mockpaperscissors.com, 15 days ago to random

https://mockpaperscissors.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/trump-prison-the-apprentice-from-jimmy-t.png?w=640H/T Scissorhead JimmyT

More to come…

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/30/guilty-5/

mockpaperscissors.com, 16 days ago to random

This is worthy of your time to listen to at lunch today. If you are in your office, you might even want to have a few pals join you.

(Hat tip: https://progressivecafe.social/@TonyStark/112521121319647059)

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/29/lunchtime-listening-pleasure/

mockpaperscissors.com, 17 days ago to random

https://mockpaperscissors.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/161113_smalscaleactivism.jpg?w=640

Stolen from the essential blog Annie Asks You:

You can file a citizen complaint of misconduct against Alito, which has already been prepared by Alden Hackmann, at votetosavedemocracy@gmail.com. Go to Dump.Alito.com. While you’re there, you can also file a complaint against Judge Aileen Cannon.

Hackmann has entered all the info you need; you just have to fill in your identifying info, print out the document, put a stamp on the envelope, and send it off. He also suggests sending a copy to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, writing “FYI–filed with the Supreme Court” at the top of the page, Hackmann writes, “to provide him with proof that there is a public outcry over Justice Alito’s bias,” and calling Durbin too. He provides Durbin’s phone numbers and address.

Annie has more to say at the post, but I think this call to action is the most important.

I can tell you from when I volunteered at my representative’s district office they pay attention to contacts and this is how they prioritize them:

1. showing up in person
2. getting physical mail
3. getting phone calls
4. getting email
5. getting faxes (believe it or not, people still use them)

There is nothing more that a member loves than showing up with a pile of mail, and dramatically proclaiming that (whatever action they are proposing) is popular with the people. Physical mail is the bomb (as the kids used to say).

If you guys have the time, please do this.

Sticking this on top: it’s that important.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/28/activism-please/

mockpaperscissors.com, 20 days ago to random

https://mockpaperscissors.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/trump-rage.jpg?w=640

Somewhere, Barbra Streisand is laughing:

As ‘The Apprentice’ Seeks Cannes Sale, Trump Team Sends Cease and Desist Letter to Block Film’s Release (EXCLUSIVE)

Attorneys for Donald Trump have sent a cease and desist letter to the filmmakers behind “The Apprentice” in an effort to block its U.S. sale and release. It warns the team behind the film not to pursue a distribution deal, according to two people who have read the letter. “The Apprentice,” which looks at Trump’s early years as a real estate developer and his relationship with Roy Cohn, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this week.

[…] The movie, which was independently produced, stars Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Cohn. It presents a damning portrait of the former president as an ethically compromised, philanderer who stiffs contractors and cuts deals with the mob to get his buildings completed. It includes other controversial details, including a scene where Trump rapes his first wife, Ivana, and depicts him abusing amphetamines to lose weight, as well as undergoing liposuction and plastic surgery.

He keeps drawing attention to this movie, and now it is bound to be boffo box office (and we wager that he’ll brag about THAT and/or demand a cut). And his base will flock to it to live vicariously for an hour as The Donald.

Ewww, gross.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/25/heres-some-stupid-to-start-your-weekend-11/

mockpaperscissors.com, 20 days ago to random

(Hat tip: Scissorhead Redhand)

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/25/and-now-a-musical-interlude-84/

mockpaperscissors.com, 23 days ago to random

Happy Hour News

Cartoon of Martha Alito with a Stop The Steal flag and Ginni Thomas with a gallows on top of the Supreme Court.H/T Scissorhead Purplehead

Guys, there was ANOTHER FLAG AT ANOTHER ALITO HOUSE:

[…] Now, the New York Times reports that Alito flew another flag associated with Trump’s insurrection, the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which was carried by insurrectionists on January 6. The flag was confirmed to have flown over Alito’s beach house in July and September 2023.

Note how the old Alito defenses are totally useless in the face of this new case. It can’t be chalked up to a dispute with a neighbor, unless the same neighbor happens to own property near Alito in two different states. The wife excuse is also threadbare. (Indeed, Alito, who blamed his wife in a response to the first Times story, has no comment in response to the second one.) And the excuse that it was “a heated time in January 2021” obviously does not explain why the Alito home continued to display insurrectionist flags two and a half years later.

Now maybe they will try to say that they also didn’t realize what the Appeal to Heaven flag signifies and that the Alitos coincidentally flew two different insurrectionist flags by mistake. But the meaning of this flag was well known on the far right; here is an articleabout it from 2021. You could invent a barely plausible story about how a non-insurrectionist would have a regular American flag on hand and fly it upside down in a fit of pique. It’s pretty hard to explain why they would also have an obscure flag used by Trump coup enthusiasts.

