Top 10 Conservative Idiots #2-8: The Election From Hell: Donald Trump In: Goldmember Edition

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Last edited Wed May 3, 2017, 12:27 PM - Edit history (3)

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #2-8: The Election From Hell: Donald Trump In: Goldmember Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! We are back everybody! Whew!!! First off, I want to say congratulations to the Clemson Tigers for securing the BCS championship! That was awesome wasn't it? I mean it was a dramatic last second that got stretched out for over what seemed like an hour and a half! Alabama, you put up a good fight, and you can rest easier knowing that your championship gear is going to clothe starving kids in Africa. Oh miss, give it a chance, I just got up here! For you watching at home there's people already leaving! Moving on. OK there’s some people who you shouldn’t interview and Jerry Lewis is definitely one of those people. And if you haven’t seen this whole thing it’s an absolute gem. I mean this might be the craziest thing I’ve seen all year, and we’re entering a year that is seeing Donald Trump become the 45th president of the United States. So this reminds me a lot of the Marshawn Lynch interviews from the Seattle Seahawks where he kept repeating “I’m just doing this so I don’t get fined”. This whole interview is one of the craziest things that I’ve ever seen. But my favorite part of this is where the reporter asks Jerry what Vegas was like back in the 60’s, and he says “It’s the same!”. Uh… Jerry have you been to Vegas lately? This thing – well, the only thing that would make it more awkward would be if Zach Galafinakis was the one conducting the interview. Roll tape.

Ah, that’s enough of the intro. We got a lot of conservative idiocy to get to this week. But first – Stephen Colbert nails it when it comes to the lunacy surrounding Donald Trump’s now infamous New Year’s Eve Tweet:

&t=16s

So where do we begin this week? By the way as we’re speaking, Jeff Sessions is getting grilled on the Hill, but we’ll have to wait a week for everything to start coming out about it. Well to start with, the number 1 slot is of course going back to our future president Donald J. Trump. Taking the number one slot, we've got some last minute late breaking news to report to you about Donald Trump and holy shit, the CIA dropped the big one here, or as Donald Trump would say "bigly"! In the second slot, Donald Trump is a very petty man, and it is showing with his post Golden Globes rant against one of the great actresses ever – Meryl Streep, and well Donald is only proving her point. Taking the number 3 seed, we’re going to talk about another celebrity beef, this time between actual future president Donald Trump (3) and host of the Celebrity Apprentice, Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the fourth slot we’re going to talk about Donald Trump supporters. There’s been some great and very well researched articles about them published lately and we will post a few of them. Taking the fifth slot, Alex Jones (5) went from denying that mass shootings like Sandy Hook happened to profiting off them. In the number 6 slot we’re going to take a dip in the International Conservative Idiots file and head to the Philippines (6). Their war on drugs has become self aware, and it’s a conservative’s wet dream here. We will tell you all about it. Taking the number 7 slot, we’ve got a brand new installment of “People Who Somehow Got Elected”. This time, it’s Kansas governor Sam Brownback (7) – who not only got elected, but also somehow reelected! In the number 8 slot, we’re going to talk about Bo Bice (8). You might not know the name – he was an American Idol finalist back in the day – he was dining at the Popeye’s Chicken at ATL terminal 3, and is claiming a rather bizarre case of reverse racism. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!!) slot, we’re going to once again talk about the Trump Effect (9). And normally we have a variety of stores to tell you about concerning the racism and white supremacy coming out of everyone, but we have just one story, and holy shit it is insane. I don’t even want to talk about it – fuck this story and everybody in it! Finally this week I hope you guys remembered to do your homework! Because we’ve got just two classes left before the final exam in our ongoing lecture series about How To Talk About Trump For Dummies! This week we’re going to cover chapters 10 part 2, 11 and 12, and next week we will conclude with chapters 13 and 14, so I hope everyone remembered to do their reading. Plus we’ll end this week’s edition with some more live music, this time from a favorite band of ours here at the Top 10 home office - Fitz & The Tantrums. They were responsible for that wildly popular hit a couple of years back called "The Walker" and they have a new self titled album out that is amazing. And they will be stopping by to play something from it. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!


[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, we have some urgent late breaking news to report you to! May we have your attention please? So I'm sure you heard by now that Donald Trump is in some deep shit with the CIA and Russia over something. So we'll present the news to you as we found out about it here at the Top 10 home office last night, and if anyone was as glued to the Twittersphere, TV and the internet as I was, well... you already know what is in store!

The allegations were presented in a two-page synopsis that was appended to a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The allegations came, in part, from memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative, whose past work US intelligence officials consider credible. The FBI is investigating the credibility and accuracy of these allegations, which are based primarily on information from Russian sources, but has not confirmed many essential details in the memos about Mr. Trump.
The classified briefings last week were presented by four of the senior-most US intelligence chiefs -- Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers.
One reason the nation's intelligence chiefs took the extraordinary step of including the synopsis in the briefing documents was to make the President-elect aware that such allegations involving him are circulating among intelligence agencies, senior members of Congress and other government officials in Washington, multiple sources tell CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/politics/donald-trump-intelligence-report-russia/index.html

Holy shit indeed! I mean what could the CIA possibly have on Donald Trump that we don't already know? It's got to be something very damning! What could it possibly be, I wonder?

Donald Trump was 'briefed on claims Kremlin spies hacked Democrats before the elections last week'
Details of classified documents allegedly presented to president-elect have emerged in a report by CNN - including memos given to the FBI
The memos claim the Russian secret services had a file on Trump of 'kompromat' - damaging material Kremlin could use to blackmail him
Dossier included claims he ordered prostitutes to commit degrading sex acts in the presidential suite of a Moscow hotel - because the Obamas stayed there
Dossier was reportedly drawn up by ex-British spy once stationed in Moscow - but its contents cannot be verified and include errors, Buzzfeed reported
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4107738/Intelligence-chief-told-Trump-Kremlin-spies-claim-compromising-material-personal-life-including-claims-degrading-sex-acts-Moscow-hotel.html

Holy shit! I mean seriously... holy shit! He responded by having degrading sex acts in the same bed in the presidential suite of a Moscow hotel where the Obamas stayed! Those sex acts by the way - golden showers, I shit you not! This is Donald Trump In: Goldmember!

So how did Donald J. Trump respond to these potentially catastrophic allegations? If you guessed "Move along, nothing to see here!!!", you are correct sir / madam! You get points! In fact let's throw that Tweet up there, shall we?

