By Dennis Hartley
Pre-Twitter: Nixon used to wander the White House in the wee hours, drunk as a skunk, talking to paintings of dead presidents.
At least he kept those 3 am ramblings to himself, God bless ‘im:
The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2017
Trump really needs a new hobby. Maybe he can learn to play the sax.
By Dennis Hartley
Michael Moore called it (again). From my 2016 Trumpland review:
It was clearly Moore’s intention that Trumpland (filmed October 7 and released a scant 2 weeks afterwards) would ideally be seen by as many people as possible before November 8. However, he was careful to cover all his bases. If there is one consistency about Michael Moore’s films, it is that they are prescient…and already, I can identify at least one nail he hit squarely on the head.
This comes in the form of another speculative scenario Moore lays out, this one for Trump supporters to envision, should the election go their way. Moore assures them that he feels their pain; as a fellow Midwesterner from a manufacturing town in neighboring Michigan, he “gets” the frustrations that have been building up within the ranks of a certain white, working-class demographic, why they are feeling squeezed out, and why Trump might appear to be their savior.
Suddenly, in a wonderfully theatrical flourish, Moore seems to shape-shift into a Trump voter. He talks about how they are going to feel on Election Day, how incredibly empowering it will be to put that “x” in the Trump box on their ballot card. It’s going to be the “…biggest ‘fuck you’ ever recorded in human history” when their boy takes the White House. “It’s going to feel REAL good,” Moore assures them, “for about…a week.” Uh-oh. “A week?” What’s he mean by that?
It will kind of be like Brexit, Moore explains after a suitable dramatic pause to let things soak in. Remember how eager the Brexit supporters were to shake things up in their country, and give a big “fuck you” to Europe? Sure, they “won”. But then, buyer’s regret set in. There was even a desperate stab to petition for a re-vote, spearheaded by many of the very people who supported it!
OK, so maybe Trump voters haven’t quite reached that stage yet, but they will. Their soon-to-be Fearless Leader is sending up oodles of red flags with kleptocratic cabinet appointment after kleptocratic cabinet appointment. Now, that seems to be in direct contradiction to his campaign stance as champion of the working class…d’ya think? So…just give them time (and pitchforks).
Well, at least one Trump voter has had an epiphany about the man who wrote The Art of the Con Deal. One down, 59,999,999 to go.
By Dennis Hartley
As the confirmation hearings continue for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, we’re getting wind of some interesting rulings he has made through the course of his judicial career. “Interesting” in the sense of giving us a glimpse of his character.
So far, it’s pointing south of “empathetic”. From Democracy Now:
One of the most riveting moments in the Gorsuch hearing occurred when Minnesota Senator Al Franken questioned Gorsuch about his ruling in a case involving a truck driver who got fired after he disobeyed a supervisor and abandoned his trailer that he was driving, because he was on the verge of freezing to death. The truck driver couldn’t drive off with the trailer, because the trailer’s brakes had frozen. In the case, Judge Gorsuch cast the sole dissent ruling in favor of the trucking company against the trucker.
[…]
SEN. AL FRANKEN: There were two safety issues here: one, the possibility of freezing to death, or driving with that rig in a very, very—a very dangerous way. Which would you have chosen? Which would you have done, Judge?
JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH: Oh, Senator, I don’t know what I would have done if I were in his shoes, and I don’t blame him at all, for a moment, for doing what he did do.
SEN. AL FRANKEN: But—but—but—
JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH: I empathize with him entirely.
SEN. AL FRANKEN: OK, just you’ve—we’ve been talking about this case. Don’t—you don’t—you haven’t decided what you would have done? You haven’t thought about, for a second, what you would have done in his case?
JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH: Oh, Senator, I thought a lot about this case, because I—
SEN. AL FRANKEN: And what would you have done?
JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH: I totally empathize and understand—
SEN. AL FRANKEN: I’m asking you a question. Please answer questions.
JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH: Senator, I don’t know. I wasn’t in the man’s shoes. But I understand why he did—
SEN. AL FRANKEN: You don’t know what you would have done.
JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH: I understand—
SEN. AL FRANKEN: OK, I’ll tell you what I would have done. I would have done exactly what he did.
JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH: Yeah, I understand that.
SEN. AL FRANKEN: I think everybody here would have done exactly what he did. … It is absurd to say this company is in its rights to fire him because he made the choice of possibly dying from freezing to death or causing other people to die possibly by driving an unsafe vehicle. That’s absurd. Now, I had a career in identifying absurdity, and I know it when I see it. And it makes me—you know, it makes me question your judgment.
He seems nice. While that case is getting a lot of press, it’s only part of a larger pattern that emerges when you study his past. Corporate America will have a real SCOTUS bud in Neil Gorsuch; because they can rest assured they won’t lose any more of those $400 handcarts:
By Dennis Hartley
Last night, the Great White Father in Washington decreed before a joint session of Congress that there is a new sheriff in town:
(from The Independent UK)
Donald Trump will form a new agency to publish a regular list of all crimes committed by immigrants.
