The San Diego Connection and O’Loughlin unloads

Mazurek

They say a person is known by the company she keeps. With respect to Kristy Mazurek, who is running in the Democratic primary race for the 143th Assembly seat about to be vacated in disgrace by Conservative Angela Wozniak, who replaced Democrat Dennis Gabryszak – who also vacated it in disgrace – the news from her current and former company isn’t good. 

Kristy Mazurek is a close confidant of Steve Pigeon, who is under federal and state investigation and has been indicted on nine state felony charges relating to Pigeon’s relationship with former State Supreme Court Justice John Michalek. For his part, Michalek has already pled guilty to crimes related to the same set of facts, resigned his office, and awaits sentencing in September. 

While Mazurek pulls the Buffalo News’ leg attempting to distance herself from Pigeon, he grants her power of attorney to sell off his condo. As it happens, Pigeon executed the document in San Diego. 

“I am not Steve’s keeper,” she said. “Just because I’m associated with someone. … does that make me a bad person?”

Not necessarily, but when you have power of attorney over someone’s business transactions you are, in a way, their “keeper”; at least for the purpose(s) described. But no one is arguing whether or not Mazurek is a “bad person”. There are plenty of “bad people” who are concomitantly qualified or competent to be elected to public office. Mazurek isn’t one of them. Look, if Mazurek doesn’t have a problem being associated with Pigeon, she shouldn’t crop him out of pictures she uses on her lit

I have no idea what Pigeon might be up to in San Diego, but that locale doesn’t seem to be an accident. Pigeon’s erstwhile protege and former State Senator Anthony Nanula lives there, and in 2012 he co-founded American Coastal Properties with Buffalo developer Nick Sinatra. WGRZ recently reported on the appendices to the warrants that enabled law enforcement to enter and search Pigeon’s condo. From Channel 2’s story

One of them was the search warrant in question. In it, it states the search is looking for evidence related to “Steve Pigeon’s unlawful lobbying on behalf of Nick Sinatra”.

Sinatra is a former Republican operative who is now head of Sinatra & Company, a growing real estate development company in Buffalo.

When 2 On-Your-Side reached out to Sinatra, this statement was offered on his behalf:

“While Mr. Sinatra has had previous business relationships with Steve Pigeon, he has no knowledge of Steve Pigeon lobbying on his behalf. Mr. Sinatra has no connection to the Western New York Progressive Caucus. He is not part of this investigation and has not been contacted by investigators for many months. Mr. Sinatra has never been under investigation nor does he expect to be under investigation.”  

Then there’s another document the Pigeon defense team would like the jury not to see. It is a report of a police interview with Pigeon from August of 2008. The interview was conducted by investigators from the Erie County District’s office and the FBI. 

According to the report, Pigeon acknowledges he is owner of a business called Landon Associates. Named as his business partner is Roger Stone, who Pigeon reportedly describes at the, “Darth Vader of the Republican Party.”

Seeing “Landon Associates” in a campaign’s filing is like a coded beacon that the Pigeoning of an election is underway. (E.g., here, here, here). Sinatra’s company was somehow caught up in the 2013 financing of the WNY Progressive Caucus (“AwfulPAC”). On August 19, 2013, AwfulPAC reported receiving $4,000 in one lump sum from Frank Max’s Progressive Democrats of WNY. Yet for some reason Max’s group didn’t report it that way, instead showing three separate amounts. AwfulPAC also says that it received money long before Max’s group says it contributed it, which is truly psychic in its prescience. The money orders were supposedly purchased by an employee of Sinatra’s, who denies having done so; his name was allegedly improperly substituted for the actual purchaser, and anyone purchasing a money order for more than $3,000 must show ID. That Nanula/Sinatra venture may explain G. Stephen’s visit to sunny California. 

As for Mazurek’s fitness for public office, her former co-worker, Bill O’Loughlin, deserves a hearing. O’Loughlin took his morning political talk radio program from WECK to Channel 2, and brought on Mazurek as a Democratic foil on the show known as “2Sides”. O’Loughlin quit 2Sides, and reveals on his new radio program that Mazurek was the reason he left; that he could no longer work with her. O’Loughlin spent a good portion of his August 28th program explaining why he thinks Mazurek is not qualified for public office, which he boiled down to, “drunk in Albany, drunk in Georgia, lawyered up.” Mazurek continued 2Sides with co-hosts including current Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw, former Collins Chief of Staff Chris Grant, and political consultant and PR flack Michael Caputo.

These are ringing endorsements indeed. 

Campaign for a Fair New York for Jacobs

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Wal-Mart. Save Money. Live Better. Underwrite school privatization efforts. 

The mailers reached Republican homes in the 60th Senate District Shitshow this week, and were paid for by “Campaign for a Fair New York”. I had never heard of it before. So, I looked it up. Here’s the back side of that mailer shown above: 

The Campaign for a Fair New York is, hilariously enough, based out of Connecticut. 