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed he has "nothing to do with Russia" and argued that he is the victim of political attacks after reports that intelligence officials possessed briefing material with damaging accusations about ties to Moscow.

The FBI is not actively investigating the information, which was initially circulated among Trump opponents and has not been verified by intelligence agencies, two U.S. officials told NBC News. Those sources did not comment to NBC about the nature of the allegations.

On Twitter, Trump called the reports "unfair" and said, "Russia has never tried to use leverage over me." Trump claimed that he has "no deals, no loans, no nothing" with Russia, an assertion that is difficult to verify because he has not released his tax returns, unlike every president since Jimmy Carter.

He argued that political opponents "try to belittle" his electoral victory. Trump asked, "Are we living in Nazi Germany?"
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/11/trump-melts-down-on-twitter-are-we-living-in-nazi-germany.html

And this guy becomes president in 9 days folks! Let's put up some of the tweets that Donald Trump has been doing:





In other words... "move along, nothing to see here"! I mean seriously, we elected a James Bond villain as president of the United States! By the way, next week we'll detail Donald Trump's insane press conference that he had this morning. Get out the butter.

[font size="8"]Donald Trump[/font]


Before we get into Donald Trump’s beef with the Golden Globes this weekend, I do have to mention this story. So you know among other things that Donald Trump slaps his name on and assumes that he’s going to be a good product. I mean he’s a real life Krusty The Klown!

So with that in mind we’re going to show you the story that Trump brand vodka was pulled from shelves because, well…

http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2017/01/trump-vodka-pulled-from-israeli-retailers/

Bottles of Donald Trump’s defunct vodka brand have been pulled from shelves in Israel after the country’s Chief Rabbinate found them to be non-compliant with kosher regulations.
trump-vodka

Founded by the US president elect Donald Trump, Trump Vodka is now only sold in Israel

The Times of Israel reports that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel – the supreme authority for Judaism in the country – ordered a batch of Trump Vodka to be pulled from supermarket shelves, claiming the bottles had been imported without proper kosher licensing.

So the Golden Globes are a thing that happened over the weekend and in case you haven’t heard, Meryl Streep trashed Trump in her acceptance speech for a lifetime achievement award. And Donald Trump is pissed because, well, he should have got that lifetime award, damn it! Let’s roll tape and then discuss!

Meryl Streep was honored at the Golden Globes for a lifetime of notable work, and she took the opportunity to make a sustained attack on US President-elect Donald Trump.
In a nearly 6-minute address while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the actress denounced Trump's campaign rhetoric and criticized him for mocking a disabled reporter.

As the audience of Hollywood stars and executives sat in silence, Streep said: "There was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good, there was nothing good about it, but it was effective and it did its job.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/08/entertainment/meryl-streep-golden-globes-speech/index.html

So how did Trump respond? Let’s throw that Tweet up there, shall we?



I’m pretty sure that I know the word he would like to use to finish that sentence. Considering that he’s the new leader of the free world, he probably won’t be able to use that word the next 4 years. But I shall refrain from saying it as well. But how exactly did he finish it?

So on Monday morning, Trump emitted a series of tweets that read in total: "Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never 'mocked' a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him 'groveling' when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!"

There are those who believe that Trump himself is very dishonest in respect to his treatment of Kovaleski.

It seems impossible, though, for the president-elect to let even the slightest slight go. Worse, it's always personal.

In evening hazes, I find myself occasionally wanting to advise Trump on his tweeting. Streep did leave herself wide open to scorn with these words: "Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick them all out you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."

Yes folks! Meryl Streep is a Hillary flunky! By the way, USA Today does some fact checking on Trump’s insane Tweet storm, and guess what? He’s wrong! Again!

On Twitter, President-elect Donald Trump falsely wrote that a reporter “totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad.” As we have written before, the reporter never changed his story about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Trump’s tweet was in response to a speech given by actress Meryl Streep at the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 8. Streep, who supported Hillary Clinton for president, said that “it kind of broke my heart” when she saw “that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter.” She did not mention Trump by name.

Trump tweeted that he “never ‘mocked’ a disabled reporter” but did show him “groveling” as he “totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad.”

Streep and Trump were both referring to New York Times investigative journalist Serge Kovaleski, a disabled reporter who suffers from arthrogryposis, which primarily restricts joint movement in the limbs.

Kovaleski co-authored a story for The Washington Post in 2001 that said “a number of people” in Jersey City, N.J., were “allegedly seen celebrating” the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. During the Republican primary, Trump cited that story as evidence for his discredited claim that he saw on television “thousands and thousands” of people in New Jersey celebrate the terrorist attacks.

Trump made his claim about the celebrations during a speech in Alabama on Nov. 21, 2015. Two days later, Trump tweeted a link to Kovaleski’s Post article from Sept. 18, 2001, and demanded an apology from those who wrote that his statement was false.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2017/01/09/fact-check-trump-serge-kovaleski-meryl-streep/96364654/

By the way, in case you were wondering, why yes two years ago – Donald Trump did in fact praise Meryl Streep. In fact, I have coined a new term for this – I think we should call this phenomenon “Trump Flopping”, because Donald Trump flip flops more than any Washington insider politician they accuse us of doing. Who knows what position Donald Trump is going to take next? :

Any actress you love?

Julia Roberts is terrific, and many others. Meryl Streep is excellent; she's a fine person, too. The problem is I'll name three or four or five and then the hundred that I know will be insulted, and I don't mean to insult them.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/donald-trump-murdoch-ailes-nbc-816131

.


[font size="8"]Donald Trump [/font]


If I remember correctly from Top 10 history, the Cyborg icon was created during Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reign as the Governator of California, my home state, during that whole batshit insane chapter in American history. Well irony has come full circle because Arnold Schwarzenegger is now the host of Celebrity Apprentice. Can we roll some tape of that?

Allow me to do my Schwarzenegger impression for a minute. Yah you are terminated! Now get to ze choppah!!!! Thank you! So here’s how this whole Twitter beef between Schwarzenegger and Trump got started:

When news broke that Donald Trump would remain an executive producer on The Celebrity Apprentice (redubbed The New Celebrity Apprentice after Arnold Schwarzenegger took over as host), some wondered if those duties might cut into time Trump should be spending, you know, running the country (or preparing to). But never fear; apparently, the president-elect not only has time to executive produce the show, but to bash it on Twitter as well.