During a speech markedly softer in tone than his inauguration address, in which he dialed back his trademark brash rhetoric, he revealed that he would set up a special agency for “immigrant crime”.
The agency is expected to publish a weekly list of all crimes committed by what it terms “aliens”.
That does not seem to refer only to undocumented migrants – suggesting that anyone who has moved to the US could find their name on the public list.
Audible groans greeted the President’s announcement, during a speech that was mostly met with applause from lawmakers.
“I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American Victims,” he said in the speech.
“The office is called VOICE — Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement. We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media, and silenced by special interests.”
He went on to list a number of people who he claimed had been killed by immigrants that he would have banned from the country.
“A weekly list of all crimes” Hmm. Sounds awfully familiar:
The headline above roughly translates to: “Jewish Murder Plan Against Gentile Humanity Exposed”. Der Sturmer was the weekly Nazi tabloid founded in 1923. It was the brainchild of Julius Streicher, who was tried, convicted and executed for crimes against humanity in Nuremberg after the war. The paper regularly issued tallies on alleged crimes committed by Jews against Gentile German citizens; with names, dates, and descriptions that were limited only by Streicher’s fevered imagination. Fake news of the worst kind.
My heart went out to the grieving families of murder victims that the POTUS had stationed in the gallery expressly for this portion of his speech. However, as Digby Tweeted back to me after I observed that the manner in which Trump went on to exploit their pain went “beyond bad taste”, it was more aptly described as “grotesque”.
But it also got me to thinking about the way Trump put the emphasis on the word “Americans” in reference to the victims, as well as the specificity of his new agency’s moniker: “Victims Of Immigrant Crime Engagement”. Historically, there is only one group of Americans who can lay genuine claim to this victimhood. So let us take a moment to remember one of the American victims of “immigrant crime engagement”…
The body of Chief Big Foot at Wounded Knee, December 29, 1890
By Dennis Hartley
This is why I love the Scots…
Thank you Samantha Bee, and your brilliant entourage of writers and correspondents, for easing me through this nightmare without meds.
Related:
Forward, into the past: A timely reissue of Peter Watkins’ Culloden
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on February 4, 2017)
Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.
– James Baldwin, from The Fire Next Time (1963)
Last month, we celebrated the life of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., whose incredible example is unique in American history. You read all about Dr. Martin Luther King a week ago when somebody said I took the statue out of my office. It turned out that that was fake news. Fake news. The statue is cherished, it’s one of the favorite things in the — and we have some good ones. […]I am very proud now that we have a museum on the National Mall where people can learn about Reverend King, so many other things. Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I noticed.
– President Trump, from his Black History Month speech, 2017
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed
– Frederick Douglass (born ca. 1818, died 1895)
While he hasn’t been dead as long as Frederick Douglass has, I have a feeling that the late James Baldwin, who is the subject of Raoul Peck’s documentary I Am Not Your Negro will also be “recognized more and more” (you’ll notice). Specifically, anyone with half a brain who watches the film will recognize not only the beauty of Baldwin’s prose, but the prescience of his thoughts.
Both are on full display throughout Peck’s timely treatise on race relations in America, in which he mixes archival news footage involving the Civil Rights Movement, movie clips, and excerpts from Baldwin’s TV appearances with voice-over narration by an uncharacteristically subdued Samuel L. Jackson, who reads excerpts from Baldwin’s unfinished book, Remember This House.
Baldwin’s book (which he began working on in 1979) was to be a statement on the black experience, parsed through the lives (and untimely deaths) of Civil Rights icons Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Given Baldwin’s literary chops, and the fact he was personal friends with all three, and that each of these extraordinary individuals was working toward the same end but through different means, one can envision a classic in the making.
But it was not to be. By the time of his death in 1987, Baldwin had completed only 30 pages. So the director has essentially set out to “complete” Remember This House (or construct a viable facsimile), filling in the cracks with Baldwin’s own voice (via the TV interviews).
While occasionally arrhythmic to the film’s flow, Peck is on the money whenever he interjects images that connect the dots with the Black Lives Matter movement. Baldwin’s sharp sociopolitical observances have no expiration date, and speak for themselves. This is particularly evident in the television clips, where Baldwin (whose persona is an amalgam of Mark Twain and Lenny Bruce) always seems light years ahead of the hosts and fellow guests.
Peck also gets a lot of mileage (and truckloads of irony) from a wealth of TV and print advertising images that speak volumes as to how African-Americans have been viewed by our society over the decades. In this respect, Peck’s documentary recalls The Atomic Café; particularly when he digs up a 1950s corporate film with a rather unfortunate title (“Selling the Negro”) that offers up handy tips to marketers who want to reach African-American consumers.
