The blue awnings to the left? Tiffany’s. Next to that, Trump Tower. Parked in front? Six dump trucks to absorb any potential blasts. Good times.
Taking The Fifth
It seems that Donald J. Trump is ready to be the 45th president of the United States, but he may not be ready to leave New York City. Donald is conducting all of his extreme vetting of potential staffers and cabinet members from Trump Tower, which is just south of 57th Street on Fifth Avenue, which if you’ve never been to New York City, is a prit-tee, prit-tee, prit-tee essential piece of real estate. And busy.
Statue commemorating the spot of Washington’s inauguration, across from the NYSE
Are we going to have four years of this? Trump has already indicated a desire to return to Trump Tower on weekends, as if the White House is just boarding school. How did we get from the Twin Towers to Trump Tower in just 15 years? Worth noting: George Washington was sworn in as our first POTUS in lower Manhattan, in a building catty corner to the New York Stock Exchange. Is Trump bringing it all back home?
Caught the above video for the first time yesterday. The comedian is Anthony Atamanuik. Check out the look on the mug of the dude at the 1:19 mark.
2. K.P. Duty
The Knickerbockers defeated the Piston 105-102 behind a career-high 35 points from 7’3″ Latvian Kristaps Porzingis, who is 21 years old. That’s an encouraging sign for a franchise that has experienced just three winning seasons in the past 15 years. On the other hand….
Porzingis has 35 points tonight, but I can’t root for him because he took a job away from an American worker.
(Downtown Josh Brown is someone you should follow, if you’re not already)
3. Faster Than The Human Race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKFAALtenzY
Have to admit, it was refreshing to see some deer run down a human for once. I hope the deer’s grill is okay. The runner who failed to “Watch out for the deer!” was Justin DeLuzio, a senior at Gwynedd Mercy College who was taking part in his last cross country race. Deluzio, competing in an NCAA D-II Mideast regional in Center Valley, Pa., got up and finished the race.
4. Death in the City
Comunale was 26
The story of the death of 26 year-old Joseph Comunale is not uncommon. Something like this happens in New York City at least once a year it seems. Doesn’t make it any less grisly.
Here’s what we know: Comunale, a 26 year-old Hofstra grad who lived in Stamford, Conn., takes the Metro North into the city (about 80 minutes) with some friends to attend a party. Someone knows someone. Good-looking guy, extroverted, Comunale makes some new friends, ditches his friends, and goes clubbing. Is last seen entering an upscale apartment building on 59th and 1st just after sunrise with two other men and three women.
James Rackover, right, and his pop. The son is a primary person of interest in the murder.
That’s the last anyone sees him alive. On Wednesday morning his body is found in a shallow grave off a dirt road in Oceanport, N.J., about 35 miles south as the crow flies. Apparently one of the two men had led cops there. He’d been stabbed to death and the body burned to some degree.
Meanwhile, the man who owned the apartment, James Rackover, the son of a wealthy jeweler, at some point on Sunday allegedly asked one of the security people in the building how long they keep surveillance video before getting rid of it. Not smart, dude. Not smart.
Man, if Law & Orderwere still airing fresh episodes….
(UPDATE: The older man above is Jeffery Rackover. He’s a longtime friend of Donald Trump’s and sold him the engagement ring he gave to Melania. So it’ll be interesting if he puts in a call to the Don for a favor).
5. 76…er
6’3″ sophomore Katie Lou Samuelson is hoping to help UConn break its own record streak of 90 straight wins. Tonight is its sternest test until Dec. 7, at No. 1 Notre Dame
Don’t usually do items on programming, but how strange that No. 2 Baylor at No. 3 UConn, the latter of whom is sporting a 76-game win streak, can be found nowhere on national television tonight (ESPN is going with Louisville at Houston in football, which makes sense, and Pitt at SMU in men’s basketball, which doesn’t.).
To break its own record of 90 consecutive wins, UConn will need to beat No. 2 Baylor (tonight), No. 8 Texas (Dec. 4), at No. 1 Notre Dame (Dec. 7), No. 7 Ohio State (Dec. 19) and at No. 6 Maryland (Dec. 29). That doesn’t even include a contest with No. 20 DePaul and this weekend’s game at LSU, which won’t be simple. That’s five Top 10 and six Top 20 teams between now and the record. Not an easy stretch.
