Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Usually wrong but never in doubt

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

You cannot shame the shameless.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Mourn, Organize / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Never Stop Fighting Back

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Never Stop Fighting Back

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A few more photos of the Women’s March in DC, courtesy of commentor ET.

And an excellent reminder from Buzzfeed‘s Bim Adewunmi, “The Road Women Marched On This Weekend Was Paved By Black Resistance“:

In the Culture galleries at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, there is a whole section on style. Written on a museum sign is a quote attributed to Tony Award-winning playwright George C. Wolfe, which reads: “God created black people and black people created style.” On the eve of the Trump inauguration, black people came out in style, and gathered at the NMAAHC, nicknamed the Blacksonian, to attend the inaugural Peace Ball: Voices of Hope and Resistance, a “gathering to celebrate the accomplishments and successes of the past four years and the vow to continue to be the change we want to see in the world”…

… It felt fortifying, like an enriching blood tonic. “This is not a game. This is not reality TV,” actor Danny Glover said to the crowd. Writer and activist Naomi Klein laughingly called the night “the eve of the apocalypse” before adding, more seriously, “Tomorrow is not a peaceful transition of power – it’s a corporate coup d’état.” Children’s rights activist Marian Wright Edelman led a fiery prayer (“God, forgive and transform our rich nation and us…”) and urged the assembled guests to “go out there and cause a movement”. Playwright Eve Ensler led the crowd in a series of pledges, to “resist, disrupt, love deeper, to rise”.

“We will not compromise, we will not negotiate. We will not go backwards,” Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter declared. “Are you with me?”…

I had come [to the Women’s March] to talk specifically to black girls and women about why they were at the march. Statistically speaking, black women already got in formation at the election (and beyond), and if more white women had followed in their footsteps, perhaps this particular march might not had occurred?

I saw so many black women at the Women’s March, and each one I spoke to gave me a variant of the same answer: They were here because they had to be. To have sat it out would’ve been to cede to a feminist movement that was all too willing to discard them, when they had been the silent workhorses of the collective for so long. It was evident in the number of placards and signs I saw, happily quoting from the rich and grand tradition of black feminist theory and thought: Angela Davis, a speaker at the march, popped up often via her words, as did Maya Angelou. The most quoted was Audre Lorde, whose abundant written legacy is a treasure trove of march-friendly quotables. It was about representation, a group of African women told me. They were here, representatives of African women a continent away from this march, each with their own feminist histories, currently living their own feminist realities. This is for us too, all the black women I spoke to were saying. Putting ourselves back into the narrative, where we have always been. So I approached multigenerational groups of black women and asked to take their photo, and I looked out for groups of multiracial teenage girls, eyes wide and almost overwhelmed by the crowd. We are physical manifestations of our parents’ dreams, and I saw so many parents with a proud gleam in their eyes on Saturday afternoon…

It seems fair to consider this march in the continuum of American protests of the last several years. This march’s success was in part made possible by the labour of earlier, protesting black bodies: Demonstrations around intersectional black civil rights in cities and towns across America paved the way and began preparing the way for large-scale events like this.

The relative lack of police altercations also offered up a challenge to white allies: If they, in the fight for justice, can “force” police civility merely with their presence, shouldn’t they do it more often? As MTV News writer Doreen St. Félix tweeted of the Women’s March, “it seems like the lesson to take from police presence yesterday is that more white women should attend smaller rallies and protests.”…

Well… maybe that’s true? I know (believe me!) how hard it is for a woman to take the risk of putting herself deliberately in what looks like it might be “harm’s way”. I know it’s also true that many of us flinch from the thought of being that Clueless White Lady, rally-touristing to gawp at other peoples’ anger and feel all righteously woke. But if having a critical mass of white people, especially lady-people, standing at the edge of every protest waving signs and taking notes is a way to help those paid to enforce public order remember their company manners… maybe organizing action squads to “witness” at all the protests that will happen over the next months and years is one way of fighting back?

In any case, you should definitely click over to read the whole thing, not to mention admire Ms. Aduwunmi’s photos.

And here’s some more from EllenT:

Reader Interactions

152Comments

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    No sooner get together something to post than a fresh thread opens up. So, repeating from below.

    Bound to happen.

    Sales of George Orwell’s 1984 spike after Trump spokesperson presents ‘alternative facts’

    While the phrase “alternative facts” reminded many of the terms “falsehoods,” “lies” and “untruths,” it reminded many others of George Orwell’s dystopian, politically-charged novel “1984.”

    Not only were people inspired to tweet about that, they wanted to purchase a copy. By early Wednesday morning, the novel was the best-selling book on Amazon.com.

