Turnabout is Foul Play?

Although we've paraphrased, Trump said ALL of this stuff and more.

GOP heads exploded Wednesday night when Senator Ted Cruz spoke at the Republican National Convention and spoke passionately of the need to defend freedom and the constitution...and got booed off the stage for his trouble.

The reason? He failed to endorse Donald Trump by name, and instead told the audience to consider who will be best for America and then vote their conscience. It's pretty hard to see that as an endorsement of Hillary "Cackles" Clinton, but many Trump supporters seem to have taken it that way - oddly suggesting that they think that there's some inherent schism between supporting the constitution and voting for the now-official GOP nominee.

Personally, Hope n' Change thinks Cruz gave the closest thing to a pro-Trump endorsement humanly possible while still retaining a shred of integrity after the myriad personal attacks the billionaire made on his family and character during the primary campaign.  Any "pledge" was rendered moot by Mr. Trump himself - after all, how could he have eventually "supported" any other candidate credibly after having destroyed their reputations through name-calling and vile assertions during the primary season?

Moreover, by eloquently making the case for conservative values (something we'd frankly like to see Mr. Trump do), Cruz was certainly making it clear that our nation can't afford to have Hillary in the White House. And by telling hardcore conservatives that they must not stay home on election day, and must cast votes up and down the GOP ticket, he was reminding even those not in love with Trump that there is more at stake here than one candidate, and many more offices which must be held or won.

So we say "good for Ted Cruz" and "good for those who plan to vote for Trump" and "good for those who plan to vote against Hillary by voting for Trump."

The circular firing squad on the Right has got to stop shooting their allies and keep the larger targets in sight. And while "Never Hillary" isn't all that matters, it's currently what matters most... and Ted Cruz said as much.

BONUS: ALL WE ARE SAYING IS GIVE PISS A CHANCE
 

Definitely a "glass half-full" situation

Okay, we haven't even TRIED to report good news for countless recent Fridays, but must admit that we got a kick out of the story from Cleveland that protesters representing Black Lives Matter, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Westboro Baptist Church were fighting and throwing urine at each other.

Frankly, this strikes us as a win-win-win scenario!

Religion of Pieces

The attacker was NOT "just a good old boy."

The latest terror attack (as of this writing - but the day is young yet) took place Monday evening on a German train when a young Afghan "refugee" started chopping his fellow passengers with an axe while shouting "Allahu Akbar" (which would still have Barack Obama puzzled as to his motives).

15 people were hurt, 3 critically, before the maniac got a lesson ("rock, scissors, paper" style) that bullets beat hatchets. ISIS has subsequently claimed responsibility, and the attacker left a note claiming to be self-radicalized, along with a handmade ISIS flag.

We are again sadly reminded that - contrary to this administration's repeated claims - guns aren't to blame for acts of terror. In a pinch, an axe or a speeding truck will make a perfectly acceptable, and deadly, substitute for those with murder in mind...or in their appalling ideology.

BUT ON A BETTER NOTE...

Some of you may know that talented conservative cartoonist and all-around good guy Glenn Foden passed away unexpectedly a few months ago. If you don't recognize his name, you'll surely recognize his work:

Glenn left behind his wife and two daughters, one of whom has special needs. Glenn had hoped to arrange for her to get a service dog to help with all aspects of her life - but was unable to complete the task before fate intervened.

Glenn's wife posted a GoFundMe request to help find the money for the extensive training a service dog needs - and yesterday, I sent a special message to those on the Hope n' Change email list (you can sign up at the top left of this page) asking to help the family out. And you did!

Only hours later, the financial goal was met and topped (which is great - the family can definitely use every extra dollar)! Note that other websites and Facebook folks also shared the message - anyone who knew Glenn wanted to help - but Hope n' Change readers were particularly generous. It genuinely gave me goosebumps, made me misty, and left me humbled and honored to be part of this caring community we share here.

So now, I'd like you to meet Rosalee - a pup who is truly a prodigy, which is critical for the training and the important, loving job she'll be taking on...

She'll soon be learning a host of skills to help Glenn's daughter find more independence, safety, and comfort. Unlike Penny, the official dog of Hope n' Change, she will not be taught to fetch empty scotch bottles.

Penny is also the official dog of the Energy Conservation movement.

I just want to personally thank everyone who donated, or still wants to donate, to this very worthy cause. You've helped restore my faith in this world, and that's no small thing.  -Stilton

Cirque du So What

Today marks the kickoff of the 2016 Republican Convention, which we fully expect to be a wild, raucous, unpredictable affair which would depress the living snot out of us if we were to actually watch it.

Oh, we'll surely catch snippets here and there when someone says something egregiously stupid, controversial, or both. But for the most part, we're expecting little more than a big cotton-candy scented blast of hot air coming from the proceedings.

At least, that's what we expect inside the hall...

Outside is another story altogether. Consider the recent news: the tragic killing of 3 more police officers in Baton Rouge just yesterday - hard on the heels of the monstrous killings of 5 officers in Dallas. The introduction of delivery trucks as deadly weapons of jihad in Nice, France. Increasingly confrontational anti-white demonstrations by Black Lives Matter and the New Black Panther Party (the Old Black Panthers having long since turned Gray, gone bald, or died in soured drug deals). Demonstrations, we should note, that are encouraged by our cop-hating president - whose anti-police remarks about Alton Sterling's death in the absence of facts were in may well have contributed to the motivation of the Baton Rouge killer.

We'll see Code Pink, Planned Abortionhood, Occupy Wall Street, the "Make America Mexico Again" illegal alien advocates, Union thugs, and of course Bernie Sanders's distraught army of disillusioned youth who are swarming out of their parents' basements (blinking at the sunlight) to demand "No Free College, No Peace!" And sadly, we'll surely see a significant number of miscreants heading into the streets with no agenda other than anarchy and violence.

And even though the circus calliope will be toot-toot-tootling away and the sequined ringmaster will hurriedly direct our attentions away from topics we're not supposed to think about, we can't quite escape the awareness that the world increasingly seems to be on fire - be it devastating terror attacks, Brexit, a failed coup in Turkey, Iran blatantly ignoring their nuclear treaty with Barry while test firing missiles, or Putin stepping up his aggressions when not casually thumbing through Hillary's purloined, top secret emails.

We hope with every fiber of our beings that the seriousness inside the GOP Convention will match the seriousness of the world outside that "big tent." But we doubt that it will happen.

And more than ever, clowns scare us.

BONUS: LOCO LOGO

Now the competition is really getting in tents!