There’s so much going on that it’s hard to keep up. Like, oh, Trump issuing a de facto ban on Muslim immigrants on Holocaust Remembrance Day. So here’s an open thread to discuss all things Trump and Trump-related. No Trolls or Trump fans allowed.
The gif below pretty much captures what it’s like to live in this new weird world.
me + all my friends gathering around the bad news trough for another day of terrible bad news pic.twitter.com/d2yhE87IWP
— Anna Swartz (@Anna_Snackz) January 26, 2017
The one thing missing from this gif, of course, is the massive resistance that is growing to fight against the source of so much of this bad news.
Sometimes, though, the best thing for us resisters to do is to turn off the news for a day or two to keep ourselves healthy enough to resist, so here’s a non-Trump open thread for all your non-Trump needs.
@realDonaldTrump is on a rant again:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 11m11 minutes ago
…dwindling subscribers and readers.They got me wrong right from the beginning and still have not changed course, and never will. DISHONEST
3,192 replies 1,417 retweets 7,046 likes
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 19m19 minutes ago
Thr coverage about me in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost gas been so false and angry that the times actually apologized to its…..
3,423 replies 1,701 retweets 7,557 likes
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 23m23 minutes ago
The failing @nytimes has been wrong about me from the very beginning. Said I would lose the primaries, then the general election. FAKE NEWS!
For years, I have set an alarm with NPR playing softly for the top of the hour. If I’m up already, I’ll just listen. If I’m in no rush to get up, I’ll doze and listen for a while.
For the last year or so, I’ve had it set for 10 past, rather than the top of the hour, to avoid the latest headlines bit. Nowadays even that still isn’t any guarantee that my first reaction is “OMFGFFS turn this MF voice off NOW” and a dash out off the bed as though the barely audible radio were an air horn.
I dug out an old CD playing alarm clock the other day. I just need to figure out what to start playing softly to wake me up.
and in breaking news:
White House Staff Reminded To Place Lids Firmly On Trash Cans After Steve Bannon Gets Into Garbage Again
I love that gif!! 😀
Did anyone see that America was downgraded to a ‘flawed democracy’ in 2016? I wonder how far that trend will continue…
On my Facebook feed, scientists trying to figure out the impact of the new immigration rules.
Basically, if you want US academics to join, you need to hold the conference in the US because otherwise a lot of attendees won’t be able to go home after (even with a green card, they’re turning people away).
If you want the international community to join, you need to hold the conference elsewhere.
The same conversation was going on in the Bush years, but it was about students sometimes unable to get a visa to get back into the US.
Now it’s much worse: green card holders in the air as the executive order was signed were turned back when they landed.
My suspicion: trump will succeed in the long run at stopping illegal immigration to the US. There aren’t many illegal immigrants to Eritrea or North Korea, the countries trump wants to emulate.
@David Futrelle, Pence could be worse because he is will further buttress the religious right.
https://www.autostraddle.com/i-was-trained-for-the-culture-wars-in-home-school-awaiting-someone-like-mike-pence-as-a-messiah-367057/
In good news, Zuckerburg has dropped the lawsuit for Native Hawaiian land.
http://khon2.com/2017/01/19/facebook-founder-addresses-legal-land-battle-on-kauai/
A boner update from the so-called “President of the United States”:
http://truegif.com/pictures/gif/18671.gif
Lengthy (two-part) but excellent video by Rachel Maddow.
@Axe
Way better than the flood pic.
@Numerobis
Wait, will my friend who just got his H1B be turned away when he tries to enter? He’s been waiting for this for so long. 🙁
If he’s from one of the listed countries, there’s a fair chance he will. If not, seems to be ok for now…
He has his immigration lawyer’s number tattooed on his arm I hope?
@RosieLa
I predicted this last summer, during the conventions. The US was just on the cusp of being regarded a “full democracy” on the previous year’s rating. I think the score was 8.05, where 8 and up means full democracy. By last summer it already seemed obvious that the country would at least not climb om that list.
@kupo
Meh, I like the flood pic better. But I already used it, and didn’t want to again so soon
Oh, if only we knew...
@Ouroboros
Reading articles like that always gives me a sort of sick horror at how close I and people I love came to being a part of that culture.
From His Home in Russia, #Calexit Leader Plots California Secession
We are now all living in a crappy airport shop paperback.
Following up on my reply to AthVeg34F, Glenn Greenwald writes:
I take it a step further: the implication was that trump put some countries on the list and not others because of his business links. I disagree (as does Greenwald).
I claim trump had business links with those countries *because* they’re on the “good” list. In other words, the causality is backwards from the implied conflict of interest.
There’s lots of Muslim-majority countries left off the list where Trump doesn’t (according to this) do business — Oman, Lebanon, Jordan on that map; North Africa except Libya; central Asia, Pakistan, Bangladesh; Indonesia.
This division into good/bad is mostly about who supported the USSR versus USA. It’s really old. Syria and the trumputin love-in might rearrange the map.
So uh, is it just me or did he put a ban on all public communications from all government agencies ?
’cause that’s plain old open fascism yo.
I’m familiar with the Christian Right and Quiverfull stuff. There are people who are much worse than Pence, who’s relatively moderate compared to other Tea Party types. It could be much worse.
Trump is a loose cannon with no discernible ideology apart from nativism and saying he wants to create jobs and restore America’s greatness. He supports policies without considering the consequences.
@John
Yes.
The latest is apparently banning even permanent residents from listed countries from going home.
That means people who were out of the country on Friday, either for business or vacation, have been exiled “for 90 days” — and, one presumes, for longer if he extends it (probably will). After 120 days’ absence, he can start rescinding green cards outright, solving the problem of barring entry to US persons.
I’m hoping the courts can kill this one. It seems utterly illegal.
@numerobis
ACLU is pursuing legal action.
@kupo
So uh… “he won’t be that bad” huh. Wonder what those people are saying now that it’s all descended into the textbook definition of fascism.