For a president who has told over 20,000 "false or misleading claims" while in office, as The Washington Post reported in July, finding a Trump truth is like finding a needle in an ocean made of hay. But super PAC MeidasTouch succeeded to do just that. "It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans," Trump honestly says in The Trump Depression (the video above).
We already know Trump is a liar, cheater, and misogynist, and we already know that Mike Pence is a bible-totin' hypocrite. But this Lincoln Project anti-Trump ad, "Adultery," is still an entertaining reminder of just how vile the gruesome twosome really are.
There are those who wear their masks properly, those who don't wear them at all, and then the strange category of folks who sport a mask with their entire snout hanging out. Apparently they missed Poppy's video back in 2017, and should take 32 seconds out of their day to study it now.
Back in January, Mark wondered if the new coronavirus would wipe out Corona beer in the same way AIDS killed the anti-suppressant candy Ayds in the 1980s. After all, days before Mark's post, David posted about a Google Trends graph that showed a spike on "the words corona, beer, and virus." And memes about "corona virus beer" were popping up, while Constellation Brands, Inc — the makers of Corona beer — saw shares decline by 8% in February, according to Time.
Now, seven months after Mark's post, with 180,000 lives lost in the United States from Covid-19, it looks like Corona beer was able to overcome "the AIDS/Ayds effect," as Mark put it, and, at least according to the Daily Beast, "it hasn't just survived, it's actually prospered."
From Daily Beast:
The folks at Constellation Brands surely had a premonition that this was going to be a very tough year.
"Seriously?"they must have thought, "there's a virus that's become a deadly pandemic, and it's got the same name as our bestselling beer Corona? You have got to be kidding." …
The Corona/coronavirus thing was mostly a worry that never materialized. There were a small, small number of people who seemed to consider a connection between the beer and the pandemic for more than a few seconds, but mostly it was fodder for "man on the street" interviews at local TV stations. The company did feel compelled to issue a response on Feb. 28, about two weeks before the panic took hold in the U.S….
It's been a rough year, and it's not over, but Corona has met corona, and so far, the beer is still standing.
Image: Panos Sakalakis / Flickr
Florida man, or in this case, Florida Sheriff Billy Woods announced a no-mask order to his staff on Tuesday. That's right – the deputies and staff of Marion County are forbidden to wear a mask on duty.
If anyone complains, he told his staff to "politely and professionally tell them 'I am not required to wear a mask—nor will I, per the Order of the Sheriff' and then walk away from them," according to WFTV-TV.
But there's more. He is also forbidding visitors to the sheriff's office from wearing a mask "so they can be easily identified and there is clear communication," according to AP.
Meanwhile, AP reports that Florida had more than 8,100 new cases on Wednesday, 550,000 total cases, and 213 deaths in one day.
And, according to HuffPost, Marion county, which has a population of only 370,00 people, has had appoximately 6,800 Covid-19 infections and a total of Covid-related 170 deaths.
The final kicker? From HuffPost:
"Ironically, Marion reported a single-day record of 13 deaths on Tuesday, the same day the sheriff declared deputies could not wear masks.
"In addition, 43 sheriff's office employees and more than 200 inmates at the Marion County Jail have tested positive for the coronavirus so far."
Yesterday Kamala Harris made her first speech since becoming the 2020 vice presidential nominee, and in the blink of an eye came "Prosecute Trump," another delightful anti-Trump video by the progressive group Meidas Touch.
Using parts of Harris's speech as the narration, the video presents an "open and shut" case as to why Trump is a criminal failure. We're reminded of the recent US catastrophes created by Trump's mismanagement and utter ineptness, including "a crisis of poverty, of homelessness, of hunger, more than 165,000 lives that have been cut short."
And then we're reminded of why we were doing well during Trump's first years in office. "He inherited the longest economic expansion in history from Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And then, like everything else he inherited, he ran it straight into the ground."
The video ends with, "As somebody who has presented my fair share of arguments in court, the case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut," along with #ProsecuteTrump as the final image.
Anti-masker in Tucson, AZ throws a tantrum and has to be carried out by his own son pic.twitter.com/ggo4I968aL
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) August 11, 2020
Watch this Arizona man get so worked up because others are wearing masks that he has to be carried out of the supermarket like a crying toddler. Yet another anti-masker breakdown.
