Since the unholy advent of the Republican Rectum Reich, the term OGIM! has taken on an unprecedented air of putrefaction. Every week brings the question: to what new level of evil will the Nectarine Nincompoop Nazi take us this week? Am I the only one shuddering at the thought?
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 6:01 (average 8:18). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Robert Reich: Donald Trump has reorganized the National Security Council – elevating his chief political strategist Steve Bannon, and demoting the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Bannon will join the NSC’s principals committee, the top inter-agency group advising the President on national security.
Meanwhile, the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will now attend meetings only when “issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed,” according to the presidential memorandum issued Saturday.
Political strategists have never before participated in National Security Council principals meetings because the NSC is supposed to give presidents nonpartisan, factual advice.
But forget facts. Forget analysis. This is the Trump administration.
And what does Bannon have to bring to the table?
In case you forgot, before joining Donald Trump’s inner circle Bannon headed Breitbart News, a far-right media outlet that has promoted conspiracy theories and is a platform for the alt-right movement, which espouses white nationalism.
This is truly scary.
Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice calls the move “stone cold crazy.” Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who also served under George W. Bush, says the demotions are a “big mistake.”
Republican Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told CBS News, "I am worried about the National Security Council. … The appointment of Mr. Bannon is a radical departure from any National Security Council in history.” McCain added that the “one person who is indispensable would be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in my view.”
Here’s the big worry. Trump is unhinged and ignorant. Bannon is nuts and malicious. If not supervised by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, their decisions could endanger the world… [emphasis added]
The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. The Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, is insane. Unterfartenfuhrer Bannon is a Nazi. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: Calling it a “medical mystery of the first order,” scientists are baffled by the ability of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan to stand upright without the benefit of spines.
Doctors at the University of Minnesota Medical School, who have been studying the skeletal structures of both Republicans for months, believe that their ability to stand, walk, and even break into a brisk trot when confronted by reporters’ questions is “virtually inexplicable.”
“The fact that they can do these things without the aid of spines makes McConnell and Ryan anomalies in the animal kingdom,” said Dr. Davis Logsdon. “According to everything medical science teaches us, their bodies should be collapsing to the ground in two heaps.”
Spot-in, Andy!! In toilet trout fishing terms, Bought Bitch Mitch and Lyin’ Ryan are boneless browns!! RESIST!!
From Think Progress: Donald Trump’s executive order, which blocked all citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations and refugees from any nation from entering the United States, has drawn widespread criticism from the corporate world.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings called Trump’s order “unAmerican” and said it would “make America less safe (through hatred and loss of allies) rather than more safe.” Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield called Trump’s actions “gratuitously evil.” EBay CEO Devin Wenig said the executive order “fundamentally contradicts our company’s values and America’s values.”
Starbucks, however, is taking things a step further.
In an open letter, CEO Howard Schultz announced that, in response to Trump, Starbucks would hire 10,000 refugees.
Kudos to all these, and especially to Schultz of Starbucks. Let us remind each other, in this time that encourages unthinking knee jerking, that not all corporations, as well as all billionaires, are evil.
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread – 1/30/2017”
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7:17 How time flies when you're having fun.
Some petitions –
Muslim Ban
http://action.chrismurphy.com/page/s/ban-bill
https://www.alfranken.com/landing/e170130/
http://action.savethechildrenactionnetwork.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=20705
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/407/151/500/
Divestiture
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/provide-proof-the-president
Interesting stand Jeff Merkley is taking on the Supreme Court
http://www.jeffmerkley.com/petition/oppose-trump-scotus-nominee/e/
RR – I figured you would pick up on this. Yes, it is scary indeed. Is it scarier than anything else coming out of this "administration"? When everything is scary, it's tough to say. I am terrified all the time now.
TNY – Good satire, and certainly highlights the difference between a physical spine and a moral spine. Morally, they ARE collapsing in two heaps on the ground.
