Donald [t]Rump For President ... Because Mocking The Disabled Is So Presidential

I, sometimes, when I’m feeling especially dark and especially low, and deep into depression, wonder what a Donald[t]Rump presidency might look like. 

You know, Putin says something [t]Rump doesn’t like and he holds a press conference to call Putin a loser. He declares the British Prime Minister to be low energy; he finds some female head of state particularly unattractive and announces to the world that she’s ugly.

That’s President [t]Rump. Now, that might just be my imagination, but this, sadly, is not.

After [t]Rump recently lied about seeing "thousands and thousands" of Muslim Americans in Jersey City, New Jersey, cheering and celebrating the 9/11 attacks, his lie has been called out by someone who knows the truth.

Back on September 11, 2001,  Serge Kovaleski was a reporter for The Washington Post and he wrote a piece about police interviewing people accused of allegedly celebrating the attacks that day. None of those accusations or reports turned out to be true, and Kovaleski said so in a New York Times interview.

Last week, while once again saying he saw it and so it was true—just like he ‘saw’ people jumping from the towers as he sat in his apartment four miles away—[t]Rump decided to mock Kovaleski, and began imitating the symptoms of artrogryposis, a disability from which Kovaleski suffers.

Yes, a grown-assed man, running for the highest office in this country, stooped to making fun of a disability.

How-effing-presidential. Let’s roll the tape ….

And when the New York Times called Trump's mocking of their reporter "despicable," he issued a statement.

“I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovalski [sic] is, what he looks like or his level of intelligence. I don’t know if he is J.J. Watt or Muhammad Ali in his prime — or somebody of less athletic or physical ability. Despite having one of the all-time great memories I certainly do not remember him.”

Sadly, [t]Rump’s memory is another one of his lies, because Serge Kovaleski was a reporter for the New York Daily News from 1987 to 1993 and he knows Donald [t]Rump:

“Donald and I were on a first-name basis for years. I’ve interviewed him in his office. I’ve talked to him at press conferences. All in all, I would say around a dozen times, I’ve interacted with him as a reporter while I was at The Daily News.”

The Greatest Memory doesn’t remember that; but, remember that this isn’t the first time that Donald [t]Rump has ridiculed someone for their disability. Last July, he attacked columnist Charles Krauthammer—who is paralyzed from the waist down—for calling [t]Rump a "rodeo clown" :

“I get called by a guy that can’t buy a pair of pants, I get called names?”

[t]Rump tried to explain it away by staying he was referring to a different, non-disabled, columnist, but that’s not the truth … either.

Look, we all get to vote for whomever we choose, and I get that some people like the idea of someone outside the Washington Beltway being in office. But do we want someone who cannot have an adult discussion? Do we want someone who blatantly lies, gets called out on his lies, and continues to lie? And, worse yet, do we want a president who mocks disabled people because they called him a name?

Do we?

NCRM

Minute Rant: American Airlines Is F**ked Up

I hate airlines, for all their jacked-up pricing and ridiculous fees for just about everything, but American Airlines has sunk to a new low, possibly the lowest of lows.

Theresa Purcell, who suffers from a neurological disorder, uses a wheelchair to get about, and says the gate attendant for the San Diego commuter flight on American Airlines told her that it was too late to set up the wheelchair ramp for her so … Theresa got out of her wheelchair and crawled to her plane, and not one member of the airport team, or the airline, helped her.

"I crawled up onto the steps. I crawled into the plane. There was no other way for me to get on the plane so I crawled up to the plane. I was humiliated. It was embarrassing to have 50-something people watch you crawl into a plane."

Theresa has filed a lawsuit demanding $2.5 million from American and her attorney says if the case goes to court before it’s settled, she’ll ask for $6 million in damages. 

Oh, and American Airlines has basically admitted they’re guilty, and acknowledged the airline was in violation of the Air Carrier Access Act, a federal law that requires airlines to provide the necessary assistance for disabled passengers to allow them to enter and exit planes safely. American Airlines says:

"On behalf of US Airways and American Airlines, please accept our apologies for the difficulties Ms. Purcell experienced with her request for level entry boarding. It is imperative to provide essential care and to have a sensitive approach when assisting our passengers who have special needs.

We regret that a ramp was not requested so Ms. Purcell would be able to board the aircraft without going up the stairs, assistance should have been provided shortly thereafter. Based on what you've shared, it appears our employees didn't provide the attentive, courteous and professional service we expect as a company. I understand how the way you are treated can affect your impression of our" airline and sympathize with your displeasure.