Mr. Phillips’ home is a lovely 3 bedroom that was sold in late 2015 for just under $400,000 – a bargain in Milford, a town on the Long Island Sound and the New Haven Line. The committee now has a P.O. Box in Buffalo, and is operated by the Northeast Charter Schools Network, of which Mr. Phillips is a trustee. The NCSN bills itself as,

…the membership and advocacy organization for charter schools in New York and Connecticut.  Formerly known as the New York Charter Schools Association, the organization was established in 2000. 

Our mission is to support and expand the high-quality charter school movement in both states. We work to advance pro-charter school legislation at the State Capitol in Albany and Hartford, and our team of veteran charter school experts is always available to assist our member schools with services designed to help them operate more effectively. 

Our advocacy staff understands that despite tremendous promise and performance, charter schools often need defending. The NECSN team has been successful on many fronts, bringing significant victories to the charter school movement despite tough budget cycles. We continue to fight for charter kids to close the funding gap between charter and district schools.

We communicate with our members often, providing immediate updates to schools on policies and proceedings in Albany and Hartford, circulate legislative updates, help organize advocacy visits for schools and parents, and tell you stories in the press and on digital and social media.

It also, apparently, endorses and makes independent expenditures on behalf of candidates for public office and echoes the Trump slogan with, “Make Buffalo Proud Again”, which is interesting because I think Buffalo is pretty damn proud already. #Buffalove, right? 

This NECSN PAC has one source of funding: a $75,000 contribution from Alice Walton, of the Wal-Mart family. (Click to enlarge)

So far, the “Campaign for a Fair New York” PAC didn’t see fit to use any vendors actually located within the state of New York, instead opting to spend half of Ms. Walton’s contribution on direct mail services with a company in Cornwall, Connecticut. (Click to enlarge)

The question on everyone’s mind at this point, however, is this. Is the Charter School lobby supporting only Republican candidates, and do they get their funding solely from billionaire philanthropists, or from other sources? If Jacobs doesn’t mind his image next to a Trumpian phrase, does this mean he endorses Trump the candidate, or just that he’s willing to exploit the obvious rhetorical connection for electoral gain, while not directly addressing the issue? 

It bears mentioning that Jacobs was a named principal of this lobbying group in 2009, and again from 2011 – 2014. The circumstantial evidence here points to the Jacobs campaign being a bit spooked by his primary opponent, Kevin Stocker. Stocker has been doing a lot of retail door-to-door politicking for years, and came close to winning two years ago. Like Jacobs, Stocker isn’t afraid to spend gobs of his own money to go to the execrable state Senate. Rumor has it that the race is tight; there’s been some heavy polling activity lately, and these early mailers – Connecticut made with Arkansas money – from a previously unknown committee underscore what must be a sense of unease within the Jacobs effort. 

August is Supposed to be Quiet

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Flaherty’s Push Poll

Earlier this week, someone – likely the Flaherty for DA campaign itself – “leaked” the results of a poll showing Flaherty absolutely crushing his Democratic primary opponents, John Flynn and Mark Sacha. But the law states that any campaign releasing the results of any poll must release the entire thing, in its entirety, and also file it with the Board of Elections. Flaherty’s campaign, which has already engaged in cheap and unbecoming shenanigans such as buying “FlynnforDA.com” and redirecting it to Flaherty’s own site, then did just that – released and filed the entire poll. But as people looked at the way in which this poll was conducted, this ploy has blown up in the campaign’s face. 

The poll was conducted by David Binder research in late July, surveying 401 likely voters. It used language to confirm for people that Flaherty was the incumbent, “your District Attorney”, and fed people a barrage of negative messaging against Flynn – three separate attacks, while similar attacks on Sacha and Flaherty were very inside baseball. It falsely linked Flynn to Pigeon, called Flynn a “perennial candidate”, and falsely accused Flynn of supporting a wife-beater. That’s one way to suppress the vote and underhandedly attack your opponent with falsehoods. 

The Flaherty campaign didn’t release this poll from a position of strength, but of fear. It is desperate to destroy Flynn and, by extension, Democratic Chairman Jeremy Zellner, and will go so far as to conduct – and publish – a blatant push-poll, but not before trying illegally to leak it. Flynn’s fundraising has been very successful, while Flaherty’s has lagged. Flaherty is trying to portray himself as inevitable in order to bolster his own fundraising efforts, despite his campaign being objectively outperformed in support and cash. County Executive Mark Poloncarz will enter the fray at a press conference scheduled for 2pm on Thursday. 

60th Senate District Shitshow

Republican Kevin Stocker is going to court to prevent his removal from the Conservative fusion line based on the elimination of just enough petition signatures. He accuses Conservative fusion party boss Ralph Lorigo of retaining private investigators to pose as law enforcement and intimidate people into renouncing their signatures in some way. Given that Republican County Clerk Chris Jacobs, who has not yet told voters whether he supports his party’s Presidential nominee, will almost certainly get the (R) line, Stocker’s removal from the (C) line would leave him effectively out of the November general election. 

