Mooch And Trump Conduct The Hubris Symphony

UPDATE: New York Times says Scaramucci already OUT as communications direction. Was only named 10 days ago. That was quick! 

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION:

In case you haven't seen it, somebody at the Daily Show notices that new former White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci and Donald Trump, both New York douchebags, also have the same hand gestures while talking.

As the title of this post suggests, watch the two of them conduct their national disaster.

Here's the video:

Dog Gets Beautiful Sendoff, Military Honors For Service To U.S.

Cena and Lance Cpl. Jeffrey DeYoung. Cena, a brave military
bomb sniffing dog, died this week and was given complete
military honors.

I'll start right off that this post has a high Kleenex alert, so get your tissue ready for this one.

We all know that us Americans must really take care to honor our military veterans. It's a cliche, I know,  but an important one. 

This week, proper honors went to a veteran named Cena.

Cena was a bomb-sniffing dog during combat in Iraq, serving honorably and bravely with Lance Cpl Jeffrey DeYoung of Muskegon, Michigan.

According to MLive:

"During that time, DeYoung carried Cena across rivers. Cena kept DeYoung warm during cold desert nights. DeYoung threw his body over Cena's while under heavy fire from the Taliban. And when DeYoung lost seven friends during the course of three weeks, Cena was there to comfort him."

Except for a four year separation, when DeYoung was redeployed separately from Cena, they've pretty much always been together. DeYoung says the companionship has lasted all of his adult life.

For the past three years, Cena and DeYoung were back home in Michigan, still the tightest of military buddies. True brothers in arms.

Recently, Cena, age 10, was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. This tight bond between Cena and DeYoung would have to end, at least in this physical world. Cena had to be euthanized.

Here's what DeYoung wrote on Facebook the day before Cena passed.

"Words cannot convey what I'm feeling and thinking. I want to run away and not face what I must do. But he needs me to be strong and set him free. He has blessed my life with love and admiring.

Because of him, I got to have a family. Because of him, I was able to live. May God forgive me for what I do tomorrow. And may the Lord greet you with open arms and a nice ear scratch.

Goodnight my friend, goodnight my brother. May you rest your head tonight knowing how loved you are and how dearly you will be missed."

In the last of countless acts of kindness DeYoung showed toward Cena, he made sure the dog was given full military honors at a ceremony in Michigan this week.

Cena went for a last ride in an open Jeep so he could feel the wind on his face one last time. Then, Cena and DeYoung boarded the USS LST 393. Cena was euthanized and Taps was played.

Hundreds of mourners turned out to the ceremony.

I think I speak for millions to thank Cena and DeYoung for their service. 

Here's the video:

Guy Barely Escapes Death At The Hands Of Molten Steel Snake

In this scree shot, a guy comes inches from death
from a ribbon of molten steel shooting out
of equipment at a steel factory. Yikes!

Sometimes, in steel plants, a bit of molten steel gets caught on rollers.

This causes more molten steel coming from the furnace to burst out in the form of a long snake like ribbon of hot melted steel that can go anywhere.

Of course, if you're hit by something like this, you're dead.

Watch how close this guy came from dying a really horrible death. It's from December, 2016

H/T Boingboing:

Say What You Want, Extreme Wacko Right Wing Is Imaginative

Liz Crokin has some, um, interesting theories about
the Democratic National Committee.

The people that brought us "Pizzagate" have an even wilder theory now, and boy is it entertaining.

And they're winning the competition to come up with the most far-fetched theories possible.

Pizzagate was the theory early this year that to the wackos, indicated by John Podesta e-mails, that the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton were running a child sex ring out of the basement of a Washington DC pizzeria.

Among the other nonsensical parts of this story, the pizzeria doesn't even have a basement.

But, whatever.

Now, they've gone further with their theory of the evils of the Democratic party.

Here's the scoop, as Right Wing Watch tells us:

"Right-wing columinst, commentator and conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin is fully committed to the conspiracy theory that there is a massive global satanic pedophile ring run by high-ranking government officials, powerful business executives and celebrities which regularly engages in the ritual sexual abuse and murder of children."

Right Wing Watch goes on:

"Crokin said that the average person simply cannot comprehend the fact that 'one third of the government' is part of a satanic Illuminati cult that sexually abuses, kills and eats children, but 'that's what these people do.'"

