One! Two! Three! FOUR!

Hi there! Dave-El here and welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You.  I used to celebrate key milestones on this blog. I made a big deal of blog post #100. 

And blog post #200. 

And blog post #300. 

You get the idea. Anyway, I would-

And blog post #400. 

And blog post #500. 

OK, I don't need to keep doing that. We all know how to count upwards in increments of 100. So let's move on. 

Recently however I have let-

And blog post #600.

Son of a bitch! 

And blog post #700.

STOP THAT! IT'S ANNOYING!

...

...

OK, then. Fine, got that settled. 

As I was saying, I got to a point where I have let-

And blog post #800.

DAMMIT! 

And blog post #900. 

And finally-

Oh thank God! 

Blog post #1000. 

...

Well, I hope you're happy! Just had to get that out of your system, huh? 

Sigh. 

As I was saying, I got to the point after blog post #1000 that I have let milestones go by without comment. 

Like blog post #1100. 

OH NO! DO NOT START THAT SHIT AGAIN! 

NO! 

...

OK, then. I-

And blog post #1200.

ARRRRGGGHHHH! 

...

My blog. Is trying. To KILL ME! 

Ahem! 

So...

But there was a blog post number that I just could not let go by. And it's this one right here.

Blog post #1234!

Man, I love a good number sequence.  And you just can't beat 1234.  

Seriously, if I'm awake at, say, 12:15 AM, I will not allow myself to go to sleep until the clock comes around to 12:34 AM. I love it when I catch sight of the time at 12:34 PM; it adds an extra spring to my step for the rest of the day. 

If I make a purchase with a total price of $12.34, well, that just makes my whole week!

I once found a frozen turkey that was 12 pounds 34 ounces. Nirvana achieved! 

If I'm behind a car with a licence plate that has a number sequence of 1234, I will honk my horn with delight and pledge to make that car part of my religious faith. 

I think it's a damn shame that December can't have 34 days so we can have a calendar date of 12/34 every year. 

One time I was watching a basketball game and the score was 24 to 68. That in itself is a number sequence of even numbers: two, four, six, eight! Who do we appreciate? 

But I also realized that divisible by 2, that score was 12 to 34. 1234! 

The Lord speaks to us in mysterious ways. 

1234 makes the perfect count for a to-do list.

So anyway, this right here is blog post # 1234 of I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You. 

So...

OK, that's it. 

Thanks for popping by. Another post coming up. Until then, remember to be good to one another. 

...

...

I really don't want to end this post. It's 1234! But I know...

I know...

All good things....must...


<Put hand to my chest>

Just remember, blog post #1234: you will always be precious to me! 

<Shed tear>

Now, go! Fly and be free, blog post #1234! 

<Click publish>

This (Non) Sporting Life: Oh Say Can You See

Hi there! Welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, an All-American blog made up of a distilled organic mix of moms, apple pies and baseballs. I'm Dave-El and if you want me to see anything by the dawn's early light, there better be a double shot espresso involved. 

Today is another installment of This (Non) Sporting Life, a blog post about sports written by a guy who doesn't know much about sports. (That's ME!)  

Today, our topic is football. 

The weird thing about football is how little of it involves feet. There's the bit where someone kicks the ball to start off an...I don't know, an inning, I guess and there's the part where someone kicks the ball for extra points (Wheee! EXTRA points!) but most football activity involves hands, not feet. 

I mean, what gives? 

The current kerfluffle in the NFL does not involve either the ball or feet. It's about a guy refusing to stand on his feet before the game.   

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during Friday's night's playing of the national anthem, ostensibly as a sign of protest saying, "I'm not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color."

Believe it or not, standing for the National Anthem is not mandated by the NFL. "Players are encouraged but not required to stand during the playing of the National Anthem," said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. 

In a show of support for Kaepernick, the 49ers issued a statement: "The national anthem is and always will be a special part of the pre-game ceremony. It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose and participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem."

Athletes making political statements are not unusual. Recenty during the opening of ESPN's telecast of the ESPYs, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade made calls for social change.  

But those statements were made to encourage athletes to use their fame and their fortunes to help address specific problems in society. What Kaepernick is doing is different; his is an act of defiance against the country as a whole and the symbols of our anthem and our flag, symbols with significant emotional power. 

