The Year-Long Week

It’s become common in my circles on Twitter  to joke that time moves extremely slowly in Trumpland, but at the same time the news cycle moves at light speed. Every day, every night, something new happening.

 

This nomination brawl for Brett Kavanaugh has become all-consuming. I don’t want hard-right, anti-abortion, partisan operative on the Supreme Court. Politically, for me, he’s the worst choice I can think of for women, minorities, the disabled, the poor, labor, and anyone who opposes the issues that the donor class wants.

That’s BEFORE all of the allegations started coming out. The events of the last two days have shown me, and America, who Brett Kavanaugh really is: a mean, angry, vindictive, and entitled man who is unfit for the Federal bench, let alone the Supreme Court of the United States. 

I believe Dr Blasey Ford. I don’t think she’s mistaken in her identification of Kavanaugh as her attacker. I don’t believe Kavanaugh’s protestations. I think he’s forgotten a long-ago, fumbling attack on a young girl…and not merely because he and his friend Mark Judge drank to blackout stage. I think her testimony was extremely effective and sincere. And I think his testimony was appalling – revealing him to be temperamentally unfit for the office. 

Brett Kavanaugh reacts smugly to Lindsey Graham’s calculated tirade.

I think that either it was so commonplace and trivial for him that he can’t possibly pick out this single instance out of all the others.

OR, he didn’t think “humping” a smaller, weaker female counts as an assault. He didn’t get any, so it didn’t happen. So he forgot about it, as she wasn’t one of the elite girls he had to treat with more respect.

It’s been a rough week for assault and abuse survivors. I’m one of the lucky ones that didn’t suffer anything more serious than being poked and groped by “handsy” boys. And yes, dammit, it’s not right that those boys thought they could touch girls without consent. Somehow, I escaped anything worse once I went on to college. I heard dark rumors of things happening out of sight at frat parties, but I do remember feeling the need for groups of girls to look out for each other at parties (especially when leaving).

The turmoil of today’s Senate Judiciary committee meeting, with the odd flakiness of Senator Flake’s fakeout vote, which both enabled Kavanaugh to proceed on to the full Senate for a vote, but with a week’s delay for the FBI to finally reopen the background check to look into “current allegations.”

And Trump has actually authorized this, but I suspect Mitch McConnelll still controls the floor vote and could disregard the “pause” for the FBI.

The other allegations that are currently out there? I don’t know how far they’ll go toward coming in to testify or not.

Meanwhile, I have questions.

What’s the reason the Rs were all screaming about holding the SCOTUS seat open until 2020? As far as I know, the Ds hope to defeat this nominee’s confirmation…. but delaying until after the midterms is a pipe dream, let alonge until 2020. Is it because the Rs fear they will not only lose big in the midterms, but lose the White House in 2020? And what should they worry? Trump won’t stick around long enough for that, he’lll resign in a hissy before the Dems get a chance to air his dirty-money laundry.

Why did the Rs think having a female prosecutor asking questions for them was a good idea? They dumped her as soon as she got too close to the truth about a very intriguing date: July 1, 1982.

Finally, who else thinks Lindsey Graham’s job interview for AG went well? 

The American Bar Association had concerns about Kavanaugh 12 years ago. Republicans dismissed those, too.: History repeated itself. At least it had a spell of deja vu when the American Bar Association released an extraordinary statement at a crucial moment that raised concerns about Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to a powerful judicial position — just as it had done 12 years earlier. – by AVI SELK – Tags: politics – https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/28/american-bar-association-had-kavanaugh-concerns-years-ago-republicans-dismissed-those-too/

Survivors feel both hope and fear after Kavanaugh hearing, advocates say: (Reuters) – For sexual assault survivors, Christine Blasey Ford emerged as a new hero on Thursday, triggering a surge in calls to a national rape hotline as she told senators that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were teenagers. – by Jonathan Allen, Gabriella Borter – Tags: politics – https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-kavanaugh-women/survivors-feel-both-hope-and-fear-after-kavanaugh-hearing-advocates-say-idUSKCN1M82VH

Under pressure, Trump orders FBI Kavanaugh probe, causing week delay: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump, under intense pressure from moderates in his own party over his Supreme Court nominee, on Friday ordered an FBI investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh at the request of Senate Republicans, a move that will delay the con – by David Morgan, Richard Cowan – Tags: politics – https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-kavanaugh/under-pressure-trump-orders-fbi-kavanaugh-probe-causing-week-delay-idUSKCN1M8174

That’s it for this batch. Thanks for reading!

5 Political Links Mon Dec 11 21 21:59:13 2017

Here’s a pocketful of links, stacked up for easy viewing.

