On this week’s Al Franken podcast, his guest is Andrew Yang, and the two discuss, among other things, one another and Yang’s past, the future of work, and the present.

Daniel Dale was a reporter for the Toronto Sun when he began fact-checking Trump and was wonderful at it.  That's when I began following him on Twitter.  He eventually got hired by CNN and has kept it up, on a much bigger platform.

Last night, after Trump's speech at the Republican Convention, Dale delivered what up to this point might be his magnum opus.  This is a breathtaking (almost literally…) three-minute, non-stop recitation of just a partial list of Trump lies in his speech that is brilliant -- delivered seemingly without notes.  (He may have had a TelePrompter, but it seems unlikely.  But that's moot, since what the information of what he was saying is the point.)
 
Making it even fun is watching anchor Anderson Cooper's reaction through it all, fine just sitting back and watching Dale on a roll.

​Buckle up...

Sorry, we have to vent today.  I touched on it yesterday, but it deserves being more than just touched on.  Especially if I don't want my head to explode.

It is utterly beyond reprehensible that the supposed party crying about "law and order" (sic) have been slamming the disorder in Kenosha, Wisconsin -- yet have been near-silent about a police officer shooting a man in the back seven times who he was holding onto and wasn't posing a threat.  (Let me repeat that:  the police officer was holding on to the man and shot him in the back -- seven times.)  And further, they have been silent about a white supremacist murderer wandering the streets, waving an illegal AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and then killing two people.

I won't repeat that at the moment, because it's far worse than "only" that.

Because this murderer not only was wandering the streets with his illegal semi-automatic rifle, but as he did so he was treated warmly by the police, even offered water.  And not arrested after killing two people.

And not only have Republicans been largely silent about that -- about that -- but some of have actually praising (!) the killer.  Ann Coulter, who I try not to quote, said that she wanted this 17-year-old murderer who took two human lives to be her president.

Imagine for a moment if he'd been black.  Trump and Republicans would be screeching like a stuck pig that he was a terrorist.  That he was probably a Muslim.  And maybe an illegal immigrant.  

Actually, if we imagine for that moment that he'd have been black, we would even have to deal with the concept of him being arrested in another state.  It's a fair bet -- so likely that there wouldn't be odds given -- that he'd have been shot dead on the street before he even killed anyone.  It's a fair bet because we know for a fact that the police there shot a black man in the back seven times who didn't even have a weapon in his possession and who they were holding on to and wasn't posing a threat.  So, a black man wandering down the street while waving a semi-automatic rifle?  Not a chance.

And yet Trump, Pence and Republicans officials have been silent about condemning this murderer -- this vigilante terrorist -- who shot and killed two innocent human beings.

Indeed, the only thing they've said about him is praise!  And that they wanted this minor to be their president.

Sadly, that does fit today's Republican Party.  And especially Ann Coulter.  That is today's Republican Party.  After all, only the day before at their convention, they gave a national platform to a couple from Missouri who have been indicted on felony charges for brandishing a rifle at protesters.  You'd think the party would have an "Oh, my God, what have we done???" moment after seeing what happened the very next day with this vigilante murderer killing protesters with his rifle -- as any feeling, caring human would do -- but no, we get no condemnation and only praise.

That's today's fascist Republican Party.  

A party silent, too. about the murder that started it all.  A black man shot in the back seven times by a police officer who was holding onto the man who had no weapon in his possession.

"Reprehensible" doesn't even begin to touch it.  But fascist does at least put it in its proper perspective.

That's today's Republican Party.  And that's why I say so often that this isn't about Trump, we know who he is.  This is about the elected officials of the Republican Party, who enable him, are silent in condemnation of murderers who kill those who don't fit their agenda, while praising the killers, have blood dripping from their hands, and are complicit in the fascism that is now their party.

A couple of weeks, I finally got around to looking at my Sunday L.A. Times from July 30 -- okay, yes, so I was a little slow --  and I noticed something at the bottom of the Arts section, that area where they have little boxes about stories inside. 
 
There was one that said “Going Full Trump” with a picture of Sarah Cooper, so my heart sank just a bit.  Not that I don't enjoy Sarah Cooper's working lip-syncing Trump.  I do.  I just like and am personally impressed even more by the work of J-L Cauvin, who does a seriously impressive impersonation of Trump that, besides being so good vocally and with the Trump tics, phrasing and pacing, is also often extremely funny.  And Ms. Cooper tends to get almost all the attention -- even to the point of recently guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show and being invited to appear on Lawrence O"Donnell's show on MSNBC, as well as Nicolle Wallace's.  But then I looked closer at the article, though and read the sub-head description – “How two comics, Sarah Cooper and J-L Cauvin, have become social media hits by lampooning the president.”
 
So, I thought, “Well, good!  At least he’s getting some attention, even if it's second billing.”  And then I went to the article itself, and it’s even better there.  Cauvin actually gets first billing in the article itself, and his photo is “first” on the left. 

Even better for both performers is the online version of the article, because if you check it out there, it includes videos of the two 

What most stood out is that the commentary turns out to be a very detailed, insightful and affectionate analysis of the two.  And what I think explains this especially-thoughtful look at their work -- from a perspective I wasn't expecting -- is because it’s not from just an appreciative staff writer, but written by Charles McNulty, who is the paper's theater critic!

You can find the long article here, along with the embedded videos.

But first, to set the table a bit, with an assist from Mr. Cauvin, here's Trump's own analysis of last night's Republican Convention.
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