Last night, cable news was dominated by the breaking news about Mike Pence’s plane skidding off the runway at LaGuardia airport in NYC. Everyone is fine though – Pence was traveling with his daughter, some staffers and a plane full of journalists and there are no injuries. I was watching Rachel Maddow and she interviewed one of the journos on the plane, who said that this is something of a weird and dangerous habit with Pence’s planes – they’re always having “hard landings.” Weird, right? Anyway, here are some political stories today.
Miss Finland has a Trump story. Ninni Laaksonen was Miss Finland in 2006, and she competed in the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant. She says Trump groped her in 2006 just before they appeared on The Late Show. She said: “Before the show we were photographed outside the building. Trump stood right next to me and suddenly he squeezed my butt. He really grabbed my butt. I don’t think anybody saw it but I flinched and thought: ‘What is happening?’” She also says: “Somebody told me there that Trump liked me because I looked like Melania when she was younger. It left me disgusted.” Ms. Laaksonen is the twelfth woman to come forward and accuse Trump of sexual assault.
Speaking of groping. A woman named Moira Smith has come forward to claim that Justice Clarence Thomas groped her in 1999. Smith says she was inspired to come forward while watching Trump’s accusers come forward.
Speaking of douchebags like Trump. Sen. Mark Kirk mocked Tammy Duckworth’s race and her family’s military service in their debate last night – you can read about it here, you’ve probably already seen this sh-t trending on Twitter. Sen. Kirk needs to apologize.
Trump thinks we should just hand the presidency to him. He told a rally yesterday: “What a difference. You know, what a difference this is… And just thinking to myself right now, we should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump, right? What are we even having it for? What are we having it for? Her policies are so bad. Boy, do we have a big difference.”
Melania Trump will make more speeches. Melania and Donald sat down for an interview on ABC and when Melania was trying to keep her work with the campaign relatively low-key – as in, she wants no further part of it – Donald announced, “She’s actually going to make two or three speeches.” Melania was shocked! She actually exclaimed “OH!”
The real voter fraud. Whenever the Orange One foams at the mouth about “rigged elections,” I think about the decades-long movement within the GOP to suppress African-Americans’ right to vote. Here’s one of the latest stories – North Carolina Republicans have tried to throw a 100-year-old African-American woman off the voter rolls. Just my opinion: you should go to jail for suppressing the vote. Everyone who coordinated to suppress the vote should face hard time in federal prison.
What else? The latest batch of polls are looking a little bit better for HRC, thus Trump has been saying “rigged” more on the trail. And if Hillary Clinton becomes POTUS, she might want Diamond Joe Biden to become her Secretary of State. I would not hate that at all, but only if she made Pres. Obama the new Supreme Court Justice to replace Antonin Scalia!!!
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I am completely unsurprised by this. the woman from shark tank Barbara… I can’t remember her last name, but she said he made nasty comments about her breasts while she was pregnant and it’s well known hes a disgusting pig. I’m paraphrasing, but that was the gist.
I’m ready for this no win election to be over. I have never felt so disappointed in the media, people and politics in my life.
And here I am excited for Madame President!
For Betsy: As am I.
It’s like it doesn’t even matter. It’s like nobody cares about these women.
Or rather, the people that don’t care will simply never begin to care. His core of deplorable will never change their minds no matter what he does. How bizarre and disgusting.
I thought I was done being horrified and disgusted by this election, but I literally gasped at the Mark Kirk comment. Beyond awful.
GOP cretins like Kirk are just saying out loud what they’ve always said in private. The racist and sexist poison is coming out for us all to see. These sad excuses for leaders do not want a functioning democratic republic. They just want power over others and all the goodies that comes with it.
yup, and part of me is REALLY HAPPY that these disgusting bigots/misogynists/all around horrible people are outing themselves.
it’s glorious.
Oh, I know. Trump is just the logical conclusion of decades of misogyny, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc. but somehow it was still egregious enough to shock me.
believe me Pedro, I understand.
it’s like, what is actually said is shocking, but that it’s coming from these people is not at all shocking because they’ve shown themselves to be such horrible human beings.
I saw your comment and went to look, yup gasp worthy. IT’S 2016 how did this man even get a microphone? That is just…. wow.
Kirk is a piece of s**t.
