Bad Lip Reading–Dem Convention Edition

I close out my posting day with a good thump on your funny bone…..

After I spent my time watching the Dem convention and found it not as entertaining as I had hoped….I found this vid from some geniuses at Bad Lip Reading……

Please watch and enjoy…..

Now was that not far better than the actual convention?

So much more informative than the actual convention…..Have a great day my friends and I shall return tomorrow in all my splendor…..

GOD this thing is funny!

See you guys tomorrow……..peace…out

“Most Progressive Dem Platform in History”

I do hope everyone had a good weekend….I know I did….but it is Monday….let’s get to work!

That is the spin that the Dem hawks want the voter to believe…..there is nothing “progressive” about the Dem platform…..if anything it fits well with the neoliberal bullsh*t that Clinton is selling with her campaign….

The Democratic Party platform may indeed be, as some have proclaimed, the “most progressive” in the history of the party—at least on various important domestic issues. But some of its foreign policy planks reflect a disturbingly hawkish worldview consistent with those of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Declaring that “we must defeat ISIS, al-Qaeda and their affiliates,” the platform calls for the United States and its allies to “destroy ISIS” strongholds in Iraq and Syria. There is no acknowledgement that these strongholds are in heavily populated urban areas, thereby risking large-scale civilian casualties, and no mention that the rise of these extremist organizations are a direct consequence of previous U.S. military interventions in the region.

Source: “Most Progressive Dem Platform in History” Hawkish on Foreign Policy | The Progressive

Please take some time and learn what the Hell you are voting for….that really is not that much to ask….but only if you want to make an accurate vote…..after seeing the crop of candidates this time around….I am skeptical.

Hillary Clinton’s nominating convention has focused on domestic issues, but her foreign policy has many anti-war Democrats worried, as she surrounds herself with neocons and liberal hawks, writes James W Carden from Philadelphia.

The Democratic convention leaves one with an uneasy sense of déjà vu about the potential foreign policy direction of a second Clinton presidency. We’ve seen this movie before and we know how it turns out: badly.

The mood among some of the Democratic Party’s foreign policy cognoscenti here is one of an unadulterated smugness bred of certainty mixed with a sense of global entitlement. One Democratic U.S. senator lamented to a roomful of well-heeled donors and foreign policy experts on Monday that the U.S. had “lost” Ukraine. Lost? Was it ever America’s to begin with?

Source: The Fear of Hillary’s Foreign Policy – Consortiumnews

Congrats people…..you are about to make the biggest mistake of your little life…..

“No More War! No More War!”

I admit that I have been watching the Dem convention….most of it was silly and a waste of time….but there was a bright spot on the last day….chants of “No more war” rang out…unfortunately they were shouted down by the Hawks in the party with chants of Hillary!  Hillary!  Hillary!

Chanting “No more war!” a cadre of anti-war protesters Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention disrupted former U.S. Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leon Panetta’s speech Wednesday to denounce U.S. militarism.

In a prime time address, Panetta praised the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, as the only one to have a solid plan to defeat the Islamic State group. But only a few minutes in, Panetta was interrupted by a chorus of Bernie Sanders’ delegates in the crowd.

I have been a staunch anti-war person for decades…..it began after my introduction to the obscenity of the Vietnam War….I have been writing anti-war post since I began this site.

It was a good feeling to hear the magic words again…..it has been too long and the time is now for a new anti-war movement…..I mean this country is using our troops in some 120+ countries….we are fighting conflicts that need not be fought by the US….

Once again I call on my friends who feel that we are fighting too many wars to help start this new movement…..

Why can’t we have a planet where we find nurturing each other more of a turn on than killing each other, a planet where education means learning the truth not memorizing the lies, a planet where caring instead of fear is used to motivate action.

While the Republican snakepit known as their convention continued to bat us between revulsion and fascination, we lost track of one important thing. They—the Republican leadership and their mad dog cheering section—mean it. They use fear and more fear to convince us that we need war and more war. The locks are off the door and the inmates are running the asylum…and when they insist that the enemy—which includes just about anybody who is not lily white, and preferably Christian—is about to devour us, it appears we have two choices:

  • Lock our doors, hide in the basement, disappear under burkas or choice, or
  • Start a counter movement so positive, so powerful, so defining that the hate mongers are driven back into the dark hole where they belong.

Source: New Peace Movement on Steroids Needed Now! – LA Progressive

Please help bring sanity back to US foreign policy…..

