Left Coast Sports Babe

As a Spurs fan, I haven’t really cared for a while who wins the NBA finals. But sure increasingly seeming like the NBA wants the trophy presentation at Madison Square Garden.

(And if you don’t think officiating can decide a playoff series, you’re too young or have forgotten 2002 Western Conference Final – Kings/Lakers Game Six.)

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Imagine if before the Super Bowl, instead of both teams’ captains shaking hands, one team refused and said “Not accepting the handshake, if we lose it will only be because the game is rigged.” That’s where we are with Trump & his team.

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SF Giants just got swept in Philadelphia, and despite a number of high-priced free agents, are hitting if anything worse than in 2023.

Former manager Gabe Kapler might be forgiven for giggling.

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September 2020. President Trump “”What we’ve done for Minnesota, if I lose Minnesota, I’m never coming back. I don’t care. I’m never coming back!”

And on the night his son graduates from high school, Trump is now headlining a GOP State Fundraiser in St. Paul. Another promise Velveeta Voldemort took as seriously as his three wedding vows.

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Hey media? Why isn’t it a bigger story that both the GOP Presidential candidate and those wanting to be his VP all refuse to accept the results of the election if they lose?

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WTF CNN? This headline “Judge’s warning provides dilemma for Trump.” What dilemma?

Judge Merchan simply told Donald not to publicly attack witnesses & jurors.

For most defendants when threatened with jail time, to shut up or not to shut up is not a hard question.

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Trying to imagine what would happen to most of us if we told a policeman who pulled us over for a traffic violation that you felt your rights were being violated and “our constitution is much more important than jail.”

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As Houston area begins long process of recovery from recent flooding GOP Polk Country judge Sydney Murphy is “tired of dealing with historic weather events”, but “whatever happens, whatever Mother Nature sends our way, we will deal with.” Anything but acknowledge climate change.

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Donald Trump reportedly complained about having to take photo at Mar-A-Lago with donors and said if people didn’t get pictures it’s because they didn’t give enough money. Well, if they really wanted pictures with him they should brought a teenage daughter in skimpy clothes.

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Increasingly looks like Barack Obama won two Presidential Elections not because of but in SPITE of having David Plouffe and David Axelrod as campaign managers.

Apparently Wisconsin Senate candidate Eric Hovde voted absentee in California in 2023 and 2024. When he loses to Senator Tammy Baldwin in November, bet he’ll be glad to get back to his gorgeous home in Laguna Beach.

https://www.compass.com/listing/532-emerald-bay-laguna-beach-ca-92651/24898364072081121

So Jakson Reitz finds out late Saturday he is being called up to SF Giants, gets on red-eye via Chicago to Philadelphia, arrives Sunday morning & hits a ball deep into the bleachers about 400 feet. Maybe SF Giants need to put whole team on red-eye flights to wake up their bats?

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Even if you’re not a big NHL fan, there are few more exciting things in sports than the phrase “Overtime in game seven”

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Putting a literal spin on “close only counts in horseshoes.”

On Kentucky Derby day, overtime in game seven in the NHL playoffs also turned out to be just an exciting two minutes.

Once again, reversed seasons in Toronto. Where spring is the time for falling Leafs.

WTF Maureen Dowd? – In her column Sunday “In Trump’s social media posts, he can be playful; ‘Contrary to FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I don’t fall asleep during Crooked D.A.’s Witch Hunt.. I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely & take it ALL in!'”

He is NOT being playful, he’s serious.

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Never one to shy away from media, Dean Phillips is first Democrat to call for indicted Congressman Henry Cuellar to resign. Not that I don’t agree with him this time.

But just a touch ironic that the man who primaried Joe Biden for months with no chance for anything but attention, is now telling another Democrat it’s time to quit.

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Houston was experiencing serious flooding this week and it’s not over.

So the question… where did Ted Cruz escape to?

Governors Gretchen Whitmer & Katie Hobbs are fighting hard in purple states to protect our freedoms. Whereas Governor who gets all the media attention lied & shot her dog.

Not that she doesn’t deserve derision, but when people think politicians in general are bad, they don’t vote.

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Been some probably false rumors that Mitt Romney will leave the GOP over Trump. I doubt he’d ever do it.

But again, if Lisa Murkowski wants to leave GOP and become an independent…..

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Hey NY Times, CNN etc. While you focus on both-sidesing and downplaying Trump’s threats, maybe pay attention to what his good friend Netanyahu is doing to journalistm in Israel?

“Israel to close Al Jazeera news network in the country.”

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What have we learned lately about MAGA

In Trump world you can shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue with no repercussions. But don’t shoot your puppy in a gravel pit.