Meanwhile the 2-9 Philadelphia 76ers, who need to go back 4-plus seasons to compile a total of 76 victories, are on TNT tonight at the T-Wolves (second night of a back-to-back for the Sixers; take Minnesota and give the points if you are a wagering man).
ESPN has no control over the Sixer game, I know, but I’m trying to understand why Baylor at UConn from Gampel Pavilion is not on TV. Krulewitz, you have any answers?
Reserves
What Makes America Great Again?
Earlier today on CBS This MorningJon Stewart appeared and spewed more wisdom that you’ll hear out of Donald, Rudy or KellyAnne for the next four (make it less, please) years. One of the things he said that stuck with me, “Nobody ever asked Donald Trump what makes America great.”
I think I did in one of my 5,000 Trump-related tweets, but I’m too lazy to find it. But you do know, that VERY question from the Northwestern coed (Is “coed” not acceptable? Forgive me) was the launch pad of The Newsroom. Very prescient, Mr. Sorkin.
Word Up
Obsequious
adj. obedient to an excessive or servile degree (from the Latin sequor, “to follow”)
The obsequious Howard Stern fan phoned into the cable news channel to say, “Bababooey.”
Music 101
That’s Entertainment
Unless you grew up in the U.K. and are at least 45, you may not know who The Jam are. Punk contemporaries of The Clash, this trio from Surrey scored 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in Great Britain between 1977 and 1982 and as you can see, they would morph into New Wave or even beat music. That darker-haired singer is Paul Weller, who would later go on to form the Style Council, an ’80s New Wave band. This 1980 song is the only song by The Jam to make Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (No. 306). You’ve probably also heard “Town Called Malice” without realizing it was by The Jam (or maybe I’m just talking about myself).
Remote Patrol
No. 5 Louisville at Houston
ESPN 8 p.m.
It may be time to sculpt a new bust for the Heisman
The Cards are dealing with the WakeyLeaks scandal of earlier this week (Who cheats to beat Wake Forest?) but they find themselves at the 8-2 Cougars making one last plea to the Selection Committee. Louisville’s lone loss was by 6 at Clemson on October 1, as they were stopped just a few yards short of pay dirt (yard marker guy didn’t seem all that interested in laying orange stripe down, by the way). Michigan or Ohio State is still going to lose, so Lamar Jackson and his posse (wait, can I say that?) are going to have win out and then prolly hope that whoever wins the B1G championship game isn’t as appealing to the SelCom (they’re not to me). It would have helped if Houston had only lost to Navy.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump: Washington’s real power couple
The Purge
Great story, and I don’t know why I never heard this before this week: In 2004 a New Jersey billionaire real estate tycoon was arrested on tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal use of campaign funds. This same tycoon hired a prostitute to seduce his own brother-in-law, which she did, then sent the sex tape to her husband (his sister!) to keep her from being a witness against him in a civil interfamily suit.
Again, the year was 2004 and The Sopranos was in full bloom: this guy was just acting like Tony in real life.
Charles Kushner’s story was so sordid that it later became the basis for a Law & Order episode
Eventually, the tycoon goes to trail and federal prosecutor Chris Christie has him put away for a year. Here we should note that the tycoon was a major contributor to Democratic governor Jim McGreevey, who would resign in August of 2004 after announcing that he’d had an extramarital affair with a man. So here comes the future governor of New Jersey, a Republican, putting the screws to one of McGreevey’s major supporters.
Oh, and during the trial, though it wasn’t actually relevant, Christie made sure that the public knew about the ugly in-law hooker incident.
Christie: Cue, once again, the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” theme
That tycoon’s name is Charles Kushner. His son, who was 23 at the time of his arrest, is Jared Kushner. Over the weekend and on Monday, Chris Christie was dropped as the head of Donald Trump’s transition team and three men who are close to Christie and were thought to be shoo-ins for cabinet positions in the Trump White House—Mike Rogers, Rich Bagger and William Palatucci—either walked away or were told they were no longer welcome in what one source called “a Stalinesque purge.”
Jared Kushner has a long memory, and his father-in-law’s ear.
Meanwhile, in case you were wondering if we’re headed down a path, you should know that in 2007 Charles Kushner, a lawyer who was disbarred after this mess, bought a property not far from Trump Tower for $1.8 billion. Its address: 666 Fifth Avenue.
