Suggested by Shaker Secjwick: "If you could pick any song to be your personal anthem, what would it be?"
Forever and always my answer to this question: Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation."
[Lyrics here.]
Question of the Day
[Lyrics here.]
Wednesday Links!
This list o' links brought to you by ice water.
Recommended Reading:
Andrés Manuel López Obrador at Lit Hub: [Content Note: Nativism; exploitation] Dear Donald Trump: No Wall Will Stand Forever
Lydia Wang at Bust: [CN: Domestic violence; murder] Murdered Utah Student Previously Reported Her Killer to the Police, But Nothing Was Done
Akanksha Singh at Bon Appetit: [CN: Discussion of depression and eating] I Was Alone, Depressed, and Spending All My Money on Delivery Pizza; Then I Learned to Cook
Kitty Sheehan at Longreads: [CN: Cancer; death] The Strongest Woman in the Room
Sheetal Sheth at Thrive Global: [CN: Bullying; racism] "But What If the Bully Is a Grown-Up?"
Megh Wright at Vulture: Tiffany Haddish Goes on Billy on the Street to Hunt for Woke Witches
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Get Your $hit Together, Conservatives
[Content Note: Stochastic terrorism; violent rhetoric.]
"The politicians who received IEDs were never in real danger b/c someone checks their mail" is the shittiest take by the shittiest people — who clearly don't give a fuck about the threat to the people who check their mail; people they're obliged to hire b/c of threats like this.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2018
Some of us have been criticizing right-wing eliminationist rhetoric for as long as conservatives have been normalizing it from the fringes (i.e. decades). And we have routinely been dismissed as oversensitive, hysterics, language police, the PC brigade, SJWs, snowflakes, etc.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2018
Let us at long last stop playing this obscene game in which those of us who urgently raise alarms about how language and culture work are dismissed as *too sensitive* about othering and eliminationist rhetoric, and get real about how the right wing isn't sensitive *enough*.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2018
This shit doesn't happen in a vacuum and it's time for conservatives to pull up their own goddamn bootstraps and get to work doing the hard business of self-reflection. This is one problem the invisible hand of the market can't fix for them—unless, perhaps, it's holding a mirror.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2018
Discussion Thread: Self-Care
What are you doing to do to take care of yourself today, or in the near future, as soon as you can?
If you are someone who has a hard time engaging in self-care, or figuring out easy, fast, and/or inexpensive ways to treat yourself, and you would like to solicit suggestions, please feel welcome. And, as always, no one should offer advice unless it is solicited.
* * *
Right now, all I can think of is that I need to get up from this desk and walk into the kitchen and make myself some lunch. So I'm going to do that. Nourishing myself is necessary, immediate self-care, and it's also all the self-care I can manage at the moment.
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 643
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
Earlier today by me: I Remain Very Worried About the Midterms and More "Suspicious Packages" Sent to Clintons, Obamas, and Possibly Others.
The political press is, quite rightly, consumed by the still-unfolding story about explosive devices being sent in attempted assassinations to multiple prominent Democrats. Regrettably, they are not talking about this story in partisan terms, despite the fact that it's clearly a partisan attack, nor as attempted assassinations, despite the fact that they are, nor as the responsibility of Donald Trump, despite the fact that the targets so far are like his own personal hit-list.
Here are some other things in the news today...
In good news, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams handed Brian Kemp his ass in their debate last night! Jennifer Brett at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Stacey Abrams, Brian Kemp Clash in First Debate. "Abrams hit Kemp repeatedly over voting, an issue that's attracted national attention. 'The right to vote is a right. My father was arrested helping people to register,' she said."
In less good news from other states...
[Content Note: Terrorism] Dana Branham at the Dallas News: Campaign Signs for Beto O'Rourke and Colin Allred Set Ablaze. "Five yard signs for Democratic candidates were set on fire in a Richardson neighborhood Monday night, officials said. Police received three calls in a 30-minute span — one at 11 p.m., another at 11:06, and the third at 11:28 — reporting that yard signs for Beto O'Rourke and Colin Allred had been lit on fire in the Arapaho Heights neighborhood west of Heights Park, Sgt. Kevin Perlich said."
[CN: Homophobia] Andy Towle at Towleroad: Governor Bruce Rauner Pronounces Illinois F***ed in Ad Mocking Gay Marriage. "A new ad from Illinois' Republican Governor Bruce Rauner depicts his challenger J.B. Pritzker getting married to House Speaker Mike Madigan. 'Repeat after me: I Mike Madigan, take you, JB Pritzker, as my unlawful partner in destruction,' starts the ad, which predicts corruption and higher taxes for the state should Pritzker win. 'By the power vested in me I now pronounce Illinois f**ked,' says the ad's minister."
Kyla Mandel at ThinkProgress: Early Voter Turnout Is Down in Some North Carolina Counties Hit by Florence. "Among the 28 counties receiving federal assistance for Hurricane Florence recovery, New Hanover has thus far seen the biggest increase in early voting, with more than double the number of ballots cast compared to the 2014 midterm elections. But this isn't the case for other counties still struggling to recover from the hurricane. 'Voting is not a premier issue right now with them,' Courtney Patterson, a local organizer with the North Carolina Hurricane Relief Effort and Community Rapid Response Network, told ThinkProgress. 'Survival is…everything.'"