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There’s a big reason Trump and GOP cling so strongly to the stolen election lie: For all Donald claims he wants to “Make America Great Again,” he knows Americans decided that the four years he was in office weren’t that great.

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Finally, all joking aside.-

54 years ago on May 4 – Allison, William, Sandra, Jeffrey…. “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming…” #KentState

They’d have only been in their early mid 70s now.

Bally Sports channels now will be removed from Comcast after bankruptcy of Bally operator Diamond Sports.

So Comcast fans of MLB’s Tigers, Brewers, Reds, Cardinals, Rays, Rangers, Braves, Angels, Royals, Twins & Marlins can no longer see games.

Sadly White Sox fans can still watch their team.

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Non-political rant: Can someone explain to me why SF Giants pinch-hit Austin Slater for Yastrzemski at Fenway Park? Sure, Yaz isn’t great against lefties, though Boston seems to bring out the best in him. But Austin Slater in 2024 isn’t good against ANYONE.

(and with runners on 1st and 3rd and no outs he struck out on 3 pitches.)

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76ers owners bought thousands of Game 6 tickets in Philadelphia on the secondary market tonight to block Knicks fans from taking over the arena, and gave them away to “first responders, health care professionals and other local Philadelphia-based organizations.”

Now that’s cool…but thinking after Knicks closed out series maybe 76ers fans who sold tickets made the smart decision?

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So Donald Trump is saying now he might not accept the November election results and there could be violence if he loses – “it depends” Well we all know he’s just joking because he would never actually endorse violence or try to overthrow the results of an election. #sarcasm

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GOP Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed immigration enforcement legislation, which he said ‘became one of our top priorities following senseless death of Laken Riley.” If only GOP gave half as much a damn about senseless deaths due to domestic violence & guns being in the wrong hands.

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Now she’s talking about the “safety of her children?” How long until Kristi Noem demands all her books be destroyed so she can rewrite the chapter and pretend her disappointing hunting dog had attacked kids instead of chickens?

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There’s a fair amount of bipartisan condemnation of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem shooting a family dog who wasn’t well trained. But some in GOP and pundits like Sean Hannity are trying to defend her. Yep, mostly the same people who would let a woman die rather than have an abortion.

So who had insulting London and Paris on their Trump 2024 bingo card?

“We’ve seen what happened when Europe opened their doors to jihad. Look at Paris, look at London — they’re no longer recognizable.”

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“We can be extremely upset at Biden administration for policies w/ regard to Israel & Gaza. OTOH, I’d hope most young people don’t want to see Donald Trump a racist, sexist, homophobe who doesn’t acknowledge reality of climate change, be elected president of US.” Bernie Sanders

SF Giants had already been outscored 34 to 6 in Blake Snell’s starts. Today Snell was scratched three hours before the game with an injury and the team kept the “streak” going without him… losing 8-2. At least they didn’t sign him for 10 years.

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There are slow starts and there are slow starts. At this point though, the Chicago White Sox, 3-21, probably not only have given up on the playoffs.. they also probably couldn’t qualify for the College World Series.

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So if a teacher now in Tennessee wants to talk about gender identity, teach banned books AND carry a firearm, things could get interesting.

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Have to figure many of the young protesters who’ve been shutting things down in cities and at colleges are at least 20 to 22 years old. Wonder how many of them voted in 2020 and 2022?

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As their sales falter, Elon Musk now insists Tesla isn’t a car company. That should be very comforting to those who own Teslas now (or are thinking of buying one) and consider maintenance and repairs in future…

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Don’t get me wrong. I am glad that Mitch McConnell at least decided to do the right thing with Ukraine funding. But forgive me if I don’t deify the man who stole two SCOTUS seats, and would steal more if he could.

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Important note on yesterday’s vote for Ukraine aid. 3 Senators couldn’t be bothered to vote. Rand Paul, Tim Scott & Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville after a long speech ranting against the aid. Guessing once Tommy had done Putin’s bidding he hightailed it to his home in Florida.

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Not surprised that misogynistic SCOTUS judges like Alito are skeptical of emergency abortion care… Meanwhile, no doubt these men would allow ANY emergency care if a man just had an erection lasting longer than four hours….

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So is Donald Trump particularly upset because his daughter-in-law and handpicked RNC chair just told him he has to campaign in all 81 states?

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As CNN headlines how voters under 30 disapprove of Biden’s handling of Israel-Gaza war, why aren’t they talking about how Trump wants to let Netanyahu absolutely destroy Gaza, while Donald institutes a US Muslim ban and deports protesters?

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Pres. Biden announced new rule to make over million white-collar workers eligible for overtime pay. Rule increases threshold for being exempt from $35k to $43k.