2. Romo Void
All class from Tony Romo yesterday—How ’bout that Cowboy!—in defusing a potentially volatile QB controversy in Dallas. Let the words speak for themselves:
One thing to consider: Romo still has that fire a burnin’ and he still wants to play. He’s going to be the backup on what is the best team in the NFL after having been the face of the team for more than a decade (13 years). He’ll ride out this rodeo, may even collect a Super Bowl ring, but don’t believe he’ll be watching from the sideline again next year. Romo, who will be 37 next season, has the best 4th-quarter passer rating of any NFL QB since 2006.
My favorite quote from Romo’s statement: “Something I’ve learned from this process as well. I feel like we all have two battles, or two enemies, going on: One with the man across from you, the second is with the man inside of you. I think once you control the one inside of you, the one across from you really doesn’t matter.”
3. State of The Union
The game featured three lead changes in the final 6 minutes
Before last Saturday’s 31-28 loss at John Carroll, Division III Mount Union had not lost a regular-season contest since 2005. The defeat snapped an NCAA-record 112-game win streak and means that the Purple Raiders will need to play a true road playoff game this weekend—at Hobart—for the first time since 1996.
1996 was also the year in which John Carroll won their second of 12 national championships. To win their 13th, and return to the Stagg Bowl, they’ll likely have to play nothing but road games from here on out.
4. “B-1-G! B-1-G!”
At 111 yards per game, Saquon Barkley is the Big Ten’s leading rusher
Four of the top eight teams in the country, according to the Playoff Selection Committee, reside in the Big Ten (and No. 15 USC would beat at least three of them). It’s way too early to worry about this (I can totally see Penn State losing to Michigan State), but you’ve got Ohio State and Michigan at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, though if the Nittany Lions (No. 8) win out and the Buckeyes beat the Wolverines, neither OSU or UM would even advance to the B1G Championship Game.
The Buckeyes have beaten four different teams, three of which were conference foes, by at least 58 points
Which is where it gets sticky. Assuming no upsets the final two weeks (a major assumption, by the way) and a Buckeye home win against the Khaki Kids, you’d have No. 7 Wisconsin versus No. 8 in the B1G title game. And would the winner of that game advance INSTEAD of Ohio State or in addition to Ohio State.
That’s the fun argument this week. Also, a reminder, that if Michigan wins out, with backup QB John O’Korn, it will render all this moot. My guess? Something unforeseen will happen to render all of this pearl-clutching unnecessary.
5. Whiplash Dinner
Finally saw Whiplash this weekend, and for all of the intense drumming scenes, as well as the martinet cruelty of Fletcher (J.K. Simmons, who deservedly won an Oscar), this dinner scene will stay with me longest. It’s something right out of Good Will Hunting. Crisp, fast, and funny. It’s like a tennis volley in which both players slowly approach the net and then it’s just quick back-and-forth, except that it’s four on one. Great stuff, if you’ve never seen it.
Word Up
apparatchik
noun, “A member of a communist apparat, or political organization.” (has a derogatory connotation, or at least it did before a week ago)
Music 101
Burning Down The House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVv94T5LF0c
The title comes from a Parliament-Funkadelic audience chant—Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz had recently seen them play live at Madison Square Garden. The song and video were ubiquitous ( <–future “Word Up” term) in the summer of 1983, which was Peak MTV. David Byrne & Co’s highest charting song, it reached No. 9 on the charts.
Remote Patrol
The Endless Summer
TCM 8 p.m.
I saw this for the first time last winter, and it is a classic. This is the surfing doc on which all future travelogues were built. Remember that it’s late 1963 and early 1964. When these two surfers left the USA, John F. Kennedy was still president. And then they traveled to west Africa, South Africa, Australia and the Polynesian Islands. This was almost like going to the moon back then, which no one had yet done.
Yesterday’s two biggest newsmakers: a racist, anti-Semite with a homeless man beard and a satellite that is closer to the earth than it has been since 1948. Too close, perhaps. We oughta bomb the hell out of it.
When Trumpism sends its people, it’s not sending their best….It’s sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with them.
They’re bringing drugs.
They’re bringing crime. They’re racists.
And some, I assume, are good people.
2. What’s In Storrs
Sophomore Napheesa Collier paced the Huskies with 28 points
The UConn women won their season opener (no surprise) by two points (big surprise). The No. 3 Huskies, who have now won 76 in a row (this is a different win streak than their 70- and 90-game win streaks under Geno Auriemma, beat No. 12 Florida State by 2 last night in Tallahassee. The last time UConn lost a season opener? 1995.