TP – Good for Starbucks. At least it's a little comforting to see how actual good people are reacting to this atrocity. Also, hence so many petitions above are on this.
Cartoon – January 30, 2017 – Gandhi's ideals murdered.
Gandhi's ideals were murdered 08 November 2016, IMO.
You are right, of course. But also every day thereafter. I just picked one.
RR: "Not incidentally, “America First” was the name of the pro-Nazi group led by Charles Lindbergh that bitterly fought FDR before U.S. entry into World War II to keep America neutral between Churchill’s Britain and Hitler’s Reich." The anti-Christ is knocking at our door. Very, very scary indeed!!!
NYer: Well said, well said, Andy!!! Truth for sure!
TP: What a weekend at the airports! Glad that the RESISTANCE is front & center of this in helping our immigrants and refugees to our land. Kudos to those (Starbucks, and officials), who stepped up and were vocal !!
Cartoon: A kind and gentle man"Mahatma", for the masses and downtrodden. " I remember my father respectfully speaking of him at the dinner table. "When he died, humanity wept."
I know that I can't speak for anyone, except myself, but I too, am shuddering at what dark-ink-few-gen will do this week. It won't be good, that's for sure. I guess we need to rest up, and RESIST all we can.
BTW…the song "One way ticket to Hell" by the Darkness is apropos for this administration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJiLuH9YUA
Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
* Joanne, I had signed most of them. Thank you for your links.
Oh, I almost forgot! Here's a link to Senators/Governors on the Muslim Ban…with comments.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hSGjyWJZIQJpGz4V2ftX_qioCgBtL59oJkkhx146nFE/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true
YVW, Pat, and thanks. I always figure there are people who have already received them, and sometimes there are people who avoid certain petition sites due to prior bad experiences. I never mean to twist anyone's arm, just to make them available.
Interesting to note that not one Dem supports the ban, and a number of Republicans oppose it.
Also, from The Guardian
RR: He's got Bannon, he's got Roger Ailes (sp?), he's got no brains, and Bannon is definitley his Rasputin! He's scolded two Republican lawmakers? From some of the things I've read, today, it appears that he is beginning to unpeel, I wish him all speed!
New Yorker: No spine, no balls, nothing that is culturally valuable, nothing that is humanly valuable, humans though they be! Boehner is no longer present, but that Orange Menace is just as guilty of being responsible for the present situation as McConnell and Ryan. Did you hear, or read, that Ryan characterized the U.S.A. s a compassionate country? If he felt a minute moment of compassion for anyone, anything, he would melt on the spot, just like the wicked Witch of the West!
TP: Good to see corporate entities and leaders coming out on this! The CEO of Chobani got some flack, months ago, after offering to hire Syrian refugees! Apparently, not one single Syrian has made one single terrorist attempt, of any sort, on American soil!
RESIST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Puzzle — 6:08 Damn, I never knew checkers were so difficult!
Robert Reich — Reich is correct. Drumpfenfarten is taking the world to the brink with his stupidity, paranoia and insanity. He's not making the US safer, only the global laughingstock.
Resist!!!
The New Yorker — Andy is doing straight reporting again!
Resist!!!
Think Progress — The executive order "which blocked all citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations and refugees from any nation from entering the United States" has accomplished a number of things. It has made the US less safe (the perpetrators of 9/11 were, for the most part Saudis who do not appear on the list), and it has galvanised large swaths of people around the world, including in the US, against Drumpfenfarten. Kudos to people like Howard Schultz who are standing up for what is right.
BTW, did you see the coverage of the Québec terrorist shooting of 11 Muslim men in a mosque during evening prayers in Québec City? Six were murdered and 5 wounded by a non Muslim man whose FB page showed agreement with Drumpf. In addition, to make matters worse, Drumpfenfarten's lackey, Sean Spicer, used this attack as a reason to justify the ban of Muslims — national security. There are more than a few problems with Spicer's view — the terrorist was non Muslim, and the event happened in another country. These idiots have to be gone. Where's Harry Potter's wand when you need it?