After review of the facts, American Airlines admits they were in violation of CFR 14 Part 382 for not having provided level entry boarding as requested."

American Airlines has agreed to pay two million dollars in reparations, but I say that’s not enough. I say they pay the $6 million, and I say that Theresa Purcell flies First Class, for free, for the rest of her life, and is catered to like no one on earth has ever been catered to before.

This is disgusting. American Airlines needs to be sued and fined and publicly shamed for their behavior. Oh, and that gate attendant needs to be fired.

NCRM

South Carolina: We Don't Care About The Children Of Same-Sex Couples

As we continue the march toward full marriage equality in all fifty states, whether through state courts or legislatures, or through action, again, by the Supreme Court, we will continue to see more and more stories like this one come up.

Lisa and Melody Rawson are a same-sex couple who, in 2002, while living in New York, adopted a son. Eight years later they decided to get married in Iowa. Then last year, after coming to see that the winter’s in the Northeast were difficult for their special needs son, the Rawson’s moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and warmer temperatures.

But it actually got colder.

Their son, Terrel, is wheelchair-bound with spina bifida, a bilateral hip dislocation and a condition that causes water on the brain among other medical issues. When the family lived in New York, Terrel was receiving $600 in Social Security disability payments per month for his condition, but once they moved down here, again, for his health, they haven’t seen a penny because, here in South Carolina, their marriage is unrecognizable, so the Social security benefits no longer apply.

The Rawson’s have contacted everyone from the Social Security Administration to the Justice Department, and have even written to Congress asking anyone to look into their situation, and all they get is the run-around.

The run-around is this: the state of South Carolina says it does not have the paperwork to approve the forms to put Mother and Mother on the forms to get the paperwork so they can get the funds their son needs.

Yes, there is no form to fill out, to get a form to fill out, to put Mother and Mother on a form that will get them a form to fill out to get Social Security.

This has got to change, y’all, because now an innocent child is suffering because of the inequalities in this country. 

source

Another One: Mitchell Wilson

Mitchell Wilson was an 11-year-old boy.

Mitchell Wilson had muscular dystrophy.

Mitchell Wilson had to use a walker to get around his Ontario school, and last November, he was mugged for an iPhone. The bully was arrested and removed from the school they both attended, but the bullying did not end, and life for Mitchell Wilson did not get better.


Mitchell Wilson committed suicide after a year of being bullied.


Craig Wilson, Mitchell's father: "He was never the same....Subsequent to the beating that he took, he just lost that spark you see in a kid's eye. He had huge anxiety attacks about going outside and going for his walks and going to school by himself."

Craig Wilson found his 11-year-old son in his room, with a plastic bag tied around his head.

With the court date looming for his attacker, and the bullying not being stopped at the school, Mitchell Wilson said to his grandmother, "If I have to go back to that school, I’ll kill myself.”

Mitchell Wilson's suicide has raised fears that the case will not be prosecuted since the boy is no longer alive to testify against his assailant, but the case may be delayed while a written affidavit of a statement the boy made before his death is prepared. The case is now set to begin November 21.

The alleged assailant cannot be identified due to his age, though the Wilson family hopes he can atone for his crimes: “He’s a lost kid. He hasn’t been loved, hasn’t been cared for. We don’t want to be a lynch squad. We want him to do community work with disabled people. All we are trying to do is help this kid understand that his life is going to be zip if he keeps on the road he is on,” Mitchell's grandmother, Pam Wilson, said.

At least he may have a life, troubled though it may be. Mitchell Wilson was never given that chance, because he has muscular dystrophy, used a walker and had an iPhone.

it isn't just gay kids, or questioning kids, being bullied. It's the kids who don't fit some kind of mold. They're gay, or assumed to be; they're fat, or have freckles, or they're skinny. They skin is a different color. They have a disability.

And every day they are being abused, physically, emotionally, and verbally, and it doesn't stop. And for some, they think there is one way to end the pain.

This has to stop.

source

Tidbits

This causes me such joy.
Sharron Angle is hinting that she might run for President.
I know!
Now, while that is hysterical in and of itself, can you imagine a Republican debate featuring Angle, Palin and Bachmann?
I mean, Tweedledum, Tweedledummer, and Bachmann.