In two tweets Friday morning, Trump wrote that Schwarzenegger “got ‘swamped’ (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT.” He said that he was comparing Schwarzenegger’s first-season ratings to Trump’s last turn as Apprentice host, but added, “who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary.” (Schwarzenegger voted for Kasich in the primaries, but did not publicly endorse Clinton during this election.)

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/01/donald-trump-celebrity-apprentice-ratings-arnold-schwarzenegger

Yes! Donald Trump bashed his own show! Can we throw that Tweet up there? Actually it was one of Donald’s cryptic “…” Tweets! Can we show that?




Ah, who cares that the show that Donald Trump has his name in a producer credit on is tanking? I mean his host supported Hillary Clinton! But what did Ahnold himself say about this? Well let’s talk about that one, shall we?

Don’t mess with The Governator.

Arnold Schwarzenegger took to Twitter on Friday to slam Donald Trump after the president-elect criticized the actor’s Celebrity Apprentice ratings after Monday’s premiere.

After ratings indicated the reality show had dipped 44 percent from the 2015 debut when Trump was host, Trump took to Twitter to bash new host Schwarzenegger, claiming that he got “swamped” and “destroyed” in comparison to “the ratings machine, DJT” (referring to himself).

“There’s nothing more important than the people’s work, @realDonaldTrump,” Schwarzenegger, 69, tweeted in response. “I wish you the best of luck and I hope you’ll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings.”
https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/arnold-schwarzenegger-fires-back-donald-172626379.html

Now that’s how you deal with a narcissist like Donald Trump! Boom! Drop the mic!




[font size="8"]Donald Trump Supporters [/font]


So we’ve been covering Donald Trump and his supporters ad nauseum this week. The truth is Donald Trump changed everything and the end of America may be coming sooner rather than later. But Trump supporters have been getting a lot of coverage lately with people just trying to get inside the mind of a Trump voter. And no there’s no racism, sexism, mysoginy or anything else happening here. I mean you can say Donald Trump mocked a disabled reporter a 1,000 times and even show you the video like this:

They’ll come back and say “wrong” a 1,000 times. So here’s one instance of trying to get inside the mind of Trump supporters. We go to Covington, Louisiana, for this one.

COVINGTON, La. — “Sour grapes,” explained Bob Marino, 79, weighing in on the recent spycraft bombshell from the corner table of a local McDonald’s.

“Sour grapes,” agreed Roger Noel, 65, sitting next to him.

“Bunch of crybabies,” Reed Guidry, 64, offered from across the table.

“From the parts of the report I’ve seen,” said Rob Maness, a retired Air Force colonel who twice ran for Senate here as Tea Party favorite, “it seems silly.”

“I don’t believe it,” Mr. Yates, 78, said flatly of the intelligence report. He was standing in the yard under his “Make America Great Again” flag, which he bought at a gun show several months ago. “Why would Putin even want Trump?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/us/russia-hacking-election-trump-voters.html

Oh they’re perfectly fine with treason happening on their watch so much as those pesky liberals who want things like regulations don’t win! But this isn’t just a local problem – it’s a national problem! Let’s go to Mt. Airy, North Carolina for this story:

And yet even as this city of about 10,000 nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains fills its coffers by selling nostalgia, many of its residents would agree with the now-popular saying “We’re not in Mayberry anymore.”

If only the real Mount Airy, which has experienced decades of economic and social decline, were like the Mayberry facade, muses Mayor David Rowe. If only his city and the rest of America could return to the 1950s again.

“Now it’s about secular progressivism, not the values you get out of this book,” such as honesty and hard work, said Rowe, 72, jabbing his finger at the leather Bible on his office desk.

But as Donald Trump prepares to move into the White House, Rowe and many of his constituents are hoping for a return to the past.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/how-nostalgia-for-white-christian-america-drove-so-many-americans-to-vote-for-trump/2017/01/04/4ef6d686-b033-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html?utm_term=.0e3e87153a9d&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1#comments

But you know what? They hate us! They really hate us! I think the deplorables hate us more than they love Trump or the GOP. And these fucking people get to run the country the next four fucking years! But how much do they hate us?

It has always been ironic that a country founded by Enlightenment philosophers and bookish intellectuals like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton has long been a hostile environment for intellectuals, who are widely distrusted by much of the populace, not least because they are often irreligious or skeptical of religion (as were many of the beloved founders).

So Trump’s anti-elitism is directed more at climate scientists (after all, everyone knows that scientists are atheists), smug technocrats with Ivy League degrees and left-wing intellectuals espousing politically correct nonsense, than at wealthy oil company executives like Rex Tillerson, predatory Wall Street bankers like Steve Mnuchin, and powerful real estate tycoons like, well, Donald J. Trump.
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/07/donald-trumps-glorious-victory-for-anti-intellectualism-drain-the-swamp-just-meant-the-eggheads/#.WHEp6zJsGJs.facebook

And they’re perfectly OK with overturning separation of church and state:

A policy proposal touted by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. could unleash the vocal cords of nonprofit and religious leaders — along with their donors’ pocketbooks.

Trump and Falwell consider the “Johnson Amendment,” a 1954 tax law barring tax-exempt organizations from overtly supporting or opposing political candidates and limiting their ability to lobby, as a suppression of free speech.

While Trump has broadcast his support of the repeal to evangelical voters in particular, it applies to a broad swath of “charitable organizations” receiving tax-exempt status for charitable, religious, scientific, educational and other purposes.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/education/higher_education/trump-falwell-team-up-to-repeal-johnson-amendment/article_23c13301-f1a5-5303-abb3-82215e6d482e.html

[font size="8"]Alex Jones [/font]


So by now you heard of the horrifying shooting that happened at the baggage claim at Fort Lauderdale Airport. There’s nothing funny about that. And Alex Jones is continuing to prove to be the classless asshole that he is. And the Florida state legislature definitely isn’t helping to ease our fears about what the NRA now calls “active shooter” incidents. Gee, thanks NRA for making these types of situations far less nerve racking! Um, last I checked, nobody wants to live in a world where anybody can be killed like this at any time! So the shooting happened like this:

The suspected gunman in an airport shooting rampage in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Esteban Santiago, 26, an Iraq War veteran — has been charged with federal crimes and could face the death penalty, the Justice Department announced Saturday night.

Santiago showed signs of violence and what authorities called “erratic behavior” in the months before they said he traveled 4,000 miles from home, loaded a gun in a baggage area and killed five people in some 80 seconds.

“The area was crowded with newly-arrived passengers retrieving their luggage, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. “Santiago started shooting, aiming at his victims’ heads until he was out of ammunition.”

