This blogaround brought to you by spinach.
Recommended Reading:
Imani: Donald Trump Is Full of Nonsense About the 'Very, Very Dishonest' Media
Lara: [Content Note: Misogynoir; choice policing] White Women: This Is Why Your Critiques of Beyoncé Are Racist
Flavia: [CN: Privacy violations] Big Data and the Ethics of Community Surveillance
Stavvers: [CN: Harassment; exploitation] Tips for Staying Safe Online If You Oppose Fascism
Donna: [CN: Anti-semitism; harassment; threats] What Everyone Gets Wrong About Anti-Semitic Twitter Trolls
Keith: Businesses Distance Themselves from Trump Family Amid Controversy
Maddie: Worst Wildfires in Chile's History Have Left Devastation in Their Wake
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
The Monday Blogaround
You're Goddamn Right I'm a Snowflake
[Content Note: Harassment; privilege.]
You may have heard, possibly because you have been on the receiving end of it, that Trump supporters refer to progressives as snowflakes.
If "cuck" is the insult of choice for the alt-right to lump together and dismiss establishment conservatives, "snowflake" has become the go-to for enemies on the left. There is not a single political point a liberal can make on the Internet for which "You triggered, snowflake?" cannot be the comeback. It's purpose is dismissing liberalism as something effeminate, and also infantile, an outgrowth of the lessons you were taught in kindergarten. "Sharing is caring"? Communism. "Feelings are good"? Facts over feelings. "Everyone is special and unique"? Shut up, snowflake.Snowflake is basically the new "Social Justice Warrior" (or SJW), which we were also supposed to consider an insult, despite the fact that it was an "insult" many of us wore proudly.
I have been called a snowflake countless times on Twitter and in my inbox, by the most pathetic projectionists who are aggrieved at my mere existence, but accuse me without a trace of irony of being intolerant and oversensitive.
There is, perhaps, nothing more perfectly indicative of the grim intersection of their aggressive arrogance, comprehensive rejection of self-reflection, and pitiable lack of imagination than wielding "snowflake" as a pejorative.
Snowflakes are fucking beautiful, each one a unique creation that melds fragility with the ferocity of survival on a planet that generally does not support its existence.
As snowflakes move through the environment, encountering different temperatures and pressures, their complex and individual shapes emerge. And once they fall to the ground, accumulating with other snowflakes, they undergo a metamorphosis and coalesce into a snowpack, which itself becomes stronger—and more resistant to being moved—than any individual snowflake.
This does not sound like an insult. This sounds like a pretty solid description of a vibrant and diverse resistance.
At protests, there are increasingly signs carried by "snowflakes" which contain some variation on: "Damn right we're snowflakes, and winter is coming."
Fucking right it is.
Trump Is Making Us Less Safe Around the Globe
Two things I just read back-to-back:
1. Karla Adam in the Washington Post:
The details of President Trump's state visit to the U.K. are still to be penciled in. But following an extraordinary intervention Monday evening, it now seems unlikely that he will be extended the honor of addressing both houses of British Parliament.The United Kingdom is such a close ally of the United States that it is described as a "special relationship." Now the other half of that special relationship is outright rejecting the United States president, and with good reason.
Citing "racism" and "sexism," the speaker of the House of Commons told lawmakers Monday that he was "strongly opposed" to the president addressing both houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. President Barack Obama delivered a speech in the medieval hall in 2011, the first American president to do so.
"I would not wish to issue an invitation to President Trump," John Bercow said.
"We value our relationship with the United States. If a state visit takes place, that is way beyond and above the pay grade of the speaker. However, as far as this place is concerned, I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism, and our support for equality before the law, and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons."
...He added: "Before the imposition of the migrant ban, I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall. After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump, I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall."
Bercow's intervention was greeted with cheering and applause by some members of Parliament.
Even more alarming, an editorial by Klaus Brinkbäumer in the German newspaper Der Spiegel argues: "Europe Must Defend Itself Against a Dangerous President."
Germany must stand up in opposition to the 45th president of the United States and his government. That's difficult enough already for two reasons: Because it is from the Americans that we obtained our liberal democracy in the first place; and because it is unclear how the brute and choleric man on the other side will react to diplomatic pressure.Emphasis mine.
...It is literally painful to write this sentence, but the president of the United States is a pathological liar. The president of the U.S. is a racist (it also hurts to write this). He is attempting a coup from the top; he wants to establish an illiberal democracy, or worse; he wants to undermine the balance of power. He fired an acting attorney general who held a differing opinion from his own and accused her of "betrayal." This is the vocabulary used by Nero, the emperor and destroyer of Rome. It is the way tyrants think.
...Trump fuses these worries of his voters with nationalism and xenophobia. That's how demagogues work and it is how they become effective. The fact that the United States, a nuclear superpower that has dominated the world economically, militarily and culturally for decades, is now presenting itself as the victim, calling in all seriousness for "America first" and trying to force the rest of the world into humiliating concessions is absurd. But precisely because this nonsense is coming from the world's most powerful man, it is getting trapped by him.