I would say to Colin Kaepernick that yes, our country is flawed. The United States was founded on an ideal that all men were created equal, an ideal that was admittedly not a reality when those words were put down on paper 250 years ago. Today, for all our advances towards equality for women, people of color, gays and more, it is still not a fully realized state for all Americans. But great progress has been made and I firmly believe that more progress will be made in the days and years to come until we as a nation can stand firmly on the promise made in 1776 that all men are created equal. 

The beauty of this nation is you have the right to speak ill of it with no reprisals from the government. That's pretty damn awesome, isn't it? But other people have the right to speak ill of you and your choice of protest. You have every right not to stand for the National Anthem but please realize that this is a sign of disrespect to all the nation. Not just the racists and other misbegotten idiots who would undermine what America is really about. No, it's also a disrespect to those men and women who dedicate their lives to making this country a free place to live and a better place to live for all people. 

But to those who have challenged Colin Kaepernick's actions and his rights to do what he has done, remember that the freedoms that men and women have given their lives to protect for this country give him right to voice his opinions just as they give you the right to voice yours. What Colin Kaepernick needs to remember that as Americans, we are in this together. What makes America great comes from us working together. Whatever is wrong with America can be fixed by us coming together. And more than just for Colin Kaepernick, that is an important lesson for all us to remember. 

Remember to be good to one another. I'll be back with another post tomorrow. 

Trump Shenanigans II: Electric Boogaloo

Last week, I did a blog post called Trump Shenanigans about all the screwy, fucked up stuff going on with Donald Trump's <insert incredulous guffaw> presidential campaign.  

Now, to be honest with you, I was fully prepared to do a follow up post on some goofy stuff with Hillary Clinton and her campaign for President. And there is some messed up shit to talk about what with all the murky blurred lines between Clinton, her time as Secretary of State and big time donors to the Clinton Foundation. In any other year, this would be the topic du jour. Trust me, Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio or Ted "Lying Fuck Bastard" Cruz would be making a ton of hay off of that and Hillary would be on defense. It's not to say that there's anything actually there that is technically criminal or unethical but like all things related to Hillary or Bill Clinton, there's just enough grey areas to cast a shadow of suspicion on those interactions.  

But no, we don't have Jeb or Marco or Ted. We have Donald Trump who is determined to murky up the waters with his own inept flailing about. 

The latest Donald Trump Fuck Up Of the Day involves his response to a tragic shooting.  Nykea Aldridge, mother of four and cousin of Chicago Bulls player Dwyane Wade, was shot Friday while walking down a Chicago street pushing a baby stroller. This is what Trump had to say about that on Twitter.  

It should be noted that Donald actually Tweeted this twice. The first time, he misspelled Dwyane as Dwayne. He deleted that Tweet and sent it again with the spelling corrected. So see, Donald Trump cares! 

Well, not everyone can see that Donald Trump cares. 

Let me rephrase that.

No one can see that Donald Trump cares. It looks like he's just trolling for votes, using the tragic case of an African American woman being shot to death on the street as fodder for his tin eared, tone deaf outreach to the black community. 

Over an hour later, Trump sent out this Tweet. 

God bless him, Donald Trump's got that "thoughts and prayers" thing down just like a good Republican. He can be taught! And notice it's not "OUR thoughts and prayers" but "MY thoughts and prayers". Nice personal touch there, Don. I'm not being sarcastic, either. Really, if you're going to do the generic "thoughts and prayers" bit, at least make it a bit more personal, you know? 

But let's not forget it took him or his handlers over an hour to get that out there after his first impulse was to turn a family's personal trauma towards his own personal political gain. That first Tweet is a true barometer of who Donald Trump really is, a shallow, opportunistic son of a bitch whose first thought is in any situation is "How can this benefit Donald Trump?" 

Remember Donald Trump reacted similarly after the nightclub massacre in Orlando in May, sending a Tweet that he had received congratulations for being right about terrorism in the aftermath of the attack. In the months since that horrible event, Donald Trump has learned nothing. 
____________________________________

Just briefly, last week's post touched on the Trump campaign's change on immigration, saying certain steps that Donald has been promising over and over and over since he announced he was running for President were still "to be determined".  