Santiago is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Monday at 11 a.m. before a magistrate judge in Fort Lauderdale.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/01/08/fort-lauderdale-shooting-suspect-claimed-government-was-controlling-his-mind-months-before-shooting/?utm_term=.91c2414494d7

And here’s how the Florida State Legislature responded – by cancelling a planned vote that would allow guns in airports! Seriously that’s their solution to everything – throwing more guns at it! You don’t throw a Molotov cocktail at a burning building that’s already on fire, do you?

Last week, a man named Estaban Santiago entered the Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida, and opened fire on civilians, killing five. While some lawmakers like Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz are looking to make having guns in airports completely illegal, two Florida lawmakers are looking to make the laws much more relaxed.

Florida state Sen. Greg Steube and state Rep. Jake Raburn, both Republicans, have both introduced bills into the Florida Senate and House respectively that seek to eliminate gun-free zones from places such as the areas in airports where firearms are prohibited.

While Raburn’s bill, House Bill 6001, deals exclusively with allowing concealed carry permit holders to enter into non-secured parts of the area with their firearm, Steube goes a step further. His bill, Senate Bill 140, would allow gun owners to not only carry in airports, but college campuses, public schools, courthouses, legislative committee meetings, and local government meetings
http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/01/09/fla-lawmakers-introduce-bills-to-eliminate-gun-free-zones-at-airports-after-ft-lauderdale-shooting/

And in case you’re wondering how Alex Jones ties into all of this, remember all the harassment and bullshit that Sandy Hook “truthers” that he inspired to prove that the mass murder of 20 children and 6 teachers didn’t happen and was a false flag? Well, he went from that to seeing a monetary opportunity at Fort Lauderdale:

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ radio show used the January 6 mass shooting at an airport in Fort Lauderdale, FL, to urge viewers to buy body armor from Jones’ online store.

On January 6, a gunman killed five people and wounded six others when he opened fire with a handgun in the baggage claim area at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport. The suspect, who was arrested at the scene, legally checked the firearm used for the shooting in his luggage on a flight from Anchorage, AK, to Fort Lauderdale.

The day of the shooting, two guest hosts on The Alex Jones Show -- Infowars’ Owen Shroyer and David Knight -- used the violence to urge viewers to buy body armor.

Citing the shooting and claiming “gun control areas are killing zones,” Knight said, “You need to make sure -- if they’re going to take your gun away, if they’re going to keep you defenseless -- you need to make sure that you can at least shield yourself. That’s why we’re selling tactical nanotechnology body armor that was previously available only to the military, only to law enforcement, is now available exclusively at InfowarsStore.com.”
http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/01/09/alex-jones-infowarscom-attempts-profit-fort-lauderdale-mass-shooting/214962

Yup! He’s selling weapons grade body armor! So he went from denying mass shootings happen to profiting off them! Bravo! Well done, Infowars! You’ve officially sunk to a new low! Come on sing it with me!

[font size="8"]Philippines’ War On Drugs [/font]


So just as it is our duty here at the Top 10 to talk about conservative idiots here at home, so must we do so when talking about conservative idiocy abroad. Only talking about conservative idiocy here at home, when talking about it abroad, you realize hey ours here at home aren’t this batshit fucking crazy! And that’s about the most positive thing I can say about them! So we go to the Philippines for this one. You know, you may have heard something about a “war on drugs”. Well not so much here a war on drugs as it is an excuse to lock people up for profit. But here it’s really only a dialogue. The Philippines have declared a literal war on drugs. Well maybe not so much war as it is some uh… light… genocide. And there’s nothing we can do to make this story funny. So let’s proceed.

Newly elected Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched a war on drugs about seven weeks ago. The grim result? More than 1,900 dead and counting.

Ronald dela Rosa, chief of the country's national police force, said at a Senate hearing in Manila this week that only around 750 of those people have been killed by police and that the rest of the deaths are now under investigation. Whether it's 750 or 1,900, the Philippine government has made no effort to mask the intentional targeting of anyone believed to be dealing drugs.

But according to dela Rosa, police were never given "shoot-to-kill" orders for those suspected to be drug dealers.

Funny he should claim that, because Duterte himself told a group of reporters the exact opposite earlier this month.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-philippines-drug-war-analysis-20160823-story.html

Holy fuck!!! We’re dealing with a crazy mad man here folks. This guy makes Erdogan or Kadyrov look like Sascha Cohen’s character from “The Dictator”.

But as we go down the wormhole, the scarier it gets! In fact they’re doing something that Donald Trump would just love to do here, and he’d probably get away with it too if it wasn’t for that pesky 1st amendment!

A PHILIPPINES provincial newspaper publisher has been shot dead after writing a column alleging official negligence over a recently discovered methamphetamine laboratory, in the first killing of a journalist during the country’s war on drugs.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condemned Monday’s murder of Larry Que, publisher of a news site on the island of Catanduanes, and said it “challenged” President Rodrigo Duterte to find the perpetrators and utilise a special task force he set up to protect media.

The Philippines enjoys one of Asia’s most liberal media environments, and one of the most dangerous for journalists.

Scores have been killed in the past three decades, with radio broadcasters who cover provincial politics among the most common victims. Investigations of killings have often been inconclusive.

Read more: https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/12/philippines-journalist-slain-dutertes-war-drugs/

I mean seriously this is a new level of insanity. But what else could they be up to in the Philippines?

...Maria, not her real name, now carries out contract killings as part of the government-sanctioned war on drugs.

She is part of a hit team that includes three women, who are valued because they can get close to their victims without arousing the same suspicion a man would.

Since President Duterte was elected, and urged citizens and police to kill drug dealers who resisted arrest, Maria has killed five more people, shooting them all in the head....

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37172002

Dude, is it me or does this woman remind me of either Hank Schrader from Breaking Bad or Machete?

But guess what? You know who approves of this sort of thing? If you guessed that he approves then you are… absolutely correct sir / madam! You get points!

US President-elect Donald Trump has praised Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte for his controversial war on drugs in which thousands have died, Duterte said on Saturday following a phone call between the leaders.

The Philippine president called Trump on Friday evening to congratulate him on his victory and Trump wished him “success” in his controversial crackdown, in which 4,800 people have been killed since June, according to Duterte.

“He was quite sensitive also to our worry about drugs. And he wishes me well ... in my campaign and he said that ... we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way,” Duterte said in a statement.

