US history condensed into a single photo from #StandingRock pic.twitter.com/gUH0xbJItX
— Evan Greer (@evan_greer) February 13, 2017
On February 19th, we are calling on all people to join the TODAY, I AM A MUSLIM TOO rally, a day of solidarity! #IAmAMuslimToo pic.twitter.com/stDMyqDYFg
— I Am A Muslim Too (@iamamuslimtoo) February 11, 2017
On a lighter note (h/t commentor scav), possibly the most Scottish solution ever to help ‘harder-to-adopt’ dogs find new homes:
Jumpers [translation: sweaters] are being knitted for “discriminated-against” dogs that an animal welfare charity finds among the hardest to rehome…
Scottish Women’s Institute groups, including those in Aberdeenshire, have been knitting the eye-catching jumpers. The knitting effort forms part of celebrations marking 100 years of the SWI.
The SSPCA describes the problem of rehoming dark-coated dogs as Black Dog Syndrome.
The charity said that, in photographs, the dogs’ features and personalities do not show up as they do for dogs with lighter coats.
SSPCA superintendent Sharon Comrie said: “This syndrome really does affect the adoption of animals in our care and, through no fault of their own, black dogs are almost always the last to find new homes.
“It’s a really creative idea to knit coloured jackets to show these dogs off to their best advantage.
“Knowing that the SWI has members in every part of Scotland, many of whom are extremely dextrous when it comes to traditional crafts, means that we’ll hopefully be able to help animals in the nine rescue and rehoming centres we operate in Scotland.”…
You should definitely click the link, because the models are adorable. Given how popular knitting has become here in America… if a shelter were to photograph its black dogs wearing… hmm… pussycat hats?
(And speaking of the Women’s Institute, Calendar Girls is a delightful little diversion if you’re looking for something to distract you this weekend.)
***********
What else is on the agenda as we wrap up another long week?
HeleninEire
Good morning, morning crew. Back in NYC for a week, staying at the midtown Hilton. Just had to pay $5 for a cup of tea in the lobby deli. So I stole ALLLLL the Splendas. And since that was one thing on my list to pick up because I can’t find them in Dublin, I WIN!!
She wrote using Hilton’s Wi-Fi.
On topic – I’m going to the I am Muslim march on Sunday. I told TaMara I would send her pics if I could.
OzarkHillbilly
TGIF
Mustang Bobby
TGIF plus Monday off to honor some — but not all — presidents.
ETA I’m going with a friend to an all-British car show on Sunday. Thought about entering my Pontiac since it was built in Canada and therefore part of the Commonwealth, but that would be pushing it a little too far.
WereBear
@HeleninEire: Very New York of you :)
Elizabelle
Good morning, all.
Dogs in sweaters. That is the way to wake up.
@HeleninEire: Good morning to you, on our side of the pond.
Baud
@HeleninEire: Did you have any issues with immigration?
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: Not for me, this week. Crazy schedule this month.
However, I did get a promotion recently. Scaling up the parts of my job I like, and removing the ones I was not so fond of. Since when does that happen?
So I’m cool.
Baud
@WereBear: Congrats.
Kay
Incredibly gushing and fawning coverage of Donald Trump from the 1984 NYTimes:
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: Maybe you should thank Trump.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…. gasp…… wheeze…..
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: My black dog has a pink sweater on right now. She’s got a tude, but I think that’s the terrier in her(she’s half Yorkie and half Pom).
HeleninEire
@Baud: Nope. But here’s an interesting tidbit. As I told you all before, you go through American immigration in Dublin. TSA is there and it is set up like an embassy is: you are officially on American soil. Normally there is a big picture of the president as you enter. No Trump picture. Nothing. I found that odd.
ETA: I fly in on my American passport, (out on my Irish) so I got on the “good” line. Much less scrutiny.
Baud
@Kay: The NYT has always been garbage.
Kay
Of course not. It would be shocking if he said something true.
Elizabelle
@HeleninEire: No Trump picture.
I hope that becomes a standard. Travelers: report back.
@WereBear: I always associate you with reading. Am at present reading “Brave New World” online, for free. Huxley.net
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: Sounds like the NYT has been “well trained”. Of course it goes without say, the NYT is garbage.
Kay
@Baud:
They promoted him for 30 years.
amk
@Kay:
Stockholm syndrome.
Stockholm as in Helsinki.
Elizabelle
@Kay: It gets better. Check the byline on that 1984 article by the Fuck the Fucking New York Times.
William E. Geist. Father of Willie Geist (Morning Joe, Today show) and Libbie Geist (sports broadcast producer).
No longer so exhilarating.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Bonus proof for Baud.
This is fun. The rot at the FTFNYT — we can look for historic examples too.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Just more fake news.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
Hah! Good catch. When I had a car with satellite radio I used to listen to MJ so I could be prepared for whatever bullshit the GOP was selling that week. I have a different car now so I don’t know ahead of time- which turns out not to matter.
