[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by arched eyebrows.
Recommended Reading:
Lauren: [Content Note: War on agency; misogyny; racism; carcerality] This Purvi Patel Update Is a Huge Step Forward for Reproductive Rights Activists
Amarie: [CN: Racism] A Literal Site Where White Folks Do Their Part to Give Reparations to People of Color
Spencer: [CN: White supremacy; violence] It's Time to Ring the Alarm About White Nationalism
Imani: [CN: Misogynoir; harassment] Twitter Is Still Failing Black Women
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred; discussion of weight loss attempts] What if Nothing Made You Thinner
Monica: [CN: Racism; disenfranchisement] Down Goes the Texas Voter Suppression Law Again!
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
In the News
All day today, I've been researching Hillary Clinton's potential veep picks, so I can give you the lowdown when her running mate is announced, so let's continue to crowdsource this! Please feel free to use this thread to share news items of interest you've seen in your travels 'round the web today.
(As always, please be sure to add relevant content notes. Thanks!)
Here are a couple of links of interest:
[Content Note: Shooting; death] The Guardian has live coverage of the shooting in Munich.
[CN: Police brutality; misogynoir; video may autoplay at link] Violent Arrest of Teacher Caught on Video; Officers Face Investigation.
Women's Voices on Hillary Clinton.
[CN: Misogynoir; harassment] Paul Feig Responds to Racist Twitter Attack on Leslie Jones.
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.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Bigotry; fearmongering.]
"It was a relentlessly grim and gloomy picture of America, built on thinly disguised racial distrust and paranoia. It was a portrait that was also essentially false. ...But portraying America in such a dark light let Trump cast himself as the nation's dark hero, a kind of billionaire-businessman fixer, unbound by rules or expectations of decorum—President Batman, the only one with the guts and the will to fight for the people."—Peter Suderman, in a piece for Reason bluntly headlined: "Donald Trump's RNC Speech Was a Terrifying Display of Nightmarish Authoritarianism."
The Washington Post Editors Aren't Mincing Words
[Content Note: Bigotry; fearmongering.]
This is their actual headline: "Donald Trump: The candidate of the apocalypse."
Mr. Trump took real challenges and recast them in terms that were not only exaggerated but also apocalyptic. "The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life," he claimed. Though he addressed issues ranging from public safety, to immigration, to trade, Mr. Trump's proposed solutions all shared a common premise: the way to overcome difficulty is through force. To American companies that exercise their right to move production abroad, the Trump administration will administer unspecified "consequences." A giant wall will block migrants and drug traffickers along the Mexico border. And "law and order" — an old trope of Richard Nixon and George Wallace that Mr. Trump brought out of retirement — will be restored.Trump's claim is that he is the only one who can save us from the nightmare that is a "humiliated" and "dangerous" America. It is the claim of a strongman. It is the claim of a person who cannot be trusted with our future.
Perhaps politically effective because of their simplicity, Mr. Trump's now-familiar formulations would fail as actual policies — because they are simplistic.
Here is the WaPo's fact-checking of just some of Trump's many outrageous claims used to stoke fear during his address last night.
Trump's Convention: A Record
[Content Note: Racism; misogyny; homophobia; Islamophobia; anti-Semitism; nationalism; violence.]
The team at BNR, some of whom were on the ground in Cleveland, put together this amazing video of Trump's Convention of "Death, Destruction, Terrorism, and Weakness," which tells the ugly tale of the past four days:
Video Description: Scenes of person-on-the street interviews with convention attendees outside the convention are interspersed with clips of what was happening inside the convention hall. Average people saying terrible things about President Obama, Hillary Clinton, women, brown people, and LGBTQ people outside; speakers saying horrible things about Hillary Clinton and marginalized people inside. Lots of chanting about how Clinton needs to be imprisoned. And then clips from Donald Trump's speech, culminating in his screaming "I am your voice!"This is a stunning historical document of what happened at this convention. I grieve that this is where we are, but I am also proud to have been a part of documenting this very alarming moment. We're on a precipice, with an important choice before us.
This video documents one of our options, in a very stark and very important way. Because a vote for Trump isn't just a vote for Trump. It's a vote for all of this.
Republican Convention Day Four Wrap-Up!
[Content Note: Bigotry.]
HOO BOY that was quite a day of ENORMOUS AMOUNTS of turgid garbage! And thank Maude it was the final day!
I again did some live-tweeting of the primetime trash parade, including Donald Trump's heinous address, and I've Storified those tweets for anyone who wants to read them.
What can I even say about the grotesque carnival of bigotry that was the Republican convention? It was hideous.
And the reaction to Trump's speech is doing my head in. I mean.