Next up: No. 2 Baylor on Thursday at Gampel Pavilion. “There’s a lot of angry basketball players and a lot of angry coaches in America,” said Auriemma, whose teams have won four consecutive national championships. “And a lot of them are on our schedule.”
3. Twitter Joust
Now that Richard Deitsch cannot tweet his true feelings about Jamie Horowitz or Clay Travis (SI and Fox Sports have formed a partnership, God knows why), we are left to find new battles. Newly liberated-from-TV Bill Simmons versus NBC Football Night In America analyst (and former NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver) Cris Collinsworth, for example.
Somebody needs to gently break the news to Collinsworth that the Pats have a weak front 7 and that’s why Seattle’s o-line looks good.
….is what Simmons tweeted during Sunday night’s Seahawks at Patriots game. Collins worth later returned fire:
CC has since deleted his “sick burn” tweet from his timeline
4. Dassey Goes Free
Dash has been released on his own recognizance pending an appeal of his murder conviction. He’s not scot-free; more like Scott Walker-free.
Everyone’s favorite Wrestlemania fan and wrongly imprisoned teen, Brendan Dassey from Making A Murderer, was at long last released from prison yesterday. Dassey, now 27, was first jailed in 2005 after “confessing” to helping his uncle Steven Avery commit a murder.
Let’s give the last word to Cris Collinsworth again, who is probably someone we should all be following:
Jamal Crawford, the Don Cheadle of NBA stars, is one of five Clips averaging double figures in scoring
This year’s Golden State Warriors may be located down I-5: the Los Angeles Clippers, who beat the Nets 127-95 last night, are 10-1. Their lone loss was by 2 to the Thunder, and they’re winning by an average margin of 16.6 points per game—the next best average victory margin is 10.7 points, by the Hawks.
I see fewer Blake Griffin ads and fewer Cliff Paul/Chris Paul ads on TV and maybe this team, whose nucleus has now been together for 3-plus seasons (Griffin, Paul, DeAndre Jordan, Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick and coach Doc Rivers), has figured it out. Note: they have yet to play GSW.
Word Up
Logorrheic*
adj., “incessant or constant talkativeness; pathologically incoherent”
*After seeing this word in Richard Sandomir’s column on Bill Simmons’ exodus from TV
Music 101
Fly Robin Fly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pgJByML5xY
This song by German disco group Silver Convention actually rose all the way to No. 1 in the USA in November 1975. If ever a song was made for a K-Tel Hits compilation album, this one was it. The chorus isn’t much, but the instrumental bridge is solid.
Remote Patrol
No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Michigan State
7 p.m. ESPN
No. 1 Duke vs. No. 7 Kansas
9:30 p.m. ESPN
Allen and the Blue Devils are taking a trip to New York City
This double header from Madison Square Garden features four probable Hall of Fame coaches who between them possess eight national championships (five by Coach K, one each among the other three). But none of them will score a point tonight. So who should you keep your eyes on? Grayson Allen of Duke, Josh Jackson of Kansas and Malik Monk of Kentucky.
November: When the college football season “winds down.”
Count On Chaos
I’ve never met him in person, but I do like and respect Jason McIntyre. Built his own site, The Big Lead, from nothing and has helped launch the careers of solid writers such as Steven Douglas, Kyle Koster and Ty Duffy (Yo, JM, where all the female scribes?).
Where we always disagree: He wants an 8-team playoff and I think four is enough (the working title of a late-Seventies ABC drama that never took off). So on Saturday around noon EST he tweeted something to that effect and Dan Wolken and I both said, “No” and JM returned with this tweet….
@jdubs88@DanWolken every other sport is a build UP to getting to the postseason. college football the only one that winds down.
Oh, Jason. Over the next 10 hours No. 2 Clemson lost at home to Pittsburgh, 43-42, No. 3 Michigan lost on the road to Iowa, 14-13 (both of those losses to unranked teams on last-second field goals) and No. 4 Washington lost at home to USC, 26-13. It was the first time since October of 1985 that the 2nd, 3rd and 4th-ranked teams all lost on the same day.
So, yes, yesterday was unusual, but November shockers in college football are an annual event. I’m not sure if Jason just isn’t paying attention or if he’s so horny for the NFL that he thinks something as beautiful and unique as the college football season needs to conform to that boring schedule or….
….Or, if there is something more insidious going on here, that as a Fox Sports employees he’s surreptitiously surrogating for an 8-team playoff because he’d like to see Fox Sports get those extra games, and if that’s the case, I’d hate to think he’s doing the bidding, like a less Aryan Corey Lewandowski, of his Fox Sports higher-ups. Even after these spectacular results, Jason returned to tweeting about how he wants to see the five conference champs and three at-larges make a playoff. My rebuttal is the photo above.
