They Call Me Redbone but I’d Rather Be Strawberry Shortcake
Like most contemporary theorists, painter Amy Sherald perceives racial identity as a performance in response to external forces rather than an essential attribute. As one of just a few black children in her private school in Georgia, she recalls being highly conscious of how she spoke and dressed, believing these behaviors were the key to social acceptance and assimilation. They Call Me Redbone but I’d Rather Be Strawberry Shortcake alludes to racial labeling directly, as the slang term “redbone” typically refers to a black woman with a light skin tone.
Sherald modifies historical portrait formats to upend the dominant narrative of African American history. She notes: “I create playful yet sober portraits of black Americans within an imaginative history where I do black my way, in the European tradition of painted portraiture.” While historical portraitists aimed to reveal a sitter’s social standing or some essence of character, Sherald’s haunting figures are expressionless and dressed in unusual, costume-style clothing that she has collected.
Typical of Sherald’s art, the young woman in They Call Me Redbone but I’d Rather Be Strawberry Shortcake appears to float against an intensely colored background, which enhances the work’s dreamy quality. The artist achieves this effect by limiting her use shadow along the figure’s contours. Here as in other works, Sherald disrupts viewers’ readings of her portrait subjects as black by painting their skin in grayscale, metaphorically removing their “color.”
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/923718136611950594
a Scandal tweet
Joe Morton
✔
@JOEtheMORTON
Olivia is a girl lost in a miasma of cold white power in a cold white world known as politics. #TheBookOfRowan #Scandal
Bernie Sanders’ NIMBY revolution
……………………
The US senator from Vermont was in the Boston area Monday to support City Council and Board of Aldermen candidates endorsed by the Cambridge and Somerville chapters of Our Revolution, the grass-roots political organization that grew out of his insurgent 2016 campaign. Sanders’ decision to get involved in municipal races in these two cities, where the political spectrum runs from very liberal to super-ultra-wicked-liberal, was bizarre to begin with; Senator Elizabeth Warren, a progressive icon who actually lives in Cambridge, hasn’t similarly inserted herself into these contests.
In Cambridge, Sanders and his local acolytes faced a choice between two groups of self-styled progressives: one group bent on easing the city’s housing woes by building more units, and another group defined by its vocal opposition to higher, denser private development. Sanders and Our Revolution Cambridge sided with most of the same candidates as the Cambridge Residents Alliance — the city’s most prominent antidevelopment group.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/10/25/bernie-sanders-nimby-revolution/qZqNaH0ChBCxPT1bCyuVRJ/story.html
https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/923632134757273601
One of Grassley’s staffers was trying to find Hillary’s emails during the campaign, just like the dead guy. – Maddow’s show
Clemson student Senate VP, who sat through Pledge of Allegiance, impeached
By Bristow Marchant
Clemson University’s student Senate voted Monday to impeach the student government’s vice president, who recently refused to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Student senators voted 40-18 to impeach vice president Jaren Stewart. Stewart was out of town Monday at a conference in Washington, D.C., the Anderson Independent Mail reports.
An impeachment trial for Stewart will be set for a later date. If successful, Stewart will be removed from office.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article180756791.html#storylink=cpy
These are a couple of good comments from BJ:
Comment 1:
Comment 2:
I do have a sense of hopelessness creeping in. Sadly, it’s justified. Right now it’s reality.
Some more thoughts.
I have been saying for awhile, that they are trying to kill American Citizens.
I stand by that.
We have 3.5 million American Citizens who have been without power for over a month.
We knew that it would take some time for things to get back to normal.
But, that was before we found out that a completely incompetent company was part of the grift.
Dolt45 kept on LYING about Puerto Rico’s ‘infrastructure’ being destroyed BEFORE the hurricane. That’s a DAMN LIE.
The reason he keeps on repeating it, is because that would alleviate pressure from that scam contract given to the company to restore power to Puerto Rico.
It’s a goddamned GRIFT. They are completely UNQUALIFIED, and it’s thievery.
Truth. And reporting on the humanitarian crisis in PR is slim to none.
UH HUH
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/923653876238168065
WOW
https://twitter.com/strangedworld/status/922476083450068992
FEMA will not release the response plan for Puerto Rico. – says Maddow.
Another thing..
We heard the story of Dolt45 PERSONALLY interviewing US Attorney candidates…
And, it’s as hanky as it seems
But, after this week, the focus is even clearer.