The media went nuts, calling it a "softening" of Trump's signature pitch for being President. Seriously, way too much usage of the word "softening" to not call up associations with laxatives which was probably quite apt come to think of it. 

Simultaneously, Trump's core supporters went batshit crazy that this "softening" could actually be a thing. Chief among them was noted right wing columnist and male cross dresser Ann Coulter who had just released a book called "In Trump We Trust". In it, Coulter says the single most important thing Trump needed to do was not bend on his immigration stance. This book comes out the very week that it appeared Trump maybe bending on his immigration stance. You can imagine that Coulter was pissed off; he has a bunch of books to sell. 

Excuse me, I must apologize. I'm not respecting Ann Coulter's gender choices.  Let me rephrase: she has a bunch of books to sell.  

Over the course of the weekend, it remains unclear what exactly is going on with this centerpiece of the Trump campaign with conflicting statements from Trump and his acolytes as to how far Trump is prepared to go to address the problem of illegal immigrants on day one of a Trump Presidency.   

At approximately 2 months and 10 days away from Election Day, all we can say for certain when it comes to Donald Trump is, "Let the shenanigans continue." 

Thanks for dropping by. Another post is coming tomorrow. Until then, remember to be good to one another.

Dave-El
I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You 

Doctor Who: To Serve Whovians

Hi there! Welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, a blog fortified with vitamins and irony. I'm Dave-El and my favorite recipe is for any dish with the words "take out" in the title. 

I will also accept "microwaveable".   

Today is Sunday which is Doctor Who day here on the ol' blog thing. So what have I cooked up for today? 

Imagine you're having some fellow Doctor Who fans over for a little get together and you want to serve some Whovian-centric edibles. Maybe you can use this.

It's a cookbook! 

And for fans of The Twilight Zone, no, it's NOT a book about cooking Doctor Who fans.  

Available from Amazon, Doctor Who: The Official Cookbook: 40 Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Recipes is a book with, well, what is says on the cover: 40 recipes for various snacks and dishes for your Whovian party guests.  

I'm not sure if I'm a fan of this sort of thing. Yeah, it looks clever and imaginative but then you start eating it and it looks weird. And some things like the Cassandra Cheese Pizza...

I really don't want to think about the implications of dining on something that rather creepily looks like Cassandra from the episodes The End of the World and New Earth. I mean...

Yuck! 

And you don't dare mention Doctor Who while I'm eating spaghetti lest I think of the Ood. 

Or whatever this is. 

Another cookbook connected to Doctor Who is this:

Please note the word "Unauthorized". It is a self-published work from a very devoted Doctor Who fan but not necessarily a culinary artist. From what I can gather from the reviews of this book, it's mostly just regular recipes for ordinary dishes but with names changed to connect these dishes to Doctor Who episodes. 

It's astonishing what else one can find on Amazon for Doctor Who fanatics looking to put together a dinner party.  

Yes, you can wear your TARDIS apron while you cut up veggies on a TARDIS cutting board and add some blue police box sprinkles (someone is reaching really hard with this one) for a dash of color. And you can pull out the ol' Doctor Who Mad Libs book for entertainment apres dinner.  

This sounds like fun. And it's easy! Just talk to other people and invite them over! 

You know, talk?  

To other people?

OK, it may not be that easy. 
_____________________________

For readers of the blog for the last few days, I'm feeling better now thanks to really good meds. (Really goooooooood!) 

A new post on something or another coming up tomorrow. Probably politics. C'mon, guys! I've not touched the subject since last Tuesday. Cut me some slack. 

And more Doctor Who stuff coming up next Sunday. 

Until next time, remember to be good to one another. 

Reheated Tweets

It's amazing what a difference the right kind of drugs can make in a life. Me, I've gone for three straight days of feeling pretty damn yucky to a state of kind of darn yucky-ish. 

Hey, I'm too cynical and yes, even a bit superstitious to ever admit to feeling better. Too many things can go wrong. Still, there is a measurable improvement over how I've felt for the last three to four days. So I am prepared to say I feel like I suck less now.  