* * *
Kathleen McLaughlin at the Guardian: I Paid $7,348 for Healthcare Last Week — So Trump's Law Changes Are Personal. "While the illness itself dictates some of the terms of my life, the looming threat of losing insurance has always been for me the bigger obstacle. Throughout my 30s, every major decision — whether to change jobs, whether to move, where to live — revolved around not losing health insurance. Losing my insurance, even in the years when the disease goes into remission, would mean eventual ruin for my health and finances. I am a living, breathing, expensive pre-existing condition, the one who jacks up other people's insurance rates, the one who makes it difficult for insurance companies to profit on healthcare. Yet profit they do."
Speaking of preexisting conditions, this was part of a must-read Twitter thread by former head of Medicare/aid Andy Slavitt:
Effective today, “insurance” that doesn’t include coverage for the following events👇 will be eligible to count towards insurance— *and get subsidies that currently go to the ACA.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) October 22, 2018
States need to apply for a waiver that the Trump Admin is allowing as of today. 2/ pic.twitter.com/wgdGwufte6
In case you can't see the list embedded in the tweet, here are just some of the many preexisting conditions listed that may not be covered under the new healthcare bill: AIDS, Alzheimer's, anxiety, asthma, cancer, cerebral palsy, cirrhosis, congestive heart failure, cystic fibrosis, depression, diabetes, menstrual irregularities, multiple sclerosis, obesity, organ transplants, Parkinson's, pregnancy, sleep apnea, transsexualism, and tuberculosis.
[CN: Fat hatred] By way of reminder, in 2013, the American Medical Association made the reprehensible decision to declare obesity a disease. As has been extensively- and long-documented by fat activists, myself included, accessing healthcare as a fat person is a challenge, because it's often impossible to find healthcare providers who will see you as a complete human being whose health is more complicated than "fat." Far too many healthcare providers are inclined to attribute any and every healthcare concern to fatness, even at the expense of our very lives, telling us to "lose weight" to fix problems like, for instance, shortness of breath which is actually being caused by blood clots in the lungs or cancer.
In May of 2017, during a previous round of GOP attacks on healthcare access, I noted that reinstating insurers' ability to deny care on the basis of preexisting conditions takes on a whole new urgency following the AMA classification of obesity as a disease, since anything attributed to fat can subsequently be denied.
If the GOP goes through with this, it will also be a death sentence for many fat people who would otherwise be healthy with basic healthcare.
* * *
[CN: Fascism] Kelly Weill and Spencer Ackerman at the Daily Beast: Army Parrots Racist Right's Talking Points on Antifa. "Internal U.S. Army documents in 2017 on anti-fascists (antifa) parroted a fascist talking point about the far-right's supposedly non-racist creds, according to newly released material reviewed by The Daily Beast. ...'With the newly released documents, we again find a U.S. agency targeting anti-fascists as security threats while downplaying the menace posed by white nationalists,' said Ryan Shapiro, Property of the People's executive director."
[CN: White supremacy] Lisa Rein at the Washington Post: 'I Thought It Was Very Nice': Veterans Affairs Official Showcased Portrait of KKK's First Grand Wizard. "David J. Thomas Sr. is deputy executive director of VA's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, which certifies veteran-owned businesses seeking government contracts. His senior staff is mostly African American. Thomas said he took down the painting Monday after a Washington Post reporter explained that its subject, Nathan Bedford Forrest, was a Confederate general and slave trader who became the KKK's first figurehead in 1868. He said he was unaware of Forrest's affiliation with the hate group." The fuck he was.
Jordan Weissmann at Slate: The Actual Tax Bill Didn't Do Much for the Middle Class So Trump Wants Congress to Vote on a Make-Believe One.
Donald Trump has spent the last few days telling anyone who will listen that Republicans are about to introduce a brand new tax cut for middle class families.[CN: Nativism] Aaron Rupar at ThinkProgress: Trump Tries to Own Libs by Tweeting Obama Video; Ends up Accidentally Owning Himself. "While Trump seems to think Obama's video highlights how Democrats have become supportive of 'open borders' over the last 13 years, what it really does is illustrate the dishonesty of his own messaging on immigration."
...As far as anybody can tell, Trump appears to have made all of this up from scratch. White House staffers are baffled. There is no tax plan. They don't even seem to know where Trump got the idea. ...And the Washington Post reports that the White House may ask congressional Republicans to take a symbolic vote on Trump's idea.
Advisers have discussed the idea of having Congress vote on a symbolic "resolution" for a future 10 percent tax cut for the middle class, people familiar with discussions said, part of their scramble to meet Trump's demand for rapid action to blunt Democrats' economic messaging ahead of the midterm elections....I want to set down a prediction: If Congress does take this vote, Trump will claim they actually passed a tax cut. Because we are that far through the looking glass.