This is not a threat that will somehow resolve itself. The German economy has become the target of American trade policy and German democracy is ideologically antithetical to Trump's vision. But even here, in the middle of Germany, right-wing extremists are trying to give him a helping hand. It is high time that we stand up for what is important: democracy, freedom, the West and its alliances.
This does not mean escalation or that we must abandon our contacts with America and all the working groups between our governments. What is does mean, though, is that Europe must grow stronger and start planning its political and economic defenses. Against America's dangerous president.
The above, in combination with increasing suspicion from our allies around the world that they cannot trust Donald Trump and the rest of his administration with intelligence that won't get leaked or shared with Vladimir Putin, is making us immediately and observably less safe. Which is to say nothing of Trump's belligerence toward foreign leaders, and his administration's determination to cause trade wars with Mexico and China, just for a start.
Republicans spent eight years (mendaciously) saying that President Obama had undermined our standing around the globe and made us less safe. That was not true. It was never true.
But in two weeks, Trump has done precisely that. And the self-proclaimed patriots of the Republican Party are silent.
Team Badass
Carmen Rios put together this awesome list: "Rebel Girls: 34 Badass Women Leading the Resistance (On Twitter)." I am incredibly proud to be included on it, among such extraordinary company.
But I'm not recommending it because I'm on it. (I mean, if you're reading this, you probably already know who I am, lol.) The truth is, when I clicked on it to read it, I didn't even know I was on it; that was just a pleasant surprise! I'm recommending it for the reason I clicked on it—because badass women are badass!
Seriously. Follow these women.
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 18
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures 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.
* * *
Here are some things I've read today:
A couple of useful resources: The Toronto Star has started keeping a running tally of Trump's lies since being elected. They're up to 33 so far, and it's an alarming commentary on Trump that I think that number sounds very low. Meanwhile, Lisa Desjardins at PBS has a list of all of Trump's executive actions so far.
Glenn Thrush and Maggie Habermann at the New York Times: Trump and Staff Rethink Tactics After Stumbles. That whole piece is a must-read, but I want to highlight this bit: "But for the moment, Mr. Bannon remains the president's dominant adviser, despite Mr. Trump's anger that he was not fully briefed on details of the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council, a greater source of frustration to the president than the fallout from the travel ban." In plain English: Trump didn't bother reading his own executive order elevating Bannon to the NSC before he signed it. That's how you make the best deals. By not even reading them.
Josh Rogin at the Washington Post: Inside the White House-Cabinet Battle over Trump's Immigration Order. This, too, is worth a read in its entirety. Nothing about it reassures me about anyone in the Trump administration, as Kelly, Mattis, and Tillerson seem to object primarily to being left out of the discussion, and only expressed dismay about the most egregious parts of the ban. Nothing suggests they would have intervened more significantly given the chance, anyway. The Green Card exemption they advocated is something, but not nearly enough. Reading between the lines, it sounds like they are not more decent, but only more adept at understanding how to sell such horrendous policy—which seems to be confirmed by Kelly's willingness to go out there and spin it, with garbage about "humane" bigotry. If the hope is this trio will be a moderating force, I don't see it. I see men who will put a more "respectable" veneer on white supremacy.
[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] And speaking of reprehensible abettors of white supremacy: "Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that the federal judge who halted President Trump's temporary immigration ban 'made the wrong decision' and vowed to use 'all legal means at our disposal' to protect Americans. 'From the outset of his campaign and administration, the president of the United States has made it clear to put the safety of the American people first,' Pence said on Fox News Sunday. 'We are going to win this argument.'" Shiver.
[CN: Homophobia] In other Pence news, care of Andy Towle at Towleroad: Homophobic Liar Mike Pence Claims He Backs Donald Trump's Support for LGBTQ People. Perfect headline is perfect. (NB: Trump's claimed support for LGBTQ people is also a lie.)
Susanne Craig and Eric Lipton at the New York Times: Trust Records Show Trump Is Still Closely Tied to His Empire. "While the president says he has walked away from the day-to-day operations of his business, two people close to him are the named trustees and have broad legal authority over his assets: his eldest son, Donald Jr., and Allen H. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's chief financial officer. Mr. Trump, who will receive reports on any profit, or loss, on his company as a whole, can revoke their authority at any time. What's more, the purpose of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust is to hold assets for the 'exclusive benefit' of the president. This trust remains under Mr. Trump's Social Security number, at least as far as federal taxes are concerned." In short: He has not separated himself from his business interests at all.
Julie Pace at AP: On Foreign Policy, Trump Still Speaking Campaign Language. Under this ridiculously benign headline is found this passage: "According to one U.S. official, national security aides have sought information about Polish incursions in Belarus, an eyebrow-raising request because little evidence of such activities appears to exist. Poland is among the Eastern European nations worried about Trump's friendlier tone on Russia." They are looking for crises that don't exist, in order to justify aggressive and indecent policies.