His tone of voice as he made that totally false and pathetic comment was so full of racist indignation. Like “how dare this woman of an immigrant parent be in stage with me”
She didn’t even bat and eye or take his rotted bait.
Eff you Kirk. See you in Nov 8 when you lose.
Her reaction sounds like it was great though – I think she just cleared her throats and took a sip of water. Just let that feces hang in the air.
Kirk has spoken out of turn several times before. He had a major stroke in 2012, and many people have said (ha!) that he may have never recovered. I am not excusing his statement, but I’m a bit less harsh on him because I suspect he has some long term cognitive damage from the stroke. (Like his reasoning or ability to not spit out his first thought is no longer there)
He’s in the right profession then…………
And yet nobody is talking about how he’s potentially physically unfit to hold office. Amazing, huh?
I knew of his stroke, too, but if you’re making statements like that, it’s time to retire from a public-type figure. You just can’t imply someone’s not American because they descend from non-white immigrants.
You just know there are so many more women who have not come forward to reveal their trump experience. I would be mortified telling the world I had been touched by that disgusting POS. I applaud the ones who have spoken up, knowing the abuse they’ll suffer and the names they’ll be called.
That’s what I was thinking: how many victims of Tiny Hands’ assault are there? There have got to be hundreds.
I had to go cuddle with one of my dogs after reading the comments under an ESPN FB post about the US Gymnastics Team doctor who (allegedly) molested a bunch of the girls while the Karolyis looked the other way. Typical comments about “why did they take so long to say something” and “Innocent until proven guilty” and “these women should go to jail for making false accusations”….and then it got worse “oh a woman brushed by me in 2005. I should sue for rape”
I don’t know who those men (and some women) are, but I’m disgusted with fellow humans right now.
I completely understand how you feel. I’ve been liking every single cat photo and sharing every cute animal meme I can on social media in the hope that it will act as some sort of an antidote the repulsive side of humanity that is overtaking our country right now.
Donald Trump’ s behaviour with women is getting a lot of press as it should be and good for all those women to come forward. But I can’t help but think that what is in the tax returns he has not released would be a bigger pile of crap to hit the fan. What is he hiding?
I’m not a Trumper, but honestly probably nothing illegal. the tax code is full of holes and he’s is completely entitled to use them. He’s been audited yearly for a long time. He’s probably percentage of income wise paying less than most, but he’s not doing it by nefarious means, the tax system just needs a simplified overhaul. I get exhausted in tax season each return I do chips away at my sanity with how lopsided the tax system it.
the Trump campaign didn’t really have an issue with everyone knowing he doesn’t pay federal income taxes so my guess is that he’s concerned that there are some recent charitable donations that he thinks will undermine his campaign (and I doubt that since there seems to be little evidence of him actually using his own money for charity or anything else) or that the returns show extensive ties to Russian oligarchs, despots and probably some shady folks in the middle east (OMG “mooslems!”) that could compromise him if holding office.
All things being equal, the simplest possible explanation tends to be true.
If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn’t be hiding it.
I think there’s nothing illegal but it probably exposes a whole lot–income, lack of charitable donations, etc as well as stuff that is just bad PR (ie not paying taxes for years). And he just doesn’t want that exposure because his whole image rests on his ‘success’. He doesn’t want it seen that the emperor has no clothes.
I’m a tax lawyer, and he likely hired a very good tax team who can maneuver adeptly through the very complicated code and regs within legalities, but it would be a PR nightmare. We proudly have an HRC sign in our yard!
He’s hiding money from Russian lenders. Banks in the US don’t lend money to Trump any more because he’s a massive credit risk. He’s getting money from Russian oligarchs close to Putin.
He never thought in his most awful dream that his behavior would come back to bite him in the booty. There is no way he will win the election, he is dunzo, finito, adiós, finish.
From your lips to God’s ears!
He doesn’t think he did anything wrong because he truly believes in his narcissistic black heart that ALL WOMEN WANT HIM, so he already has consent. He can’t conceive that a woman would not be interested.
I’d be amazed if he even sees women as human beings with the capability to “want,” if that even matters. It’s about what HE wants, and women are just objects onto which those desires can be projected.
I’ve been saying novenas regarding POTUS for SCOTUS for some time, now.