The office of Preet Bahara didn’t Stop working after he was fired. We now know this week, that they have been working hard- with a laser focus on Manafort. Yes, they are desperate.
Even the tax cuts. Hear from LarryO that something this big takes
over a year to do, , so why the rush. They are terrified of something.
Something is about to happen
Here’s a primer to push back against ‘ The Democrats Paid for the Steele Dossier’ bullshyt:
1. The beginning patron of the dossier was A Republican.
2. Said Republican was so disturbed by it- THAT they sent it to the Democrats. They wanted Hillary to know what they had found.
3. Steele, in not so many words, is a WHISTLEBLOWER.
No, someone hired to do opposition research, DOES NOT EVERYDAY, or every
decade…SHOW UP ON THE DOORSTEP OF THE FBI saying, ‘I have a story to
tell you.’
Show me when that has happened?
4. The CIA, when alerted by their counterparts about Dolt45 and his cabal, they freaked out.
5. Putin is not just some head of another country. HE.USED.TO.RUN.THE.PHUCKING.KGB.
Hulu to Turn Ralph Ellison’s ‘Invisible Man’ Into a Miniseries
Ellison’s debut novel critiqued institutional racism and mid-century activism via a nameless Black narrator.
https://www.colorlines.com/articles/hulu-turn-ralph-ellisons-invisible-man-miniseries?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+racewireblog+%28Colorlines.com%29
Chicas…. Awe ❤️❤️❤️… Too adorable.
https://www.facebook.com/NTDLifeOfficial/videos/397657560745711/?hc_ref=ARS-EQjarrxtpBqWDQnzkJd0Ut-bF9q2Ejr1HZXXrKWg_QNg8-I4mqaUzbgrFdr0N-U&pnref=story
Amazing compassion at such a young age!
Precious, absolutely precious!
I know. So little and all that huge compassion over the dinosaur. My goodness!
Yes, an her wanting the dinosaur to say “Mama” knowing that mamas comfort their children!
Trump declares the opioid crisis a public health emergency. When crack ravaged Black communities, Black people were told to lock them up and throw away the key. Prison Industrial Complex. Private prisons making money off locking up black people. #opioidcrisis
It’s a fact that white folks are more likely to be prescribed opioids-(PRESCRIBED) Ask POC how hard it is to get prescriptions for painkillers, when they need them.
Just because they’re legally prescribed, doesn’t mean they aren’t abused.
The entire system is RIGGED.
I think Trump was advised to change the conversation (like Don Draper in Mad Men).
How can he lose with an “opioid epidemic”?
What Is McConnell’s Ammunition in the Battle Against Bannon?
by Nancy LeTourneau October 26, 2017
BREAKING: Interpol just confirmed they’ve blocked Russia’s abusive arrest warrant. This is 5th time Russia has been rejected by Interpol
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) October 26, 2017
BREAKING (2): Interpol sent warning to all member states that Interpol channels cannot be used by Russia in my case going forward
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) October 26, 2017
Maxine Waters asks Twitter for information about Russian accounts that reportedly attacked her https://t.co/qdY5W5dmHr
— LA Times CA Politics (@LATpoliticsCA) October 26, 2017
This administration is hell-bent on attacking women’s health
BY DANA E. SINGISER, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 10/26/17 02:40 PM EDT
……………………
Scott Lloyd, the head of the Trump administration’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), is just one example of why Trump’s appointees are so dangerous.
ADVERTISEMENT
Today, Lloyd refused to answer for his treatment of Jane Doe and countless others in his so-called “care.” And it’s no wonder — to answer would be to defend the indefensible.
Lloyd appeared at a House oversight hearing after a month during which this administration brought the full weight of the federal government to bear against a pregnant, undocumented 17-year-old in Texas, attempting to block her from getting the abortion that is her right. While justice finally prevailed for Jane Doe, her case revealed just how frighteningly far the Trump administration’s abuse of power and disregard of the Constitution extends.
As the office that oversees federally funded facilities that house refugees — including the one that’s housing Jane Doe — ORR is required to provide undocumented and unaccompanied minors with basic needs like food, shelter, and health care, including contraception and access to abortion.
Yet, Lloyd inserted his personal beliefs into government policy, insisting that he be personally notified if any unaccompanied minor is seeking an abortion. He is actively engaged in preventing unaccompanied minors in the care of ORR from accessing abortion services. His pursuit of policies and personal practices designed to impose his views on young woman after young woman, denying them access to health care and constitutional rights is outrageous and wrong.
