The New Fad; Screechy, Embarrassing Pro-Trump Rants

This woman went on an epic 45-minute pro-Trump rant
after a Michael's craft store had the gall to charge
her $1 for a reusable shopping bag 

There seems to be an, um, delightful trend among fans of Donald Trump:

A few of them are engaging in incredible, hugely embarrassing pro-Donald Trump rants in which they revel in the Donald's victory, whine about supposedly anti-white discrimination and pride themselves at being allegedly on top of the heap.

Except these people are at the bottom of the heap, given the derision, and punishment these ranters and ravers get.

We've had several that got their 15 minutes of fame. The guy in Florida who squawked at a Starbucks. The guy on the recent Delta flight who extolled the virtues of Trump and yelled at all the "Hillary Bitches" on the plane.

Then there was the woman who ranted exhaustively for 45 minutes about the anti-white discrimination against her because some black store clerks charged her $1.00 for a reusable store bag  Never mind that the clerks in question were charging everyone, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, age or whatnot.

If you can stand it, I've posted a couple of the videos of the rants at the bottom of this post. It's actually fun to laugh at how unhinged these people are.

I love the stupidity of these people. Trump won, the "logic" goes, so they  have free rein to spout whatever nonsense they can. Finally! A chance for revenge against the blacks/illegal immigrants/Muslims/gays/liberals that oppressed us all these years!

The ranters forget that there are still repercussions for what they do..They get their 15 minute of internet fame, but instead of fun, they're exposed as fools.

This guy is banned for life from flying on Delta
because of his obnoxious Trump rant aboard
one of Delta's planes recently. 

Some of them go on to complain how "discriminated" against they are. The Florida Starbucks ranter,  David Sanguesa, said he was having a "bad day" when he ranted, but was still angry at Starbucks

According to the Miami Herald, Sanguesa had this to say about supposed bias against him because he's a white Trump supporter:

"My attorneys want to file a lawsuit. No one saw the first part of the video. I was completely done wrong. I was racially discriminated against. I was refused service. I was wrong to get upset, but I was racially discriminated against. 

She wouldn't serve me.....She knew I was a Trump supporter and wouldn't give me coffee."

No, actually, they wouldn't serve you because you were being a jerk and bothering everybody else. It's really still OK in America to discriminate against morons like you, Mr. Sanguesa.

Oh, and by the way, the First Amendment still says the government can't tell you what to say and what not to say. But private companies, including your employer? They can pretty much do what they want.

Surprise! Your free speech rights don't, er, Trump our free speech rights to call you out as an idiot.

Take the incident at a Floor and Decor store in Colorado. A gay man named James Shawlin and his four year old son went into the store and were given permission by a clerk to look through boxes of stonework samples to determine which one he wanted to buy.

A store manager came up and rebuked Shawlin for looking in the boxes, and Shawlin basically said, "Geez don't treat me this way. My husband and I spend a lot of money in this store."

That set off the store manager. The manager called Shawlin "the faggot that voted for Hillary," and another customer chimed in to bully Shawlin.

Naturally, Shawlin took to social media to note this incident, and Floor and Decor quickly fired the store manager. I guess Trump wasn't able to keep that store manager's job, huh?  So much for job creation.

Our Delta flight ranter also eventually got nailed, too. At first, people complained that the Delta flight ranter should have been kicked off the plane and wasn't.

Delta has since banned the idiot from flying Delta. For life.  And Delta gave full refunds to all the other passengers on the flight who were subject to the Trump moron.

Sometimes, the rants are a work of art. The woman in Chicago went on for 45 minutes (!!!!!) about how she is discriminated against because she's a white Trump supporter.

This happened at a Michael's craft store. It's remarkable in the video how calm and professional the store clerk and manager sounded as this woman went on, and on and on.

"And I voted for Trump! So there! What, you want to kick me out because of that!"  the Chicago unhinged woman yells. "And look who won! And look who won! And look who won!"

You didn't, lady. You've become a national laughingstock, upper management at Michael's congratulated the store workers for their professionalism, and other witnesses stood up in support of the employees.

By the way, this lady apparently has a habit of doing things like this. There's another video of her launching into a homophobic rant at a Peet's Coffee shop not long ago.

Maybe we need a new TV reality show: "America's Best/Worst Trump Ranters."  Our Chicago ranter would really be a contender!

Here's some of the videos.

Let's start with the Delta flight guy:



And the Chicago woman at Michael's is REALLY an unstable piece of work. Watch:

Ok Go With Another Fascinating, Epic Music Video

A still from the band Ok Go's latest epic, innovative
video, "The One Moment." 

OK Go is a band, a bunch of musicians, but their forte is innovative music videos.

There was the famous Rube Goldberg video from 2010 on the song "This Too Shall Pass."  

On "Needing/Getting" they used a car to play various musical instrument.

In "Upside Down & Inside Out" they used real zero gravity in a jet to record the music video. (I bet there were some upset stomachs there.

Now, we've got another awesome epic from Ok Go. In this one, they recorded a series of explosive events that lasted all of 4.2 seconds.

Then they slowed it all down very, very much so that these explosive events last the entirety of a song called "The One Moment" that lasts a full four minutes.

As always, this video is an understandable hit, racking up more than four million views in the four days since it was released.

It really is a LOT of fun, and worth watching

So here's the video

Students Can't Figure Out What's Fake News

For a democracy to survive, you need a well-informed citizenry that knows how to get accurate information.

As many of you know, things are going so well in that department in the US of A.

Much has been written about fake news on social media that misled voters, and fired them up to vote for Donald Trump, or make other election decisions based on false info.  

The upcoming generation of young voters might not do any better, if a new Stanford University study is any indication.

Says The Verge, via the Wall Street Journal: 

"According to the study, 82 percent of students could not distinguish between a sponsored post and an actual  news article on the same website. Nearly 70 percent of middle schoolers thought they had no reason to distrust a sponsored finance article written by the CEO of a bank, and many students evaluated the trustworthiness of tweets based on their level of detail and the size of the photos..."