Sounds geeky & not as sexy as a trial involving payoffs to mistresses.. But will make big difference to hardworking Americans. #DoBetterMedia

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Only good thing about some of the media doom and gloom polls.. maybe it will galvanize some of the moderate/liberate “Oh, my vote doesn’t matter” people.

Your vote ALWAYS matters. Vote while we have a democracy. Vote to keep our democracy. #VoteBlue

So who had the only halfway decent first-round playoff game Sunday being between the #1 seed Oklahoma Thunder and the #8 seed (and Zion-less) New Orleans Pelicans.

(94-92 OKC, and New Orleans had chance to tie or win at buzzer.)

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Okay, kudos to those Mike Johnson and Mike Pence on in the pool of “unlikeliest Republicans who would someday do the right thing

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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, often mentioned as being on Trump’s VP list, said Sunday there should be no exception for rape or incest with abortions. It barely even made news cycle.

GOP hopes we won’t notice their extremism.

Intentionally or not media is helping them.

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Look, I love Dionne Warwick

But if she’s now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame why not the Carpenters?

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We’ll never know… but on gay rights, their children changed many GOP opinions. Have to think Mike Johnson’s son potentially having to go to war against Putin played a huge part in Speaker’s conversion.

“He thought about his son, set to attend U.S. Naval Academy in fall.”

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Lindsey Graham on the passage of Ukraine aid: “This wouldn’t have passed without Donald Trump.”

Could he get any more craven? When John McCain died he took Lindsey Graham’s soul with him.

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Increasingly obvious that the worst fear for major US media is not that Trump will get back in the White House and destroy democracy. But that Biden will be re-elected and we will have four more years of a competent caring no-drama man in the White House.

Worst sports headline of 2024?

“NBA star’s family nightmare continues as brother gets 6 years for DUI crash.”

Uh, it’s been a bad month for Nuggets Michael Porter Jr, whoses brother Jontay banned for gambling. Now brother Coban got 6 yrs in prison for killing woman w/ young child in a DUI case where he was allegedly over twice the limit.

HER family has the real nightmare.

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Early days but sure seems like SF Giants could have saved a lot of money on Blake Snell and spent a little more to keep Renel Brooks-Moon.

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It was Patrick Bailey bobblehead daily Saturday at Oracle Park. He’s 4-4 with a splash hit. Giants won 7-3.

How quickly can SF Giants manufacture bobbleheads for the entire lineup?

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So maybe it’s time to ask the question with some of these former “Never Trumpers” who have fallen in line behind Donald as the GOP nominee. Are they being paid? Or are they scared of falling out of windows

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Can the media also STOP covering Velveeta Voldemort whining about not being able to campaign. With their nonstop coverage on his every gesture and every word he says outside the courtroom, why would he want to campaign? Trump getting far more attention where he is.

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Air traffic controllers mistakingly directing 2 planes to same runway resulted in near collision at DC National Airport. Hate calling it Reagan, but reminder, Ronald was one who decided to play cowboy & fire all air traffic controllers for going on strike. Air Traffic Control is still recovering.

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Another rewrite of CNN headlines: “In passing Ukraine aid, the accidental speaker became an unlikely Churchill.” How about “By belatedly passing Ukraine aid, Mike Johnson showed he ultimately cared about democracy .. or having his Naval Academy son pressed in to combat?”

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NBC News making their pitch for worst out of context headine of the year. “Muslim Americans who soured on Biden see Israel aid package as further betrayal.” Without mentioning that President Biden’s opponent would institute a Muslim ban and deport Palestinian protesters.

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As longtime volunteer been lucky to have heard our last 4 Democratic Presidents speak, & countless candidates. Biden will never win speaking awards. Didn’t vote for him to be President of Toastmasters, Voted for him to be President of United States. And Joe’s a damn good one.

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Dear Climate activists shutting down Democratic events: Trump promises to reduce energy prices by increasing domestic production, he plans to end delays in federal drilling permits & leases. “We’re going to ‘drill, baby, drill’ right away,” Please pay attention & grow up.

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Sometimes I think I could devote a whole blog to fixing CNN headlines.

“Trump caps off an unprecedented week with North Carolina rally.” How about “After a week in NY and nonstop rants about being a criminal defendant, Trump returns to his regular rallies.”

The NFL formally reinstated five players today who had been banned indefinitely for gambling violations in 2023.

Wonder what were the odds?

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At least two teams, the Las Vegas Aces and the Washington Mystics, have moved their games against the Indiana Fever to larger arenas because of higher than expected crowds.

Good for them. Now pay the women more.

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Missisippi GOP Senator Wicker is very conservative. But he supports Mike Johnson’s allowing vote on Ukraine aid. Wicker notes his son, like Mike’s, is in US military. Maybe it’s just not wanting to lose child to war against Putin.