The Republicans have also tried to take over the Green Party line again, and that, too, is going to court due to some apparent petition irregularities in an effort led by Todd Aldinger, who was most recently the chairman of the Erie County Charter Revision Commission. 

Second Amendment Solutions

As for the Presidential campaign, you’d think it was October. Hillary Clinton is running a professional, competent campaign effort. She is discussing the issues, traveling the country, and inundating swing and battleground states with advertisements. The same can’t be said for the Republicans, who find themselves backing an authoritarian charlatan with a mouth as big as his experience and knowledge are microscopic. We have learned in the last few weeks a few things – 1. Clinton Derangement Syndrome is an acute affliction that becomes more desperate with each passing day, appears to be a virus that can lay dormant for as many as 16 years before recurring; and 2. the entire campaign has become an exercise in “what insane thing will Donald Trump say next?” 

Just when you think Trump has said the most outrageous lie, he tells another. It’s comical that, in order to do battle with a Democratic candidate whom they wish to portray as “crooked”, the Republicans have selected a serial, inveterate liar. 

Earlier this week, Trump went too far, exhorting his cult to commit acts of violence. It came after Trump claimed – falsely – that Hillary Clinton would repeal the 2nd Amendment. Presidents don’t have the power to repeal Constitutional amendments, so Trump’s lie isn’t even especially clever. Here is what Trump said, within its full “context”: 

So here, I just wrote this down today. Hillary wants to raise taxes — it’s a comparison. I want to lower them. Hillary wants to expand regulations, which she does bigly. Can you believe that? I will reduce them very, very substantially, could be as much as 70 to 75 percent. Hillary wants to shut down energy production. I want to expand it. Lower electric bills, folks! Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick –if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day, if — if — Hillary gets to put her judges in.”

“Bigly”, for fuck’s sake. They nominated a guy who talks like a 1st grader. But forget the “substance” of Trump’s cretinous stream of consciousness, let’s look at the remarks. The Trump people have claimed that what Trump really meant was that 2nd Amendment “people” should wield their political power, not their guns. OK. But if Hillary Clinton is President, she’s already won and there’s no voting power to be wielded anymore. Sure, the Senate could block a Clinton nomination – assuming it’s got enough Republicans left in it. But “2nd Amendment people” don’t do that – Senators do. What happened here is that Trump suggested that gun owners, many of whom already believe that their right to bear arms is wholly unrestricted, and that the 2nd Amendment was somehow designed by the nation’s Founders specifically to enable guys like accused election fraudster Rus Thompson to do battle with law enforcement and the government; “tyranny”, as defined by idiots. 

Trump knew exactly what he meant, when he suggested that the 2nd Amendment people’s intervention would lead to a “horrible” day, before quickly pivoting to make it not about assassination but judicial selection. This wasn’t a dog-whistle, but Lucille Bluth’s rape horn. This is how assassinations happen. It doesn’t matter what Trump says he meant, or what his supporters try to explain away – what matters is how one well-armed, poorly hinged lunatic interprets Trump’s constant delegitimization of Hillary Clinton, and his calls to “lock her up”, and “crooked Hillary”, whom he would “indict” on his first day in office. It’s come to this: Trump conspiring with Julian Assange to accuse Hillary Clinton of somehow ordering the murder of a young DNC staffer in Washington DC, because reasons.

Maybe Carl Paladino, the worst person in the world, can’t comprehend what Trump meant, but the Secret Service sure did

Maybe Nick Langworthy has nothing to say about it, but this is a country where a person can bring a Hillary Clinton effigy in a coffin to the Hamburgfest car show and win a fucking award. HAHA IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE HELLARY HITLERY KLINTOON IS A [insert misogynist epithet here]. They’re losing to her, so they want to kill her. It’s really quite simple. 

Trump’s is the InfoWars campaign. Hillary Clinton is an easy mark for right-wing lunatics to project whatever they want. But as Trump pivots from his “2nd Amendment people” incitement to accusing President Obama of “founding” ISIS, to – what’s he going to say today? That he’ll nuke Chappaqua? All Secretary Clinton has to do is get out of the way of her opponent’s self-destruction. Even the bullshit about the Orlando shooter’s father attending her campaign rally blew up in Trump’s face, when former Congressman Mark Foley was seen prominently behind Trump at a rally last night. Foley, a pervert, was caught propositioning underage Congressional pages. 

The only thing at this point more glaring than the Trump campaign’s relentless death spiral is the silence of key surrogate Congressman Chris Collins, who will sell out every principle he ever pretended to have in order to get a cabinet post in America’s first neo-fascist regime. Donald Trump’s campaign began in earnest in 2012, with Trump’s relentlessly racist birther campaign against Hawaiian-born President Obama. He is an appalling disgrace in every conceivable way. 

