As I mentioned in my last post, I am at that point in my pre-vacation run-up that my brain is toast. And though toast is one of my favorite things on the planet, it helps little when it comes to writing longer articles. Instead, it’s more like crumbs and crusts as I look over the breakfast buffet of breaking stories.

But first, an update on a story we covered last time.

More on Roy Moore

Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is threatening to sue the Washington Post over its story alleging sexual misconduct by Moore 40 years ago. Memo to Moore: Threatening to sue only makes you look guilty. You file the suit then talk about it. (It also doesn’t help your case another woman has come forward.) Meanwhile, a fun fact: Had Moore drowned the girl and run as a Democrat in Massachusetts, he’d be considered a Lion in the Senate.

Also in the Senate, but certainly no lion, Mitch McConnell again declared this morning that Moore should “step aside” from his Senate race. And maybe McConnell’s right. Let’s see what voters in Alabama have to say. Still, McConnell spent millions of dollars, and tons of sweat, trying to defeat Moore in the primary. #ReturnonInvestment. If only McConnell had put this much energy into repealing Obamacare.

Meanwhile, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser began a “Rat Walk” this morning as part of a campaign to rid the Nation’s Capital of rats. No word on when she plans on stopping by Capital Hill. Memo to Mayor Bowser: Your task will be much easier once Americans “Drain the Swamp.”

More on Hannity

As we mentioned in the earlier story, Media Matters has launched a full-throated effort against Sean Hannity’s advertisers. One that took the bait was Keurig. They pulled their ads from his TV show. Many Hannity fans responded by destroying their Keurig coffee machines, often in creative ways. Still waiting for the video meme of a flying Keurig knocking Hillary Clinton down. But the day is young.

Hannity went further Sunday night:

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/929890847956652033

The counter-protest seems to be working.

In a memo to employees Monday, Keurig CEO Bob Gamgort said the company didn’t intend to be “taking sides” in the Roy Moore debate. According to Gamgort, announcing on Twitter Keurig were cutting off advertising on Hannity’s TV show was “done outside of company protocols.” He called the mess an “unacceptable situation,” adding, “Our company and brand reputations are too valuable to be put at risk in this manner.”

Here's part of the memo that Keurig CEO Bob Gamgort sent to company employees today regarding "Hannity" flap. pic.twitter.com/bGNEfGapqd

— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) November 13, 2017

Figures a company that sells coffee and coffee pots would quickly know when a bad backlash is brewing. But unlike their pods, this will have a messy clean-up.

Meanwhile, I’m not going to destroy my Keurig. I need the caffeine if I’m going to keep writing about liberal efforts to hurt people they disagree with. (Plus, we just got these awesome hot chocolate pods. Hot chocolate trumps politics.)

The Photo Bomb

Much merriment’s being made in liberal media circles of a viral photo of President Trump at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

.@realDonaldTrump joins other leaders in a handshake with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, right, during the opening ceremony of the 31st ASEAN Summit pic.twitter.com/mfqTU8AmUr

— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) November 13, 2017

Yeah, it’s worth a giggle. But here’s the problem. The photographer is Doug Mills of the New York Times. He deliberately posted the unflattering shot of the U.S. President as revenge. Mills was in a huff because the White House Press Pool wasn’t allowed into a particular group of meetings Friday at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Mills — a representative of the most powerful newspaper in the country — sent out a photo in an effort to sabotage Trump. (How many other acts of political sabotage is the Times allowing today?)

Even the Washington Post caught Mills’ tantrum with a headline: “News photographer who protested White House restrictions on access gets revenge with revealing shot of Trump.” And, as the Post points out, “Surely there were many other frames Mills could have chosen that made Trump look more distinguished.”

The Post’s writer David Nakamura went onto say: “In ways both subtle and stark, Trump’s awkward grimace reveals the messy reality of high-stakes geopolitics that an airbrushed official portrait of the ASEAN ‘family would gloss over.”

This statement is worse than fake news. It is what I call Snake News. As with the photo, it is the deliberate attempt by media to deceive and distort information in order to damage. Look to the British account of the traditional handshake ceremony. It describes how “Trump laughs through awkward Asia leaders’ group photo.” A jovial, human moment the Post and Times turn into an attack.

Baby Snake News: The Hill wrote about the photo and the mockery it’s getting, but didn’t bother mentioning the motivation.

The AP did a similar trick Sunday with a photo of President Trump arriving to meet Philippine President Duterte. It depicts Trump from behind, head slightly bowed as he approaches. Then again, they’re probably so used to Obama actually bowing to foreign leaders they thought nothing of it.

Anti-Trump Hotel

First the NFL, now even lodging has turned political. News comes this morning that an anti-Trump hotel will open in Washington, D.C., in 2018, just down the street from Trump International Hotel. According to Bloomberg, the Eaton Workshop hotel is billed as “the world’s first politically motivated hotel.” Golly, they make it soooooooo easy sometimes.

• It’s also the first hotel where guests demand others pay for their room fees.
• They’ll let illegals stay for free, and put the extra cost on your tab.
• Their slogan? “We’ll leave the light on for you, except when our solar powered generators fluctuate.”
• In each night stand there is a copy of Rules for Radicals.
• The curtains not only block sound and light, they block unintended micro-aggressions.
• Yes, the coffee makers in the room will be Keurigs.
• Their exercise room won’t have Stairmasters because the name is too evocative of slavery.
• And forget a free Continental breakfast. That’s too Eurocentric.
• And no Happy Hour at the hotel bar. As long as Trump is President no one’s allowed to be happy.
• Check-Out time is noon, January 20, 2025.