No wonder he’s upset. The giant toddler has been coddled his entire life. When he said yesterday “I’m not a bad person” I thought “yeah, you are”. There are bad people and you’re one of them.
satby
Good morning everyone and welcome back to Helen!
After days of frustration with my Kindle Fire not typing, I called Amazon and they’re replacing it. So many times I wanted to comment, but wasn’t motivated enough to boot up my laptop. Probably best for all of us.
Iowa Old Lady
Someone I know on facebook is very conservative and posted a link to conservative site reviews of that presser. They were glowing. They called it “epic,” which I thought too only they meant it in a good way. He slapped that MSM right around.
WereBear
@Baud: Thanks!
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I think what depresses people is this: “cheating and lying works”. You really can’t deny that at this point. Maybe there’s some ultimate justice where it doesn’t work forever, but Trump is 70. It’s been working a really long time.
We admire and promote horrible people. Not just “let them get away with it” – actively promote them to the highest levels. Then we’re like “OMG, these people are horrible!”
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: Yeah. He’ll probably do a better job than W… at destroying the world economy!
I’m too old for this Mad Max shit.
Spanky
@Elizabelle:
Depends on your personality, I guess. It looked like Slim Pickens found it exhilarating to ride that warhead down. But yeah, not so much for me.
WereBear
Hope it rocks you! That book inspires the naming of my Cat Types.
I am always reading and writing. :)
Baud
@Kay: I agree. Also depressing is the corollary is that good people get shit upon successfully. See every Dem to run for president, including the ones who won.
WereBear
It shows just how rare a truly dynamic “bizniss man” really is, if they worked so hard to promote a fake.
Especially since the hard right have been in ascendance; their business model is pirate style loot and pillage.
Kay
The DeVos family basically own Grand Rapids, but they don’t own these dissident youngsters! :)
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Or as they used to say in the Air Force: “Screw up and move up.”
Baud
@Kay: Nice.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ve been doing it all wrong. . . I mean right . . . which is wrong.
satby
@WereBear: Congratulations on the promotion!
Kay
@Baud:
I like all the different protests. You can pick your faction.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: “Screw up and move up” only works for certain people, though. People who already have a leg up. Like sucks up to like.
I’m reminded of Robert Moses. As a young idealist, he spent years perfecting a meritorious system for making the civil service more fair and efficient. He was shot down.
He emerged from this setback as a rapacious power broker who wound up incredibly powerful and reshaped the city of New York. Beat them at their own game.
All you lose is your soul; and people like that don’t believe in it, anyway.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: He’s already doing wonders for the US tourism industry: Travel to US down 6.5 per cent after Trump travel ban: report
I can’t wait to see what he has up his sleeve for the auto industry.
Baud
@Kay: For some reason, I didn’t hear about this one until the day of (yesterday).
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning part 2.
WereBear
@satby: More travel, more writing, more fun things to do. Even if I am inept at, say, ice climbing (that got postponed, but I know I’ll be inept at it) I can write about that. :)
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: Yeah. The one thing he’s even-handed about it is screwing things up — nothing is “safe.”
I put my entire 401k into bonds. Because if the government goes down, it won’t matter then.
Ian G.
The Islanders beat the Rangers, Kevin Drum made me literally LOL with his, um, analysis of Shitgibbon’s presser, I have Monday off, my wife and I are going to make Lithuanian pork dumplings and have my family over for dinner on Sunday, and it’s going to be unseasonably warm this weekend (OK, that last one is a little scary re: global warming). Things are good right now.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I like all the protests too. Shows that all kinds of people from different walks of life have something in common.
WereBear
@rikyrah: Good morning!
I agree. The Trump administration pissed off so many, right away, that I compare it to an allergic reaction.
They have tripped the immune system!
Kay
@Baud:
Michigan actually has a lot of immigrants. They probably would have a net population loss without immigrants. The state isn’t growing as far as native-born (college educated) staying in-state. It’s true for Ohio too. Most of my son and his wife’s friends in Chicago are from Ohio and Michigan. They joke at the high school here that we send our young people to populate Chicago – we could have buses back and forth :)
chris
@Iowa Old Lady: It’s the same with the Trumpanzees in the Reddit zoo. So much winning!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@satby: I just emailed amazon customer relations about a lost order, they were pretty responsive.
Baud
@Kay:
Not enough, apparently.
Baud
@chris: Reddit changed their front page algorithm and now there is a lot more Trump posts on the front page.
Kay
@Baud:
It’s a weird disconnect in the GOP, the immigrant thing. Snyder talks up immigrants all the time. They’re something like 30% of Detroit small business owners and Detroit really, really wants small business owners.
rikyrah
@Kay:
He wasn’t smart enough to get into Wharton as a freshman.He had to transfer in. I believe that his father bought the slot for him, same as Kushner’s father did for him at Harvard. Graduate at the top of his class? Puleeze. That’s another reason why I found his “let’s see 44’s college transcripts so odious “.