An aide to the Philippines president earlier said Trump invited him to the White House next year during a “very engaging, animated” phone conversation.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/03/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-donald-trump-white-house-invite

[font size="8"]Sam Brownback[/font]


Politicians at national, state and local levels who are so terrible , you wonder how they got elected in the first place. Or in this case reelected. It’s now time for another installment of:



This week – Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, who takes the concept of corporate greed to dangerous and terrifying new levels. In fact, Sam Brownback is so greedy that he decided that he wanted to simply do away with Kansas’ higher education system, which includes the University Of Kansas:

Kansas tax receipts fell $53 million short of estimates in February, and Gov. Sam Brownback on Tuesday immediately announced a $17 million cut to the state’s university system.

The latest revenue results are a dramatic blow to recent moves by the Legislature to shore up the state budget.

Individual income tax revenue last month was about $27 million below projections, and sales tax receipts missed estimates by about $12 million, according to the state’s Department of Revenue. Corporate income taxes were $7.7 million below estimates.

Brownback said the state’s budget problems reflect economic woes, not tax policy problems. He said he would focus on managing spending, not on raising taxes.

Brownback said he notified the Kansas Board of Regents of a 3 percent cut in the allocation of state tax dollars to the higher education system.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article63347152.html#storylink=cpy

That’s right – he cut education. Remember when Rick Perry said that he wanted to cut 3 government run departments, and that education was one of them? It seems that people in government really hate smart people! In fact, Brownback’s tax policies are so extremely right wing that it’s scaring some very prominent members of the party:

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article5004057.html

After Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback narrowly won re-election in November, University of Missouri political scientist Peverill Squire warned that the Republican’s close call could have a chilling effect on tax cutting.

“It will probably give a lot of Republicans nationwide pause,” Squire told The Star after Brownback won Nov. 4 with just 49.8 percent of the vote. “It’s not that they don’t want to push the same conservative policies, but they might not want to take them to an extreme.”

Now, true to Squire’s prediction, Politico said Friday that Republican-led states are getting nervous about tax cuts. It’s being called the “Brownback effect.”

Kansas, after exhausting its reserve funds, faces more than $700 million in budget cuts as a result of plummeting revenues brought on by Brownback-supported income tax cuts enacted in 2012 and 2013.

And remember when Liberty University pledged unwavering support for the NRA last year during all those mass shootings and decided to allow guns in dorms and pledged to build an on campus firing range? Well, Sam Brownback is considering allowing guns in public places and is actually overwriting the clause in the law that prevents concealed carry weapons on campus:

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Gov. Sam Brownback says he’s not rethinking his support for a Kansas law that will allow concealed guns on state college campuses starting in July.

Brownback told reporters Wednesday that he’s “not inclined to think about” revising the law enacted in 2013.

The law expanded the rights of gun owners to carry concealed weapons into public buildings, but allowed campuses to exempt themselves for four years.

The state Board of Regents last week approved policies for how the state’s six public universities will implement the law.
http://ksn.com/2016/12/21/governor-brownback-not-rethinking-support-for-campus-guns-law/

And there’s so much more. But you know what folks? Just like Donald Trump – Sam Brownback continually says that his policies are misunderstood. Like this one where he claims more money for schools despite that we just proved that he cut money for schools:

Gov. Sam Brownback said Wednesday that many Kansas voters misunderstood his policies during the recent election, when victorious legislative candidates made opposition to the governor’s policies the key issue.

Brownback enters the next year facing a budget hole and a Legislature where he has significantly reduced clout, but Brownback pushed back on the notion that he stands in opposition to the ideals that many of the incoming lawmakers based their campaigns on.

He rattled off a list off a list of common campaign promises: more money for schools, more money for the state’s pension system, an end to transfers of highway construction money into the state general fund and a fairer tax system.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article120984588.html

https://static1.fjcdn.com/comments/4355024+_5311b45db9177059bab9ae8a32aa063c.jpg

But Sam Brownback does more than just fail. He fails quite hard and quite feverishly. And you want to know how hard Brownback fails? He cost the state of Kansas nearly a billion – yes, a BILLION in wasted tax revenue. You know – wasteful government spending. That thing that the republicans accuse the democrats of on an almost hourly basis? Yes the hypocrisy reeks here:

Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s “experiment” in supply-side economics has been a disaster for his state’s finances — and his latest proposal to keep the government funded is getting panned by lawmakers in both parties.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Brownback wants to use money from the state’s long-term investments to cover a budget shortfall that’s projected to be a whopping $930 million over the next 18 months.

The goal of tapping into the investment fund, says Kansas Republican Senate Majority Leader Jim Dennin, is to “to get out of the crisis” the government is now facing “without having to do deep, deep cuts to K-12” education.

However, at least one member of Brownback’s own party is not ready to sign off on such a plan — and has even compared it to shady financial engineering.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/like-taking-a-payday-loan-kansas-lawmakers-rip-gov-brownbacks-shady-new-budget-plan/

Yes – shady financial engineering. You know we’d expect that from Donald Trump. You know that sounds very Trump-esque. Oh wait yes, he’s actually encouraging Trump to recreate his tax policies for the national level, despite that oh yes he failed hard:

When recently asked what was the matter with Kansas, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback ignored the steaming pile of economic wreckage that his supply-side experiment has caused in the state, and suggested that President-elect Donald Trump should take the Kansas model nationwide.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Friday, America’s least popular governor urged Trump to mimic the massive spending and tax cuts he implemented in Kansas — which have led to growing budget gaps, missed growth projections and two credit downgrades for the state.

Critics “won’t look with any depth or detail at the impact on small business growth or private-sector job growth,” Brownback said, brushing aside the evidence that his policies have failed disastrously. “That’s the target, that’s what we’re after.”
http://www.salon.com/2016/12/23/sam-brownback-urges-donald-trump-to-replicate-his-kansas-disaster-on-a-national-scale/

Which – the few sane lawmakers Kansas actually has left are calling on him to fix the economic mess that he himself is responsible for:

TOPEKA — Kansas lawmakers hope Gov. Sam Brownback will make a firm commitment to permanently fix the state’s budget woes in his State of the State address.

Republicans and Democrats expressed a desire for the governor to acknowledge the state’s current fiscal shortcomings. Yet one Democratic legislator predicted the second-term chief executive would continue to stand his ground on budget and tax policy.