Matthew Jurado Arrested for North Tonawanda Arson

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Jurado’s publicly accessible Facebook page is replete with racist Confederate imagery. He is accused of starting a fire in the home of Kenneth Walker, an African-American firefighter from North Tonawanda, who reported being the victim of written racist threats earlier this week

Jurado denies delivering the threat, but claims to know who did. He lashed out at Walker supposedly because Jurado lost his position as a firefighter in June for failure to complete required training. Walker works with a different fire company, so query under what the hell racist logic Jurado was operating. 

While the News article mentions the firefighter-related images on Jurado’s Facebook, it omits the many appearances of the racist slavery treason flag, used nowadays by people who, with an ironic dash of racist political correctness, prefer the euphemism, “heritage”. 

This offers some insight into Mr. Jurado’s thought process and mindset; why he might target literally the only African-American firefighter in town. Mr. Jurado is, in court, innocent until proven guilty. He admitted to the police, however, that he set the fire. I wonder why. 

Paladino: Obama is a Muslim

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Within the cache of emails my colleagues and I revealed at WNYMedia.net in 2010 was one from tea party Assemblyman David DiPietro. It claimed that President Obama was a Muslim.

The Buffalo News’ Sandra Tan caught up with him and he was wishy-washy about whether he thought the President was Muslim. (He was in agreement before he was in alleged disagreement). First, DiPietro told Tan, 

“Barack Obama is a Muslim,” said DiPietro, former East Aurora mayor. “I don’t like the president. I think he’s a Muslim. I think he’s a foreigner to our nation. I oppose every principle he stands for.”

DiPietro called Tan back. 

He later said he spoke in the heat of the moment and apologized if he sounded offensive.

“He says he’s a Christian,” DiPietro said, referring to Obama. “Until that’s proven otherwise, I’ll take him at his word. I’m not going to question anyone’s religion. Your faith is your faith. I don’t question anyone’s faith. I just would like honesty with all his policies.”

Dishonest and unprincipled. Prejudiced. 

Not that there would be anything wrong with being Muslim. It’s just that Obama isn’t, and part of the reason why Caucasian Obama haters use the Muslim faith as a smear is because they are (a) Islamophobes; and (b) Obamaphobes. It’s a way for them to confirm for themselves what they already believe – that President Obama isn’t one of us. He isn’t a real American. Some think he is on a Muslim/Communist mission to destroy America. All of it is rooted in deep racism. 

For these types of tea party right-wing bigots, saying bigoted stuff is evidence of their opposition to “political correctness”; being anti-PC is the new PC for this crowd, and they use it as a way to justify their racial or religious animus.  

So, we turn to Carl Paladino, local coward and tea party bigot who is Donald Trump’s campaign co-chair in New York, a former and possibly future failed candidate for governor, and local embarrassment. It was Paladino to whom DiPietro sent that “Heeza Muzzlim” email. The New York Observer quoted Paladino in a story Thursday night, in which he laid bare his misguided belief that the President isn’t a real Christian or American. 

Speaking over the phone for an unrelated story, Carl Paladino—the 2010 GOP candidate for governor of New York—abruptly changed subjects and assailed the sitting president and his policies. The Buffalo-based real estate developer and Tea Party activist maintained that Obama, a practicing Christian, has sought to mislead the public about his religious affiliation, but that the citizenry has not fallen for his falsehoods.

Get that? The Observer – owned by Ivanka Trump’s husband – was speaking with Paladino about something completely different, and he spontaneously pivoted to this Obama-as-Muslim-foreigner fantasy. 

“In the mind of the average American, there is no doubt he is a Muslim,” Paladino said. “He is not a Christian.”

Sure, for Paladino, for whom being a “Christian” means forwarding hardcore pornography, including video of a horse having anal sex with a human woman, and having a whole second side family. Obama is not, indeed, that kind of “Christian”. 

By way of proof, Paladino seemed to argue Obama has taken a pro-Muslim approach in conducting American affairs abroad.

“Look at what he’s done with Iran, what he’s done with the Sunni-Shia thing over in Iraq and Iran, and with ISIS,” the Republican said.

Wait a minute. What has Obama done with “the Sunni-Shia thing over in Iraq and Iran”? What is that supposed to even mean? What the fuck is this doddering old racist talking about? The US has been raining bombs on ISIS for over a year, and ISIS’ territory in Syria and Iraq has shrunken significantly. As for Iran, whether you agree with Obama’s outreach to that country or not, his diplomatic initiatives there prove he’s a Muslim about as much as his diplomacy with Singapore make him a Southeast Asian. It’s just ignorant. 

Contrary to Paladino’s assertions, the average American does not seem to believe there is “no doubt” the president is a Muslim: polls indicate only 18 to 29 percent of the populace identify him as an adherent of the world’s second-largest religion. However, surveys suggest a full two-thirds of Trump supporters believe the president has hidden his true allegiances to the Quran and the holy city of Mecca.

