Suggested by Shaker Dreadful Invalid: "Are there any movies that were a big part of your childhood that are still enjoyable and relevant today?"
Ughhhhhhhhh
[Content Note: Violence.]
"Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defense."
This guy's nickname is "Mad Dog," and he has a history of talking about how much he loves killing people. He has said things like: "It's fun to shoot some people" and "It's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."
So, you know, everything's looking great.
*jumps into Christmas tree*
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
"The LA traffic was thick and my mind, as it does in heavy traffic, started to wander. I'm a comedy writer, but suddenly I was thinking up stories about post-apocalyptic worlds where women revolt and take over the planet. I started thinking about writing a song. Something that captured everything I was feeling. A love song, a fight song. Something to show the world that I was still with Her. I am her. The words flashed through my head. And suddenly, there on the 101 freeway, I was down the hole again. Tears streaming, sobs choking, heart breaking. The realization hitting me. I am Her."—Eirene Donohue, in a must-read piece that I suspect will resonate with a lot of readers here. It certainly did with me.
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Thing About Pence...
I did a little late night tweetstorming about Mike Pence last night, delineating some important things to understand about him, and what I can see as his influence in the incoming Trump administration, in order to fully comprehend all the dynamics at work.
For those who aren't on Twitter, or who are but missed it, I have Storified those tweets: "On Pence."
Keep your eyes on the veep, friends.
Election 2016 Fallout: On Resistance
Hi all. As a longtime Shaker, I'm delighted to be a new contributor to Shakesville! This space has been such an important resource both to my development as a progressive feminist over the years and during this past election. I'm so grateful to Melissa (and the contributor community) for welcoming me.
Over at my blog Fannie's Room, where I'll continue to write, I've been posting a series of Election 2016 Fallout pieces. It turns out, since November 8th, I haven't been able to stop writing, whether it's reactions to other people's reactions or analysis of issues I believe contributed to the results. Today, I explore the topic of resistance.
On resistance
[Content note: violence]
In about 18 years of being consciously, politically active as a resident first of a red state and then a blue state, the only time I've seen anything resembling the widespread despair that I, and perhaps many of you, witnessed on the morning of 11/9/16 was on 9/11/01.
On the evening of November 8th, 2016, right around the time Clinton lost what was an initial lead in Florida, I ordered myself a second cocktail at the restaurant where I was watching the results come in. I had hoped the evening would end in celebration, but I never once took the outcome for granted, despite the polls predicting a successful outcome for her.
During the day, I had been vaguely contemplating what an appropriate celebratory blog post might be. I had already seen some people on the anti-Clinton left expressing sneering disgust at the probability of the Clinton family being in the White House again. I could sense people priming those "Hillary's Win: No Victory For Real Feminism" pieces (to be written by non-feminists, of course, because why give any actual feminist writer a platform to discuss that topic).
As results started coming in for Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan, I felt a familiar sinking feeling as in 2000 and 2004, as I previously wrote.
I had another drink. I could see that the night's events were headed more in the direction of "AshaYara at the Kingsmoot" than "Daenerys at Astapor."
And then, I started drafting a post for the next day.
My wife watched the returns with devastation and all I could think to tell her was, "We lived through Bush, we can live through this." Although, I also know intellectually that we have no certainties. And, this: many people didn't live through Bush. Or Reagan. And, I think Trump will be worse than both.
I know, at least, that we can struggle. Or, perhaps, that I must.
In my eyes, the quest to defeat Trump and what he stands for has already begun. Inherent in this struggle is survival. As some in the media ask us to collectively fixate on the navels of angry white people, especially men, I think back to those early Trump rallies when the press would show security escorting anti-Trump protestors out. Trump would encourage violence against them and you could see it on the screen, his supporters cackling with glee in the background. "I'd really like to punch that guy," Trump would boast, while thousands of white faces laughed at their hateful avatar.
The part of me concerned with self-preservation tells me that these people laughed because Trump was acting out their violent fantasies, particularly against the politically correct, over whom Trump's win has become a symbolic victory.
I do not expect that people entertained by Trump's calls to violence will now be nicer to us with Trump in charge. No. They knew exactly what Trump is. It was part of his appeal. "We know what we're getting," they'd say. "He tells it like it is. That's why we love him." And so, on that basis, here is what I believe, via Liel Leibovitz:
"You should treat people like adults, which means respecting them enough to demand that they understand the consequences of their actions. Explaining away or excusing the actions of others isn’t your job. Vienna in the first decades of the 20th century was a city inflamed with a desire to better understand the motives, hidden or otherwise, that move people to action. Freud and Kafka, Elias Canetti and Karl Kraus, Stefan Zweig and Franz Werfel—these were the eminences who crowded the same cafés Siegfried and his musician friends most likely frequented. But while these beautiful minds struggled to understand the world around them, the world around them was consumed by simpler and more vicious appetites. Don’t waste any time, then, trying to understand: Then as now, many were amused by the demagogue and moved by his vile vision. Some have perfectly reasonable explanations for their decisions, while others have little to go on but incoherent rage. It doesn’t matter. Voters are all adults, and all have made their choices, and it is now you who must brace for impact. Whether you choose to forgive those, friends and strangers alike, who cast their votes so deplorably is a matter of personal choice, and none but the most imperious among us would advocate a categorical rejection of millions based on their electoral actions, no matter how irresponsible and dim. So while you make these personal calculations, remember that what matters now isn’t analysis: It’s survival."I will not begrudge those who do have empathy for, and who do forgive, Trump supporters. Those of us who are grieving will do so in our own ways.