44 graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law. Phuck that racist piece of orange garbage.
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady:
I can understand that feeling. I hate the media, although I’ll be forced to root for them in any war with Trump. But let’s not forget that the media is probably the #1 reason Trump is now president.
rikyrah
@satby:
Sorry about that satby. Glad to see you ??
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: Do we even know that he actually graduated from Wharton? I know he said that he was a “top student” there, but we knew before the election he didn’t graduate with honors, and now not on the dean’s list.
Baud
@Kay: There’s no disconnect. They want immigrants’ economic contribution to the nation, but don’t want them to have equal political rights and social status.
satby
@Kay: From my time living in MI I agree; there’s not enough jobs in most of the state for college educated kids. And the people left behind resent that their children often don’t return after college.
rikyrah
@Kay:
The money works, Kay. Without it, he’d be hawking used cars.
Betty Cracker
@Iowa Old Lady: That shouldn’t be surprising — wingnuts have been inhabiting a parallel reality where things like “facts” and “history” are irrelevant for many years now. Yet it still does surprise me that anyone could watch that press conference and think it was anything other than a train wreck.
One thing about yesterday’s display of insanity that’s still bugging me — and would be an enormous scandal if anyone other than Trump had done it — is the way he treated the reporter who asked about the uptick in anti-Semitism. The guy went out of his way to set up the question in a way that kissed Trump’s ass, but Trump still went ape shit.
OzarkHillbilly
Late-night TV roundup: Trump’s government is ‘fully engulfed in chaos’ The Late-night TV round up is becoming a regular feature over at the Guardian. The Satire industry is booming.
satby
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve never had less than excellent responses the few times I’ve called.
@rikyrah: thanks, I’ve been reading, just not commenting. You know you’re getting lazy when switching to a laptop is Just too much trouble.
chris
@Baud: I like to go right to the source(s). Reptilians for Trump, etc.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Trump was odious about Obama. Across the board. But you get an idea about how fucked up he is in the head when you listen to him name-drop the Obama’s now. He brags about knowing them at his gross rallies, that they’re nice to him. He mistakes ordinary politeness for “knowing” someone. It’s just more fucked up leeching off others- he’s dropping Michelle Obama’s good name to buttress his own credibility. It’s part of the set of things that is recognizable to me- it’s what assholes do.
Baud
@chris: Yeah, to be fair, most of the new posts now on the front page are anti-Trump. That part is kind of nice. Although I don’t really “trust” the reddit community when it comes to politics.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yes, the commencement program shows him graduating.
RaflW
In a hotel overseas, watching a few mins of Bloomberg. They’re talking about bonds. Guest says about market cycle: “If it is at the end … … -ing area of rising prices” and I laughed out loud. I wasn’t looking at the screen, but I imagine as he said it he was “oh, shit, extend, I gotta sell some crap to idiots. Don’t tell the truth right now.”
Anyway, OT, but more signs the end is near (of the irrational exhuberance in the market, anyway)
Kay
@satby:
I don’t resent that two of mine didn’t return. From about 12 my eldest son’s one goal was getting out of this town. He required no motivation or direction from me at all :)
My youngest is plotting his escape right now. It’s good for them. Gives them a goal. Go forth, I say.
efgoldman
@OzarkHillbilly:
Just wait until he puts hundreds of thousands of steel mill and coal mine workers back on the job….
.
.
.
.
.
.
…digging graves for all the people that are going to die from pollution, starting in West Virginia.
chris
@Baud: Trust? Yeah, no. But it has been amusing to watch the number of anti-Trump subreddits increase while the pro-shitgibbon crew spend more and more time banning “trolls” and apostates. And heartening to see the “OMG, what was I thinking?!!!” posts.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I also found it galling that Trump had the nerve to whine about the “mess” he inherited from Obama. Now, President Obama inherited a hot mess — the economy hemorrhaging jobs, markets in free fall, whole industries teetering on the brink, military stretched to the breaking point, uninsured rate through the roof, consumer confidence in the toilet, etc. And like a grown-up, he set about addressing each issue. Not the bloated orange pustule who currently occupies the Oval Office. All he does is whine about non-existent problems and decry the treatment he receives that is actually a lot better than he deserves.
Humboldtblue
Some locals are going to rise up this afternoon in protest against violence against women and children. They will also dance.
jonas
@Elizabelle:
You can start with Walter “Famine? What Famine?” Duranty’s dispatches from the USSR in the 30s.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
That’s really the only thing he and his supporters care about.
bemused
@Iowa Old Lady:
I was surprised when my husband said he watched Fox (pretty sure his first time ever) for awhile last night to see how they were covering twittler shit show. He said the panel was gushing with praise and saying approval rating of Trump is 80+% among his voters.
germy
No offense to anyone here who works in Sales, but my almost forty years experience working in various corporations, big and small companies, was that “the guys in the Sales Dept” were overbearing bullshitters who annoyed the hell out of the rest of the employees. They were useful to top management (as long as their “performance levels” remained high) but the rest of us knew not to trust a single thing they said.