    Also, too:

    Employees from more than a dozen U.S. government agencies have established a network of unofficial “rogue” Twitter feeds in defiance of what they see as attempts by President Donald Trump to muzzle federal climate change research and other science. Source

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax:

    Employees from more than a dozen U.S. government agencies have established a network of unofficial “rogue” Twitter feeds

    As surely as day follows night, this was predictable.

  9. 9.

    Joyce H

    A couple more items to the ‘was there ever a more stupid president?’ file:

    During his speech to the CIA, Trump bragged about what a great guy Pompeo is, he finished first in his class at West Point ‘and then decided’ to go into the military. Um… I think he ‘decided’ to go into the military about the time he accepted a slot at West Point, genius.

    Also? He bragged in an interview that the CIA obviously loved his speech, they gave him a standing ovation and remained standing for his entire speech. Wellllll… they stood up when the president entered the room and remained standing because he never told them to sit down.

    Someone really needs to give this character a few pointers on presidential protocol before he makes an even bigger fool of himself than he already is.

  10. 10.

    Spanky

    @Joyce H:

    Someone really needs to give this character a few pointers on presidential protocol before he makes an even bigger fool of himself than he already is.

    I’d prefer not. Please proceed, Mr. *President!

  11. 11.

    Joyce H

    @Spanky: Oh, of course you’re right. But still. Isn’t it uncomfortable when you’re embarrassed for someone who’s too ignorant to be embarrassed on his own behalf?

  13. 13.

    EBT

    So I got off my ass and wrote a function for my game so if you die and restart it will initialize the story variables but keep your name and allocated stats. It took me 25 minutes to do and I spent maybe 6-7 months agonizing about it. Now I am using the spell check I just found for notepad++ to edit my huge ball of mess.

  14. 14.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    Sorry for the length, but Harper’s sums up things nicely:

    HARPER’S WEEKLY REVIEW
    January 25, 2017
    By Joe Kloc
    At a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump, a WWE Hall of Fame inductee who has been named in at least 169 federal lawsuits, placed his hand on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible, swore he would preserve the Constitution, and ascended to the presidency of the United States. “Amazingly,” said Trump, “it rained.” Trump delivered a sixteen-minute inaugural address, the first in American history to use the words “bleed,” “ravages,” and “carnage.” Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, who swallows at least 35 sticks of cinnamon-flavored Orbit gum a day and has tweeted for five years that Dippin’ Dots are “not the ice cream of the future,” said the inauguration’s audience, which was smaller than the previous two inaugural crowds, was the “largest audience ever, period.” The White House website published a biography of Trump that stated he had the most electoral-college votes of any Republican president since 1988, a time period encompassing only one Republican president. In a speech to 400 CIA employees, Trump, who recently tweeted that the behavior of U.S. intelligence agencies made him feel he was “living in Nazi Germany,” said that he was on their “same wavelength,” prompting applause from the audience members whom Trump had brought with him to the event. At an inaugural ball attended by the bounty hunter and reality-television star Duane “Dog” Chapman, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway punched a man in the face. In demonstrations across Washington, groups of protesters lit a limousine on fire and broke the windows of a Bank of America, a white supremacist who said “sure” when asked whether he liked black people was punched in the face, a man marched with two alpacas and a llama to demand better trade policies, and at least 10 journalists simultaneously photographed a trash-can fire.

    Several of Trump’s associates were reported to be under investigation for having ties to Russia, and a Russian mining company minted a two-foot-wide commemorative coin featuring Trump’s portrait and the words “In Trump We Trust.” The Trump Administration said that it would be open to military cooperation with the Russian government, which would break current U.S. law, and Russia, which recently announced it was withdrawing its forces from Syria, signed a 49-year lease with the Syrian government guaranteeing it an air base and more berths for its warships. Iran warned that it would resume its nuclear program if Trump didn’t honor the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which Trump has pledged to break. In one of his first executive actions, Trump backed out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have created a free-trade bloc between a dozen Pacific-Rim countries. The dollar’s value dropped in Asia, Australia said it was open to China joining the trade agreement, and China announced it was prepared to lead the world. “The Americans,” said an adviser to German chancellor Angela Merkel, “will get the Trump they elected.”

    In the largest protest in U.S. history, Americans in 600 cities marched through the streets carrying signs that read, “Really?,” “Not usually a protester but geez,” “This is really bad,” “So bad even introverts are here,” “[internally screaming],” “We f#cked up bigly,” “There will be hell toupee,” “Honestly there are too many problems with this administration to adequately summarize in one sign,” “Literally everything about this is so awful that I have no idea where to even start,” “Donald Trump uses Comic Sans,” “Mike Pence likes Nickelback,” “I’ve seen sturdier cabinets at IKEA,” “Just, ugh,” “I wish this were fake news,” “Trump is an offense to human dignity,” “the gays have had it,” “my Mama don’t like Trump and she likes everyone,” “this is fucked up,” “I can’t believe I left the Soviet Union for this shit,” “I can’t believe we are still protesting this,” “this is our cuntry,” “Sorry world, we will fix this,” “if Britney can make it through 2007, we can make it through this,” “Chin up, fangs out,” “Tits forward,” “Add pumpkin spice to racism so white women will care,” “Unite the states of America,” “We shall overcomb!,” “We are the resistance!,” “free Melania!”

