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The Worm in the Apple

Signe Wilkinson
© Signe Wilkinson

The dispute between Apple and the FBI will be going on for a while.

The government can’t even protect their own secrets. And yet they ask us to trust them to put backdoors into the devices that contain our passwords and other details about our most private information, including our health, wealth, and safety.

The bottom line is that compromising digital encryption on a single phone, for evidence that may or may not exist, will make us much less safe in the long run.

Think about it. Did torture make us safer? Would installing video cameras everywhere (including inside people’s homes) to watch everyone’s movements and actions make us safer? Would giving up all of our rights make us safer?

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Late Night Political Humor

“Republicans and Democrats are fighting over whether President Obama should be able to appoint Justice Scalia’s successor. Democrats say that he should, whereas the Constitution says that he shall.” – Seth Meyers

“Do you know that every Presidents Day Michelle Obama lets President Obama eat one skittle as a treat? Meanwhile, Donald Trump spent his by photoshopping his head onto a million-dollar bill.” –Jimmy Kimmel

President Obama just visited LA. Or as Donald Trump put it, ‘The state is being taken over by Kenyans.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Donald Trump just promised that he will no longer use foul language on the campaign trail. So now when people ask him his policy on ISIS, he just says ‘I’m going to bomb the shy-diddly-doodles out of them.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“During a recent rally in Louisiana, Donald Trump actually autographed someone’s baby. Even crazier, when he handed the baby back to the parents, Trump said, ‘Congratulations, your baby’s worth three times as much now.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“The Ted Cruz campaign has pulled a new ad after it was revealed that the actress in it has appeared in soft-core porn; and now Jeb has hired her to teach him how to act like he’s enjoying something.” – Seth Meyers

“Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were both in Las Vegas over the weekend. Hillary attended a campaign rally, while Bernie played the nickel slots.” – Seth Meyers

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Crisis!

Berkeley Breathed
© Berkeley Breathed

What a strange situation in which we find ourselves. Nobody ever took Donald Trump seriously. Especially not the media, who were pretty much responsible for creating him. Not even Fox News.

The Republican party is still in denial. The establishment just knew that if they ignored Trump, he would crash and burn before things got too serious. Their timid attempts to help him crash only backfired.

Even Trump got caught up in his own reality-distortion field. At one point he thought he could take on the Pope.

Trump could still crash and burn, but assuming he doesn’t and he becomes the Republican nominee, what then?

What do the Democrats and their presidential nominee do? They can’t afford to not take Trump seriously.

The big problem is that ever since Reagan said that “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem” the Republican Party, Fox News, the Koch Brothers, Wall Street, and big business have been spending billions of dollars trying to convince Americans that anyone even vaguely associated with the Washington elite is tainted and worthless. Never mind that this anger is expressed as “Government, keep your hands off my Medicare and Social Security”.

Random anger doesn’t make sense. In fact, people are so much easier to manipulate when they are angry and confused.

Until they aren’t, and it backfires.

UPDATE: My favorite journalist, Matt Taibbi, has a fantastic rant “How America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable“.

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Take Back America!

This video from MadTV 20 years ago was satire. Now it seems to be politics as usual. Maybe she could be Trump’s VP?

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Late Night Political Humor

“Congratulations to Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump on winning their parties’ New Hampshire primaries last night! In his speech, Bernie said he couldn’t have done it without the support of millions of Americans. While Trump was like, ‘This was ALL me! You losers did nothing!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“America has been told for years to pick the sensible candidate, the responsible one, a buddy, a pal, great on paper. ‘You will grow to love them.’ But now it is getting swept off its feet by a couple of bad boys from the wrong side of the polls.” – Stephen Colbert

“Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won their respective party primaries. It was a great night for loud men with crazy hair.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Every four years Iowa goes ‘Hey, how about this,’ and New Hampshire goes, ‘No, stupid, this.’ And last night in the Granite State, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump each crushed their competition by 20 points, turning our entire political system upside down.” – Stephen Colbert