Stanford researchers recommend students learn to cross check the accuracy of websites and articles using other sources, and not to think a high Google search ranking means the site is more accurate.

Schools are increasingly trying to teach students to better evaluate what they see on line, but obviously, a lot more needs to be done.

Because of the uproar over the recent U.S. elections, Facebook has said it's working on ways to filter out fake news sites, and Google will ban fake news sites from its ad network.

But there will always be bad information on the web.

You'd think everyone would know by now you can't believe something is true just because it's on the internet, but clearly not.

A Few Songs To Accompany The Trump Era

A song for the times? One candidate is "Burning Down The House."
by the Talking Heads, pictured here. 

Whenever things seriously go off the rails, like they have now, we need a soundtrack to reflect the times more than ever.

I've already mentioned a couple times the late, great Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows."

Feel free to add your own in the comments section of this blog thing, but here are two more nominees for the beginning of the terrible Trump era.

Talking Heads, Joe South, Rolling Stones, Gnarls Barkley - the musicians have little in common with each other.

But the music in each case sure fits the times.

Videos are below:

First, enjoy Burning Down the House by the Talking Heads.



Maybe even more appropriate, we head back to the lake 1960s and re-listen to Joe South perform "Games People Play."



But the best song that signifies the Trump era is this classic epic from the Rolling Stones. Pau attetion to the lyrics. They fit so frighteningly:



And the times are crazy. Gnarls Barkley explains it all in this 2005 hit:

Aretha Franklin Wows Again. This Time At A Football Game

Aretha Franklin wows, as always at a Thanksgiving NFL game
as she sang the National Anthem.

I can never resist posting an epic Aretha Franklin performance every once in awhile, like the time Aretha Franklin sang for Carole King at the 2015 Kennedy Honors.  

The Aretha Franklin performance making the rounds today is really something.

She sang the National Anthem at Vikings Vs. Lions NFL game on Thanksgiving Day.

Here's the video. Worth the watch and especially listen:

Weird Pastor Sprays Insecticide Into Congregants' Faces Because Jesus

A South African "pastor" says God told him to spray
insecticide into the faces of congregants to cure their ills. 

I'm sure Doom Super Multi Insect Killer is a fine product if you want to get rid of ants, wasps, flies, or whatever.  

However, Lethebo Rabalago says he's found a better use for Doom: He's the pastor of a South African church, and sprays it into his congregants' faces because he insists it cures their ailments, says CNN.

Plus, he said, God told him to use Doom Super Multi Insect Killer on his congregants, and are you really going to argue with God?

For the record, Tiger Brands, the makers of Doom Super Multi Insect Killer say spraying it into someone's face is a terrible idea.

Tiger Brands says it finds the pastor's insecticide use "alarming and extremely concerning." They note it is "unsafe to spray Doom Super Multi Insect Killer ....into people's faces. Anyone who gets sprayed should wash their faces and eyes immediately, and don't inhale the fumes.

However Rabalago and his followers say Doom Super Multi Insect Killer is a miracle brought to them by God's blessing.

According to CNN, Rabalago has posted photographs of him spraying congregants with Doom, and testimonials from said congregants like this: "I came here with a pain on my back and stomach. Now after the propet sprayed me with Doom I am healed. My nose was blocked since last week, but after the prophet sprayed me with Doom I feel coming out of my nose."

Sorry, congregant: You're so high on Doom Super Multi Insect Killer fumes that you no longer feel the pain in your back and stomach. Plus those fumes would probably clear hardened cement from your nose, never mind plugged up snot.

Take my advice: If your church uses Doom Super Multi Insect Killer on your fellow parishoners, instead of say, Communion wafers, it's time to find another church.

Kafka Lives In Roadside Drug Testing Kits

These two people were held in an Arkansas jail for
two months because authorities thought baking soda
found in their truck was cocaine, and didn't bother
to properly test it to prove their suspicions. 

A couple from Utah learned the hard way that in today's America, if you have a baggie full of baking soda in your truck and the cops decide it's cocaine, then it's cocaine and you're in a heap of trouble.

Talk about living in a post-fact world!  

According to KUTV in Salt Lake City, Gail Griffin and her husband Wendell Harvey are truck drivers who haul explosives for the military.

At least they did until the fine law enforcement officials in Arkansas went into stubborn batshit crazy mode over a couple bags of baking soda Harvey had in the truc.

As KUTV describes it: "They have top security clearance, and they've never been in trouble with the law. So in May, while driving through Arkansas, they weren't concerned when police stopped them in Fort Chaffee."

They should have been concerned, it turns out.

Police found the three baggies full of baking soda. The cops used a roadside drug testing kit to see what was in the baggies. The widely used drug testing kit is known to be wildly inaccurate, coming up with zillions of false positives, but it's used by lots of cop shops anyway.

The road side drug testing kit decided that the baking soda was $3,000 worth of cocaine, so police locked the couple up.

For two and a half months if you can believe that, because nobody in Arkansas would do a more accurate follow up test to see if the baking soda was really cocaine and not, you know, baking soda.

Only after lots of pleading from the Arkansas Public Defender's office that the stuff was tested. According to television station KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas, the couple didn't have phone numbers memorized and so were not able to call relatives for help getting an attorney.

No easy phone access was provided. Prosecutors dragged their feet getting the substance authorities found in the truck tested correctly. And you guessed it, the powdery stuff in the baggies was baking soda.

By the way, the truck drivers arrested were African-American. This being Arkansas, there is the possibility of racism, though I know I can't prove that here

The Fort Chaffee Police Department is basically shrugging its shoulders at locking an innocent couple up for more than two months and quite possibly destroying their livlihoods.