Can someone check on Dick Durban? hold a mirror under his nose and see if he’s still breathing? We need the Senate Judiciary Committee to act, and immediately: hearings NOW!

UPDATE 1: That new flag is some sort of Christian Nationalist flag, too. This just got very dark.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/22/news-that-will-drive-you-to-drink-2107/

mockpaperscissors.com, 23 days ago to random

https://mockpaperscissors.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/marjorie-taylor-greene-3-names.png?w=640

Good lord, she’s gone off the deep end:

I made sure that he knew.

The Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Pres Trump and gave the green light.

Does everyone get it yet???!!!!

What are Republicans going to do about it?

I tried to oust our Speaker who funded Biden’s DOJ AND FBI, but Democrats stopped it. https://t.co/XSTevEQsNI pic.twitter.com/o0lUjcEdix

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 21, 2024

Of course, according to Fat Nixon, presidents are allowed to assassinate their rivals.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/22/projectionist-goes-off-deep-end/

mockpaperscissors.com, 24 days ago to random

https://mockpaperscissors.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/screen-shot-2023-10-03-at-1.18.26-pm-e1712069781323.png?w=640H/T @EdgeOfForever

Whaddya know, the Coward did not testify.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/21/all-thats-left-is-the-shouting/

mockpaperscissors.com, 27 days ago to random

Headline from Stars and Stripes that reads, “Sex with Animals Still Not OK for U.S. Military"

“Francis the Talking Mule” talked.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/18/bad-headlines-cont-61/

mockpaperscissors.com, 28 days ago to random

Tiger Beat on the Potomac (thanks Charlie!) email thingie tips us (!):

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Third Way is rolling out a new five-figure ad buy highlighting Trump’s own previous comments about defendants who don’t testify in their own defense. The ad, titled “Coward,” is launching today in Palm Beach, Florida (home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago), Dallas, Texas (where Trump is set to headline the NRA convention this weekend) and New York City.

Someone at TBotP is gonna lose their Hall Pass for this.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/17/more-please-51/

mockpaperscissors.com, 29 days ago to random

https://mockpaperscissors.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/screen-shot-2023-10-16-at-6.58.29-am.png?w=640H/T Scissorhead Jimmy-T

I ❤️ New York:

Another man approached Rep #LaurenBoebert & handed her a “Beetlejuice” program, & asked for her to sign it — poking fun at when she was kicked out of the musical for outrageous & disruptive behavior — was blocked by security.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/16/some-fries-with-your-stupid-246/

#LaurenBoebert

mockpaperscissors.com, 29 days ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/democracy-thats-all-folks.gif?w=640&h=465

We say every poll this early needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Get out the salt-lick , there’s a new NPR (Nice. Polite. Republicans.) poll out that is probably going to get some attention today, as it asks whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump would do more in a second term to weaken democracy.

Pluralities Say Second Terms for EITHER Biden or Trump Will Weaken Democracy

Americans are not overly optimistic about the fate of democracy with either Biden or Trump in the Oval Office. 46% of Americans think a second Biden term would weaken U.S. democracy. 30% believe it would strengthen it, and 23% think it would make no difference.

48% of residents nationally think a Trump return would weaken democracy in America. 37% say it would strengthen it, and 14% think it will not make a difference.

What’s up with that, fellow Americans? Hair Füror actually has a record of weakening democracy, and has probably done more to hurt democracy than all the presidents before him combined. Just off the top of my head, he:

• politicized the office of the Attorney General
• blackmailed Ukraine to further his own agenda
• attempted to overturn an election
• attempted a violent overthrow of the United States

Hair Füror has vowed to install a fascist government on Day One. This is not a joke (and he has no sense of humor). He said it to Sean Hannity on Fox News, and you know damn well, he won’t leave at the end of his term (if re-elected).

Ferchristsake, the goddamn Bulwark summarizes/highlights the 4th Reich better than NPR and this stupid poll:

Trump’s first term turned out much worse than anyone feared. He did the mean tweets and some racist stuff. He deployed armed, masked, and unbadged federal agents to grab citizens off the streets. He did his family separation policy with migrants. Not great, but also not ‘end of the Republic’ stuff.

But then the sum of all fears hit. America was handed a real-deal, genuine crisis while Trump was at the helm and the result was that one million Americans died from Covid while Trump oversaw the greatest failure of the federal government since the Great Depression.

And then Trump lost his re-elect and attempted a coup.

How bad was this? If you went back in a time machine and described Trump’s Covid response and coup attempt to Republican voters in 2016, they would have accused you of being a hysteric.