“According to the exit polls, Trump and Sanders were the number one choice among white voters and since that’s the only kind of voter they have in New Hampshire, it worked out well.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Outsiders are the insiders. Socialists are the establishment. These are now acceptable hairstyles!” – Stephen Colbert

“Bernie Sanders is the first Jewish person ever to win a presidential primary. Which is why he celebrated his victory by telling the crowd, ‘It could be worse!'” – Conan O’Brien

“Following his victory in New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders has become the first Jewish candidate in U.S. history to win a primary. Afterwards, Bernie held a press conference where he answered questions with a question.” – Seth Meyers

“One candidate who did not do so well last night is the winner of the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton.” – Stephen Colbert

“The real story of last night’s primary was John Kasich, who out of nowhere managed to take second place with Republicans. It seems like Kasich’s major selling point is that he’s not Trump, Cruz, or Jeb.” – James Corden

“On the Republican side, Gov. John Kasich came out of nowhere to finish second despite the fact that no one has any idea who he is.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“One of the big surprises last night was Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who came in second for the Republicans. And some celebrities are even starting to support him, even Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger said it’s not an actual endorsement. When asked why, Schwarzenegger was like, ‘Because even I am afraid of Hillary!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Today is Ash Wednesday — that’s the first day of Lent when most Catholics give something up. It seems like Catholics in the U.S. decided to give up Marco Rubio.” – Conan O’Brien

“In related news, Chris Christie just dropped out of the race and endorsed Bernie Sandwich.” – Jimmy Fallon

“After last night’s New Hampshire primary it looks like Chris Christie is out, which isn’t surprising — he doesn’t look like the kind of guy who wins a lot of races.” – James Corden

“Jeb Bush came in fourth place. He came in fourth place, but he told CNN that he considers that a win.” – James Corden

“People say Jeb Bush may be finally hitting his stride; in fact one supporter said that Jeb is getting, quote, ‘very loose. And when he’s loose, he’s on fire.’ Jeb said he knows people want to see him get loose, because his crowds are always chanting, ‘Looser! Looser!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Is it possible for a man to be sadder than Jeb Bush? We are a week away from Jeb Bush walking on stage at the debate just wearing sweat pants, eating cereal directly out of the box, and just going, ‘Oh, what’s the point.'” – James Corden

“In New Hampshire, 64 percent of Republican voters want to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. The other 36 percent are familiar with the Constitution.” – Conan O’Brien

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Inevitability

Chris Cillizza in the Washington Post makes a good case that, unless something cataclysmic happens, “Donald Trump is on course to win the 1,237 delegates he needs to be the GOP nominee“.

After all, “Presidential politics is, at its core, all about math.” The math is complicated by the rules being different from state to state, but it is not intractable. And with the help of website fhq, he does the math. And unless you’re a Trump supporter (or a Democrat who believes that Trump would be easy to defeat in the general election, or a comedian) the math doesn’t look good.

President Trump?

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Too Far to the Right

It is telling that the only Republican presidential candidate who could be considered “moderate” is John Kasich of Ohio. But is he really a moderate? Kasich just signed a bill that will defund Planned Parenthood in Ohio.

This isn’t just about abortion. This will eliminate money used for cancer screenings, HIV testing, and for programs fighting domestic violence and infant mortality.

Planned Parenthood’s president denounced the bill, saying:

John Kasich is proudly eliminating care for expectant mothers and newborns; he is leaving thousands without vital STD and HIV testing, slashing a program to fight domestic violence, and cutting access to essential, basic health care. It’s clear Kasich has no regard for women’s health or lives, and will stop at nothing to block health care for the tens of thousands of Ohioans who rely on Planned Parenthood.

This is not a moderate stance. Americans oppose defunding Planned Parenthood 58% to 33%.

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Setting the Bar

GB Trudeau
© GB Trudeau

Not that I believe in Satan or anything, but if I did, I sure as heck would be wondering about some of the leading Republican presidential candidates. In fact, Trump wouldn’t even be my first choice for devil incarnate. After all, he missed sloth.