George Conway's satirical piece in The Washington Post, "I (Still) Believe the President, and in the President," is like a Lincoln Project video in prose form. Playing the part of a moron, Conway puts a mirror up to Trump — and his supporters — by listing Trump's outrageous lies, hateful remarks, and sheer idiocy as things he believes in.
Some of my favorite lines:
"I believe it's normal for the president to say 'Yo Semites' and 'Yo Seminites,' 'Thigh Land,' 'Minne-a-napolis,' 'toe-tally-taria-tism,' 'Thomas Jeffers' and 'Ulyss-eus S. Grant.'"
"I believe the president 'aced' a 'very hard' impairment test, and that his 'very surprised' doctors found this 'unbelievable.'"
"I believe the president and the doctor who believes in demon sperm and the medical use of space alien DNA, and not Anthony S. Fauci, who's an 'alarmist' and 'wrong.'"
"I believe the president's suggestions that physicians should try injecting patients with household disinfectants, and shining ultraviolet light inside their bodies, make perfect sense."
"I believe that the president has done a tremendous job fighting the virus — and that he shouldn't 'take responsibility at all' — even though about 160,000 Americans have died. I believe the virus "is what it is."
"I believe it isn't racist to call the coronavirus 'kung flu' or 'the China Virus.' It isn't racially divisive to say Black Lives Matter is a "symbol of hate," to celebrate Confederate generals as part of our 'Great American Heritage,' or to share video of someone shouting 'white power,' which, like displaying the Confederate flag, is 'freedom of speech.'"
And, for the grand finale, the last graph: "I believe the president won the popular vote in 2016 'if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.' I believe he shouldn't accept the election results if he loses in November."
Read the entire article at The Washington Post.
Image: Gage Skidmore / Flickr
The Georgia high school that suspended two students for posting a video of the school's crowded halls has shut down due to coronavirus infections. Nine people at North Paulding High School (6 students, 3 staff members) have tested positive, and attended school "for at least some time" last week, according to Principal Gabe Carmona.
Now the school is closed, at least today and tomorrow, for a scrub down. And then, incredibly, they might decide to open again on Wednesday.
From The Washington Post:
The district will announce Tuesday evening whether in-person instruction will resume the next day, [Superintendent Brian] Otott wrote to parents Sunday in a second letter, shared by a WSB-TV reporter.
Otott added that anyone who has tested positive, as well as close contacts of people who have the virus, must quarantine for 14 days before returning to school.
"I apologize for any inconvenience this schedule change may cause, but hopefully we all can agree that the health and safety of our students and staff takes precedence over any other considerations at this time," Otott wrote.
The infections validate concerns in Georgia and nationwide that crowded conditions in the nation's K-12 schools could facilitate virus transmission as the new academic year begins. Young people develop severe infections at far lower rates than adults, but experts warn that they could be vectors for infecting more vulnerable populations, such as older relatives in the same household.
It took a national outcry for the school to reverse the two students' suspensions last Friday. I wonder how many coronavirus cases it'll take for the school district to reverse its stance on in-person instruction.
This is what it looks like even with split dismissal. pic.twitter.com/erCA2lhOUb
— hannah (@ihateiceman) August 4, 2020
Director Rob Savage got a reaction out of his friends last April with a jump-scare prank on Zoom. He told them he'd been hearing things in his attic, and, with them on the call, decided to investigate with a knife. The prank went so well, it inspired him to write and direct the long short film (under an hour) Host, which is now streaming on Shudder.
I've been hearing strange noises from my attic, so I called a few friends and went to investigate… pic.twitter.com/CxmJAf44ob
— Rob Savage (@DirRobSavage) April 21, 2020
From Mashable:
Host's premise revolves around a group of friends meeting up on Zoom to stay in touch while social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. One of the friends, the uptight but justified Hayley (Haley Bishop), sets up the meeting as an "online seance," calling in a medium to provide some low-key thrills for her friends. The seance goes about as well as any seance goes in a horror movie, though Host is far from typical in its brilliance and unique execution.
Though Host takes place on a computer screen, it feels different from previous attempts at laptop horror because its principal photography actually took place using the devices used by the characters. In an interview with SF Chronicle, director Rob Savage explained that he got Zoom's permission to use their software in the film, taught the actors how to set up spooky effects with fishing wire, and directed their performances over video chat. His authentic approach seeps into Host's final product, making its quality all the more impressive.
