Bigger Than Yours

Yesterday and today the twitter world, as well as major media like The New York Times, is all abuzz with the words of a really stupid, sexually inadequate bully.  The fact that those words have the power of the presidency of the United States behind it is shameful.

Despite the media's vows after the 2016 election to be more responsible in their reporting, it is impossible to tune into any media outlet, social or otherwise, without be overwhelmed with the obsession with Donald Trump.  And it's not that they are uncovering anything new.  It is the same crap with different names, the same strutting with different symbols for the same miniscule body part.

Yesterday he was demanding an investigation of Huma Abedin.  He continues to insist on investigating James Comey and Hillary Clinton, just as shortly after being sworn in he insisted that Barack Obama be investigated for wiretapping White House phones.  These insane accusations are not just the rants of an insane world leader -- which they are.  They are also the kind of attacks a bully makes when he is most afraid of being caught.

Sadly, this bullshit has had the effect of capturing headlines and focusing editorials and panels on the absurd tweets and ruminations on what this all means.  We have spent hours going over whether Donald Trump has deep motives and intentions, whether there is something going on in the big head that houses that tiny reptilian brain other than diverting attention away from his own crimes and the fear of being caught.

Donald Trump did not start attacking innocent people with ridiculous accusations when he took that escalator on June 16, 2015.  He has spent his entire life deflecting questions about his own adequacy by attacking others, at times seemingly at random.  This year we have seen it in all its absurdity as he has flattered, then attacked allies like Michael Flynn and Jefferson Sessions, and attacked, then flattered opponents like Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney.  People like James Comey and Robert Mueller have been in and out the swinging door of Donald Trump's good graces so many times they must have to check the headlines on a daily basis to see where they stand.

Anyone who has the power to come close to exposing him gets the full force of his abuse of presidential power, beginning with Sally Yates and currently with Robert Mueller.  He has used the legal system in this country to threaten lawsuits to keep at bay prosecution of his own illegal activity, from dirty business dealings to sexual harassment. 

I am feeling like I have already fed into his narcissism by going on about what we have been witnessing for far too long.  The fact is that people like Steve Bannon and Paul Ryan have been steering this presidency and the course of our country while we have been watching Trump have tantrums.  We have a judiciary that is being taken over by radical right-wing extremists.  We have environmental safeguards and worker rights being dismantled by deregulation.  And we have the rich getting richer on the backs of the rest of us, who were already struggling as health care and education deteriorated.

The man who is incapable of telling the truth has led us to a state of exhaustion.  The kind of exhaustion that leads us to want to escape or to attack.  Where the leader lies non-stop by indiscriminately calling others liars, we may wonder why we should be so concerned with facts.  In 2018, election season may see us attacking each other rather than those who are truly the enemies of our democracy.  Where emails and Facebook posts may come from white nationalists or Russian trolls, where republicans determined to push through their long dreamed of right wing agenda send sincerely deceptive messages, we may end up slugging each other and spreading misinformation.

My hope for 2018 is that those of us who hunger for a return to democratic government stay true to our values.  That we think before we tweet.  That we debate our opponents with passion, but also with facts and that we argue issues rather than fire off attacks on personality or innuendo.  That we don't hide behind safe positions that in the end will hurt the weaker among us.

Let us not pit those of us with democratic values one against the other with cruel and meaningless argument.  Let us support candidates who will fight for us all.  The fascism of the Trump administration has brought us together in ways we did not think possible a year ago.  We have seen it happen with elections in Alabama and Virginia.  If we can continue to fight together against greed and tyranny, we can win back our democracy.

Nikki Does the State of the Union... Rebuttal

Gods help us, she is seen by those who don't have to live with her as a rising star.  She is attractive and personable, more flirty than Fiorino, but she can turn ugly when she feels the need to slap someone around.  She's our own Governor Nikki Haley.  And the powers that be in the republican party have awarded her the rebuttal to the State of the Union.

We can be sure that she is already trying out her lines.  We know what she is going to say before President Obama has even put pen to paper.  It won't be any different than anything any other republican would say, but she's got the charm and charisma lacking in so many in the GOP (as we say in the South, "she cleans up real nice").

And we can assume this is a tryout for the larger stage.  Maybe VP?  The republicans can take a bow over appearing to have a party open to women, although what Nikki is to women is pretty much what Tim Scott is to blacks, which is, bad news.  With friends like Nikki Haley, we women don't need enemies.

So, since we know what she is going to say, and when she is going to say it, I think the Democratic Party of South Carolina (and all us non-official Democrats) should be armed and ready to rebut the rebuttal.  We need to fire on social media, with tweets at #nikkihaleydoesntspeakforus and posts on Facebook -- and for you young people and techies, all those other social media sites I don't have time to learn.  When you post on Facebook, include @nikkihaley and send a tweet to her twitter page (I think that may be possible...).  And share.  And retweet.  Spread the word, Nikki Haley doesn't speak for us.

My guess is she is likely to talk about guns.  She will talk about Obamacare.  She will talk about fighting ISIS.  It will be about FREEDOM, because it is always about freedom.  And government spending and overreach.

Now freedom and government spending and overreach play right into our hands, because her government wants to control women's health care, and invade the privacy of those of us who look like they aren't... well, white, and prevent the poor from being able to earn a living wage by making unions illegal.

Oh, my, so much to tweet about.

I wish I knew more about social media.  What I do know is that it is a very powerful tool for countering tyranny.  So we here in South Carolina don't have to let @nikkihaley pretend to represent us.

The President's State of the Union will be on Tuesday, January 12, at 9 p.m.  It tends to run an hour or slightly longer.  The rebuttal is thankfully shorter, but in 2015 there were a whole bunch of them.  So far, we only have Nikki.

Let us all know your ideas and let's be ready to roll on January 12.  Because...

#nikkihaleydoesntspeakforus 

Wow, They Did It Again

I have nothing but admiration for Anthony Weiner, one of the Congressional representatives (which I can count using the fingers of one hand) that will always speak honestly, regardless of hounding by the media, and regardless of popular opinion.


Hah, you thought I was talking about the Twitter thing that is the media's obsession of the week.


What I am referring to, however, is Weiner's letter requesting that Justice Clarence Thomas recuse himself from any cases regarding the constitutionality of the Obama Health Care Act.  It appears that Ginny Thomas has her hands in all kinds of lobbying against ObamaCare, and that, although Thomas is typically steamed about having to admit to this source of income, he indeed benefits financially from his wife's political activities.


I quite accidentally learned of this as I caught up on my week's worth of The Rachel Maddow Show, working backwards, nearly missing the Friday interview with Anthony Weiner before the Twitter business hit.  On that show, Weiner appeared and explained his House petition asking Thomas to recuse himself.


The thing is, not having time during the week to catch much news, what I heard ad nauseum was about Weiner's hacked Twitter account.  I saw the lewd photo, heard all the bad jokes, and the back and forth about why Weiner wasn't giving the drooling media the meat (no pun intended, really) it was craving.  The last straw was Luke Russert insisting on finding out whether the picture was really of Anthony Weiner.


This is absurd and tragic for us Americans.  We are so easily led by a shallow and lazy media, which we have allowed to exercise this dirty journalism.  It is upsetting to think that we are being denied, in this time of failing schools and health, lost jobs and homes, and neverending war, accurate representation of the real issues.


So let me just thank Rachel Maddow for committing real journalism.


Oh, I would also like to thank Jon Stewart for his astute journalistic observations on whether the photo could really have been Anthony Weiner.  Good to have a laugh at all this nonsense.