Good Afternoon.
I’ve decided to no longer capitalize trump’s name.
I even had to change the auto-correct on my phone…to stop it from switching “trump” to “Trump”. Actually, yesterday I saw a hashtag that made me laugh. #tRump. Nuff said.
But if you think about it, my little protest is not singular in nature…
‘Dump Tower’ Is Just the Beginning Of Our New National Trolling Pastime
Before Trump, our national pastimes centered mainly around baseball and Instagram stalking our exes. But as the over-exposed meat bag trundles toward office, it’s time to rededicate our efforts to one oft-overlooked aspect of the resistance: Finding subtle ways to mock and needle him until he implodes with a wet pop, leaving nothing but a pair of gaudy cufflinks and a neglected Twitter account.
Trump’s skin is so thin it makes a baby’s eyelids seem like the callused palms of a cattle rancher. Probing him is satisfying because it provokes a response, which is why we have to spend the next four years doing it all the time. On Saturday, it was discovered that typing “Trump Tower” into Google Maps led you to…
A search on Google Maps for Trump Tower comes up as Dump Tower…
cause google is passive-aggressively awesome. #NotMyPresident pic.twitter.com/gETxgdXSIb
— Girls Really Rule. (@girlsreallyrule) November 27, 2016
I love you Google! #DumpTower is the perfect name! LOL!!! pic.twitter.com/U03iH9V3LI
— VA for Hillary (@VA4Hillary1) November 27, 2016
DUMP TOWER! Immature? Sure! Ultimately pointless? Maybe not! Think of Trump’s ego like a giant balloon, full to the point of bursting. We, the American people, are each armed with our own tiny pins, with which we can and must prod that gas-filled balloon at every available opportunity.
Just a few more trump links, in dump fashion.
Trump is ignoring daily intelligence briefings, relying on ‘a number of sources’ instead
Trump spent Thanksgiving asking: Mitt or Rudy? | New York Post
The president-elect held court on Thursday at his Palm Beach, Fla., Mar-a-Lago club at a large table with family members including wife Melania and sons Eric and Barron.
One witness told us Trump took a prime table next to the fireplace in the club’s living room, but spent a lot of time greeting members and asking who they think should be his top diplomat.
The spy said, “Donald was walking around asking everybody he could about who should be his secretary of state. There was a lot of criticism about Romney, and a lot of people like Rudy. There are also many people advocating for [former US ambassador to the UN] John Bolton.”
On Friday it was reported that Trump wants Romney to publicly apologize for criticizing him during the campaign in order to be considered for secretary of state.
Guests joining Trump for Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago included Christopher Nixon Cox, the grandson of Richard Nixon, who we are told is being lined up to be Trump’s ambassador to China. Also there was Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, CEO of Newsmax Media Christopher Ruddy, boxing promoter Don King, interior designer William Eubanks and political consultant Mary Ourisman. Attracting almost as much attention as the president-elect was chiseled romance-novel hunk Fabio, who was seated at a table near Trump, and “was asked for pictures nearly as often as Trump himself.”
Meanwhile, security was intense. The witness told us that Ocean Boulevard outside Mar-a-Lago was sealed off, and all vehicles were diverted to a nearby parking lot to be fully searched and checked by sniffer dogs. Entering the club, all members had to pass through airport-style metal detectors and have their bags searched. Once inside, “Secret Service agents were swarming everywhere. But Trump seemed relaxed, like he was in his own living room and surrounded by family.”
Fabio?
More on that Romney apology: REPORT: Mitt Romney May Be Forced to Publicly Apologize to Trump in Exchange For Sec of State Bid | Mediaite
And one more…Trump is already handing the presidency to Pence – AMERICAblog News
Whether Donald Trump is already bored with being president, or simply overwhelmed, there are signs that Trump is already handing the presidency off to his incoming vice president Mike Pence.
Keep in mind that earlier this year Trump’s own son reportedly told the Kasich campaign that future president Trunp planned to hand off most of his presidency to his vice president.
And judging by Trump’s refusal to attend the critically-important daily intelligence briefings that the president, and incoming president, receive, it appears that Trump is on track to license the most important parts of the presidency to religious right activist Mike Pence.
Here’s the NYT, which first reported the story of Kasich being offered what amounts to as the entire presidency:
Take a look at the link for the rest.
Now for links related to the trump presidency. (God, that is depressing.)
No More Mister Nice Blog: VENGEANCE AGAINST THE CLINTONS: TRUMP TREATS IT LIKE A BUSINESS PROPOSITION
The New York Postreports that despite earlier reports to the contrary, the incoming Trump administration supports an ongoing legal witch hunt against the Clintons after all — just not one conducted by the U.S. government:
Foreign governments will be encouraged to investigate the Clinton Foundation’s finances….
A source close to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team told The Post that the new administration plans to pressure the US ambassadors it will name to bring up the foundation with foreign governments — and suggest they probe its financial dealings.
Trump said last week that he would not order an investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server or her role in the foundation.
But Trump’s statement didn’t preclude the backroom moves to investigate the group.
“Haiti and Colombia will be key diplomatic posts for this because of all the money involved,” said the source.
Yeah, those are certainly the legal systems you want to turn to for investigations that are aboveboard and first-rate: Freedom House says of Haiti that “The judiciary is inefficient and weak, and is burdened by a lack of resources, a large backlog of cases, outdated legal codes, and poor facilities,” adding that “Bribery is rampant at all levels of the judicial system,” while in Colombia “The justice system remains compromised by corruption and extortion.”