As much as I’d love Joe Biden as SOS, I’d be okay with me if he went on the speaking circuit and made himself some serious dollars. He’s one of the few public servants who isn’t wealthy.
I agree 100% Kaiser. Anyone caught trying to suppress/intimidate a voter should be fined and jailed.
Yup. I second that motion
third-ed, right here.
voter suppression is much more prevalent than voter fraud, and it’s the ONLY way that the GOP can win elections these days. I find it SO un-American to try to keep people from voting. yeah, you might not vote for the same side I am, but I DAMN WELL respect your right to cast that vote.
Come now, Melania is not the reason that Melania is hidden by the campaign. I’m sure she knows it’s humiliating to be the first candidate spouse in history to be displaced on the trail by the candidates daughter. I’m sure she would have preferred to be in Ivanka place rather than pretending to be busy nursing a ten year old boy. She isn’t on the trail because she is a liability.
But Trump is incapable of resisting bait so he just impulsively promised his trophy wife who has immigration questions and an old Soviet bloc accent and nude pics online, a prominent position in the final week. Plus her surprise proves the dynamic of their relationship, she is subservient and not even consulted.
I have been awake all night. At the risk of sounding crazy, I’ll just say I am worried about this election. Today, er, yesterday, I read some disturbing things about the supposed number of voters that are going to turn up for Trump. It’s terrifying. And I hope it’s not true.
There have been a number of stories about secret Hillary voters, too. I think we’ve seen peak Trump.
I haven’t been sleeping either. It’s a terrifying time to be an American.
I have been up at night, too. And distanced at work. I keep reading all the news I can. I am horrified and obsessed. When 538 goes down a point, I feel panicked. Like right now — what is going on? How is trump climbing again?
If it helps, Canada is keeping watch with you in the dark.
Same here, like Lady D says – we’re nervous here.
He’d be almost as bad a neighbour as he would a government leader.
omg i’ve been the same and now they are reopening the email investigation. i seriously want to cry, scream, run away and sleep all at the same time…
Maybe early voting will save the day — so many votes cast before these late-October/early November surprises.
My FB feed is a shit storm of people bemoaning the End of Days. I don’t know…I want to believe that this won’t change her lead this late in the game but yikes.
@Who ARE these people PA is a swing state and we don’t have early voting 🙁
I see more and more condemnation of him coming with this now, just before the election.
Maybe it will not hurt her nearly as much as I feared earlier today.
I know how you feel. I am very much afraid of a Trump win and still think it’s possible, and will lead to jack-booted thugs and all the other accoutrements leading to the country being propelled to a dangerous time in history. Even with a Clinton win, I do expect violence from the far right that the teapublicans will continue to incite (thanks for your treasonous suggestions former Sen. Joe Walsh – Douchebag-IL ) until and unless the “mainstream” republicans finally recognize what they’ve allowed to take over their party and that Trump is just an advanced symptom, not the first sign)
I love that Tammy Duckworth’s response at the debate was just to take a sip of water and let Mark Kirk dig his own grave. Between her and the Cubbies, I’m extra proud to be from Illinois this week!
I’d love to be in Chicago right now. Go Cubs!
Boo! The whole country want the Cubs. I say go Tribe! Keep Going Cavs, win another ring and Browns, well you can just go away.
I’m torn. Theo v Tito. I just can’t choose between them. I’ll watch tonight while wearing my Red Sox hat.
This Royals fan could not be happier to hand off the World Series title to either worthy, long suffering teams!
This Mets fan is also rooting for the Cubbies.
ditto Mets – go Cubs!!!!
Hey, another illinois resident here, too, rooting for the Cubs (and Duckworth).
I live in Denver now, so sadly not there, but living by proxy through my family and friends. Being a Cubs fan is an act of faith — so we’re super-excited and appreciate all of the good wishes.
My grandparents lived in Lakeview and my older sisters were born there (way before it was a trendy neighborhood!) — just down the road from Wrigley Field. My grandpa used to make side money using his alleyway for parking and driving Cub fans to the game. And I have fond memories of skipping high school to get $5 bleacher seats at the Cubs game. Nothing like warm beer, a third-degree sunburn, and the Cubbies.
