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.
We Resist: Day 26
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:
Michael R. Gordon at the New York Times: Russian Cruise Missile, Deployed Secretly, Violates Treaty, Officials Say. "Russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile despite complaints from American officials that it violates a landmark arms control treaty that helped seal the end of the Cold War, administration officials say." The NYT promoted this with a tweet reading, in part: "Trump faces a new test." Shiver.
[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Lucas Tomlinson at Fox News: Russian Spy Ship off East Coast of U.S., Officials Say. "A Russian spy ship was spotted patrolling off the East Coast of the United States on Tuesday morning, the first such patrol since President Trump took office, two U.S. officials told Fox News. ...It was not immediately clear where the Russian spy ship is headed."
Considering the source on that second item (Fox News), one of two things is possible: Either this is true (yikes) or it's not true but the Trump administration wants us to think it is (yikes). That said, even the NYT piece appears to be sourced from the administration. Is that someone from the administration who is leaking good info because it's worth alarm, or someone from the administration who is leaking bad info to try to justify Trump's argument that we have to build bridges with Russia, in the wake of Flynn's resignation? That we can't know is chilling.
Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes at Foreign Policy: The Kremlin Is Starting to Worry About Trump. "[U]sing anti-Americanism as an ideological crutch has become much more dubious now that the American electorate has chosen as their president a man publicly derided as 'Putin's puppet.' What the Kremlin fears most today is that Trump may be ousted or even killed. His ouster, Kremlin insiders argue, is bound to unleash a virulent and bipartisan anti-Russian campaign in Washington. Oddly, therefore, Putin has become a hostage to Trump's survival and success. This has seriously restricted Russia's geopolitical options. The Kremlin is perfectly aware that Democrats want to use Russia to discredit and possibly impeach Trump while Republican elites want to use Russia to deflate and discipline Trump. The Russian government fears not only Trump's downfall, of course, but also the possibility that he could opportunistically switch to a tough anti-Moscow line in order to make peace with hawkish Republican leaders in Congress."
Everything is fine. *jumps into Christmas tree*
Because everything is not, in fact, fine, Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff, who have been leading the charge in demanding independent investigations into Russian collusion, spoke out today at a press conference, bluntly condemning their Republican colleagues for their inaction.
.@RepCummings: "Do you hear that?...This is the sound of House Republicans conducting no oversight of Pres. Trump." https://t.co/qdZJiCzvGS pic.twitter.com/1dlPXrGzSe
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 14, 2017
CUMMINGS: Let me begin by asking everyone in this room a very simple question: Do you hear that? [long pause] Do you hear the silence? [pause] This is the sound of House Republicans conducting no oversight of President Trump. [holds up his hand making 'zero' gesture] Zero. That is what it sounds like when they abdicate their duty under the Constitution.
.@RepAdamSchiff: If Speaker Ryan won't commit to congressional probe, he should allow for independent commission "and get out of the way" pic.twitter.com/eXnA3xVteG
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 14, 2017
SCHIFF: All of this merits investigation. That investigation, I believe, ought to be done, in part, through the Intelligence Committee, as part of the investigation we're doing now, and I was very disappointed to see the Speaker [Paul Ryan] today unwilling to commit to investigate these communications between Flynn and the Russian ambassador. My feeling is, if the Speaker's not willing to commit to this, he ought to allow the formation of an independent commission and get out of the way—because these questions are far too important to go unanswered.Damn straight. Thank you, Rep. Cummings and Rep. Schiff, for hammering away at this. And shame on Paul Ryan and his entire caucus for their reprehensible lack of patriotism.
Mitch Prothero at BuzzFeed: U.S. Allies in Europe Have Literally No Idea What's Going on with the Trump Administration. "Already concerned by the Trump administration's erratic approach to the trans-Atlantic alliance, European security services have been shaken by the resignation of US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn over allegations he lied about his contacts with Russian diplomats, amid increasing concern that the new US administration is pursuing an uncomfortably close relationship with NATO's foremost rival, Russia. ...'I was hoping you could tell me what the fuck is going on over there,' said one European Union intelligence official who, like the other officials contacted, declined to speak about such a diplomatically sensitive situation on the record."
Gregory Korte at USA Today: White House Posts Wrong Versions of Trump's Orders on Its Website. "The White House has posted inaccurate texts of President Trump's own executive orders on the White House website, raising further questions about how thorough the Trump administration has been in drafting some of his most controversial actions. A USA TODAY review of presidential documents found at least five cases where the version posted on the White House website doesn't match the official version sent to the Federal Register. The differences include minor grammatical changes, missing words and paragraph renumbering—but also two cases where the original text referred to inaccurate or non-existent provisions of law."
Jim Acosta and Kevin Liptak at CNN: Secret Service Director Announces Retirement, Spokesperson Tells CNN. "United States Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy announced his retirement to the staff Tuesday, a spokesperson tells CNN." That one sentence is the entire story at the moment. Hopefully more info will be forthcoming. (That might mean a video that autoplays will be added, too, even though there's not one there as of this writing.)