Brownback will deliver the annual State of the State address at 5 p.m. Tuesday. State officials are then expected to unveil his budget proposal Wednesday morning.
http://www.hdnews.net/news/local/lawmakers-want-brownback-to-commit-to-fixing-budget-problems-in/article_6d865327-cc65-513c-9152-57c659b95750.html

And you know how Sam Brownback paid back the working class in Kansas? By giving the workers and tax payers of Kansas more questions than answers:

Gov. Sam Brownback’s holiday gift to the hardworking Kansas statehouse press corps is the end-of-the year sit-down he grants reporters, who are invited individually or in pairs to his inner-office sanctum. There, like an understuffed Santa, the sweater-clad governor dispenses a bag full of excuses, falsehoods, underwhelming plans and promises he can’t keep.

Brownback is always a pretty unjolly Santa, but he was especially whiny this year. The media are unfair, he complained. Legislators don’t understand him. The state Senate president calls him names.
http://www.pitch.com/news/article/20847322/sam-brownback-at-christmas-the-lonely-governor-with-so-much-to-give-the-rest-of-america

And not only did he get elected, but somehow he got reelected. Which makes us wonder how Sam Brownback is one of the:




[font size="8"]Bo Bice[/font]


We might need the Sad Hulk Music for this one, can we get that please?

So I’m sure you’ve heard by now Bo Bice. Has claimed a case of reverse racism. So he’s at the Atlanta Terminal 3 Popeye’s – which I’ve been to many times – and then this happened.

Former ‘American Idol’ contestant Bo Bice says that he was the victim of a racial epithet from a Popeye’s restaurant employee, and he’s being mocked on social media for even suggesting such a thing is possible.

Bice documented his version of the story in an angry Facebook post that has since been removed for alleged failure to meet Facebook standards. Here’s an excerpt from the post:

Shawana is such a model Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen employee! After laughing at and mocking my name (Bow-Bow, Boo-Boo, Bo-Bo) for 5 minutes straight with other employees, then when my order came up for a 2nd time (because she rang it up twice, goes to show how on top of things they were) they called out “BO-BO”, to which she refereed to me in a condescending tone as “The White Boy” to her other fellow Popeye’s teammates. “He already got this, that White Boy there” they all had a good laugh over it, even the so-called manager you see in the photo beside Shawana. Now, if the tables had been turned and I as a white male treated any person of ethnicity anyway resembling how she spoke to and treated me I’d be considered insensitive and racist.
www.theblaze.com/news/2017/01/04/american-idol-alum-bo-bice-says-hes-victim-of-racism-from-popeyes-employee/

Well OK there’s so much wrong here that it’s hard to know where to start. I’m a white guy, OK? And as you can guess, I am the type of guy who does not get out in the sun much. So if someone calls me “white” then you know what I’m OK with it! And people like Bo Bice are exactly the kind of thin skinned people who make Donald Trump possible. Let’s continue:

In a deleted Facebook post, Bice claimed that he was the victim of “racist behavior” because one female employee said to another, “He’s already got his [order], that white boy over there.”

Bice threatened legal action against Popeye’s, and also called out Facebook for allegedly deleting his initial post about the incident. In an interview with Fox 5 news on Tuesday, Bice tearfully recounted his story, saying:

“If the tables had been turned and I had used something...and been as insensitive as to say something like that, I would be boycotted. There would be people not buying my albums, there would be people coming and picketing at my shows, and everything else.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/former-american-idol-contestants-cries-over-being-called-white-boy_us_586d0e19e4b0eb58648b5445

You know what Bo? The first thing they teach you about starting an argument in debate class is that when you’re in a hole, stop digging! And people would stop buying your albums? I haven’t seen you on the Top 10 on iTunes in years!!! I mean really? That’s what you’re concerned about? If you’re concerned about image, I get that. But seriously… this is extremely bad form. But the best of this POS came from Stephen Colbert:

The American Idol season 4 runner-up made headlines this week when he complained about having to endure “reverse racism” at a Popeye’s fast food restaurant located in the Atlanta airport.

The singer sounded off on Facebook, then attacked the site when they deleted his post at Popeye’s request. He broke down in tears during a FOX 5 interview claiming the situation had “forced” him to air his grievances in public.

Colbert did a masterful job of skewering Bo’s petty white man resentment.

Responding to Bo’s claim that if the roles had been reversed, the public would boycott his album sales, Colbert snarked, “I don’t even want to imagine a world where people don’t buy Bo Bice albums.”
http://www.mjsbigblog.com/stephen-colbert-skewers-american-idol-bo-bice-late-show-video.htm

Can we roll the tape on that?

&t=5s



[font size="8"]The Trump Effect[/font]


So there was a story that happened last week in Chicago. And I don’t even want to talk about it. I hate this story so much. Fuck this story and everybody in it. I’m not going to talk about it. What????????????????? OK fine. Make me. I know you are but what am I? It takes one to know one! But mooooooooooooom!!!! Damn it! OK fine I’ll just run it, but that’s about it. No I am not going to add any commentary! Or jokes or memes! Because there’s absolutely no way you can make this story funny!

Four suspects have been charged with a hate crime in the brutal attack of a mentally disabled man that was recorded and posted online.

Police arrested the four alleged assailants Wednesday evening after they posted streaming video of the attack on Facebook Live, and authorities announced charges on Thursday afternoon, reported WGN-TV.

Jordan Hill, 18, of Carpentersville, was charged with aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, robbery, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and residential burglary.

Tesfaye Cooper, 18, of Chicago, was charged with aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and residential burglary.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/four-suspected-assailants-charged-with-hate-crime-in-video-attack-on-disabled-white-man/

That’s the extent of the shit that the Trump and anti-Trump crowd have been up to this week, but I’m not touching that with a 10 foot pole. Now moving on. There’s two more stories about the Trump Effec t that I want to mention before we get out of here and move onto the 10th thing this week – heading of course back to Kansas where lots of racism in the National Guard appears to be taking place. We’re going backwards at an alarming rate folks!

Kansas National Guard Lt. Col. Barry Thomas spoke of black soldiers under his command with a harshness perceived by investigators to inflame racial tension.

The white officer, who led the Kansas Army Guard’s recruiting battalion among other assignments in a career spanning more than 25 years, told a soldier, “I thought I would never meet a black man that did not like watermelon.”

On a separate occasion, according to investigation documents obtained by The Topeka Capital-Journal, Thomas said he believed African-American men universally favored oral sex. Investigators reported he referred to a black sergeant major as a “tongue-chewing retard” who dressed like a “pimp.” He questioned why a black soldier would possess a home more valuable than his own.