While I work on getting myself back up and running, permit me to present an edition of Reheated Tweets. This is where I take tweets that you don't read over on my Twitter account and bring them over here in a single spot where they can not be read with even greater ease and efficiency.  

__________________________

First up, here are some tweets on a trending hashtag

#UnlikelyRealityShows:

1. #UnlikelyRealityShows 19 Kids & Counting! No, not THAT one! My version: a bachelor has to decide which young goat he wants to fuck.
2. #UnlikelyRealityShows Does This Look Infected To You?
3. #UnlikelyRealityShows America's Next Top Dental Hygienist
4. #UnlikelyRealityShows America's Got Fallon! Jimmy Fallon vs. Jimmy Fallon! Hosted by Jimmy Fallon! Special guest: Jimmy Fallon!
5. #UnlikelyRealityShows American Heigl -- America votes on who will be Katherine Heigl's personal assistant.
6. #UnlikelyRealityShows The Moist! People plagued with excessive sweating compete for cash and prizes. Also talcum powder.
7. #UnlikelyRealityShows Lancing With the Stars! Celebrities with large boils filled with pus, desperately needing to be lanced.
8. #UnlikelyRealityShows Project Runway! No, not THAT one! My version: human contestants vs. jet airliners!
9. #UnlikelyRealityShows So You Think You Can Just Sit There?
10. #UnlikelyRealityShows Survivor! Not THAT one! My version: 3 people locked in a room forced to listen to Eye of the Tiger over & over..

    
    

__________________________

Next up are some tweets I posted for the hashtag, 
#ConfuseAWaiter

I want to order food. I don't know what kind. Just bring me food. #ConfuseAWaiter

No, no fish. Just tartar sauce, please. #ConfuseAWaiter

Sometimes this can #ConfuseAWaiter
Waiter: Can I start you off with some drinks?
Me: Actually we know what food we want to order
Waiter:...

Could I have extra gluten, please? #ConfuseAWaiter

Waiter starts to refill my tea.
Me: "No more for me, I'm driving." 
#ConfuseAWaiter

Me holding the menu upside down: "Hey, this menu is defective!" #ConfuseAWaiter
I like my salads made with free range cucumbers. 
#ConfuseAWaiter

No, I said I wanted to see the desert menu. I've got a hankering for some after dinner sand. #ConfuseAWaiter

I would like sweet potato fries but could you make them with regular potatoes? #ConfuseAWaiter

Are these Belgian waffles made from real Belgians? 
#ConfuseAWaiter

That last one is my favorite. Never gets old. Never! 

__________________________

Next up are a couple of graphics posted on Twitter that required my commentary. 

__________________________

So I guess that's all the damage I can do around here today. Another new post is up tomorrow which is Sunday so you know what that means. Yep, Doctor Who stuff! 

Until next time, remember to be good to one another.  

Under the Weather

Hi there! Dave-El here and I'm still stuck here at the Fortress of Ineptitude, as the saying goes, "under the weather". Which never made sense to me since we're all technically under the weather. I mean the sky above us is where the weather is happening, right? So how does being "under the weather" get linked up with being sick?  

So exactly how am I feeling? When I swallow, it's feels like I'm swallowing Jell-O with little bits of fruit in it except instead of bits of fruit, it's thumb tacks. So there's that. And the overall body aches, that's sort of a je ne sais quois type of thing, bad enough to make me miserable but not actually bad enough to do me the kindness of killing me and putting me out of my misery. 

Yes, I guess I do whine a lot when I'm sick but I have this bad feeling no one believes me when I'm sick. "Oh, he's just trying to get out of something," I imagine people saying. So I feel compelled to emphasize my plight which of course makes it sound like I'm, to quote Ryan Lotche, "over exaggerating" things and creates the very level of distrust I want to avoid.  

It's enough to make me sick. 

My wife Andrea has not been well either. She started feeling bad really late Friday night which wouldn't have been such a big deal except we had an impromptu "date night" (if you know what I mean) and then she gets sick. So that didn't do a lot of my ego, I'll tell you. 

No, I was fine myself until Tuesday when nature hit me upside the head with whatever this is and we both spent Wednesday in bed all day which is not the romantic wonderland you would think that would be. Andrea actually went back to work on Thursday but I opted to spend the day at home where in half hour increments I see-sawed between "I'm such a wuss, I should've gone back to work" and "Oh my God, why can't I just die?"  