Amy B. Wang at the Washington Post: A Canadian School District Won't Risk Field Trips to the U.S. After Trump's Executive Order. "A Canadian public school board is temporarily banning student travel into the United States, citing an uncertain political climate resulting from President Trump's now-frozen executive order on immigration. The Greater Essex County District School Board of Windsor, Ontario, has canceled field trips to the United States through at least February, as first reported by the Windsor Star. 'Paramount for us is student safety,' Clara Howitt, a school board superintendent, told the newspaper. 'We really don't know what will happen to our students at the border.'"
Not only is that a profoundly regrettable commentary on the U.S., but, as Mikki Kendall pointed out on Twitter, depressed tourism also signifies "no revenue for much of the US." This, among many other reasons, is why Trump's "jobs president" rap was always total horseshit.
[CN: Immigration raids; video may autoplay at link] Geneva Sands at ABC News: Homeland Security Chief Kelly Responds After Immigration Raids Spark Outrage. "The U.S. immigration agency arrested more than 640 people from California to Georgia to New York last week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said in a statement Monday. Kelly said the arrests were part of a series of enforcement operations across the country targeting 'public safety threats' as well as 'individuals who have violated our nation's immigration laws.' ...Earlier Monday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on ICE to provide information about the location of the raids and details of people who were arrested. 'Reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeted nonviolent immigrant families over the past week are deeply disturbing. Undocumented immigrants live in fear, and they are confused and scared. I am troubled by the lack of transparency and potential due process violations surrounding ICE's most recent enforcement actions,' the New York senator said in a statement."
[Nativism; video may autoplay at link] Elise Foley at The Huffington Post: ICE Backs out of a Meeting on Deportation Raids with Members of Congress. "The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement canceled a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus hours before it was set to occur on Tuesday―avoiding what would have likely been a tense summit with lawmakers who are furious over recent deportation raids. Congressional sources said that ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan would no longer attend a meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. Spokespeople for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment."
Rachael Bade at Politico: Conservatives Fret GOP Is Blowing Obamacare Repeal. "House conservatives—anxious that the GOP’s effort to end Obamacare is getting bogged down in the fight over what a replacement should look like—are plotting a major push to repeal the law immediately without simultaneously approving an alternative. ...The position is at odds with GOP leadership's latest strategy to load up a spring repeal bill... The split in the conference s shows that even after six years of demanding repeal—and a month of unified government—Republicans are still struggling to get on the same page on how to do it."
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
I Will Never Stop Being Angry About This
Hey, remember when a bunch of Very Important People in the corporate media said that @HillaryClinton was a boring nerd who was overprepared?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 14, 2017
And remember when a bunch of dumdums w/ ladybrains were mocked for saying that the "establishment" candidate knew how to get shit done?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 14, 2017
But she wasn't entertaining, and Trump was. Are you feeling entertained now? Relieved we dodged that bullet of a competent nerd president?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 14, 2017
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has no idea what the fuck he's doing. His only unerring certainty is that white supremacy is a valiant central objective of a presidential agenda, which is reprehensible in the bloody extreme.
He has no understanding of what the presidency actually entails; he has nary the shadow of a clue about how the government works; he has no ability to create (or seemingly even read) policy; he doesn't know the rules, and, even if he did, wouldn't believe they apply to him; and he is colossally incapable of and/or resistant to hiring qualified and competent people, which is to say nothing of his chronic aversion to surrounding himself with decent people.
He is more out of his depth than a lungfish on the International Space Station.
And he knows it. Which is why he doing shit like this: "A source close to the president, who was not [at Mar-a-Lago last weekend] but had knowledge of the situation, told me that Trump was going around tables during dinner asking guests what he should do about Priebus and Spicer—a crowdsourcing game he reportedly played when he was deciding which candidate to choose for vice president, and again, when picking who he would nominate as secretary of state. (A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to request for comment.)"
His insecurity about flailing into monumental failure has left him paralyzed with indecision, so he's just randomly soliciting advice about whether to keep members of his staff or get rid of them.
I will point again to Paul Waldman wisely observing that this was the inevitable result of electing a man to run the government despite his having not a single day of governing experience and his boasting of aggressive contempt for the government and the people who have been running it.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, the most well-prepared and most qualified candidate ever to seek the presidency, was resoundingly demeaned as an "establishment" candidate, an inherently misogynistic narrative, despite the fact that being part of the "establishment" is what prepares people for a job as globally important as the United States presidency.
And then there is this, a point I made in what may have been the most important piece I wrote during the last election, now long forgotten: Revolution via monumental, sudden, chaotic upheaval always harms vulnerable people the most.
Privileged people sneered at Clinton's incrementalist approach, but the civil turmoil that accompanies the kind of swift, shock-and-awe "revolution" being ushered in by Trump's dysfunctional administration is precisely why incrementalism is not only wise but kind.
Hillary Clinton knew what the fuck she was doing. And, at this point, no one with any sense should continue to argue that that didn't matter.