Sean Spicer tries to delegitimize protests by calling them "a very paid AstroTurf-type movement." As Leah McElrath notes: "If protesters are delegitimized, there will be less outcry when the govt responds with violence against citizens." Another familiar authoritarian strategy.
Tierney Sneed at TPM: John Yoo: 'Even I Have Grave Concerns' About Trump's Use Of Executive Power. When the author of George W. Bush's "torture memos" is raising a flag, you have utterly derailed.
McKay Coppins at The Atlantic: Bracing for Trump's Revenge. Conservatives who opposed Trump are worried about his penchant for retaliation. "'The question is not whether he's vengeful,' conservative columnist Ben Shapiro told me. 'The question is how willing he is to use the levers of government to exact that revenge.'"
Maria Tsvetkova and Andrew Osborn at Reuters: Kremlin Says It Wants Apology from Fox News over Putin Comments. Sure. This is normal. Everything is fine. (This is not normal. Everything is not fine.)
[CN: War on agency; rape culture] In state news, Charlotte England at The Independent reports: Arkansas Passes Law Allowing Rapists to Sue Victims Who Want an Abortion. "A pregnant woman's husband will have the power to stop her from having an abortion, even in cases of spousal rape, under a new law introduced in the US state of Arkansas. ...The [pregnant person's] parents or legal guardians can also sue to stop the abortion, if [the pregnant person] is a minor." Rage seethe boil.
[CN: Transphobia; nativism; sexual assault] Tom Dart at the Guardian: New Detention Center's Transgender Unit in Texas Raises Concerns over Intentions. "During the week of the inauguration of a president whose policies will lead to a sharp increase in migrant arrests, America’s newest immigrant detention centre opened in rural north Texas. Known as Prairieland, it has an unusual feature designed to protect an especially vulnerable section of the population: a unit for transgender detainees. Some LGBT advocates, though, question whether holding transgender people in a detached pod in a remote location will do more harm than good. ...Many of these detainees have fled to the US precisely because of their gender identity, only to find themselves in places where their risk of being sexually abused is significantly higher compared to cisgender heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual detainees, according to the Human Rights Watch report." Fucking hell. This is very worrying.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Dispatches From the Queer Resistance
[content note: transphobia, homophobia, gender policing, sexual assault]
Exit polls showed that LGBT voters overwhelmingly cast ballots for Hillary Clinton (77%) compared to Donald Trump (14%) in Election 2016. With LGBT identities cutting across all racial, gender, ethnic, and religious/non-religious identities and socioeconomic classes, the reasons for this support are likely many. So, here I'll speak to my experience.
The first election in which I voted was in 2000, placing me within a generation of lesbians who came of age as adults during the Bush II years. I remember these years feeling like an ongoing barrage of anti-LGBT sentiment, not just from politicians but from the religious right, as well. Organizations like National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and Family Research Council ran campaign after campaign seeking to restrict LGBT rights and promote special privileges for anti-LGBT religious organizations.
George W. Bush generally opposed LGBT equality as President, opposing LGBT adoption, supporting Don't Ask Don't Tell, opposing marriage equality, and opposing hate crimes legislation that covered sexual orientation. In 2004, Bush succumbed to pressure from Evangelical Christians and supported an amendment to the US Constitution banning same-sex marriage, a move that set him apart from his Democratic opponent John Kerry. Of note, Kerry also opposed same-sex marriage, as did many prominent Democrats then, but I saw a general consensus among my LGBT friends that Democrats had more potential to evolve on the issue compared to Republicans. Questions about support for trans people's rights do not seem to have been regularly asked of candidates in "On the Issues" surveys back then, but I do not remember Bush as a public advocate for trans rights either.
Then, in 2009, early in President Obama's first term, the National Organization for Marriage released a propaganda video, "A Gathering Storm," which true to the group's gay-baiting style painted same-sex marriage as a quasi-terroristic threat to the nation. Instead of being effective, the video inspired a strong backlash against bigotry, as dozens of high-profile parodies and responses were created. In retrospect, the video seemed to foreshadow NOM's Obama Era decline. (It's really hard to even find the original video, but here is one version, in which someone inserted a laugh track, because of course they did).
During President Obama's two terms, as just some examples, he signed legislation repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, signed federal hate crimes legislation, supported marriage equality, called for an end to "conversion therapy" for gay and trans youth, and signed an Executive Order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation (and more). At the same time, progress has lagged for trans people. For instance, the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell did not end the ban on allowing trans individuals to serve openly in the military. And, anti-trans groups continue to propose "bathroom bills," demonizing trans people as predators and policing gender.
