_calls_clinton_a_world.html

The plan? Make America white again.

And who is to really blame for Brexit and Trump? The Wright brothers.

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

"Enough is enough. It’s time to put country before party..." says Henry Paulson, linked above. He is not the first Republican to say this, but he said it when I had a moment to comment.

He is admitting that Republicans have done damage to our country for personal and party gain. This is something we have understood and said for years, to no avail.

He goes on to say that he hopes Hillary Clinton "...can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world." She can only do that if he, Henry Paulson (and every other Republican that rediscovers his or her conscience), gets his party to put the country first. Confirm Merrick Garland. Confirm judges. Fund agencies sufficiently so government can work. Pass background check legislation and an assault rifle ban. Oh yes, and tell all of your "news" outlets to stop saying Secretary Clinton is Evil incarnate.

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

BRIT'S BUYER'S REMORSE

More than 1million Brits are demanding a second EU referendum:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/petition-eu-referendum-million-signatures_us_576e58ebe4b0dbb1bbbab919?section=

This is reminiscent of the old story of the break-up of families––the errant youth cuts himself off, leaves the protection and security of the family unit and goes it alone facing possible travail and disunity. It is also a story that is rife with closing oneself off from the riff-raff of "others"–– much more, I think, than wanting to be independent for independent's sake. We'll have to see if other countries in Europe begin to break away. From some rumbles from France it does not bode well.

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Czechout indeed. Which reminds me that the yokels in the U.K. scared into joining the biggest, most calamitous, and incomparably costly right-wing fear and hate fest are now fervently praying to the patron saint of winger fantasies made flesh, St. Upickip the Czech, especially now that the appalling financial devastation is becoming clearer.

Like those in this country who promise (on a much less global scale) that shivving the ACA and replacing it with some Paul Ryan healthcare plan scribbled on the back of a napkin won't be as costly as real economists predict. Back of the napkin plans reliant on adolescent wish fulfillment and sold with hatred and lies can cost a shitload of money, among other things.

Brexit fools now wondering why their homes lost a huge amount of their value and why they may lose their jobs which will make it all the more difficult to pay for soon to be skyrocketing goods and services are finding that out.

Donald Trump's plan to Make America something, something, something doesn't even have the corporeal element of the napkin. Something voters should carefully consider .

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Trump waving the flag of Brexit and declaring it a wonderful, amazing thing reminds me of great idiots in history who stand on a battlefield covered in blood and pronounce themselves victors and lords of all they survey as their troops scatter, routed by the forces of reality.

My kingdom for a horse's ass? No thanks.

But it looks like France might be interested. Sacre bleu!

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I wasn't as impressed with Paulson's editorial as some. Yes, he at least places country over party, but he is still blaming partisan divide on "both sides" and promoting Republican policies as what is needed to save said country. I do agree with his statement that our entitlement programs (I hate that term) are unsustainable in their present form. We need to lift the cap on social security income subject to the FICA tax, and make the tax on capital gains and carried interest the same as what the rest of us pay on our sweat-earned wages. I remember vividly an assignment I had for my Macro Economics class in college, where we had to try to balance the federal budget. We were allowed to use any mix of tax cuts/increases and spending cuts/increases that we wanted. It didn't take long to realize that it only took small increases in tax rates to create a much bigger impact than huge cuts in spending. That assignment convinced me. So, yes, Mr. Paulson, I can do the math and I did.

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered Commentercakers

Cakers,

Yes, your math is right.

Paulson is an avowed self-serving capitalist, whom we all remember was eager, math be damned, to bail out his cronies on Wall Street when they brought down the house of cards they and he had built, far more eager than he remains to this day to move some resources from the top to the bottom.

He is part and parcel of what remains of the so-called Republican elite, that is those with money worried that their current standard bearer might besmirch their cultivated reputation of being "reasonable."

Of course, that reason, aside from being based on a faulty and unjust economic model, is reasonable only when arrayed against the loony Republican base the elite ginned up over the years and for whom Trump is the perfect avatar.

But "more reasonable" doesn't cut it, any more than a small and growing melanoma is a whole lot better than a larger one.

The phrase "lipstick on a pig" comes naturally to mind.

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

In 1948 after Truman beat Dewey, Betty Farmington, chairwoman for the Republican women's group which led a moral crusade against the New Deal, desperately wanted the G.O.P to find its strongman:

"How thankful we would have been if a leader had appeared to show us the path to the promised land of our hope. The world needs such a man today. He is certain to come sooner or later. But we cannot sit idly by in the hope of his coming. Besides his advent depends partly on us. The mere fact that a leader is needed does not guarantee his appearance. People must be ready for him, and we, as Republican women, in our clubs, prepare for him."

That man, many Republican voters today appear to believe, is Donald J. Trump, born in New York in 1946.

And prepare for HIM they have done. Like the "Savior" Betty's words resemble, the guy they got ain't gonna save nobody but himself and even that we can't be too sure about.

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Over at Digby's blog, found this linked bit of Scottish et al. humour:

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterWhyte Owen

...."The seminar is called “Unleash the Power Within.” The multi-day event with world-renowned motivational speaker Tony Robbins is “designed to help you unlock and unleash the forces inside that can help you break through any limit and create the quality of life you desire,” according to promotional materials.

“Overcome the unconscious fears that are holding you back,” Robbins’s site proclaims. “Storm across a bed of hot coals."

I just knew that if we waited long enough, Trumpy's perfect Vice Presidential running mate would appear. GO Tony Robbins! He has been doing this shit for years--having clueless attendees at his "motivational seminars" walking across a bed of hot coals. Can't think of a better match for our wanna be "Sociopath in Chief."

Robbins can campaign for the guy whose unconscious is always on stage and ready to erupt at all times. Robbins will have a bed of hot coals set up at the front of the auditorium and will invite clueless Victims up to storm across them--for an extra fee of course. If they burn their little feet, he will tell them they are not working hard enough to unleash the unconscious forces within. Fortunately, however, they have the Hot Lava guy to vote for. He is The Man who can help them punish themselves, enjoy the experience and live to tell about it. Perfect. I hereby withdraw my former choice for Trumpy VP: Darth Cheney.

June 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterKate Madison
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