Michael Flynn Is Out
General Michael Flynn, under pressure for having made calls to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition, has resigned as Donald Trump's National Security Advisor. He resigned last night, after the day started with members of the administration assuring that Trump had full faith in Flynn. Whoooooops.
So, the president who got famous telling people, "You're fired!" let Flynn resign rather than treat Russian collusion as a fireable offense.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 14, 2017
There are several potential reasons why Trump didn't fire Flynn. In the Washington Post, Greg Miller and Philip Rucker report that an anonymous senior White House official says "Trump does not relish firing people." So it could be as simple as weak character: A president who is unable to do the right thing even when it needs to be done.
Another possibility, of course, is that Trump wants to be able to retain the right to say that the media forced Flynn out with a witchhunt, so his supporters, who are standing by and vociferously defending Flynn, don't turn on him.
I also suspect that part of Trump's unwillingness to fire Flynn is because Trump doesn't actually believe Flynn did anything wrong. Trump gets very belligerent when he is accused of doing something unethical, or even illegal, that he doesn't think should be off-limits, and, given his own affinity for Russia, and his off-script national security approaches, it's easy to imagine he thinks Flynn's conversations with the Russians were fine and dandy, and thus Flynn doesn't deserve to be fired.
Particularly if Flynn were acting on orders from Trump.
During an interview with Matt Lauer on Today this morning, White House Counsel Kellyanne Conway essentially confirmed that theory, reiterating over and over again that the issue was not the content of the call itself, but misleading Vice President Mike Pence about it, despite the fact that the White House has known about that since last month. And she had no good answer when Lauer noted raised the specter that Flynn wasn't "freelancing" on that call, but making it on the president's orders.
WATCH: @MLauer's full interview with @kellyannepolls on departure of #MichaelFlynn https://t.co/PZ1PGtACUY
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 14, 2017
[Starting at 0:46] CONWAY: I think misleading the vice-president really was the key here. And I spoke with the president this morning; he asked me to speak on his behalf and to reiterate that Mike Flynn had resigned—he decided that he, that the situation had become unsustainable for him here, and of course the president accepted that resignation.And round and round they went.
LAUER: But wait a second— You're saying that's the straw that broke the camel's back, but the White House knew about that last month, when the Justice Department warned the White House that Mr. Flynn, or General Flynn, had not been completely honest in characterizing that conversation with the Russian ambassador—and they even went further to say that, as a result of that dishonesty, he was at risk for blackmailing by the Russians.
CONWAY: Well, that's one characterization. But the fact is that General Flynn continued in that position, and was in the presidential daily briefings, was part of the leader calls as recently as yesterday, was there for the Prime Minister's visit from Canada yesterday, and, as time wore on, obviously the situation had become unsustainable—
LAUER: Kelly—
CONWAY: —and General Flynn—
LAUER: Kelly, that makes no sense. Last month the Justice Department warned the White House that General Flynn had misled them, and, as a result, he was vulnerable to blackmail, and, at that moment, he still had the complete trust of the president?!
CONWAY: Matt, I'm telling you what the president has said, which is that he's accepted General Flynn's resignation, and he wishes him well, and that we're moving on— There are at least three candidates, very strong candidates, that will be considered for a permanent position here; obviously General Keith Kellogg is the acting National Security Advisor starting today, and the president is moving forward.
LAUER: I want to go back to that phone call with the Russian ambassador back in December. You're starting to make me think that perhaps General Kelly was not freelancing during that call when he talked about or hinted—I'm sorry, General Flynn, that he wasn't freelancing during that call, that in fact he may have been making that call on behalf of the administration, or the incoming administration. Would that be accurate?
CONWAY: No, that's—it would be a mistake to conclude that. Remember, in the end, it was misleading the vice-president that made the situation unsustainable.
LAUER: Which the White House knew about last month. And yet yesterday, you went on the air and said that General Flynn had the complete and full confidence of the president.
The takeaway here is that Trump simply doesn't believe it was a fireable offense. Probably the only person in the administration who does is Pence, and only then because Flynn made him look bad for misleading him, causing him to lie on national television (or so the story goes).
All of which is to underline that Flynn's resignation should not be treated as the end of this story, but the beginning of further probing into the Trump administration—especially since Trump has clearly long known about Russian interference and not cared about it, except insofar as he has exploited it for his own gain.
The next question that must be answered is this: Did Donald Trump authorize Michael Flynn to make the call over which he's now resigning?
* * *
Here is some further recommended reading:
Andrew Roth at the Washington Post: Russian Lawmakers Rush to the Defense of Trump's Ex-National Security Adviser. "The heads of the foreign affairs committees in both Russia's upper and lower houses of parliament chalked up Michael Flynn's resignation to a dark campaign of Russophobia in Washington, and said it would undermine relations between the White House and the Kremlin."
Amanda Terkel at The Huffington Post: House Oversight Committee Chair Won't Investigate Michael Flynn. "House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said Tuesday he will not pursue an investigation into what contacts Michael Flynn had with the Russian government before Donald Trump took office, and whether Flynn then lied about his communications." Instead, Chaffetz says: "It's taking care of itself."