But he gets it, for whatever reason. US needs to stand up for democracy

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The entire Kennedy clan is going to endorse President Biden. And you think your Thanksgiving family dinner is going to be awkward.

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Marge Three Names submitted an amendment to the Ukraine aid bill barring funding until “restrictions on Hungarians in Transcarpathia” and other minorities are lifted.

Bet Marge Three Names didn’t even know Transcarpathia existed.

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Trump: It is a shame. I am sitting here for days now from morning until night in that freezing room. Freezing! All for this. This is your result. It is very unfair.

Uh, how the heck should Americans trust a man to handle all the challenges he will face as leader of the free world, if he can’t dress himself well enough to be comfortable in air conditioning?

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Gotten attacked by some far-left folks on Twitter/X today for being against shutting down roads, bridges, Democratic events etc to make a point. They say extremism is only way to get real change.

That worked so well in voting for Jill Stein & putting anti-Muslim climate change denier in White House

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Good news for SF Giants. With the Warriors out of the playoffs and the A’s heading to Sacramento, the Giants will be getting most of the sports attention in the SF Bay Area.

Bad news for the SF Giants based on their recent play… they will be getting most of the sports attention in the SF Bay Area.

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If President Biden wanted to do something that would get him applause from millions of Americans of all political persuasions, maybe Joe could issue an executive order firing Angel Hernandez?

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All the numbers are going up. Except one. How about a major raise in WNBA salaries? WNBA Draft drew nearly 2.5 million viewers in record-shattering broadcast. Previous viewership record was set back in 2004 with Diana Taurasi, but it only drew just more than 600,000 viewers.

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US Senate working on many things to benefit American people, .including BIPARTISAN legislation on antitrust/competition issues, extending farm bill, regulating AI, reining in Big Tech…

And it all takes a back seat thanks to House GOP performative impeachment of Mayorkas.

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NY Times headline: “Melania Trump Avoids the Courtroom, but Is Said to Share Her Husband’s Anger.” Of all teadlines NY Times could write about a trial involving Donald allegedly paying lots of money to cover up two affairs early in her marriage to him, they go with that one?

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As his stock continues to tank, when is Trump coming out with a line of Beanie Babies?

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Speaker Johnson defiant about Marge Three Names and her motion to vacate: “It is not helpful to the House Republicans to advance our agenda which is in the best interest of the American people.” WHAT agenda? (And what people? Other than billionaires who want more tax cuts.)

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Apparently Donald Trump asked if he could be exempted from any proceedings that may arise on Wednesdays.

Stephen Colbert – “What no Wednesdays? There’s no possible better day for a porn star trial than Hump Day.”

SF Giants have still not come up with a credible reason why they essentially fired their great PA Announcer Renel Brooks-Moon.

Meanhwhile, the 5-9 Giants have 3 extra base hits in last 3 games, and no home runs since April 3. SF also went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position against Tampa Bay.

So maybe they should have kept Renel and let go some of their hitting coaches?

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Angel Hernandez is to umpiring what Donald Trump is to election integrity.

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New Orleans Pelicans were 20 of 38 from three point range tonight in their 114-109 win against the Golden State Warriors.

Who did the Pelicans think they were? Caitlin Clark?

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Meanwhile as a San Antonio Spurs fan who knows the team has a lottery pick and is just playing for pride at this point, I confess that I wasn’t paying attention after they got down 18 points at halftime to Denver Nuggets, who were leading the NBA Western Conference.

Big mistake.

SPURS GAME-WINNER STUNS NUGGETS 😱

They erased a 23-point deficit 😳 pic.twitter.com/x2GCIgpt5V

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 13, 2024

Kentucky GOP lawmakers removed Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear from ANY role filling future U.S. Senate vacancies. Republicans said it was unrelated to health of Mitch McConnell. If you believe that I have a bridge across Ohio River between Cincinnati and Covington to sell you.

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Will keep saying this: If asked to name member of Congress not their own, thinking most Americans will name one of the crazies. We HAVE to amplify the good ones. Good politicians who get things done exist. But without coverage voters tend to think all government is useless.

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Mike Johnson has to know Trump and Marge will eventually throw him under the bus. Why not stand up for Ukraine now, go down in history as a defender of democracy, and write a book about it?

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Casey Anthony is trending on social media.. Is she now on the short list to be Trump’s running mate?

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When asked if he was “pro-life or pro-choice” Trump said “You know exactly which one it is.” Yes, we do. The only life Trump is “pro” is his own.

Non-citizens already do not vote. Babies are not aborted at 9th months. Trump indictments are not a political witch hunt. Time to start calling it the Gaslighting Old Party.