I need to learn to embrace being sick in a more positive manner. 

One good thing is I get to watch a lot more TV than I usually do. I got to see two classic Star Trek episodes, Errand of Mercy and City on the Edge of Forever, one of the few good eps from Star Trek: The Next Generation's 2nd season, Q Who? which introduced the Borg. 

I also got to see episodes of Hill Street Blues (apparently there's this cable channel I have called Heroes & Icons that runs a lot of classic crime shows plus all the Star Trek stuff plus Xena and Hercules.)  

I also watched episodes of Parks and Recreation, Raising Hope, How I Met Your Mother, Friends, Seinfeld, The Middle and I even stumbled across an old episode of Mad About You. (Man, I didn't think anybody was running those.)  

I also caught up on my binge re-watch of 30 Rock on Netflix, moving halfway through Season 2. I'm also catching up on Portlandia and rewatching The Guild.  

Good times. These are memories I will cherish. 

Meanwhile my daughter is staying the hell away from the Fortress, preferring the company of her grandfather who is not sick and serves her copious amounts of bacon and coffee. 

So despite being sick, it's really a win-win situation all around.  

So that's all for me. But don't worry. I am still committed to posting something new on this blog everyday of the highest caliber. 

Or whatever shit I can crank out in 5 minutes. Hey, you take your chances. You didn't pay to get in here.  

Thanks for dropping by. Remember to be good to one another.

And I'm so glad my suffering amuses you.  

This Must Be a Thursday

"This must be a Thursday. I never could get a handle on Thursdays." 
---Arthur Dent from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 

Sorry, not much of a blog post today. 

I'm fighting some kind of cold thing: sore throat, coughs, body aches. You know, general yuckiness. 

As such, I've not been up for blog writing or going to work. 

Although the not going to work thing may be attributable to more than just not feeling well. 

It may have something to do with my concerns about this notice. 

So I'm a bit edgy about going back to work. 

In all seriousness, no matter how bad I feel, there are people in the world with real and worse problems. Keep the people of Italy in your thoughts and prayers as they cope with a massive earthquake that has killed (to date) 247 people and devastated whole communities.  Meanwhile, the flooding in Louisiana which has taken 13 lives and destroyed 60,000 homes continues to be a burden and a nightmare for the families displaced there.  

Until next time, remember to be good to one another, particularly to those in need. 

Also, stay away from velociraptors. 

Dave-El  

Legends of Tomorrow, Joys of Yesterday

In last week’s Wednesday comic book post, I reviewed a handful of comics I recently purchased. Except for 1. I decided to hold this over to its own post. And that title is Legends of Tomorrow. You might think, "Hey, this is a comic book based on the TV show, Legends of Tomorrow, right?" And you would be wrong. Yes, Firestorm is in it but...

Legends of Tomorrow is that very rare breed of comic book known as the anthology. Back in the early primordial days of this nascent medium, all comic books were anthologies. With 64 pages to fill and the standard story being somewhere between 6 to 12 pages, comics easily lent themselves to have multiple features with a variety of characters. Eventually anthologies would be organized around a theme (detectives, westerns, funny animals, etc) and further still around certain characters. Batman#1 was an anthology in that it featured 4 different adventures but they all starred Batman & Robin.

Eventually reduced page counts made the anthology format less viable and readers wanted longer form stories with continuity which required more pages than a 6 to 12 page short story.

Legends of Tomorrow came together a bit by accident. Last year, DC announced new mini-series projects featuring Firestorm, Metamorpho, Sugar & Spike and the Metal Men. Perhaps not sensing a lot of sales potential for these series or perhaps they needed to slap "Legends of Tomorrow" on to some damn thing, DC combined these 4 limited series into one title. I can't say I would've picked up the Metal Men or Metamorpho series individually (I was on the fence about Firestorm and Sugar & Spike), I've come to enjoy both of these series and I wouldn't have if it had not been for this anthology format. 