Fort Chaffee Police say they tested three times using the faulty device and it came up cocaine three times. Good enough for them.

Sure, hold the couple until you get a more sophisticated test, but why did authorities wait two months to do it, and only when prodded?

A reporter for KUTV got his hands on one of these road side test kits and received instruction on how to use it. He tested common household items like Comet cleanser, aspirin, cold medicine and chocolate. Four of the ten tests he did came up (false) positive for illicit drugs.

Now that's a REALLY inaccurate testing device!

Even if Arkansas authorities were trying to demonstrate how "tough" they were on drug criminals, they wasted a lot of Arkansans' tax money on incarcerating the pair.

Says KUTV: 

"As for Harvey and Griffin, they only recently got their truck back from Arkansas authorities. But they say the truck has major damage that requires repairs. 

The couple also said they have not worked since they were released from jail. They said they are still trying to get their security clearance reinstated, and that they are running out of money.

Harvey said what is expecially concerning to him and his wife is the fact that other people may have been victimized by the test."

Or by Arkansas and perhaps other states. As I said, I can certainly see holding a suspect for a day or two until it's determined whether the stuff they had was drugs.

Shouldn't Arkansas authorities compensate Harvey and Griffin, since they were punished severely for not doing anything wrong?

I'm not holding my breath on that one.

The Reviews Are Awesome On This Donald Trump Christmas Decoration

This $150 "Make America Great Again" Christmas
ornament has gotten some AMAZING revies on Amazon.  

It's Thanksgiving!
 
Which means from now until the end of December it's All Christmas All The Time.  

You know that actually means we are being order by the Powers That Be to Buy! Buy! Buy!

I'm here to help.

You just HAVE to decorate your Christmas tree with just the right ornaments and have I got the decoration for you!

It's a little Donald Trump red "Make American Great Again" hat for the low, low price of $150.00. It's finished in brass and 14 karat gold, just for you.

The reviews on this little gem at Amazon and elsewhere are more priceless than the actual ornament.

Go over to Amazon and check all the reviews out. Here are a few of the best ones.

(H/T BoingBoing)

"It called Mary a nasty woman, told Joseph to go back where he came from, built a wall around the manger and then when you press it it sings, "I'm Dreaming Of A Totally White Christmas."

"Every time I hang it on a branch, it yells "WRONG!" No matter which branch I try, it's "WRONG!" My brother and father can hang it up just fine, but when my mother and I try it's "WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!"

"The angel on top of my tree just hired a lawyer."

"I gave this to my husband as a gift, and now he has a spray tan, tiny hands and a really bad combover."

"I put it above my nativity scene. Jesus wept."

"It tried to put my nativity figures into an internment camp."

"I bought one and Joe Biden came to my house and punched me in the face. I want a refund."

"My Trump ornament keeps telling the other ornaments it's going to help them, while sawing off the branches they depend upon for support. I somehow don't think this is going to end well."

"I didn't even order this, but it keeps showing up in my 13-year-old's bedroom."

"Unfortunately, it was really thin skinned so when I touched it without using velvet gloves it completely fell apart."

"Despite ordering a more reasonable ornament, this one arrived. It. Is. Yuge. It's absolutely yuge. It's the biggest ornament. Yuge. I hung it on my tree but it is so yuge that it has totally unbalanced my whoe tree. No matter where I hang it, the tree leans waaaaay over to the far right. "

"Does yours really say 'Made in China'?  Mine says 'Made By Russian Hackers.'"

"I was so excited to open this and deck the halls...but as soon as i did, wouldn't ya know it, it jumped off the tree and grabbed my pu**y!! Thanks Obama!!" 

Oddballs With Airhorns The Latest Weird Crime Spree

Here's the entertaining mug shot of John Nuggent
accussed of blaring an air horn for many weeks on end
in the early morning hours in a California neighborhood
in apparent revenge against somebody who lives there.  

There have been a couple of weird incidents involving air horns recently, and I'm hoping this is not part of a trend.  

A guy in El Segundo, California was recently arrested after keeping residents of one neighborhood up at night for weeks with the air horn he blew as he drove through the neighborhood.

The guy's, um, interesting mugshot is at the top of this post.

According to the Los Angeles Times, John W. Nuggent was stopped by police in his air horn equipped car earlier this month:

"On  Sunday, patrol officers heard the blare of a actuated air horn - a device similar to a train horn - as it shattered the pre-dawn silence of El Segundo's west side at about 4 a.m., police said on Facebook.

Officers looked around and saw only one car on the street - a little blue four door 2006 Chevrolet Aveo - and pulled it over, said Sgt. Vincent Martinez.

In the back of the car, officers found an air tank with hoses connected to a device near the car's gas pedal, Martinez said. When an officer tried the car's horn, the sound of 'a big truck or train' blasted from the diminutive hatchback, he said."

Authorities said Nuggent was setting off the airhorn in the predawn hours for weeks in the neighborhood because he was getting revenge on somebody who lives there with whom he had some sort of dispute.

Nuggent is unsurprisingly charged with disturbing the peace.

Meanwhile, Hopatcong, New Jersey had its own air horn crisis this week.

For reasons unknown, other than this guy thought it would be funny, Kevin Hemmerich of Hopatcong arrived at the town's police station wearing a bunny costume and repeatedly blowing an air horn while his brother Jason filmed the episode, says NJ.com.

Kevin Hemmerich was there to turn himself in on an outstanding warrant for not serving community service after he'd been caught driving without insurance.  

Kevin Hemmerich of Hopatcong, NJ inexplicably turned
himself into police on an outstanding warrant wearing
a bunny costume and blowing an air horn.
Police were not amused.  

People at the police station repeatedly asked Kevin Hemmerich to stop blowing the air horn but he kept at it.

That was until two police officer came into the room, punched Kevin and slapped the phone Jason was using to video the incident out of his hands.

