Monday, August 12, 2024

That's Miss Skidmarks Vance thank you very much!




Skidmarks Vance.  Who knew he was a drag queen?  I didn't know until I read Ava and C.I.'s "Media: We usually get our twists and turns from TV:"


The only thing sadder than Donald is the fat, Spanx wearing rolly-polly he picked to be his running mate: JD "Skidmarks" Vance.  Stocky and chubby though he may be, he's got more hate in his body than cellulite -- which is really saying something.  He sports homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and, yes, stupidity.

 

JD dispatched his wife to the press in order to lie last week.  She insisted that when JD (repeatedly) attacked people without children, he was just joking.   Right. She lies so well she could be the next Donald Trump.  

 

Big-boy Skidmarks puts the ox in oxymoron and nox in obnoxious.  Christopher Wiggens (THE ADVOCATE) reports:

 

The United States Secret Service says that a Wednesday publicity stunt by Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, involving Air Force Two did not violate security measures. The incident, which unfolded at a Wisconsin airport, garnered attention for what some called creepy and weird stalker behavior.

The situation began when Vance walked off former President Donald Trump’s campaign plane and headed straight toward Air Force Two. The two campaigns were holding dueling events in Eau Claire.

Vance, flanked by aides and Secret Service agents, sauntered to reporters assembled for the arrival of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz. Vance said he just wanted to see his “future plane.”

 

 Stalker is how he came off.  The massive amount of eyeliner he wears does not make JD any less scary.  And, it now turns out, JD wears more than just eyeliner.  A photo emerged this weekend of him in drag from his Yale Law School days.



The photo appears to reveal a 28-year-old JD Vance donning drag. The photo's 12 years old..  We note both facts before someone tries to insist it's some crazy youthful thing.  


Who is JD Vance?

It's the question that Donald Trump apparently never asked when that Mother Tucker Carlson insisted Donald make Vance his running mate. 


JD spent last week trying to trash Tim Walz.  Walz retired from the National Guard after serving 24 years.  He listed his last rank on his official biography.  Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do.  By retiring, or in retiring, his rank was dropped to his previous rank.


This had JD and other MAGA droppings insisting "stolen valor!"  


Like when JD presents himself as a Marine who served in Iraq? 


As Elaine observed Friday:

 

If you missed it, Brianna Kellar told the truth about Skidmarks on CNN noting "We have, as you introduced him [Vance], as a combat correspondent which is what his title was.  But when you dig a little deeper into that, he was a public affairs specialist, someone who did not see combat, which certainly the title of 'combat correspondent' kind of gives you a different impression."


JD Skidmarks is defecating all over himself in response and screaming.  He's insisting this is a foul.

In today's snapshot, C.I. noted the Skidmarks fanatic who e-mailed to gripe about C.I. and me noting that Skidmarks was distorting his military record.  I have no idea why it took so long for the press to start reporting the truth but AP now has and Brianna as well.

He has lied repeatedly.  Equally true, he usually just bills himself as "a former Marine."  But when you say "Marine," people aren't picturing the fat one in the steno pool -- though that is all Skidmarks Vance was.  His entire military career has been a distortion on his part.



Oh, the twists and turns and there are 84 left until the election.  But only two more episodes before ORPHAN BLACK ECHOES wraps up.  It'll have to work real hard in its final episodes to match the drama of the 2024 presidential election.  Then again, if Donald dumps JD from the ticket, ORPHAN BLACK ECHOES should probably just throw in the towel and admit defeat.


 And this is from Brian Niemietz's report for THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:



A photo has been making the rounds online purportedly featuring vice presidential candidate JD Vance dressed in drag while attending Yale Law School.

A photo shared on X appears to show the Republican senator from Ohio sporting a blonde wig, a skirt and 5 o’clock shadow.

Vance’s campaign didn’t deny the photo’s authenticity or offer any further comment on the photo that’s since gone viral when approached by The Daily Beast.

Travis Whitfell, an adjunct professor at Yale who attended school there at the same time as Vance, took responsibility for circulating the unconfirmed snapshot, saying it came from a classmate. It’s believed to have been taken at a 2012 Halloween party.




Now there's a second photo of him wearing drag at a different time.  Guess you can't just do it once.  He hates cross dresses and he hates trans people yet he dresses up in drag repeatedly.  