Legends of Tomorrow was certainly cost effective. If the 4 series had been sold separately with a price point of $2.99 each, that's $12.00 a month for all four titles. LoT had a cover price of $7.99; that comes to $2 a in issue. Here's the thing: if the series had been released separately, I would have at best only bought two of them which means I would've spent $6 which is $2 less than what I did wind up paying for LoT. In my case, DC got $2 more of my money with LoT than they would've with separate series. So DC wins by getting more money from me and I win because I got 4 comic books worth of material for $2 an issue instead of $3.

Legends had a particularly strong selection of series. 

Firestorm was old school super hero stuff but with a modern spin. It helps to have Firestorm co-creator Gerry Conway as the writer. This new Firestorm story has powerful action scenes but also strong character work.

Metamorpho revives some of the classic Bob Haney gonzo appeal that made the original Element Man so memorable. Writer/artist Aaron Lopestri threads the needle with a thoroughly modern version of Metamorpho that's shaped by the wild and wooly silver age era that originally gave us this most unusual character.

Sugar & Spike is the most experimental of the series in LoT. Based on Sheldon Mayer's classic series of talking tykes, writer Keith Giffen has the toddler twosome grown up and working as private eyes protecting the more embarrassing secrets of the super hero community. I never quite knew what to make of the adult Sugar who ascerbic attitude towards grown up Spike was both funny but also mean spirited.

Writer Len Wein reinvents the Metal Men for a new DC era, combining the myth of Doc Magnus' wacky humanoid robots with other elements from the DC Universe such as Red Tornado, Robotman (of the Doom Patrol) and even Cyborg from the Justice League. Metal Men began a bit flat for me but over subsequent issues, the world that Wein has developed for the Metal Men and their supporting cast has really begun to grow on me.  

Sadly, Legends of Tomorrow the comic book has come to an end. Issue # 6 came out last week and is the last issue of the series. Which is a shame because I really enjoyed this comic. It reminded me of the more innocent times of my youth when I used to buy DC's 100 Page Spectaculars or their Dollar Comics like World's Finest, Adventure Comics, Superman Family and others. It afforded a variety of styles and characters that provided unexpected results. Some stories were better than others, some stories were worse than others. But that was part of the charm, the idea of never quite knowing what you're going to get.

I hope Legends of Tomorrow did well enough to perhaps encourage DC to try this again.
____________________________________

On a sort of comics related note, Suicide Squad was #1 for the third week in a row despite precipitous box office drop off and an almost total dearth of positive reviews. Apparently other new films coming along have just not struck a chord with moviegoers enough to entice people.

I have not seen Suicide Squad and quite frankly I don't expect to. After what my fellow blogger Slay Monsterbot of the Deep wrote last week, any flickering enthusiasm for this movie on my part has been snuffed out. Specifically he addresses the treatment of a certain key character in the Suicide Squad mythos and her heinous, criminal actions. And no, we are NOT talking about Harley Quinn. Click here for more on what Monsterbot has to say on this although be warned, there be spoilers lurking there.
____________________________________

OK, that's that for today. There's a new post tomorrow. Politics? Maybe? I'm sorry. (Just bear with me a little longer; this election can't last forever, can it?) 

Until next time, remember to be good to one another.

Dave-El
I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You  

Trump Shenanigans

As I noted on the blog last week, Donald Trump upset the rickety manure wagon that is his presidential campaign by putting a couple of new people in charge. One of those people was a Trump campaign pollster named Kellyanne Conway who has ingratiated herself with the Donald. 

Before that, Conway was employed by a Super PAC that was supporting Ted Cruz during the primaries. While in that capacity, Conway took issue with Trump's insulting style, calling attacks on Cruz and other Republican rivals as "vulgar". 

So what does Kellyanne Conway have to say about Trump's rhetoric now? Well, let's take a look at this quote from Ms. Conway when she appeared on CNN this weekend.   

“He doesn’t hurl personal insults. What he’s doing is he’s challenging the Democratic Party." 

So attacks are vulgar personal insults when directed against Republicans. They are challenges when direct against Democrats. Everybody got that? 

__________

What else is going on with Donald Trump under his new campaign leadership team? Well, you know that whole big central thing his campaign started on, illegal immigration? He's gonna kick out all the illegals and put up a wall to keep 'em from getting back in. We all remember that, right? OK, about that... 