She said all this does seem unbelievable, but the John Podesta emails prove that it's happening. Crokin does not explain how those Podesta emails prove it, but whatever.

It's actually hard to follow how all this grew into Pizzagate and beyond, but this how Crokin's "logic" apparently works. 

The Democratic National Committee emails were hacked during the 2016 campaign, and this included emails to and from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta.

Many of the emails were innocuous and referred to dinner plans, sometimes involving pizza.

Somehow, Crokin and the other right wing wackos decided the word "pizza," particularly the phrase "cheese pizza" was code for "child pornography" since both phrases have the same first letters in their words.

Podesta also communicated with the owner of that Washington DC pizzeria, so the conspiracy was born.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

A lot of other people apparently "get" it, though, as YouTube videos of this theory and social media posts got lots of followers who apparently believe this shit. A guy even traveled up from South Carolilna and opened fire on the pizzeria to stop the child sex ring.

If that many people are that stupid and that gullible, God save us.

Wild Road Crash, Explosion: Miraculously, No Serious Injuries

Check out this video of a terrible crash between two trucks on a Chinese highway.

The explosion was so intense that windows broke in nearby buildings.

The incredible thing is nobody got killed.

Watch:

Florida Man (Of Course!) Shoots Utility Truck Tires Because Who Knows Why

An image taken from a cell phone video shows Jorge Jove,
64, shooting utility trucks in front of his house for
reasons only he seems to know. 

Some utility trucks, parked legally on a Hialeah, Florida street, came under assault the other day because some guy who lives there didn't like them parked in the neighborhood.

As you can see in the remarkable video below, the guy, age 64, opens fire on the tires and radiator of at least one of the trucks.

Guy seemed to be having a bad day.

According to NBC Miami, one of the AT&T utility workers was trapped in the bucket above the truck while another shot cell phone footage while waiting for police to arrive.

Says NBC Miami: "The suspect, identified as Jorge Jove, reloaded his weapon several times, police said. Moments later, officers arrived at the home....and took Jove into custody."

According to an arrest report, Jove told detectives he went 'bananas' and shot at the tires and trucks to stop them from leaving. 

'He just lost his mind for a moment. We don't know what the deal is with him,' said Hialeah Police Detective Carl Zogby."

We don't know either. If Jove didn't want the trucks there, why did he shoot them to make them stay?

Anyway, logic doesn't apply here, does it?

Here's the video:

Guys Too Nonchalant About Volcano Blowing Up Next To Them

A couple of guys were setting up a GoPro camera on the edge of a volcano on Vanuatu, a Pacific Island, when the volcano decided to explosively erupt.

I think the guy setting up the camera in the video was a bit too relaxed about the flying chunks of lava flying around him.

What do you think? Watch the video and decide:

Don't Take Selfies in Expensive Art Galleries

The video in this post has been kicking around for a couple days but I just can't resist it.

A woman at an art gallery in Los Angeles thought it would be a wonderful idea to take a selfie against a backdrop of expensive art sitting atop a series of pedestals.

You know what happens next. She screws it up and the pedestals fall like dominoes. She caused $200,000 in damage to the artwork.

It's her fault, of course, but in hindsight, with all that expensive art, the gallery probably should have stabilized the pedestals better so they wouldn't fall over so easily.

As is always the case with this type of story, especially when the camera angle is lined up so perfectly, it's possible this was all a stunt. 

Who knows?

Here's the video:

Cringe-Worthy 1950s Song Proves There Has Always Been Bad Music

April Stevens had a cringe-worthy
song in 1959

Just for variety, I sometime switch over to the 1950s music channel on Sirius when I'm out driving around in my truck.

Back in the '50s, people had a lot of fun with their voices and music and subject matter that you don't see today. Think do-wop. Think The Coasters. That type of thing.

For proof, however, that our current era doesn't have a lock on bad music, sometimes the 1950s station plays some clunkers.

There was one I'd never heard before and had me laughing out loud.

It's called "Teach Me, Tiger." by April Stevens. (No, I'd never heard of her, either.)

In the song, she's trying to be Marilyn Monroe with mixed success, to say the least. In "Teach Me Tiger," she breathlessly, passionately asks her beau to teach her the ways of love.

Stevens tries to suggestively sigh and moan, but it sounds like someone with emphysema trying to blow into a microphone, which isn't terribly sexy to me. But what to I know?

