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[mediamattersforamerica]

WOW. Watch these 3 minutes from Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen talking about what Trump doesn’t understand about the national anthem and the right to protest. Compare this to any right-wing media whining and that’s why this is one to remember.

[texnessa]

Dale Hansen is a fucking treasure.  He admitted he was a childhood victim of sexual abuse in the hopes that it would encourage others to come forward and seek help. He has been an ardent supporter of scholar-athletes and of gay players in the NFL and of trans athletes.

“I’m not always comfortable when a man tells me he is gay; I don’t understand his world. But I do understand that he is part of mine.”

[wilwheaton]

She got no standing ovation.  She got no mainstream media lauds for her heroism.  She got no kudos for leaving home, a much longer journey than that other senator, the one from Arizona, to get to DC, and there are no mainstream media stories on it that I can find… I only found out from a friend who spotted it on Twitter.   She didn’t do it for publicity.   Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii was just doing her job as a good politician, voting not to repeal the ACA so as to protect her constituents.  She has Stage Four kidney cancer — that means scarce chances of survival — is recovering from a second surgery to remove part of a rib, and made sure she got to her seat in the Senate Chamber to vote “no” to whatever Republican wealth-care crap was thrown at her.   But you’ll only find out about it on social media.  Because she’s not a pale male, maybe?

The heroic Senator with severe cancer who interrupted treatment to vote… NO (via wilwheaton)

[fairnatacat]

Best 3 days of my life again! @limestonecomedyfestival #lcf16 @comedyattic (at Buskirk-Chumley Theater)

[fairnatacat]

Such a great host for @limestonecomedyfestival! Thanks #BCT #comedyatticbloomington #best3days (at Bloomington, Indiana)

[fairnatacat]

Thanks for so much great comedy! @limestonecomedyfestival @comedyatticbloomington @iamroadtrip #best3days #makegeofftateagain #lcf16 (at The Back Door)

[fairnatacat]

Thx for a great show! #best3days #lcf16 #comedyatticbloomington (at The Back Door)

[politicalprof]

Now that the DT has won the Republican nomination ...

You should expect to see numerous “analyses” of his various proposals, policy recommendations, and the like. These will all be reasoned, and thoughtful, and insightful. They will also be an utter waste of your time to read, for one very simple reason:

Donald Trump doesn’t mean a word of what he says. Not. A. Word.

By this, I mean that Donald Trump says whatever Donald Trump says almost entirely because he is seeking an immediate impact and an emotional response. Then, in another setting, he says something equally horrible but usually contradictory, a thing he then re-refutes a few hours or days later. 

There’s no reason for any of his statements beyond his own narcissism. There’s no point for his proposals beyond his own glorification. As a consequence, there’s no fixed foundation of values or ideology or purpose in what he says.He says what he says because people pay attention to him when he says it, not because he actually intends to do anything about it. At least not at the time he said it.

In his world, it is in fact all about Donald Trump. That which serves Donald will be served. That which no longer serves Donald will be discarded. Until it serves him again.

#Winning!

[the-future-now-deactivated20170]

Did you know a major environmental disaster occurred last week?

Oil company Royal Dutch Shell has begun the massive task of cleaning up nearly 90,000 gallons of crude oil that leaked from a company oil derrick roughly 90 miles off the state’s coast, the Associated Press reported Friday. The poorest residents of coastal communities and Native Americans were likely to feel the brunt of this.

Follow @the-future-now​

[wilwheaton]

Maybe just a tiny bit more relevant to life in 2016 than something Trump did in 1991.

[hodgman]

Hillary Clinton for President

This is going to disappoint some of my friends, and maybe that’s why I’ve been quiet about this until now. 

Also, who cares what I think? 

But here is what I think: Hillary Clinton for President. 

I think Sen. Bernie Sanders has been an inspiring, provocative, necessary, and admirable public servant for decades. 

I respect the personal moral and practical math that has led each of his supporters to turn out for him. And I’m grateful to and a little in awe of the movement for keeping issues I care about at the center of this race. 

But I have done my own moral and practical math, and I have decided that I would really, actively like to see a Hillary Clinton presidency. 

I have grown up with her in my political life. There have been times I have supported her and not supported her. I appreciate that she has made big mistakes, both in office and while seeking it. 

And she has made enormous, at times disheartening compromises and changed positions. But I don’t think she has done worse than anyone who seriously wishes to win office in our present system. 

There is no question that she is personally ambitious, though she is one of the few candidates who is ever blamed for it.

The question is, what is her ambition? To make money? Impossible. She’s doing fine. To get power? She’s had it. To get ALL the power, because she is power mad? That’s a creepy conspiracy theory that doesn’t ring true to me.  

I think her ambition is, and has long been, to be the President of the United States, like everyone else in the race, and also to make policy. 

I think it’s reasonable to say based on her career that she likes making policy. 

Moreover, I think she wants to make the best policy possible in an antagonistic-by-design political process that she has known and wrestled with for decades, and keep that policy in place. 

Moreover, I think she wants to make policy that I largely agree with. 

And I think she can do it. 

No one can succeed 100% of the time in our system. But I think she can foster policies that will capitalize on the initial gains made by President Obama, whom I supported and still do, and surely, if slowly, move our nation closer to the ideals that I embrace. 

Will it be fast? No. But there is a lot to do to shift the the nation’s policies back after the slow, economically rightward/socially intolerant swing that began with Ronald Reagan and peaked with the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004. 

(A swing, by the way, that was patiently planned, deliberately funded, and slow by design. Major change is ALWAYS incremental. Unless you want to have a REAL revolution, with shooting and stuff. You might. I do not.) 

Just because the social and economic right wing are in flailing, comic disarray at the moment, it doesn’t mean they are not a force. Or that conservative voters are not still our friends, family, neighbors, and fellow citizens. 

I don’t think this is a time to laugh at the Republican party. 

I think it is a moment to consolidate and continue our gains, enact new progressive policies; let existing progressive policies mature in place; offer independent and new voters the allure of continuity, professionalism, and effectiveness; and gradually regain the congress.

(This makes me sound pretty conservative for a liberal! And maybe that’s just who I am now in my 45th year as a human)

I will certainly vote for and work for Sen. Sanders should he gain the nomination. 

But today I am voting for Hillary Clinton. 

Yes, she has wanted this job for a long time. There is no crime in that. It’s in the constitution! I think she’s earned it. And while I cannot predict the future, I am curious and eager to see what she does once she gets it. 

So that’s what I think. 

I trust you think differently. We are different humans. 

I don’t wish to discuss this online, but if you see me on the street, I’d be happy to talk to you about it. 

In any case, please vote, and 

thank you for your attention, and

That is all.