 

Last year, along with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in the House, Vance introduced legislation in the Senate to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth at the federal level and to make such care more difficult for transgender adults to obtain. 

A year prior, Vance expressed his support for so-called “Don’t Say Gay” laws prohibiting discussions of sexual orientation and gender identities in schools, writing, “I’ll stop calling people ‘groomers’ when they stop freaking out about bills that prevent the sexualization of my children.” 

Vance spoke out against laws protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination following the 2020 Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayton County ruling, which found that anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination is a form of sex-based discrimination. Vance criticized the legal reasoning behind the decision, stating it had resulted in a “betrayal of social conservatives and traditionalists.”

He also opposes the Equality Act, legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity in federal anti-discrimination laws.

He proposed the “Passport Sanity Act,” which would prohibit the use of “X” gender markers on passports and limit gender options to only male or female.


Don't  you call him weird!  If you do, he'll cry and stomp his feet and call you a bully!  Poor Skidmarks.  So hated.  So stupid.  Tommy Christopher (MEIDAITE) reports:



CNN anchor Dana Bash smacked down Trump running mate Sen. JD Vance’s (R-OH) complaint that “media lies” about former President Donald Trump. color perceptions of him.

Vance made the rounds of the Sunday shows this week, including Sunday morning’s edition of CNN’s State of the Union




. In one exchange, Bash confronted Vance about his past comments comparing Trump to Hitler, and Vance chalked it up to “media lies” that made him think poorly of Trump.

Bash pushed back, telling Vance it’s Trump’s own words that form perceptions:

VANCE: But I believe, importantly, that President Trump is right that she’s a chameleon. She pretends to be one thing in front of one audience. She pretends to be something different in front of another audience.

Look, Dana, she’s not running a political campaign. She’s running a movie. She only speaks to voters behind a teleprompter. Everything is scripted. She doesn’t have her policy positions out there. She hasn’t answered why she wanted to ban fracking, but now she doesn’t. She wanted to defund police, but now she doesn’t.

She wanted to open the border, but now she doesn’t. She should have to answer for why she presents a different set of policies to one audience and a different set of policies to another audience. And I think that’s what President Trump is getting at. This is a fundamentally…

BASH: Yes.

VANCE: … fake person. She’s different depending on who she’s in front of.

BASH: With respect…

VANCE: Please.

BASH: … you changed your position on an important thing, which is Donald Trump.

VANCE: Of course I did. And I am honest about it.

BASH: And so why are you not a chameleon?


He's a chameleon, alright.  He's Zelig in the Woody Allen film ZELIG.  Poor Usha, he must hate her pancakes.  One of the funniest scenes is when Dr Eudora whatever, played by Mia Farrow, has Zelig under hypnosis and he veers off topic while speaking honestly to confess that he hates her pancakes, they are the worst pancakes in all the world, he loves her, but he hates her pancakes, no more pancakes. 



Secretary Pete Buttigieg pushed back at Republicans accusing Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) of misrepresenting his military record with a scathing claim about presidential candidate Donald Trump.

During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, the Secretary of Transportation defended the new Democratic candidate for vice president for comments about his time in the Army National Guard, calling Walz’s words a simple case of clumsy-speaking before he turned the criticism back on the GOP.

“Look, I think in many ways, it’s the exception that proves the rule, If the only thing that they can find about Tim Walz to complain about is to disparage his military record that is clearly honorable,” Buttigieg explained.

Turning his focus towards Republican running mate Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), who, during an earlier interview on the show, accused Walz of “lying about his service for political gain,” Buttigieg said, “There’s something, I think, much bigger at play here.”

“I watched JD Vance present himself as suddenly very particular about precision in speech and very concerned about honesty,” the cabinet member remarked. 

“He’s running with Trump,” Buttigieg reminded viewers. “Somebody who has set records for lying in public life.”

Offering evidence, the secretary pointed to Trump’s rambling hour-long press conference from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, on Thursday.

“He just gave a press conference where fact checkers estimate that he told 162 distortions or lies,” Buttigieg said. “That frankly is impressive in terms of being able to physically do that. It’s like the Olympics of lying.”


Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Monday, August 12, 2024.  JD's got bigger problems than eyeliner, US President Joe Biden talks Gaza, Israel carries out its most deadly attack on a school yet, and much more.