Duncan Chic: Iowa frosh kicker Keith Duncan ruins Jim Harbaugh’s night, and who can’t love that just a little bit?
Regardless, college football demonstrated why it’s so special yet again on Saturday. There’s no reason to sterilize it, to take the confusion and chaos out of it. That’s exactly why those of us who consider it our favorite spectator sport love it. You can keep gambling and playing Fantasy Football to appease your boredom about the outcomes of games in the first three months of the NFL season (the biggest story in the NFL this year is that a backup QB is refusing to stand for the national anthem), and we’ll keep loving our game the way it is.
2. DBAP: Don’t Be A Pr*ck
When he’s not refining his predictable Fried Green Bill Simmons act, Clay Travis sells self-promotional garments to his obsequious fans. Clay’s latest idea to appeal to his acolytes who don’t like that the world has gotten too politically correct (which it has) is to sell shirts that read, “DBAP,” an acronym for “Don’t Be A P***y.”
Given how that word cropped up in the final two months of the election, he should’ve also been marketing “DGAP” t-shirts, but his mostly red-state redneck audience probably wouldn’t have bought as many of those.
Anyway, my DBAP to Clay is simple: Don’t Be A Prick.
So maybe a little hypocrisy here? But Clay’s lemmings are so blind that they’ll even give that a pass. He’s a lot like Trump, I’ll give Clay that: he’s managed to find a fan base that is so utterly blind in their adoration that even when he pisses directly into their faces, they open their mouths wider.
3. Dak To The Future
Elliott is the NFL’s only 100-yard-per-game rusher….
No one will write about how NFL TV ratings are down today because they weren’t down this weekend because the NFL actually was fun yesterday. The two marquee match ups, Dallas-Pittsburgh and Seattle-New England, exceeded the hype, as both games featured seven lead changes. It’s the first time IN EVER that the Shield has had two such games on the same day.
Takeaways: After a season-opening loss to the G-Men, the Cowboys have won eight in a row (35-30 at Pittsburgh). Dak Prescott has earned the right to keep starting over Tony Romo, and Ezekiel Elliott could very well be the first person since Earl Campbell (Oilers, ’78) to be named Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season. It’s all pointing forward for Dallas.
p.s. The only other player I know of who pulled the ROY/MVP double is Jim Brown. That’s good company.
Eric Berry had an incredibly sweet Pick 6
In New England, this time it was the Patriots who couldn’t punch it in late from within five yards as Seattle wins 31-24. Pats are class of the AFC, but they’e beatable.
In New Orleans, Denver beat the Saints by blocking the go-ahead PAT very late and returning it to the abode for a 25-23 victory.
Finally, the Chiefs are now 18-3 in their past 21 games with almost no one noticing (that’s why Hillary lost the election!). K.C. came back from 17-0 down AT Carolina and won 20-17 without scoring an offensive touchdown.
The difficult OOC-college football-schedule fan in me notes that all four of these were inter-conference games (and that the visitors won all four games).
4. Liberals’ Last Stand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMJvbP3yzMk
A quick wrap of the weekend’s late-night rebuttals to Trump-ism and the divisiveness all around. First, here’s Bill Maher on “Real Time” and I’d advise you go directly to 51:00 when the host gets to his final “New Rule” (although there’s a lot of terrific wisdom from NYT columnist Thomas Friedman throughout the show).
On the other coast one night later, openly lesbian SNL cast member Kate McKinnon, dressed yet again as Hillary, opened the show with a tribute to Leonard Cohen, who died last week, by performing his classic “Hallelujah” (who knew she could play the piano?). Of course, it was also a sort of paean to HRC and to those who reject what Trump’s rise has begotten.
Cohen famously wrote dozens of verses for the song, most of which you’ll never hear listening to the Jeff Buckley or Rufus Wainwright versions. McKinnon took one that you’ll not hear on radio and inserted it because it fit the moment and candidate so well:
I did my best, it wasn’t much/I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch/I told the truth, I didn’t come to fool ya’*/And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the lord of song/With nothing on my tongue but ‘Hallelujah’….