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President Trump Nominates Gary Busey to the Supreme Court

Seth Meyers worries about the consequences of Obama doing what the Republicans ask and deferring the Supreme Court nomination to the next president. For example, if Trump is elected, will he name Gary Busey to the Supreme Court? Ted Cruz has already announced that he thinks “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson would make an excellent ambassador to the UN. Would Bernie Sanders nominate Ben and Jerry? Or would it totally backfire on the GOP when president Hillary Clinton nominates Barack Obama to the Supreme Court? Meyers thinks that would be worth it! Watch this hilarious clip:

Considering how many times Republicans have accused Obama of politicizing things, it is unbelievable that they didn’t even wait for Scalia’s death to be officially announced before they started to politicize the selection of his replacement.

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Republicans Commit Fraud for Bernie

Republicans were caught urging their fellow Republicans to show up for the Nevada Democratic caucus yesterday, to vote for Bernie Sanders.

This is possible because while the Democratic caucus in Nevada was Saturday, the Republican caucus is Tuesday. Furthermore, while the Democrats allow same day registration, the Republicans already closed their voter rolls. So if someone is currently registered as a Republican, they could have shown up at a Democratic caucus and changed their registration to Democrat and participated in the caucus. The Republicans will not have changed their registration by Tuesday, so they could also participate in a second caucus.

Of course, we already know that Hillary Clinton has won the Nevada caucus.

Furthermore, the Nevada Democratic party has announced that they will prosecute anyone who commits voter fraud, which is what this is.

So much for GOP claims to care about preventing voter fraud.

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Late Night Political Humor

“Today was the New Hampshire primary. This is a big deal. All the candidates spent the day with their supporters, except for Ben Carson who’s still waiting in the hallway.” – Jimmy Fallon

“After a disappointing result in Iowa, Ben Carson is polling 8th in New Hampshire. Carson said he’s looking forward to eventually campaigning in a state that has some black people.” – Conan O’Brien

“The New Hampshire primary was today and in Dixville Notch, the first town to complete voting, Republican candidate John Kasich won, beating Donald Trump by just one vote. Honestly, I’m kinda surprised Trump didn’t win in a place called ‘Dixville’.” – Seth Meyers

“Not only was today the New Hampshire primary, it was also National Pizza Day. So, one way or the other, Chris Christie will be giving a victory speech.” – Jimmy Fallon

“When asked about legalizing marijuana, Chris Christie said, ‘Get high now, because when I’m president it’s over.’ If Chis Christie thinks he’s going to be president — he may be high.” – Conan O’Brien

“At an event yesterday, Chris Christie was endorsed by the Cake Boss. The Cake Boss introduced Christie as ‘the guy who put all my kids through college’.” – Conan O’Brien

“During a campaign stop, a New Hampshire bar offered Marco Rubio what they called a ‘Marco Rubio burger.’ It’s called the Marco Rubio burger because Chris Christie eats it for lunch.” – Seth Meyers

“Following accusations that he has an overly rehearsed speaking style, Marco Rubio was chased to his campaign bus by a group of protesters dressed as robots and calling themselves ‘Marco Roboto’ and the ‘Rubio Talking Point 3000.’ So one thing’s for sure: Unemployment is still a major problem.” – Seth Meyers

“Going into New Hampshire, Jeb Bush was polling at 5th place. Not among the candidates, among the members of the Bush family.” – Conan O’Brien

“Jeb pulled out the big gun. He had his mother, Barbara, out campaigning for him this week and they did a bunch of interviews together. It was really funny to see Jeb sitting there being interviewed next to his mom — it looked like a parent-teacher conference.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Jeb Bush was caught on video yesterday throwing a snowball at an NBC reporter in New Hampshire. Though Jeb says the snowball was just meant to represent his chances of winning.” – Seth Meyers

“This is the 100th anniversary of the New Hampshire primary. They’ve been doing this primary in New Hampshire since Bernie Sanders was 5 years old.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Bernie is very popular in New Hampshire. Hillary Clinton today spent the whole day quietly googling the words ‘life expectancy for old man in snowy weather.'” – Jimmy Kimmel

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John Oliver on Voter Fraud

John Oliver is back from his three month break with a hilarious rant against voter ID requirements, which is blatantly racist and partisan.