That left Jason feeling pretty whiny: "This is my hometown and he punched my brother in the face for no reason,' Jason said.

Well, actually I think there was a reason why your brother got punched, Jason.

Still, the officers involved are under investigation, because it really is improper for police to punch somebody who is not a threat, even if the person in question is incredibly annoying.

Angry Trump/Pence Supporters Attack Theater In Hamilton, Ontario Because "Hamilton"

The Hamilton Theatre in Onatrio is getting a lot of flack
from Trumpeters because their name has the word
"Hamilton" in it and the Trumpeters don't like the
way Mike Pence was treated during the real
production of "Hamilton" on Broadway.  

UPDATE: 

There's yet another theater companh in the sights of Trumpeters besides the one in Ontario.

According to NPR the small community theater group, Hamilton Players in Hamilton, Montana also got TONS of abuse over the Pence incident at the Broadway production of "Hamilton."

Denise Rose, executive Director of Hamilton Players Inc. said, "My phone would go crazy in clumps of 10 to 15, then an hour later all teh re-tweets started again.....We were getting tweets calling us racist, untalented, disrespecful or more."

Some people later apologized to the Hamilton, Montana players for the mistake, but others kept at it.

Dummies.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION:

In yet more evidence that internet trolls can be incredibly stupid, a theater company in Hamilton, Ontario is getting trash on line from some of these internet trolls.

You see where this is going.

As you've surely heard, Vice-President elect Mike Pence went to see the Broadway hit "Hamilton" the other day, and the cast gave him a pointed message about tolerance and respect. Some audience members booed Pence.

Our childish president-elect, Donald Trump, took to Twitter like he always does and complained about how the annoyed he was that this happened at the Hamilton show.

Trump called "Hamilton" "overrated" during his rant, which is interesting, given the Tonys it won and the fact that it's nearly impossible to get tickets to this show.

His followers, who I call Trumpeters, took to social media, too, to whine and howl about how disrespect this was, or something.

The Hamilton Theatre Co. in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada took a lot of this grief, says CBC in Canada.

No, their current production is not "Hamilton" but "The Toxic Avenger."

Never mind, though. The name of the theater company is Hamilton, and anything named Hamilton now is considered anti-Trump.

Apparently, says the CBC, the internet trolls were too apoplectic to pay attention to Twitter handles, and which way to direct their ignorant ire.

The Twitter account of the theater company in Hamilton, Ontario is @HamiltonTheatre. The Broadway show's Twitter handle is @HamiltonMusical 

I do love the irony in that the angry, unhinged Trump supporters are mistakenly and stupidly attacking a theatre whose current production is called "The Toxic Avenger."

By the way, the only adult in the room in this whole bruhaha over the Mike Pence incident at Hamilton is Mike Pence himself.

Pence told Fox News he wasn't offended by the incident and does not want an apology.

Pence said he, his daughter and her cousins "enjoyed the show" and he reminded his daughter and the cousins that the boos, cheers and words "is what freedom sounds like."

Angry Trump/Pence Supporters Attack Theater In Hamilton, Ontario Because "Hamilton"

The Hamilton Theatre in Onatrio is getting a lot of flack
from Trumpeters because their name has the word
"Hamilton" in it and the Trumpeters don't like the
way Mike Pence was treated during the real
production of "Hamilton" on Broadway.  

UPDATE: 

There's yet another theater companh in the sights of Trumpeters besides the one in Ontario.

According to NPR the small community theater group, Hamilton Players in Hamilton, Montana also got TONS of abuse over the Pence incident at the Broadway production of "Hamilton."

Denise Rose, executive Director of Hamilton Players Inc. said, "My phone would go crazy in clumps of 10 to 15, then an hour later all teh re-tweets started again.....We were getting tweets calling us racist, untalented, disrespecful or more."

Some people later apologized to the Hamilton, Montana players for the mistake, but others kept at it.

Dummies.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION:

In yet more evidence that internet trolls can be incredibly stupid, a theater company in Hamilton, Ontario is getting trash on line from some of these internet trolls.

You see where this is going.

As you've surely heard, Vice-President elect Mike Pence went to see the Broadway hit "Hamilton" the other day, and the cast gave him a pointed message about tolerance and respect. Some audience members booed Pence.

Our childish president-elect, Donald Trump, took to Twitter like he always does and complained about how the annoyed he was that this happened at the Hamilton show.

Trump called "Hamilton" "overrated" during his rant, which is interesting, given the Tonys it won and the fact that it's nearly impossible to get tickets to this show.

His followers, who I call Trumpeters, took to social media, too, to whine and howl about how disrespect this was, or something.

The Hamilton Theatre Co. in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada took a lot of this grief, says CBC in Canada.

No, their current production is not "Hamilton" but "The Toxic Avenger."

Never mind, though. The name of the theater company is Hamilton, and anything named Hamilton now is considered anti-Trump.

Apparently, says the CBC, the internet trolls were too apoplectic to pay attention to Twitter handles, and which way to direct their ignorant ire.

The Twitter account of the theater company in Hamilton, Ontario is @HamiltonTheatre. The Broadway show's Twitter handle is @HamiltonMusical 

I do love the irony in that the angry, unhinged Trump supporters are mistakenly and stupidly attacking a theatre whose current production is called "The Toxic Avenger."

By the way, the only adult in the room in this whole bruhaha over the Mike Pence incident at Hamilton is Mike Pence himself.

Pence told Fox News he wasn't offended by the incident and does not want an apology.

Pence said he, his daughter and her cousins "enjoyed the show" and he reminded his daughter and the cousins that the boos, cheers and words "is what freedom sounds like."

Kids Come To The Rescue Again After Trump-Inspired Park Vandalism

This ugly graffiti in New York was replaced by flowers, heart-
shaped art and peaceful messages brought there by kids.  

In one of dozens of attacks and crimes with the election of Trump, somebody painted swastikas and "Go Trump" slogans in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York.

