As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
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.
Trump Presser
President-elect Donald Trump just gave his first press conference since last July, which was the one where he explicitly invited Russia to hack the United States. In case you didn't watch, it was extraordinary and deeply chilling.
"Hacking is bad and it shouldn't be done." Hey, remember when he invited Russian hacking at his last press conference?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
I literally just scream-laughed at his asking if anyone believes Hillary Clinton would have been tougher on Putin than him. SCREAM LAUGHED.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Trump just used "I won" to avoid accountability on his financials. That is the position of a despot, not the president of a democracy.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Lawyer: "Trump wants the American people to rest assured..." He literally just said 30 seconds ago that he didn't owe us shit.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
To be clear: This arrangement, as being proposed, is wholly insufficient. It is not divestment, and there is zero transparency.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
For example: Mar-a-Lago will be in the trust. Who cares? He will still know who stays there, and people who seek influence know that.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
"Trump shouldn't be expected to destroy the company he built." Trump should have expected to HAVE to do that when he sought the presidency.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Shorter Trump Lawyer: "Here are all the reasons that Trump will be retaining all his conflicts of interest, while pretending otherwise."
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Trump is going to donate foreign payments to his business to the U.S. Treasury?! What on earth.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Every time the press laughs at his bullying and bombast, my hearts sinks a little further.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Note the absence of how a typical president would talk about working with Congress on these agenda items.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Trump just iced out a reporter because he doesn't like his organization's critical reporting. Absolutely chilling.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
The more Trump is cornered, the more despotic he gets. This is a scary window into what's to come with his presidency. (1)
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
And he's getting away with it IN FRONT OF THE PRESS, so there is no accountability forthcoming. None. (2)
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
We just witnessed something of great historical significance. The moment Trump realized he is indeed a dictator. (3)
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Trump May Be Compromised by Russia
On its face, this is not news: "Intel Chiefs: Trump may be compromised by Russia." That Trump may have been compromised by Russia, over unsavory business dealings and/or gross personal behavior, and that said compromise may have underwritten his collusion with Russia, is something many of us who have been paying attention have long suspected.
But what is news is that intelligence officials disclosed to Trump that he was compromised, and that they believe there was "a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government."
What is also news is John McCain's involvement:
Senator John McCain passed documents to the FBI director, James Comey, last month alleging secret contacts between the Trump campaign and Moscow and that Russian intelligence had personally compromising material on the president-elect himself.Naturally, Trump has taken to Twitter to deny the report, first tweeting in all-caps:
The material, which has been seen by the Guardian, is a series of reports on Trump's relationship with Moscow. They were drawn up by a former western counter-intelligence official, now working as a private consultant. BuzzFeed on Tuesday published the documents, which it said were "unverified and potentially unverifiable."
FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
He's a compulsive liar, so you know it must be true. And if you weren't convinced by his calling intelligence reports a "witch hunt," maybe you'll be convinced by his quoting Russia and accusing U.S. intelligence agencies of being Nazis:
Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is "A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE." Very unfair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to "leak" into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
Meanwhile: Every single House Democrat is now co-sponsoring legislation to establish a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate Russian interference into our democracy. And not a single Republican.
Obama's Farewell Address
In case you missed it last night, here is the President's farewell address, in its entirety. The New York Times has the complete transcript.
I did not live-tweet the whole thing, but here are a few thoughts I shared during the event.
President Obama takes the stage in Chicago to thunderous applause. Sob.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Every single thing that Obama is saying that's good about America is a thing Trump wants to destroy.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Obama's speech is full of facts and hard realities. Remember this moment when facts and reality still mattered to a U.S. president.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
"And chauvinism." Obama gives a cool shout-out to the President-elect.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Thanks, Obama.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
No, really. Thank you.
If you need a happy thought, just think about what a pathetic little turd who will never measure up Trump feels like after watching that.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 11, 2017
Open Thread: Obama's Farewell Address
President Obama is about to deliver his final speech to the nation. Here is a place to discuss, and collectively grieve.
The only thing that could have made this more depressing is its following a day of listening to Jeff Sessions, and thinking about what is to come.
Sob.
Question of the Day
Requested by Shaker mm: What are your best financial tips for saving and/or managing money?
It could be anything at all that you've found useful: Bargain shopping, coupon cutting, cost-effective resource sharing, which subscription models (e.g. Costco) you've found personally beneficial, getting free stuff, money management, investing, scholarship hunting, etc.
More Sessions
And in another scene from his confirmation hearing: Sessions incredibly suggests secular people may not understand the truth as well as religious people.
Yeah.
Roof Sentenced to Death
[Content Note: Violent eliminationism; white supremacy; death penalty.]
BREAKING: Dylann Roof sentenced to death for killing nine people at Charleston’s historic AME Church.
— NPR (@NPR) January 10, 2017
I don't support the death penalty in any case, so I'm reporting this with regret, even though I loathe what Dylann Roof did with the fiery passion of ten thousand suns.
I suspect that there may be survivors of his victims who also do not support the death penalty in any case, and thus may be further grieved and/or traumatized by this verdict. I am thinking about them, with my sympathies. I am thinking of all the other survivors of his victims, too, and I wish them peace, which I'm sure will not come easy, if ever.
Sessions Hearing Highlights
Here are a few things that have happened during Sessions' confirmation hearing, in case you haven't spent your day watching this trainwreck of social justice hostilities:
Alison R. Parker: Feinstein grills Sessions on his regressive views on reproductive justice and marriage equality.
Tommy Christopher: Pat Leahy busts Jeff Sessions for trying to rewrite his record on LGBT hate crimes legislation.
Me: Franken amazingly demolishes Sessions' cynical misrepresentations of his record.
That last one, where Franken just destroyed Sessions' lies, was my favorite moment of the day so far. It was incredible to watch.