Our nation is being run by “that guy in Sales.”
germy
@Elizabelle:
Back in the 1930s the NYT ran a puff piece about Adolph’s vacation home. An awed appreciation of the good taste and architecture on display, with extra ravings about his dietary habits.
debbie
@Kay:
What Trump can’t understand is why people aren’t in awe of him today like they were back then.
debbie
@Kay:
Boy, when you’ve lost the children…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I thought it was bile.
OzarkHillbilly
@bemused: 80% of 27 % comes to…. wow, we’re down to a 21.5% approval rating!
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
Good morning! I’m heading to Chicago this morning for training with OFA. Just a quick turnaround, though, flying back to NM on Sunday. Hope all is well with you and the critters.
germy
politico
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
I agree, that was very telling. More telling was the silence of Jewish FB friends who berated Obama for any perceived sleight toward Israel. These same people were also just as silent when there was no mention of Jewish victims in the Holocaust Remembrance Day proclamation.
I look forward to pointing out this hypocrisy when I see them next.
Baud
@debbie: I said before the election that, no matter how it turned out, the result would be clarifying. People’s true selves are forced to reveal themselves now. No more hiding.
Elizabelle
@germy: I have ordered a copy of “Hitler at Home” to see how the fluffing was accomplished then. Hope the NYTimes article is in there, or alluded to. Will go hunting for it now.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I think they’re aware that it’s become clear that all of the problems they have dealt with so far have been created by them. Russia, the conflicts of interest, the fact that they surrounded themselves with low quality freaks and misfits, and on and on. Trump is a mess and he hasn’t had to deal with a single crisis that he himself didn’t create. That’s why they have to pretend Obama left them with this huge backlog.
Trump hires bad people and then has to get rid of them because he’s a bad manager. Good managers don’t hire bad people in the first place. Anyone can figure out they hired a disaster after a couple of weeks. The tricky part is NOT hiring them. His labor sec never should have been considered for that job. He should have been out the first round. He was a serial labor law violator. That’s enough right there. No further interviews necessary.
His son in law is running foreign policy. He’s not qualified to do that job. It won’t go well.
Aleta
An article published on Fox News’s website days before the election said, “The appropriate response when the subject matter is public and it arises in a highly charged political atmosphere is for the attorney general to appoint a special counsel of great public stature and indisputable independence to assure the public the matter will be handled without partisanship.”
The article, which called for an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and pay-to-play allegations surrounding the Clinton Foundation, argued that Loretta Lynch, then the attorney general, could not serve as a neutral arbiter, given her impromptu meeting with Bill Clinton on her airplane earlier in the year. One of the article’s co-authors was Jeff Sessions.
(From the fish wrapper non gratin : ) today.)
Of course no one could’ve predicted that the Russians were determined. And who knew we might come to regret Sessions?
greengoblin
Jetting home after a week and a half away for work. Looking forward to seeing hubby and the critters.
low-tech cyclist
Anybody know if there are #IAmAMuslimToo marches in other cities on 2/19? If there’s one in DC, I’ll go.
Baud
@Aleta: As if a Republican ever felt bound by his past statements.
WereBear
Yet they are the ones who voted to keep the place the same.
Aleta
@Betty Cracker: He’s never cleaned up a mess in his life.
satby
@O. Felix Culpa: Doing good; you have fun at the training! I’m temporarily without a car, since I lent mine to #2 son to go back and start his job or I’d suggest a meet up. Next time for sure!
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
Hey, where are you? I’m over there on the previous thread sucking big time without you. It’s all about the Red Chile Frito Pie at Duran’s Central Pharmacy in Albuquerque. Margaritas at High Noon to wash it down.
satby
@WereBear: Yes they are. Saw it over and over again in the eight years.
chris
A little piece of good news. Someone is trying to save the USDA animal welfare records. Resist!
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: I can’t find it now but I just read that Kushner has applied for more immigrant labor at his Virginia winery.
That will make America great again.
germy
@Elizabelle: It ran in the New York Times Magazine section, from what I understand.
Peale
@Baud: actually, I don’t think it’s that. They don’t want the economic benefits either. Chis Kobach, for example, wants them all gone. Immigrant jobs are like government jobs. They don’t count as real. The real economy doesn’t have immigrants. That part of the economy is tainted and disgusts them.
amk
@bemused: iow, the nutjob already lost 20% of his nutjob base?
satby
@Quinerly: hmmmm, margaritas! If you haven’t tried a prickly pear margarita yet, do so. It’s a treat!
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa:
Good morning! Have a great trip! I move on Tuesday but really digging the Albuquerque vibe. Looks like I’m meeting Mr. and Mrs. Dexwood for beers on Saturday. So maybe I’m collecting Balloon Juicers on this trip. Need some Flagstaff, Page AZ and St. George/Kanab, Utah area commentators to pipe up.? Hope to see you again next year.
