Nothing On the Inside

Show Some Fucking Empathy!

After a briefing at the Corpus Christi firehouse, Trump emerged to give words of encouragement to the small crowd.   He remarked, "What a crowd!  What a turnout!"

And it turns out he wasn't addressing Harvey victims-- he was giving a speech to supporters.  Houston is flooded and Trump is holding a political rally while hawking merchandise for sale on his website. 

He didn't express solidarity with Texans, meet with victims, visit a shelter or comfort anyone.

Jesse Jackson Calls Out The NFL

Jesse Jackson made an appearance on Bill Maher last night, and the discussion turned to the NFL's blackballing of championship quarterback Colin Kaepernick.  The former San Francisco 49er “should have the right to play and express himself at the same time,” Jackson said of Kaepernick, who took a knee last year during the playing of the National Anthem in protest of police violence against people of color.

“He’s not burning the flag,” Jackson said. “He’s not hustling drugs to teenagers, he’s not shooting people with guns. Jackie Robinson once said that he would not salute the flag nor sing the National Anthem because he felt it was not protecting him. Tommie Smith and and John Carlos at the Olympics showing their fists. Ali said ‘I will not go to the war.’

“There’s a lineage of athletes who have taken a stand,” Jackson continued, noting that “the reason athletes have all this super money today is because Curt Flood said he would not be sold. All the free agents come from a guy who stood up. So maybe Kaepernick is that one guy who stands up.”

When Maher – who predicted that Kaepernick would be picked up by a team soon because “it’s becoming too big” – said that Kaepernick’s unemployment “seems so mean-spirited,” Jackson said, “The owners have colluded, they have decided not to have him play.”

Jackson didn’t go easy on the NFL Players Association either. “The silence of the Players Association is a kind of betrayal,” he said. “They are too silent in light of what they face.”

Winter Games on HBO

Linton: Let Them Eat Cake!

Actress Louise Linton, who married Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in June, recently posted  a photo of herself and her husband as they walked off an Air Force jet-- and took the opportunity to pretend she was in a fashion shoot, tagging all of luxury and designer items she was wearing.

A random Instagram user named "Jenni M” innocuously responded to Linton’s post saying, “Glad we could pay for your little getaway. #deplorable."   Linton immediately overreacted-- and putting on her best Marie Antoinette impression, responded with a scathing, elitist attack:

“@Jennimiller29 cute!....Aw!! Did you think this was a personal trip?! Adorable! Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol. Have you given more to the economy than me and my husband? Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country? I’m pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day “trip” than you did. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you’d be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours. You’re adorably out of touch. Thanks for the passive aggressive nasty comment. Your kids look very cute. Your life looks cute. I know you’re mad but deep down you’re really nice and so am I. Sending me passive aggressive Instagram comments isn’t going to make life feel better. Maybe a nice message, one filled with wisdom and hunanity would get more traction. Have a pleasant evening. Go chill out and watch the new game of thrones. It’s fab!”

Linton’s tirade comes at a time when her husband is under attack by Trump loyalists for his lack of populist credentials.  But this is not the first time Linton has has stirred controversy over her elitist point of view. 

Last year, Linton came under fire for her self-published memoir, "In Congo’s Shadow", which detailed her 1999 stint as a student volunteer in Zambia. Linton’s portrayal of Zambia as a war-torn, poverty-stricken nation with wild animals running through the streets was widely criticized across the globe. In what was popularly labeled as "white savior fantasy", Linton claimed that violence between the warring Hutu and Tutsi people had spilled from the Congo into Zambia, forcing her to spend one night hiding in the bush. The Washington Post said that Linton “deploys, with maximum flourish, just about every lazy trope there is when it comes to writing about Africa."    According to one Twitter user, the only thing missing from the book was Tarzan and Mowgli.  Under pressure, Linton withdrew the book from sale and pledged to give any proceeds to charity.

In a public statement today, Linton apologized for her recent tirade and took her Instagram account private.

Trump Wasting Taxpayer $$ On Golf Trips

Donald Trump’s non-stop vacations to his various golf courses have bankrupted the Secret Service.

The problem is the size of Trump’s extended family, plus the necessity of keeping agents full-time at Trump’s various golf courses up and down the east coast.

As a result, the Secret Service has already spent its entire budget allotted for the year, and it’s only August.

Among the costs:

• Keeping a permanent presence at Trump’s golf courses.
• Not only protecting the Trump children, but traveling with Eric and Don Jr. when they travel abroad to promote the Trump family business. During Eric Trump’s recent trip to Uruguay, the Secret Service had to spend $100,000 on hotel rooms alone.

A General Accounting Office report estimated that the cost of protecting Trump for a weekend trip to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida (which Trump calls the “Winter White House”)  is $3 million per weekend.

And judging by the number of vacations Trump takes (the Washington Post calculated that in his first six months on the job, Trump took three times as many vacations as President Obama)  the Secret Service’s budget problems won’t get better any time soon.

Auntie Maxine At Her Best

Torched

Make America Hate Again

BIGOT IN CHIEF

Trump's remarks were praised by David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan

White Supremicist-in-Chief?

Preserving Hate and Privilege

Many chanted: "Jews will not replace us!"

Peter Cvjetanovic-- a 20-year-old student at the University of Nevada-Reno-- was identified over the weekend as one of the white supremacists featured in news coverage of the neo-Nazi demonstration at Charlottesville.  The aptly-named Twitter account @yesyoureracist has been spearheading a campaign to identify each of the bigots who assembled in Charlottesville to protest the removal of the statue of Robert E. Lee.

Cvjetanovic, a student of history and political science, insists that he's a white nationalist who cares for all people, telling reporters: "I’m not [an] angry racist."

Cvjetanovic continued to claim that white nationalist aren’t all hateful, saying "We all deserve a future for our children and for our culture.  We just want to preserve what we have."

Within 48 hours of the Charlottesville demonstration, over 11,000 people had signed a Change.org petition urging the University of Nevada to expel Cvejtanovic for being a white supremacist.

Hatred and Bigotry on Only One Side

Truth In Art

A Day In The Life of Trump

Game of Hoes