Pence says US to stop funding ‘ineffective’ UN relief efforts
BY MAX GREENWOOD – 10/25/17 07:37 PM EDT
Vice President Pence on Wednesday said that President Trump has instructed the State Department to stop funding certain “ineffective” United Nations relief efforts and to instead provide humanitarian assistance directly through USAID and “faith-based groups.”
In a speech at the In Defense of Christians annual Solidarity Dinner for Christians in the Middle East, Pence excoriated the U.N., saying the international body has “often failed to help the most vulnerable communities especially religious minorities.”
“We will no longer rely on the United Nations alone to assist persecuted Christians and minorities in the wake of genocide and the atrocities of terrorist groups,” Pence said to applause.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The United States will work hand in hand from this day forward with faith-based groups and private orgs to help those who are persecuted for their faith. This is the moment, now is the time, and America will support these people in their hour of need.”
He did not specify what U.N. programs or initiatives the U.S. will no longer fund.
Those faith-based groups, Pence said, have repeatedly had funding requests denied by the U.N., despite “proven track records.”
Trump Thinks He’s Turned the Whole ‘Russian Hoax’ Around
by Nancy LeTourneau
October 26, 2017
During his impromptu press interview before boarding Marine One yesterday, Trump answered some questions on the Washington Post story about Democrats funding the Steele dossier. In the end, he said that the whole “Russian hoax” was an attempt by Democrats to make an excuse for losing the election. Then he said this:
I assume that he means that, as the right wingers are all reporting, it is now Hillary Clinton who is in the hot seat for colluding with the Russians. Do you see why I would question whether or not this is all a planned attempt to discredit the results of the Mueller investigation? Trump has his talking points all ready for public consumption in order to lie, distract and blame.
When the president talks about the “Russian hoax,” it is hard to know whether he is referring to the attempt by that country to influence the election (something he’s been all over the map about) or whether he’s talking about the allegations that his campaign colluded with those attempts. It is very possible that in his small mind, he doesn’t make a distinction. But the verdict on the former has already been delivered, there’s no turning that one around at this point. Russia attempted to influence a U.S. election. The only remaining question is whether or not anyone in the Trump campaign was involved in those efforts. The Steele dossier alleges that those ties ran very deep.
To buy Trump’s line about the Steele dossier is to believe that the Clinton campaign paid big money for it, but didn’t use it—even though the contents were being floated around D.C. prior to the election. Instead, they saved it until she lost and then spread its contents in an attempt to make excuses. How absurd is that?
Jeff Sessions reveals he ‘might’ not be recused from investigating Steele dossier linking Trump and Russia
David Edwards
26 OCT 2017 AT 13:26 ET
Atttorney General Jeff Sessions suggested on Thursday that although he has publicly recused himself from the investigation into Russian interference and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, it might not include an investigation into the so-called Steele dossier, which found evidence that President Donald Trump has been compromised by Russia.
During an interview on Thursday, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt posed the question to the attorney general.
“I know you’re recused from most of the Russia stuff. But are you recused from the investigation into the Steele dossier and GPS Fusion?” Hewitt asked.
“Well, I have not made a formal announcement on what kind of recusal I might have there,” Sessions said. “But I could well be.”
US attorney general says people should just ‘say no’ to opioids
Reuters REUTERS
26 OCT 2017 AT 13:29 ET
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday that the first step to combating the country’s opioid crisis is to get people to just “say no” to drugs, and he warned that marijuana could be serving as a gateway to the problem.
“We’ve got to re-establish first the view that you should say no. People should say no to drug use. They have got to protect themselves first,” he said, during a question-and-answer session at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/us-attorney-general-says-people-should-just-say-no-to-opioids/
Uh huh
Uh huh
-Wapo
https://twitter.com/TrueFactsStated/status/923556334473236480
A Coordinated Attack on the FBI Has Begun
by Nancy LeTourneau October 26, 2017
……………………………..
In the tweet above, the president basically insinuated that the FBI had colluded with the Russians and the Democrats to produce the dossier, and so I’ve suggested that it is very likely that they will be the next target. Take a look at how that was affirmed when Tucker Carlson interviewed Rep. Nunes (who has reversed his recusal from the Russia investigation) last night.
