Red Carpet and MeToo

Red Carpet and MeToo

It’s that time of year again. Seems like every week there’s a televised awards show, and with each one, an additional preshow for red carpet fashion coverage. On some networks (E!), the red carpet coverage is longer than the actual telecast. Then, the following day, as if all the preshow coverage wasn’t enough, many networks, local and national, troll out more panels to discuss who wore who and how it looked. Is all of this necessary? And in the era of #MeToo, why is it still okay to comment on how celebrities, mostly women, look?

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Sensible Gun Control

Sensible Gun Control

The quickest way to get meaningful gun control would be to allow anyone to open-carry guns anywhere—airports, schools, churches, and especially in all government buildings and offices. If guns were allowed in the Capitol, White House, and Supreme Court, we’d have reasonable gun control tomorrow.

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Unfixable Crimes

Unfixable Crimes

Dear media, you are being used. You are playing right into the hands of a dangerous madman. You are disseminating propaganda and terror by giving too much oxygen to a lying fascist and white supremacist. For the sake of your own credibility and a fragile democracy, please stop playing video clips of the president. You can report on what he says and does without incessantly showing clips of him lying. It doesn’t matter if you tell us before and/or after showing the clips that it’s a lie—the clip is more powerful. And he knows it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video clip is worth a million.

He is using you to spread hate and distract. Stop playing along.

Here’s a more important scoop for you: more Americans just voted for Democrats (57%) than Republicans (42%) in Senate races, yet the Republicans picked up seats and will control the body (especially women’s bodies). A majority of Americans support progressive ideas and beliefs, but because the system is rigged they will be ruled by a radical and oppressive minority. Our constitutional crisis is the constitution itself. It’s the undemocratic Senate and antiquated Electoral College. As Lawrence O’Donnell recently said, “the Senate is an unfixable crime against democracy.”

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Bothsidesism

Bothsidesism

Part of me wants to turn off all television news and live a happily ignorant existence. Another part of me needs to scream. At Chris Matthews. At Chris Cuomo. At Chris Hayes. It’s not the name Chris that bothers me. My confirmation name is Chris. No, it’s how the Chrises and others in the television news business are once again doing their best to sway and blow another election for Democrats.

After the terrorist murders in Pittsburgh, almost every news show had on good ol’ folksy John Kasich. He’s been making the rounds. What he says in all of these appearances is appealing: we need to have more empathy, stop putting up walls, reach out to others, and Trump is incapable of being a unifier. All of it sounds good. Common sense. But just as he criticizes Trump in one breath, he then invokes bothsidesism in another.

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The Rhetoric Blame Game

The Rhetoric Blame Game

False equivalency strikes again.

Yesterday pipe bombs were sent to political opponents and vocal critics of Donald Trump. Specifically, the targets of the bombs were people he has called out by name at his cult shows.

Today the media has bent over backwards to show how both sides need to cool down on the rhetoric. For example, CBS This Morning showed several clips in an attempt at being “fair.” One clip was an interview with a Trump supporter—it looked like she was in the lobby of his rally last night—who said both sides need to take a step back. This was followed by another clip of past Trump cult shows (aka rallies) where he whipped up the flock into frenzied chants of “lock her up.”  Then, to be “fair,” CBS showed a clip of Eric Holder saying, “when they go low, we kick them.”

How are these things even remotely equivalent?

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The Warren Condition

The Warren Condition

Typical Democrat: Bringing a biological DNA test result to a chemical weapons fight.

Dear Elizabeth Warren, your response to Donald Trump should be, “Fuck off, you sleazy snake oil salesman and fat, ugly, disgusting, misogynist pig!”

I don’t believe Democrats need to take the low road to beat Trump, but we do need a quick-striking and forceful fighter who can offer hope and firmly rebuke Trump at the same time. It’s possible and the media will love it.

I like Elizabeth Warren. A lot. I support everything she stands for. But if she is nominated, she and her Fact Squad will get obliterated. The media doesn’t pay attention to facts. Facts are boring. Facts get no oxygen. They want drama. They want ratings. They want a candidate trying to stand in a category 5 with debris flying around.

I will still vote for her if she wins the nomination, but we will lose. And so will the country.

