Mourning in America - Trump Year One: November '16 to

in case we weren't sure yet

It also signals that Mr. Trump is a different kind of Republican

you mean a racist demagogue who apparently has no problem with socialism, as long as the only beneficiaries are corporations and white rural "christians"?

FWIW i get the argument that focusing on kooky fox-inspired Trump tweets is taking our eyes of the ball, but the thing about the flag-burning tweet that genuinely turns my blood to ice water is the very very casual tossing-around the idea of stripping people of citizenship and turning them into stateless persons. IIRC this has come up before but it is arguably the strongest case of all for Is Donald Trump A Fascist. like not even that he's proposing it but that he treats it so fucking lightly just like he's at a bar and saying "they should lock those graffiti guys up for life, that's what I think!"

it's a fucking terrifying thing and IMHO very very close on the authoritarian continuum to "flag-burning should be punishable by death" or "flag burning should be punishable by deportation to a forced labor camp." i don't mean for that to sound hyperbolic but i guess a couple readings of arendt and agamben on statelessness and 'bare life' have really sharpened the meaning of this concept to me.

meant to scare quote "socialism"

xpost

https://twitter.com/nymag/status/803982668153110528

FWIW i get the argument that focusing on kooky fox-inspired Trump tweets is taking our eyes of the ball, but the thing about the flag-burning tweet that genuinely turns my blood to ice water is the very very casual tossing-around the idea of stripping people of citizenship and turning them into stateless persons. IIRC this has come up before but it is arguably the strongest case of all for Is Donald Trump A Fascist. like not even that he's proposing it but that he treats it so fucking lightly just like he's at a bar and saying "they should lock those graffiti guys up for life, that's what I think!"

it's a fucking terrifying thing and IMHO very very close on the authoritarian continuum to "flag-burning should be punishable by death" or "flag burning should be punishable by deportation to a forced labor camp." i don't mean for that to sound hyperbolic but i guess a couple readings of arendt and agamben on statelessness and 'bare life' have really sharpened the meaning of this concept to me.

― walk back to the halftime long, billy lynn, billy lynn (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, November 30, 2016 12:05 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea this is how i feel too. it is fucking awful. we've been so used to trump saying stupid crazy shit but he's going to be the president of the united states. it is supremely fucked up.

i agree dr casino.

i'm assuming those are the kinds of "tell it like it is" things that his supporters like. he's already able to get away with casually threatening 1st amendment rights and decades of legal rulings in the weeks after he "won" the election by negative 2.3 million votes. it does frighten me to think of what he will be able to do if the country is perceived to be directly threatened by ISIS or other terrorists.

Michael Sebastian ‏@msebastian 6m6 minutes ago

9 years ago Obama was mocked for eating arugula. Today our populist president enjoys "young garlic soup with thyme"

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a8383120/heres-everything-trump-and-romney-ate-during-their-very-fancy-dinner/

Xpost DC Yeah, Agamben definitely has things to say about the current state of affairs -- DACA recipients, for one.

pelosi reelected as a house minority leader

vows to keep democrats unified against medicare phaseout https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/11/21/democrats-will-hold-firm-against-paul-ryans-medicare-plan-pelosi-vows/?utm_term=.65bf500c2bf6

That one's a week old. Schumer said yesterday he vowed to fight. "Make my day" or some bullshit.

ha thanks, greg sargent's link just showed up in my twitter feed a couple minutes ago

That's also why I think Bernie was underestimated as a candidate btw -- people focused on "facts -- he uses the word socialist, he's jewish, etc. But he came across as a tough, sincere and caring guy who voiced people's anger and wanted to make things better, and people responded to that

Loved Bernie. Though obviously I didn't pay as much attention as you lot did - what am I, Danish?

I wish we had a Bernie over here. His older brother doesn't quite cut it.

listen, only a businessman like Mr. Trump could take on corporate America without being called a Bernie Sanders-style socialist. if bernie sanders won and then tried to take on corporate america, just imagine what he would be called right now

seriously f this country right now, holy shit

More news:

Nancy Pelosi won her eighth term, easily toppling Rep. Tim Ryan, who launched an upstart bid to replace her in response to the party's disappointing November election results.

I love her but I do wonder who she is planning on grooming as a successor

did you guys post that chris hedges thing that someone posted on my facebook? i kept expecting to hear the star wars theme at the end of that. the rebels will be our hope!

long story short: the renegade sculptors will save us in the future.

Doc Casino totally otm. Saying dumb reactionary bullshit is fine when you're a cartoon reality star but this dude is going to be president and that's seriously terrifying. Like hearing your dad say, "when I was your age I used to fuck broads like that all the time!!"