James Hohmann and Breanne Deppisch at the Washington Post: 10 Unanswered Questions After Michael Flynn's Resignation. "1. What, if anything, did Trump authorize Flynn to tell the Russians before his inauguration?"
Paul Waldman at The Week: The Most Dysfunctional White House in Memory. "And since it was a core part not just of Trump's campaign but his genuine feeling that the people who have been running the government in recent decades are incompetent and stupid, it's no surprise that he has stocked his administration with people who have never worked in government before—and therefore don't really know how it works. This is particularly true of his inner circle. Their bungles infuriate him, which leads to distrust, which makes them ready to undermine him. The White House at the moment, reports Mike Allen, is characterized by 'insecurity, ass-covering, and endless leaking.'"
On Valentine's Day
Today is Valentine's Day in the United States. Some people love Valentine's Day, other people hate it, some people are indifferent to it; for other people it can be a difficult day, for myriad reasons.
On days like this one, when everyone is implicitly obliged to celebrate feeling a certain way, to not feel that way can be alienating. It can leave one feeling unseen. Which is an awful way to feel.
No matter how you feel about the day, it's valid. And whether you are feeling good, bad, or indifferent, I made a candy heart for you. True on this day, and every other.
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by pleather.
Recommended Reading:
On Twitter, Cristi Smith-Jones is doing an amazing Black History Month photo project with her 5-year-old daughter, in which they recreate photos of "one incredible black woman every day in Feb." Check out her timeline to see the terrific photos. [H/T to Shaker aforalpha.]
Kenrya: [Content Note: Racism; nativism] Thousands Join Milwaukee's Day Without Latinxs, Immigrants, and Refugees March
Wilbert: [CN: Misogynoir; police violence; domestic violence; images of guns] This Group of Black Women Is Taking Up Arms to Fight Racism and Misogyny
Lisa: [CN: Misogyny; war on agency] Oklahoma Anti-Abortion Lawmaker Says Women Are Merely 'Hosts'
Samantha: How I Distract Myself from All This Wild Ass Shit in the News
Jenn: [CN: Racism] Memo to Non-Asians: Jeannie Mai Is Not Brenda Song, and Riz Ahmed Is Not Dev Patel
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred; harassment and threats] Hero Burlesque Dancer Names and Shames Her Trolls
Andy: Trump's Official Inauguration Poster Contains a Sad Typo
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
I Cannot Sanction Your Buffoonery
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
So, I've altogether stayed out of the DNC Chair stuff, for a bunch of reasons, including the fact that I am busily pretending that Donna Brazile will stay forever.
But this piece by James Hohmann in the Washington Post finally pushed me to my limits: "The Daily 202: DNC chair candidates say Clinton lost because she talked too much about Trump."
I cannot let this revisionist history stand.
This is such garbage. Clinton wasn't just "talking about" Trump. She was WARNING about him, when no one else was. https://t.co/dyamM5jKtp
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
I bet I watched way more of @HillaryClinton's speeches than any of these guys did, and the resonant theme was not Donald Trump.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
It was tearing down barriers to opportunity. That was the centerpiece of her campaign and every speech, primary through general.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
And if that didn't make the soundbites on cable news & headlines in the papers, it's b/c corporate media ignored her message of equality.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
They literally ignored the 1st female major party nominee talking about equality to broadcast anything she said about Trump, their cash cow.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
But, again: When she did speak about Trump, what she said was important. Her speech about white nationalism, for instance, was critical.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
Frankly, given what we've seen of Trump so far, if all she HAD done was say, "Trump will destroy the country," that would've been warranted.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
It's incredible to me that anyone would criticize Clinton in this moment for talking about Trump, given the damage he's currently doing.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
And let's be real: If she HADN'T talked about Trump, she'd be getting even more shit for that right now. "If only she'd talked about Trump!"
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
So, seriously, just STFU with this "she talked about Trump too much" horseshit. It is embarrassing to watch y'all be so wrong.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
"We have at most a year to defend the Republic, perhaps less."
[Content Note: Authoritarianism; white supremacy; anti-Semitism.]
Go read this entire interview with Timothy Snyder, a professor of history at Yale. It's so, so important.
[H/T to Leah McElrath.]
Today in Rape Culture
[Content Note: Rape culture; sizism.]
A friend of mine sent me this link, and I almost could not believe what I was seeing: It's a fundraising campaign for a line of underwear that is designed to "prevent rape."
Basically, it's a self-controlled chastity belt.
The creators of the product and attendant fundraising campaign write:
Rape is about as wrong as it gets. The only one responsible for a rape is the rapist and AR Wear will not solve the fundamental problem that rape exists in our world. Only by raising awareness and education, as well as bringing rapists to justice, can we all hope to eventually accomplish the goal of eliminating rape as a threat to both women and men. Meanwhile, as long as sexual predators continue to populate our world, AR Wear would like to provide products to women and girls that will offer better protection against some attempted rapes while the work of changing society's rape culture moves forward.At least they're aware that "the only one responsible for rape is the rapist." And I understand that the idea is to empower women, but I still have a few problems with these anti-rape panties.