OzarkHillbilly
@Aleta: That’s what servants are for.
Quinerly
@satby:
I still dream of that prickly pear cheesecake in Abiquiu.? Recommended: the Smoked Sage Margarita at the St. Francis Hotel in Santa Fe. It only takes one.?
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: You suck.
Kay
I keep thinking about this co-worker I had once when i worked at a commercial greenhouse. He was a young man, religious, he carried around a Bible in one of those cases to read at breaks. We didn’t really get along but we were sort of co-managers and our boss was gruff- actually a good person but a little intimidating- so we would gossip about what he said to each of us, his moods, etc.. We had employee reviews in January, young man went first and the boss told him “you have been nothing but trouble since you started here”. It was true, I realized. He was a pain in the ass whiner with a penchant for drama. Not adding anything positive and substantial downside.
I always think it’s the most devastating employee review I’ve ever heard and I think that review fits Trump, too.
Gin & Tonic
@Quinerly: I may have mentioned this before you hit the road, but if you’re heading to Kanab, you really owe it to yourself to go up toward Bryce and take Hwy 12 from there up to Torrey. One of the probably top 5 drives in the continental US.
rikyrah
@debbie:
Uh huh
Uh huh
Mofos ALL LIVES MATTERED THE HOLOCAUST..
and, there were crickets from some quarters.
Gin & Tonic
@OzarkHillbilly: Not Kushner. Eric.
“Hey, Dad, fix this problem for me, willya?”
rikyrah
@Baud:
Tis true, but it’s always fun to pull receipts.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
the gall of these mofos
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
You may need some new material. We all have to get through AZ (The Turquoise Room at La Posada and El Tovar at the Grand Canyon)and whatever culinary delights that await me in Kanab and Bluff, Utah. We aren’t even finished with the first 2 weeks of the 6 week “Fabulous Flying Quinerly Traveling Road Show.”
Quinerly
@Gin & Tonic:
You did mention it! I had it mapped out before I threw out the comment. I tend to over plan on these long trips..books, internet, phone calls. Will be keeping an eye on the weather after I leave Kanab on 3/9 and head north and then across. Thanks so much for piping in!
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: Thanx.
Weaselone
@WereBear:
They voted for Trump to crater the 21st century economy. Once that happens, the kids will have to return to the old homestead and families will be reunited in an effort to live off whatever is left of ma and pa’s social security check.
liberal
What up with Shep Smith’s attack on Trump? I don’t follow Fucks Nooz at all, but isn’t there something in the employee contract about being boiled alive in oil for something like this?
liberal
@O. Felix Culpa:
FUCK! Be CAREFUL! I hear that like 80% of the population there has been murdered in the last year.
liberal
@rikyrah: Do we have confirmation either way about whether Melanoma overstayed her visa?
tobie
@OzarkHillbilly: I read it’s a winery owned by Eric Trump. The Trumps have no shame. Looking at them, you’d think sleaziness is hereditary.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: You really suck.
I’ll add a new descriptor every week.
liberal
@Kay:
That’s viewpoint discrimination, Kay!!1!
rikyrah
Californian Republican Delivers A Giant “F*ck You” To Indivisible, Calls Them “Enemies Of Democracy”
They’ve been politely asking for a town hall meeting for weeks and the pressure is getting to the cowardly congressman.
WES WILLIAMS
One of the big stories that followed the election of Barack Obama was the outrage of the newly formed Tea Party and the appearance of angry citizens at town hall meetings held by Democratic (and some Republican) members of Congress. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and it’s GOP congressmen and women who are the targets of voter anger. Some of them are not taking it well.
Dana Rohrabacher is a Republican who represents California’s 48th Congressional District, which stretches along the southern California coastline from Seal Beach to Dana Point. Rohrabacher won re-election to his seat in the November election despite the fact that his district voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Now his constituents want to talk to him at a town hall, and he is refusing to meet with them.
On Valentine’s Day, a group of constituents went to Rohrabacher’s district office to delivery Valentines to him, asking that he please meet with them and other residents of his district. Think Progress says the group, representing “Indivisible Orange County” has been coming to the office every Tuesday to request a town hall meeting. This past Tuesday, however, things got a little ugly.
According to a statement issued by Indivisible Orange County, a 2-year-old girl named Lola was hit in the head as she attempted to slide a Valentine under the locked door of Rohrabacher’s office, when a staffer opened the door into her from the other side.
he staffer, Kathleen Staunton, also took a tumble in the incident when protesters grabbed the door to make sure it didn’t hit the child again. That left Rohrabacher angry, accusing the protesters of “political thuggery.”