An aside: On November 3 I went to see Aussie musician/comic Tim Minchin here in NYC. For his second and final encore he had all the house lights turned off except for one very faint blue light above his piano. Beacon Theater was in almost pitch darkness as he sat at the piano, apologized before being the millionth artist to cover this song, and then played a wonderful rendition of “Hallelujah.” I’m thinking he must have known that Cohen was in his final days and hours.
*Well, maybe she did a little bit…..
Finally, if you missed Dave Chappelle’s opening monologue, here it is, highly recommended (stick around for the ending anecdote) :
5. A Few Words on the Electoral College….
My old friend Mike DePaoli, a Stanford-educated lawyer, wrote this essay on the Electoral College, which confers as many legitimate Trump University…..
TO: THE ELECTORS OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
I want to talk about your Constitutional, moral, social responsibility. Under our Constitution, it is not the voters who are charged with preserving our way of life, it is the Electors. Your job as an Elector is to preserve the unique American experiment in democracy. I am writing to ask you Electors to do your job with honor and honesty and rational thinking, devoid of any blind allegiance to disgusting party politics.
The Constitution does not empower the States to bind your vote as an elector. You are free to vote for whomever you want. To the extent that your State has attempted to limit your choice, you should immediately hire a lawyer and seek an injunction in Federal Court to prevent your State from punishing you for exercising your Constitutional right to vote your conscience.
New World
The President is required to take this oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” However, notwithstanding this upcoming oath, Trump has already indicated his intent to violate the freedom of religion under the First Amendment. Trump intends to target Muslims, and create new and different laws specifically for Muslims who want to enter the USA. This is a blatant violation of the freedom of religion.
Trump has promised his intent to significantly increase the production and the burning of coal, oil, natural gas. In addition, Trump has promised his intent to eradicate the laws of the Environmental Protection Agency that regulate greenhouse gases. To the extent that ninety-nine percent of the reputable and qualified scientists are indeed correct about climate change and the burning of fossil fuels, then the destruction of our Earth will be on the heads of the Electors who put Trump into office. Do not destroy our planet. Do not vote for Trump.
This kinda reminded me of the opening of the late, great ABC sitcom “Soap”
Trump on the campaign stated his plan to deal with ISIS as follows: ““I would bomb the shit out of them. I’d just bomb those suckers. And, that’s right, I’d blow up the pipes, I’d blow up the refineries, I’d blow up every single inch—there would be nothing left.” Any person who brags about bombing the shit out of people has no business, no right, no moral claim to be in charge of the nuclear arsenal of the USA. Given Trump’s seemingly pathological excitement about bombing people, of which he bragged about openly, every innocent death that results from Trump’s bombing missions will be on the heads of the Electors who put him into office.
Trump also claimed that he knew more about ISIS than our military generals. Such delusion from a man who avoided the draft during the Vietnam War is entirely troubling, especially given his admitted excitement to bomb people.
The difference being, of course, that this family had an actual military veteran
Trump has also promised to commit war crimes by torturing people in the form of waterboarding, and also by intentionally targeting the families of suspected terrorists. Please, you Electors, think for a moment. Just think. Is that how you want the great and powerful United States of America to behave? Do you really want to be the nation that targets and kills innocent children, spouses, and parents? Do you want to live in a nation that tortures people? If not, then do not cast your ballot for Trump.
Trump wants to start a trade war with China. He wants to start a hot war with Iran. He wants to destroy our relationship with Mexico by building a wall. He wants to charge our allies for the help we provide.
Both the Ku Klux Klan and Communist Russia are overly excited about Trump’s impending election victory. Russian politicians cheered. The Klan wants to hold a victory parade. Think about that, please. Does that tell you how un-American this whole thing has become? Here is a general observation that you should heed: When the Klan and the Communists both enthusiastically agree that a certain person should be President, such person should not be President.
The Wall on the Mexican border would be a violation of the principles in the Declaration of Independence, wherein one of the reasons the United States revolted from the King of England was the King’s “obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither.”
But, it gets worse. Trump is either an intentional or an unwitting Russian Communist mole. He praises Putin. He wants to bomb people alongside Putin. Trump has criticized NATO. Trump has criticized the United Nations. Trump praised the British exit of the European Union because he wants to weaken Europe, which in turn would help Russia. Trump’s first wife was born in a nation that entered the Warsaw Pact, and she grew up under the Warsaw Pact. Trump’s third and current wife was born and grew up in a Warsaw Pact nation. A Russian foreign minister admitted right after the election that the Russians were in contact with Trump during the election campaign. Indeed, Trump knew in advance that there might be a dump of stolen information about Secretary Hillary Clinton. Our Federal Government officials have determined that it was the Russians who hacked the emails of the Democratic National Committee. Trump’s former campaign manager had previously been a paid consultant to Ukraine’s President who was a Kremlin ally. The bottom line is that Trump is not going to come out and admit his true relationship with Russia, and anything Trump says would most likely be a lie consistent with his character, but there is enough information to raise probable cause. Your job as Electors is to protect the USA from the mere possibility of a communist mole gaining access to the nuclear codes.