1. It's not empowering women to give them disinformation. And the video seems to suggest that stranger rape is the most pervasive risk, which it is not. It also seems to suggest that forcible (versus coercive or opportunistic) rape is the most pervasive risk, which it is not.
2. As far as I can tell from the descriptions of how the panties function, it appears as though they will only work on a very specific body type. There is certainly only one body type in the video. This reinforces the pernicious narrative that rape is a compliment, and women without slim bodies are not sexually assaulted. If indeed the panties only work on slim bodies, that communicates something even more upsetting: That only certain bodies are worth protecting from sexual violence.
3. I kept waiting for some explanation about how a rapist can't cut through the material, but an emergency responder could. That explanation never came. They show a person trying to cut through the waistband with both scissors and a knife, to no avail. All I could think was: What if the person trying to cut off the briefs was an EMT or a firefighter and not a rapist?
(Not that those are mutually exclusive groups, of course, but what I mean is: What if the person is trying to remove them to save you, not to harm you?)
That last one is the flag I really wanted to raise. These aren't available for purchase yet, but, if and when they are, make sure you get a good answer to that question before you potentially risk your life in order to "prevent yourself from getting raped."
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 25
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:
Ishaan Tharoor at the Washington Post: Beyond Flynn, Other Ties Bind the White House to the Kremlin. "First, there surely is more to come on the extent of Russian involvement in last year's election, with law enforcement agencies in the United States increasingly certain that Moscow actively worked to help Trump win. The Russian establishment, including close Putin allies, publicly basked in Trump's victory. Now, some Pentagon officials say they have 'assumed that the Kremlin has ears' inside the White House ever since Trump's inauguration, according to controversial former counterintelligence official John Schindler." Incredibly, this piece headlined about Trump administration ties to Russia doesn't even mention the name Rex Tillerson, our shiny new Secretary of State, who has deep ties to Russia.
All of which has led the Pentagon to assume that "the Kremlin has ears inside the SITROOM," and led some intelligence personnel to withhold information from the Oval Office. Terrific.
[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Kevin Liptak at CNN: At Mar-a-Lago, Trump Tackles Crisis Diplomacy at Close Range. Another way to put that is: Trump openly discussed national security issues in front of an audience of randos. He has no discretion. He has no respect for our national security. Good thing we spent a year talking about Hillary Clinton's fucking emails. Anyway. Here's what happened:
Sitting alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with whom he'd spent most of the day golfing, Trump took the call on a mobile phone at his table, which was set squarely in the middle of the private club's dining area.This is appalling. And, if that weren't enough, Trump also used the Japanese Prime Minister as a prop to impress wedding guests at his resort. As Chelsea Clinton observed: "How many of Mar-a-Lago's new members will be (already are?) members of foreign intelligence agencies & media organizations?" It's almost impossible to overstate the many ways in which this reckless, careless president has already made us less safe less than a month into his presidency.
...As Mar-a-Lago's wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background, Trump and Abe's evening meal quickly morphed into a strategy session, the decision-making on full view to fellow diners, who described it in detail to CNN.
Mallory Shelbourne at The Hill: Trump: Media Won't Report on 'Enthusiastic Supporters' at Mar-a-Lago. He's actually complaining about the media not covering people fawning all over him, after he had foreign policy discussions right in front of strangers. His big concern is not keeping this nation safe, but about whether he's getting enough attention.
Imagine being President of the United States and still feeling like you're not getting enough attention. https://t.co/1A3hBn29i8
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 1, 2017
True then, true now, true forever.
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Brian Chappatta at Bloomberg: America's Biggest Creditors Dump Treasuries in Warning to Trump. "From Tokyo to Beijing and London, the consensus is clear: Few overseas investors want to step into the $13.9 trillion U.S. Treasury market right now. Whether it's the prospect of bigger deficits and more inflation under President Donald Trump or higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve, the world's safest debt market seems less of a sure thing—particularly after the upswing in yields since November. And then there is Trump's penchant for saber rattling, which has made staying home that much easier." I have a lot of concerns about this, not least of which is that it could be used to justify austerity measures that will, of course, harm vulnerable people the most.
Austin Grabish at the CBC: Newcomer Centre Has No More Room for Border-Crossing Refugees. "A Winnipeg centre that welcomes and houses newcomers is putting out a public call for help after getting another surge of asylum-seekers over the weekend. Welcome Place, a temporary home for newcomers in Winnipeg, is full and has no more rooms for refugee claimants who may still be coming to the city Sunday." This is partly because migrants and refugees are crossing the border from the U.S. into Canada, because they are worried about racial and/or religious persecution under Trump.
Liz Robbins and Caitlin Dickerson at the New York Times: Immigration Agents Arrest 600 People Across U.S. in One Week. "Federal immigration officials arrested more than 600 people across at least 11 states last week, detaining 40 people in the New York City area, law enforcement officials said on Sunday."