The members of Indivisible OC had a different take.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@liberal: No, it was 150% of the population.
rikyrah
This is something I will never forgive Trump, Stein, other 3rd-party or non-voters for. You had ONE THING TO DO to stop this. ONE. https://t.co/1PXBSazhiE
— ☪️ Charles Gaba ✡️ (@charles_gaba) February 17, 2017
OzarkHillbilly
@liberal: Shep often goes after the GOP’s more ludicrous stunts. He’s the ‘balance’ in “Fair and Balanced”.
WereBear
Reactionary. Not even conservative… and I spit on conservative :)
rikyrah
Trump Does Not Deny Campaign in Contact With Russia
He denied personal knowledge or involvement. He also denied ordering Flynn to talk to Russia about sanctions.
by Josh Alvarez
February 16, 2017
I can imagine President Trump, having just finished a marathon 2-hour press conference that was as a pyrotechnic display of an uncontrollable id, grabbing his hapless press secretary by the collar and growling, “Now that’s how you do a goddamn press conference.”
Trump really outdid himself in this one. It was meant to be a press conference simply announcing his new pick for Secretary of Labor, Andrew Acosta, to replace his first pick, fast-food CEO Andrew Puzder, who withdrew himself from consideration on Wednesday. Instead, he singlehandedly attempted to squash Tuesday night’s revelations—by The Failing New York Times and Fake News CNN—that multiple Trump campaign staff and associates were in regular contact with Russian intelligence officials. They closely followed the resignation of Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who was revealed to have discussed sanctions with Russia’s ambassador prior to Trump’s inauguration, a charge Flynn had repeatedly denied and, apparently, even lied to the Vice President about it. Worse yet, Trump knew since at least January 26 that Flynn, by publicly lying about the nature of the calls, had exposed himself to blackmail, yet did not immediately fire him or even exclude him from national security meetings.
Trump squashed nothing, instead attempting to replicate his 16-month presidential campaign method of pummeling the media with multiple red herring stories to distract from the ones that matter in a 2-hour format. It was symphonic. The livestream feed I was watching momentarily glided over Kellyanne Conway with a rapturous look in her eyes. The maestro was at work.
But ignoring all the specious dust Trump kicked up yields the two most important facts. First, he neither confirmed nor denied that his campaign staff was in contact with Russian officials during the campaign. Second, he denied ordering Flynn to talk to the Russians about sanctions, but he “would have directed him to do it.”
To defend himself regarding Flynn, Trump specifically cited Fox News’s Charles Krauthammer, who argued that Flynn was merely doing his job talking to Russia’s ambassador about sanctions. This argument conveniently ignores the context of that phone call. The Atlantic’s David Frum, a conservative himself, has kindly done the easy work of knocking down Trump’s defense:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@tobie: No, learned behavior.
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
Dead on @126
OzarkHillbilly
@tobie: Yes, Gin and Tonic also corrected me above. Thanx to you too.
rikyrah
The Method to Trump’s Madness
by Nancy LeTourneau
February 17, 2017 9:24 AM
It’s true that most of the media was aghast at Trump’s performance in the press conference yesterday. But that’s not how it’s playing in the right wing media. Take a look at some of these headlines:
As Michale Goodwin writes, that’s how Trump’s performance yesterday is playing among his supporters.
…………………………
Yesterday when I noted the criteria for assessing Narcissistic Personality Disorder, one that had not obviously been exhibited during the press conference was, “requires constant admiration.” Obviously Trump was able to satisfy that need when he was running for president, but the office itself comes with constant scrutiny and the kind of critiques his ego isn’t able to withstand. Getting back in touch with his supporters via the press conference yesterday and a campaign rally tomorrow is the method to Trump’s madness we’re seeing on display.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: Dana needs to grow a pair.
scav
@rikyrah: Well, immigrant labor to pick and make the wine to be served by H-2B Visa laborers working at Mar-lago to the very wealthy making political hay off not only the immigrants themselves, but those railing againt the immigrants. Vertical integration of the essential hypocrisy of the family and movement.
NotMax
Open thread, so –
Item the first: Mom turns 89 today.
Item the second: 5 p.m. today on TCM, Min and Bill. Marie Dressler. ’nuff said.
rikyrah
Trump’s Mental Unfitness on Display at the Press Conference
by Nancy LeTourneau February 16, 2017 6:42 PM
Donald Trump told a lot of lies in his press conference today. I’ll leave all of that unpacking for the fact-checkers. But let’s pretend that, rather than holding a press conference, Trump was sitting in a psychiatrist’s office for the purpose of having his mental health assessed. In order to meet the criteria of having Narcissistic Personality Disorder, he would have to have demonstrated at least five of the following criteria. Let’s see how he did.
1. Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
If you remember, at the Republican National Convention, Trump laid out his view of a dystopian America and then said, “Only I can fix it.” Today, he said that we’re becoming a drug-infested nation and “we’re not going to let it happen anymore.” In talking about companies that have said they’ll keep jobs in the U.S., he said that if he hadn’t been elected, they would have left.
2. Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it.