Anyway, the point is the polls are garbage, it’s too early to be meaningful, and lordy, there is no objective reality reflected here.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/16/the-united-states-of-amnesia-cont-2/

mockpaperscissors.com, 29 days ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/guillotine.jpg?w=640&h=795Meal prep is the most important part of eating the rich

I’m shocked. Shocked I say:

The Billionaire Family Business: 50 Billionaire Clans Have Already Spent Over $600 Million on the 2024 Elections, Mostly to Preserve Their Fortunes

Just 50 billionaire families have already injected more than $600 million collectively into the crucial 2024 elections, with that number sure to show accelerating growth in the final six months of the campaign. These billionaire clans donated the $600 million mostly to political parties, political action committees (PACs) and outside spending groups (Super PACs) as of May 9, offering further proof that the nation’s richest families consider democracy just another commodity they can buy.

This is the latest in a series of “billionaires buying elections” reports from Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF). It is the first in the series to look beyond the political donations of individual billionaires to those of billionaire families. Wealth is a family affair, so this broader frame provides a more accurate picture of how the country’s great family fortunes are being wielded in the political arena.

Over two-thirds (69%, or $416 million) of the contributions from America’s biggest billionaire-family donors supported Republican candidates and conservative causes. Less than a quarter (23% or $137 million) backed Democratic office-seekers and progressive positions. (There is no clear partisan label for the remaining 8% of donations.)

That pronounced GOP tilt is a sign that the political spending of billionaire families is largely an investment in preserving familial wealth and power. That’s because it is Democrats, including President Biden, who are pushing for more effective taxation of great wealth, the income generated by that wealth, and the transfer of wealth between generations. Republicans advocate for just the opposite: lower taxes on the rich, on the corporations they control and on the great inheritances that perpetuate and exacerbate wealth inequality.

We need more effective taxation of billionaires and on intergenerational wealth transfers, as well as tighter campaign-finance laws, to curb this power grab by America’s economic dynasties.

The whole report is worth your time to read, maybe at lunchtime? You’re sure to be hungry for a nice Billionaire Burger by the time you’re done reading.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/16/every-billionaire-represents-a-tax-policy-failure/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

I’m really glad my (lawyer) parents did not live long enough to see what has happened to the SCOTUS. It is amazing to me that the obviously corrupt and illegitimate SCOTUS would blow it so badly that ads like this will resonate with probably half of America without even breaking a sweat.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/14/no-lies-detected/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/monster-clown1.jpg?w=6404th Reich Staffer (Undated File Photo)

Hell is not hot enough for this dude:

Johnny McEntee, senior advisor to Project 2025 & Trump’s Director of the Office of Personnel Management, says he likes to distribute fake money to homeless people so that they will be arrested when they spend it.

This is disgusting and illegal.
pic.twitter.com/kpU0z1IOYW

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) May 13, 2024

This is who they are, and yes, it is all about the cruelty.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/14/the-best-people-part-infinity/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/cohen.png?w=640&h=407Touched By An Angel, or at least a Fed.

Michael Cohen has taken the stand after all. Here’s a Gift Link to the WaPo BEHIND THE PAYWALL.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/13/cohen-takes-the-stand/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2024/05/drem-big-typo.jpeg?w=640&h=480H/T Scissorhead Pete

Never let anyone talk you out of your drems, whether they be big or litl.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/12/bad-signs-cont-1222/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

Mididnight is so fast, he would return the ball before you threw it!

(Hat tip: Scissorhead Purplehead)

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/12/midday-palate-cleanser-2140/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

Happy Hour News

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2024/05/noem-ol-yeller.jpeg?w=640&h=320

Kristi Noem Cuts Short Book Tour Citing ‘Bad Weather’

Raining cats and dogs, methinks.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/08/news-that-will-drive-you-to-drink-2100/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

Happy Hour News

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/war-song-of-dixie.jpg?w=640Republican Theme Song?

Congressman praises heckling of war protesters, including 1 who made monkey gestures at Black woman

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Israel-Hamas war demonstrations at the University of Mississippi turned ugly this week when one counter-protester appeared to make monkey noises and gestures at a Black student in a raucous gathering that was endorsed by a far-right congressman from Georgia.

“Ole Miss taking care of business,” Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins wrote Friday on the social platform X with a with a link to the video showing the racist jeers.

The Associated Press left voicemail messages for Collins on Friday at his offices in Georgia and Washington and sent an email to his spokesperson, asking for an explanation of what Collins meant. There was no immediate response.

And before we get too far, here’s a screen cap of the post from Rep. Collins:

A Republican congressman sharing a video posted by Richard Hainania of an Ole Miss counter protester making monkey noises at a black protester.

— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) 2024-05-03T15:00:36.712Z

That costume is pretty distinctive, and that got friend of the blog David Waldman’s interest:

He's caught in a still photo from the scene that I saw yesterday, visible in the background between the protester and the person she's speaking to. From The Daily Mississippian's coverage, photo credits to Maria Ramirez and Antonella Rescigno. thedmonline.com/may-2nd-pro-…

— David Waldman (@kagrox.bsky.social) 2024-05-03T15:13:04.338Z

You might notice that there are in fact two of ‘em wearing those Uncle Sam-HeeHaw style coveralls, and that made Waldman’s search of the crowd even more precise, and lo!

In case anyone had any doubts about who exactly was showing up as “counter protesters” at Ole Miss:

— David Waldman (@kagrox.bsky.social) 2024-05-03T15:52:08.807Z

So… racist supporters of Vulgarmort stirring up trouble. It totally scans.

So when we wonder about outside agitators coming into the protests to stir the pot, just remember that. Some of Hair Füror’s MAGA racists saw an opportunity and couldn’t pass by the opportunity to rile up the left, and a MAGA and racist representative from Georgeduh thought this was OK.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/04/news-that-will-drive-you-to-drink-2098/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2024/05/drive-like-your-kids-from-nameless.jpg?w=640&h=741H/T @NamelessCynic

Sometimes, late at night, I can still hear my father yelling in terror from beyond the grave, “No, your OTHER RIGHT!”

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/02/bad-signs-cont-1218/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/from-skinny-d.jpg?w=640&h=812Hair Füror (H/T Scissorhead Skinny-D)

I don’t like to link-out to substacks (I don’t want to give the Nazi-enabling management the clicks), but I am going to today because both of these journalists have gone through the transcript from Time magazine’s interview with Hair Füror and have analyzed it and make very cogent points.

• Jay Kuo: Believe Him When He Says It. Kuo does a narrow focus on abortion rights, migrants and the border, and democracy and the rule of law portions of the transcript, which is not to say that these topics are minor.
• Noah Berlatsky: He’s not even trying to hide it. Berlatsky casts a wider net and touches lightly on pretty much all the topics in the transcript, which is not to say that this is a shallow analysis, just that he shows the scope of the insanity and unbridled fascism.

If you are wondering why I continue to beat the drum about these transcripts, it is because we are in danger. This is not conjecture, these are words TFG himself said voluntarily for publication. You can read the entire context of the questions, and the belching out of inchoate rage and fascism. You can also experience the egoism as he keeps running to his self deification, and of course his own hagiography. The lies are just as stunning, the omission of supporting facts are glaring enough to be a separate category of lies.

As Kuo says in the into to his piece,

I should caution that this exercise may produce a bit of stress for readers. Rather than allow that stress to morph into generalized anxiety, over which we can sometimes feel powerless, I hope to leverage his words to help forge a path to his electoral defeat. Remember, these are wedges of Trump’s own making, and though he means them to sow fear and discord, our response can also build courage and resolve to defeat him.

Critically, I believe Trump has erred in showing his cards in this way, perhaps out of sheer vanity to be on the cover of Time. The Biden Campaign, Democratic officials, and we, the voting public, now have concrete points around which to rally, mobilize and communicate. That’s why I am setting them out here, too, in the hopes that readers can absorb and share them.

Please find the time to read both analysis; it is important. Knowledge is strength.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/02/about-hair-furors-plans/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2023/05/sd-gov.-kristi-noem.jpeg?w=640&h=360SD Gov. Kristi Noem (on top)

Keep talking, Kristi. Keep reminding the public, please:

Noem: Well, you know, how the fake news works. They leave out some or most of the facts.. I hope people buy the book and they find out the truth of the story because the truth is that this was a working dog and it was not a puppy, pic.twitter.com/RGq2seJ6j6

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 2, 2024

If you are still explaining why you killed your puppy nearly a week later, you’ve lost.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/02/kristi-the-puppy-slayer/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2023/05/wile-e-coyote.gif?w=640Wile E. Coyote performs JD Vance in interpretive dance

Veep-wannabe Hedge-Funder Peter Thiel, er, Hillbilly Effigy JD Vance is not very good at this politics stuff:

KAITLAN COLLINS: So you agree that people who break in and vandalize a building should be prosecuted?

JD VANCE: Yes

COLLINS: Ok, I'm just checking, because you helped raise money for people who did so on January 6 pic.twitter.com/nEztSPrQlC

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 2, 2024

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/05/02/wannabe-veep-jd-vances-talking-points-went-over-well/

mockpaperscissors.com, 1 month ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2024/04/typos-chlymedia-in-bloom.png?w=640&h=846

Oh, dear.

At least your flower is nice.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/04/30/because-we-love-a-good-typo-7/