  15. 15.

    Yoda Dog

    @Joyce H: Noone can tell the pussy-grabber-in-chief anything nor will he ever stop embarassing himself. He’s too busy dicking around on his android and watching Fox News cuz he’s so bored and can’t have any fun cuz we’re all big meanies… GOOD TIMES.

    Morning, everyone.

  18. 18.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Joyce H:

    Someone really needs to give this character a few pointers on presidential protocol before he makes an even bigger fool of himself than he already is.

    If someone went to the trouble, it’d do no good cause the shitgibbon won’t listen to anyone or anything except the voices in his head.

  22. 22.

    Sam

    I just sent my MoC, Don Beyer, a message asking that he march with us in the Scientists’ March and the Climate March. It is time to get our elected officials on board. All the congress folks here, and very few if any out for the Women’s March. We need to change that – they need to come out!

  23. 23.

    Baud

    @BillinGlendaleCA: You know, it might be worth it to keep hounding him in his deportment. It’s one thing for Trump to ignore things like science and human right and health care and treating people with decency because he’s just reflecting the Republican Party there. But by asking him to act in a way that upholds the dignity of the office is so innocuous a request that it’s not likely to produce political opposition. Yet Trump will fail at even that simple task. It’s essentially a free way to frustrate him and reduce his support even further.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    @Sam:

    All the congress folks here, and very few if any out for the Women’s March.

    Got any stats to back that up?

    ETA:. “If any” is definitely false.

  28. 28.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Speaking as a more-or-less-white male, I was already thinking before the election that it was time for the white males to step aside and voluntarily give up their votes, because they (we) have proved we can’t be trusted with it. The asshole-worship is baked into our culture from top to bottom. Incompetent unqualified assholes have been promoted to positions of power for decades, precisely because being an a-hole is seen as a sign of genius.

    I am really, really glad about the whole “minority majority” thing and it can’t happen too soon for me. Our country needs to outnumber the a-hole worshippers at the polls. (And preferably in management too, but that will take much longer).

  29. 29.

    Quinerly

    @Yoda Dog:
    Crooks and Liars had a piece up Tues, I believe on her punching a guy in the face at the Liberty Ball. No real details, though.

  31. 31.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Sam: I’m planning on being there. Here’s one organizing page I found. It’s obviously a placeholder, thrown up quickly, but I expect it to be filled in pretty soon.

    I find this evidence of “first get it working, then get it right” (a design philosophy I’ve often followed) kind of charming.

    Did you know that your logo has a grammatical error?
    Yes, graphic designers are now working on this. A new shinier website will be forthcoming.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Speaking as a more-or-less-white male, I was already thinking before the election that it was time for the white males to step aside and voluntarily give up their votes,

    Unfortunately, the first and only ones who would do so would be Dem-voting white guys. Unimplementable plan.

  37. 37.

    Sam

    @Baud: Maybe I should be more clear: there were a lot of MoCs – Don Beyer for one, and Sens – Warner and Kaine for others – that didn’t come out. I just invited them to come out and march in the Scientists’ March and the Climate March. IMO they should all be out there.

  39. 39.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: It’s not as simple as gender. I can think of a dozen women off the top of my head who are just as bad as the President*’s cabal. Hell, starting with KellyAnne Conman.

  43. 43.

    amk

    Go Fedex.

    limey humor via beebs: Imagine waking from a coma after 10 years to see Williams v Williams & Federer v Nadal finals, you’d think time had stood still.

  45. 45.

    Boudica

    I just read the transcript of Trump’s interview on ABC. This man is unhinged. I was worried since November but now I am panicked. No one is stopping him. He is certifiably insane, he’s president and no one is stopping him.

  47. 47.

    Inmourning

    Good morning. I don’t know which of the five stages of grief I am in, but I know that I dread what may happen today, and then tomorrow, and tomorrow after that. Only taking action helps. That and vodka.

  49. 49.

    Boudica

    Forget asking MoC’s to march. Someone needs to be invoking the 25th amendment like yesterday.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning, dear pals.