Now, with Mike Pence serving on Trump's team, Evangelical Christians rallying around Trump, and the threat of an upcoming Executive Order that would grant religious organizations the special privilege to discriminate, many in the LGBT community fear a rollback of progress made during President Obama's tenure.
It is no surprise to me then, that since November 8, 2016, my social media timelines have been full of LGBT people resisting Trump in various ways. Today, I'd like to highlight just a few recent instances that I'm aware of (which I'd like to make semi-regular updates to, as well):
1. Stonewall Protests Over the Weekend
On Saturday, thousands of LGBT people (and, presumably, allies) gathered at Stonewall Inn in New York City's Greenwich Village to protest. The intent was, per The Guardian, "to stand with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers outraged by the president’s executive order banning refugees and travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries from entering the US." I love the intersectional message here: you come for any of us, you come for all of us.
Stonewall Inn, of course, is a historic site of LGBT resistance in the US, even though advocacy work had begun before the riots of 1969. Many accounts credit a black drag queen, Marsha Johnson, and a Puerto Rican transgender woman, Sylvia Rivera, for sparking the crowd to fight back against the ongoing police raids at the bar, which many now see as the symbolic beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement. Other sources include further claims that the first punch was thrown by a butch lesbian who was being arrested. (ps - I skipped the recent Stonewall movie).
2. Comedians Raise Money for Trans Organization
As a reminder that mainstream Republicans are hardly innocent in paving the way for Trump, here is former presidential contender, and Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee tweeting over the weekend:
Here, Huckabee ridicules Senator Schumer for having gotten emotional while speaking out against Trump's Muslim Ban (Trump ridiculed Schumer as well). As a broad note, Mike Huckabee might be one of the political establishment's least funny guys. The Christian Reverend's Twitter "jokes" consistently rely on appealing to cruelty and a complete lack of empathy for other people. In this tweet in particular, Huckabee is policing gender (real men don't cry!) while also referencing as the "punchline" of his joke a movie that's based on Brandon Teena, a trans man who was raped and murdered by men who policed his gender.
Truly deplorable.
In response, actually-funny comedians (and real-life married couple) Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher started a campaign to raise money for the nonprofit Trans Lifeline, in Brandon Teena's memory. So far, they've raised $13,000.
I propose adding Mike Huckabee's opinions to the ongoing tally of things to never normalize. (ps - Take My Wife, starring Butcher and Esposito, is funny and good if you're looking to support queer women's art).Update: $13k raised 4 @Translifeline in memory of Brandon Teena. https://t.co/ds26GeAfvC@GovMikeHuckabee: 🤑 https://t.co/tf1NzLOUKr
— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) February 5, 2017
3. Kristen Stewart on Saturday Night Live (SNL)
On a lighter note, I enjoyed Kristen Stewert's opening SNL monologue. She accomplished three important items:
- Liking Twilight is often derided as a sign of how shallow (especially young) women are. I don't believe that, but that's a separate post. We now live at a time where Trump appeals to many men precisely because they see him as an authentic "man's man," unlike the feminized "SJWs" or "cuckservatives." But, like, there he was - as Stewart points out - tweeting 11 times about her on-off relationship with her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson, in 2012, and specifically disparaging her. What? Who does that? The man who won the electoral college in 2016, apparently.
- Stewart referred to herself as "so gay" during the monologue. I hear *some* queer women have feelings about that (n=1?). In all seriousness, by appearing on SNL, she's now in all likelihood on Trump's (and his fans') radar for further cyber-bullying. I hope she is able to navigate that safely.
- She also accidentally said "fuck" on live TV, which made Kate McKinnon have this reaction:
As a general note about resisting Trump, I've seen a fair amount of tsk-tsking about "appropriate" resistance behavior and cursing, in particular. I'll just point out that from a posterity standpoint, "I didn't oppose fascists because the people resisting said 'fuck' sometimes" is probably not going to age well.Kate's reaction to Kristen lowkey dropping the fuck bomb has added about 5 years to my life span pic.twitter.com/zBLIctvaHs
— . (@katemreactions) February 5, 2017
When I made foray into blogging 10 years ago, one of the first slurs aimed at me was from a homophobic Christian who called me a "potty-mouthed dyke." To paraphrase, Solange: yeah, well, we've got a lot to say "fuck" about.
Today in Creeping Authoritarianism
Donald Trump spent the weekend using his personal Twitter publicly trying to undermine the judiciary, because he doesn't like that judges have, quite rightly, put a stop to his unconstitutional Muslim ban.
Across a series of six tweets over two days, he wrote: "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.? Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision. The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy! Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad! I have instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!"
He has utter contempt for the rule of law. He does not respect checks and balances. He is dangerously indifferent to putting a target on any judge's back by publicly lambasting his or her decision and saying they should be "blamed" for doing their job.
And, as with every other tyrannical move he makes, this was eminently predictable, given his attack on Judge Curiel during the campaign.