E.J. Dionne Jr. at the Washington Post: The Next GOP Assault on Voting Rights. "The Senate rejected Sessions as a judge 31 years ago. But now that he is our chief law enforcement officer, holding him accountable for how he vindicates or undermines civil rights and voting rights is a central task. So is rallying against all efforts in Republican-controlled states to pass new laws restricting the franchise, as many of them already have. The Department of Justice can't be counted on to stop them."
Ari Berman at The Nation: The Trump Administration's Lies About Voter Fraud Will Lead to Massive Voter Suppression. "The Trump Administration's sham investigation into voter fraud will be a prelude to future suppression efforts, which could include forcing states to purge their voting rolls in inaccurate and discriminatory ways; launching bogus prosecutions that target voters of color, like Sessions did as US Attorney; switching sides in existing Justice Department cases by backing restrictive voting laws in court; and pressing Republicans in states and Congress to pass voter-ID laws and proof of citizenship requirements to register."
Juliet Eilperin at the Washington Post: Trump Undertakes Most Ambitious Regulatory Rollback Since Reagan. "The fallout is already rippling across the federal bureaucracy and throughout the U.S. economy, affecting how dentists dispose of mercury fillings, how schools meet the needs of poor and disabled students, and whether companies reject mineral purchases that fuel one of the world's bloodiest conflicts. The campaign has alarmed labor unions, public safety advocates, and environmental activists, who fear losing regulations that have been in place for years, along with relatively new federal mandates."
And meanwhile, as Judd Legum observes on Twitter: "Republican leaders admit, when it comes to Trump, they have no principles whatsoever." They have zero inclination to provide checks and balances on Trump's chaotic power grab, because they just want his signature on their heinous legislation.
Elliott Lustig on Twitter: "Your government is part of a White Nationalist global Axis." Noted as Republican members of Congress meet with France's Marine Le Pen.
Taegan Goddard at Political Wire: Ross Plans to Keep Stakes In 11 Companies. "'Wilbur Ross Jr. plans to keep millions of dollars invested in offshore entities whose values could be affected by policies that he implements as commerce secretary,' the Wall Street Journal reports."
[CN: Transphobia] Chris Geidner at BuzzFeed: The Justice Department Is Taking A Step Back From Efforts To Protect Transgender People Under Existing Law. "On just the second day of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' tenure at the helm of the Justice Department, the federal government filed a notice in the lawsuit Texas and other states had brought against the Obama administration's pro-transgender policies."
Michelle D. Anderson at Rewire: Wisconsin State Employees Could Soon Be Without Abortion Coverage. "Wisconsin state employees would have to pay out of pocket for abortion care under a bill sponsored by Republican state legislators. The measure would prohibit the state's unelected Group Insurance Board from entering into a health insurance plan contract or providing a 'group health insurance plan on a self-insured basis' that covers abortion care."
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
AMAZING
This weekend, Melissa McCarthy reprised her role as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Saturday Night Live for the cold open, and it was, of course, amaaaaazing.
Video Description: Melissa McCarthy, outfitted as Sean Spicer, complete with ill-fitting suit, gives a press conference. She starts by promising to be calm and cut back on the gum, then immediately is not calm and chews massive amounts of gum. She can't pronounce names of foreign dignitaries, finally saying, "You know what? Let's just call her Connie." She then takes questions, and again responds by freaking out, eventually turning to dolls to demonstrate her point, in the process confessing the immigration ban is rank racism. She reads a list of imaginary terrorist attacks, and then accuses Nordstrom of terrorism, showing that she's wearing an Ivanka bangle and high-heeled shoes. She introduces Jeff Sessions, played by Kate McKinnon, who says, "There are two kinds of crime: Regular and Black," before being hussled off the stage. McCarthy's Spicer then uses a leaf blower on a reporter to shut her up, before chasing reporters around the room on her podium, used like a Segway. "Live from New York, it's Saturday night!"Now, that was pretty great, but, my friends, THEN THERE WAS THIS.
Video Description: An SNL digital short, featuring Leslie Jones on a quest to play Donald Trump. She studies Trump's speech and mannerisms. She blows off her boyfriend to do her Trump research. She's outfitted in a Trump wig and eyebrows, even as people tell her it will never happen. She goes to see producer Lorne Michaels and does a terrible Trump impression. He tells her it's not going to happen, then she explodes on Lorne, in a very Trumpian way. She is escorted out. On the street, still in costume, she looks forlorn. Then Melania pulls up in a limo, mistaking her for Trump, and she gets in and they drive away.Sometimes, dreams really do come true.
Donald Trump has managed to restrain himself from tweeting about SNL recently. But of course we know that he can't look away, and that all of it is getting under his thin skin: "More than being lampooned as a press secretary who makes up facts, it was Spicer's portrayal by a woman that was most problematic in the president's eyes, according to sources close to him."
Keep it up, ladies of SNL. Keep it up.
