TV News LIES

For former acting CIA Director Michael Morell, Donald Trump does not have what it takes to be commander in chief.

In a New York Times op-ed published Friday, the 33-year agency veteran notes that he has been heretofore private with his political preferences and is registered as neither a Democrat nor a Republican.

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have reportedly captured up to 3,000 fleeing villagers in northern Iraq, according to the UN refugee agency, or UNHCR.

In its daily report on events in Iraq, UNHCR said on Friday that 12 of the captives were thought to had been executed by ISIL, also known as ISIS.

There came a sturm und drang-y time in the nation when the old myths, tales, and dreams no longer applied for 99 percent of the people.

And so, the great mass of people gnashed their remaining teeth and cried out for help, pleading and beseeching into all corners of the land, seeking a new champion to set things right -- to have new stories constructed, which would then help the People survive their overly restrained and heavily-regulated lives at the hands of a cruel and unjust emperor, called the President.

Both Conventions are over … the presidential candidates are set in stone … and as Stephen King wrote, “The moon is down and the hour is none.”

Bernie Sanders received more votes and more pledged delegates than Hillary Clinton did in the primaries. But the Zombie Queen emerged victorious from the shitshow the DNC staged in Philadelphia. How?

Hillary Clinton stole the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders.

The End.

So far, the conversation about real extremism in America has been underwhelming, ranging on the low side of things, pinging in the ones and twos on the Overall Awareness Meter.

Such is the reward when focusing the energies and efforts of all hands, and all eyes, on the ugly, snarling surface issues espoused by extremists.  If you trick people into noticing only the incoherent policies and speeches made by your candidate right now, however crazed or crass they may be, you can get these same people to blow past the lowest-gravity spots where previously inconceivable thoughts and verbalizations really start to bubble and bake.

Wonderful.  We've managed to get through another set of political conventions.

Frankly, this is tantamount to celebrating a fleeting victory over jaundice,  a temporary flare-up of malaria, or an ongoing resurgence in hemorrhoids.

If I didn't know better -- and I'm not sure that I do, not anymore -- I'd say someone slipped some blotter-paper acid, or mind-warping alien spores, into my preventively-medicated, yeast-enhanced beverage.

Of course, it could also be that the candidates themselves have divvied up the hallucinatory goods, right before each one got off their respective Gravy Trains, for their respective stops at Podiumville.

U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning may face indefinite solitary confinement and a move into a maximum-security prison after a suicide attempt earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

Manning, a transgender woman whose name was Bradley Manning when he was convicted of sending classified documents to WikiLeaks, is under investigation for resisting the force cell move team, prohibited property and conduct which threatens, the ACLU said. She is also facing an additional nine years in medium custody and the chance of no parole. She was treated after her suicide attempt and returned to prison.

Donald Trump's call on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails has shocked, flabbergasted and appalled lawmakers and national security experts across the political spectrum, with one saying it was "tantamount to treason."

Few would argue Wednesday that what the Republican presidential nominee said will directly cause Russia to conduct more cyber-espionage against the U.S. than it already is doing. But several described Trump's statements as dangerous for America's global standing. Some echoed the Clinton campaign in calling the comments a threat to national security.