Kellyanne Conway was asked on CNN if Trump still wants a “deportation force” to remove everyone in the country illegally. Her response? 

“To be determined." 

Someone is apparently looking at polls which show Trump facing one hell of a lot of opposition among Latinos. It seems there are not quite enough Non-College Educated Whites (or as I described them here, Stupid People) to put Trump over the top to win the general election. It seems, God forbid, that all sorts of people make up America and gosh darn it, it may be necessary to reach out to them. But after a year plus of angry rhetoric on Mexican immigration, I don't think any softening of Trump's tone or stance over the next month or two is going to do much to win those Latino voters over. On the other hand, if Trump eases up on the hard-line stance he's taken to date, he could erode his already existing support.

__________

It seems Donald Trump found out black people can vote too and has recently made appeals to African-American voters. Here's what Trump had to say on this subject this weekend in Fredericksburg, VA.   

"I fully recognize that outreach to the African-American community is an area where the Republican Party must do better, and will do better." 

"The people hurt most by our open border are low-income Hispanic and African-Americans who are competing for jobs and community resources against new arrivals."  

Trump accused Hillary Clinton of "bigotry," saying she takes black votes for granted. 

It should be noted that Donald Trump made his remarks to an overwhelmingly white audience.

__________

Donald Trump rolled out his first national ad which declares that under Hillary Clinton, illegal immigrants would be able to collect social security, citing a report on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) programs by the Center for Immigration Studies, which opposes illegal immigration.

DAPA and DACA grantees are considered lawfully present in the United States. They can apply for a Social Security number once they receive work permits. They earn Social Security and Medicare benefits through their payroll taxes — meaning they must be paying taxes. To collect the benefits, they must reach retirement age and must have worked for at least 10 years, according to the National Immigration Law Center. 

So yes, illegal immigrants would be able to collect social security the same way fetuses have to pay taxes. Only after time and changes when the immigrants are in fact no longer illegal, have paid into Social Security and have reached retirement age.   

__________

We've mentioned Kellyanne Conway a few times in this post. What's up with Stephen Bannon who was named CEO of the Trump campaign last week. As I mentioned here, Bannon is the head honcho of Breitbart News, an arch conservative website that makes Fox News look like a Clinton Foundation clam bake. Breitbart loves to dredge up various wingnut fringe conspiracies and post 'em as news. One of those conspiracy theories making the rounds is the status of Hillary Clinton's health.  

As I mentioned last week, Sean Hannity of Fox News is beating this particular dead horse and Rudy Giuliani, taking one more shit on his legacy as mayor of New York on 9/11, has taken up the whipping of this particular deceased equine. Giuliani said on Fox News Sunday: 

"I want to point out several signs of illness by her... Go online and put down 'Hillary Clinton illness.' Take a look at the videos for yourself."

The alleged damning videos include on of Mrs. Clinton shaking her head vigorously in a manner that Sean Hannity described as "seizure-esque" and another showing her as Secretary of State tripping while entering an airplane.  

No one ever in the history of stuff has ever shaken their head or tripped entering an airplane so the poor girl must be at death's door. 

Yes, there are "documents" that support this theory of Clinton's very bad health. These documents show Clinton suffered complications from a 2012 concussion including “blacking out,” “uncontrollable twitching” and “memory loss.” It says Clinton has previously been diagnosed as having “Complex Partial Seizures” and “early-onset Subcortical Vascular Dementia.” 

By the way, these documents have been consistently and repeatedly debunked as fake. Yes, Secretary Clinton did suffer a concussion in 2012 which resulted in double vision for a couple of months. By 2013, however, medical records report Clinton showing no continuing negative signs as a result of that concussion. Her most recent medical exam shows Mrs. Clinton in very good health.  

But a little thing like facts never get in the way of a good story, particuarly for Fox News and Breitbart News. With Stephen Bannon at the top of the campaign structure, expect more of this sort of thing if not from Trump himself, then his surrogates like Guiliani.  

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Tomorrow on the blog thing, let's talk comic books. The subject: anthologies. Woo! You can just feel the electricity, can't you? 

Until next time, remember to be good to one another. 

Dave-El
I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You