Their conversation focused completely on the role of the FBI with the Steele dossier, and is loaded with distortions and lies. Carlson even went so far as to ask, “So is there anything more terrifying than the prospect of an armed rogue agency?” Think about that. An interviewer refers to the FBI as “an armed rogue agency” and a member of Congress simply nods in agreement. Apparently the long knives have come out.
At the root of all of this is the assertion made in Trump’s tweet that the FBI paid for the Steele dossier (they considered doing so, but didn’t) and whether they actually investigated its assertions (gasp!) One thing that has been missing from most of the discussion about all of this is that when the dossier was shared with Sen. John McCain last December, he immediately turned in over to the FBI. As Martin has written, they already had it because it had been given to them by Christopher Steele. But the point is that it wasn’t just Democrats and the FBI who were concerned about what he was finding.
These attacks on the FBI, along with John Solomon’s lies and distortions about the fact that they investigated a racketeering scheme involving a Russian nuclear official, are designed to undermine the agency that was initially involved in investigating the Trump/Russia connection as well as Robert Mueller, who has taken it over as the independent prosecutor.
What we are witnessing is not only a president who is actively assisting an adversary (Russia) in their attack against us, but a willingness to tear down any person or institution that is attempting to stop him. He is being aided in that process by members of congress like Devin Nunes, as well as the entire right wing media (with occasional assists from the Washington Post and the New York Times).
As with much of Trump’s behavior, I only expect this situation to get worse. Other than that, I won’t make any predictions about what happens next. But based on my read of things, our democracy is in peril unless/until this president is stopped.
Lindsey Graham Trades Principle for Influence
by Martin Longman
October 26, 2017
………………………….
I can only imagine how Bannon feels about seeing neoconservative stalwart Lindsey Graham positioning himself to have the ear of the president:
…………………………….
Graham recently injected himself into the health care debate, which is an area where he has previously shown little interest and less expertise. And it’s true that these recent calls pertained to health care and not foreign policy. But Graham is establishing trust and a working relationship which he will attempt to use in foreign policy going forward.
AP learns computer server key to lawsuit against Georgia election officials was wiped clean after suit was filed: https://t.co/X74UyMqDKm
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) October 26, 2017
GA Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) is running for governor in 2018. This is one reason why Dems must stop him & win the SoS election too https://t.co/D5SF5P1fBL
— Stephen Wolf (@PoliticsWolf) October 26, 2017
Edited to add: this was in reference to the OSSOFF ELECTION.
Scott Brown: more complaints surface over behaviour of US ambassador to New Zealand
Ambassador said to have been ‘culturally insensitive’ at party in Samoa and is alleged by one woman to have stared at her breasts
It was a balmy 32 degrees when the US ambassador to New Zealand, Scott Brown, touched down in Apia, the capital of the South Pacific island nation of Samoa.
Brown had flown in with his wife, Gail Huff, in July for a party to celebrate 50 years of the peace corps in the country. It was his inaugural visit to Samoa – of which he is also the official US representative – and one he was looking forward to.
The party was intended as the climax of the ambassador’s trip, a night of celebration. People were in high spirits. They were offered beer, wine, champagne and local hors d’oeuvres, including slices of taro topped with palusami, spring rolls and chicken skewers.
But something went wrong that night. As one attendee describes it, something was “off” and the party is now at the centre of a US state department investigation over the ambassador’s conduct toward two women.
Brown admitted on Wednesday that he was being investigated by officials who had flown to Wellington to interview him.
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/923578804064411649
https://twitter.com/ricardorossello/status/923314334012502016
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
https://www.facebook.com/blackishABC/videos/879068658915594/
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/923573602234044416
I enjoyed the entire article. So much I didn’t clip.
Bloomberg’s Megan McArdle Can’t Tell Me Shit About White Supremacy
Michael Harriot
Yesterday 8:35am
………………………………………….
Are there varying degrees of racism?
Different people will have different answers. Some will argue that there is a big difference between a lynching and wearing blackface. Others dismiss the idea of a sliding scale of bigotry and believe that being “a little racist” is like being “kinda pregnant.”
It is a complex debate full of nuances and caveats. As someone who has studied the intersection of race theory and economic theory for years, I cannot give a definitive answer. There is only one thing about which I am 100 percent sure:
White people do not get to decide.
On Monday I published a piece titled, “The NFL Protests Are a Perfect Study of How White Supremacy Works.” You don’t even have to click on the link and read it; I can give you the CliffsNotes version:
1. There are a lot of people who are outraged and feel it is disrespectful for black players to kneel during the national anthem.