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Water Maine Break

Water Maine Break

Maine Senator Susan Collins has said she won’t support a Supreme Court nominee hostile to Roe v. Wade.

DON’T BELIEVE HER!

She voted for Neil Gorsuch. She voted for Samuel Alito. She voted for John Roberts. Each are hostile to Roe v. Wade (among many other freedoms and protections we take for granted). What I think she is trying to do is limit calls, demonstrations, and pressure from her constituents.

Remember last year when she voted for the tax reform bill because she said she had received an “ironclad” promise from Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence to pass legislation to stabilize ObamaCare premiums. When’s that vote happening? She was lied to. She was betrayed. And now I’m sure she will be offered an “ironclad” promise again in return for a vote to confirm a Supreme Court pick. She will believe their lies again. She will cave in again. And she (and the country) will be betrayed again.

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The Salute Is Not The Problem

The Salute Is Not The Problem

If you’ve seen the video of Trump saluting a North Korean military officer, it’s clear he was confused about proper protocol in the greeting. First Trump goes for a handshake. Then the military officer salutes. Trump reflexively salutes back. I have no outrage—fake or real—over this. The issue is not Trump’s salute to an adversary’s military officer. It’s about the Trumpists’ hypocrisy and double-standards. The right wing conspiracy machine would have pounced on this misstep had it been a Democrat. Doesn’t matter which one. In their eyes, all Democrats are evil and hate America. Sean Calamity Shamity’s head would have exploded and oozed like a Hawaiian volcano for months. Yes, the salute was a mistake, especially in preparation. Trump should have known not to salute. But okay. He did. His bad. But I’m not going to pretend to be outraged. I’ll let the wingnuts on the right be the hypocrisy experts.

And, oh, by the way, that Hawaiian volcano was triggered by Trump’s cronies digging up the earth to find Obama’s birth certificate. Of that I am convinced.

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Deception, Disinformation, and Hypocrisy

Deception, Disinformation, and Hypocrisy

The greatest threat to freedom in a democracy is propaganda and disinformation. Fox “news” has been brainwashing viewers/voters for more than 20 years. And they finally succeeded, with an assist from Putin, to install a liar, con man, and deplorable human being in the presidency. Those who were duped can be forgiven. Those who still believe, who refuse to accept that they’ve been conned and brainwashed, please wake up. History and your god will not judge you well. Redemption is easy and kind. A reckoning will hurt. Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth—not the morons, liars, con artists, blowhards, and braggarts. And especially not anyone professing to be a “stable genius.”

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Alt Left

Alt Left

The alt left is a made up term by right wing propagandists like Sean Shamity, now picked up by the president, to create a false equivalency to white supremacists, fascists, nazis, racists, anti-semites, and bigots of all stripes. When they use the term alt left, they mean feminists, blacks, non-whites, anti-fascists, gays, interfaith clergy members peacefully singing while they incite violence with torches, or anyone who dares to speak out against discrimination, hatred, and fascism. Since I won’t be silent, I guess that makes me a part of the alt left.

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Make or Break Time?

Make or Break Time?

Most Sunday mornings we tune into CBS Sunday Morning, and watch right up to the sights and sounds of nature at the very end. Then we turn it off before the talking heads and pundits pontificate on Face The Nation (and the other Sunday round table shows).

This morning, right before they left us with that tranquil end to the show, they showed a promo for Face The Nation. When John Dickerson said, coming up, it’s make or break time for the Republican healthcare bill, I turned to my husband and ranted, “What does that mean? Make or break time? Mitch McConnell owns the Senate. He can make or break anything any time he wants. If he wants to have a vote on the healthcare bill next week, he can. If he wants to have a vote a year from now, he can. He controls the Senate. This is a guy who stole a Supreme Court seat. He can do whatever the fuck he wants whenever the fuck he wants to.”

And in response to my short, but intense outburst, my loving husband calmly said, “You had to get that out. Now, what do you want to eat for dinner this week?”

And with that, we set off to Trader Joe’s.

But… Media: stop with this make or break time narrative. It’s meaningless. There are no norms left in DC. 

That’s my post for today. I’ll leave you with an image from Rocky Mountain National Park.

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