The resolution would not be binding but would attempt to send a signal to the public that Republicans are focused on helping middle-class families.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Discussion Thread: How Are You?
I am really not fucking okay, for reasons that I presume are glaringly obvious.
I am scared and I am tired and I am grieving and I am angry.
Very goddamned angry.
I am angry about a lot of things, which generally can be collectively filed under: Angry about the loss of my country and what looks like the imminent loss of democracy around the world.
I'm not a person who was unaware that the United States had a history — and a present — of harming people under the banners of both of The American Dream and The American Empire.
The reason I am angry is not because I believe we're losing something perfect. It's because we're losing, for now and for probably a very long time, even the possibility of meaningful progress toward a more perfect union, to which I and many other people, in different ways and different fields, have dedicated our lives — often because our lives depend on it.
I'm angry because precisely the things I feared would happen are happening. The things I urgently warned, over and over, would happen if Donald Trump weren't taken seriously, if he got the Republican nomination, if he got the presidency, if Congressional Republicans made no effort to contain him at all, if the press failed utterly to hold him accountable, if everything went wrong in precisely the way it looked like it was going wrong, are happening.
I am angry because all of this was foreseeable, all of it was preventable, but all of the people who saw it and said it were dismissed, discounted, discredited.
And I am angry because a future I have done everything that I can in my own little corner of the world to prevent now feels inexorable.
I am also, as always, glad for this community, particularly in this moment. Anyone who wants to join me in another enormous virtual group hug is welcome.
How are you?
More "Suspicious Packages" Sent to Clintons, Obamas, and Possibly Others
[Content Note: Bombs; threats of violence; terrorism.]
The Clintons and the Obamas have reportedly received suspicious packages similar to the one received by George Soros, which turned out to be an explosive device.
I had a few thoughts on Twitter:
It's important to note that Trump has used stochastic terrorist strategies against Hillary Clinton since August 2016, when he bellowed at a rally: "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although, the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know."
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2018
Of course there won't be a direct line between people who commit these acts and Trump. That's the entire fucking point of stochastic terrorism. It's about creating an environment in which *someone* will be moved to violence, while maintaining distance and refusing accountability.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2018
It's also important to note that Trump didn't put targets on their backs. Soros, the Obamas, and the Clintons have been targeted by conservative extremists using campaigns rife with eliminationist language for decades (in the Clintons' case). Trump just exploited and amplified that existing hatred.
* * *
There are reports that a similar package was sent to CNN headquarters, which has been evacuated. It is thought to be related to the devices sent to Soros, the Obamas, and the Clintons.
Additionally, there is a report that another one was intercepted on its way to the White House. As of this writing, I have not seen any confirmation that package is thought to be similar or related. Which doesn't mean it isn't; I just haven't read that, unlike the others.
Naturally, the report that a package, related or otherwise, has been sent to the White House, too, is underwriting arguments that Trump bears no accountability. Whoooooooops that is not how it works.
As evidenced by the long history of dictators done in by the very violence that they endorsed and used to oppress.
Even if Trump is a target, he is not absolved of his own responsibility in creating the environment in which this is happening.
People get hurt when dehumanization and eliminationism become normalized. That's why decent people don't do that.
* * *
UPDATE: Reuters is now reporting "that there was no suspicious package addressed to the White House."
So, the only related "suspicious packages" have gone to: George Soros, the Clintons, the Obamas, and CNN. All routine and sustained targets of Trump's incendiary rhetoric.
UPDATE 2: Another "suspicious package" has been sent to a Florida office building where the office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is located. The building has been evacuated. No details at the moment whether this package is considered similar and related to the others.
UPDATE 3: CNN's Jake Tapper reports: "The package with an explosive device sent to CNN's NY offices today was addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan, according to city and local law enforcement officials." Brennan has been a frequent critic of the Trump Regime, and Donald Trump revoked his security clearance in August.
UPDATE 4: A suspicious package has been found outside a California building in which Sen. Kamala Harris' office is located. The building has been evacuated.
UPDATE 5: Law enforcement officials have told NBC that the return address name on the packages sent to Soros, the Clintons, and the Obamas is "Debbie Wasserman Schultz." Which, in addition to trying to blame DWS of harming fellow Democrats, also suggests that the package sent to her office is indeed related.
UPDATE 6: A suspicious package was intercepted on its way to former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, too.
UPDATE 7: The package intended for Holder (or perhaps a second package) was apparently the package that arrived at Debbie Wasserman Schultz's office — because, as mentioned in Update 5, her name and address were used as the sender's info. Holder's address was incorrect, so it was "returned to sender."
So, suspicious packages have been sent to: George Soros, the Clintons, the Obamas, John Brennan, Kamala Harris, and Eric Holder, with Debbie Wasserman Schultz's information used to implicate her.
UPDATE 8: Law enforcement has cleared the package reported at the building in which Senator Kamala Harris' office is located. Tom Winter at NBC News: "Per a statement from Sen. Kamala Harris' office and local police there is NO suspicious package at the Senator's office in San Diego and the item police did check out was not addressed to her and was found to not be a device of any kind."