This election will do little to end our numerous wars….if anything it will give us more conflicts and more chances for our troops to fight and die…..

By all means vote this November….but for the love of God think about the troops and the wars we are fighting before you cast that vote…..then make a decision that needs to be made.

Dem “Gong Show”–The Finale

Finally the misery of the convention has ended….did so by Chelsea Clinton (candidate in waiting) introduced her mother so that she could officially accept the nomination of the Democratic Party.

The nomination was opened up with a “lollipop and rainbows” speech…..

“It is with humility, determination, and boundless confidence in America’s promise that I accept your nomination for president of the United States,” Hillary Clinton told the Democratic National Convention Thursday night, delivering a fiery acceptance speech that cast herself as a unifier who can keep America safe, and Donald Trump as a dangerous, blustering con man. Five of her best lines:

  • “It’s true,” Clinton said. “I sweat the details of policy—whether we’re talking about the exact level of lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, the number of mental health facilities in Iowa, or the cost of your prescription drugs. Because it’s not just a detail if it’s your kid, if it’s your family. It’s a big deal. And it should be a big deal to your president.”
  • “We’re going to give small businesses a boost. Make it easier to get credit,” said Clinton, who promised that creating more jobs with rising wages would be her primary mission. “Way too many dreams die in the parking lots of banks.”
  • “Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis,” Clinton said after skewering Trump’s foreign policy pronouncements. “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
  • “I’m not here to repeal the Second Amendment,” she said after turning to domestic policy. “I’m not here to take away your guns. I just don’t want you to be shot by someone who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place.”
  • “I’m here to tell you tonight—progress is possible,” she said. “I know because I’ve seen it in the lives of people across America who get knocked down and get right back up. And I know it from my own life. More than a few times, I’ve had to pick myself up and get back in the game.” After getting one of her biggest cheers of the night, she added that her mother had taught her to never back down and that “you have to stand up to bullies.”

“Yes, the world is watching what we do. Yes, America’s destiny is ours to choose. So let’s be stronger together,” she said in conclusion. “Looking to the future with courage and confidence. Building a better tomorrow for our beloved children and our beloved country. When we do, America will be greater than ever,” Clinton said before she was joined on stage by Tim Kaine, followed by what the Guardian describes as a “fireworks waterfall” and a “balloon blizzard.”

5 things and not one of them is a solution to a problem….but I did not expect anyone to be serious about “fixing” the country.

The misery of the endless showboating of the convention is over and now we have two officially accepted candidates and the 2016 election is off and running for real….no more theatrics now they must convince the voter that they are the candidate for them……that their lives will be better for the vote….. (sorry I was laughing so hard I farted a bit)…..

All in all this was the best Republican Convention I have ever witnessed (please do not correct I know what I wrote)….it covered all the GOP talking points….sugary family values, kissed Israel’s ass, promised more war and interventions,  taxes blah-blah, small business etc…..perfect GOP.

Mercifully it is over and now I can return to the stuff of real life…..I prefer news to theater…..

Dem “Gong Show”–Day 3

Last night was the big day….Pres. Obama will speak to the convention about the qualifications and reliability of the Dem nominee, Hillary Clinton….the whole media establishment is holding its breath waiting for the speech….can it be as warm and fuzzy as the one delivered by Bubba?

Biden and Obama spoke and as usual it was two great speeches that energized the crowd…did what it was suppose to do….if you would like to know what they had to say then look it up…..I got better things to do than make your life easier.

I want to touch on a couple of speeches that were , in my opinion, a waste of time…..Bloomberg and the new VP candidate Kaine….

First Bloomberg made his speech……

Perhaps in an effort to fight fire with fire, the Democratic National Convention welcomed its own New York billionaire to the stage Wednesday night. As a former Republican and current Independent, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg came out against parts of the Democratic platform but fully against Donald Trump, Fortune reports. “Trump says he wants to run the nation like he’s run his business,” Bloomberg said. “God help us. I’m a New Yorker, and I know a con when I see one.” He brought up Trump’s history of lawsuits and bankruptcies. “The richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy,” Bloomberg said.

Advisers tell CNN that Bloomberg was using his speech to reach out to “independents, moderates, and swing voters.” “I look at the candidate, not the party label,” he said. And while he doesn’t support everything Hillary Clinton does, Bloomberg said she’s far and away better than the alternative. “We must unite around the candidate who can defeat a dangerous demagogue,” he said.