A multifaceted internal inquiry by Kansas military officers into alleged malfeasance within the Kansas National Guard found that Thomas held “little regard for soldiers under his care” and led to a recommendation he forfeit a chance for promotion. Thomas was elevated to colonel despite violating a zero-tolerance Kansas Guard order against bullying subordinates. He still holds a leadership position among 7,500 Kansas Guard employees who serve in combat, respond to Kansas disasters and perform humanitarian missions.

http://cjonline.com/news/state-government/2017-01-07/internal-investigation-kansas-guard-pinpoints-toxic-leadership

And then there’s this:

Officials at Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark said they will investigate an incident in which the Plainfield High School girls basketball team arrived at the school for a game Saturday and found a black dummy hanging from its neck in the room they were given.

When Plainfield arrived for the 11 a.m. game, it was met by what appeared to be a black dummy hanging from its neck by string with a basketball attached to it, according to a posting on Facebook.
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/union-county/2017/01/07/officials-investigate-black-dummy-hanging-plainfield-game/96297268/

Yeah. We’re going to hell.


[font size="8"]How To Talk About Trump For Dummies Pt 4[/font]


Now class! Settle down and pay attention! HEY QUIET!!!! So we’ve got just one more class in our ongoing lecture series about how to talk about Donald Trump for dummies. By now you’ve most likely left home to return to the grind. And said good bye to your racist aunts and uncles. But now you have your coworkers to deal with, and just 9 (NEIN!!!!) days until the nightmare that is the Donald J. Trump administration begins. I’m sure his inauguration will just be him maniacally laughing for an hour and a half, if he does laugh at all. So let’s get out our textbooks shall we?



[font size="6"]Chapter 10 Part 2: Dissecting A Trump Tweet[/font]

So when we left off last week, we showed you how to dissect a genuine Donald J. Trump tweet by reading beyond the headlines looking for actual facts. Because now that we live in a world where facts don’t matter, it helps to have backup in these types of arguments. So with that in mind, let’s take a recent Tweet from his Tweetness, Donald J. Trump where he talks about Toyota. I’m sure most of you here either own a Toyota or have owned a Toyota at some point in the past, am I right?



Phew. Those are some pretty strong words, am I not right about that, class? So we’ll show you the whole story and then tell you how to dissect the tweet.

TOKYO — Donald J. Trump sent shivers across the Japanese auto industry on Friday after warning Toyota on Twitter that he would impose a “big border tax” on the company if it built a new plant in Mexico.

It appeared to be the first time he had taken on a foreign company for plans that did not directly involve the United States. The effects were immediate: Shares in Toyota and other carmakers fell in trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday. And Japanese government officials hustled to respond to the rhetoric with soothing reminders of the jobs that the country’s auto manufacturers had created in the United States.

“Toyota itself has tried to be a good corporate citizen in the U.S. to date,” said Yoshihide Suga, chief cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Daily Gendai, one of Japan’s leading tabloid newspapers, declared in a front-page headline that “Trump tries to smash Toyota,” and another tabloid, Evening Fuji, hinted at a coming battle with its headline, “Trump vs. Toyota.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/business/trump-toyota-mexico-twitter-threat.html

So Toyota is hopping mad here! Now here’s how you can dissect the Tweet. Yes there’s nothing that makes Donald J. Trump or his supporters madder than when you use actual facts to back up an argument. Even from his favorite “dishonest media” sources like the New York Times or Washington Post which they will almost instantly discredit as being wrong.

President-elect Donald Trump continued his Twitter tirade against the auto industry on Thursday, slamming Toyota for investing in Mexico but appearing to misstate key details of the company’s operations.

Trump warned the Japanese carmaker over Twitter that it could face hefty fines for building a plant in Baja, Mexico, to sell the popular Corolla sedan to American consumers. But Trump’s tweet looks to be incorrect: Toyota’s factory in Baja assembles Tacoma trucks, according to the automaker. A new plant in Guanajuato, Mexico, will manufacture Corollas.

That factory broke ground in November, and production is expected to begin in 2019. The work is being shifted to the plant from a facility in Canada. In a statement Thursday, Toyota said that there is no change in employment and production in the United States as a result of the new operations.

“Toyota has been part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. for nearly 60 years,” the company said. “Toyota looks forward to collaborating with the Trump administration to serve in the best interests of consumers and the automotive industry.”

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/05/donald-trump-threatens-toyota-but-it-looks-like-he-got-the-facts-wrong/?utm_term=.4fef2376b9fe&wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1

Pro Tip: You can almost instantly guess how Donald Trump is going to discredit this story with a Fake Trump Tweet.



[font size="6"]Chapter 11: The Dishonest Media[/font]

Donald J. Trump *LOVES* to talk about the “dishonest media”. So now we’re going to take a dip in the international Conservative Idiots file and head to Germany. See we here at the Top 10 are not afraid of covering events abroad because conservative idiocy isn’t just limited to these United States of ours. No, it’s an international problem that stems far and wide, reaching around the world. So Donald Trump cant stop Tweeting about the “dishonest media”. It’s his mantra. It’s the thing that makes him well, Donald J. Trump. So how does that tie into Germany, you may ask? Well I answer you good sir / madam with this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/pwa/?utm_term=.1987400386fa#https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/24/the-ugly-history-of-luegenpresse-a-nazi-slur-shouted-at-a-trump-rally/

BERLIN — When a video of two Donald Trump supporters shouting “Lügenpresse” (lying press) started to circulate Sunday, viewers from Germany soon noted its explosive nature. The defamatory word was most frequently used in Nazi Germany. Today, it is a common slogan among those branded as representing the “ugly Germany”: members of xenophobic, right-wing groups.

Its use across the Atlantic Ocean at a Trump rally has worried Germans who know about its origins all too well. Both the Nazi regime and the East German government made use of it, turning it into an anti-democracy slogan.”

Where’s Aldo Raine when you need him?




So now Nazi-ism has come full circle. It started out in Germany after WWI. Then after WWII, it supposedly put an end to it. Now it’s resurfaced in the US under the title of “alt right” (or “alt reich” as we call it here at the office). Now thanks to America’s alt right it’s picking up steam back in the Fatherland. So how bad is it? Well let’s ask our great vice president Joe Biden:

Vice President Joe Biden has a very simple message for president-elect Donald Trump: “Grow up.”

Biden made the comment during an interview with PBS News Hour, when asked about Trump’s Thursday morning tweet calling Senate minority leader Chuck Schemer “head clown.”

“Grow up, Donald,” Biden said. “Grow up. Time to be an adult, you’re president.”

