Today has been "one of those days". I slept late and then spent play time with my three cats which was very relaxing. It was hard to tear myself away from my furballs, but I did. After our play time I spent several hours at the local hospital visiting some of our church members who are on my pastoral care list. One lady, who I call my second mum, did not look like herself at all when I first went in, but that soon changed and we had a wonderful visit talking a lot about her oldest grandson who was in my Sunday School class 20 years ago. This weekend, I will be visiting my mother and hoping Patty Monster does not kick my butt at Fantasy Football!
Short Takes
CBC — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named his earliest and staunchest supporter in the Senate, conservative Republican Jeff Sessions, to become the next U.S. attorney general, triggering an outcry from civil rights groups as well as some conservatives outside Congress who are uneasy about Sessions' positions.
Sessions is one of three senior leaders Trump has appointed to his national security and law enforcement teams, including Representative Mike Pompeo as CIA director and retired Lt.-Gen. Mike Flynn as national security adviser.
If approved for the job by a simple majority in the Republican-dominated Senate, Sessions, 69, would lead the Justice Department and the FBI. He brings a record of controversial positions on race, immigration and criminal justice reform that Democrats may target.
OMG!!! or WTH(F)!!! Can there be any other first reaction to Trump's choice of Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General? Sessions has a reputation as an unabashed racist. From Wikipedia:
"In 1986, Reagan nominated Sessions to be a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. … At Sessions' confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, four Department of Justice lawyers who had worked with Sessions testified that he had made several racist statements in the context of the Marion Three case. One of those lawyers, J. Gerald Hebert, testified that Sessions had referred to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as "un-American" and "Communist-inspired" because they "forced civil rights down the throats of people"."
Sessiions has 4 years left in his Senate term which as I understand means that Alabama will appoint another person (read Republican) to complete the term or run a byelection. In 2014, Sessions ran essentially uncontested and received 97.25% of the vote, while in 2008 he received 63.36%, far ahead of his Democrat opponent. I think we should have concerns over civil rights investigations and prosecutions. Click through for the rest of the article.
Daily Kos — Irish Senator Aodhán Ó Riordáin opened the upper house of the Irish legislature (Seanad Éireann) with a statement about the United States’ election of Donald Trump. Mr. Riordáin was responding to the hypocritical congratulatory reactions from fellow Irish politicians. Riordáin opened by quoting the Irish statesman, Edmund Burke.
The only way evil can prosper if for good men to do nothing.
It is good to know that other countries are looking at Trump's ascendancy to POTUS and recognising it for what it is . . . a fascist takeover of the US government. Il Duce Trump.
Fiscal Times (MSN) — Throughout the presidential election, now-President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to undo the financial service industry reforms contained in the Dodd-Frank Act. The Trump transition team’s website makes it clear that the issue hasn’t been forgotten, saying that Trump will work to “dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act and replace it with new policies.”
In an appearance on Capitol Hill Thursday, Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen delivered her verdict on the suggestion: bad idea.
Yellen was delivering regularly scheduled testimony before the Joint Economic Committee when she was asked by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) for her thoughts on the law that placed new restrictions on the financial services industry in the wake of the financial crisis that led to the Great Recession.
Although Yellen does not mention Trump by name, she responds to his proposal to gut financial regulations (Dodd-Frank), she is very clear that this will send the country into a deeper recession than 2008, and we all know how that turned out. Thank goodness Sanders and Warren are still strong in the Senate. Although I have not specifically heard anything, it would not surprise me find that Richard Cordray of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau becomes "unemployed", unfortunately.
Daily Beast — John Oliver, like most liberal comedians, did his damnedest to prevent Donald Trump and Mike Pence from reaching the White House. He tore apart the former reality-show host for bragging about sexually assaulting women, explained how his scandals were far worse than Hillary Clinton’s, and even offered up his Emmy to Trump if he’d deliver a concession speech and ensure a peaceful transfer of power upon losing.
Well, Trump managed the unthinkable: He won. He is now the president-elect. And Oliver, like more than half of Americans who cast their ballot, is shocked and terrified.
“It’s true! That happened!” he exclaimed. “It turns out, instead of showing our daughters that they could someday be president, America proved that no grandpa is too racist to become leader of the free world.”
We can always count on John Oliver for some good commentary. He is so spot on!
My Universe — I don't know the story behind all of these pictures, and a few may well have been staged, but just the thoughts of what is happening, people helping other people or animals is enough to give one hope. Click through for the remainder.
Jacqueline Kiplimo, the world-class marathon runner, slowed for several miles to help a disabled man drink. She sacrificed the $10,000 prize for finishing first.