Resist!!!
Cartoon — A sad day! A man to be honoured by all. Mahatma Gandhi was the most Christ like man, and he was not Christian.
The Evil One, aka Drumpfenfarten, aka "the Nectarine Nincompoop Nazi " is soaring to new heights of evil, and it will only get worse, much worse. I read that he has made his intention to run in the 2020 presidential election known. I doubt he'll live that long, at least politically.
If I have time to read the lead article in the morning, I will. I am absolutely beat! Mother is hanging in — she's a fighter — but there is no such thing as "getting better" for her.
{{{HUG}}}!!! Hang-in there.
There is a very good article in The Guardian "To defeat Trump will take an extraordinary popular resistance" –
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/30/donald-trump-resistance-protests-travel-ban-opposition?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=211004&subid=9247245&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2 here's a portion…
"The temptation to dismiss Trump as an absurd buffoon persists; and with each appearance he feeds it. But this is a dangerous mistake. Consider the precedents – Hungary, for example – where opposition is not banned outright but has been delegitimised. Trump has created the fiction of widespread voter fraud to justify further voter suppression.
"American progressives are horrified by what is happening in their country, but they are also emboldened. They cite two reasons: the legacy of Bernie Sanders’ nomination campaign, and the anti-Trump Women’s March in Washington. Charles Lechner, who helped establish People for Bernie during the Democratic nomination race, says: “In every community you had people who came together to support Bernie: those relationships now exist; before they didn’t.” "
BTW there is a petition on a UK government website with nearly 1.75 MILLION signatures already asking the government not to ask Trump here on an official visit – if he meets the Queen he will never shut up about it and how it validates his reign – sorry, rule. It should be debated in Parliament with that many signatures. Theresa May has been called 'Theresa the Appeaser' by an MP, I believe – remember that weird photo of Trump leading her by the hand – or was it the nose?
BTW Boris Johnson MP (erstwhile Mayor of London) has said that people have to stop using Nazi analogies wrt Trump – his reasoning was unbelievably weak, even for him. It also shows which side he is on – I've always thought he was very 'Faragey' – this proves it.
Of course you're not the only one shuddering at the thought if what's to come this week, TomCat. But that will not stop you or any of us from keeping a level head and RESISTING, will it.
Robert Reich: Seems that the orange Hitler has his Goebbels, Himmler and Bormann all rolled into one in Bannon by giving him this promotion to National Security Council and demoting crucial others from it. Robert Reich is the next public figure to call Drumpf unhinged, ignorant to boot, and lending his ear to insane but malicious Bannon. The world can only hope that Kim Yong-Un doesn't have an equally dangerous "advisor" whispering in his ear. I wonder if Israel has already contacted Putin on this sickening move and how to prevent Da'esh from calling Drumpf's bluff.
TNY: M itch McConnell is a turtle, so he's got something similar to an exoskeleton to keep hum up and about and able to retract his body whenever the going gets tough and he no longer can match the alternate facts with his party's line. Paul Ryan can be classified as a shrimp, again with an exoskeleton and a brain that keeps him upright even in the eye of the most blatant truth. They rather let the world go up in flames than take action against a mad president who only represented the GOP in name only and now thinks he's emperor.
TP: Good to see CEO's speak out against the anti-Muslim and refugee ban. I don't think we'll ever see a follow-up on Starbucks' promise to hire 10,000 refugees in 75 countries over the next 5 years, but they were very brave to confront Drumpf with it directly in an open letter to him. Drumpf is probably tweeting right now, urging his followers to boycott these firms, but even if that would work and their stock would fall on Wall Street, they're likely to rebound with a big leap, just like Boeing did.
Cartoon: How come they always manage to assassinate the good guys and girls, but hardly ever the bad ones?
RESIST!
Because it's the bad ones doing the assassinating, and they protect their own.
Thanks all! Pooped hugs!