Yes, he has been called a pathological liar by his fellow Republicans. His list of lies is long, constant, and repeated often.
He wants to terminate the health insurance for approximately twenty million people, many of whom might be sick, and some of whom might die without medical treatment, whose deaths would be on the heads of the electors who voted Trump into office.
His entire campaign was a claim of anti-establishment, promising to bring new people to Washington, in order to end the alleged Washington corruption via new ideas. Yet, his transition team is filled with Washington insiders and lobbyists for the elite. Thus, the basis for his election victory was fraudulent.
Trump has created a huge conflict of interest by having his children run his allegedly “blind” trust, but his children will also serve on the transition team that will select the people and policies for our government, thus giving the children the power to further Trump’s private economic interests via government action.
Trump’s economic plan is to enact an immediate and significant tax cut. However, he also wants to spend huge amounts of money to build a huge border wall. And, he wants to pay for the arrests and the court appearances and the deportations of millions of people. And, he wants to increase spending on our military. The result of such runaway spending coupled with
reduction in tax revenue would be economic devastation. We have experienced the trickle down theory before, and the ensuing economic collapse will happen, again.
Indeed, Trump won the election by promising that he would create millions of jobs, which is an incredibly cruel promise to the people who believed him and voted for him. There will not be new jobs when the economy grinds to a halt. How are you Electors going to live with yourselves, after the fact, if you were to put a pathological liar into the White House whose economic policies are not supported by rational thinking but by selfish impulses? Seriously, Trump promised twenty-five million new jobs over the next decade and an economic growth rate of four percent, just like he promised that people would become wealthy if they enrolled in Trump University.
Trump’s construction activities have stiffed the working stiffs. His “university” fooled people and cheated people. His orchestrated bankruptcies for his businesses have allowed him to reap wealthy paydays while leaving his creditors poor and out in the cold. And, we have no idea what kind of business conflicts he might have around the World, because he did not release his tax forms.
The Constitution grants you Electors the moral right to stop a person like Trump from becoming President. This is it. This is now. We are on the brink. It is on your shoulders. It is up to you. Everything bad that could happen will be your fault. The question is simple: Will you Electors do your job and protect the United States of America?
Michael Thomas DePaoli, author of numerous eBooks, including WHY YOU SHOULD NOT GO TO LAW SCHOOL, INVECTIVE, LOKI TRUMPET, and READ MORE POETRY.
Music 101
Death Or Glory
Them’s fighting words. The Clash are known, and rightly so, as one of the godfathers of punk, but they also produced some crazy catchy tunes. This song never charted because the masses are idiots, but you oughta know that by now.
Remote Patrol
Put down the clicker. Go outside. Look at SUPERMOON! Our favorite satellite won’t come this close again until 2034, and it’ll be full tonight, and who knows if this site will still be operating then, so who will remind you then?
“Unift to serve” meets “the worst president of my lifetime” as a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr, looks over the former’s shoulder. Coincidence? No, product placement.
Paradox Lost
*The judges will also accept The Manhattan-churian Candidate and/or White House Meets Breit House
Donald Trump was the favored candidate of Middle Americans who identify with a man who lives in a gold-and-glass tower on the most expensive stretch of Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Donald Trump was the favored candidate of blue collar types who identify with a trust fund kid who never had to apply for a job until the one he is about to take and who regularly, over the course of 40 years, stiffs working-class types who either work for him or do business with him.
You did this to yourself, America. And you will pay for it dearly.
Donald Trump was the favored candidate of evangelical types who identify with a man who never attends church, doesn’t pretend to, and who is a serial adulterer in the midst of his third marriage.
Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!
Donald Trump was the favored candidate of white military veterans who identify with a man who not once, not twice, but at least three times found a lame excuse for not serving in Vietnam: bone spurs in his foot, which never prevented him from marching at his military-style high school. Oh, and he insulted a senator and war veteran who had the option to leave the Hanoi Hilton soon after being captured and chose not to invoke his privilege, remaining there and being tortured for a few more years.