    If you did not have a chance to check out Adam’s post last night, Take a Deep Breath and a Step Back, it was a good one. Advice to the wary and weary:

    The point here is that if you freak out each and every time something strange, bizarre, provocative is said or done, you won’t be able to do the actual hard work of conserving and preserving the US. And it doesn’t have to be great, gigantic work. The small things are as important as the big ones right now. Looking out for each other. Ensuring that we don’t forget the ideals that are America. That we don’t loose sight of the norms of how American institutions are supposed to function even as they’re being discarded. That we hold our elected officials accountable and make it as difficult as possible for them to discard those norms and jettison those ideals. That we recognize that true patriots don’t need to capitalize the word and scream Liberty and Freedom from the rooftops at the tops of their lungs. Holding the line means not losing your mind. It is important that we keep some perspective and composure as we all wade into uncharted waters. We have a long way to go to preserve and protect the Union. We will get there not by leaps and bounds, but by squaring our shoulders, bracing ourselves, leaning into the headwinds, and putting one foot in front of the other.

    We live in interesting times. But despair, and disparagement of Democratic officials, a lot of whom are likely more devastated than we are: I wish we’d stop the circular firing squad. The despair is just what those who would harm us want to see.

  53. 53.

    Yoda Dog

    @Baud: Its almost certainly bullshit, based on the verbal account of one Charlie Gasparino. He also says him and Scott Baio were attacked by anarchist thugs or something right before it happened.. It’s being promoted on right wing trash sites. So its a lie, but one they’re pushing on purpose to make kellyann look tough? If so, its fair game to throw it back at them and treat it like truth, imo, because it makes them look even more ridiculous, and they certainly are that.

  56. 56.

    EZSmirkzz

    Breaking News!

    Paul Ryan confirms US House will fund barrage balloons to thwart incoming Iranian and North Korean missiles,

    “We’re going to pay for it and front the money up,” Ryan said in an interview with MSNBC…”

    …when asked who is going to pay for the wall.

    “There are a lot of different ways of getting Mexico to contribute to doing this,” Ryan said.

    This report has been modified to reflect the reality of reality.

    When News Fakes, We Break It!

  58. 58.

    Sam

    @Elizabelle: Get them out with us. They are busy. They are timid. We need to help them find themselves.

    I am not weary. After all, doing small things every day is very satisfying and doesn’t take a lot of energy. Even reading this blog is a help, at least to me.

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Hi there, candidate. Have been lurking. Cannot take the despair (not saying it’s an inauthentic emotion, just that it’s been overwhelming). Have loved the pics of the first enormous protest march of 2017. Keep ’em coming.

  64. 64.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Because you gots character, and intellect.

    Plus, we need your light touch.

    Do you think that was ever said to the Oval Office occupier?

  65. 65.

    Kay

    Two of the officials who will be in charge of carrying out President Donald Trump’s terrorism detainee policies, Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, were “blindsided” by reports of a draft executive order that would require the CIA to reconsider using interrogation techniques that some consider torture, according to sources with knowledge of their thinking.
    Lawmakers in both parties denounced the draft order on Wednesday even as White House press secretary Sean Spicer said he had “no idea where it came from” and that it is “not a White House document.”

    Imagine how horrible it is to work for him. Every day, like this. Just a blizzard of bullshit and lies. The few who aren’t already insane/unqualified will have to get out. No one decent could remain working there.

  66. 66.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    All it would take is for everyone opposing Trump to tweet him something like “Act Presidential!” or “Stop Demeaning the Office!”

  67. 67.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: It will be an incredible sacrifice, but perhaps the decent folks should stay, to mitigate the damage. Who wants to see all their work destroyed?

    Decency. The Oval Office occupier don’t have it, so we have to seek out and support those who do.

  70. 70.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I remember watching the first episode of Survivor and turning it off after a couple minutes. I couldn’t take the self-absorption. Look at what that has brought us. (And not just Trump, either.)

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    @debbie: Kay said something like that a while back. Saw a reality show and thought “this cannot lead anywhere good.”

    Gonna go out and walk a bit. Catch you guys soon.

  75. 75.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Kay, how’s about that John Husted standing up to Trump regarding voter fraud? I’m sure this is a battle of egos, but I’d bet Trump was surprised by Husted’s statement.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    I got invited to a new women’s political group meeting not this Sat. but next for NW Ohio women. I feel like they were either marchers or inspired by marchers. I know the woman who invited me quite well and she’s a quilter.

    I love that knitters and (now) quilters keep coming up in this thing. A common thread! :)

  78. 78.

    Baud

    @NotMax:

    Plus kind of necessary to have a cabinet in place first.

    Why are the feckless Dems not pushing to vote for Trump’s nominees?!?!?!

    /Someone here soon

  80. 80.

    bemused

    @NotMax:

    From the 70’s, I had copies of “1984” and “Black Like Me”, written by journalist John Griffen who took massive doses of anti-vitiligo med and spent hours daily under ultraviolet light darkening his skin to record his experiences traveling as an AA man in the deep south. I no longer have those books and at least one other book I know of for sure because they disappeared. I suspect one adult kid “borrowed” them and never returned them.