The Michael Flynn Saga Continues
National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was known to have made calls to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition. Flynn claimed they didn't discuss anything important; anonymous administration officials have asserted otherwise.
Yesterday, the heat got turned up on Flynn. As NBC's Bradd Jaffy noted on Twitter: "Within the last 30 mins — NYT, WashPost, WSJ, and Politico each dropped pieces that have to be alarming for your future if you're Mike Flynn."
Boom (NYT), boom (WaPo), boom (WSJ), boom (Politico).
Vice President Mike Pence, who publicly defended Flynn and said he had not discussed sanctions with Kislyak, apparently made that brazen claim based on nothing more than a conversation with Flynn. (Which still seems incredible to me.) And now Pence is not happy about it, according to another anonymous administration official: "Flynn is running out of friends, no question. The broad consensus in the White House is that he lied. The vice president feels like he lied. In a position that needs to be no drama, it's nonstop drama. I would be very surprised if he lasts much longer."
It's certainly interesting that administration officials are casting this as "drama," when a more accurate term might be "treason." The Trump administration seems far less concerned about Flynn's relationship to Russia than they do with his making them look bad.
Which is worth noting, especially given the president's own ties to Russia.
If the administration throws Flynn overboard, it must be viewed through this lens. Flynn and his Russia ties are becoming a "dramatic" distraction, but nothing about which Trump and his similarly Russia-tied advisors and cabinet are concerned on behalf of the nation's security.
Fuck only knows where this is going. But I hope if Flynn gets ousted, it's just the beginning--and not "the end" to avoid further scrutiny.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 13, 2017
Flynn is not an outlier in this administration; he's merely the most careless. I hope the media gets that—and keeps pushing on all the rest of them.
My Essay Was Stolen
On January 27, I wrote an essay and published it in this space. "I Write Letters" was a piece about how Hillary Clinton doesn't owe us anything more.
Within days of its publication, the essay had gone viral. It is still, at this point, the top individual piece driving traffic to Shakesville.
Then, something else happened. Someone, somewhere, decided to copy and paste the text of my entire 1,200+ word essay and publish it at Facebook, without attribution. No link to Shakesville. My name nowhere on it. And reformatted so it was no longer a letter, and my signature, which was part of the original piece, removed.
That was then shared over and over. Tens of thousands of times. Some iterations looked like straight-up plagiarism, with no indication the poster had not written the essay themselves. Some started with ridiculously insufficient nods to their lack authorship like, "Not my words, but my feelings exactly." Some ended with an even more cynical attempt to conceal my authorship: "Not my words, but written to be shared." As if the author wanted to remain anonymous.
I started getting messages from readers and friends who saw the essay replicated without attribution. Some of them were sending it to me because they recognized it and wanted to let me know it had been stolen. Others were sending it to me because they thought I'd like to see it because it was so good; I had to respond to them, "Yes, I wrote it."
I reached out to people who were reposting it. Not a single person was kind about it. Most refused to take it down; some begrudgingly added the direct link to my original piece at Shakesville, but refused to delete the text. I tweeted about it: Many people were supportive; many were shitty. I got a whole lot of unsolicited advice about what I should do to try to prevent people stealing my work, instead of solidarity in telling people not to steal.
There is more, much more. I have been tweeting about it for the past couple of days, and I Storified those tweets. Please read the whole thing, because the whole story is there, including the way Facebook abets this kind of theft, how Facebook publishers are fundraising off of my labor, and how this thievery undercuts writers' ability to make a living from our work.
What I will just say here is this: If you find someone's work valuable enough to share, then care enough about the human being who created that work to credit them.
I often see people sharing uncredited work with commentary like, "This is exactly what I have been thinking" or "My feelings exactly" or "I couldn't have said it better myself." Good writing—writing that is good enough to share—is a talent. And a writer who not only writes well, but also captures and puts into beautiful words that thing you've been feeling but couldn't articulate, is a special writer indeed.
Those are the writers I appreciate, and that is the type of writer I try to be.
And it hurts my heart when that ability to connect with readers is exploited and then summarily dismissed with some shit about how, because the writing is so validating, it doesn't need to be credited. Because, hey, you were feeling it, too.
Not everyone can afford to donate to the writers they value. But giving credit where it's due is free. It doesn't cost you a thing.
But failing to give credit to those writers costs us a hell of a lot.
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.
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by the soft glow of a lamp.
Recommended Reading:
Sarah: [Content Note: White supremacist authoritarianism; violence] It's Already Happened Here
Ijeoma: [CN: White privilege] White People: I Don't Want You to Understand Me Better; I Want You to Understand Yourselves
Jendella: [CN: Patriarchy] Feminist Love Will Save Men, Too
Erin: [CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Operation Rescue Offers "Assistance" to Department of Justice
TLC: California Court Issues Nonbinary Gender Change to Transgender Law Center Client
Rae: How to Watch Tonight's Ultra Rare Eclipse, Snow Moon, and Comet Flyby
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Scenes from the Red State Resistance
Being a blue dot in a red state has never felt more dangerous to me than now. But being an active, visible blue dot in a red state has never felt more necessary to me right now. Because we are the one trying to hold Republicans accountable where it hurts them most—in their home districts.