The park is named for Yauch, a founding member of the Beastie Boys who was, by the way, Jewish. Yauch died of cancer in 2012.

As a kid, he often played in that park, and that's one of the reasons the park is named after him.

Anyway, people everywhere were properly horrified by the vandalism, just like people are upset at similar vandalism elsewhere in the country.

Also, once again, it was kids to the rescue in the face of such hate.

New York sanitation workers cleaned up the graffiti hours after it was left in the park, but children who frequently play there decided to take things a step further.

According to NPR, children and their parents brought flowers, paper cut outs of hearts and messages of unity. One kid scrawled "Love Trumps Hate" in chalk on the sidewalk. Now that's my kind of graffiti!

Another person put a note on a toy train in the park that said the train is actually a machine that destroys facism.

These are small gestures, of course. But if we get millions of such small gestures, maybe things will brighten up a bit.

Amazon Prime Ad Hits Just The Right Mark In These Troubled Times

In this Amazon Prime ad, a priest and an imam share
a deep friendship with one another.  

I'm not really a big fan of Amazon or Amazon Prime, but the sprawling company's new ad hits just the right note in these troubled times when hate against people of different faiths and backgrounds seems to be the big style.

This ad bucks that trend.

We see a priest and an imam who are clearly old friends get together. Unlike what we see on the news, the two characters in the ad share a real affection for one another, despite their different faiths.

No worries by the Christian about the Muslim in this ad, no spree!

An Amazon spokesperson says the ad was made before the presidential election results were known,  and is not meant as a slap to Donald Trump and his ilk.

But it kind of feels like that anyway, even if that wasn't the intention. The ad is a great signal for us to stop the hate already.

Yeah, the ad sells Amazon Prime, which of course it is meant to do, but it also sends a message that we should all hear over and over again.

Watch:

Overreaction: Woman Burns Down Strip Mall Because Of A Lack Of Shopping Carts

A woman is accused of setting this fire that destroyed
a strip mall because she couldn't find a shopping
cart at a Dollar Tree store in the complex

We're getting into the Christmas shopping season, and we will see more and more people overreacting to shopping mishaps.

It has already started.

A woman in Washington State burned down a strip mall because she couldn't find a shopping cart, television station KOMO reports.

Yeah, no shopping cart is a bit of a bummer, but she might have taken this a teensy, weeny bit too far, don't you think?  

According to KOMO, the 64 year old woman, who couldn't find a shopping cart, made a comment to a store employee about burning the Dollar Tree store she was at in Kent, Washington.

The women then went into the greeting card aisle then came out 90 seconds later to announce the store was on fire.

And it was. Employees tried to put the fire out, but it spread too fast. Eventually, the entire strip mall containing five businesses burned down.

Nobody was hurt, thank goodness, but this woman put a bunch of people out of work, endangered lives and destroyed peoples' livlihoods because she couldn't get a damn shopping cart.

Needless to say, she's in a heap of trouble so she might be locked up for awhile, thank goodness.

Of course, melting down in a business is a popular pasttime, apparently. Consumerist has a helpful list of such incidents, including times when a Wendy's customer trashed the restaurant because she was dissatisfied with the food, or the time a Burger King customer punched a worker because the food wasn't ready fast enough, and a Macy's customer who bit a clerk during a dispute over a price.

I guess shopping and dining really is stressful

Just take a Valium, OK?

Heathrow Christmas Ad Tries To Distract Us From Terrible Holiday Travel

Two elderly teddy bears star in a Heathrow Airport
Christmas advertisement.  

Tis the season to deck the halls, or deck the idiot slowing down the security line at your favorite airport.

Yes, holiday travel time is upon us, and many of us face the terror of airport terminals.

Personally, I'm not afraid of flying. I'm just afraid of airport terminals. The flight delays. The fellow, grumpy passengers. The security snafus. Bad weather. It's all crummy, but whaddaya going to do?

Heathrow Airport in London is trying to cheer us up with a holiday ad featuring two elderly teddy bears making their way through that airport during the Christmas season.

The ad doesn't solve the travel nightmares, but at least they're trying to make people feel a little better through cuteness. So, not bad.

Watch:

The Kent State Basketball Team Is Just Awesome

In a show of unity, Kent State basketball players invited
fans of varying genders, ages and races to stand with
them for the National Anthem before the start of a recent game.

Three cheers and more to the Kent State basketball team for a gesture of unity that this country sorely needs.

The players decided that before a recent home game, they would go into the stands and invite people of varying ages, races, genders and abilities to come down to the basketball court with them to stand for the National Anthem.

The video is at the bottom of this post.

According to Cleveland.com and ESPN:

"''We understand all of the issues going on in our world,' sophomore point guard Jalen Avery said in a statement on behalf of his teammates. 'In these times, we felt it was important to show a sign of unity in our community.'"

The team approached coaches and staff ahead of time to bounce the idea off them, and the coaches said go for it.

ESPN quoted Kent State Head Coach Rob Senderoff:

"'This was not my idea,' Senderoff said. 'This is something they came up with and brought to me. My first reaction was, What a statement for them to make. For a bunch of 18 to 22 year olds to come up with this is incredibly mature.'"

 The team said they would now probably do the unity move during the Star Spangled Banner at every home game.

This won't cure all the divisions in this nation, but every little bit helps.

Here's the news video of this wonderful incident:

This Dog Is Champ At "Mannequin Challenge"

This card game mannequin challenge has a great ending
involving a dog.  

The big craze sweeping social media these days is the Mannequin Challenge, in which groups of people are filmed posing absolutely still in the middle of an activity, as if frozen in time.

Even dogs are getting into the act, as there are a few videos out there of Fido mastering the challenge

Yeah, the trend is already overdone, but I couldn't resist one mannequin challenge, in which a group of people in a home freeze while playing cards and having a social gathering.