UPDATE 9: Another package was sent to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo: "Feds wouldn't disclose during the press conferences exactly what was in the package, but said 'it was consistent with the other packages.'"
UPDATE 10: Tara Palmeri at ABC News: "Suspicious package intercepted by Capitol Hill police was addressed to Democratic California congresswoman Maxine Waters, according to three sources."
UPDATE 11: Law enforcement has cleared the package sent to Cuomo. Via the New York Post: "'A device has been sent to my office in Manhattan, which we were just informed about,' Cuomo said at a press conference outside CNN's Columbus Circle headquarters. But police later said his office didn't receive a bomb — it was actually an envelope that said 'From Proud Boys' and contained the thumb drive inside."
It sounds to me like the Proud Boys (or someone pretending to be the Proud Boys) exploited what is happening to try to intimidate Cuomo, who recently ordered state police to investigate the Proud Boys, a patriarchal, white supremacist group.
I Remain Very Worried About the Midterms
[Previously: Trump Suggests the Midterms Will Be Compromised, I Am Very Worried About the Midterms, and I Am (Still) Very Worried About the Midterms.]
Donald Trump is relentlessly hammering the idea that the Republicans are going to prevail in the midterms. The polls are wrong. The Republicans are fired up. The election is going to be a referendum on Kavanaugh and immigration. He relentlessly tells lies about the caravan of refugees headed for the southern border, including that they are being funded by Democrats and will illegally vote in the midterm election.
He is reportedly fixing to question the integrity of the midterms if Democrats win, preparing to "throw legal challenges into the courts, sow confusion, declare a victory actually, and say that the election's been illegitimate — that is really under discussion in the White House."
Sitting members of the Republican Party are helping him lay the groundwork, creating the expectation of a GOP win and preparing to line up behind whatever democracy-killing maneuvers he deploys in case of a loss.
The Republicans' various propaganda outlets — Fox, Breitbart, etc. — are endorsing and amplifying all of this mendacious noise.
And now the mainstream political press is falling in line.
To wit, this AP article, headlined "Senate Slipping Away as Dems Fight to Preserve Blue Wave," opens thus: "In the closing stretch of the 2018 campaign, the question is no longer the size of the Democratic wave. It's whether there will be a wave at all."
The entire piece is rank propaganda for the Trump Regime. Take this, for instance: "Republican lawmakers are increasingly optimistic, in part because of Trump's recent performance as the GOP's campaigner in chief. Republicans say the often-volatile president has been surprisingly on-message during his campaign events, touting the strong economy and doubling down on the Kavanaugh fight to promote his efforts to fill courts with conservative jurists."
This is straight-up horseshit. Trump has not been "surprisingly on-message" at his fascistic rallies. He's been his usual rambling self, going off on bigoted, self-aggrandizing, and variously vile tangents as always, in between vaingloriously basking in the echo of "Lock her up!" chants and declaring himself a "nationalist."
Trump is only "on-message" so much as he can never be off-message, as far as his cultists are concerned. They lap up whatever he says, because he is an effective fear-monger and validator of their sundry resentments.
The Republicans continue to do everything they can to undermine free and fair elections, and that includes creating noise about how they are likely to win — while simultaneously either actively colluding with Russia to steal the election or passively colluding by failing to enact consequences for previous interference — and implying that if they lose it will indicate election rigging.
As opposed to the other way around.
And a significant portion of the political press is helping them transmit these messages.
I am worried that the midterms are not going to be free of interference, even beyond the usual Republican efforts at voter suppression and disenfranchisement.
I am worried that, even if they are free of additional interference, the Trump Regime and the rest of the Republican Party will claim that they weren't in order to further subvert our democracy.
I am worried about the political press' inclination to help them destroy our democracy.
I am worried that we are going to lose, even if we win.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker livi: "What is your favorite guilty pleasure TV?"
I've made no secret of the fact that I love garbage TV, and I'm shameless about it, so... All of it? LOL.
Your Best Photograph
If you're a photographer, even if a very amateur one (like myself), and you've got a photo or photos you'd like to share, here's your thread for that!
It doesn't really have to be your best photograph — just one you like!
Please be sure if your photo contains people other than yourself, that you have the explicit consent of the people in the photos before posting them.
* * *
Here's a photo I took recently of our Jason Tennant crow, showing what a lovely shadow it casts in the evening light, after Iain noticed the cool optical illusion it was creating:
Pence: Maybe We'll Arm Space Force with Nukes
Yesterday, Donald Trump vowed to increase the United States' nuclear capacity and threatened to deploy those nukes against foreign adversaries if he deemed it necessary.