So, there is quite a disconnect between real America, and what people like Paladino would call “real America”. The Observer piece goes on to outline Trump’s long and storied history with birther fanaticism, and Paladino’s email issues

The thing that so desperately perplexes old racists like Carl is that President Obama is a one-family man, happily married to the same, one woman his adult life, and with two strong, intelligent young daughters – with only his wife. President Obama actually lives those Christian values to which Paladino pays only lip service. Meanwhile, Paladino supports a guy who is on wife #3 and has five kids with different women. Divorce, suffice it to say, isn’t exactly smiled upon in most Christian sects

There’s nothing wrong with people being divorced or having families like Trump. But people who choose to use “Christian values” as a sword but don’t actually live up to them in their own lives, or are selective about their application, are rotten hypocrites.

Carl Paladino’s dream candidate is going to lose. If Carl chooses to run for governor again, he’s going to lose – bigger than in 2010. Carl Paladino is so inept he’s lost his majority on the school board. His animus for President Obama is hilarious given how well his companies seem to be doing. He reveals himself – again – to be little more than a hypocritical bigot who gives Buffalo and WNY a bad name. 

UPDATE: This, from Niagara Falls residents Rus and Jul Thompson’s ignorant Facebook circle-jerk (read more WNY’s political couple most likely to be found in /r/trashy here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.) 

There’s only one conclusion that can be drawn from such persuasive rhetoric and flawless logic. The Thompsons and Paladino are all Muslims. 

Erie County GOP’s Trump Problem

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When the history of Donald Trump’s political rise and fall is written, the Erie County Republican Committee will feature prominently. Few political organizations have done more to enable him than it, and its official party organ, WBEN. 

This entanglement dates back to the unsuccessful 2014 effort to convince Trump to run for governor against Andrew Cuomo. WBEN slavishly tripped over GOP apparatchiks jointly to promote and puff the “draft Trump” effort. Nick Langworthy and Carl Paladino were at the helm, joined by Conservative Fusion Party chair Ralph Lorigo and tea party Assemblyman David DiPietro, as WNY-based right wing leaders shuttled to 5th Avenue to deliver their pitch. 

Trump decided not to run for Governor, but repaid his flatterers with a fundraiser appearance at Salvatore’s in Depew. Despite Trump’s reluctance to run for state office – possibly due to financial disclosure requirements not found in federal races – local Republicans remain among his loudest cheerleaders. It was reportedly Carl Paladino who led RNC jeers against Ted Cruz

In the past week, as Trump has run through a gauntlet of gaffes and poorly considered and clumsily executed feuds with Gold Star parents and others, the Republican nominee has proven himself wholly unqualified to be President of this country. Perhaps to deflect from that, or maybe due to the GOP-led Erie County Water Authority controversy, the Republicans found what they though was a perfect nontroversy with which to distract attention – someone in County Hall mistakenly sent a political tweet late in the night, and quickly deleted it. That went nowhere. 

All the while, Carl Paladino has quietly forwarded Trump propaganda to his vast email list, and Congressman Chris Collins has gone out of his way to parrot Trump in his battle against the Gold Star Khans, even at the apparent expense of veteran support. Collins’ weak emesis of Trump talking points is notable; while Paladino has no soul, scruples, or real accountability, Chris Collins is currently running for re-election in a district that is overwhelmingly conservative, but also respectful of our military and veterans. The Buffalo News reported that vets have noticed Collins’ defense of Trump’s defamation of the Khans, and most aren’t pleased. It takes a lot of stupidity and hubris for a conservative politician to so fundamentally insult a core constituency – one deeply rooted in decency and patriotism. 

Collins’ support of the Trump defamation could very well be his undoing. After all, he’s not especially liked. He wins because of the (R) after his name in a district custom-designed for him. But as a person, he’s distant and aloof, and isn’t especially concerned with the affairs of average, middle-class wage earners. His personality is abrasive, his tone caustic. He’s as political as they come. As the Trump campaign reveals its core ugliness, this could have adverse effects on a party that already holds a widespread enrollment disadvantage in western New York. 

It becomes more evident by the day that Donald Trump doesn’t really share western New York’s values. He’s an entitled billionaire with a cabbie’s demeanor, quite unlike most of us here. 

As Republican politicians and donors watch the headlines about Donald Trump’s latest shocker, and as Trump’s poll numbers continue to sink, voters should really ask downticket GOP candidates their positions on what is quickly revealing itself to be a mere facade of a presidential campaign based around white nationalism. 

Ask people like County Clerk Chris Jacobs what he thinks of Donald Trump, his positions, and his antics. Go read this insightful and revealing interview with a pretty despondent Republican intellectual about what’s happening not only to the Republican party, but the conservative movement specifically. Donald Trump is not an accident or aberration – he is the culmination of a half century of movement conservatism. He is bold enough to lay it all bare. 

When the history of Donald Trump’s political rise and fall is written, subsequent generations will be asking you what you did about it. 