Okay….why?  His speech was a worthless waste of time…..he tried to be cute and missed….besides he has all the charm of a rattlesnake with a tooth ache.

Next was the acceptance speech for Kaine and his attempt to set the tone for the upcoming election….he walked into a brick wall….it was a yawn.

Tim Kaine introduced himself to the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, telling the crowd he “humbly” accepted the VP nomination and giving his life story before launching some fierce attacks on Donald Trump. There were big cheers whenever the former governor switched to speaking Spanish, the Guardian reports. “Hillary Clinton and I are compañeros de alma,” he said. “We share this belief: Do all the good you can. Serve one another. That’s what I’m about. That’s what you’re about.” Kaine whose son is a Marine, said Americans should trust Clinton, and “on a personal level, as he’s serving our nation abroad, I trust Hillary Clinton with our son’s life.”

“Donald Trump has a passion,” Kaine told the crowd. “It’s himself.” Kaine slammed Trump for business failures, broken promises, and his refusal to release his tax returns, the AP reports. “Most people, when they run for president, they don’t just say ‘believe me.’ They respect you enough to tell you how they will get things done,” he said, doing a Trump impression and saying “believe me” over and over again. “”Folks, you cannot believe one word that comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth,” Kaine said. “Our nation is too great to put it in the hands of a slick-talking, empty-promising, self-promoting, one-man wrecking crew.” He finished with the line: “Hillary is ready. Ready to fight, ready to win, ready to lead.”

Have you ever heard Kissinger give a speech?  This guy is more sleep inducing than Kissinger.

The debate between VP candidates ought to be about as much fun as watching flies mate…..at least it may cure insomnia.

All in all the night was….well…..a night full of hot air and theatrics but my fave part was listening to the MSM gush praise all over the night and the speakers….we can sure see where their bread is buttered, huh?

Last day approaches……the big day for Hillary….

Turn The Page!

Dem “Gong Show”–Day 2

History has been made…..Clinton becomes the first woman to get the nomination for a major political party…..it only took 200+ years……

Day 2 has arrived and the establishment cronies will be slobbering all over themselves….Bubba Clinton will take to the mike to schmooze the unwashed masses…..( don’t expect panties to be thrown)…..

Tuesday night marked the 10th time Bill Clinton had addressed a Democratic National Convention—but it was the first time Bill, or anybody, had made a speech as the husband of the nominee. The Wells Fargo Center seemed completely absorbed as Bill recounted the early years of his life with Hillary, including how she turned down his early proposals. He mixed personal details and praise of Hillary as a wife and “best friend” with glowing descriptions of her public service from the early ’70s to the present. Five of his best lines:

  • “In the spring of 1971 I met a girl,” Bill began, describing how he met Hillary at Yale Law School and eventually persuaded her to go on a walk with him. “We’ve been walking and talking and laughing together ever since.”
  • “Hillary opened my eyes to a whole new world of public service by private citizens,” Bill said, describing her early work registering voters in Texas and dealing with children’s issues in the South.
  • “She’s a natural leader, a good organizer,” Bill said, “and she’s the best darn changemaker I’ve ever met in my entire life.” He went on to describe Hillary as a “changemaker” several more times.
  • “Speeches like this are fun. Actually doing the work is hard,” Bill said. “People say we need change. She’s been around a long time. She sure has. And she’s sure been worth every single minute she put in to making things better.”
  • Hillary will make us stronger together. You know it, because she spent a lifetime doing it,” Bill told the crowd. “I hope you will do it. I hope you will elect her.”

He concluded his remarks by saying: “Those of us who have more yesterdays than tomorrows tend to think more about our children and grandchildren. The reason you should elect her is that in the greatest country on earth, we have always been about tomorrow. Your children and grandchildren will bless you if you do.”

Good God people!  What did you expect him to say about Hillary?  Stop blubbering over this speech…..he did what he had to do….made his wife all rainbows and sunshine……too damn squishy for me.  (After that maybe we should have expected those panties)

Only the Clintons could give America “a former president who wants to be first man extolling the virtues of a former first lady who wants to be president,” writes David Maraniss at the Washington Post. He describes the speech as a “quiet, rambling, at times touching, at times prosaic love letter, the likes of which no modern convention has ever quite seen or heard.”

All I can think is that this dude really wants back into the White House whatever it takes…..and that includes if he has to sound like a cheap romance novel…..

Wait!  There is more!