In the same article about Ninni the Finnish magazine said they called other former Miss Finland’s as well (otherwise Ninni would not have said anything) and one said that Trump had brought a group of his buddies to watch their bikini round training. She was glad they happend to be wearing normal clothes at that time since the group was kind of staring and yelling Finland relating things to her (and probably similar things yo other women). So this is not suprising these kind of people to treat women known for their looks this way but it should neither suprising that kind of culture can lead to groping as well.
My mom was a republican now an independent leaning Dem because of the increasing clown show that’s the GOP. She knows Tammy Duckworth’s mother in law–she comes into my mom’s store–and has been to a dinner for Tammy. She’s a big fan and that’s saying something because my mom isnt a fan of politicians at all. She thinks they’re a lovely family and Tammy is the real deal and hero. Kirk should be ashamed. I hope this shows his nasty desperation and he loses.
Florida is such a nail-biter. The last I read Trump had a two-point edge. It’s not a time for Democrats to become complacent.
He was only ahead on one poll which was Bloomberg which leans more republican anyway. I think right now she’s leading again there. If she gets FL he’s done. So I pray so hard for that state. I’ve seen many people in Florida voting Independent and wasting their vote it makes me stabby. Do they not remember Al Gore and Ralph Nader?
If they’re like some of the sanctimonious BernieBros, they don’t care. Gotta vote their conscience no matter what disaster might follow(eg-Bush/Satan).
SusanneToo I share your sarcasm, I don’t know why some people suddenly grow tender consciences every 4 years. To me it sounds like spoiled brats. American presidential elections (really, any elections) are not about voting for the candidate of your dreams…they are about voting for the person running whom you think would do a better job among the plausible candidates on the ballot. You have to compare the candidates to each other, not to some fantasy.
Bernie Sanders is not on the ballot. And I say that as someone who supported him in the primaries, knowing he would never win but wanting him to influence the platform. I don’t believe he was robbed. I think she won fair and square, and if she wins Nov. 8th, that will be fair and square too.
I really don’t understand how “voting your conscience” leads to people willingly voting in a way that will ensure NONE of their values with be upheld and that some of those causes supposedly near & dear will suffer great setbacks when they know the candidate who, ostensibly, embodies their wildest dreams literally has no chance of winning. They have a better chance at breaking down the two-party system with a Clinton landslide that may cause the GOP to seriously re-evaluate as well as building on Bernie’s political capital. If Clinton loses, Bernie’s political capital is wasted and we’ll spend the next couple of decades fighting just to get back to where we are now instead of moving forward towards their progressive ideals.
@ol cranky. Because that way they get to continue being their self righteous “outsider” selves, bitching and whining about the nirvana that will never be.
Well said, ol cranky.
I don’t get it at all.
I live in Florida. I’m proudly voting for Hillary! And yeah I was a Berner. But I’m also for no ushering in the apocalypse. Whatever I can do to help the terrorizing Cheeto not to win, I’ll do it.
Common Cause is training poll watchers, I think. And you can go straight to HillaryClinton dot com to sign up to call voters, get them to the polls etc.
Kaiser, I agree with your sentiments on all of the above. I am only writing to note my total freak out regarding that interview between Rachel Maddox and Vaughn Hillyard. So Mike Pence’s planes always have problems landing? And the previous pilot (hired by Trump) was fired for repeatedly running over people with his car and motorcycle, respectively? Either Trump hires incompetent pilots or he has a death wish for pence. 😬
I go with death wish, trump would think id’d garner him sympathy. Or he’d add it to the list of Hillary’s “crimes”.
I’m not surprised in the least about another Clarence Thomas accuser coming forward. There were several when Anita Hill came forward. They were just paid/threatened to keep silent.
I have always felt bad for Anita Hill. She was demonized for absolutely no reason. And as much as I am entertained by Uncle Joe B, I am always hesitant about full-throated support/fan-girling him because of how he sold out Anita Hill.
Anita Hill’s story was very believable to me. I had no trouble understanding why she pretended everything was fine, because that’s what I did in such situations. If the guy can trash your career before you get started, you can’t afford to antagonize him. By the hearing, she had tenure where she was teaching. One of the Senators in her state still tried to get her fired for testifying.
Read that FBI are investigating the email leak again. What does it mean for HC?
They’re investigating because more emails have been recovered.
At the moment they are reviewing, not investigating.
Anthony Weiner-the gift that keeps on giving.