Starting with the US presidential election.   As Ava and I noted in "Media: We usually get our twists and turns from TV," there have already been more surprises than in ORPHAN BLACK: ECHOES and the election is still 84 days away.  The latest twist?  The MAGA campaign of Donald Trump and JD "Skidmarks" Vance that hates the LGBTQ+ community, that wants to destroy their rights and even goes after those who cross dress, made need to do some self-exploration among their own ranks.




What photo?  This photo.

It's Miss Vivian Vance -- that does explain the weight.  Miss Vance.  That's who that Mother Tucker Carlson encouraged Donald to pick for his running mate.  

So I guess the question now is: Is Miss Vance  just a transvestite or is Miss Vance a transgendered woman?  It's okay with the left regardless.  We're not homphobic or transphboic and, unlike the Proud (and Tiny) Boys, we've never carried guns to a library to try to stop a Drag Queen Story Hour.  




Before Miss Vance tries to dismiss as youthful shenanigans, grasp that this was 2012 and he was a 28-year-old man -- or woman, if he were transgender.   

What else is there to say?  If Donald is their king, MAGA has now found their queen?



Is there anything this man won't do?  I doubt it.  Look at the face of the man in the black cap with "MACHO" on it as he presses into Vance -- he looks like someone who's been informed the night is going all the way and back again.


Paul Rudnick offers.


Republican Tinder?  Maybe, Paul, or maybe it's just the CBS reboot of MOM starring JD and Rudy Giuliani as Christy and Bonnie.



JD's drag photo may help move the conversation away from his constant use of eyeliner -- then again, it may also explain why a 40-year-old man can't appear in public without his make up just so. 

At any rate, it's a shame that made up or not, Skidmarks is so ugly.  Otherwise, we could at least say, "He's dumb but he's pretty."  Ugly and dumb is all JD is.   Ankush Khardori (POLITICO) explains:


One key policy pushed repeatedly by Vance and outlined in Project 2025 is Trump’s controversial “Schedule F” proposal, which would strip civil service protections from potentially tens of thousands of federal employees so that they can be replaced by Republican political appointees.

Most provocatively, Vance has suggested in a series of interviews this year that Trump should defy the Supreme Court if the justices invalidated the eThe episode is worth scrutinizing not just because the proposal is a key piece of Trump’s likely governing agenda if he wins in November. It also suggests Vance, whom Trump touts as a Yale-educated lawyer, is oblivious to the underlying legal and practical mechanics of this sweeping overhaul as well as the realities of today’s Supreme Court. 

The fact is this proposal is almost certainly unlawful and unworkable — but that doesn’t mean the court would block it. The conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court has proved more than willing to contort itself to achieve Republican goals, so there’s no reason to assume any legal challenge to such a policy would result in a clash between Trump and the court.

If Vance isn’t ignorant of the law, then he is instead merely eager to play the role of demagogue and further inflame an already bitter political debate. Ultimately, neither scenario is ideal for a potential vice president.

On the merits, Schedule F is a controversial idea — one that would undermine the civil service system as it has existed for more than a century and severely impair the integrity and effectiveness of the federal government, with grave consequences.

Currently, the vast majority of federal employees who keep the government running are career civil servants with employment protections and who serve from one administration to the next regardless of party. This is a key part of the “deep state” that Trump and Vance want to eradicate; Schedule F would convert these workers into political appointees who could then be summarily fired by the president and replaced with partisans loyal only to Trump.




When it became clear that he had picked the worst running mate in American political history, Donald Trump shrugged it off. The fact that J.D. Vance was inexperienced, extreme, and generally off-putting wouldn’t matter because vice presidents don’t. “Historically, the vice president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact,” Trump said when asked about Vance during his disastrous interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference earlier this month. “I mean, virtually no impact.… Virtually never has it mattered.”
[. . .]
There is a growing sense that Vance may be the exception, however. As the race tightens—and Harris is leading in several polls—it’s becoming clear that Donald Trump has slowed down considerably over the last four years. He is very old. He struggles to hold his thoughts together, even by his own standards. And he has considerably less energy than he did even a few years ago. He can’t campaign vigorously. Which means he will have to rely on his running mate—whom everyone seems to hate. 