Chris Collins Takes on Uppity Gold Star Muslims

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The genius of the Trump campaign is the way in which the candidate can be so easily baited into making an outrageously racist or otherwise insensitive statement, allowing the matter to pivot from the substance of the underlying claim to Trump’s own petulant demeanor. 

It is now August 2nd. Khizr and Ghizala Khan appeared at the DNC on July 28th. They spoke early in the proceedings – not in prime time. People loved the speech and it went viral, which prompted The Toddler to hit back. It’s still in the headlines, and we have Trump to thank for that. The only people who feel happy about Trump’s treatment of the Khans are his core base – Trump dead-enders. Just about everyone else, regardless of political persuasion, is aghast not just at the substance of his attacks, but its procedural ineptitude. 

It bears mentioning that the Khans were not duped into helping Hillary Clinton – the Khans spoke out spontaneously against Trump back in December 2015. Immigrants put up with a lot of shit in this country; even more so immigrants who look or sound or pray differently from what is supposed to be the mainstream. Even today, as the Khans articulate that they merely wish to be treated with some modicum of respect, Donald Trump’s allies and surrogates smear them as foreign agents or terrorist sympathizers. It’s such a simple smear – every outspoken but devout Muslim has terrorist ties. It’s the same libel as Trump’s original smear, birtherism. It is a way to dehumanize and disrespect immigrants – especially non-white, non-Christian immigrants – as being beholden to forces opposed to America or democracy or Christianity. 

It isn’t fair commentary, it’s bigotry. It’s bigotry when Roger Stone accuses Gold Star parents of being terrorist sympathizers. It’s bigotry when Donald Trump spends over a year going birther, or suggests that a federal judge of Mexican ancestry is disloyal or unfit. It’s bigotry for Trump to recommend an indefinite ban on people of the Muslim faith – including US citizens – entry or re-entry to the United States. 

I don’t have much to add to the overall media storm over Trump‘s incredible, unhinged interaction with the Khans. It all speaks for itself. I want to focus on local Congressman Chris Collins – a Clarence millionaire who treats his elected office as a peerage, and who was the first Congressman to endorse Trump, and a guy pandering to the worst forces in his party

Collins appeared on MSNBC and attacked the Khans – a Muslim couple who came to this country from Pakistan, and whose son was killed while fighting in our military for our country. The reason why Gold Star parents should be left alone by craven politicians? Their family sacrifice is to be honored and respected, regardless of what they say. Here is how George W. Bush – a President whom I think to be among the worst in history – showed his respect for military parents

One mom and dad of a dying soldier from the Caribbean were devastated, the mom beside herself with grief. She yelled at the president, wanting to know why it was her child and not his who lay in that hospital bed.

Her husband tried to calm her and I noticed the president wasn’t in a hurry to leave—he tried offering comfort but then just stood and took it, like he expected and needed to hear the anguish, to try to soak up some of her suffering if he could.

Later as we rode back on Marine One to the White House, no one spoke.

But as the helicopter took off, the president looked at me and said, “That mama sure was mad at me.” Then he turned to look out the window of the helicopter. “And I don’t blame her a bit.”

One tear slipped out the side of his eye and down his face. He didn’t wipe it away, and we flew back to the White House.

Sending your child off to war. Sending young people off to war. It’s the hardest thing a parent could do, and it’s one of the hardest things a President can do. Love him or hate him, Bush at least understood to some extent the gravity of what he had done. For Trump, however, it’s all a game. It’s all reality TV. 

Donald Trump is the Kardashian candidate. 

Chris Collins, who is gunning for a cabinet post in what would probably be America’s last government, doubled down on Trump’s disrespect for the Khans specifically, and Gold Star parents generally. The VFW took the unprecedented step of condemning Trump’s insane treatment of the Khans

Collins told MSNBC that the Khans had no right to attack Donald Trump, and that once they did, it’s open season. 

Here’s the funny thing: the Republicans in Trump’s thrall are all whining, accusing the Democrats of trotting out these Gold Star parents to attack Donald Trump with impunity. This is a tactic the Republicans have engaged in forever. This crowd is respectful of military service only when it politically suits them – when it doesn’t, they do stuff like put on Band-Aids with Purple Hearts printed on them to attack Vietnam Veteran John Kerry – attacks that have entered the political lexicon as “Swift Boating”. The Republicans are now Swift Boating the Khans because they do not believe that these immigrant Muslims cannot don the mantle of patriotism; they look, sound, and pray differently and can be more easily libeled and dehumanized. They have come out to support a Democrat, which makes their sacrifice an afterthought. From TPM

At this point, 12 years later, Mr. Khan has decided to enter the fray, attack Mr. Trump in a very inappropriate way when, in fact, it’s Hillary Clinton that ignores the First, Second and Tenth Amendments,” he said. “At that point, I can’t blame Mr. Trump for saying, I’m going to defend my integrity and my understanding of the Constitution.