2. Those people think the NFL or the team owners should enact rules or a form of punishment for kneeling during the anthem.
3. The number of black players who kneel during the national anthem is very small (less than 2 percent of the league’s black players kneel during the anthem).
4. The fact that fans, owners and the president of the United States are threatening to shut down these players’ protests is a microcosm of how white supremacy works to oppress people of color.
In response to the article, writer Megan McArdle wrote a piece for Bloomberg titled: “Be Careful Who You Call a White Supremacist.” In her piece, McArdle warns … ummm … me, I guess, that using the term “white supremacist” is hyperbolic and damaging to the hope of productive conversation. McArdle writes that “lexical activists” like myself (Who knew? I have an entirely different job title now! I am getting new business cards as we speak) run the risk of simultaneously neutering the power of the words and causing people to become apathetic.
McArdle somehow manages to channel the inner workings of my pitiful wittle peabrain to whitesplain how I—or people like me—think that “the idea is apparently that if we put the racial inequalities perpetuated by the criminal-justice system on the same moral plane as lynch mobs and segregated lunch counters, people will have to attack the former with the same vigor we would use against any attempt to bring back Jim Crow.”
………………………
The blurb for McArdle’s article is, “If you’ve cried wolf too many times, no one will listen when you see the real thing.”
The problem with McArdle and all of the white people throughout the history of white people is that they have never been able to see the “real thing.” They have never been able to recognize racism in real time.
They are good at seeing everything in hindsight, but their infinitely wide blind spot for white supremacy is how we got the trans-Atlantic slave trade, more than 4,000 public black lynchings between 1877 and 1950, and the deadliest war in the history of America.
…………………..
Let us be clear: I and my fellow L.A.s (that’s what we call it at the meetings of BLACC—the Brotherhood of Lexical Activists and Caucasian Complainers) do not ratchet up our language with the hope or expectation that doing so will cause people of no color to fight racism with urgency. To wit, McArdle missed a very important point in her whitesplained defense of white supremacy:
White people didn’t do a damn thing about the lynch mobs, lunch counters or Jim Crow. We did.
Look at this, y’all. It’s never ending. Kill a black man, get back pay and have it wiped from your record. White supremacy got damn!
https://twitter.com/AxiomAmnesia/status/923570135495036928
So wrong
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/923566125388107776
Repeat after me…
They would sell their mother to Lucifer for those tax cuts.
……………………….
Putting aside principles, Graham says, ‘I’m trying to get taxes cut’
10/26/17 10:06 AM
By Steve Benen
In a rather dramatic speech on the Senate floor this week, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) declared, “There are times when we must risk our careers in favor of our principles. Now is such a time.”
The Arizona Republican, in remarks that were intended as a rebuke to Donald Trump, added that officials’ principles and obligations “are far more important than politics…. Acting on conscience and principle is the manner in which we express our moral selves and as such, loyalty to conscience and principle should supersede loyalty to any man or party.”
As Vanity Fair noted, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) seemed sympathetic to his colleague’s concerns, but only to a point.
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/923530389104103425
WHAT A DICK
Carson….😍😍😍😍😍
Too cute! Carson looks bored. This little guy is ready for some action. LOL
He’s yawning away and he looks around at everyone. Guess he’s wondering…who are these people? LOL!
Oh Carson is so precious!!!
I want to pick him up and hug him right now!
I’ll see Carson on Saturday. I can hardly wait to hold him.
Carson is all the way-WOKE.
There he is! I knew a picture of Carson was forthcoming. He’s so adorable.
Our little darling is looking around at folks now. He wants to see what’s going on.
AWe…..simply adorable!
The Trump administration has spent $1.75 million on furniture for the executive office since his inauguration.https://t.co/aPP2rq1BZ8
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 26, 2017
The mayor of San Juan wants to void the $300M contract awarded to a tiny Montana company to help rebuild Puerto Rico.
Here’s why: pic.twitter.com/ZSUfSDp6yC
— Splinter (@splinter_news) October 25, 2017
Here’s Trump-donor-financed company that won a $300m Puerto Rico contract apparently threatening the mayor of San Juan https://t.co/LPAZAVy36G
— Scream Thielman (@samthielman) October 25, 2017
We’ve got 44 linemen rebuilding power lines in your city & 40 more men just arrived. Do you want us to send them back or keep working?