“There has never been a presidency that has done so much in such a short amount of time.”
3. Exaggerate your achievements and talents.
In mentioning that he won 306 electoral votes, Trump said that was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan.
4. Preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate.
On a couple of occasions he referred to the Rasmussen poll stating that his approval rating is at 55% – ignoring all other polls showing him at less than 40%. Trump also suggested that he is assembling one of the greatest cabinets in American history.
5. Believe that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people.
In referring to the 9th Circuit – which continued the stay on his travel ban – he said that it was a “bad decision by a circuit that has been overturned a record number of times. I’ve heard 80%….I think that circuit is in chaos and frankly in turmoil.”
clay
Breaking: https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/832427411056771072
If this is on Fox News, of all places, then the slow drips are going to be coming more quickly.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Happy B-day to Mom. I miss my mommy.
tobie
@rikyrah:
I’ve been wondering–god knows why!–what Trump’s inner circle was thinking as they were sitting in the first row during the press conference. What can be going through the head of Jared Kushner or Mike Pence? Are they thinking, “Wow, the boss is showing us how it’s done,” or “This is crazy, but it’s a great buildup to the rally on Saturday and our supporters are so ape-shit crazy that they love this performance from the old coot”? Or are they dying inside? Do they have that sinking feeling when you see someone flailing and making an ass of himself, but who remains convinced he’s winning? I dunno. Maybe I’m attributing a conscience to these people which they don’t have. Were I in their shoes, I’d be sick to my stomach trying to put on a good face while seeing the ignorance and incompetence on display.
Elizabelle
@clay: they’re trying to protect and save future president Pence.
tobie
@Elizabelle: I also don’t buy the line “allowed Pence to be lied to.” Trump can’t keep his mouth shut. Pence knew as far as I’m concerned.
rikyrah
Natalie Moore: Heroin policies reveal racism of drug laws
Natalie Moore
Follow @natalieymoore
Back in the 1980s when crack cocaine captured the nation’s attention, black women morphed as the face of the drug. Their womanhood was stripped and they became derided as “crack hoes.” The story line rife with stereotypes asserted these women would sell the soul of their babies for one hit on the crack pipe. Just like Reagan-era welfare queens, they were shiftless and trifling.
We know that crack cocaine did not cause instant addiction as suggested at the time. We know a lot more about effects of the drug, much of which was stoked by fears a generation ago. The drug devastated black communities across the U.S. because the crack trade itself produced violence and entered urban areas at a time of disinvestment.
The public policy response created racial disparities in sentencing for cocaine and crack. Cocaine was seen as white and decadent while crack was the depraved black drug. The logic was that crack users and dealers morally failed and needed to be locked up longer because crack was categorized as worse.
I’ve considered the racialization of drugs now that heroin is in the public eye with a new face: young, white and suburban. Today, heroin is cheaper and no longer an end-of-the-line drug. It can be snorted and is sometimes more accessible than prescription drugs.
Heroin-related deaths are up in places like DuPage and Will counties. I hear thoughtful responses from law enforcement. I’ve seen task forces on heroin. Education and treatment are the focus. Compassion is guiding public policy.
None of that is wrong.
But it’s hard not to remember the black bodies locked up and lost because their lives didn’t have value in the crack era. African Americans were criminalized.
Illinois is now taking a different approach with heroin, emphasizing public health, which has been seen as a model for other states. The state Heroin Crisis Act, among other actions, provides insurance coverage to all medication to treat opioid use and amends drug court programs to keep users in treatment and out of jail. The Good Samaritan Law says if you witnesses a drug overdose and seek medical help, you’re immune from prosecution. The user is immune, too. Another law allows lay people to administer opioid reversal drugs.
For years Kathie Kane-Willis advocated better drug policies through her work at the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University. And not because of the recent heroin epidemic. But she’s learned a key detail around advocacy.
“Race matters. It really does in terms of public policy solutions. I don’t think you could’ve changed any legislation if only focused on black folk,” said Kane-Willis, who is now director of policy and advocacy for the Chicago Urban League.
“And when people see whites suffering they are more likely to be emphatic. It’s harder to ‘otherize’ them. They are friends, neighbors, sisters, brothers, children in the white communities,” she said.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: B-day wishes for your mum.
rikyrah
@liberal:
Still waiting on her press conference…
tee hee hee
rikyrah
The Pentagon cannot find any records approving Flynn’s 2015 trip to Moscow for a paid Russian state TV event: https://t.co/XzaIuQLX1q
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) February 17, 2017
laura
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Dana ain’t gonna grow a pair BillinGlendale, he’s going to hike up his skirt and run away like the Brave Sir Robin that he’s always been. Dana needs to be voted out of Office ;-)
Also, have you battened down your hatches? It’s going to come down like a cow pissing on a flat rock today. Hold on to your hat!