Vance was chosen under the assumption that they were headed toward a landslide victory and therefore it really wouldn’t matter, even by the standards of vice presidential picks. Running against an 81-year-old incumbent who struggled to string two sentences together, Vance was probably a fine pick. Voters and the media weren’t really going to focus on him; Democrats had bigger problems to worry about. Vance would be fine.

Running against Harris and not Biden, however, means that they are engaged in a real campaign. And Vance’s weaknesses are far more glaring than they were previously. He is a liability on several fronts: an inexperienced and off-putting politician with views that are far outside the mainstream.

If Trump still had juice, that likely wouldn’t matter in a tight election because he would be sucking all of the attention away. But Trump isn’t doing that this cycle in the same way—because he is old. 



A pair of surveys by Blueprint, the centrist Democratic pollster backed by Reid Hoffman, one taken July 21 - July 22, two days after Vance was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate, and then again two weeks later on August 4, showed Vance’s net favorability falling from -7 to -11 with fewer voters unsure either way. That’s similar to other public polling, which has also shown Vance making a poor first impression since joining the Republican ticket.

The main shift in how respondents viewed Vance: He’s become more and more identified with his particular brand of conservatism and less with his famed biography as an author, veteran, and politician. Presented with a list of options to describe Vance in August, the most common answers were “conservative,” “anti-woman,” and “weird,” while more positive options like “young,” “smart,” and “businessman” declined from July. The percentage calling him “extreme” shot up 13 points.



Turning to Gaza where Saturday saw one of the worst attacks in the ongoing genocide.  A massive death toll  resulted from the Israeli government bombing another school.  100 deaths.   Neri Zilber (FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON) quotes Dr Taisir al-Tanna stating, "There are lots of dangerous injuries. This has been a very bloody day."  ALJAZEERA notes the death toll continues to climb.  ALJAZEERA also notes that the school was hit with three bombs while AP explains, "Video from the scene showed walls blown out on the ground level of a large building. Concrete chunks and twisted metal lay atop the blood-soaked floor, along with clothing, toppled furniture and other debris. A blackened car with the windows blown out was covered in rubble."  Josh Salisbury (LONDON EVENING STANDARD) adds, "Empty food tins lay in a puddle of blood, and burnt mattresses and a child's doll lay among the debris."


Yet another school bombed.  Ramy Inocencio (CBS NEWS) notes that "at least four schools in Gaza City" were already bombed this week.  While most outlets are going with five schools bombed in seven days, some aid agencies are saying it was seven schools bombed in the last seven days.   Barbara Plett Usher and Thomas Mackintosh (BBC NEWS) add, "According to the United Nations, 477 out of 564 school buildings in Gaza had been directly hit or damaged as of 6 July, with more than a dozen targeted since."  Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy (AP) help with the count by noting that "at least 21 -schools have been attacked] since July 4 leaving hundreds dead, including women and children. "  So we're looking at approximately 498 schools at least (adding BBC and AP's totals and remember there's an overlap of two days which is why I'm saying "approximately")  498 of 564 schools have been bombed during this never ending assault on Gaza.  That's 88.297% of the schools in Gaza.  


Irene Nasser, Abeer Salman, Ibrahim Dahman, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Lex Harvey and Allegra Goodwin (CNN) quote Francesca Albanese (UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories stating that the Israeli government actions were "genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one 'safe zone' at the time."   Nagham Mohanna (THE NATIONAL) reports:


Sarah Esleem said she was looking for her father and brother, who had attended the fajr prayer in the mosque. She had been searching for them along with her mother and sisters, but without success.

“My father and brother are our pillars in life. We hope they are still alive and that we don’t lose them because our lives without them won’t be easy at all,” she told The National.

“I just want to understand why innocent civilians praying are being targeted in such a brutal way. Israel keeps claiming it has military targets, but that’s a lie, as everyone being killed is a civilian, mostly children and women,” she said.





Sofia Ferreira Santos (BBC NEWS) reports:


US Vice-President Kamala Harris has condemned the loss of civilian life in an Israeli air strike against a school building in Gaza on Saturday.

[. . .]

Ms Harris said "far too many" civilians had been killed "yet again"and reiterated calls for a hostage deal and a ceasefire, echoing comments made by the White House.

[. . .]

Speaking at a campaign event in Phoenix, Arizona, Ms Harris said Israel had a right to "go after Hamas" but also has "an important responsibility" to avoid civilian casualties.