The scene is frankly unremarkable until the end, when we find a dog who is an absolute master at this game. The dog creates the perfect punch line to this video:

Giant Sinkhole Disappears In Days Due To Japanese Efficiency

How long do you think it would take to repair this
giant sinkhole? For the Japanese, just a few days, it turns out. Add caption 

Back on November 8, a giant sinkhole opened up on a very busy street in the Japanese city of Fukuoka.

The sinkhole, 98 feet across and 50 feet deep, might have been triggered by nearby railroad tunnel construction.

Luckily, nobody was hurt, but the sinkhole cut electricity and gas service to parts of the busy neighborhood.

But, in just a few days, the busy street was back open, stronger than ever. The city said the street was built with a much more sturdy sub-base than the sand that was there beforehand.

Watch this fascinating time lapse of how quickly the city fixed the sinkhole and got the city of Fukuoka back to normal in just days:

World's Cruelest Shopping Mall Kept "World's Saddest Polar Bear" Hostage In Terrible Conditions

This polar bear has been on display in a unnatural
enclosure in a Chinese shopping mall. It's the
height of cruelty to do this to an animal. 

This is the height of animal cruelty and no wonder the world is outraged.

A shopping mall in China kept a polar bear on display inside the mall, with no natural light, nothing to do, no stimulation, aside from the thousands of tourists snapping photos that were blinding the bear with their camera flashes.
Under intense international pressure, the mall owners have "temporarily" removed the polar bear but promise to bring the poor thing back.

The polar bear, named Pizza, was exhibiting signs of serious mental distress, as  you can well imagine.

Pizza was completely out of his element, not given any way to enjoy life. He was/is just a prop to make the mall owners money.

Pretty cruel, right?

It's obvious why this animal is now widely described in the media as "the world's saddest polar bear."

Sounds like a parody of a childrens book, but this is just awful.

According to the New York Times:

"Video footage showed Pizza pacing, rearing up on the side of his glass enclosure farthest from visitors, shaking his head from side to side, and sniffing and pawing at an air vent - distress behaviors, according to animal rights activists."

This Chinese animal welfare problem goes well beyond one polar bear in a mall.

Again, the New York Times:

"Animal welfare groups say shopping malls in China increasingly are using wild animals to attract customers in a bid to compete against a growing popularity of more convenient and often cheaper e-commerce. 

China does not have an animal welfare law. Animal welfare advocates say one is long overdue."

I'll say!

I get it that a lot of people know that there are even bigger problems in the world than Chinese mall owners badly mistreating wild animals.

But it says something bad about our humanity that this is allowed to go on, doesn't it?

Great John Lewis Christmas Ad, With An Even Better Reaction To The Ad

This dog feels temporarily left out of the fun in the
new John Lewis Christmas advertisement. Another dog
watching the ad does NOT feel left out. 

The British retailer John Lewis always has a charming Christmas ad every year, and this year is no exception. 

In this one, parents buy their daughter a backyard trampoline that is enjoyed by some animals, and the dog inside the family house feels left out.

The first video you see in this post is the actual John Lewis ad, and the second video is the kicker.

The second video shows "someone" watching this John Lewis ad, and having the best possible reaction to it.

The first video will bring a smile to your face, the second one will absolutely make your day:



And here's the second video that's even better.

SNL's Cold Opening Gives One Chills After Trump Win, Cohen Death

Kate McKinnon,  dressed in her Saturday Night Live
Hillary Clinton charactoer, performs Leonard
Cohen's "Hallelujah" on SNL Saturday

The cold opening of Saturday Night Live is usually a laff riot.

Not last night. Kate McKinnon, who always plays Hillary Clinton, appeared in her Hillary outfit and sang a durge of sorts.

Playing the piano, McKinnon sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."

Cohen died this week, and some people worry that American democracy died with the election of Trump. We'll see.

But last night, for the first time, Saturday Night Live's opening made me want to cry. See for yourself:

A Letter To My Young Nieces In The Era Of Trump

My nieces Sydney and Alex are "nasty women"
in the best possible and young women like them
will get us through the Trump years, just you wait. 

This open letter is to my nieces Sydney and Alex, who are super sharp college age young women. This letter, from an old white man in Vermont who is thinking about Donald Trump, is also to all young women and girls.  

Dear Sydney and Alex: 

With the election of Donald Trump, you might not feel like this is a great time for a woman to rev up her young adult life.

Once again, old white men decided that a woman's place is not in the House, Senate or White House, but someplace subservient. Which of course is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Oh sure, there were many reasons Hillary Clinton was not elected president, but her being a woman was one of them, as we all surely know.

This time, the old, white men who had such an influence on selecting a president brought us one that really doesn't appreciate women, to say the least. The misogyny during the campaign was breathtaking.

Women are right to worry about what a Trump presidency will bring. Women are right to worry about the future. After all, the Powers That Be seem to want to go back to the days when women were truly considered second class citizens.

But you'd be wrong to give up in despair.

This is a setback, definitely.  But remember, Syd and Alex, you are "nasty women." You know what I mean. During one of the debates Trump snarled that Hillary Clinton is a "nasty woman." Women embraced that moniker as a badge of power, strength, purpose and morality. All of which made me cheer joyfully.

The nation remains full of young, nasty women, like you, and your numbers are growing.  This old white guy knows that what the nation needs more than anything is legions of nasty women.  The more the better.

Here's the dirty little secret: Old white men who voted for Trump are VERY afraid of nasty women.

Because women, particularly the "nasty"ones, are what will get us through this situation. Your uncle Jeff and I are a gay couple, part of one of the groups targeted as not worthy by some of the Trumpeters. Jeff and I and other LGBTQ people aren't necessarily the principal targets here, at least compared to Latinos, Muslims and African Americans, but we've nonetheless been put on notice.