Meanwhile, Vice-President Mike Pence—who, as I've been saying, is just as authoritarian as Trump—defended Trump's tirade against the judiciary, saying: "The president of the United States has every right to criticize the other two branches of government." As if what Trump did was merely "criticism."
This morning, Trump pivoted from an attack on the judiciary to an(other) attack on the media, saying across two tweets: "Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting. I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. Some FAKE NEWS media, in order to marginalize, lies!"
He has utter contempt for the role of the press. He does not respect the need for transparency and accountability. He regards the press as his opposition and actively encourages his supporters to be misinformed.
This, too, was a feature of his presidential campaign.
Also note: He is proclaiming what "people want," and saying that what they want is increased militarization and policy rooted in bigotry. This is another indication of an authoritarian: Using "the people's will" to justify oppressive, anti-democratic policy.
This is all deeply troubling.
And I feel extremely angry that the media—and, frankly, lots of progressives—treated Trump like a bit of fun entertainment for a year-and-a-half, while treating everyone who was raising giant red flags about this guy like hysterical lunatics, and now have the unmitigated fucking temerity to regard his assault on this nation's democratic institutions as a surprise.
Melissa McCarthy Is a National Treasure
In case you missed it, Melissa McCarthy popped up unexpectedly on Saturday Night Live this weekend, as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and it was absolutely amazing.
Video Description: Melissa McCarthy, outfitted as Sean Spicer, complete with ill-fitting suit, gives a press conference. Her impersonation is hilarious, as she hits all the recognizable Spicer Greatest Hits, from chomping gum to accusing the media of using words that the administration only repeats to engaging in rank bigotry to defend Trump's bigoted policies and statements. At one point, she lifts the podium and uses it as a makeshift weapon against reporters. In the middle, Kate McKinnon appears as Betsy DeVos, who is unable to answer any questions about education policy, and suggests there should be a "Jesus school." By the end, McCarthy' Spicer is just shooting reporters with a water gun.I have watched this at least a dozen times already, and I cry with laughter every time.
One of those impressions so simultaneously over-the-top & dead-on, Spicer will forevermore look like he's impersonating her impersonation. https://t.co/SpPlB9xuCk
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 5, 2017
I would give anything for @GlennThrush to compliment Spicer at the next briefing on his amazing take on Melissa McCarthy's Sean Spicer. https://t.co/cz1MGZVidh
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 5, 2017
It's just perfect, PERFECT, that the spokesperson for this administration of ghouls would be annihilated by a Ghostbuster.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 5, 2017
There isn't much about which I've found to laugh these past couple of weeks, so this was very, very welcome indeed.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
Belly up to the bar,
and be in this space together.
Good Question
[Content Note: Islamophobia.]
Joan Vennochi at the Boston Globe (emphasis mine):
Using the hashtag #MuslimBan, [Democratic U.S. Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts] tweeted that it's "fundamentally un-American, doesn't improve the vetting process and is making America less safe." He also said "there's no way in hell" that Generanl James Mattis, Trump's new defense secretary, supports that policy.Good question. Another way of putting that is: How many people does Donald Trump have to harm before you are willing to resist?
"What I've heard from behind the scenes," Moulton said during a telephone interview on Monday, is that Mattis and others who were left out of Trump's decision-making loop on the immigration order are asking one another, "What will make you resign? What's your red line?"
Given that a Justice Department attorney has said that over 100,000 people have already had their visas revoked as a result of Trump's Muslim ban, it's already quite a threshold these alleged patriots are willing to tolerate.
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by lemonade.
Recommended Reading:
Andy: Thousands Plan to Attend Anti-Trump LGBT Solidarity Rally at Stonewall Inn on Saturday
Ragen: Damn Right I'm Still Doing Body Positive Activism
Sameer: [Content Note: Racism] Tamron Hall's Fans Lambast NBC for Her Departure, Megyn Kelly's Hire
Monica: Say Hello to Texas' First Transgender Mayor
Jenn: Renowned Novelist Bharati Mukherjee Dies at 76
Veronica: Do Work That Matters
Andrea: Beautiful Embroidered Beetles, Bugs, and Birds
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Those Were the Days
Remember when you took for granted that your president wasn't deliberately fucking shit up and could think about something else for 5 min?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 3, 2017
It's not that I ever tuned out of politics during the Obama administration. To the contrary, as long-time readers will recall, I had a number of criticisms of some of Obama's policies, and I was not shy about making them.
It's just, as I wrote here, "what I value most in a political leader is being able to trust that, even if we come to different conclusions, I know they arrived at their position with thoughtfulness and integrity. His consistent good faith efforts have engendered the same from me."
I never worried that President Obama was destructive.
And if it weren't abundantly evident before now, it should be painfully plain now that there is a vast chasm of difference between a president who is imperfect but not destructive and a president who seeks to shred the fabric of our democracy.
Sometimes I was very unhappy with President Obama, but I never felt panicked. Certainly not the way I feel now, vibrating with anxiety every waking moment of every day about what Donald Trump will do next to subvert our rights, freedoms, laws, and norms.