Today, Mike Pence suggested that the Trump Regime might arm its planned Space Force with nuclear weapons. Robert Costa at the Washington Post reports:
Vice President Pence on Tuesday declined to rule out the idea of deploying nuclear weapons in space, saying the current ban on their use is "in the interest of every nation" but the issue should be decided on "the principle that peace comes through strength."In addition to the general "WHAT THE FUCK IS EVEN HAPPENING" of this item, two things to note:
"What we need to do is make sure that we provide for the common defense of the people of the United States of America and that's the president's determination here," Pence said in an interview with The Washington Post, when asked if nuclear weapons should be banned from orbit.
Pence added, "What we want to do is continue to advance the principle that peace comes through strength."
The new positioning comes as the Trump administration moves to potentially exit a major nuclear weapons pact with Russia and possibly bolster U.S. military operations in the heavens by forming a "Space Force."
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty outlawed weapons of mass destruction from space, including nuclear weapons, and stopped the arms race between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union from entering space.
...Pence announced in August that the administration hopes to establish Space Force as the sixth branch of the U.S. military as soon as 2020, the first since the Air Force was formed after World War II.
1. "Peace comes through strength" has been used to justify all sorts of things that are not really about strength at all, but about fear and malice. This is a prime example of that dynamic.
2. Pence, who has had designs on the presidency his entire life, just asserted that the defense of the nation and its people is exclusively "the president's determination."
That is not accurate. (At least, it's not supposed to be.)
It's chilling any time someone implies the president has unilateral decision-making about defense; it's especially so when the person making the implication aspires to the presidency himself — and is the proverbial one heartbeat away.
Fat Fashion
This is your semi-regular thread in which fat women can share pix, make recommendations for clothes they love, ask questions of other fat women about where to locate certain plus-size items, share info about sales, talk about what jeans cut at what retailer best fits their body shapes, discuss how to accessorize neutral colored suits, share stories of going bare-armed for the first time, brag about a cool fashion moment, whatever.
* * *
I just got this mixed media top from Loft, and I love it so much! It's so easy to just throw on and wear for a casual look, or to dress up a bit. I wore it the other day with a pair of jeans from Old Navy and my Winnie Weejuns from G.H. Bass & Co.
You can just see in that image the back of the top peeking around from the side. The back is the same floral as you see at the bottom of the front of the top. I took an awkward picture over my shoulder so you could see, lol.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Loft is doing a great job with their new plus size line. The quality is commensurate with the pricing (and, by the way, they have frequent sales, too), and the styling is above-average for mainstream plus size clothing. It's also one of the few places at the moment where I feel I can find lots of good options as a 44-year-old, since a lot of plus size lines feel either too young or too old for me.
Anyway! What's up with you?
Have at it in comments! Please remember to make fat women of all sizes, especially women who find themselves regularly sizing out of standard plus-size lines, welcome in this conversation, and pass no judgment on fat women who want to and/or feel obliged, for any reason, to conform to beauty standards. And please make sure if you're soliciting advice, you make it clear you're seeking suggestions—and please be considerate not to offer unsolicited advice. Sometimes people just need to complain and want solidarity, not solutions.
[Note: I am not receiving anything in return for my recommendations here, nor am I affiliated in any way with any of the companies mentioned herein. Any endorsements made are on products I purchased myself, just because I like them!]
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 642
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
Earlier today by me: Trump Boasts That He's a "Nationalist" at Nativist Rally; Attacks Liberal Women and The Trump Effect: It's "Okay to Grab Women" and Trump Threatens "Whoever" with Nuclear War, and It Barely Makes the News.
Here are some more things in the news today...
[Content Note: Nativism; harassment; exploitation. Covers entire section.]
In further "Trump doesn't exist in a vacuum" news... Nicole Rojas at Newsweek: Woman Demands Passports from Tourists After They Spoke Spanish at Virginia Restaurant. "The woman harassed a Latina woman and her family, visiting from Guatemala after they spoke in Spanish. 'She asked for our passports. She said she knew everyone in the county and told us to leave,' the Latina woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told Telemundo's Washington D.C., affiliate. 'We told her: We're not speaking with you; we're speaking among ourselves.' The unidentified white woman was captured on cellphone video approaching the family and launching an expletive-filled rant. 'You don't freeload in this fucking country,' the woman can be heard yelling. 'You get the fuckk out, back to your fucking country.' The woman claimed the Guatemalan tourists were freeloaders 'on America,' according to the video posted by Telemundo."
It's not a coincidence that this happened at the same time that Donald Trump — and other members of the Republican Party — are relentlessly fear-mongering about a caravan of refugees headed for the southern border, to escape desperate violence in Central America.
Relatedly:
Gary Younge at the Guardian: 'They Want to Take Me Away': Immigrants Under Attack as Trump Tries to Rally Republican Base. "Ricardo was one of the first. As summer progressed almost 40 people in this Wisconsin town of 80,000, with a Latino population of around 16,000, have been detained. One man was stopped in his car as he drove three friends to work. They were only looking for him but they were all detained. In a meeting with the Interfaith Coalition, the county sheriff described the fellow passengers as 'collateral damage.' Now an entire community lives in fear. People aren't leaving their houses, not even to go to church. One man, who has stopped going to work, is living from odd jobs he does for church members who drive him to and from home."
Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress: Neil Gorsuch's First Opinion of the New Supreme Court Term Is an Attack on Immigrant Communities. "In a brief opinion joined only by Justice Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch cast his lot on Monday with the Trump administration's effort to rig the 2020 Census in order to reduce the political influence of immigrant communities. Should this plan ultimately succeed, it is likely to shift power towards white people and away from Latinos."
Even if it were inconceivable ("You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."), there's still the problem that Trump and Pence are cynically and sinisterly equating "people of Middle Eastern descent" with "terrorists." https://t.co/BmSaoSM3Xb
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 23, 2018
Vera Bergengruen at BuzzFeed: Immigrant Recruits Are Having Their "Loyalty" Questioned for Following Lawsuits Against the Pentagon.
When the 29-year-old US Army recruit finally received the results of her security screening, a year after the exhaustive eight-hour counterintelligence interview all foreign-born soldiers must take and almost three years since her enlistment, she laughed in disbelief.Disgusting.
Under "Loyalty," she had been flagged for comments she made about following a series of lawsuits filed on behalf of immigrant recruits like her who'd enlisted in the U.S. military with a promised path to citizenship only to find themselves mired in years of bureaucratic limbo and at risk of deportation while they wait.
"I was shocked seeing it in under 'loyalty issues.' How is this disloyal to the United States, or dishonest? Of course I follow these lawsuits, these claims have merit," she told BuzzFeed News, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of endangering her family in her home country. "This really smells like retaliation. I felt like the screener was thinking 'hell, yeah, I can use that against you.'"
Sam Levin at the Guardian: Tech Firms Make Millions from Trump's Anti-Immigrant Agenda, Report Finds. "Silicon Valley technology corporations including Amazon, Palantir, and Microsoft make millions from U.S. immigration enforcement, according to a new report. They provide tools that aid surveillance, detention, and deportation of individuals targeted by Donald Trump's anti-immigrant agenda, according to a paper published Tuesday by a coalition of immigrant rights groups. The report outlined ways Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has expanded its reach, with infrastructure from tech companies that have faced growing internal and external pressure to cancel their contracts."
* * *
[CN: Abduction, violence, and death. Covers entire section.]
There are reports today that Jamal Khashoggi's remains have been found. There has been no official confirmation and, as far as I have seen as of this writing, no positive identification made by Khashoggi's family. Because there are a lot of agendas among the various state actors involved in his murder, I would caution you to be wary of such news unless and until there is a public statement from his loved ones.
John Hudson, Shane Harris, and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post: CIA Director Flies to Turkey Amid Growing Controversy over Jamal Khashoggi Killing. "CIA Director Gina Haspel departed for Turkey on Monday amid a growing international uproar over Saudi Arabia's explanation of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to people familiar with the matter. ...The arrival of the director suggests an effort by the U.S. intelligence community to assess the information the Turks have, including what Turkish officials have said is audio that captures the killing. Intelligence officials are increasingly skeptical of the Saudi account and have warned [Donald] Trump that the idea that rogue operators flew to Istanbul and killed Khashoggi without the knowledge or consent of Saudi leaders is dubious, a White House official said."
Mary Lee at Politico: Turkish President Claims Saudis Planned for Days to Kill Khashoggi. "Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared that plans for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi were hatched days before he disappeared inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, disputing the Saudi government's claim that Khashoggi was accidentally killed during an argument. Erdogan, in remarks reported by The Associated Press, called on Saudi Arabia to divulge details on who ordered Khashoggi's 'savage murder' and demanded the 18 Saudi agents suspected of executing that order be tried in Turkish courts."
Anonymous in Saudi Arabia at ThinkProgress: Inside Saudi Arabia, Media Narratives of Khashoggi Killing Absolve Kingdom of Responsibility. "Until now, much coverage of resurgent Saudi nationalism has emphasized the more cheerful aspects of the kingdom's newly embraced secular identity. The socio-economic reforms championed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, including an end to 'extremist ideas' and curtailed powers for Saudi religious authorities, have been coupled with state efforts to promote peaceful displays of national pride — flags and scarves and everything green on Saudi National Day, new investments in cultural heritage projects. Yet darker aspects of this renewed national attachment have been deployed alongside efforts to drown out any hint of dissent."
Alan Rappeport at the New York Times: Saudi Crown Prince Gets Standing Ovation Despite Inquiries into Khashoggi. "Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, received a standing ovation as he made an unannounced appearance at a global investment conference [in Riyadh] on Tuesday, further clouding an event that has been thrown into disarray after the killing of a dissident Saudi journalist. The crown prince, who is suspected of playing a role in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, appeared just ahead of a late afternoon presentation about technology but did not give any remarks. His presence came as American business executives attending the conference tried to keep a low profile and Saudi business leaders attempted to distance themselves from Mr. Khashoggi's murder."
* * *
Fact check: Trump claims GOP is protecting people with pre-existing conditions. Evidence says otherwise. https://t.co/CQgsfBl9pX
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) October 23, 2018
Josh Kovensky at TPM: Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Headlines Pro-Russian Conference in Armenia.