I can. I can blame him. Here’s an idea for Donald Trump and all his surrogates: it’s ok to shut the fuck up every once in a while. It’s ok to shut the fuck up when the grieving mom and dad of a hero criticize you for calling them less than American. 

Pretty much anyone with any real political experience agrees that if Trump felt compelled to say anything, he should have thanked the Khans and reiterated how he would “make America safe again”. Instead, he launched into almost a week’s worth of ad hominem attacks on them, cheapening their sacrifice because they humiliated him.

In the Trump cult, humiliating the Leader is haram

It doesn’t matter that the Khans launched their criticism twelve years after their son’s sacrifice – they are addressing a candidate who has already cheapened it by suggesting that the Khans are unqualified for entry to the United States based on their religion, regardless of Passport. They have a right to be angry and indignant at this clown who suggests that they are insufficiently American. 

Maybe Chris Collins thinks being a Boy Scout is the same as being deployed to a war zone. 

Collins went on to point out that Clinton supported the Iraq War, a position Trump repeatedly attacked her for. He then cast Khan as an “attack dog” for Clinton and said that he uses his late son as a “shield” from criticism.

No, that’s decent Americans saying that attacking the Khans is going too far. Donald Trump even accused Mrs. Khan of being religiously forbidden from speaking at the DNC; he attacked a woman who had quite literally said nothing against him. Trump then said that Mr. Khan, “has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution.” Actually, the Constitution itself holds that he has exactly that right. 

“He’s become Hillary’s attack dog, and every time Donald Trump will say something, he puts up the shield, if you will, of the loss of his son,” he said.

It’s brilliant trolling. Every time Trump responds insensitively, attacking the Khans, this sweet couple shows their sympathetic faces and reminds everyone that their son died for their country, and Donald Trump can’t help but attack them more. 

“Mr. Khan is saying I’m immune from anyone criticizing me because my son died in a very heroic loss to the family and also in service of the country,” he continued. “But today he’s taken on a political role as an attack dog for Hillary Clinton, and I think, in that regard, he’s got to take what comes back at him.”

No matter what, apparently. 

Collins concluded the interview by saying he didn’t not blame Trump at all for the way he acted in response to Khan’s Democratic National Convention speech.

“That was very hypocritical, frankly, of someone to stand next to someone who has absolute disregard for the Constitution and then wave a pocket Constitution out in front of the camera,” Collins said. “That was an insult. We all know Mr. Trump. You take a swing at him, he’s going to punch back. Maybe some of the rest of us in the political world aren’t quite made up of that, but that’s Mr. Trump’s character, and, frankly, I don’t blame him.”

Collins also expressly disagreed with what former POW John McCain – a person whose military service Trump similarly disrespected and insulted – had to say: 

The Republican Party I know and love is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan.”I wear a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen hero, Matthew Stanley, which his mother, Lynn, gave me in 2007, at a town hall meeting in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. His memory and the memory of our great leaders deserve better from me.

In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States — to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates.

Make no mistake: I do not valorize our military out of some unfamiliar instinct. I grew up in a military family, and have my own record of service, and have stayed closely engaged with our armed forces throughout my public career. In the American system, the military has value only inasmuch as it protects and defends the liberties of the people.

My father was a career naval officer, as was his father. For hundreds of years, every generation of McCains has served the United States in uniform.

My sons serve today, and I’m proud of them. My youngest served in the war that claimed Captain Khan’s life as well as in Afghanistan. I want them to be proud of me. I want to do the right thing by them and their comrades.

Humayun Khan did exactly that — and he did it for all the right reasons. This accomplished young man was not driven to service as a United States Army officer because he was compelled to by any material need. He was inspired as a young man by his reading of Thomas Jefferson — and he wanted to give back to the country that had taken him and his parents in as immigrants when he was only two years old.

Captain Khan’s death in Iraq, on June 8th, 2004, was a shining example of the valor and bravery inculcated into our military. When a suicide bomber accelerated his vehicle toward a facility with hundreds of American soldiers, Captain Khan ordered his subordinates away from the danger.

Then he ran toward it.

The suicide bomber, striking prematurely, claimed the life of Captain Khan — and Captain Khan, through his selfless action and sacrifice, saved the lives of hundreds of his brothers and sisters.

Scripture tells us that ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’

Captain Humayun Khan of the United States Army showed in his final moments that he was filled and motivated by this love. His name will live forever in American memory, as an example of true American greatness.

In the end, I am morally bound to speak only to the things that command my allegiance, and to which I have dedicated my life’s work: the Republican Party, and more importantly, the United States of America. I will not refrain from doing my utmost by those lights simply because it may benefit others with whom I disagree.

I claim no moral superiority over Donald Trump. I have a long and well-known public and private record for which I will have to answer at the Final Judgment, and I repose my hope in the promise of mercy and the moderation of age. I challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent.

Arizona is watching. It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us.

Lastly, I’d like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America. We’re a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation — and he will never be forgotten.