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Late Night Political Humor

“I saw that the unemployment rate in the U.S. just fell below 5 percent, which is the lowest it’s been in eight years. When asked for comment on the number of unemployed Americans, Obama said, ‘Uh … I can’t wait to be one of them!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“In a recent interview, the Obamas complained that the Wi-Fi in the White House is weak. That’s why, as of this morning, President Obama and his family have moved into a Starbucks.” – Conan O’Brien

“On Saturday ABC News hosted the eighth Republican debate and the big moment was in the beginning, when Ben Carson didn’t come out because he couldn’t hear his name when he was introduced. It’s OK, Ben, we know you’re not supposed to wake a sleepwalker.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“A Republican insider compared Marco Rubio’s debate performance to ‘looking at your iPhone and the video freezes and says it’s buffering.’ After hearing this, Bernie Sanders said, ‘A what doing what?'” – Conan O’Brien

“Chris Christie, in a new interview, continued to criticize Marco Rubio for his performance in this weekend’s debate and said Rubio is scripted and not spontaneous. To which Marco Rubio replied, ‘That’s not true, comma. I speak from the heart, exclamation point.'” – Seth Meyers

“While campaigning in New Hampshire, Jeb Bush said that Marco Rubio has never been challenged in his life. Then Jeb told the shocking story about the time his father put him in charge of his own trust fund.” – Conan O’Brien

“Donald Trump said this weekend that he feels the Iowa caucus results were ‘very unfair’ to himself and Dr. Ben Carson. Other things Trump considers unfair to him include Google, sidewalks, shoelaces, oxygen, and Dame Judi Dench.” – Seth Meyers

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Doin’ Their Jobs

Jen Sorensen
© Jen Sorensen

It is the job of Obama to nominate a new Supreme Court justice. Republican demands that we wait until after the election so the appointment can follow the “will of the people” ignores the will of the people when they elected Obama (twice!). Obama has a chance to create a court that can overturn bad decisions like Citizens United. He should take it.

On the other hand, it is the job of Congress to block Supreme Court nominees they don’t think would do a good job. And obviously, the Republicans think that only a staunch conservative would do a “good” job. But they too are stuck in a tight spot. If Republicans in Congress give in and confirm someone, their base will go ballistic and punish them in the primaries. If they don’t, the electorate will punish them in the general election.

My guess is that the Republicans will continue to rattle their Supreme Court sabres until the primaries are over, and will then magically decide to confirm someone so it can’t be used to hurt them in the general election.

UPDATE: The Atlantic has a must-read piece on how the current hysteria might change the court.

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Late Night Political Humor

“At the debate, Hillary Clinton addressed the controversy of her personal email server and said she has ‘no concerns about it whatsoever’. Democrats were like, ‘yeah, that’s what concerns us’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“According to a new report, the number of babies named ‘Hillary’ has decreased 90 percent since Bill Clinton was president. And, this is interesting, there has never been a baby named Bernie.” – Seth Meyers

“Hillary also told Bernie Sanders that it’s time for his campaign to ‘end the very artful smear’ against her. Incidentally, ‘very artful smear’ is also how Bernie orders a bagel. ‘Gimme a whole wheat with a very artful schmear of veggie cream cheese!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“A tattoo artist in Vermont is offering free Bernie Sanders tattoos. Yeah, they’re actually the first tattoos that start to look better as you develop wrinkles.” – Jimmy Fallon

“On the Republican side, Donald Trump shot an interview with Fox News, and said he has never smoked marijuana. Trump said, ‘I don’t want get paranoid and start thinking people are sneaking into our country and stealing our jobs.” – Jimmy Fallon

“I saw that George W. Bush is now appearing in a campaign ad supporting his brother’s presidential campaign. Jeb says he hopes it will help him win over a very specific group of undecided voters: his parents.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Jeb Bush’s mother, former First Lady Barbara Bush, joined him on the campaign trail yesterday for the first time. Though she did emphasize that she still hasn’t decided who she’s voting for.” – Seth Meyers

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