Over the last week, Republicans representing red states and/or red districts have been getting an earful from constituents—or they do if they will show up.
Many of these have focused on the ACA, as Gus Bilirakis learned in Florida the other night:
There was John Ford, 66, who was once denied coverage for his hip because he had previously had the joint replaced. And Christine Mendonca, 34, who worried that without Obamacare, she could no longer afford to get pregnant.Evan Thornton, 21, fought back tears describing the congenital heart condition that could cut his life short. The Affordable Care Act allowed him to have coverage under his parents' plan into his 20s, he said.
"I'm an independent who voted for you," he told Bilirakis. "Please don't take my life away. Please don't let me die."
Only a handful supported efforts by congressional Republicans to repeal and replace the health law — and one was a Bilirakis employee, case work director Kristen Sellas.
Last night, Congresswoman Diane Black of Tennessee heard more than she wanted to, including an impassioned plea from a woman making arguments for the ACA stemming from her Christian faith and impoverished childhood in Appalachia:
At a town hall meeting featuring Rep. Diane Black (R – TN) on Thursday evening, a Christian woman stood up and cited her religion as the reason that she didn’t want to see Obamacare repealed.“As a Christian, my whole philosophy in life is pull up the unfortunate,” she said. “So the individual mandate, that’s what it does: The healthy people pull up the sick. If we take those people, and we put them in high-risk insurance pools, they’re costlier and there’s less coverage… So we are in effect punishing our sickest people.”
She then went on to ask Black to expand Medicaid so that “everybody [will] have insurance.”
Not all of the crowds are focused solely on the ACA. In Michigan, Justin Amash faced a packed town hall in no mood for excuses about Betsy DeVos, among other things:
Amash's responses to questions were often met by attempts from the audience to shout him down.When an education professional stood up to say she and many of her colleagues are unhappy with Betsy DeVos' confirmation as secretary of education, Amash's support of the new cabinet member was less than popular.
"She has been active on education issues for a long time," Amash said. "It's good to have diversity of thought, and I think she'll do a good job reaching out to people on both sides."
"Ridiculous," a voice yelled from the back.
In Utah, Jason Cheffetz found himself faced by a crowd angry that he doesn’t do his job:
Constituents jeered Chaffetz, who is chairman of the House Oversight Committee, over what they saw as his failure to examine potential conflicts of interests between Trump's private businesses and executive role.Cheffetz left the event early.Videos from the event posted on social media showed the crowd erupting into chants of "do your job," in response to that answer. Chaffertz repeatedly pleaded "hold on," and "give me a second" as he was drowned out by shouting.
Hundreds of people stood outside the auditorium holding signs and chanting "vote him out," while one woman was arrested.
GOP leaders are fretting that they need more security. Some, like Barbara Comstock of Virginia, are skipping out on public events altogether. In Greensboro, GA, this morning, aides for Congressman Jody Hice were unprepared for the numbers of constitutents who showed up for an event billed as co-hosted by Hice and georgia’s two Senators, David Persue and Johnny Isakson. None of the elected representatives showed up, and they missed an earful:
About a half-dozen congressional aides briefly addressed the crowd, telling them the event was not a town hall and they would take no questions from the floor. They left after crowd members chanted “shame, shame, shame.”A few minutes later, Hice aide Josh Findlay returned to listen to each of the speakers and jot down notes about their concerns. More than a dozen people spoke, sounding off on their fears about the fate of the Affordable Care Act, Trump’s immigration order and his education policies.
“Despite the phone calls, the voicemails, the Facebook messages, the emails – Johnny Isakson still approved (Education Secretary) Betsy DeVos,” said Michelle Golden, a Gwinnett educator wearing a bright-green shirt declaring “All the Mamas are Mad.”
Golden added: “When is he going to start doing his job and listen to the people?”
When, indeed.
Politico has a good profile today of the Indivisible movement, which is driving many of these protests. (I note that there are now 6,200 affiliated chapters across the country.) I note also, with some grim hilarity, that the GOP are busy claiming that these protests are “astro-turf,” “paid protestors,” “outside agitators,” and all the other bullshit names they have used for 50 years to discredit opposition. Projection much? Of course, the problem with that is when reality catches up with them. For example:
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) sounded a similar note in an interview. “I think it’s going to be a demonstration a week until they run out of funding,” he said, predicting that “they will incrementally die off.”
Of course, those of us on the ground know that we’re not getting outside dollars, gnomish gold, SOROSBUXXX or whatever other imaginary funding that King fantasizes we are. We’re actually mad as hell, we're pooling our resources, and we’re not going away any time soon.
Welcome to the new red state reality, Republicans. It's a little thing we like to call #RESISTANCE.
Do you know of more acts of Red State (or Red District) resistance? If so, feel free to share in comments below.
