Could be real - maybe not - don't care - it's awesome.
Oct 14, 2017
Oct 13, 2017
On Ryan Zinke
Charlie Pierce, Esquire Magazine:
As my grandmother and her sisters used to say, who the hell is this guy when he's at home? From The Washington Post:
A security staffer takes the elevator to the seventh floor, climbs the stairs to the roof and hoists a special secretarial flag whenever Zinke enters the building. When the secretary goes home for the day or travels, the flag — a blue banner emblazoned with the agency’s bison seal flanked by seven white stars representing the Interior bureaus — comes down. In Zinke’s absence, the ritual is repeated to raise an equally obscure flag for Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt. Responding this week to questions from The Washington Post, a spokeswoman for Zinke, a former Navy SEAL commander, defended the Navy flag-flying tradition as “a major sign of transparency.”Oh, just shut up.
“Ryan Zinke is proud and honored to lead the Department of the Interior, and is restoring honor and tradition to the department, whether it’s flying the flag when he is in garrison or restoring traditional access to public lands,” press secretary Heather Swift said in an email.Tell your email to shut up, too.
Today's Tweet
I only wish I could believe this was a little farther from the truth
Trump: I said no kneeling during the anthem.— Dave Pell (@davepell) October 12, 2017
Me: I’m kneeling because I’m praying for the victims of the fire.
Trump: What fire?
Oct 12, 2017
Today's Tweet(s)
Rand Paul is the phoniest phony since polyester Christmas trees. Just get out, Senator - you'll feel a lot better about yourself, as will all of us.
Watch Rand Paul as President Trump enters the room. pic.twitter.com/yTzTc0Sy73— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) October 12, 2017
And then...
"Mr. President, you need to sign it" - @VP to Trump as he walks out without signing the executive order he was just announcing pic.twitter.com/zelT8bNU68— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) October 12, 2017
That's at least twice 45*'s managed to forget the reason he was in the fucking room in the first fucking place.
The Rage
Dara Lind, Vox:
When it comes to relationships with people, it turns out, Trump is even more mercurial. He blows up at even the people he generally has good relationships with, like Chief of Staff John Kelly; after one early eruption, according to Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, Kelly later told colleagues “that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country.”
But Trump never stays mad. Even the things that seem like permanent grudges, like his anger with Attorney General Jeff Sessions over Sessions recusing himself from the DOJ Russia probe, turn out to be tantrums that can be waited out. (According to Politico, Trump wanted Sessions fired, but his aides successfully used delaying tactics to keep it from happening.)
“Donald Trump never truly severs relationships. There is always a dialogue,” confidant Chris Reddy told Politico.
It’s worth thinking through the consequences of what that means. Trump blows up at everyone around him as a matter of course, but he also doesn’t expect those things to damage his relationships permanently. He expects the people he interacts with to understand that he doesn’t really hate them even though he yells at them — to absorb the abuse as simply part of the job, and move on.
The profile of a bully is almost always rife with cycles of Calm and then Rage and then Calm again - does the phrase "calm before the storm" ring a bell? It should.
And what makes it all the more scary is that bullies (ie: abusers) almost always have a kind of likability to them that makes it difficult for victims to separate fully.
I know, it's all a big-ass cliché, but that just means it's old and obvious, not untrue.
This doesn't get better for a while.
When it comes to relationships with people, it turns out, Trump is even more mercurial. He blows up at even the people he generally has good relationships with, like Chief of Staff John Kelly; after one early eruption, according to Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, Kelly later told colleagues “that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country.”
But Trump never stays mad. Even the things that seem like permanent grudges, like his anger with Attorney General Jeff Sessions over Sessions recusing himself from the DOJ Russia probe, turn out to be tantrums that can be waited out. (According to Politico, Trump wanted Sessions fired, but his aides successfully used delaying tactics to keep it from happening.)
“Donald Trump never truly severs relationships. There is always a dialogue,” confidant Chris Reddy told Politico.
It’s worth thinking through the consequences of what that means. Trump blows up at everyone around him as a matter of course, but he also doesn’t expect those things to damage his relationships permanently. He expects the people he interacts with to understand that he doesn’t really hate them even though he yells at them — to absorb the abuse as simply part of the job, and move on.
The profile of a bully is almost always rife with cycles of Calm and then Rage and then Calm again - does the phrase "calm before the storm" ring a bell? It should.
 |
| 45* teasing a cliffhanger while those around him try hard to pretend they're not praying for a well-placed malignant tumor |
There's also a very pronounced element of Punching Down and Failing Up - or at least Failing Forward.
And what makes it all the more scary is that bullies (ie: abusers) almost always have a kind of likability to them that makes it difficult for victims to separate fully.
I know, it's all a big-ass cliché, but that just means it's old and obvious, not untrue.
This doesn't get better for a while.
Pushing Back
Brandon Carter, The Hill:
“Local 100 filed charges with Region 16 of the NLRB against the Dallas Cowboys to stop owner, Jerry Jones, from threatening players with benching or termination for exercising their right to concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act,” its post read.
“Sorry, Jerry, you’re over the line, partner. Workers have rights!”
I spent a good buncha time hatin' on unions. I was (mostly) wrong.
Beyond their valuable economic contributions, Unions serve a very important function in the structure of Checks & Balances - holding powerful people accountable.
Yeah yeah, I know - 27-year-old millionaires aren't exactly the downtrodden proletariate. But that's kinda the point - if they can be squashed, it sends a very loud, very clear signal to the rest of us that we'd better shut up, stay in line, and do what we're told.