  81. 81.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Jennifer Rubin:

    We are calling for someone, perhaps his children, to see if they can prevail upon him to stop behaving in this way, for if not, legitimate worries will mount about whether he is able to carry out his duties. We also are saying that Republicans need to be pressed to state their view: Is he lying or is he unable to separate what he wants to believe and what exists, literally, in front of his eyes? The first makes him morally unfit, and was the basis upon which many #NeverTrumpers refused to vote for him. If the latter, they — and we all — have a constitutional crisis the likes of which we have never seen. With Trump, however, we have learned the past provides no guarantees.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Husted wants to be governor. That’s been his guiding principle since he took that job. I don’t think he’s on board with discrediting Ohio elections.

    I love the lie Trump told about voter fraud to members of Congress because it rests on a lie about Trump being friends with a famous golfer. He probably made it up not to make any point about voting but instead to tie himself to that poor golfer. Trump name drops constantly. Leeching off of other peoples’ popularity is a big part of his personality. He doesn’t hate the Obamas. He’s envious of them because they’re better-liked than he is. After they were polite to him he name-dropped them at his own rallies. He thinks anyone who is polite to him “likes” him or is his “friend”. He’s really a bottomless well of neediness. I bet when he was sexually harassing all those women over the years, leering at them backstage, all the gross behavior, he was convinced they “liked it”.

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @bemused:

    I suspect one adult kid “borrowed” them and never returned them.

    Say it ain’t so! My sons would never do such a thing!

    (that dripping sound you hear is my sarcasm)

  89. 89.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    What? Jack Nicklaus supports this garbage?

    Husted’s clearly motivated by his political ambitions, as always, but he made a big and a very public deal during the election about his own efforts at guaranteeing a fair election. Trump undermines all of Husted’s efforts with his voter fraud lies. Maybe other Republicans will start turning against him when it conflicts with their own ambitions.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’m not on board for that. Trump’s been bailed out at every stage of his life. Let him fail. There needs to be moral hazard in elections. There needs to be consequences for all these crap decisions people make. They’re not 6 years old. They hired him and they can’t fire him for 4 years. That has consequences. They devalued competence and experience and character and this is what happens when you do that- you get garbage hires. It’s not a mystery.

    We can’t keep doing this. If they somehow muzzle Trump there will just be another Trump next cycle. We have to hit bottom.

  96. 96.

    bemused

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    One kid “borrows” books (found a Hillary Clinton book on his shelf when visiting him and confiscated it) and one other kid “borrows” quilts and blankets. When they still all lived at home, I would hide batteries, scissors, scotch tape, etc because they were always missing when I needed them.

  97. 97.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    For a while they were promoting this idea that Trump might have a redeeming quality- “loyalty”. That’s bullshit too. He demands loyalty. He doesn’t give it. He’ll screw over the people he hired like he always has. He just stiffed an electrical contractor on that DC hotel. Cheated them out of 2 million dollars. The contractor paid the electricians- they get paid every week so that money was paid. They won’t get hurt. The contractor will.

    The President of the United States will now own a hotel in DC that has a mechanic’s lien on it. He’s sleazy. If he was an ordinary small business person no one would deny that. Because it’s high value real estate we all have to pretend it’s different, but it;s not.

  100. 100.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @bemused: My oldest son is no where near so discerning. He will “borrow” damn near anything. He always asks, and I always say “Yes.” so I guess it’s my own damn fault. :-) The youngest doesn’t “borrow” much any more, but I think that has more to do with his living in Baton Rouge than anything else.

  101. 101.

    Kay

    My husband always made fun of people who said they were leaving the country when someone they didn’t like was elected. Last night he was telling me about Canadian immigration law in great detail with huge enthusiasm like he has researched it.

    I know what he’s up to. He’s looking at the other side of the Great Lakes :)

  102. 102.

    Anne Laurie

    @Kay:

    I love the lie Trump told about voter fraud to members of Congress because it rests on a lie about Trump being friends with a famous golfer.

    A famous German golfer, resident non-citizen, complaining that the he-thinks-they’re-from-Latin-American-countries voters in line with him don’t look like they should be allowed to vote!

    Anybody with the slightest modicum of popcult awareness would hesitate to retail stories about a German guy who thinks darker-skinned folk “don’t look like real citizens”, but Trump just wanted everyone to know that he knew a guy who knew this guy…

    (Got a post about this scheduled for later this morning — up way past my bedtime right now.)

  103. 103.

    bemused

    Union presidents met with Trump yesterday and rightwing is all over that. Mark McManus and Terry O’Sullivan were on Morning Joke and enthusiastic about Trump promised construction jobs.