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has a new side gig: Conference headliner in Armenia.
The 74-year-old Trump defense attorney spoke Tuesday in Yerevan at the International Forum of Eurasian Partnership, a conference aimed at promoting the Eurasian Economic Union — the Russia-organized economic bloc.
The former New York City mayor and current personal attorney to President Trump was the final speaker at a plenary session titled "technological breakthroughs and potential opportunities of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union."
Joining Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, was Sergey Glazyev, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin who was sanctioned in March 2014 for his role in the annexation of Crimea.
Glazyev, the Russian official Giuliani’s speaking alongside tomorrow, has his own history of working closely with one of America’s most well-known anti-Semites. https://t.co/zV91spJVkO pic.twitter.com/SyyCLTFbvG
— Casey Michel 🇰🇿 (@cjcmichel) October 23, 2018
[CN: Trans hatred] Amanda Michelle Gomez at ThinkProgress: Health Department Removes 'Gender' from Its Civil Rights Page. "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) removed mentions of the term 'gender' from its civil rights webpage. The removals preceded a New York Times report on Sunday detailing a memo that the Trump administration is aiming to define gender as a fixed condition determined by genitalia at birth — and HHS is spearheading this effort. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) webpage 'Discrimination on the Basis of Sex' was altered to remove ten mentions of the word 'gender,' according to a new report from the Sunlight Foundation's Web Integrity Project released on Tuesday. The changes occurred sometime between February 26, 2018 and March 5, 2018."
Audio leaked to @RollingStone reveals @BrianKempGA telling attendees at a closed-door campaign event that @staceyabrams’s voter turnout operation “continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote.” Read my report. https://t.co/uAob3x4TVx
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) October 23, 2018
April Reign also has an important thread on the Georgia governor's race, which begins here:
Today is the debate between Georgia governor candidates @staceyabrams & her opponent, who is currently GA's Secretary of State. I'm sure you've seen that there are active attempts to suppress votes. Lawsuits have been filed. But as if that wasn't enough... (#thread) #TeamAbrams
— April (@ReignOfApril) October 23, 2018
[CN: Homophobia; eliminationism] Andy Towle at Towleroad: Four Nashville Gay Bars Targeted by Pro-Trump 'MAGA' Hate Mail. "At least four gay bars in Nashville, Tennessee have been targeted with pro-Trump MAGA hate mail in the past week. ...The postcard has a 'MAGA' stamp on the back of it and has a return address that traces back to an empty lot in downtown Nashville. 'When you put a picture of an assault rifle on there which was used in the Pulse shooting and you mail it to every LGBT bar in Nashville, that is coming from a hateful place. To say that it's disturbing is an understatement,' [Melvin Brown, owner of Stirrup] said."
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Trump Threatens "Whoever" with Nuclear War, and It Barely Makes the News
Yesterday, Donald Trump was on his way to Marine One when a reporter shouted a question at him about increasing the United States' nuclear arsenal. He stopped, came back, and launched into an incredible, broad threat to deploy nuclear weapons.
President Trump told reporters that the US would increase its nuclear arsenal until other nations "come to their senses," days after he said he would withdraw the US from a Cold War nuclear treaty https://t.co/tEmqFic38n pic.twitter.com/ONkgde53YB
— CNN (@CNN) October 23, 2018
Transcript:So, there is a lot of news here. Trump says definitively that he is terminating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia, and, although his word is garbage, it's still notable that he did say without equivocation that he's terminating a treaty which has been in effect since the Cold War.
Female reporter off-screen yells, over the sound of the helicopter: Sir, on the arms treaty, Mr. President! Are you prepared to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal — you said you're gonna pull out of the arms deal? Treaty?
Trump shouts back: Until people come to their senses, we will build it up. [The reporter starts to ask another question; Trump holds up his hand and walks back in reporters' direction.] Until people come to their senses— Russia has not adhered to the agreement. This should have been done years ago. Until people come to their senses— We have more money than anybody else by far. We'll build it up — until they come to their senses. When they do, then we'll all be smart and we'll all stop and — by the way, not only stop; we'll reduce. Which I would love to do, but right now they have not adhered to the agreement.
Reporter: Is that a threat to Vladimir Putin?
Trump: It's a threat to whoever you want — and it includes China, and it includes Russia, and it includes anybody else that wants to play that game. You can't do that. You can't play that game on me.
Male reporter: You want more nukes, is what you're saying.
Female reporter: Are you actually going to withdraw, or— [crosstalk]
Trump: [crosstalk] —until they get smart. Until they get smart. They have not adhered to the spirit of that agreement or to the agreement itself — Russia. China's not included in the agreement; they should be included in the agreement. Until they get smart, there will be nobody that's gonna be even close to us.
Female reporter: Have you talked to our allies?
Trump: No, I have not. [crosstalk; male reporter asks inaudible question] I don't have to speak to 'em. I don't have to speak— I'm terminating the agreement, because they violated the agreement. I'm terminating the agreement.