— Whitefish Energy (@WhitefishEnergy) October 25, 2017
In 2010, I ended my review of Heilemann and Mark Halperin’s Game Change with “these guys really, really hate women.” https://t.co/CW86kv9bEB— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) October 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/TheRoot/status/923539742096052224
https://twitter.com/icebergslim1047/status/923559341596250112
https://twitter.com/orlandosentinel/status/923557930426920960
https://twitter.com/trplback/status/923556119972401153
https://twitter.com/TheRoot/status/923461699394527234
“The Black Renaissance is Real: HBCUs See Record Growt in 2017”
http://www.theroot.com/the-black-renaissance-is-real-hbcus-see-record-growth-1819841936?utm_source=theroot_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=theroot_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
On taxes, Americans aren’t buying what Republicans are selling
10/26/17 08:40 AM—UPDATED 10/26/17 08:43 AM
By Steve Benen
The Republican effort to overhaul the nation’s tax code isn’t proceeding smoothly, but GOP officials, with a degree of panic and desperation, are scrambling to make it happen.
A New York Times report explained yesterday, “The Republican tax plan is a bit like having a baby to save a failing marriage. With divisions roiling the party, the prospect of a once-in-a-generation bill to cut taxes on businesses and individuals increasingly appears to be the last, best hope for a fractured establishment desperate to find common ground and advance an effort it has long championed as the pinnacle of Republican orthodoxy.”
There’s no shortage of moving parts to this, but while observers wait for GOP officials to get their act together – there’s still no bill, and we don’t even know for sure if the House will pass its budget resolution – it’s worth appreciating just how little public appetite there is for the Republican plan.
A new Fox News poll, released late yesterday, offered a variety of results on taxes, but among the findings was evidence that 78% of Americans are “frustrated” that “the wealthy are paying too little in taxes.” Another recent Fox News poll found that 59% disapprove of lowering taxes on corporations.
The entire Republican gambit is predicated on the polar opposite conclusions.
May 2016: Mercer mulls looking for missing Clinton emails
July 2016: Nix emails Assange, CC’s Mercer, about emailshttps://t.co/JwPqdKM6e2
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) October 26, 2017
THIS is crystal clear: President Obama is supremely comfortable in his own skin. He leads a healthy balanced life full of love and light.
— meta (@metaquest) October 26, 2017
and yet, FEMA can’t reach these folks.
I’m heading to #PuertoRico today to address access to clean water and the restoration of their power grid. https://t.co/Yax1BzwTjm
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 26, 2017
On our flight donated by @Delta, we’re delivering water filtration systems, 30,000 bottles of water and deploying 30 State Troopers.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 26, 2017
This “journalist” spent an entire election cycle trashing an accomplished woman who should be POTUS. I’m going to bed now to sleep on this. https://t.co/SWFSdiiiy6— Donna Edwards (@DonnaFEdwards) October 26, 2017
*Sahil Kapur brings us what rank and file members of the Republican caucus are saying about their party’s tax cut plan.
Trump tries to avoid responsibility for soldiers’ deaths in Niger
10/26/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
For three weeks, Donald Trump wouldn’t acknowledge the deadliest combat incident of his presidency. On Oct. 4, four U.S. Army Special Operations soldiers were killed in an ambush in Niger, and the president had said literally nothing about it, and the White House refused to release a condolence statement drafted by the National Security Council.
Yesterday, Trump finally mentioned the attack when a reporter asked whether the president had authorized the mission.
In other words, the president effectively wants to be seen as a bystander. Trump has delegated his powers to military leaders; they make decisions; and the president gets “reports” on what servicemen and women have been up to. He’s “been seeing it just like” the rest of us.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because yesterday wasn’t the first time he’s tried to pass the buck in the wake of a U.S. combat death. Soon after taking office, Trump authorized a mission in Yemen, which claimed the life of Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, and when pressed for answers on what transpired, the president said the buck stops somewhere else.
THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL AMERICAN CITIZENS
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/25/17
Alarm over disease as much of Puerto Rico still lacks clean water
Rachel Maddow reports on a frustrating run-around in trying to get answers to questions about the spread of the bacterial infection leptospirosis from lack of clean drinking water in Puerto Rico.