White House staff: I saw these same looks on people’s faces when the Nazis rolled through Paris in 1940
And those who voted for Trump will say, “This just proves what a terrible candidate Hillary Clinton was.” Maybe. She had her flaws. But maybe it proves even more about that voter, something that voter has never consciously confronted about himself or herself. Because when you defy the value you most identify about yourself to cast a ballot for someone who is antagonistic to that value, maybe it’s time to admit that there’s another something you identify with even stronger.
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Meanwhile, what an historic day at the White House: the 44th president, the 45th president, and LeBron James (the 50th president?) all were at the White House within an hour of one another. Immediately after shuffling Donald off, Barack Obama cleansed his palate by welcoming the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Kevin Love trumps hate?
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Two things to consider: 1) If Donald Trump had won the popular vote but lost election in the electoral college—which is exactly what happened to Hillary—do you think he might have invoked the “R-word?” Maybe just once. 2) As Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, imagine if John McCain had led Barack Obama in 2008, then in the final weeks a source started leaking damaging information about McCain and Obama took the election (which he did)? Then, just imagine THE DAY AFTER THE ELECTION if Russia had bragged about having been in touch with Obama advisors and operatives clandestinely in the weeks leading up to the election? Do you think that might have caused a little bit of a furor? Because that’s exactly what happened in this election.
2. Join The Fun!
Late Night with Seth Meyers writer Amber Ruffin perfectly summed up the “misery loves company” angst enveloping so many voters (on the coasts). I know I’ve walked around the past month looking at white people an entirely new way.
3. Colbert Comes Back
Been a solid week for Stephen Colbert, his best since arriving at CBS more than a year ago. Last night he delivered the best monologue I’ve seen since hatching from his Comedy Central show, and you definitely want to stick around to the end.
The only place I can find the video is on that link above, so I entreat you to watch. It’s all good, but the ending in which he shows Omarosa threatening that Donald Trump will make everyone who ever insulted him bow down to him….well, at first you get the standard network host reaction that we’ve come to expect…but then Colbert reaches back to his cable comedy roots and delivers a jaw-dropping line.
Most telling: After he delivers that final line—which I did not expect—his bandleader Jon Batiste, ran over from the bandstand and gave him what certainly seemed like a spontaneous and honest embrace. It may be the moment where Colbert planted his flag and for the first time since he left Comedy Central, the first time he really seemed to have a pair.
Newton espoused her First Law of Social Dynamics
Also, if you stayed up, Colbert’s second guest, the lovely Thandie Newton, who is mixed race, had some very wise things to say about the election. She talked about how so much of the hatred comes from fear, and that all she has for the hate spewers on Trump’s side is compassion. Because they’re afraid of change. And how spewing hate back is like drinking poison to kill your enemy.
The night before, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog appeared and discussed the Trump victory: “People hope he can take us back to a happier time—like yesterday afternoon.” (Ba-DUM)
4. Welcome President Euron Greyjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efwghvZcMRc
Re-watch this scene from last season’s Game of Thrones. Did anything presage the past few months of this presidential election better than the kingsmoot? You can almost hear the rabble of the Iron Islands chanting “Lock her up!”
5. The Kelly File
Yes, but where will she work next?
Talk about good timing. Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s memoir, Settle For More, comes out on November 5. In this New York Times (“Horrible paper, they’re going out of business…Did you know that?”) book review we learn that Roger Ailes quite explicitly sexually harassed her 10 years ago (she’s an attorney; she understands the legal definition) and that someone at Fox fed Donald Trump her infamous question the day before she asked him at the first GOP debate. In other words, 1) the Rosie O’Donnell line was not off the top of his head and 2) yet again, he accuses Hillary of something that he himself did.
Music 101
When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best of What’s Still Around
This song by the Police from 1980 just sort of fits this week.
Remote Patrol
No. 20 USC at No. 4 Washington
Saturday FOX 7:30 p.m.
Keep an eye on U-Dub’s blazing fast wideout John Ross
Will the Pac-12 land a team in this year’s College Football Playoff? We should know by the end of tonight, as 9-0 U-Dub hosts a 6-3 team Trojan team that is far better than its record. Meanwhile, the L.A. Rams will watch this game wondering why they took Jared Goff when these two Pac-12 QBs, Jake Browning (sophomore) and Sam Darnold (frosh) are going to turn out to be so much better?
