I don't know who watches Samantha Bee's show outside of the U.S., or if it's even available in other countries but I had to get in the segment she ran on Halloween night (half above and half below). Pollfish asked 3,500 people across six countries-- Canada, France, Germany, Russia, Mexico, and the UK-- as well as Latinos residing in the U.S., to weigh in on the U.S.
UPDATE: Ryan Just Uninvited TrumpMinutes ago, Paul Ryan announced that Trump won't be at the Walworth County Fairgrounds with him and the rest of the Wisconsin GOP tomorrow.
Samantha Bee wasn't nice to Matt Lauer in her assessment of the pre-debate thing they had a week or so ago. That's cause he sucked. Lester Holt, we're assured, is supposed to be better. We'll see in a few minutes. Ever hear of Pollfish? They're a real-time mobile survey platform and they did a flash poll yesterday (400 Americans) showing that over 30% of Americans are opting to avoid the political drama to enjoy their watching their favorite TV shows or Monday night football.
Illinois Senator Mark Kirk is remembered by many for falsely claiming to be an Iraq War vet. Although he was in the Navy Reserves during the Iraq War, he never left the U.S. and his claims to be a war vet were patently false-- and are still false, as he does it again this year. Lying to the public about something like that used to be a major no-no. But is it any longer? Donald J. Trump lies every time he opens his mouth. He lies about small things and he lies about big things.
Did you hear Paul Ryan and the #BetterWay boys howling in horror yesterday? Was the corpse of surrepticiously-worshipped Republican goddess Ayn Rand spinning in her grave? Nope; they weren't howling and she wasn't spinning-- despite Señor Trumpanzee's "outreach" to working women.
One thing we can all pretty much agree on: in democracies, political elites, by their very nature, pretty much fail the voters who elect them. We're at a high-water mark of that phenomena right now and the support for Trump-- at least among Republicans-- here and the 17,410,742 votes (51.9) to 16,141,241 votes (48.1%) margin among U.K. voters to leave the E.U. (Brexit) demonstrate that very viscerally.
Did you watch Tom Morello take on a pack of liberalish capitalism-apologists on Bill Maher's HBO show Friday? No? Me neither, but I caught it on YouTube. Watch the clip above and remember, "capitalism is a morally bereft system that harms much of the planet." And Hillary is, at the end of the day, Wall Street's candidate. No one disputes that; the Hillary part.
Former right-wing evangelical Frank Schaeffer confesses his sins (seriously)by Gaius PubliusAnother in our series, "They knew and they didn't care." The video above shows ex-evangelical minister Frank Schaeffer talking about the birth of the anti-choice movement and how it's responsible, among other things, for the presidency of George W. Bush. Schaeffer on that:
Monday night Samantha Bee was in fine form as she explained why so many evangelicals abandoned Bible-spewing phony Ted Cruz for the most apparently immoral, anti-God candidate in living memory. "Are evangelicals," she wondered aloud, "that eager to get the apocalypse going?"You must watch the video above, but... the short version: Republicans thought they could manipulate a bunch of apolitical, not-too-bright religionists but it backfired and they accidentally saddled the party with Herr Trumpf.