Female reporter: When?! When?
Trump: Okay, thank you, everybody. [walks away]
Further, he not only vows to increase the U.S.'s nuclear capacity, but threatens to use those nukes on foreign adversaries — including China, amidst ongoing provocations of China by his administration — and broadens that threat to "whoever you want," on the basis of foreign states "being smart" and/or "coming to their senses."
All of this is extraordinary.
And yet it barely made headlines late yesterday or this morning. I have seen far more headlines about Trump's announcement that he has stopped calling Ted Cruz "Lyin' Ted" and now calls him "Beautiful Ted" than I have about Trump's announcement that he will increase the U.S. nuclear arsenal and nuke "whoever you want" unless they get "smart."
(And I certainly haven't seen any serious discussion about how this belligerent posturing about nuclear annihilation actually benefits both Russia and China, in different ways.)
The press still hasn't learned any lessons from 2016, and neither have most U.S. consumers of political media. Which, in addition to being totally depressing, is profoundly frightening. It's already too late to be learning these lessons.
And no one knows that better than Donald Trump.
The Trump Effect: It's "Okay to Grab Women"
[Content Note: Sexual assault.]
Speaking of behavior that doesn't happen in a vacuum: A 49-year-old Florida man is facing a federal charge of abusive sexual contact after he groped a female passenger on a flight.
He later told authorities that the president "says it's okay to grab women by their private parts."
It is not okay.
None of this is okay.
Trump Boasts That He's a "Nationalist" at Nativist Rally; Attacks Liberal Women
[Content Note: White supremacy; anti-Semitism; nativism; misogyny.]
Last night, at another Make America Clap for Me Again rally in Houston, Texas, Donald Trump went on another incredible rant, during which he told more spectacular lies about his own record and claimed popularity; his political opponents and critics; undocumented immigrants crossing the border to commit voter fraud; and more.
He also boasted about being a "nationalist," in what was less a dogwhistle than a bullhorn.
"You know, they have a word, it sort of became old-fashioned. It's called a nationalist," Trump said at a campaign event in Houston, where he rallied voters to support Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) in November's midterm elections.The crowd not only roared with applause, but broke out into a "USA! USA!" chant, just to drive home the point.
"And I say, 'Really? We're not supposed to use that word,'" Trump continued. "You know what I am? I'm a nationalist. Okay? I'm a nationalist."
As the crowd in the Houston Toyota Center roared with applause, the president continued: "Use that word. Use that word."
Again, I will note that Trump is a sophisticated media manipulator who did not become president by accident, and additionally knows how to play his cultists like a fiddle. He gives them talking points, and they repeat them. He sanitizes vile ideas, and they embrace them. He normalizes extreme language, and they use it.
He is getting more brazen in identifying himself as a white supremacist — and identifying himself as a "nationalist" and urging the deplorables to "use that word" is part of a strategy. One that becomes even clearer in context:
Trump's remarks followed a rebuke of "globalists" whom he accused of putting other nations' interests ahead of those of the United States.The term "globalist" is used by white supremacists to describe the global cabal of Jewish people who conspire to control the world economy. It's a whitewashed modern term used to express ancient anti-Semitism.
"Radical Democrats want to turn back the clock. Restore the rule of corrupt, power-hungry globalists," Trump said. "You know what a globalist is, right?"
He explained: "A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly not caring about our country so much. And, you know what? We can't have that."
In addition to attacking refugees and Jews, Trump also launched jeremiads against his favorite female Democratic targets, to chants of "Lock her up!" from the crowd: Hillary Clinton, insisting that she must be investigated; Rep. Maxine Waters, again calling her a "low-IQ individual"; Sen. Elizabeth Warren, vowing he'll still call her Pocahontas; and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, mocking her over her role in the Kavanaugh hearing.
All of this has consequences. Trump's public behavior is hideously appalling on its own, but it also doesn't exist in a vacuum. As I have been saying about conservative bigotry and violent hyperbole for many, many years: This shit doesn't happen in a void.
To that end:
Sarah Mervosh, William K. Rashbaum, and Andrew R. Chow at the New York Times: At George Soros's Home in N.Y. Suburb, Explosive Device Found in Mailbox. "An explosive device was found on Monday in a mailbox at a home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who is a favorite target of right-wing groups, in a suburb north of New York City, the authorities said. ...[J]ust this month, Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, falsely speculated that Mr. Soros had funded a caravan of migrants moving north toward Mexico. There is no evidence that Mr. Soros paid thousands of migrants to storm the border. Nor is there evidence that Democrats support the effort, as [Trump] has said."
Fortunately, Soros was not home at the time, the bomb did not explode on its own, and the device was safely "proactively detonated" by bomb squad technicians.
But people are getting hurt and are going to keep getting hurt, because Trump's incendiary language against refugees, Jews, women, and other marginalized people is part of a sinisters strategy of stochastic terrorism.
Malice is the agenda, and Trump is encouraging his audiences to enact cruelties on his behalf against the people he designates as "enemies."
This is going to get a lot scarier.
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