I will also offer this: Consider the tragedy of mistaking for "economic anxiety" what could more accurately be attributed to cruelty. Simple, base cruelty. As anyone who's spent any time on the Internet knows, many people are mean at worst and indifferent to meanness at best. All Trump supporters (and those could have voted against him but didn't) may not be deplorables, but they at the very least through their indifference, enabled one to become the avatar of our nation. They overlooked bullying, name-calling, racism, sexism, sexual predation, calls to violence, and xenophobia.
It's hard for me to reconcile that indifference with the contrasting claim that we ought now to all just get along and tolerate all viewpoints, even those with which we disagree.
Are we really all that enlightened if we "empathize" ourselves out of existence when the violent Trump supporters and their indifferent enablers deem "identity politics" (ie - empathy for anyone unlike themselves) too much of a side issue to advocate for? The bigger, more important task now, for me, is to do what I can to protect my community, family, and self from the fallout.
Next steps?
Tangibly, I will continue to write. I will donate to social justice organizations. I will march in Washington. I will continue to have difficult conversations among my social networks. I will resist calls, from both the left and the right, to re-center and coddle the anger of white (cisgender, hetero) men in our political discourse when they are so rarely tasked with returning the favor.
And, I will remember:
"We do not fight solely because we want a particular outcome. We fight because we are worth fighting for. And the fight is important on all levels – for individual people, for what it communicates to our families and friends and communities, for how it changes rules and norms and structures and policies and laws. We fight for what the fight says about and means to us."We fight because we are worth fighting for. And I will fight with you. Stronger together. Still.
In solidarity.
Here's Some Stuff to Start Your Day!
A bunch of great pieces from various writers at Shareblue over the past couple of days...
Alison: "Trump's latest staffing picks bring the score to Swamp: 10 and Draining the Swamp: 0."
Tommy: "Choosing Tom Price exemplifies why we should expect the worst from Trump."
Me: "Schumer comes out swinging against Trump picks and GOP privatization plans."
Dianna: "Trump to embark on 'thank you' tour and keep avoiding the hard work of governing."
Me: "Loser Trump has lost much more than just the popular vote."
Dianna: "Trump's pledge to leave his 'great business' is just smoke and mirrors."
Tommy: "Trump breaks promise and sets perilous precedent with jobs deal."
Anthony: "Trump stands to violate a $180,000,000 federal contract on day one."
Me: "Warren lets loose on Trump for handing Treasury to Wall Street opportunist."
If you enjoy any or all of these pieces enough to share them on social media, please do! I know it's a damn lot of Trump reading, but at least you can count on us to be pushing back with equal parts fact and passion, as hard as we can.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker ivyceltress: "What book or TV show do you dream of inserting yourself into?"
Fact
After spending the day immersed in content about Trump's cabinet picks, this is the song stuck in my head. https://t.co/Gsdbbdg6W2
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) November 30, 2016
Rinse and repeat every day for the foreseeable future.
Recommended Reading
The New York Times Editorial Board: "Mr. Trump, Meet the Constitution."
Greg Sargent at the Washington Post: "Trump's Latest Announcement Doesn't Rein in the Possibility of Corruption."
Jann S. Wenner at Rolling Stone: "The Day After: Obama on His Legacy, Trump's Win, and the Path Forward."
[Content Note: Bigotry] Tressie: "Finding Hope in a Loveless Place."
[CN: Fat hatred] Your Fat Friend: "Nocturnal Animals & the Metaphor of Fat Women."
[CN: Racism] Ijeoma Oluo at The Establishment: "You Don't Have to Like Me—You Just Have to Believe I'm a Human Being."
[CN: Homophobia] Nick Duffy at Pink News: "Every Single Trump Cabinet Member So Far Opposes LGBT Rights."
Jake Swearingen at NY Mag: "Starting January 20, Donald Trump Can Send Unblockable Mass Text Messages to the Entire Nation."
Rage. Seethe. Boil.
[Content Note: Police brutality; death; racism.]
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Brentley Vinson, the officer who shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott in September, will not face charges. The district attorney said at a press conference today "that all evidence suggests [Scott] was armed at the time of his death."