And Trump is whining about rigged? WTH there is an entire “country/entity/well funded group” interfering with the election in his favor. Seriously no one is bother by that?
EM – My mother is really angry about that, too. She actually finds it outrageous that so much coverage is being given to the WikiLeaks because it’s clearly a blatant attempt by another country to influence elections. My feelings on the issue are a lot more mixed, but I agree with her fundamental point about Russian interference.
I think the FBI director has to inform Congress if any evidence surfaces in a prior case that could possibly be relevant, even if it looks like nothing at first glance. The FBI needs to review it to see if any classified info is there. He’s basically covering himself in case there is something earthshaking in them, since he had officially closed the case earlier.
Hillary or her campaign has already released a statement asking the FBI to hurry it up because of the election coming so soon. I get the feeling they aren’t worried about the content being made public.
This is not mail Hillary sent or had on her server – it’s stuff on the devices they confiscated from Weiner and apparently his wife (because he had access to her phone) in connection with allegations that he was sexting with a 15 year old. So she’s not really involved. But Weiner’s wife is Hillary’s top aide, that’s the only connection.
Probably the Republicans who received the memo were the ones to leak it. The Donald not only knew about it suspiciously quickly, he actually had some idea what to say (although he’s grossly misinterpreting it).
A memo from the FBI to Congress would be public record.
Not even surprised anymore. Bought my nasty woman shirt & am ready to stop talking about this fool.
I got my Nasty Woman/Bad Hombres tee in today’s mail. Whee!! I’ll wear it proudly.
I should get mine this week-end. I’ll be wearing it and eating tacos when I vote on the 8th
Six Degrees of Little Trump Hands–sick but true. I found out this morning that a friend of a work colleague had a store in Trump Tower some years ago and Trump walked in one morning and grabbed her breasts! Trump’s been a perv for years!
OK, I get that Americans are different from the rest of us Europeans and colonials (I am from Australia), but I just don’t understand how this man continues to have ANY supporters.
In Europe, Australia, NZ etc. we get the occasional protest vote for far-right parties on behalf of people with real (or imagined) grievances. In the recent Australian election, we were all freaking out because the moronic racist party gained a couple of seats in parliament. Lots of doomsday reactions to “the unprecedented rise” of a far-right party.
They still only got 4% of the vote.
How on earth is Donald Trump still in contention?
And I say this as someone with a political science background who has closely followed US elections since 1992.
I get it, but at the same time – I DON’T GET IT!!!
I think too many people believe all or parts of the many years of Clinton bashing. Plus, we (US) are apparently confusing reality TV with politics.
The lack of civility and critycal thinking are baffling to me as well.
Just when you think things cant get any worse, now this new email controversy, what effect is this going to have now, it doesnt effect me, I couldnt care less about Hillarys emails, but is it going to effect some peoples vote, I hope not. Trump and his team are revelling in it, calling it worse than watergate, it just feels like a whole mess, just ten days away, I am not watching any more news, I cant take any more of listening to Trump gloat about winning now, this is a nightmare. That FBI Comey doesnt know what he is doing, he shouldnt of done this now in my oponion, it seems like a very partisan thing to do, ten days away from the vote, and not actually say what the emails are about. This is just getting ridiculous.
It doesn’t look good – for those undecided/hesitant Hillary voters this may sway them to 3rd party candidates or Trump. Personally it’s pi**ing me off. I thought Comey had stayed fairly neutral but this stinks to high heaven. By all accounts he should not have made a statement and especially since there is nothing new. Not sure what’s happening here but it’s definitely politically motivated.
I’ve seen lots of condemnation for his actions now. Hopefully, most people are smart enough to see it the same way.
There are a lot of truly stupid American poor people who believe a senile narcissist will suddenly make all of them millionaires. Whenever I watch NETWORK, I’m reminded of how low the bar is set for humanity. We live in not only interesting times. We live in potentially tragic times. If tomorrow belongs to them, then this world too shall pass. The cosmos will carry on just fine.
Trump has the white male gun-toting misogynist vote. And the good old boy gropers. Most all of these types have wives. Despite being either persuaded or forced by a misogynist husband to voice support of Trump, each of these women will stand inside a voter’s booth all by herself on election day.
Casting a vote is something each of us does all by our self. I hope ALL women stick up for themselves in this historic election.
Vote Hillary – by stealth if you must!