We have to push back against the Daddy State. Unions help us do that.
“Sorry, Jerry, you’re over the line, partner. Workers have rights!”
I spent a good buncha time hatin' on unions. I was (mostly) wrong.
Beyond their valuable economic contributions, Unions serve a very important function in the structure of Checks & Balances - holding powerful people accountable.
Yeah yeah, I know - 27-year-old millionaires aren't exactly the downtrodden proletariate. But that's kinda the point - if they can be squashed, it sends a very loud, very clear signal to the rest of us that we'd better shut up, stay in line, and do what we're told.
We have to push back against the Daddy State. Unions help us do that.
Today's Burning Question
It can take me a while to catch up with some of this stuff:
If the "fucking moron" thing was fake news, why did 45* feel the need to challenge Tillerson to an IQ duel?
If the "fucking moron" thing was fake news, why did 45* feel the need to challenge Tillerson to an IQ duel?
A Conversation
Bob Reich talks a little with a former Congress Critter:
It's heating up. Critical mass is not imminent (I think), but the pressure that gets focused on the Presidency usually has a dramatic effect on people. And 45* is not the kind of guy who gets thru this - not when his instinct is always to bunker-in and take shots at everybody he thinks isn't completely on his side. hat just means he runs out of "friends" in a big hurry, which means he can't be used the way the GOP thought they could, so why keep him around?
Right now, they're still thinking they can get a few things done (ie: Tax Cuts) while our attention is diverted by Russia and Climate Disasters and all the chaff that accompanies the early morning tantrum tweets.
So we wait.
Right now, they're still thinking they can get a few things done (ie: Tax Cuts) while our attention is diverted by Russia and Climate Disasters and all the chaff that accompanies the early morning tantrum tweets.
So we wait.
Making A List
..and checking it twice.
Amy Siskind:
Week 47: Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.
October 7, 2017
Amy Siskind:
Week 47: Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.
October 7, 2017
- This was a dark week for our country, with the unfolding humanitarian crises in Puerto Rico and USVI, and the deadliest mass shooting in modern history in Las Vegas. Trump’s tin-ear and lack of empathy to these events were conspicuous in his ominous “calm before the storm” statement Thursday.
- Amid the chaos, major stories broke on Kushner and Ivanka’s use of personal email accounts, all of which were surreptitiously moved to a Trump Organization server. Mueller’s Russia probe continued full-steam, and news of a meeting with Christopher Steele indicated the dossier is likely being used as a roadmap. As with every weekly list, this week rights and protections were taken away from women and marginalized communities.
- Despite the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, for a second weekend since Maria hit, Trump golfed Saturday and Sunday at Trump properties. DoD reported Saturday just 45% have drinking water and 5% have electricity.
- Late Saturday, the WH sent flattering readouts of Trump’s conversations with a former governor of Puerto Rico, and the governors of Puerto Rico and USVI. Readouts are typically reserved for calls with foreign leaders.
- Trump sent his most tweets in a day since taking office on Saturday (25): continuing his manufactured battle with the NFL, and his attacks on the fake news and the Mayor of San Juan.
- On Saturday, after his first tour of Puerto Rico, top general Jeffrey Buchanan, the DoD’s primary military liaison with FEMA, said the damage there is “the worst I’ve ever seen.”
- Fourteen Democrats on the House Natural Resources Comm called for an oversight hearing on the Trump regime’s handling of the Puerto Rico and USVI relief efforts.
- On Sunday night, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, one man who owned 47 guns killed 58 and wounded hundreds. Trump said the quick response of law enforcement was “in many ways, a miracle.”
- In the aftermath of the shooting, top trending stories on Facebook and Google promoted politicized fake news from unreliable sources like 4chanwhich claimed the shooter was a Democrat opposed to Trump.
- While refusing to the call the white male shooter a terrorist, Trump referred to him as “a very sick man” and “demented.” The first bill Trump signed revoked Obama-era gun check for people with mental illness.
Oct 11, 2017
Keith
Welcome to our nation's capital, and thank you for flying Swamp Thing Airlines.
Enjoy your perks.
Oct 10, 2017
Refresher
A little more on the protests going on during the anthem before football games.
Here's Mike Ditka providing further proof of the latent manifestation of brain injury symptoms a player can display after nearly a lifetime of taking blows to the head.
“All of a sudden, it’s become a big deal now, about oppression,” Ditka told Jim Gray on Westwood One’s pregame show ahead of the Bears’ “Monday Night Football” loss to the Vikings. “There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of. Now maybe I’m not watching it as carefully as other people.”
Or maybe he's showing the inner workings of the average GOP rube's mind, but that requires me to ask: How am I supposed to tell the difference?
So let's hear Tim Wise again as he tries to explain some of these things to us:
Here's Mike Ditka providing further proof of the latent manifestation of brain injury symptoms a player can display after nearly a lifetime of taking blows to the head.
“All of a sudden, it’s become a big deal now, about oppression,” Ditka told Jim Gray on Westwood One’s pregame show ahead of the Bears’ “Monday Night Football” loss to the Vikings. “There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of. Now maybe I’m not watching it as carefully as other people.”
Or maybe he's showing the inner workings of the average GOP rube's mind, but that requires me to ask: How am I supposed to tell the difference?
So let's hear Tim Wise again as he tries to explain some of these things to us:
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