There were so many more speakers of the night but yet this is what all wants to remember…..what a flipping yawn!

DNC Platform Retains Traditional Militarism

Part of the deal in the long time between the end of the election cycle and Bernie’s endorsement has been told that he wanted his people on the platform committee….this would insure that the progressive ideas that he championed would be made part of the election rhetoric.

The problem is the DNC platform is a traditional cop-out of the Democrats and shows NO progress whatsoever…..

Phyllis Bennis tells Paul Jay that the platform debates ignored the wars in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and instead included a call to audit the Pentagon rather than cut the military budget

The two-day meeting at the Democratic National Platform Committee in Orlando ended this weekend. In article for the Nation titled What the Democratic Party Platform Tells Us About Where We Are on War, Phyllis Bennis writes, the 35-page draft reminds us of two crucial realities, the limits of party politics while corporate and military interests dominate both parties and crucially the necessity of social movements to challenge those limits and sometimes to win.

Source: DNC Platform Retains Traditional Militarism, Shows Weakness of Anti-War Movement

I think Bernie failed in his attempt to make the platform more progressive……it smacks of neoliberalism.

But how will this play with those voters that supported his candidacy?  Could his loss be a blessing in disguise?  Something needs to be done to revive the anti-war movement….could this be that moment?

Dem “Gong Show”–Day One….Part Deux…..

We Americans live and breath for winners and losers….winners we worship and losers we hate…..so how does the 2016 Dem convention stack up for the winners and the losers?

There was no shortage of drama on Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention, though the day appeared to end with a more unified party, with Michelle Obama delivering what could be the convention’s best speech and Bernie Sanders telling the Philadelphia crowd that Hillary Clinton “must become the next president.” Here’s who analysts say had a good day, or a terrible day.

Among the winners:

  • Michelle Obama. She didn’t just give a great speech, she gave the “best speech of Hillary Clinton’s career,” according to Glenn Thrush at Politico. She “delivered a more passionate and concise case for Clinton than the candidate has ever made for herself—and perhaps the single most effective political address delivered in 2016,” he writes
  • Bernie Sanders. Some 14 months after he launched his campaign from the “outskirts of American politics,” Sanders received a “hero’s welcome” from an emotional crowd Monday night, writes Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post. His speech was was, “essentially, a confirmation that he was right about almost everything and Clinton now understood that fact,” Cillizza writes.
  • Sarah Silverman. Her off-the-cuff line to hecklers—”To the Bernie-or-bust people, you’re being ridiculous”—got one of the night’s biggest cheers. It came after what the Guardian calls “one of the speeches of the night, with a thoughtful exposition of the argument for switching from Sanders to Clinton.”

Among the losers:

  • Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The soon-to-be former Democratic National Committee chief had a terrible day by anybody’s reckoning. She decided against opening the convention after she was heavily booed and heckled when speaking to Florida delegates Monday morning.
  • Cory Booker. The New Jersey senator tried a little too hard to launch himself on the national stage with his Monday night speech, which “felt too rehearsed, too plotted—and, without question, way, way too long,” according to Cillizza at the Post. “The speech could have been half as long and twice as good.”
  • The Trans-Pacific Partnership. The rhetoric against the trade deal from speakers including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders was almost indistinguishable from what Donald Trump has to say about it, despite the fact that it was negotiated by the sitting Democratic president notes Dylan Matthews at Vox. He predicts that the deal will now die under either Clinton or Trump “if Obama can’t push it through in the lame-duck session.

On to day two and the “Gong Show” continues…..

The Dem “Gong Show”–Day One

The “Gong Show” is for all those old farts that remember probably the greatest game show ever aired……

The Dem Convention opened up with a really big announcement….Wasserman-Schultz is out but not down…..The Democratic National Convention opened Monday marred by the sudden resignation of its unpopular chairwoman after a series of leaked emails suggested she might have used her office to help Hillary Clinton defeat the insurgent candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The night began where I thought it would….trying to neutralize the email fallout….also all speakers up to Cory Booker was all about…blah blah blah…..Hillary good…..blah blah blah….vote for Hillary…..blah….Trump scary…..blah…..the usual Dem heavy hitters….Sanders…..Warren…..

But it got good with the speak by Booker…….good because the media hound that he is…it was his “look at me” speech for the Dems in the next election….