Throughout the course of the election, I knew down to my bones that this sustained terror would be the outcome if Trump were allowed to win, which is why I flattened myself trying to prevent it. There were a number of reasons I passionately supported Hillary Clinton, but chief among them was the certainty that she could be trusted not to destroy what we value.
I grieve for so many things these days. One of the things for which I grieve is the loss of security we are now experiencing; the loss of psychological freedom that accompanies relentless fear which demands our constant vigilance.
To one extent or another, that is something every marginalized person has lived with our whole lives. Oppression is oppressive.
But there was a reason that the entire nation seemed to exhale with relief when President Obama was elected. A man we could trust to do his best. At least, at least, there was room to breathe, the safety in looking away for a few moments here and there, because we knew he was holding himself accountable.
That is gone. And now the entire point of this onslaught emanating from the Oval Office is to exhaust us. To drown us. To give us nary a moment for self-care or recovery.
Well. Trump likes to brag about his tremendous stamina. But I can promise him this: I've dealt with bullies who thought they could outlast and overwhelm me my entire life, and I'm still here. And I'm not alone.
We've been tired and still fighting for a long time.
Thank you for the respite, President Obama. Those were much-needed days.
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 15
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures 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.
* * *
Here are some things I've read today:
Trump is preparing to sign an executive order that would roll back key financial protections of Dodd-Frank enacted after the 2008-09 financial crisis:
Trump pledged during the campaign to repeal and replace the law, which also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.It's hard to overstate how dreadful these orders are. And it's important to note that good faith financial representatives did not hate the latter rule. They thought it was a good and necessary protection, and, in fact, the financial industry has invested enormous time and treasure preparing for it. The only people who hate it are exploitative vultures like Treasury nominee Steve Mnuchin. Trump is literally rolling back consumer protections explicitly on behalf of bad actors who want to exploit people.
"Dodd-Frank is a disaster," Trump said earlier this week during a meeting with small business owners. "We're going to be doing a big number on Dodd-Frank."
Trump will also sign a presidential memorandum Friday that instructs the Labor Department to delay implementing an Obama-era rule that requires financial professionals who charge commissions to put their clients' best interests first when giving advice on retirement investments.
...The so-called "fiduciary rule" was aimed at blocking financial advisers from steering clients toward investments with higher commissions and fees that can eat away at retirement savings.
[Content Note: Islamophobia; violence] This morning, Donald Trump tweeted: "A new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART U.S." No one was harmed, except the attacker, not that you'd know it from Trump's tweet. Trump has still not tweeted or said anything about the attack in Québec, during which six Muslims were killed at their mosque. Perhaps that's because the man who killed them, Alexandre Bissonnette, was a white supremacist and a fan of Trump.
[CN: White supremacy; anti-Semitism] Eric Boehlert at Media Matters: Exciting the Right Wing, Trump Downplays Threat of Right-Wing Terror. "At neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer, editor Andrew Anglin announced to readers, 'Donald Trump is setting us free.' He continued, 'This is absolutely a signal of favor to us.'"
[CN: War; death] William M. Arkin, Ken Dilanian, and Robert Windrem at NBC News: Inside the Navy SEAL Raid in Yemen Targeting al Qaeda. "Trump declared Sunday's mission a success, and the Pentagon released a statement Wednesday that said U.S. forces had captured 'materials and information that is yielding valuable intelligence.' But a senior military official told NBC News 'almost everything went wrong.'"
Asawin Suebsaeng at The Daily Beast: Steve Bannon's Long Love Affair With War. "Those who have known Bannon for years, and before he ascended to executive power, describe a man almost obsessed with military history, guerilla warfare, and the general art of war and nationalist foreign policy." And he's (completely inappropriately) been given a seat on the National Security Council, and, as I mentioned yesterday, was part of the planning for the abovementioned bungled raid, so we can expect more of that aggressive, incompetent fuckery in the future.
Nikita Vladimirov at The Hill: U.S. Threatens North Korea with 'Overwhelming' Retaliation if It Uses Nuclear Arms. "U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis on Thursday threatened North Korea with an 'effective and overwhelming' retaliation if the country decided to utilize its nuclear arsenal. ...'Any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming,' the Defense secretary said."
Timothy Ahmann at Reuters: U.S. Announces New Iran-Related Sanctions. "The United States on Friday sanctioned 13 individuals and 12 entities under U.S. Iran sanctions authority, days after the White House had put Iran 'on notice' over a ballistic missile test and other activities. In a statement on its website, the U.S. Treasury listed the sanctioned individuals and entities, some of which are based in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and China."
[CN: Torture] Matthew Rosenberg at the New York Times: New CIA Deputy Director, Gina Haspel, Had Leading Role in Torture. "As a clandestine officer at the Central Intelligence Agency in 2002, Gina Haspel oversaw the torture of two terrorism suspects and later took part in an order to destroy videotapes documenting their brutal interrogations at a secret prison in Thailand. On Thursday, Ms. Haspel was named the deputy director of the CIA."