Always on the lookout for new horror/science fiction/dystopian films for Friday movie nights, I know what I'll be watching tonight. Here's the trailer for Host.
Like a toddler who only wants the toy that the other kid is playing with, this dog only wants food that the other dog (er, human) is eating. But, with just a bit of reverse psychology, said human gets his pooch to relish its doggie meal. Watch this simple trick.
Researchers compared the sprays of droplets we spew out of our mouths when wearing a one-layered cloth mask, two-layered cloth mask, surgical mask, and no mask at all — while talking, coughing, and sneezing.
Mashable sums up the findings succinctly:
The study's big takeaways are:
• When talking, wearing even a single-layer mask significantly limits the exhalation of droplets.
• For coughing and sneezing, a double-layer mask is much more effective than a single-layer mask.
• Generally, the more layers a mask has the better. The researchers suggest "at least three layers" and found surgical masks performed best in this study — though not everyone has access to these masks.
For more details read the published results in Thorax.
While most businesses suffer through the pandemic, Wham-O is raking in the sales with Slip 'N Slide. Even three months ago, "the company enjoyed 10 consecutive days in late April where sales doubled each day," says TMZ. Now the water toy, which made its debut in 1961, is out of stock.
And it's not just Slip 'N Slide that is keeping Wham-O fat. Frisbee sales are up 500%, according to TMZ, and Boogie Boards are up 300%.
Wham-O's timeless toys, which also include Super Ball, the Hula hoop, and Hacky sack, are perfect for bored kids during long hot stay-at-home days, so it makes sense that they were first created by, well, "bored kids on a hot day." Here's the Slip N Slide origin story, posted by Andrea a few weeks ago.
Ladies and gentlemen, gather 'round the fire for Story Hour, brought to you by The Lincoln Project. Listen to excerpts from Mary Trump's fresh-off-the-press book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, the book that Uncle Trump tried but failed to stop from being published.
Episode 1 describes his deep-rooted personality and emotional dysfunctions, which have plagued him since the age of three.
"Donald today, as much as he was at three-years-old, incapable of growing, learning, or evolving. Unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, and synthesize information. Donald's need for affirmation is so great, he doesn't seem to notice that the largest group of supporters are people he wouldn't condescend to be seen with outside of a rally. His deep-seated insecurities have created in him a black hole of need that constantly requires the light of compliments that disappears as soon as he's soaked it in. Nothing is ever enough…"
Episode 2 gives us a brief history of his mother, Mary (not to be confused with author Mary, his niece), who, "in a classic example of chain migration," boarded the RMS Transylvania and journeyed to America in 1930. "Despite her status as a domestic servant, as a white Anglo-Saxon Mary would have been allowed into the country even under her son's Draconian new immigration rules introduced nearly 90 years later." The storyteller stops to scold Trump. "Now Donald, your own mother was an immigrant. Shame on you."
Stay tuned for more insightful videos from The Lincoln Project, a group of relentless never-Trumpers.
When the police in Allenhurst, Georgia, a town of only 700 people, got a call about a dead female body found by the railroad tracks, they rushed to the scene. But, since they aren't allowed to touch dead bodies until it's been inspected by a coroner, they waited around for a bit.
Hence, according to AP, "It took a while before they realized the joke was on them: The corpse was actually a sex doll."
Detective Mike Albritton said officers found the female humanoid Tuesday afternoon, WSAV-TV reported…
Once the coroner came to the scene, detectives began checking the body for injuries and immediately realized it was a sex doll. Detectives said it was anatomically correct, with realistic features and was fully dressed.
It's unclear whether authorities will investigate. Albritton said he's never encountered a incident like this.
Image: Ventus17 / Pixabay
While the White House launches its smear campaign against Dr. Fauci, The Lincoln Project churns out another great anti-Trump ad to set things straight. The ad starts by reminding us that Dr. Fauci has worked for six presidents, including President H.W. Bush, who praised Dr. Fauci as an American hero during the fight against AIDS.
"Now Trump is attacking Dr Fauci," the narrator says. "Why? Because Trump failed America." As the coronavirus keeps spreading, killing nearly 140,000 people in the United States so far, Fauci's strategy is to give us facts and the truth, while Trump's strategy — besides pushing "cures" that are proven to be deadly — is to attack and blame.
The final message: "So who do you trust? Donald the dope? Or the doctor?"