    I read comment from an “independent” on local blog who said Dems will keep losing blue collar workers and never thought he’d see union presidents praising a republican president.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I was never one of these people but now I am. It’s not just Trump. The whole campaign industrial/media/politics structure needs a market correction. Let it crash. Rich people need a reminder that this bullshit they spout that they don’t need a functioning state is nonsense. They need it more than anyone. Obama warned them. He told them in 2009 he was the only thing between them and the pitchforks. They ignored him.

  106. 106.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kay:

    I hear that citizenship in New Zealand is really easy to get, and that the PM will praise you as a welcome contribution to society…

  107. 107.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Kay: I often to go WisCon, a feminist science fiction con, and there’s always a fiber circle working there because it’s traditional women’s craft work. Someone once sat next to me at a panel crocheting a potholder that she gave me (a total stranger) when she finished.

  109. 109.

    bemused

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    At least you were asked. Not much “borrowing” anymore. They all live too far away. All three are liberals so I take comfort that I had some influence in their choice of reading materials. I check out the books they are reading when they visit and approve. I want to “borrow” some of their books but moms should be more mature than playing payback, : )

  111. 111.

    Kay

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I love to sew. I don’t do as much of it as I could but I always loved it. Sewing class in high school home ec is where I found out I was good at constructing things- had a sense of how things go together. I sort of knew I was a little better at it than a lot of people but that was when I saw I could make something start to finish.

  112. 112.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @bemused:

    I read comment from an “independent” on local blog who said Dems will keep losing blue collar workers and never thought he’d see union presidents praising a republican president.

    Than he hasn’t been paying attention for at least the last 3 decades**. Any Republican who pushes for large infrastructure projects (as long as they do not overtly push RtW laws) will get the support of construction unions, especially if they have a track record of following thru. All they care about is jobs for their members, because that is their job.

    ** app how long it has been driving me up the wall

  113. 113.

    Ohio Mom

    This is a very minor observation but I’m looking at the front page of the fashion section of today’s NYT, and there is a photo of Melania in her white gown.

    Looking at her facing forward, the little red stripe that moves diagonally from her right shoulder to her waist, where it meets a red horizontal line, makes her top half look like a giant “No” sign.

    You know what I mean: when there is a big letter P in a red circle with that kind of diagonal slash, it means No Parking.

    So her dress looks like a walking No Trump sign. Heh.

    It is especially rich if you believe as I do that artists are able to tap into some sort of great cosmic wisdom. They don’t do it consciously but it is their job to present that cosmic wisdom to the rest of us in terms we can understand.

  115. 115.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @bemused: I’ve got lots of cams. He ran off with one of the trash cans(we segregate our trash: trash, recycle, greens), so I said, “Hey where’s the greens trashcan, you know I’m paying for that”. He’s an asshole.

  116. 116.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: And to follow up on that thought, the disease is ObamaDerangementSyndrom. Everything, every single fucking thing they are doing, has one purpose and one purpose only: To undo everything Obama did. They have no policy goals outside of that, all is in relation to him.

    He is still in their heads and they can’t get him out.

  117. 117.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    An unnerving thought – this private security detail that Trump kept on? Retired NYPD guy running it?

    You realize that they undoubtedly all had access to the NCIC from confederates still on PDs and in the FBI.

    Now they’ve got access to even more tools through their Secret Service liaison, but have zero legal boundaries on reasons to gather data.

    This might be ripe for investigation and exposure, as I’m counting down the moments until critics and journalists start getting visits.

  120. 120.

    sunny raines

    “The Road Women Marched On This Weekend Was Paved By Black Resistance“

    the broad issues is equality for everyone. Thinking there is a distinct in one’s particular grievance is a mistake. There are WAY more numbers and understanding, and therefore potential solutions and results through the prism of equality for all in every endeavor and situation. Embracing only ones slice of inequality allows the forces of bigotry and fear and divide and conquer.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a scathing statement Thursday that he plans to vote against President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Education Department.
    Trump’s nominee, Betsy DeVos, floundered during her confirmation hearing last week as Democrats took turns questioning her ability to lead the department. DeVos, a billionaire from a powerful Republican family in Michigan, has been dedicated to funneling money to “school choice” efforts ― and away from public schools.

    I know this isn’t an issue anyone talks about outside of a kind of specialized “silo” but it’s hugely important to me that Democrats defend public education. It is the issue I was MOST unhappy with during Obama’s two terms.

    DeVos is a radical. This attempt to paint her as a “normal” Republican is moving the goalposts. Her whole career has been dedicated to zero-sum destroying the opposition and she considers public schools the opposition. The people who are insisting she’s somehow mainstream are ignoring her 30 year record in Michigan. It’s not even in question. Look at anything she has done in that state. It’s all Right wing warrior. Moderate Republicans in the state don’t even like her. She targets them if they buck the Party line.