The combined age of Pelosi and Hoyer is bigger than Yoda's.

Doc Casino totally otm. Saying dumb reactionary bullshit is fine when you're a cartoon reality star but this dude is going to be president and that's seriously terrifying. Like hearing your dad say, "when I was your age I used to fuck broads like that all the time!!"

I guess legislation that has a reasonable chance of passage and ending on the president's desk for signature scares me more than our moron president sharing an opinion on Twitter.

apropos of nothing - how long before Alex Jones turns on Trump? Dude's whole schtick is built on being the opposition, I can't see him carrying water for an actual regime

I guess legislation that has a reasonable chance of passage and ending on the president's desk for signature scares me more than our moron president sharing an opinion on Twitter.

yup. keep yr eye on the ball here people, it's policy that matters most of all.

apropos of nothing - how long before Alex Jones turns on Trump? Dude's whole schtick is built on being the opposition, I can't see him carrying water for an actual regime

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, November 30, 2016 12:38 PM (thirty-seven seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there are enough scapegoats for people like him to oppose

but they aren't in power

like, his whole bit is about secret conspiracies at the highest echelons of power - things "they don't want you to know" - that dynamic kinda doesn't work if you're tacitly supporting the most powerful person on the planet.

alex jones can just spend more time on things like planet x and the treasonous liberal opposition, who made a deal with the reptilians

did you guys post that chris hedges thing that someone posted on my facebook? i kept expecting to hear the star wars theme at the end of that. the rebels will be our hope!

long story short: the renegade sculptors will save us in the future.

― scott seward, Wednesday, November 30, 2016 12:35 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I haven't read it, but I find Chris Hedges to be a complete waste of time. Depressive and demoralizing harpers mag bullshit.

And just as only a confirmed anti-Communist like Richard Nixon could go to China

was expecting exactly this line from exactly this newspaper but not before the inauguration :(

we need a caption contest. check, please!

https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15230707_10155332447897137_533184752526472410_n.jpg?oh=6703e3be2c6e27853b09841c506d418a&oe=58C0494C

"these are the buoys in the shipyard of flavortown"

hahaha

I'll repeat: they're not drinking wine, that's a bottle of sparkling water in the wine bucket. Ugh.

How much did he pay the photographer for that shot?

amuse-douche

p sure those are Romney's own balls on that plate

the abject public humiliation of really rich people is so much more bearable than any other style. look at sad ol' mitt romney, eating a really nice dinner at fancy restaurant in manhattan. then he's going to have to figure out how to accept some cabinet level position in a way that doesn't make him feel like such a hypocrite. poor guy, hope he comes through this ok.

I hope they both die in a fire

I do have to wonder what motivates him -- he's rich as shit, has been a governor, and is probably never again going to be positioned to be president no matter what, so what does he get out of this? Surely he could refuse and live out his horse-dancing days in peace?

it is a pretty incredible photo

Drinking water out of wine glasses looks fucken stupid

there's your friggin' banality of evil right there too. those schmucks are gonna end the world? doesn't seem fair really.

so what does he get out of this?

he gets to go farther than his father

it's Tic Tac time

Drinking water out of wine glasses looks fucken stupid

that's no ordinary water.

that's Kona Nigari Water, served neat

Idk I think the president-elect spouting off nakedly fascist ideas about how to deal with political dissidents and enemies is seriously concerning even if it's not ''legislation'' or ''policy.'' Insert argument about normalization here. I spent a year hoping we were shifting the window leftwards on what things can be said, discussed, bandied about as viable and familiar solutions - by dads in the street, by newscasters, by sitting politicians at whatever level. Now we look ahead to a fascist turn in all areas. It will take decades to even begin to undo the damage to common understanding of what is beyond the pale in a free society. High school debate topic: okay, y'all argue ''pro'' on sending people to Gitmo for criticizing the troops. Tonight on Crossfire: felony punishment for protestors who use profanity when discussing the president, good or bad idea? Placing BLM on the terrorist watch list: well-intentioned but overreaching, or necessary evil?

Like between this and the Muslim registry idea it's just.... fuck. Obviously much of this is not exactly new (see: Patriot Act, etc etc) but these words matter and are not just a distraction from the other terrifying things Trump is doing elsewhere.

i guess the diff is people kinda liked his dad(?)

who has a non-negative opinion on mitt romney other than "eh"

idk romney taking state means Giuliani or Bolton or petraeus don't get the job which is maybe the strongest public service he's done in his career.