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Brentley Vinson acted in self-defense when he shot and killed the 43-year-old on Sept. 20, said Andrew Murray, Mecklenburg County's district attorney, at a Wednesday press conference.Except: Scott is not accused pointing a weapon at police, and, as I have previously noted, North Carolina is an open-carry state, so it's unclear how, even if Scott were indeed armed, that would constitute an immediate threat to officers in an open-carry state.
"It's a justified shooting based on the totality of the circumstances," he said, adding that Vinson "acted lawfully."
interesting here, DA says Keith Lamont Scott did not raise the gun - meaning a threatening look and gun in hand enough to justify shooting
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) November 30, 2016
Over and over, we see that gun ownership laws, whether they are stand your ground laws, self-defense laws, castle doctrine laws, or open carry laws, simply are not applied equally to white gun owners and nonwhite gun owners. And that is racism, pure and simple. Deadly racism.
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
That Carrier Deal
You may have heard that Trump supposedly struck a TREMENDOUS DEAL with Carrier, the Indiana air conditioner company he's used as the symbol for Rust Belt jobs he wants to keep or "bring back" to the US. Be wary of this news and how it's being reported.
Look at how the @nytimes is already framing the Carrier news, even though we don't know the details of the deal:https://t.co/hXPisHLBNL pic.twitter.com/JytviXxmYK
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) November 30, 2016
If news reports are correct, Carrier is getting a massive tax break while still sending nearly half their Indiana jobs to Mexico. Unreal.
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) November 30, 2016
And Trump is already getting rewarded for his largely meaningless announcement with just the framing/coverage he wants: https://t.co/u5kzsW5lO0
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) November 30, 2016
.@nytimes headline on Carrier story suggests Trump is directly responsible for jobs staying. THERE IS LITERALLY NO EVIDENCE OF THAT pic.twitter.com/TU8nWJeswS
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) November 30, 2016
Every savvy CEO will now threaten to ship jobs to Mexico, and demand a payment to stay. Great economic policy. https://t.co/t2WAJOgh8F
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 30, 2016
We don't know what the deal is or how it was struck. We don't even know if it's actually a good or wise deal.
Also worth noting that Pence is still Indiana governor for the moment. The tax break may be state, not federal. And Pence the one orchestrating this whole thing.
I suspect we're seeing the first example of what the Trump-Pence administration will look like: Pence muscling things behind the scenes; Trump taking the credit. Media offering plaudits because they don't even know what happened or how.
Not good. Not good at all.
I Mean
Trump to name former Goldman Sachs partner Steven Mnuchin as next Treasury secretary, sources tell CNN. https://t.co/Y3Q0NzQQm9 pic.twitter.com/u2rVH4N3Mm
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) November 29, 2016
If the disaffected white working class voters aren't in an uproar by now, maybe they weren't voting b/c they felt alienated after all. Huh. https://t.co/zOXPlCjQCz
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) November 29, 2016
Over at Shareblue, Alison Parker has more on Mnuchin, as well as Trump's pick for Commerce, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross. Ughhhhh.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Diverkat: "What's the coolest or most interesting fact you've learned recently?"
Quote of the Day
"We're going to fight tooth and nail any attempt to privatize, voucherize, or any other 'ize' you can think of, when it comes to Medicare. To Republicans considering going down this path, my advice is simple: Turn back."—Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, during a fiery statement today, putting Republicans on notice that the Democrats will fight any efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, privatize Medicare, or defund Planned Parenthood.
Hell yeah!
Recommended Reading
Heather Gerken, David Bollier, Gary Gerstle, and Gar Alperovitz at The Nation: "'All Resistance Is Local': A Plan of Progressive Action for the Trump Years."
Amanda Taub at the New York Times: "How Stable Are Democracies? 'Warning Signs Are Flashing Red'."
Alison R. Parker at Shareblue: "House Democrats Demand Action from GOP on Trump's Conflicts of Interest."
[Content Note: Shooting; terrorism; bigotry] Sameer Rao at Colorlines: "After OSU Attack, Muslims and Somalis Fear Retribution."
[CN: War on agency] Teddy Wilson at Rewire: "Texas Officials to Force Burial, Cremation of 'Fetal Remains'."
Dianna E. Anderson at Shareblue: "Trump Wanted to Be President, But Now Cannot Be Bothered to Do the Job."
[CN: War injuries] Gardiner Harris at the New York Times: "Obama's Sacred Duty: Visiting the Wounded at Walter Reed."
Andy Towle at Towleroad: "NYC Gay Men's Chorus and the Golden Girls Puppets 'Thank You For Being a Friend'."
Good Grief
Donald Trump has selected Tom Price, who hates the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and reproductive health access, to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
And he has selected Elaine Chao, who was a disaster as Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush, to be his Secretary of Transportation. I have a few thoughts about that over at Shareblue, particularly with regard to why her selection makes terrible sense given his proposed infrastructure plan. Connect the dots. Pay attention. Stay engaged.
Back |