Gabriella Paiella at New York Magazine: Trump Is Reportedly Obsessed with How the People Who Work for Him Dress. And, I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear, there's a misogynist angle: "Via a source who worked on the campaign, Trump wants his female employees 'to dress like women,' adding, 'even if you're in jeans, you need to look neat and orderly.' Though, per Axios, women who worked in campaign offices 'felt pressure to wear dresses to impress Trump.'" Gross.
PPP finds: "Less than 2 weeks into Donald Trump's tenure as President, 40% of voters already want to impeach him." For things that were evident from Day One.
Next week's cover of The New Yorker is breathtakingly sad:
next week's cover by John W. Tomac pic.twitter.com/dkn49wBLKR
— Philip Gourevitch (@PGourevitch) February 3, 2017
[Image in tweet shows the cover, which features the hand of the Statue of Liberty holding up her torch, which has been extinguished, and in place of the flame is just a slow drift of smoke.]
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
This Is How Accountability Dies
As you may have heard, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham announced yesterday that the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism would be launching an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
This was greeted with much celebration and approval. Which means that most people fundamentally misunderstand what's happening.
Not good enough. We need an independent investigation. Not a subcommittee where GOP has majority. https://t.co/cfVL4CHbgQ
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
This is how Republicans kill meaningful investigation into election interference. Nothing to celebrate here, I'm afraid.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
A Senate subcommittee with a Republican majority is not going to want to air all the party's dirty laundry as part of this investigation.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
And there's a lot of it: Brazile's ignored letter to Priebus. McConnell threatening Obama if he said anything publicly.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
Their own nominee potentially compromised by Russia. An illegitimate election result. You think they'll seek accountability on all of that?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
McCain and Graham are party hacks. Their primary reason for criticizing Trump is because he's a threat to the GOP brand.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
Which is exactly why they are launching a subcommittee investigation, rather than an independent, bipartisan investigation.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
In a Senate subcommittee investigation, all of the party leaders' complicity during the election can be contained.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
This is categorically *not* a good first step. It is closing the book.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
Graham and McCain are experts at getting press for looking like they're doing something, when they're really doing nothing. Or worse.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
There was a time when Graham and McCain were calling for an independent investigation. They're not anymore. And you need go no further than Graham's own statement about the objective of the committee to understand why: "Our goal is simple—to the fullest extent possible we want to shine a light on Russian activities to undermine democracy."
Well, that sounds great. Except for the fact that "Russian activities" aren't the only issue. Donald Trump's (and his son's) business dealings in Russia need to be investigated. Former (and current) advisors to Trump—including but not limited to Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Carter Page—have ties to Russia that need to be investigated. Current members of the administration, including National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Rex Tillerson, have ties to Russia that need to be investigated. The fact that Trump clearly knew about Russian interference needs to be investigated. Reince Priebus and Mitch McConnell's indifference to intel about Russian interference needs to be investigated.
This is not just about what Russia did during the election, but about what high-level Republicans, including the president, did during the election and continue to do. That Trump eased sanctions on Russia even as they escalate their campaign in Ukraine deserves serious and meaningful scrutiny.
That is not what Graham, McCain, and the Senate subcommittee, ruled by Republicans, are interested in doing. And that is a real problem.
Kellyanne Conway Uses "Alternative Fact" to Defend Muslim Ban, Because There Are No Actual Facts That Could Possibly Justify It
[Content Note: Islamophobia.]
White House Counsel and horrible human being Kellyanne Conway coined the phrase "alternative facts" last month—and, yesterday, during an interview with Chris Matthews, she engaging in a little alternative facting when she invoked a "massacre" by Muslims which does not exist.
I'm speechless. @KellyannePolls invented the "Bowling Green massacre" on live T.V. Strange days indeed. pic.twitter.com/rG61ZlKMO8
— Hᴀʜɴ Aᴍᴇʀɪᴄᴀ (@HahnAmerica) February 3, 2017
CONWAY: I bet there was very little coverage—I bet it's brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program, after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and then were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green Massacre. I mean, most people don't know that because it didn't get covered.It didn't "get covered" because it didn't happen. And it is indeed "brand new information to people" that Obama had a refugee ban, because that, too, didn't happen.
Samantha Schmidt explains at the Washington Post:
There has never been a terrorist attack in Bowling Green, Ky., carried out by Iraqi refugees or anyone else.Which lasted about six months. But, throughout that six months, visas were still being approved. It just took more time and labor. It was never a ban.
Conway was likely referring to two Iraqi citizens living in Bowling Green who were arrested in 2011 and eventually sentenced to federal prison for attempting to send weapons and money to al-Qaeda in Iraq for the purpose of killing U.S. soldiers, according to a statement from the Justice Department.
Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 25, was sentenced to life in federal prison. Waad Ramadan Alwan was sentenced to 31 to 40 years in federal prison, followed by a life term of supervised release. Both men pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges.
...In the aftermath of the arrests of the two Iraqis living in Kentucky, the Obama administration imposed more extensive background checks on Iraqi refugees, and the new screening procedures created a dramatic slowdown in visa approvals.
Conway tweeted this morning that she meant to say "Bowling Green Terrorists." Sure. Quite a slip of the tongue, though. One wonders how much of a grasp on the facts of that example she actually has, or how much she genuinely cares about it, beyond its ostensible efficacy in trying to justify the unjustifiable.
No excuse so far for why she straight-up lied about President Obama.
More
[This is an update of a post originally published in this space in May 2009.]
This is a blog about teaspoons.
It is a blog about feeling: All I ever do is try to empty the sea with this teaspoon; all I can do is keep trying to empty the sea with this teaspoon. And about remembering that a thousand people with teaspoons can move more earth than a dumptruck.
It is a blog about increments of measurement so infinitesimally tiny they haven't been given names, about glitches in the Matrix so swift and subtle that they are more easily missed than noticed, about tangible particles of a thing called progress not visible to the naked eye.
It is a blog about hope—not the kind that's packaged and sold in anti-aging creams, soda pop cans, or even political campaigns—but the real thing: A hopefulness that radiates like whoa from the pores of indefatigably optimistic dreamers, who close their eyes and tilt their faces up toward the sun and imagine a future where equality and freedom are not aspirational concepts, but defining features of every human life.
It is a blog about futures formidable and vast.
It is a blog about connection, and the realization that we are all in this thing together, and the resolve to be all in, because we make a difference in this world, for good or ill, because we know there is no neutral; there is no moral ambiguity in staying silent; there is only standing up and saying no to the indignities one human visits upon another, or saying yes.
It is a blog of wildly unreasonable expectations, because unreasonable expectations are the seeds of progress.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who knew well the perfidy of moderation, of the harm of pretending there were sidelines on which to stand, and of the need to advocate unyieldingly for progress, is not remembered for giving a speech about his resignation to the status quo. He is remembered because he admonished us not to wallow in the valley of despair and exhorted us to envision big things and told us to never be satisfied with less. He said to the world, "I have a dream," and that dream was what many people might have called in its time (and may call still) an unreasonable expectation.
Eradicating any kind of bigotry is, by definition, an unreasonable expectation—because institutional bigotry is deeply entrenched. Prejudice is ancient. Only a fool would imagine it can be overcome.
Except, of course, that it can be. Bit by bit. Particle by particle. Teaspoon by teaspoon. Person by person. Prejudice is ancient, but it dies with its every carrier and must be taught again. And it can be unlearned. Bit by bit. Particle by particle. Teaspoon by teaspoon. Person by person.
Patience, it takes, and boundless tenacity, to create people filled with expansive love and intractable respect for one another in a culture that casts us as enemies.
And it takes unreasonable expectations, the seeds of progress.
Thus, every time someone asks me, greets my bellicose display of unreasonable expectations with, the exceedingly un-progressive question, "What do you expect?" I will answer the same as I always do: I expect more.
Even now. Especially now—in a moment where we are aggressively overwhelmed by divisive, hateful, regressive maneuvering with the sinister intent to demoralize us. To telegraph that we should expect naught but disappointment; that we are helpless to do anything but stand to the side, silently witnessing the dismantlement of everything we value.
I still, and will ever, expect more.
Of course Trump is riding roughshod over our norms, laws, and very democracy. What do you expect?
I expect more.
Of course the Republican Party is abetting him. What do you expect?
I expect more.
Of course some Democrats are capitulating. What do you expect?
I expect more.
Of course lots of people aren't paying attention, don't care, turning their eyes away from the chilling creep of fascism, as if it will only matter once it starts to affect their lives, by which point it will be too late. What do you expect?
I expect more.
You can't expect for anything to be any different.
The fuck I can't. I expect more.
I'm not ironically detached, I'm not apathetic, I'm not resigned, and I'm not contemptuous of bleeding hearts or "identity politics" or genuine patriotism in defense of justice and pluralism, rooted in audacious visions of what this nation could be.
I am a greedy bitch with voracious expectations, and I dream long and lustfully of a better world that is both my muse and objective. I want it like the cracked earth of the desert wants rain, and I will neither apologize for nor amend my desire because of its remove from the here and now; its distance encourages my reach.
I expect resistance against tyranny, institutional bigotry, dominionism, and war-mongering, because it is our duty as citizens, as human beings. I expect more from myself, and from all of us, as oppressors careen toward obliteration, because complacency is complicity.
And because if we don't expect more, something better than a cacophonous descent into ruin, then we are certainly never going to get it.
Don't bother asking me what I expect.
You already know the answer.