The Democratic Party's presidential candidate also reiterated calls for a ceasefire and a hostage deal.


THE JERUSALEM POST reports:


Vice President Kamala Harris has displayed greater empathy for the people of Gaza than both President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump, according to Salima Suswell, the founder and chief executive of the Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund. In a recent interview with NBC, Suswell praised Harris for her calls for a ceasefire and her efforts to ensure aid reaches Gaza, noting, “She has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and has shown deep empathy toward civilian life.”

The Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization, is known for its advocacy on behalf of the Black Muslim community in the United States. Established by Suswell, the fund focuses on a range of issues including social and criminal justice, economic equity, and environmental justice. The organization has been particularly vocal about the need for a balanced US foreign policy, especially concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


Nada AlTaher (THE NATIONAL) reports, "Egypt has accused Israel of deliberately hindering Gaza ceasefire talks after an air strike on a school that killed more than 100 people and injured dozens of others on Saturday morning."  Arpan Rai, Alexander Butler and Salma Ouaguira (INDEPENDENT) add, "The Iranian foreign ministry has condemned the attack and accused Israel of carrying out 'genocide and crimes against humanity'."  IRAQI NEWS AGENCY notes:


Iraq condemned the Zionist aggression on the Al-Taba’een school in Gaza on Saturday.
 
 According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), the ministry expressed its strong condemnation of the "barbaric Zionist attack" that targeted the school in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City early this morning. 


And ALJAZEERA notes:


  • Action for Humanity said Israel has attacked seven schools in Gaza in the past seven days and said the UK cannot continue to export arms to Israel “while there is a clear and evident risk they could be used to violate international law”.
  • Medical Aid for Palestinians said that further statements of concern or condemnation from the UK government will “not be enough” and that civilians in Gaza need “decisive and immediate action” to end their humanitarian catastrophe.
  • Islamic Relief said it was “horrified” and “appalled” at the “massacre of dozens of civilians at one of the school shelters where we have been distributing daily hot meals to displaced families”. It said that Israel’s policy of displacing civilians, denying them aid and then attacking the schools they shelter in is “completely inhumane”.




THE NATIONAL reports:


Algeria has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to take place on Tuesday after an Israeli strike on a Gaza school killed about 100 people at the weekend, according to state media.

The request was made "based on the recent dangerous developments in the occupied Palestinian territories," including the school strike, the Algerian Press Service said.

The strike on Gaza city's Al Tabaeen school early on Saturday morning killed about 100 people and wounded hundreds more, according to local authorities, prompting renewed outrage at continuing attacks against civilians in the enclave.

Algeria's request was submitted in consultation with Palestinian authorities and has support from other Security Council members, APS added.


FRANCE 24 notes, " International condemnation followed Israel’s deadly strike on the Tabeen school complex. Turkey called it a 'new crime against humanity', France 'firmly condemned' the strike, the UK said it was 'appalled' by the attack and the US expressed 'deep concern' and underscored the 'urgency of a ceasefire and hostage deal'."    THE NATIONAL notes, "US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that a ceasefire deal was still possible and that his team is continuing to work to avoid regional escalation."  

He made the remarks on CBS' SUNDAY MORNING yesterday.






Mr. Biden said "it's still possible" that a Gaza cease-fire deal can be reached before the end of his term. Last month, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington, the president urged him to accept a cease-fire deal with Hamas.

In a statement issued after the July 26 meeting with Netanyahu, the White House said Mr. Biden communicated "the need to close the remaining gaps, finalize the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza."

"The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, et cetera, is still viable," Mr. Biden told Costa. "And I'm working literally every single day – and my whole team – to see to it that it doesn't escalate into a regional war. But it easily can."

John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, told reporters on Wednesday that "we are as close as we think we have ever been" to negotiating a cease-fire.


"The gaps are narrow enough that they can be closed. What we're talking about here is recognizing the fact that we've come an awful long way," Kirby said during the Wednesday briefing. "There is a good proposal before both sides, and they need to both accept that proposal so we can get this in place."



AFP reports, "Hamas on Sunday called on US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators to implement a ceasefire plan for Gaza put forward by US President Joe Biden, instead of holding 'more negotiations'."  THE NATIONAL adds, "Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he should finalise a ceasefire deal, after more than 10 months of war in Gaza."



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