Nasty women like you also know that love Trumps hate. Alex, I'm particularly happy you posted the following on Facebook:

"To Donald Trump, Mike Pence and their supporters.
I am a woman and I love you.
I support black lives matter and I love you.
I am a feminist and I love you
I am Christian and I love you."

What this tells me is all the nasty women like you, Alex and Syd, will be the ones that lead us out of the darkness in a purposeful, peaceful way.  I wish old white guys like Jeff and I would finally realize that it's always women who make things work when things go to hell.

You know, Rosie the Riveter in World War II. The labor organizer Mother Jones. The simple, honest grace and intelligence of Anne Frank and young Nobel prize winner Malala Yousafzai. The "when they go low, we go high" moral clarity of Michelle Obama. And so, so many others.

You will surely get down and depressed at times during the Trump era, but let me explain something else:

I don't normally lecture young women this way, but really, listen to your mother. She's a strong, assertive, smart woman who's trained you well to take on the world. She's a really nasty woman. Thank God.  And you're lucky to have a father who insists on letting you be you.

Everyone should be so lucky.

In her gracious concession speech, Clinton spoke to you, and girls much younger than you:

"Now, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling but someday, someone will - and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams."

Hillary Clinton was wrong about some things, but she was so very spot on here. Clinton, like me and your Uncle Jeff, understand the world needs you and all the other nasty girls and women more than ever.

Pop star Katy Perry, a strong woman in her own right who backed Hillary Clinton, is correct when she tweeted after the election. "The revolution is coming," and "Rise up."

I can feel that revolution approaching in a thunderous roar from millions of wonderful, nasty women.

It's up to you, Syd and Alex, to be part of this coming revolution of young women who will finally change the world for the better. I know it will happen.

Your Uncle Jeff and I can't wait to see what you do.

Love, Uncle Matt.

Burlington, Vermont Police Chief Has Perfect Response To Protests On Veterans Day.

Burlington, Vermont Police Chief Brandon del Pozo
got veterans and democracy exactly right in
a statement about anti-Trump protests on Veterans Day.  

I'm going to let Burlington, Vermont Police Chief Brandon del Pozo be my unwitting guest blogger today.

Like many cities across the nation, people in Burlington are holding an anti-Trump rally.  

The march against Trump in Burlington is scheduled for today, Veteran's Day. Some people objected to the demonstration being held on Veterans Day.

Here's how del Pozo responded to that objection today on Facebook:

"There's a rally scheduled today at City Hall Park to rebuke what so many feel is the hateful and racist rhetoric of the United States president-elect.

Some people are upset that it's happening on Veteran's Day, a time reserved for somber reflection on the service and sacrifice of so many everyday Americans. 

But I think it's the perfect day for a protest rally. How do you better honor people's legacy than by using something great they've given you?

Protest on Veteran's Day, Americans, if you desire! It's our right, and it was secured by the men and women who are our veterans. It seems like a more profound way to honor them than simply laying a wreath."

By the way, responding to critics on Facebook, del Pozo assured everyone he'd have the same attitude had Clinton won and right wing protesters took to the streets. He also said he has no tolerance for violence. He just wants to encourage peaceful democracy.

Good work, Chief!!!

Acclaimed Songwriter Leonard Cohen Dies, Making Dark Moods Darker.

The late, great Leonard Cohen 

I've been in a dark mood lately, and I've been consoling myself by listening to gloomy, haunting Leonard Cohen music.

My mood, and that of many other people who love thoughtful, incredible songwriting, got even darker this morning when we learned Cohen died yesterday at the age of 82. 

He'd just released a new album, "You Want It Darker," just last month. As always with Cohen, that album was universally acclaimed by critics.  

Rolling Stone magazine, on its web site had this great eulogy for Cohen:

"Cohen was the dark eminence among a small pantheon of extremely influential singer-songwriters to emerge in the Sixties and early Seventies. Only Bob Dylan exerted a more profound influence upon his generation and perhaps only Paul Simon and fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell equaled him as a song poet.

"Cohen's haunting bass voice, nylon stringed guitar patterns and Greek chorus backing vocals shaped evocative songs that dealt with love and hate, sex and spirituality, war and peace, ecstasy and depression."

 Cohen is most widely known for the contemplative song "Hallelujah," which has been covered by just about every singer, but is still one of my all time favorite songs. Unlike some critics, I don't believe this song is overplayed, or even could be overplayed.

In a recent New Yorker article that came out with the release of his new album, he said he was in poor health. "I am ready to die... I hope it's not too uncomfortable. That's about it for me."

However, he later said in another interview that he was exaggerating. "I've always been into self-dramatization....I intend to live forever."

At least Cohen's music will.

For a sampling of Cohen's songs, or at least fantastic covers of them, here's a few videos/soundtracks for you below. You might have to click on "Watch on YouTube" to activate some of them: Rolling Stone has these and other wonderful Cohen covers on This Link. 

Here's a famous cover of Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley



The other night, after the election of Donald Trump, Cohen's song "Everybody Knows" struck me as fitting the national situation perfectly. I posted the Concrete Blonde cover of the song on Facebook but it's worth reprising it here



Here's Tori Amos doing a haunting cover of Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat."



Finally, here's Lana Del Rey doing Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel 2"

Man Harvesting Carrots Finds His Lost Wedding Ring

The carrot and the found wedding ring in Germany.  

Just because I, we need a distraction, today I bring you breaking news from Germany:

An elderly man harvesting carrots found the wedding ring he lost three years ago, wrapped tightly around a carrot, reports Nothing To Do But Arborath.

The man lost the ring while gardening three years ago and gave up hope of ever finding it again.

His wife said it would turn up eventually. Sadly, his wife died six months ago, but she was right: The ring was safely wrapped around a carrot.

Probably the tastiest carrot that guy ever had.

Welcome To The (Permanent) Oligarchy

This man might have just killed American constitutional democracy
and the American voters let him.  