4 Responses to “Squatch’s Open |Thread 18/11/2016”
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CBC: Well, he's got Priebus-CoS, Bannon-chief strategist, and now Sessions-AG, Flynn-NSA, Kansas Rep Pompeo-CIA director, all of whom are sided with the devil. What a clusteer. ugh!! None have the 'B's' to speak out for the injustices, and they bow down to pander, and lick his boots. Sickening.
DK: Kudos to Mr. Riordáin for speaking out!
FT/MSN: Gulp!
DB: John explained everything that we think of on a daily basis….spot on! Yea…wtf??!
MU: We need to do this every day, it comes from the Heart, and doesn't cost a thing. Compassion, and love for our fellow man.
You sound like you've been busy! My V/H clinics are done for another year, helping with the shelter, and dinners for needy families this Thanksgiving. Sure hope you have a nice weekend, it's cold here! Take care, and Thanks, Lynn.
You must feel like your old self again, Lynn, because you're as busy as of old too. Have a good visit with your mum.
CBC: Like CBC our national news were not shying away from calling Jeff Sessions what he is: a racist and a bigot. And then they went on to show how racist, bigoted, xenophobic and plain terrible Drumpf's choices for his cabinet are and what they also have in common: they are mostly older angry white males, you know, those GOP establishment types. Of course that is going to bring about a lot of change, for all those other angry white men, I suppose. What were those younger, educated white males, the women, Latino's and other minority voters thinking when they voted for Drumpf?
DK: Kudos for brave and outspoken Aodhán Ó Riordáin for this powerful speech. I'm afraid that while many countries see Drumpf through the same eyes as Mr. Ó Riordáin, their mostly right wing leaders, like my own PM Rutte, happily gloss over it in the interest of The Economy. Angela Merkel was one of the few who clearly drew the boundaries of the cooperation Germany offered America. The Irish government clearly had not.
FT: Yellen is no fool and enough of a politician to tread carefully, but of course she acknowledges the risk (I'd call it "certainty") of another financial crisis when the Dodd-Frank act is abolished. In his last ad before the election, Drumpf spoke out against the Jewish influence on finances/banking and mentioned Yellen by name, but has said that she can "stay on" as Federal Reserve Board Chair for the remainder of her term until 2018, but given her position on his financial policy I think this really means even he as President can't fire her. Apparently the same doesn't hold for those working directly for the CFPB, which we can expect to be dismantled as soon as Drumpf gets a chance, as it stands in the way of the many shady deals he has forged in the past and the many he will continue forging while in the White House.
DB: Thanks for giving me John Oliver's reflections on what's happened, Lynn. It doesn't really make me feel any better about it, but he expresses so well what most of us here have been thinking, and feeling, since November 8. Let's hope he'll be able to continue to do so, and keeps shaking us awake when we nod off, but he must be top-ranking on Drumpf's list of people to sue. He can't sue, of course, but he can make life so difficult for Oliver's bosses that he'll have them say "You're fired" very soon.
MU: Great. We'll need many more of these glimmers of hope in the coming months and years. I hope there's enough of it out there to counteract all the ugliness coming at us.
CBC – Every one of Trump's appointees to date has been a disaster. Every one. Does anyone expect anything else? This is why I and others caution against giving in to the temptation to normalize. It would be so easy to say, Oh, my God, another one, and move on. Try not to. There are petitions out there.I assume we are all getting them in emails. Here's one: http://action.foe.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=20699&okay=true
Here's another: http://site.pfaw.org/site/SPageNavigator/action.html?survey_id=11522
DKos – I read this over there – it made me want to be Irish. But I do have one Scottish great grandparent, and they also speak Gaelic, so I am going to use that as my justification for using the Gaelic phrase "Póg mo thóin." (Kiss my unmentionable body part) I expect to be using it a lot.
MSN – Good for Janet Yellen. I am pretty sure I read in a Daily Kos Elections Digest that Cordray has been mentioned as a possibility for elective office (he was the attorney general of Ohio before he took over the CFPB. I assume we would want to support him for that.
John Oliver – Perfect description of the election "I thought I wanted it to be over but…" So, (Trump) repeatedly used his platform to spread misinformation – and that is different from Reagan how? Remember "welfare queens"? I must say John has a great handle on organizations which are going to be on the front lines. I might add SPLC, PFAW, Vote Vets, and Faithful America, Social Security Works, Center for Medicare Advocacy, for niche issues (and Giving Tuesday is coming). I did love the denouement of the tribute, and I believe Beethoven would have approved. He was pretty progressive.
Universe – I remember seeing that too. But I don't remember details, sorry.
Playing with cats is a praiseworthy pursuit. Patty Monster is notorious for doing that.
Sessions might as well wear his sheet and hood on the Senate floor. See my open thread for more on Flynn.
Kudos to Ó Riordáin!
I doubt that Yellin's opposition will stop Fuhrer Drumphenfarten.
Amen Squatch and Oliver.
Way cool! Trump hates love, but love trumps hate.