This week, Donald Trump gave the 2016 presidential election its best unofficial campaign slogan yet. Meanwhile, the Duggar family is proving harder to get rid of than a coldsore.
BatTrump
Donald Trump, the only billionaire candidate in the 2016 presidential race, found yet another way to stand apart from the rest of the GOP. (Not that he’s had much trouble with that.) Apparently, one of the perks of being a billionaire candidate is that when you lack any real policy ideas, you can always impress the electorate with your pricey toys.
After delivering a stump speech at the Iowa State Fair, Trump offered to give about 50 children rides in a shiny, expensive toy he brought with him: his own Sikorsky S–76B helicopter. (You can almost imagine his post-ride parting words to his pint-sized passengers. “How many other candidates can give you a ride in their own private helicopter? Be sure to tell your parents to vote Trump!”)
Trump must not know kids very well. After calling for the children to join him (“Where are the children? Get them over here!”), Trump proceeded to continue his stream-of-unconsciousness spiel on everything from military strength to Obamacare. Now, anyone whose spent more than 15 seconds with a kid knows that you don’t dangle something as exciting as a helicopter ride in front of them, and then keep them waiting while you blather on about something else.
The kids behind him were obviously growing impatient with Trump, who finally escorted them to the helicopter. And then it happened. With camera rolling, little William Bowman asked, “Mr. Trump, are you Batman?”
Trump answered, “I am Batman.”
[fve]http://youtu.be/Ff9vcmPrhRU[/fve]
@realDonaldTrump is beating up all the candidates in broad daylight & doesn’t even have 2 hide his identity #BatTrump pic.twitter.com/b79RkqVdBy
— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) August 17, 2015
You can't just tell kids you're Batman @realDonaldTrump http://t.co/oQ5AJW0job #BatTrump via @mashable pic.twitter.com/057eHw4Z2X — anonymalist (@Anonymalist) August 17, 2015
Batman or the Joker? #DonaldTrump #BatTrump Batman Donald Trump Gop pic.twitter.com/5eE0HAMu6d
— New Progressive Era (@Hillary_45) August 17, 2015
"Oliver Queen's not rich. He's like Romney. He's not Batman rich. I've never heard of Green Arrow Tower, have you?" #BatTrump — Oliver Willis (@owillis) August 17, 2015
@owillis People call Captain America a hero. He got frozen in ice for 40 years. I like people that don't get frozen. #batTrump
— Junior General (@JuniorGeneral) August 17, 2015
"Superman's not a hero. I like heroes whose planets haven't exploded." #BatTrump — Steve Marmel (@Marmel) August 17, 2015
"People tell me all the time, you have the greatest batmobile. What does Wonder Woman have? Invisible jet? Terrible. #BatTrump @owillis
— Steve D (@Steverocks35) August 17, 2015
While Trump was having fun convincing kids that he’s “The Dark Knight,” the darker side of Trump’s rhetoric showed signs of spreading.
- A Boston man allegedly told police that he urinated on a homeless man and beat him with a metal pole because he was Hispanic. Scott Leader, previously convicted of a hate crime for attacking a Moroccan man in the days after the 9/11 attacks, told police, “Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported.” Trump said “it would be a shame” if his rhetoric inspired the beating, but quickly pivoted to praising his “passionate” supporters commitment to restoring America to greatness. Apparently that includes assaulting and pissing on brown-skinned people they believe are undocumented immigrants.
- Fox News guest host Jesse Watters suggested making undocumented immigrant families help build Trump’s wall to earn their right to stay in the U.S.
- Right-wing radio host Jan Mickelson is ready to bring back slavery, because he’s so excited by Trump’s plan to build a wall (named after him, of course) on our southern border, and a proposal to get rid of birthright citizenship (which has been the standard since Reconstruction).
“Put up a sign that says at the end of 60 days, if you are not here with our permission, can’t prove your legal status, you become property of the state,” Jan Mickelson said during his show on Monday. “And then we start to extort or exploit or indenture your labor.”
…
When a caller said “it sounds an awful lot like slavery,” Mickelson asked: “Well, what’s wrong with slavery?”
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Duggar Redux
They’re back! You’d think a molestation scandal and a cancelled television show would be enough to make anyone go away for a while. But the Duggars are not just anyone.
It looks like the Duggars are desperate, and it’s hard to blame them. When news leaked that eldest brother Josh molested several young girls (including some of his sisters), and his parents attempted to cover it up, the scandal meant the end of the family’s hit realty show, “19 Kids and Counting.” Advertisers left the show in droves, forcing the Discovery Network to cancel it, at a loss of about $19 million.
Needless to say, raising 19 kids (and counting) can get pretty expensive. That’s probably why most people don’t have more kids than they can count on both hands. The Duggars lost about $25 million in income when their show was cancelled.
So, it’s understandable they’re desperate.
- Last month, the Duggars were reduced to begging fans for donations via their YouTube page, to help them create “fresh quality content.”