I'm sure April Stevens was a fine musician. But, I dunno, this one doesn't work.

So, for a laugh, or torture or both, here's "Teach Me, Tiger" by April Stevens:

Fake News In The Near Future Will Be Scarier Than You Thought

Researchers have made convincing videos of Barack Obama
saying things he said years ago and inserting them into new
clips. It's a matter of time before fake news people can
make it look like people are saying things they never did. 

Donald Trump always yells about fake news when there's coverage that doesn't flatter him.

Maybe he's got a thin skin. But maybe he's ahead of his time.

In a scary story, Gizmodo had a report on research that uses machines to learn the facial movements of people and then render real looking lip movements for any piece of audio.

In other words, people with this program can make videos of anyone saying anything they want. You can see how easy it would be to make a convincing fake news clip of somebody saying something they really didn't.

How will we really know what's true and what's not.

According to the Gizmodo report,  researchers at the University of Washington developed the method to study the facial movements - in this case of Barack Obama. They were able to make it look like things he said when he was a law student were just said recently.

From there, it's easy to insert words and sentences into a video of Obama, or anybody else talking, and literally put words in their mouths.

What's worse, this techology is getting better and better, less and less expensive and easier and easier to use.

Which makes it a matter of time that anybody, even some teenager in a basement, can make a sophisticated fake news clip.

 Of course, this technology would not only be applied to news clips, to make it look like politicians and candidates were saying things they really didn't.  This could be applied to any video clip.

As Gizmodo put it: 

"If you thought fake-looking news websites were a problem, just imagine what a completely fake police body cam could do."

Scary indeed.

Install A New Roof, Get An AR-15

This guy owns a roofing company and, if you live
in Alabama, will give you a free AR-15 if you
let his company replace your roof.

My house needs a new roof and we've been talking with roofers about styles, costs, bids, etc.

Strangely, not one of these roofers has offered us an AR-15 if we go with them.

It would be different, apparently, if we lived in Alabama.

A strange ad has gone batshit viral in which a hot looking redneck guy who owns Digital Roofing Innovations offers up the gun in his ad.

Undercutting his macho, hillbilly image is the tiny star-patterened short shorts he's wearing. I'll admit that though the ad is painful to watch,  the guy in the ad, Zack Blenkinsopp has a physique that's easy on the eyes.

You can watch the ad at the bottom of this post. In it, he gets out of a car, demands a beer, he opens the can and it suds all over his face. Then he gives back the can to someone off camera and demands the empty not be recycled because "recycling's stupid."

Then he calls "rifle" and catches the AR-15, and offers his pitch for the free rifle if you get a roof job from his outfit.

"Some of you might be sittng there saying, 'Man this sounds like a gimmick.' A gimmick, you say? Well, I'm a gosh darn Navy veteran, active duty eight and a half years. My roofing company's not a gimmick and this baby's not either. It's here to protect you and your family."

"Donald Trump says make America great again. I say make America gun again. MAGA!" 

Well, OK. I guess it would be fine to have the AR-15 to, I don't know, prevent someone from stealing your brand new roof.

Everybody is rolling their eyes at this ad, but I'm sure Blenkinsopp is having the last laugh. According to Al.com,  Blenkinsopp has a digital marketing background. He put the ad on Facebook, and pretty soon the thing went totally viral, so it seems he knew what he was doing.

Blenkinsopp assured Al.com that although he's all rednecky in the ad, but he and his business partner are are well-traveled, educated guys who have open minds.

For those of you just dying for an AR-15 if you get a roof job, the promotion is only available to Alabama residents. But if you don't want an AR-15, they'll instead give you a pistol, a hunting rifle, or a gift card to an indoor range.

And by the way, you have to go through all the hoops to get the guns legally. The roofing company will give you a voucher, then you take the voucher and go to a gun store. That way you get your AR-15 legally.

Here's the ad:

Macklemore's Grandma Makes The Best Music Video

Macklemore, and his grandmother, age 100, live it up
in the video for his new song "Glorious."

I'm not crazy about Macklemore's new song, "Glorious."  

It's not a diss on Macklemore and his funny, odd brand of music. Just not my cup of tea.

Although his most famous song, "Thrift Shop" was pretty fun. And Macklemore's gay friendly and kind "One Love" was pretty inspiring.

This new Macklemore song is good, but not my favorite of the year. Just my personal taste.