Overall, I am very proud of the Democrats for fighting hard against this guy, even though they know the Republicans will confirm him. They are laying the groundwork for the resistance, and very effectively tying every last bit of Sessions' bigotry to Donald Trump. GOOD.
Uhhhh...
Hey, remember how Meryl Streep said some smart stuff at the Golden Globes about Donald Trump being a bully, and then Trump responded by behaving like a bully? Well, Trump supporters are REAL MAD about celebrities like Streep having political opinions and expressing them and stuff!
Even some celebrities have weighed in with how TERRIBLE it all is.
Advice to all actors, musicians and entertainers: Please stick to your crafts that we all love you for and drop the political rhetoric.
— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) January 9, 2017
You said it, Travis Tritt!
A trenchant message in the era of electing reality TV stars as president. https://t.co/dgD3ZiE7QC
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 10, 2017
That's sarcasm, in case I wasn't laying it on thick enough.
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.
Open Thread: Sessions' Confirmation Hearing
Senator Jeff Sessions, who is Donald Trump's terrible, terrible nominee for U.S. Attorney General, is sitting for his confirmation hearing right now. As expected, it is going terribly! For us, that is. In the sense that he is being revealed to be catastrophically unfit to serve as Attorney General, and yet will probably be confirmed anyway.
Still, these hearings are valuable precisely because of that exposure, which lays important groundwork for resistance moving forward.
Anyway. Here's a thread to discuss the goings-on at the hearing today.
Extraordinary Times Indeed
I've got a new piece at Shareblue about Senator Cory Booker's unprecedented move to testify against Trump's AG nominee Senator Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing today:
For the first time, a sitting Senator will testify against another sitting Senator when Cory Booker (D-NJ) appears before the Judiciary Committee during Jeff Sessions' (R-AL) nomination hearing for Attorney General.There is much more at the link, including a tremendous statement on Sessions from Donna Brazile.
..."Well, concretely, I'm breaking a pretty long Senate tradition by actually being a sitting Senator testifying tomorrow against another sitting Senator. So, please understand, I think these are extraordinary times and they call for extraordinary measures."
...Booker further noted: "We've seen Jeff Sessions — that's Senator Jeff Sessions — consistently voting against or speaking out against key ideals of the Voting Rights Act, taking measures to try to block criminal justice reform. He has a posture and a positioning that I think represent a real danger to our country."
Morning Reading
Tommy Christopher: Kellyanne Conway accidentally admits Donald Trump cannot be trusted.
Matthew Chapman: Trump flouts federal anti-nepotism law by appointing son-in-law chief advisor.
Dianna E. Anderson: Moral Mondays heads to Washington: Faith leaders from around the US march on Senate to protest Jeff Sessions.
Tommy Christopher: Trump again takes credit for jobs that were already planned before the election.
Me: Schumer blasts GOP for fast-tracking unvetted Trump nominees through confirmation hearings.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker jenjay: "If you were to toss a message-in-a-bottle into any ocean, what might it say?"
A Gross Abuse of Power
[Content Note: Bullying; disablism; gaslighting.]
I've got a new piece at Shareblue about Meryl Streep's acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, during which she called out Donald Trump's mockery of disabled reporter Serge Kovaleski, and Trump's inevitable response totally proving her point:
Trump calls Streep, who was being honored for her lifetime of amazing work, "over-rated" — as if her status has anything to do with the veracity and significance of her criticism.Head on over to read the whole thing.
He further cites her support of Hillary Clinton as though that renders her criticism irrelevant, and suggests that, because she does not know him personally, she has no right to criticize him.
Those are chilling implications. A president (or even president-elect) intimating that citizens who supported his opponent have abdicated their right to dissent, or that the observations of citizens who do not know him personally — as most citizens do not — will be reflexively deemed illegitimate, is alarmingly hostile to free speech.
...There are people across this country with significantly less prominence than Streep who have similar, valid criticisms of Trump, and intimidating them with such public displays of mockery, insult, and hostility toward their free speech rights is a gross abuse of power.
Recommended Reading
Norman L. Eisen and Richard W. Painter in the Guardian: "We were ethics lawyers for Bush and Obama. Trump's cabinet hearings must be delayed."
This is what patriotism looks like.
Ball's in your court, GOP.
WTF
Ashley Feinberg at Gizmodo: "Trump Just Dismissed the People in Charge of Maintaining Our Nuclear Arsenal."
According to an official within the Department of Energy, this past Friday, the President-elect's team instructed the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration and his deputy to clean out their desks when Trump takes office on January 20th.I literally do not even know what to say.
The NNSA is the $12 billion-a-year agency that "maintains and enhances the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile." It's unclear when the two officials will be replaced.
Traditionally, all political appointees of an outgoing presidential administration turn in resignation letters effective on noon of inauguration day, January 20. But appointees in key positions—like the people who make sure our nukes work—are often asked to stay on in their roles until a replacement can be found and confirmed by the Senate, helping ensure a smooth transition and allowing our government to continue functioning. In fact, for the entirety of Obama's first term and into part of his second, the NNSA Administrator remained a Bush appointee.
Trump, however, appears determined to immediately push out everyone who was appointed by Obama, regardless of whether or not he has anyone in line for the job. Or, as our source put it: "It's a shocking disregard for process and continuity of government."
...The source later added, "I'm more and more coming around to the idea that we're so very very fucked."
I will, however, point you in the direction of this December piece by Eric Schlosser in the New Yorker, in case you haven't seen it: "World War Three, by Mistake: Harsh political rhetoric, combined with the vulnerability of the nuclear command-and-control system, has made the risk of global catastrophe greater than ever."
As if I needed to underline why it's important not to allow our nuclear weapons management to become absurdly and terrifyingly lax.