Most fascinating to me are Baldwin’s deconstructions on traditionally lauded race-relation themed films like The Defiant Ones (1958) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967). He posits that, no matter how well-meant these and similar films were, they were produced by white liberals for other white liberals, who could pat themselves on the back for buying a ticket (he was defining “virtue signalling” before it had a name). Even more provocatively, he sees little difference between them and Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927).
Now that I think about it, Baldwin himself remains a cypher as credits roll, so it may have been unintentional misdirection to state at the top that the author himself is the “subject”, particularly if you’re expecting a straight-ahead biography. Neither is it “about” the Civil Rights Movement, although it is woven throughout. It’s worth noting that Baldwin (self-admittedly) was not a movement activist in the literal sense, but was committed in the literary sense (present as an observer, chronicler and deeply insightful social commentator).
I was left saddened that so many of Baldwin’s statements remain applicable to our current political climate. While we have made “some” progress in healing the racial divide since the assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., the all-too-easy and all-too-recent triumph of Trumpism indicates that the fear and ignorance that fed the ugliness of “those days” never went away.
We’ve still got a lot of work to do.
By Dennis Hartley
Well, let’s see how busy Donnie’s been on the Twitter this week:
Christians in the Middle-East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017
There is nothing nice about searching for terrorists before they can enter our country. This was a big part of my campaign. Study the world!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017
Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a BAN. Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2017
Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile.Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
In other words, he is continuing to plow forward with the unchecked megalomania of an 8 year-old old with the power to change reality, while all the adults who surround him kowtow in fear for their lives.
I’m sure we’ll be fine. It’s GOOD that he’s my president. Real good!
By Dennis Hartley
Just for giggles, let’s look at some of the developing news stories on this day before the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the POTUS:
New Gambian president sworn into office in Senegal as Gambia’s defeated longtime ruler refuses to step down. https://t.co/mlA1kli2e9
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2017
Oh, boy.
Mideast expects big changes under Trump, by @perry_dan and @bklapperAP. https://t.co/3372tflCCv
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2017
Aw, jeez.
Already reeling, Mexico fears it has much to lose with Trump. https://t.co/aE5L2DyLXR
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2017
Ay, cabron.
UPDATE: Pentagon says is prepared for threat posed by North Korea; declines to comment on @Reuters report of possible missile test
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 19, 2017
Oh god.
Trump has officially completed the selection of his Cabinet. Here are his picks: https://t.co/6nqEpWb6u7 via @ReutersGraphics pic.twitter.com/a3T6g5CZns
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 19, 2017
Oh, fuck…
PHOTOS: Donald Trump, wife Melania arrive in Washington ahead of Friday’s inauguration. https://t.co/09bp9rWymI https://t.co/ZTSAcxb9Ei
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2017
…this is no dream, this is really happening, isn’t it? I feel safe. You?
“Ignorance is king. Many would not profit by his abdication. Many enrich themselves by means of his dark monarchy. They are his Court, and in his name they defraud and govern, enrich themselves and perpetuate their power. Even literacy they fear, for the written word is another channel of communication that might cause their enemies to become united. Their weapons are keen-honed, and they use them with skill. They will press the battle upon the world when their interests are threatened, and the violence which follows will last until the structure of society as it now exists is leveled to rubble, and a new society emerges. I am sorry. But that is how I see it.”
By Dennis Hartley
In anticipation of what may be in store for us, here are links to the resources likely to be more crucial than ever. Bookmark this post!
ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom
American Civil Liberties Union
Center for Democracy and Technology
Committee to Protect Journalists
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
You’re welcome.
* * * UPDATE 1/20/17 * * *
And so it begins:
(from People Politics)
The moment Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States at noon on Friday, the LGBT, climate change, health care, and civil liberties pages disappeared from the website of the brand new Trump White House.
Motherboard, VICE’s website focusing on science and technology, reported that the changes occurred at noon, when the Obama administration turned over the official White House website, whitehouse.gov, to the Trump team.
As I said: bookmark this page. Perhaps a screen capture, just in case?
By Dennis Hartley
Representative John Lewis has stated in an interview he did for Meet the Press that he will not be attending the presidential inauguration ceremonies on January 20, because he feels that Russian interference in the 2016 election nullifies the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s win. As we have come to expect, the President-elect Tweeted up a storm:
Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
“No action”? Really? You mean the same John Lewis in this photo?
Future Congressman John Lewis is the gentleman in the lower right of the photo, being “helped” to the ground by a policeman and his truncheon…that John Lewis? The John Lewis who marched with Dr. King, and put his own life and limb on the line for civil rights? OK.
While you’re at it, Mr. PEOTUS, are you sure you don’t want to throw in a jab at that gutless choker, Gandhi? Or that nasty overrated woman, Mother Theresa? Those people are just talk, talk talk! Sad!
Nice inspirational lead-in to MLK Day, Mr. PEOTUS! Stay classy!