Geri Jewell, best known for her role as Cousin Geri on that popular 1950s TV show, The Fats Of Life, er, The Facts of Life, is releasing her memoir, "I'm Walking As Straight As I Can: Transcending Disability in Hollywood and beyond."
Jewell was one of the first, if not the first, actor with a disability--she has cerebral palsy--to appear as a regular on on a TV show. She talks about the difficulty of breaking into Hollywood with cerebral palsy, and her pride in opening the doors for future generations of disabled actors.
But, she also comes out as gay in the book.
Cousin Geri is gay?
Who knew?
I mean, Jo, well, sure, but Cousin Geri?

Charlie Sheen is in trouble again.
The usual stuff, sex and drugs, and probably weapons, too.
I've made my share of jokes about Sheen, but this is not only getting old, it's getting scary.
If he was just plain Charlie Sheen, working at a Vons in Southern California, and was arrested for ALLEGEDLY holding a knife to his wife's throat, or terrorizing a prostitute--oops, i mean porn star--being arrested time and again for domestic abuse, and drugs, would he still have a job?
WTF is wrong with CBS that they let him continue to pull these stunts and then keep giving him millions of dollars a year. Seriously, are money and ratings more important?
And what about his family? Take some freakin' leadership, and have a court declare Sheen incompetent and get his ass into a state sanctioned rehab where he can deal with his addictions to drugs, alcohol, sex, and weapons.
Seriously. This isn't funny any more.

I'm back into the Drag Race, and this time Carlos is coming along for the ride.
My favorites so far are Mimi Imfurst--I loved her Madonna and Child get-up, and No, it wasn't that Madonna. I also love Delta Work, because she looks like the woman who used to play Sally on The Bold and The Beautiful. Raja needs some lip work, because those are some seriois man lips, and she can't pull that look off, even though she won this week. Hmm, maybe I'm wrong.
I'm also a fan of Shangela, back for her second try, though she almost got dragged off. And I like Mariah, who seemed to be the diva bitch, until she helped another queen out....Mimi.
Who do you like?

Would that i could make this stuff up:
Carolee Bildsten ate dinner at a restaurant in Gurnee Illinois, but had no money to pay the bill.
Police were called, and an officer drove Bildsten home so she could get the cash.
The officer accompanied her into her home, where she said the money was in her sock drawer. She reached in for the cash, and instead came out with a......
Wait for it.
Knife?
No.
Gun?
She pulled out a clear plastic dildo and held it above her head in a "threatening manner."
Bildstein is now saying the officer scared her because she didn't know he'd followed her into her bedroom; she says she reached for the, um, weapon, because she'd recently read an article about a Gurnee police officer who was convicted of sexual assault.
And what? She wanted to be ready?
Or maybe she's a wackjob because, um, well, i forgot to mention that the officer found her lying on the ground outside of the restaurant to begin with.

Kool-Aid.
It's not just for drinking anymore.
And while some people say you can add some temporary color to your hair using Kool-And, now we come to find out that you can also clean your bathroom bowl with it.
Apparently the citric acid in the orange Kool-Aid works well enough to clean the toilet.
And, because I like to offer household tips to my readers, here's how:
“Sprinkle the contents of the package in before you head to bed, swirl it around with a toilet bowl brush, and let it sit over night. The acid in the drink mix will go to work cleaning away tough stains and build up if you don't have the best water conditions.”
Now, to Kool-Aids credit, it is kind of a green product, but if it's strong enough to clean a toilet do you really wanna be drinking it?
 
And let's finish with The View.
Or let's just finish The View.
Now, don't get me wrong, I loves me some Whoopi and Joy, and some whoopee and joy, but Sherri is such a morn she makes Hasselbeck look like a Mensa member.
But today, let's talk about the doddering Grandma on the show, Babs Walters.
She is so out of touch, and rambles on so incoherently that it's almost sad. And why she feels the need to treat her audience like morons is beyond me. She always has to explain the story before she comments, like she knows the audience has no idea what's happening.
When, in fact, it's Babs who's lost.
Seriously, Babs, you've been a trailblazer. we wouldn't have Diane Sawyer without you; or Katie Couric, though I won't hold that against you. You've had an epic run,m having been on TV since the day TV was invented. And I'm sure you have enough money, so.....
Retire already.
Head down to Boca Raton and wander the streets, waiting for 5PM so you can get an Early Bird Special at Applebee's.
Seriously.
We'll be fine.
Go............................................................go.