    She may not get a single Democratic vote and they’re right to oppose her. That hearing was a shitshow. She didn’t bother to prepare and sat there smirking thru half of it repeating slogans. It was a joke.

  122. 122.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Speaking as a more-or-less-white male, I was already thinking before the election that it was time for the white males to step aside and voluntarily give up their votes, because they (we) have proved we can’t be trusted with it. The asshole-worship is baked into our culture from top to bottom. Incompetent unqualified assholes have been promoted to positions of power for decades, precisely because being an a-hole is seen as a sign of genius.

    Speaking as a older white male; what makes you think the others aren’t as big asholes or women don’t have their own problems? The are good people and their bad people, skin color and genitals have nothing to do with it.

  123. 123.

    Mothra

    I’m sick of being told by clueless right wingers that I’ve got no concerns.

    Another giant war could mean my sons were drafted. They are 28 and 32 – and in WWII men that age were called up.

    I’m middle class – but no one is going to escape climate change.

    I’m looking at an additional 18 months of work before retirement not because I can’t afford to retire but because no one will help us bridge the gap between 631/2 to 65 for health insurance without the ACA.

    I work in the public schools and this directly impacts my career

    I’m opposed to corruption in government

    I am straight and white and abled but I happen to love people who are not one or more of those.

    Don’t ask me why I marched tell me why you didn’t.

  124. 124.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @bemused: I just told him to bring it back, so he brought the wrong type back(recycle instead of green). Asshole.

    OT, but fun trivia: The premier for “Blazing Saddles” was held at a drive-in theater(the Pickwick in Burbank), though no cars were allowed. You had to ride in on a horse.

  125. 125.

    Kay

    On the January 25 edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough complained that “suddenly” so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” became “abhorrent” after public outcry over abuses during the George W. Bush administration. After it was reported that President Trump may sign an executive order that would “order a review of the Army Field Manual to determine whether to use certain enhanced interrogation techniques” again, Scarborough said that he “see[s] absolutely no problem about doing a study on enhanced interrogation techniques.” He added later in the segment that “there has been such a broad brush put across this entire topic of, quote, ‘torture.’ Suddenly sleep deprivation is torture.”
    In the final hour of his show, Scarborough, who previously told a former naval intelligence official that he was wrong in saying that waterboarding doesn’t work, asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who experienced torture, to “define torture,” inquiring whether “sleep deprivation and other techniques like that” in fact “fit” McCain’s personal “definition of torture.” McCain shut Scarborough down, stating unequivocally that “extreme sleep deprivation is certainly not allowed and, again, it is very clear and laid out” in both the Geneva Conventions and the Army Field Manual:

    This is what I mean by let it fail. If there’s a Trump crash and a lot of this bloated and corrupt campaign coverage is weeded out by markets and is revealed to be the utter bullshit it is that will be a “consequence”, sure, but it will harm about 23 wealthy people and no one will miss it. There will be pain but there will also be gain. It gets bigger every year, campaign coverage. It’s a bloated obscene bubble with little real value. Let it hit bottom.

    How may statehouse reporters could be hired with fewer Joe Scarboroughs and Ed Rendels? it’s a market that needs a brutal correction. No soft landing.

  126. 126.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kay:

    I can’t remember if it’s just Bella in Cincy, or if you’re in southern Ohio too. I may need a Pro Hac with regard to Jeffry Smith, a gun rights psycho showing up at UC clubs and events.

  130. 130.

    Timurid

    @Kay:

    Of course a ‘brutal correction’ would likely alter or ruin the lives of some of the people posting in this thread.

  131. 131.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    The President of the United States will now own a hotel in DC that has a mechanic’s lien on it. He’s sleazy. If he was an ordinary small business person no one would deny that. Because it’s high value real estate we all have to pretend it’s different, but it;s not.

    And, it’s not the first time that he’s done it.

    HE DOES IT ALL THE TIME.

    Great businessmen DON’T do this.

    People with a LACK OF CHARACTER DO.

  132. 132.

    rikyrah

    @bemused:

    I read comment from an “independent” on local blog who said Dems will keep losing blue collar workers and never thought he’d see union presidents praising a republican president.

    they are so phucking ridiculous. they’re being played. and, I’m tired of muthaphuckas being willingly playing themselves.

    no sympathy.

    And, please say WHITE blue collar workers, cause non-White blue collar folks don’t fall for the banana in the tail pipe.

  133. 133.

    rikyrah

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Than he hasn’t been paying attention for at least the last 3 decades**. Any Republican who pushes for large infrastructure projects (as long as they do not overtly push RtW laws) will get the support of construction unions, especially if they have a track record of following thru. All they care about is jobs for their members, because that is their job.

    IF the infrastructure is a REAL infrastructure plan, with all the worker protections, as well as strong labor laws in place, I have no problem with it.