The idea Trump moderated himself is absurd. Again, the perfidy of "civility." He gave a fascistic address but didn't call women pigs! Bravo.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 22, 2016
And trust this: If Trump really gave a single shit about the LGBTQ community, he wouldn't have chosen Mike Pence as his running mate.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 22, 2016
It's alarming how cavalier media are being about this speech. "Americanism will be our credo." "Law & order." "America first." DO YOUR JOBS.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 22, 2016
I swear to Maude if I see "Trump" and "LGBTQ outreach" one more time.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 22, 2016
He 👏 chose 👏 Mike 👏 Pence 👏 !!!
Maude save us. Maude save us all.
Republican Convention Day Four Thread
Instead of doing Questions of the Day during the conventions, I'm going to be posting Convention Threads, since the big speeches happen in the evenings, and I thought we might all want a place to discuss.
OMGGGGG IT'S THE LAST NIGHT OF THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION! I AM SO HAPPY! ONLY ONE MORE NIGHT OF THIS TOXIC DUMPSTER FIRE!!!
Seriously, I can't even begin to convey to you how deeply distressing the past few days have been. Relentless immersion in conservative talking points, Trumpery, and the most obscene disgorgements of misogyny, racism, and homophobia. Listening to human beings shout, over and over, "Lock her up! Lock her up!" about Hillary Clinton, who has never even been indicted for a crime, no less convicted of one. Talking to colleagues who are in Cleveland at the convention, seeing buttons and posters and signs and t-shirts with anti-Hillary slogans so vile I won't even ruin your day by sharing them.
I am really ready for this shit to be over.
Anyway.
Tonight's theme is: "Make America One Again." Because obviously the Republican Party is prepared to lead on unifying the country, when the most putrid divisiveness is central to their platform.
Tonight's slate of speakers includes such luminaries as Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin; RNC Chair Reince Priebus; Jerry Falwell, Jr.; Ivanka Trump; and King Shit of Mephitic Mountain himself—Donald Trump.
He'll no doubt be on teleprompter lockdown tonight, which means that his speech will be both interminably dull and profoundly repulsive.
And when it's over, we'll get to hear all the talking heads declare the Republican convention a triumph, despite the fact that it was riddled with plagiarists, turncoats, bigots, and fiends—to the last, harbingers of a very dark time in this nation if enough of us don't ACT ACCORDINGLY in November.
UPDATE: The text of Donald Trump's speech has leaked. I've just read the entire thing and holy shit.
Trump's speech is classic patriarchal strongman authoritarianism transparently veiled in populist rhetoric.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 21, 2016
If you're not profoundly alarmed by Trump's speech, read a history book. Now.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 21, 2016
UPDATE 2: I translate Donald Trump's garbage speech so that you don't even have to watch it! You're welcome.
Wow
[Content Note: Reference to violence.]
This piece by The Daily Beast's John Avlon is incredible: Scenes from Cleveland's Republican Trumpocalypse.
Instead of optimism there is moral exhaustion. The few Congressmen who decided to arrive have the look of spectators at a hanging. A surprising number of delegates quietly confide that they won't be voting for the nominee. Seasoned party operatives are anxious and apologetic, with one ruefully smiling before saying "I've got to go on TV and defend the indefensible."And why is it on that knife-edge? Because there are still "seasoned party operatives" who are willing to "go on TV and defend the indefensible," just to win. Because the Republican platform has always been about winning. And only about winning. At any cost.
...And that's the unspoken anxiety behind this scheduled celebration: these could be the last days of the Grand Old Party. Trump fans seem primarily united by their grievances. The party's racial homogeneity, always bad, is now much worse—with African-Americans support down to zero percent in multiple polls.
And the illusion of being a party built on policies and principles, rather than cultural and economic resentments, seems lost to the latest generation of Know-Nothings. Free trade has been all but abandoned but the anti-gay platform has been enhanced.
Hating Hillary, a time-honored pastime in conservative circles, has become the glue that holds this motley crew together. But even that partisan emotional outlet has crossed the line from typical team-ism to something darker and more surreal. A recurring theme in the convention hall is the chant to "Lock Her Up" while wearing t-shirts that say "Hillary for Prison." There are countries where political opponents are threatened with imprisonment. America hasn't traditionally been one of them.
But this time it feels different. America is on the knife-edge of something dangerous.
And if that was ever in doubt, it isn't anymore.
In the News
My time is again tight today because of convention stuff, so let's continue to crowdsource this! Please feel free to use this thread to share news items of interest you've seen in your travels 'round the web today.
(As always, please be sure to add relevant content notes. Thanks!)
Here are a couple of links of interest:
Trump Camp Blasts 'Treacherous' Ted Cruz.