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker had one thing on his mind at Philly’s Wells Fargo Center: love and equality for all. With a rapt Bill Clinton watching in the audience, a hoarse-voiced Booker—who some Twitter users said brought “church” to the convention with his passion—used the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed as the backdrop to declare: “No matter who you are, rich or poor, Asian or white, man or woman, gay or straight, any religion or none at all, you are entitled to the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship.”

Booker directly addressed the “hypocrisy” of Donald Trump in his treatment of women and Muslims, as well as noted how Trump has tried to “get laughs at other people’s expense, tried to incite fear at a time we need to inspire courage, tried to rise in the polls by dragging our national conversation into the gutter.” Becoming increasingly animated, Booker then listed all of the reasons why Hillary Clinton is the candidate who knows “you and I, together, interdependent, [are] interconnected with one single interwoven American destiny.” He also appealed to viewers’ patriotism, noting, “You can’t love your country without loving your countrymen and your countrywomen.”

But as usual the First Lady hit it out of the park…….

Monday night, Michelle took her own place in the spotlight at Philly’s Wells Fargo Center, telling the crowd that Hillary Clinton is the only person she trusts to “have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives.” As for Melania’s cribbed speech: no mention from Michelle. She also didn’t mention Donald Trump by name, though her target was clear when she said: “When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, we don’t stoop to their level,” the AP reports. “When they go low, we go high,” she said.

Obama praised Clinton for having the “guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through.” The Guardian reports that she finished on a note strong enough to spur “Michelle 2020” speculation: “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dog on the White House lawn,” Obama said. “And because of Hillary Clinton my daughters and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. So don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great. That somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth.”

The winners and loser of the night will come a little later…..

Wassup Philly?

I will take a break from my normal days of fun focusing om international stuff and terrorism and write about the best comedy in the world….a political convention……

Today is day one of the Dem convention in Philly…..some say it will be messy, messy, messy…..(shades of ’68?)

This year’s Republican National Convention was the wildest in decades—and with legions of disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters, dozens of planned protests including a fart-in, and the sudden resignation of DNC chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the eve of the convention, things could get just as crazy for the Democrats this week. A round-up of coverage as delegates gather in Philadelphia:

NPR looks at some of the protest groups that have obtained no fewer than 28 permits for marches and rallies. They include “Black Men for Bernie” and the “Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign,” which is stocking up on beans ahead of a planned “fart-in” to be held as Hillary Clinton accepts the nomination.

The Wrap lists the “fart-in menace” as one of three ways that the convention could go wrong for Clinton. The others are Bill Clinton veering badly off-message—or having nothing go wrong, which would leave Hillary with no way to “demonstrate her resilience and ability to roll with adversity.”

A full list of speakers and caucus meetings at the Wells Fargo Center can be found here. Sanders speaks Monday night, followed by Michelle Obama.

The Hill looks at the story Hillary Clinton’s campaign plans to tell over the four days of the convention, finishing with a speech Thursday night that Clinton ally Rep. Emanuel Cleaver says will be her most important ever—and possibly the most important at a Democratic convention since JFK in 1960.

The protests, most of them involving Sanders supporters, began Sunday and the ones to follow are expected to be bigger than anything seen at the RNC, the AP reports. They will also be hotter, with the region in the grip of a heat wave that will bring temperatures over 100 Monday.

Politico looks at Democratic efforts to calm the “chaos” in the party following the leak of DNC emails that revealed an anti-Sanders bias. Insiders say party leaders hope to get things under control before there is a “Ted Cruz moment.”

Sanders has called for unity, but some of his supporters still hope for a contested convention and may seek to nominate an alternative candidate to Tim Kaine for vice president, the Washington Post reports.

The DNC won’t be dealing with nearly as many high-profile no-shows as the RNC, reports Politico, but one big name who won’t be there is Al Gore. The 2000 nominee, who has yet to formally endorse Clinton, says he has “obligations in Tennessee.”

But there will be an unexpected high-profile speaker: Michael Bloomberg. A Bloomberg adviser tells the New York Times that the former Democrat, who was a Republican during his years as mayor of New York City and is now an independent, will endorse Clinton during a prime-time address.

A Politico survey of Democratic operatives in 11 battleground states highlighted the challenges Clinton faces in getting the party fired up: Only 10% think she will make the best case for the party this week. Some 49% said President Obama will be most effective, and 26% chose Elizabeth Warren.

There you have a rundown of the possibilities…….more come…..messy is as messy does…….

Let the fun begin!  Stay tuned…..same bat channel……