“You gotta do something, show us what you have,” the Vice President continued. “You’re gonna propose the legislation, we’re going to get to debate it, let the public decided. Let ’em vote in Congress. Let’s see what happens. It’s going to be much clearer what he’s for and against and what we’re for and against now that it’s going to get down to actually discussing, in detail, these issues that affect people’s lives.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/joe-biden-blisters-trump-over-childish-tweets-grow-up-time-to-be-an-adult-youre-president/comments/#disqus

Pro Tip: It helps when arguing about anything involving Donald Trump, to Donald Trump supporters, that it helps to stoop to their level. Like when Alec Baldwin recently trolled Trump supporters by wearing a “make America Great Again” hat in Russian:





[font size="6"]Chapter 12: Behavioral Theory[/font]

Here’s the other part of where all the pieces start coming together. We’ve talked about Trump’s reckless behavior since the election ad nauseum. Now that it’s a new year and he’s 9 days away from the presidency barring some unforeseen catastrophe, he will become the 45th president of the United States. So before we get into this section we’re going to first use the DSM to define what disorder we think Donald Trump has.

Delusional disorder is one of the less common psychotic disorders, in which patients have delusions but not the other classical symptoms of schizophrenia (thought disorder, hallucinations, mood disturbance or flat affect). There have been some changes in diagnostic criteria for this condition in the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, intended to improve the reliability and stability of the diagnosis and facilitate consistent treatment (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

A delusion is a belief that is held with strong conviction despite evidence disproving it that is stronger than any evidence supporting it. It is distinct from an erroneous belief caused by incomplete information (misconception or misunderstanding), deficient memory (confabulation) or incorrect perception (illusion). The psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers proposed 3 criteria for delusional beliefs in 1913: certainty (the belief is held with absolute conviction), incorrigibility (the belief cannot be changed with any proof to the contrary) and impossibility or falsity (the belief cannot be true) (Jaspers, 1967). Delusions are associated with a variety of mental and neurological disorders, but are of diagnostic importance in the psychotic disorders.
http://www.theravive.com/therapedia/Delusional-Disorder-DSM--5-297.1-(F22)

This pretty much describes Trump and his supporters in a nutshell. No matter how much you try to dissuade them, they are always convinced that they are right 110% of the time, and anyone who goes against the narrative is wrong. You can roll the tape on them, you can point out facts, you can repeat actual news or whatever you feel like, but they’ll come back with this.

This describes how narcissists like Alex Jones and Donald Trump operate. And how Donald conducts himself on Twitter? Well one CIA analyst said that Donald might want to refrain from doing this when he takes the oath on January 20th, his tweets could have the potential to start WWIII!

When he officially takes office next week, Donald Trump should really think twice about tweeting, James Woolsey, ex-CIA chief and former senior advisor to the president-elect, told CNBC on Monday.
Trump should re-evaluate his use of Twitter (TWTR) with "fresh eyes" after the inauguration, because "governing in 140 character transmissions is a lot harder," Woolsey said on "Squawk Box."
Without elaborating, Woosley argued there could be some circumstances in which Twitter would be effective for Trump as president.
The Constitution has survived many tests, but figuring out how to deal with Twitter is a "whole new ballgame," he said. To ensure security, it's going to take "creativity" to manage a tweeting president, he said.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ex-cia-chief-warns-trump-to-beware-of-tweeting-after-inauguration-day/ar-BBy50QR?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

And in case you’re wondering what exactly makes a narcissist tick, what allows someone like Donald Trump with no conscious or sense of decency to sleep at night, there’s a technique called “Gaslighting” that is a common technique of argument among your modern narcissists:

Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse used by narcissists in order to instill in their victim’s an extreme sense of anxiety and confusion to the point where they no longer trust their own memory, perception or judgment. The techniques used in “Gaslighting” by the narcissist are similar to those used in brainwashing, interrogation, and torture that have been used in psychological warfare by intelligence operative, law enforcement and other forces for decades.

The intention is to, in a systematic way, target the victim’s mental equilibrium, self confidence, and self esteem so that they are no longer able to function in an independent way. Gaslighting involves the abuser to frequently and systematically withhold factual information from the victim, and replacing it with false information. Because of it’s subtly, this cunning Machiavellian behaviour is a deeply insidious set of manipulations that is difficult for anybody to work out, and with time it finally undermines the mental stability of the victim. That is why it is such a dangerous form of abuse.

http://narcissisticbehavior.net/the-effects-of-gaslighting-in-narcissistic-victim-syndrome/

Pro Tip: In chapter 13 we’ll discuss the inevitable dictator comparisons. Because you can’t have too many of those when talking about a narcissistic crazy person who can start a nuclear war!



Pro Tip: When a Trump supporter talks about jobs, you can talk about the few that he’s created, or the many that he’s taken away . Talking about the latter helps, usually with proof!

Between the Trump transition team’s infighting, incompetence, and high-profile resignations, any decisions that signaled even a modicum of stability for the country would come as a relief at this point. Unfortunately, the nascent Trump Administration isn’t inclined to calm anyone’s nerves. According to an official within the Department of Energy, this past Friday, the President-elect’s team instructed the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration and his deputy to clean out their desks when Trump takes office on January 20th.

The NNSA is the $12 billion-a-year agency that “maintains and enhances the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.” It’s unclear when the two officials will be replaced.

Traditionally, all political appointees of an outgoing presidential administration turn in resignation letters effective on noon of inauguration day, January 20. But appointees in key positions—like the people who make sure our nukes work—are often asked to stay on in their roles until a replacement can be found and confirmed by the Senate, helping ensure a smooth transition and allowing our government to continue functioning. In fact, for the entirety of Obama’s first term and into part of his second, the NNSA Administrator remained a Bush appointee.

Trump, however, appears determined to immediately push out everyone who was appointed by Obama, regardless of whether or not he has anyone in line for the job. Or, as our source put it: “It’s a shocking disregard for process and continuity of government.”

Read more: http://gizmodo.com/trump-just-dismissed-the-people-in-charge-of-maintainin-1790908093

That’s it for this week class! Your homework is to pre-read chapters 13 about dictatorial comparisons and chapter 14 – the conclusion, for the conclusion for when we reconvene next week! And there will be a written final exam!

[font size="8"]And now this:[/font]
[font size="8"]Fitz & The Tantrums[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, playing their song “Complicated” from their album “Fitz & The Tantrums”, available in stores everywhere music is sold, please welcome Fitz & The Tantrums!

Yeah how about that?

See you next week!

[malaise]

1. Most excellent

Stlll reading