[CN: Video may autoplay] Trump Camp Has Conflicting Answers About Cruz Non-Endorsement.
[CN: Gifs at link] Michelle Obama Sang 'Get Your Freak On' With Missy Elliott.
Dark Matter Still MIA After Most Exhaustive Search Yet.
Well Played, John Kerry!
This was a couple of days ago, and I meant to post it when it first happened, and then it fell completely out of my head. I was going to share it because it's funny, and it is, but what reminded me about it was Donald Trump's terrifying lack of foreign policy knowledge and diplomatic skills.
Yes, John Kerry is quick here, and it's delightfully humorous, but it's also indicative of how good diplomacy works. He knew how to make light of an awkward situation with one of our most important allies. Trump would not know how to do this. Whoever he would choose to run his State Department would not know how to do this. And that matters.
Anyway. Here's the video, with transcript below.
.@JohnKerry jokes with UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson: "That's called diplomacy, Boris" https://t.co/fSycNvZpSr https://t.co/Fpj7NefjEf
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 19, 2016
[Scene: A joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry and new UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, who has made a number of egregious comments about President Obama and Hillary Clinton.]Perfection.
Kerry: —and talk to me about some great experiences that they had together there, and he told me that this man [gestures to Johnson] is a very smart and capable man. That's Boris Johnson.
Johnson: [stammers; the reporters laugh]
Kerry: I have met— And that's the Boris Johnson that I intend to, ah, work with, and we intend to make good things happen together.
Johnson: [stammers] Stop that. [laughter] That's great. Thank you.
Kerry: [leaning over toward Johnson and nudging his arm] It's called diplomacy, Boris. [laughter]
Johnson: That's fantastic. It's going well, John. Thank you very much, cheers. [Kerry laughs] I think we got through that one all right.
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.
This Is Terrifying
Donald Trump is unfit to be president in every conceivable way. It's taken as read among decent, knowledgeable people that he would be a disaster for the country and for the world, because of his profound ignorance, impetuous recklessness, and disastrous temperament.
But even knowing that, his interview with the New York Times "on NATO, Turkey's Coup Attempt, and the World" is astonishing. And very frightening.
I highly recommend Jeffrey Goldberg's piece in The Atlantic on exactly why Trump's comments are so alarming. An extended excerpt:
Trump is making it clear that, as president, he would allow Russia to advance its hegemonic interests across Europe and the Middle East. His election would immediately trigger a wave of global instability—much worse than anything we are seeing today—because America's allies understand that Trump would likely dismantle the post-World War II U.S.-created international order. Many of these countries, feeling abandoned, would likely pursue nuclear weapons programs on their own, leading to a nightmare of proliferation.It's terribly concerning that there are so many US voters who won't hear about this, won't understand it, won't care. We really are in unchartered waters, and they are incredibly stormy. Stormy enough to sink a ship of state.
...Now, in an interview with Maggie Haberman and David Sanger of The New York Times, Trump has gone much further, suggesting that he and Putin share a disdain for NATO. Fulfilling what might be Putin's dearest wish, Trump, in this interview, openly questioned whether the U.S., under his leadership, would keep its commitments to the alliance. According to Haberman and Sanger, Trump "even called into question, whether, as president, he would automatically extend the security guarantees that give the 28 members of NATO the assurance that the full force of the United States military has their back." Trump told the Times that, should Russia attack a NATO ally, he would first assess whether those nations "have fulfilled their obligations to us." If they have, he said, he would then come to their defense.
These sorts of equivocating, mercenary statements—unprecedented in the history of Republican foreign policymaking—represent an invitation to Putin to intervene more destructively in non-NATO countries such as Ukraine and Moldova, and also represent an invitation to intervene directly in NATO countries—the Baltic states, first and foremost. This is why the Estonian president tweeted in a cold panic immediately after Trump’s interview appeared online: "Estonia is 1 of 5 NATO allies in Europe to meet its 2% def[ense] expenditures commitment." The president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, also noted that Estonia fought "with no caveats" with NATO in Afghanistan.
Unlike Trump, leaders of such countries as Estonia believe that the United States still represents the best hope for freedom. In his interview with Haberman and Sanger, Trump argued, in essence, that there is nothing exceptional about the U.S., and that therefore its leaders have no right to criticize the behavior of other countries: "When the world looks at how bad the United States is, and then we go and talk about civil liberties, I don't think we're a very good messenger."
As someone who has covered President Obama's foreign policy fairly extensively, I feel confident in stating that he has never expressed such a negative view of the U.S. We are truly in uncharted waters.
And Again
[Content Note: Police brutality; racism; disablism.]