Chris Collins, Nick Langworthy, Carl Paladino – all of them have fallen in line behind the Donald Trump cult. Their obeisance to the Leader trumps even their loyalty to country, their duty to constituents, and their respect for fallen American heroes and their parents. 

Here is a statement released by Collins’ Democratic opponent, Diana Kastenbaum: 

Mr. Collins’ appearance today on MSNBC was insensitive to the Khan family and self-serving. As the representative of the people of NY-27 and a so-called advocate for Veterans it was even more thoughtless and uncaring.

Diana Kastenbaum said, “Collins continued to be Trump’s surrogate by reiterating the insults to the Khan family in his interview. To have a talking point, which he used not once but twice, saying that it happened 12 years ago made it seem somehow irrelevant. My response to Mr. Collins is – the loss of a child has no expiration date for one’s grief. Collins also stated that Mr. Khan is not immune from anything as he has entered the political fray; therefore he leaves himself open to condemnation and criticism. I would ask Mr. Collins, is that how we treat the memory of our heroes and Gold Star Mothers among us?”

Mr. Collin’s defense of the Trump attacks on the Khan family was another opportunity for him to stand by the Republican nominee and the divisiveness that he is inflicting on our country. 

The Democratic Party Chairs of the 8 counties comprising the 27th released this: 

The Democratic Chairs of the 8 counties that comprise New York’s 27th District condemn in the strongest terms Rep. Chris Collin’s outrageous statement on MSNBC this afternoon. As he desperately attempted to defend his chosen candidate’s criticism of the Kahns, the Gold Star family who criticized Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslim immigrants since it would have prevented their son who died heroically in the service of our nation from even entering the United States, Rep. Collins went way over the line.

Incredibly, he accused Mr. Kahn of using his dead son as a “shield” from criticism and suggested he deserved anything he got, since he had dared to enter the fray.

Veterans and their families make up a proud part of this congressional district. All of them understand better than Mr. Trump or Rep. Collins what sacrifice actually means. Capt. Khan died defending his men and our nation. His family deserves our thanks and our compassion.

Rep. Collins brags about his role as a surrogate for Mr. Trump, even saying a few weeks ago that he had appeared on cable television for Mr. Trump’s campaign over 100 times. We have to wonder how much he is even concerned with New York’s 27th district, in the midst of this whirlwind of activity.

We understand that Rep. Collins desperately wants his candidate to become president, since, as he admits, he hopes to be named Secretary of Commerce. Today’s comments prove there are no depths to which Mr. Trump can sink that he will not gladly follow. The voters of NY 27 deserve a representative who has as his priority the people of the district, not his own advancement. The many veterans and service families of NY 27 also deserve someone who understands and appreciates the sacrifices they made and continue to make. Rep. Collins clearly does not. 

The Khans were mean to the Leader? Grow up and take it like men. Your childish, petulant, and fundamentally mean-spirited hatred is unbecoming, and I hope the parents of servicemen and women throughout the 27th Congressional District are appalled by Collins’ callous and casual disregard for their family sacrifice. 

Chris Collins has no clue what valor is. He and every other Trump supporter owns the disrespect their Leader has for people like the Khans, whom they would indefinitely exclude from the United States based solely on their religion. 

December Accuser Sues Evander Kane

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While the local news is focused on allegations of Buffalo Sabre Evander Kane’s alleged criminal conduct at a Chippewa bar in June of this year, a lawsuit filed a few weeks ago has been largely overlooked. In December, Kane was being investigated for an alleged “sex offense”. That investigation was dropped in March, with no criminal action taken against Kane. It was reported, however, that the alleged victim had sought medical attention the next morning and had no memory of what happened.

In a complaint filed by her lawyers in state Supreme Court, the plaintiff Rachel Kuechle says that on the day after Christmas 2015, she met Kane at Encore Restaurant on Pearl Street, and he bought her some drinks. Early on the morning of December 27, Kane invited Kuechle to his room at the Harborside Marriott, “under the false pretext of attending a party” in Kane’s room. Kuechle alleges that Kane instructed his driver to take the pair to the Harborside Marriott’s employee entrance, where they entered the building. 

Providing no further details of what happened in that room, Kuechle’s complaint alleges that Kane committed a “violent, offensive” “battery” upon her, causing her to, “suffer bodily injury including lacerations, extensive bleeding requiring multiple surgeries and blood transfusions, and serious emotional trauma.” She goes on to bring causes of action against Kane for intentional infliction of extreme emotional distress, “unreasonably endangering” Kuechle, and negligence. 

Kane’s lawyers have not yet filed any formal Answer, and Kuechle’s accusations are just that. Kane likely will deny these allegations and will have an opportunity to litigate them as the process goes on. Although Kane’s insurance carrier may defend him on the negligence allegation, it probably won’t cover the intentional torts like battery. The complaint, however, provides some insight into the nature and severity of the allegations:

Lawsuit Against Evander Kane by Alan Bedenko on Scribd