    Our infrastructure DOES need to be rebuilt. And, it should be. With American workers. And American Steel.

    Remember – the GOP took out the requirement for American Steel.

    And, Cheeto Benito’s infrastructure plan is nothing but a privatization scheme. As someone who has lived through several selling of local public entities to private companies, the answer is NO NO AND GOD DAMNED NO!!

  134. 134.

    rikyrah

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    @Kay: And to follow up on that thought, the disease is ObamaDerangementSyndrom. Everything, every single fucking thing they are doing, has one purpose and one purpose only: To undo everything Obama did. They have no policy goals outside of that, all is in relation to him.

    Tell that truth.

  135. 135.

    rikyrah

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    An unnerving thought – this private security detail that Trump kept on? Retired NYPD guy running it?

    You realize that they undoubtedly all had access to the NCIC from confederates still on PDs and in the FBI.

    WHY AREN’T DEMOCRATS DEMANDING TO KNOW;
    1. why he needs them
    2. why taxpayer monies should be going toward them
    3. what are their legal liabilities

    See, THIS is the type of shyt when Democrats say that they want the politicians to stand up and fight – HERE IT IS.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    DeVos is a radical. This attempt to paint her as a “normal” Republican is moving the goalposts. Her whole career has been dedicated to zero-sum destroying the opposition and she considers public schools the opposition. The people who are insisting she’s somehow mainstream are ignoring her 30 year record in Michigan. It’s not even in question. Look at anything she has done in that state. It’s all Right wing warrior. Moderate Republicans in the state don’t even like her. She targets them if they buck the Party line.

    She may not get a single Democratic vote and they’re right to oppose her. That hearing was a shitshow. She didn’t bother to prepare and sat there smirking thru half of it repeating slogans. It was a joke.

    Her smirk at Senator Murphy is what made me want to reach through the tv.

  138. 138.

    GregB

    Make Russia interference into Benghazi.

    Russia and Putin do not poll well.

    Bonus: Trump is taking ownership of economy. History says a recession is due. Ownership society indeed.

  141. 141.

    bemused

    @rikyrah:

    “Independents” call themselves independent because they don’t want to admit they are liberloonians or Trump supporters/voters.

  144. 144.

    bemused

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    @rikyrah:

    Now “independent” is saying he knows trade unions better than most people and he’s never heard national and international union presidents support a Republican president in his lifetime. So he says.

  145. 145.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: It keeps happening over and over in my direct experience that a young white guy gets promoted way over his capabilities or where he should be in his career, passing over all the much more qualified choices that were the more obvious choice to everybody not in upper management. And three guesses what upper management looks like?

    Ethnicity and genitals have everything to do with it. There are baked-in unconscious prejudices that cause a blind spot to quality in some candidates, and a mistaking of obnoxiousness for quality in certain others.

    How could you listen to anybody compare Hillary to (unnamed) as if they occupied the same universe of morality, experience, leadership, basic human goodness… and not think ethnicity and genitals were the reason people thought (unnamed) was equal?

  146. 146.

    NeenerNeener

    @Kay: Over on previouslytv they were bitching about the SNL skit where they sang “To Sir, With Love” to a picture of Obama as being “too political”. It’s not political if you just look at it as trolling Trump.

  147. 147.

    Ohio Mom

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I’m pretty sure Kay lives somewhere in the northwest part of Ohio, I think kinda near Toledo but in a small rural town.

    Also, she seems to be stopping in on the threads these days in the early morning before she starts work; I’m guessing you question was posted after she left.

    And yes, Bella is in the Cincinnati area, as am I and IIRC, Kathleen. Could be others. Maybe we need meetup.

  149. 149.

    Larkspur

    @Kay: Me, I’m just falling in love with knitters and quilters in general. I’m going to have to add a category to the description of the perfect woman, which is based on a woman I know (who already has a wife, darn): she’s a gay Canadian leftish librarian marathon runner. I’m going to have to ask her if she knits or quilts. (It was the librarian facet that first got me; everything else is just bonus fabulosity.)

  151. 151.

    Larkspur

    @Iowa Old Lady: OT, but about women’s work. Have you ever read an historical novel by Nicola Griffiths entitled Hild? It’s set in 7th century Britain, and the main character, Hild, is a niece of the king who throughout the book comes to have great influence on the court and on Britain in general. And she is always, always spinning and weaving. She and her special companion (kind of like her second lieutenant, or her administrative assistant and confidante) are always doing tablet weaving. (I looked it up and it seems complicated, like they would always be playing a duet.) So much great, well-researched detail.

  152. 152.

    Larkspur

    @Humboldtblue: You truly understand me. Luckily I only ever do unrequited love. I’m so accustomed to it that it doesn’t cause jealousy or pangs of anything. Just makes me happy to know my perfect women are out there.

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