FlipYrWhig
@Elizabelle:
BTW, Trump’s football league, the USFL, ended in bankruptcy and recrimination and the few reasonable people left in the league by the end blamed Trump for killing it.
hovercraft
@Kay:
There is an element of that, but I think it’s deeper than that, they are popular and respected, he is not. He’s trying to get some of that popularity to rub off on him. The problem is the people he’s bragging to about
knowing” them actually hate the Obamas. He hates them in the way a person hates someone who they envy, Barrack and Michelle have accomplished so much based on merit, they earned their success through smarts and hard work, no one gave them anything. They did their jobs as First Lady and President, well and made it look effortless, so much so that a moron thought that he and his wife could just slide right in to replace them and have the same accolades. For all that he slams Obama, he knows that people like, admire, and respect him, they think of him as a successful president, people love him for who he is and what he actually accomplished, Obama didn’t have to lie and make shit up. Obama has been living rent free in the Shitgibbons mind ever since the WHCD when he exposed him for the moron he is. Now even after bamboozling a large portion of the country into voting for him, what should be his crowning achievement is turning into a nightmare. Turns out that being president is hard, you have to know shit and do shit. If only someone had explained this too him before hand, he would have taken one of the exit ramps he created for himself, he could have bowed out with his fans clamoring for him to stay the course and been a hero forever. But he didn’t and now he is being exposed in front of the entire world as a moron and he is failing most spectacularly in public.
SAD !
zhena gogolia
@liberal:
People are locked in their closets all day. I heard it on teevee yesterday.
I want to say (1) Why is this any business of the president’s and (2) if it is, where’s the gun control?
Elizabelle
@FlipYrWhig: Yes. That’s another cherry atop that whole edifice of hot air constructed by Trump with the able assistance of the FTFNYT.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@laura: You’re probably right about Brave Sir Dana, SAD. Yes, I’m ready for the storm; I think. The wind’s been blowing all night and the rain started about a hour ago.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@hovercraft: Prezidening is hard.
George W. Bush
Elizabelle
@?BillinGlendaleCA: take some good pictures.
Your dogs ask that you find an alternative door for them to go outside. Do not want to get the pink sweater wet.
rikyrah
LOL
17 types of Aunts in Black families
hovercraft
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m finding it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that his people are dumb eough to think telling the world that his 77 minutes televised tantrum was cathartic for him, and so even if we didn’t appreciate it, it made him feel better. This is not fucking little league, you don’t get a participation trophy for saying words in front of cameras. The entire world saw the president of the United States go on TV and have a meltdown, he lied about everything, they know he lied, the only people who may not believe he lied are his idiot supporters. What world leader is going to trust or believe anything he says to them, where is he going to find a sanctuary when he goes overseas? There will be protests, the media will be hostile, how will he cope? This was his honeymoon, it only gets harder from here, the press bent over backwards to give him the benefit of the doubt, but now even they seem to have had it with his bullshit. He thinks this is hostile, he aint seen nothing yet.
Contrary to republicans belief, governing period is hard, just ask John Boehner, Paul Ryan and now Mitch McConnell, talk is cheap, now that they have the power to govern, they are just standing around* holding their dicks. All those promises they made are coming back too haunt them.
Karma she is a bitch.
* I know they are passing lots of odious things, but the big ticket items they promised are proving to be a problem.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@liberal:
Shep Smith has always been sort of the house “liberal” at Fox, i.e., conservative but not unhinged. And not “liberal” in the usual Fox sense of being there only to serve as a punching bag.
liberal
@Steeplejack (tablet): Thanks for the 411.
NotMax
Small earthquake about 5 minutes ago. Strong enough rolling motion to rock the whole cottage on its piers.
SiubhanDuinne
@OzarkHillbilly:
Not Kushner, but Eric Trump. Anne Laurie FP’d it last night in her 11:00 pm Late Night Open Thread. Here’s the Politico link: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicagarrison/trump-winery-seeks-even-more-foreign-workers?utm_term=.pd8ZmOrg5#.agvGMDmgZ
laura
@rikyrah: Your Aunties are Soooo much cooler than mine!
I did an inventory and came up with 5, including the Auntie who scares everyone but her exhusband, the cool Auntie who uses your visit as an excuse to make cookies, the Auntie who pkays favorites (and depending in which side, you can either do no right, ir no wrong), the wise counsel Auntie and the crazy Auntie who cuts through the family like a seam-ripper.
clay
@bemused:
That may be true, but it also means he’s bled 20% of his voters. And I really doubt he’s picked up support from elsewhere. Good luck with that re-election campaign!
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: Ha! Love it!
Elie
@Baud:
..And this will continue… “by their fruits we shall know thee” —
While there is suffering ahead, their will be an unavoidable reckoning for the Republicans and unfortunately we will all get hurt. It will take a little time to evolve, but there will be no escape. I try to think of what we can do to save our country during what will be a very difficult surgery to carve out our disease from healthy parts… how do we get healthy again even as we are diverse and decentralized. How do we communicate “WE” effectively?