Crazy Enough For You? Wonkagenda For Mon., Oct. 29, 2018

Apparently the media pulled the trigger, and other sad stories in your morning news brief.

Morning Wonketariat! Here's some of the things wemaybe talking about today.

Federal prosecutors have charged 46-year-old Robert Bowers with 29 counts , including hate crimes in connection with Saturday's mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

 More than 16,000 people have signed an open letter telling Trump not to bother showing up for a photo-op with families sitting Shiva following the deaths of 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The letter states, "[Saturday's] massacre is not the first act of terror [Trump] incited against a minority group in our country," and accuses Trump of encouraging violence and hatred against the disabled, the LGBQT community, and people of color. The mayor says "its up to the families," whether or not they want Trump to show up.

Republicans have spent the weekend engaged in "What-about-ism" in an attempt to shift blame from their own embrace of violent extremists. They'reblaming the media and defending Trump, and Mike Pence actually stated, "I just don't think you can connect it to threats or acts of violence."

Shortly after Trump read a speech Saturday that told people to "rise above the hate" in the wake of politically motivated assassinations, Trump joked that his bad hair day (not the mass shooting) made him think twice about talking to a bunch of farmers in Indianapolis. Then, on Sunday morning, Trump insulted a bomb target, liberal philanthropist Tom Steyer, calling him a "crazed & stumbling lunatic who should be running out of money pretty soon" on Twitter.

Anti-Defamation League CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt went on Meet the Press to say hate speech is the new normal, stating, "Political candidates and people in public life now literally repeat the rhetoric of white supremacists." [ Video ]

Fun Facts: Here's some infographics that show where the47,220 gun incidents in 2018 have happened. There have been 156 mass shooting events in 2018. There have been 1,885 mass shootings since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012.

There's some worry that if Democrats flip the House they might start stepping on Robert Mueller's toes with all their investigations into Trump fuckery. "It's a problem I'd like to have one day," a senior Democratic aide tells Politico.

 Kirstjen Nielsen went on Fox News to tell a caravan of Central American refugees hundreds of miles away that the US border is No-la Open-o for el Chicanos.

More Trump C abinet members are expected to be "You're Fired" after the midterms as Trump seeks to cut disloyal dead weight stealing his headlines, like Jeff Sessions, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, crybaby and Chief of Staff John Kelly, grifty bastard and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, shifty old narcoleptic Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and "Warrior Monk" Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

A new review of Trump's schedule shows nine hours of "executive time" blocked out for Trump to watch TV and shitpost on Twitter last Tuesday. So presidential, the most presidenting in the history of presidents!

 Polls in Florida show Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in a dead heat with super rich Republican Gov. Rick Scott, both at 46 percent. Meanwhile, Tallahassee Democratic Mayor Andrew Gillum has a one point lead over racist Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis.

Over the weekend DeSantis got all bitchy with a local reporter asking why DeSantis refused to acknowledge Gillum as a mayor during their last debate. DeSantis responded by blowing his dog whistle and calling Gillum a bunch of racist names (again).

The battle for the New Jersey 3rd District is coming down to healthcare as the architect of of TrumpCare, Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur, finds himself trying to explain to voters why he tried to take away their healthcare protections.

Endangered New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez got a boostthis weekend after Republican candidate Bob Hugin began bombarding airwaves with ads that call Menendez everything from a crook to a child molester. Menendez got another bump by local a local newspaper saying voters should "Choke it down and vote for Menendez," then detailed his Republican rival's refusal to take a stand on any issue, and Hugin's "admiration" for Trump -- be it as a 2016 Trump delegate, or his $200,000 donation to Trump junk.

Michael Avenatti is still running around making bombastic quotes and generating stupid headlines for his inevitable 2020 run. #HesRunning.

Supporters of Iowa's white supremacist Republican Rep. Steve King explained their support by telling WaPo, "We're getting pretty happy in this country about kicking the white guy. Only one group of people haven't achieved minority status, and it's white men." Another supporter complained, "What upset me more than anything was all them black babies were dressed up in the best clothes." HOW IS THAT NOT RACIST?!

 The Texas AG is screaming about voter fraud from Mexicans, and attempting to prosecute people without a whole hell of a lot of evidence.

The ghost of Richard Nixon continues to haunt the 2018 midterms as Trump and Republicans scream about "mobs" threatening "law and order" in an attempt to use scare tactics and racial resentment, kind of like 1968. 

 Brazil elected Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right, gay-hating, puss-grabbing and racist super Trump asshole who says, "Let's go straight to the dictatorship."

Czech Republic President Miloš Zeman is already joking about sending journalists for a "special banquet" at the Saudi embassy.

 George Papadopoulos says he knows the name of Hillary Clinton's Satanic Muslim ninja spy sneaking around Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. He says it was Col. Mustard, in the server room, with the thumb drive.

In the wake of the shootings and attempted political assassinations last week, conservative writer Emily Jashinsky said that CNN is responsible for politically motivated violence because it uses chyrons to fact-check Trump in real-time, and (apparently) this is why people chant, "CNN sucks."

Right-wing radio loudmouth Hugh Hewitt opines in WaPo that people ruining Republicans' fancy dinners is just like an anti-semitic mass murder, or a mass political assassination -- then Hewitt defends Trump's ravenous sycophantic rallies by hypocritically arguing, "Chants are not chases, hurled insults are not hurled rocks."

 Chuck Todd is taking some well deserved heat after he brought conservative crackpot Erick Erickson on Meet the Press and let him push his "What about" bullshit without ever asking Erickson about his own dangerous conspiracy peddling. [ Video ]

On Saturday Fox Business re-aired walking corpse Lou Dobbs's interview with hate mongering liar Chris Farrell   from Thursday that said the Mexican-Muslim terrorist freedom marchers are being funded by the "Soros-occupied State Department." Fox Business says it was a mistake to air Farrell's anti-semitic and racist comments (AGAIN) and has tried to delete the interview off the internet.

Maggie Haberman has a shitty profile of Brad Parscale, the idiotweb designerrunning Trump's 2020 campaign who thinks making old people pay for their own political ads won't backfire.

John Oliver 'splainered the importance of state attorneys general in an increasingly partisan world full of penis flashing and pen stealing political crooks, and why AGs can move issues on gun laws, civil rights for LGBQT people, healthcare and pre-existing conditions. Vote411.org
 

The "alt-right" shitposting safe space "Gab" has been nuked from high orbit following the attacks this weekend. GoDaddy told them to take a hike, several web hosts immediately told them to fuck right off, now Apple has banned them, and PayPal has blocked them . Right now the entire site is down , and there's speculation their official Twitter account may be shutdown.

The Telegraph is reporting Twitter might kill off it's "like" button to fight the Nazis.

And here's your morning Nice Time! Freakin' penguins! 

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