Prince’s photographer, Afshin Shahid, has created a book of his work:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519iQ7ukbwL._SX408_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
From Amazon’s review:
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/25/17
Senate committee splits as Trump behavior warrants scrutiny
Rachel Maddow reports on how congressional committees are splitting along partisan lines in the Trump Russia investigation even as new revelations show Donald Trump’s behavior warrants a closer look by committees like the Senate Judiciary.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/25/17
Blumenthal hopes committee split speeds up Trump investigation
Senator Richard Blumenthal talks with Rachel Maddow about the unprecedented nature of Donald Trump interviewing potential U.S. attorneys and what partisan divisions within the Judiciary Committee mean for the Trump Russia investigation.
Why Harvey Weinstein is disgraced but Donald Trump is president
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/26/16526922/harvey-weinstein-donald-trump-sexual-harassment
The Steele Dossier Looks More Credible Than Ever
by Martin Longman
October 25, 2017
On January 11th, 2017, right after BuzzFeed published the Steele dossier, reporter Scott Shane of the New York Times published a piece called: What We Know and Don’t Know About the Trump-Russia Dossier. What Mr. Shane already knew was that “in September 2015, a Washington political research firm, Fusion GPS, paid by a wealthy Republican donor who did not like Mr. Trump, began to compile ‘opposition research’ on him.” Additionally, Shane knew the following: “After it became clear that Mr. Trump would be the Republican nominee, Democratic clients who supported Hillary Clinton began to pay Fusion GPS for this same opposition research.”
What the Washington Post is reporting today is that the Democratic client who paid for the Fusion GPS research was Perkins Coie, a law firm that was under contract to both the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Specifically, their lead election attorney, Mark Elias, made arrangements with Fusion GPS in April 2016 to pay for ongoing opposition research after the original Republican client stopped paying for the work. The way the report is written is vague, but the clear implication is that the Clinton campaign and DNC funded the research indirectly by making payments to the Perkins Coie law firm.
……………………………………..
There’s no evidence beyond what we already knew to suspect that Steele had an incentive to skew his reports. And Steele’s behavior is certainly curious if he thought he was working in close cooperation with the Clinton campaign. For example, when he felt that the information he was providing to Fusion GPS was too explosive to leave to them, he made the decision to contact the FBI:
Dave Weigel Retweeted
Gabriel ShermanVerified account @gabrielsherman 37m37 minutes ago
More
WOW: Frm NJ assemblyman, who dated O’Reilly victim, says Fox and O’Reilly worked together to dig up dirt on accusers
I’ll say it again…
Kelly saw nothing wrong with SEPARATING PARENTS AND CHILDREN IN CUSTODY!!
Think on that.
Uh huh
Uh huh
get this child to the patent office
This 11-year-old invented a device to help people in Flint detect lead in their water. pic.twitter.com/ma3yITt5qT
— AJ+ (@ajplus) October 26, 2017
Republicans are starting to notice another big problem with their tax plan
From Kay over at BJ this morning:
Halperin’s a DICK.
And remember that WITCH Cokie Roberts’ attempts at “OTHERING” PBO. The gall of that bitch trying to tell him where he should be vacationing!
Now THIS is a Fox Poll.
You know how much manipulating they did…
And, this is the best that they could do.
(THREAD) The link below briefly summarizes the current—ample—evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. All of it comes from major-media reporting. https://t.co/7L8DDs5PGt
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 22, 2017
Alabama elections chief wants to send citizens to prison for 5 years for voting https://t.co/fe71BljU4b pic.twitter.com/spHYBGsW1Z
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) October 25, 2017
Oh boy. The new cover of @TIME. pic.twitter.com/rBYffYQq81
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 26, 2017
Time to impeach Zinke. This is outrageous corruption https://t.co/hM81d0goIZ
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) October 26, 2017
These are some evil, rotten, no good muthaphuckas.
THAT is who they are.
Nothing but pure evil, all the way through.
Well..well…well…
Lookey here….
Uh huh
Uh huh
Five women accuse journalist and ‘Game Change’ co-author Mark Halperin of sexual harassment
by Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy
October 26, 2017: 8:35 AM ET
The first woman told CNN she was invited to visit [Mark Halperin‘s] office in the early 2000s, when he was political director at ABC News, to have a soda, and said that while she was there with him he forcibly kissed her and pressed his genitals against her body.
“I went up to have a soda and talk and — he just kissed me and grabbed my boobs,” the woman said. “I just froze. I didn’t know what to do.”