.@SARAHKENDZIOR on how kleptocracy could happen here plus Donald Trump's actions so far #AMJoy https://t.co/8OdSEDc9EG
— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) November 27, 2016
Remember the veteran who had his dinner taken away by the Chili’s manager? Check this shit out:
Army vet denied meal at Chili’s forced to vacate home after threats | Talk of the Town
The Army veteran who was denied a free meal on Veterans Day at Chili’s has temporarily vacated his home because of threats, reports the Dallas Morning News.
But the news isn’t all bad, the veteran has also received more than $6,000 in pledges from many Americans through a GoFundMe account. He has asked the money be used to support hungry veterans. And Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, extended a personal invitation to the veteran to games for the remainder of the season.
Ernest Walker began receiving threats after a television news outlet showed his address and phone number during a segment about the incident, said Walker’s attorney. The newspaper reports that Walker received phone calls from restricted numbers saying “I know where you live.” He also received threats on Facebook and is now filing a report with the Ovilla Police Department.
On Veterans Day, Walker went to a Chili’s Bar & Grill in Cedar Hill to enjoy the free burger deal offered to vets, but had his meal removed by a restaurant manager. The manager challenged his status as a veteran despite Walker having shown him the proper ID and papers. Walker then began filming his exchange with the manager and posted it on Facebook. After several days, the post went viral, Chili’s was inundated with complaints and the company apologized to Walker and placed the manager on leave.
Uh, the manager was egged on by a Trump supporter in a “Make America Great Hat” btw…
What Does Donald Trump’s Election Say About America? – The Atlantic
The election of Donald Trump to the presidency reveals the true character of America.
Calling Someone Racist Won’t Help Your Arguement — Science of Us
Americans, like other humans, live in bubbles: The place you live, the media you consume, and the experiences you have shape what you take to be the world. To get out of hers, Arlie Hochschild, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a self-identified liberal progressive, headed to Lake Charles, Louisiana, for five years of field work, resulting in Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, a book that’s being called one of the best things you can read to understand the election.
In interviews with her subjects — a gospel singer, an oil-rig worker, “an obedient Christian wife” — Hochschild was careful to make them feel safe, allowing them to reveal to her what their views are, rather than prying it out of them. “I was acutely aware of the fragility of the ground rules I was trying to set, to promise them no judgments, so that they would be honest with me,” she tells Science of Us. They avoided the topic of race altogether, and when she did finally raise it to them, the immediate reply was, No – I’m not racist.
Her subjects’ sensitivity underscores a fact of political life that gets overlooked: If you want someone to listen to you, don’t offend them. Even if you think their views are deplorable.
“The word racist is one of the country’s most powerful triggers,” she says. It immediately puts people on the defensive, and political-science research suggests that shaming people isn’t the best way to convince them of your worldview. Her subjects assumed than anybody from the North would think of them as a racist — a bad, brutal person associated with slavery and the oppression of minorities. “They were allergic to the word,” she says. When conversations did arrive at race with her 40 in-depth subjects, she saw “every expression of every viewpoint.” One guy described himself as a “reformed bigot”: He used the N-word in the 1960s, when everyone around him was, but hadn’t used it since. While he has a Facebook page heroizing policemen, he also doesn’t tolerate racial slurs on it. His was “a mixed story,” she says, and “there are so many mixed stories if you don’t start with that word racist.”
Please read the rest at the link. I know that when I flat out call my husband a misogynist…the argument goes no where. (Even though that is exactly what he is.)
Women are preparing for Trump and Pence’s inevitable assault on reproductive rights.
Your Obstetrician (and Trump) Will See You Now – Ms. Magazine Blog
The Banned 400-Year-Old Shakespearean Speech Being Used For Refugee Rights Today | The Huffington Post
How Journalists Need to Begin Imagining the Unimaginable – ProPublica
Journalist Masha Gessen has spent years reporting on Vladimir Putin’s rule in Russia. She has written that the focus on Russian influence over now President-elect Donald Trump has been overstated and the result of a failure of imagination: the inability to imagine that the president would profoundly break with the norms of our country’s political discourse and practices.
A few days after Trump’s win, Gessen wrote about what citizens should be on the watch for with the incoming administration. ProPublica’s Eric Umansky and Jesse Eisinger sat down with Gessen to talk about how exactly journalists should be covering Trump.
Podcast at link.
Wife of Putin official performs in concentration camp ice dance | World news | The Guardian
Well, people died this week. Some of note:
The Guardian view on Fidel Castro: man of history | Editorial | World news | The Guardian
trump marked his death with a tweet:
I guess trump’s boyfriend didn’t appreciate it…
Vladimir Putin HUMILIATES Trump For Pathetic Response To Fidel Castro’s Death (TWEETS) – US Uncut
Obituaries for the past week. Fuck 2016:
‘Brady Bunch’ Mom Florence Henderson Has Died : The Two-Way : NPR
Ron Glass, ‘Barney Miller’ And ‘Firefly’ Actor, Dead At 71 | The Huffington Post
Fidel Castro’s death could ensure Obama’s opening to Cuba survives – LA Times
Continuing the link dump…
Electoral College must reject Trump unless he sells his business, top lawyers for Bush and Obama…
DNA DENIAL
Georgia man serves life despite
DNA implicating another killer
That is an article from February of 2016. But I just thought it would be as interesting read for you all.
As well as this one:
American Apartheid: A Georgia County Drove Out All Its Black Citizens in 1912 – The New York Times
Now for some regular general interest links…
Just Like Love, We Can Feel Friendships at First Sight — Science of Us
The Brilliant MI6 Spy Who Perfected the Art of the ‘Honey Trap’ | Atlas Obscura
A Breakthrough in C-Section History: Beatrice of Bourbon’s Survival in 1337 – The New York Times
This is an open thread.
Tagged: Trump