- The Duggars are so desperate to keep the reality television money rolling in that they’ve actually proposed a new show in which Jim and Michelle Duggar would counsel sexual abuse victims — despite being in denial about their culpability in their own son’s offenses. Instead, the family is finding out that child molestation isn’t something the public forgives easily or quickly.
[fve]http://youtu.be/VKJsYF645RA[/fve]
Oh Brother!
As if the Duggars didn’t have enough problems, big brother Josh is back in the spotlight, and reminding everyone that hypocrisy seems to be a Duggar family value. The former reality star and right-wing activist was forced to resign as the chief of the Family Research Council’s lobbying wing, after reports surfaced that he molested girls, including his sisters, as a teenager, while his parents covered it up. Duggar apologized, saying that he “acted inexcusably” then.
Now, Josh Duggar is back in the news, as more of his deeds done in the dark are dragged into the light. Data released online revealed that while he was working for the Family Research Council, which seeks “to champion marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society,” Duggar kept a paid account at Ashley Madison, a website created for people who seek to cheat on their spouses.
[fve]https://youtu.be/87MUHCrpQmo[/fve]
Duggar shelled out for the accounts in search of an extramarital partner for the following:
“Conventional Sex,” Experimenting with Sex Toys,“ One-Night Stands,” “Open to Experimentation,” “Gentleness,” “Good With Your Hands,” Sensual Massage,“ ”Extended Foreplay/Teasing,“ ”Bubble Bath for 2,“ ”Likes to Give Oral Sex,“ ”Likes to Receive Oral Sex,“ ”Someone I Can Teach,“ ”Someone Who Can Teach Me,“ ”Kissing,“ ”Cuddling & Hugging,“ ”Sharing Fantasies,“ ”Sex Talk."
Duggar also listed the following “turn-ons.”
“A Professional/Well Groomed,” “Stylish/Classy,” “Casual Jeans/T-shirt Type,” “Muscular/Fit Body,” “Petite Figure,” “Tall Height,” “Short Height,” “Long Hair,”“Short Hair,” “Girl Next Door,” “Naughty Girl,” “Sense of Humor,” “Imagination,” “Creative and Adventurous,” “Relaxed and Easy Going,” “Aggressive/Take Charge Nature,” “Confidence,” “Discretion/Secrecy,” “A Good Listener,” “Good Personal Hygiene,” “Average Sex Drive,” “High Sex Drive,” “Dislikes Routine,” “Has a Secret Love Nest,” “Disease Free,” “Drug Free,” and “Natural Breasts.”
One of Duggar’s accounts included an additional $250 fee towards the purchase of an “affair guarantee.” If Duggar didn’t have an affair within three months, he’d get his $250 back.
It looks like Duggar’s “affair guarantee” paid off. In the wake of the Ashley Madison hack, Duggar issued the following statement: which starts with what has to be the understatement of the decade:
[fve]https://youtu.be/8NCOcndmO-4[/fve]
“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife,” Duggar said in a statement Thursday.
The biggest hypocrite ever? Coming from a guy once boasted that his family was “like the epitome of conservative values” — and made a living portraying gays as a threat to marriage, while violating his own marriage vows – that’s got to qualify as the understatement of the decade, if not the century.
Here’s the rest of the best of the worst in wingnuttery this week:
- The Republican National Committee passed a resolution endorsing discrimination against LGBT people. The resolution urges congress to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which would prevent the federal government from acting against businesses and non-profits that discriminate against same-sex married couples.
- First, Republican Michigan state Rep. Todd Courser had an affair with fellow Republican legislator Cindy Gamrat and tried to cover it up with a phony campaign saying that he’d had sex with a male prostitute. Then Courser posted a 1,900 word scripture-quoting confession on his Facebook page. Despite being thoroughly flamed on Facebook, Courser and Gamrat have no plans to resign.
- Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, has partnered with the Florida gun store owner who wanted make his establishment a “Muslim-free zone,” to sell Zimmerman’s prints of the confederate flag with the words “the 2nd protects the 1st” emblazoned on it.
- Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office is being sued for allegedly firing a woman for not going to church.
- After two legislators, including Republican Missouri House Speaker John Diehl, resigned amid charges of sexual harassment of interns, Missouri Republican lawmakers proposed an intern dress code, requiring interns to dress more modestly so as not to “distract” legislators.
- Fox News host Andrea Tantaros complained that “men can’t have anything to themselves anymore,” after two women passed the Army Ranger test for the first time.
- Media Matters put together 70 instances of Fox News sexism in six minutes.
- Glenn Beck proposed sending out “unity teams” that will defuse Ferguson-like situations by modeling for people “how to behave” properly.
- Republican Utah state Representatives Margaret Dayton and Mike Noel accused the Environmental Protection Agency of purposefully contaminatingç the Animas River “so they could qualify for Superfund money.”
- Pat Robertson assured “700 Club” viewers that he does not have psychic powers. He just gets messages from God telling him whom to heal.
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