The second woman, another former ABC News employee, described a similar experience in his office during the 2004 campaign cycle. This woman said she was around 25 years old then, and wanted to be a “campaign off-air” — ABC News’ term for one of the reporters who travel embedded with presidential campaigns — so she reached out to Halperin, who was a part of the decision-making process regarding those assignments at the time.
“The first meeting I ever had with him was in his office and he just came up from behind — I was sitting in a chair from across his desk — and he came up behind me and [while he was clothed] he pressed his body on mine, his penis, on my shoulder,” this woman told CNN. “I was obviously completely shocked. I can’t even remember how I got out of there — [but] I got out of there and was freaked out by that whole experience. Given I was so young and new I wasn’t sure if that was the sort of thing that was expected of you if you wanted something from a male figure in news.”
The woman said Halperin continued to express a sexual desire for her in subsequent visits, despite being rebuffed.
“It was more like him coming up too close to me and sort of along the lines of hugging me,” she explained.
She also alleged that Halperin propositioned her for sex on the campaign trail.
“He would say, ‘Why don’t you meet me upstairs?’ And I would say, ‘That’s not a good idea.’ And he would push the request further,” the person said. “Eventually I would just ignore him and go about my business.”
A third woman, also a former ABC News employee, told CNN she was on the road with Halperin when he propositioned her.
“I excused myself to go to the bathroom and he was standing there when I opened the door propositioning [me] to go into the other bathroom to do something,” she said. “It freaked me out. I came out of the ladies’ room and he was just standing there. Like almost blocking the door.”
A fourth woman who worked with Halperin and was junior to him told CNN he once asked her late at night on the campaign trail to go up to his hotel room with him, and that she believed him to be propositioning her. She declined.
The fifth woman who spoke to CNN was not an ABC News employee at the time of the incident she alleges. She was not comfortable sharing specifics of her story for publication, but said Halperin, while clothed, placed his erect penis against her body without consent.
My personal understanding of The Resistance
The way I see it the resistance has been with us throughout history although it might not have been named the resistance. It has been with us whenever a person or a group of people are resistant to the presence of oppression exploitation and injustice.
When President Obama was elected I experienced the beginning of what seems to me has grown and is now called the resistance. I have always understood President Obama to be a liberator and the very symbol of him as president was in itself an expression of liberation. I felt a deep need to protect and defend him and what he stood for and what he was trying to accomplish and although I didn’t use the word resistance that was how it felt to me. The pursuit of the defense of President Obama motivated me to find TPV where I found people of like mind.
As we know the attempt to erase President Obama lead to the election of Donald Trump. On the day of the inauguration of Trump I experienced what I sensed was a tipping point and that the resistance as we see it today was solidified into a powerful force.
The difference between the resistance of the past and the resistance that is now present is that now it is connected to the unification of diversity. There have been various groups of people who have been in the minority who have been in resistance but they were largely separate from other groups of people who have been in the minority. The inauguration of Trump catalyzed these diverse groups of people into a force that now has the potential for a lot of power.
About them messing with the 401ks:
I believe that they will try.
BUt, I believe that they will fail.
This concerns the middle class and is the heart of the IGMFY group.THEY are Republicans because of taxes and money. You phuck with that, and they will come for you.
These folks will not have guns or abortion or the little Baby Jesus ,or other shiny objects thrown at them.
For the same reason why the local tax deduction is no longer floated..
There are close to 50 GOPers from these states, and these Reps would be committing career suicide
Peter Baker @peterbakernyt
Abortion rate fell by 25 percent in the US from 2008, study finds, citing improved contraception
4:58 AM – 24 Oct 2017
41 replies 667 retweets 977 likes
The wonderful Robert Guillaume
https://mobile.twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/923378949173993472
Good Morning, Everyone 😐😐😐
Good Morning Rikyrah!
Ametia, I have been enjoying your posts this week on artist Amy Sherald and her amazing talent and fabulous paintings!
Good Morning, yahtzee and Everyone.
So glad you’re enjoying the posts, yahtzee. Amy has been selected to do FLOTUS’ portrait. YAY! One can see and hear why she was chosen.
Oh wonderful! I am so glad to hear that Amy will be creating Michelle Obama’s official portrait!!!
And yes, I am your posts this week!!
I need to tell you again how MUCH I learn from you, SG2, and Rikyrah every time I visit your pages. I appreciate all that the three of you do!
I left out the word “enjoying” = I am ENJOYING your posts this week.