Yesterday, the American people threw away the Constitution and many of the freedoms they assumed would be there forever.

Many voters wanted that outcome. The people that supported Trump agreed with him that niceties like press freedom, religous freedom (unless you're a Christian!) and due process just got in the way of, well, I don't know, but apparently they thought it got in the way of something.

The majority of voters just wanted an authoritarian who steamrolls through everything, legal or not.

America, you made your choice. What you don't realize is, if you find out you don't like your choice,  you'll never be able to change it. Think you can vote in a new Congress two years from now, or a new President four years from now ?

Hah!

Trump and his Republican minions now control everything, including the Supreme Court. If Trump sets the nation on a disastrous course, there's nothing we can do about it.

Trump and Co. will surely change voting laws to severely restrict the vote among people who might not want him to continue in office. That's what right wind oligarchs do. Team Trump will lie and lie to its gullible supporters, so that dwindling crowd will keep him in for a long, long time.

Maybe after eight years, Trump will make is so he has a third term. Or one of his henchmen will become President when he's done. Surely it won't be someone in favor of true democracy.

If Trump becomes involved in misdeed, we probably won't find out what Trump might be doing wrong. Yes, the media has its problems but we won't have investigative journalism, as it will be suppressed if not outright banned.

Team Trump team will suppress dissension. Taking it to the streets for peaceful demonstrations against him might someday become illegal. Or at least always be met with rubber bullets or worse.

So much for Free Speech. Right wing authoritarians suppress dissension any way they can.

I've already criticized Trump a lot, so it's part of my permanent record. The Internet is forever. I literally think I might be in jail or at least facing an expensive lawsuit within two years. Not because of what I will do, but because of what I have done - criticize and mock Trump.   (I'm still criticizing him now because I have nothing to lose. The damage is done.)

I wouldn't be surprised if people are jailed for criticizing his government some day. Or at the very least the more likely threat of jail or lawsuits will suppress any kind of vocal opposition.

If a Trump presidency impoverishes you or otherwise harms you, there's nothing you can do. If you have Muslim or Hispanic friends, there's a chance you'll have to say bye bye to some of them. If America doesn't become "great again," as Trump promised, too bad. You lose.

You made your choice America. Now you have to live with it.

Permanently.

Today's Election IS Rigged - By Trump And The GOP

Cartoon by Jonathan Schmock.  

As we cast our votes today, the sound ringing in many of our ears is that of Donald Trump telling us over, and over, and over and OVER again the system is rigged.

Trouble is, he's right. But he and the Republicans are doing most of the rigging. I

n this case, if the polls are to be believed, the rigging might not be enough to get Trump to the White House, but the rigging is impressive nonetheless.

Here are just some ways they've gone about trying to rig the election:

REMOVING LEGIT REGISTERED VOTERS:  Despite the efforts of the U.S. Justice Department, some states, notably North Carolina and Texas, have been improperly removing people who just happen to be  more likely to vote Democrat from voter registration lists.

The shenanigans have gotten so bad in Texas the U.S. Justice Department is sending crews of poll watchers to Texas to make sure everyone who's eligible to vote and wants to indeed does so.

In North Carolina, the GOP literally bragged in a press release issued Sunday that fewer black voters cast early ballots there than in 2012. North Carolina Republicans said that was because African-Americans are supposedly tired of Barack Obama's policies, but that doesn't explain why Obama is more popular than he's ever been.

The real reason why black early voting is down in North Carolina this year is because of aggressive GOP efforts to suppress the black vote.

Says Mother Jones:

"Emails obtained last week by Reuters showed that Republican officials pushes successfully to restrict early voting sites and cut down on early voting on Sundays, when many black churches hold 'Souls to the Polls' mass voting drives."

REMOVING VOTING SITES

Another way Republicans are trying to suppress votes from blacks and Hispanics is by cutting down the number of voting sites in minority neighborhoods on election day. This creates long lines, and people who work for a living can't stand in a line all day waiting to vote. Or they don't have cars and can't drive long distances to polling places.

SCAM ADS:

The most obnoxious method of voter suppression isn't sanctioned by the GOP, but done by Internet trolls, most of whom are Trump backers.

As CNN notes, they're circulating fake ads on social media saying things like: "Save time. Avoid the lines. Vote from home... Text 'Hillary to 59925 and we'll make history together." The ad comes complete with a "Paid for by Hillary For President" stamp.

Of course, you CANNOT vote via text. You have to do it in person. People who don't realize this will hit that text number, and think they voted and didn't.  By the way, as if you didn't know, Hillary For President is not putting out these ads.

Twitter is trying like hell to scrub these ads, but there's only so much they can do to stop the onslaught.

BACKLASH:

Of course, some of these attempts at vote suppression have backfired on Republicans. In Texas Latinos, fired up by Trump's anti-Hispanic rhetoric and efforts to block their votes, have motivated Latinos to sign up to vote in droves, despite the roadblocks.

CBS Dallas says there are 500,000 more Latinos registered to vote in Texas this year than in 2016.

In Nevada, Latino voters were so pissed off at Trump and the GOP that they swarmed polling sites like crazy for early voting over the weekend, which just might have tipped that state to Hillary Clinton.

What mystifies me is it would probably be easier for the GOP to appeal to Hispanics and African-Americans through persuasion, rather than just appealing to an ever-shrinking proportion of conservative white voters.

There are many African Americans and Hispanics for whom conservative social values, and pro-business economic plans would be appealing.  The GOP could just come up with a good, decent , detailed, comprehensive conservative platform to siphon these votes away from Democrats.

The way the GOP is handling things this year, they're telegraphing that they really don't have any good ideas as a counterweight to the Democratic platform.

There's more than a whiff of racism here. Let's appeal to the white voters, and leave others out of our club. It's not the American way, obviously.

It's also not how you win elections, and I'm stunned the GOP hasn't figured that out yet.