The good news: The man who was shot, Charles Kinsey, will survive. He was shot in the leg, and he is getting medical attention, and he will physically recover.
And now for the rest of the news, which is anything but good:
A therapist who works with people with disabilities is telling his story after he said police shot him while he was trying to help his patient with autism.North Miami Police were called to the scene after someone reported "a man walking around with a gun threatening suicide." But that was completely inaccurate. Rinaldo was distressed (but not threatening suicide) and was holding a toy truck (not a gun).
Cellphone video was released Wednesday afternoon showing Charles Kinsey [who is Black] lying on the ground with his hands in the air, telling officers that weapons are not necessary. "When I went to the ground, I'm going to the ground just like this here with my hands up," Kinsey said, "and I am laying down here just like this, and I'm telling them again, 'Sir, there is no need for firearms. I'm unarmed, he's an autistic guy. He got a toy truck in his hand.'"
In his hospital bed, Kinsey said, he was attempting to calm an autistic patient who ran away from a group home. Kinsey could be heard in the video saying, "All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavior therapist at a group home."
He is also heard asking his patient to calm down. "Rinaldo, please be still, Rinaldo. Sit down, Rinaldo. Lay on your stomach."
The ordeal went on for a few minutes before Kinsey said one of the officers shot him. "I'm like this right here, and when he shot me, it was so surprising," Kinsey said. "It was like a mosquito bite, and when it hit me, I'm like, 'I still got my hands in the air,' and I said, 'No I just got shot!' And I'm saying, 'Sir, why did you shoot me?' and his words to me, he said, 'I don't know.'"
Kinsey says he thought as long as he kept his hands up, he wouldn't be shot. "Wow, was I wrong." He adds that, once he'd been shot, "My life flashed in front of me. When he hit me, my first thing I'm thinking—I'm thinking about my family."
This is a man whose life is dedicated to helping people. He was helping an autistic man in his charge when he was shot by police. He was shot, although it was the other man (who is not Black) who was holding the toy truck that was presumed to be a gun.
And when he asked why he was shot, the answer the officer gave him was, "I don't know."
Kinsey's proximity to a disabled person is probably at least part of the reason. As Carimah Townes notes at Think Progress: "About half of the people shot every year by police have a disability. Few police departments have specialized training for how to interact with people with 'physical, cognitive, and developmental handicaps,' according to Rolling Without Limits, a blog dedicated to disability advocacy. In February, Maryland became the first state to mandate a disability sensitivity training program."
Without such training programs, people get shot. Or profoundly mistreated in other ways, as was the case for Neli Latson.
I'm so, so glad that Charles Kinsey and Rinaldo survived this encounter. I hope that Kinsey will have access to the healthcare resources he needs for a full physical recovery. And I hope he gets a big fat settlement from the North Miami Police that covers all his medical bills and then some. Goddammit.
Republican Convention Day Three Wrap-Up!
[Content Note: Bigotry.]
HOO BOY that was quite a day of YET EVEN MORE turgid garbage!
I again did some live-tweeting of the primetime trash parade, and I've Storified those tweets for anyone who wants to read them.
I also wrote quite a few pieces on the convention for BNR throughout the day, so here they are in case you missed any of them:
We've Reached Peak Hillary Hate (Thanks to Our Noxious Media).
As Violent Threats Against Hillary Escalate, Christie Backpedals on 'Lock Her Up' Chant.
Mike Pence Is ABSOLUTELY AWFUL for Women, Scary Awful.
Ted Cruz Mentions Hillary and Obama More Than Donald, Booed for Not Endorsing.
Appalling: Newt Gingrich Actually Said These Things About Women at the GOP Convention.
There is a bunch more great stuff there on various aspects of the convention from other members of the team, so I highly recommend heading over and checking it out, if you want coverage that you can trust will be factual but also unabashed in our blue worldview.
In other news: I spent an enormous amount of time yesterday trying to determine whether Meredith McIver, the speechwriter thrown under the bus for Melania Trump's speech which plagiarized First Lady Michelle Obama, is even a real person, or another one of Donald Trump's invented characters. I literally spent hours researching just to try to find evidence she's an actual human, with all the tools at my disposal at BNR, and I couldn't do it! And I'm definitely not alone.
Joy Reid tweets what all sensible people are thinking:
The Trump campaign could end the speculation immediately by having his employee, the mysterious Ms. McIver, walk out to a microphone.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 20, 2016
This convention is such a clusterfucktastrophe. I can't even believe what I'm watching every day. It's a broke-down carnival of horrendous bigotry, peppered by firecrackers of gobsmacking incompetence.
It's incredible. And not in a good way. I don't find it entertaining; I find it terrifying.
One more day of this crap.