However, the music video for the new song is just glorious. Which is lucky, since the name of the song is "Glorious."

In the music video, Macklemore surprises his grandmother with a visit on her 100th birthday. (She's really his grandmother, and she's really 100.)

BoingBoing describes the video as follows:

"He then drives the new centenarian (in a badass gold Cadillac El Dorado convertible, no less) to a karaoke bar, a thrift store (naturally) the local grocery store (where they race motorized shopping carts) and other stops along the way. All over town, they have good old-fashioned fun, and cause a bit of trouble.

When they get back to her house, he's got more surprises waiting for her, including strippers and a giant birthday cake."

So yeah, this is a feel good video. Macklemore really seems like a decent guy. And good for Macklemore for finding the right person - his centenarian grandma - to make the perfect music video.

Watch:

NPR Unwittingly Provides More Proof Some Trump Supporters Are Really Stupid

NPR tweeted out the Declaration of Independence on
the Fourth of July and some Trumpsters got confused

On the Fourth of July, NPR thought it would be a cool idea to tweet out the Declaration of Independence.

Actually not a bad idea. If 1776 had Twitter, I'm guessing the Founding Fathers might have tweeted out the declaration.

Turns out some easily confused Trump supporters didn't get what NPR was doing. But of course.

One person decided NPR had been "hacked like crazy." Another person reacted to the NPR tweets this way: "So NPR is calling for revolution. Interesting way to condone the violence while trying to sound "patriotic."

Here's the part of the Declaration of Independence that seemed to irk some Trump supporters: "A Prince whose character is thus marked by ever act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the rule of a free people."

Hmmm.

"This is why you're going to get defunded," a Trumpster named Darren Mills tweeted in response to NPR.

Yet another confused person dismissed NPR's Declaration of Independence as this: "Propaganda. Is that all you know how? Try supporting a man who wants to do something about the injustice in this country."

I suppose we could all support the country if we figured out what the Declaration of Independence actually is.

Product Safety Commission Blows Up Mannequins In Disturbing 4th of July Video

Mean girls? Nope, just the Consumer Products Safety
Commission using mannequins to demonstrate
the risks of 4th of July fireworks. 

The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission wants you to have a safe 4th of July.

Fireworks are part of the celebration, and too many people blow off their hands or worse during celebrations.

By the way, you could have guessed this but the vast majority of people who are injured by fireworks are teenage boys.

Go figure.

The CPSC put out a video that I can't decide whether is disturbing or funny. Or maybe both.

They blew up mannequins to show how dangerous fireworks can be.

Be safer than these mannequins!

Neil Young's Call For Resistance

Just in time for the Fourth of July, Neil Young has brought us an anthem for the times.

It's called "Children of Destiny" and gives us a timely reminder about patriotism, freedom and resisting those who would take it all away.

Cool song

Watch and listen:

NASA Is Kidnapping Children, Taking Them To Mars

Alex Jones informs us that NASA is kidnapping children
and turning them into slaves on Mars

Lost amid the hubbub over Donald Trump's insulting tweets to Mika Brzezinski was the breaking news that NASA is kidnapping children, taking them to Mars and making them slaves there. 

Yeah, that story sounds just a wee bit unbelievable, but Alex Jones says it's happening, so it must be true.

You might remember Alex Jones, who is fast becoming one of my favorite punching bags.

He's the blowhard from the conspiracy web site InfoWars who tells us the government is putting something in the water to make frogs gay, the Sandy Hook massacre never happened, and Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of the basement of a Washington DC pizzeria.

You might think none of these things are true, but our Dear President is a big fan and even wants to give Alex Jones press credentials, so I guess we got to believe this stuff.

On his show Thursday, Jones welcomed "CIA insider" Robert David Steele who informed us, "We actually believe that there is a colony on Mars that is populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a 20-year ride.... So that once they get to Mars they have no alternative but to be slaves on the Mars colony."

It was unclear from Jones' show why NASA is kidnapping children and sending them to Mars, but Jones, naturally is a believer. Jones said every time a probe is pointed in the direction of Mars, NASA shuts if off. Or something like that.

It gets worse. NASA is killing some of the children and using their blood and bone marrow as a sort of growth hormone. Again, we're not sure why.

As you might expect, NASA denies the allegations.  A NASA spokesman said, "There's only one stupid rumor on the internet? Now that's news."