Alabama Farmer Who Lost Gay Daughter To Suicide Protests Roy Moore’s Homophobia: Sometimes it takes a devastating loss for someone to see the impact of their hateful, homophobic and bigoted views. In this video, a heartbroken dad named Nathan Mathis is seen outside a Roy Moore rally in Wicksburg, Alabama. Mathis is seen holding a photo of his daughter, now deceased. – by Red Painter – Tags: feedly, ifttt, politics – https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/alabama-farmer-who-lost-gay-daughter

Sen. Gillibrand calls on Trump to resign: Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that President Trump should resign amid numerous ‘heart-breaking’ sexual harassment allegations. – Tags: feedly, ifttt, politics – http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2017/12/11/gillibrand-trump-should-resign-sot.cnn

12-year-old interviews Roy Moore: The America First Project, a pro-Trump political action committee, sent a 12-year-old girl to interview Alabama’s GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore. – Tags: feedly, ifttt, politics – http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/12/12/moore-interview-with-12-year-old-america-first-project-sot-ebof.cnn

Children as Chattel–The Common Root of Religious Child Abuse and the Pro-Life Movement: On the surface, valuing embryonic life and abusing children are at odds, but with a biblical view of childhood, these positions can go hand in hand. – by Valerie Tarico – Tags: politics – https://valerietarico.com/2015/03/24/children-as-chattel-what-religious-child-abuse-and-the-pro-life-movement-have-in-common/

The Rollback of Pro-Worker Policies Since Trump Took Office Is Staggering: A few months ago, President Donald Trump devoted his weekly address to the beleaguered American employee. “For too long, American workers were forgotten by their government—and I mean totally forgotten,” he said. “My administration has offered a new vision. – by Helaine Olen – Tags: politics – https://www.thenation.com/article/the-rollback-of-pro-worker-policies-since-trump-took-office-is-staggering/

That’s it for this batch. Thanks for reading!

Liberal Christian Ponders Stuff

I haven’t been to church in weeks. Months. This is unusual, because I like going to church, singing, seeing people.

My reasons are very trivial: I am responsible for the church website and it needs to be updated, but to do that I need to sit at my desk rather than recline on the couch or in bed. And I don’t want to dig into my photos, revamp stuff, and create a tutorial for how to update the church website for interested persons who don’t know anything about WordPress. At least, not right now. And I don’t want to be pounced on for not updating the website.

I barely know anything about WordPress, because it’s updated and changed a lot over the years, but lately I’ve been changing things around here, as practice for the changes I need to do over —–> there at the church site. We’re only talking about a few hours’ work, but I just… can’t make myself.

I’m feeling conflicted about the responsibility, and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I need to do just to get ready to revamp things. So instead of working on the church blog on my desktop, I’m dipping a toe in the waters by blogging about things in my particular flavor of mainstream liberal Christianity, the Episcopal Church.

Yes, I’m one of those psalm-singing, Anglican chant-intoning, choral Eucharist types. As a liberal church, we’re barely recognized as Christian by some strains of evangelical Christianity (or we’re seen as a diabolical corruption, but hey, we welcome everybody, so there).

Before diving in I was listening to a podcast on Stitcher (which, annnoyingly, does not provide embed codes).

The first segment really goes into depth on a lot of things, but even if you’re not interested in religion or going to church, you may be interested to know that a specific kind of evangelicals would love to take political power, and think Trump is their nearly-unwitting entree into making America over into their vision of a nation literally under God (meaning, some form of theocracy).

The first segment is about why they embrace Trump as the anointed of God. Unfortunately for them Trump is pretty clueless about religion, because it isn’t about him. Listen here: Stitcher Podcast: With Friends Like These hosted by Anamarie Cox “One God, Under Trump:

After that, the first link is the story of a historic Episcopal congregation with a branding problem: back in the early 1800’s it was called Grace Church, which happens to conform to the “naming convention” of Episcopal churches; they are named after a theological concept, or a saint, or a “feast day.” Episcopal Churches aren’t typically named for people, or places, or everyday concepts.

This particular church’s branding problem is that it’s called Robert E. Lee Memorial Church, because it’s the church where the Southern leader worshipped, confessed himself a sinner, and is buried. Now, it’s a problem for the parishioners in much the same way townspeople have a problem with a Confederate statue – is it merely historic, or does it send a message that people of color had better not cross the threshold? They’re struggling with it, and it’s likely to split the community. The local bishop doesn’t see the problem: just go back to the old name, Grace. Which would imply healing, and forgiveness – but he’s not really local and doesn’t understand the subtleties.

Virginia congregation deeply divided over church’s name honoring Robert E. Lee: [Episcopal News Service] Was Robert E. Lee an American hero or a traitorous defender of slavery? The Confederate general has been called both in the ongoing debate over whether statues, monuments and plaques in his honor should be remain on display in public places, from parks to churches. – by David Paulsen – Tags: episcopal – EDN: Virginia congregation deeply divided over church’s name

The next one is positive – instead of “why I don’t go to church?” It’s “why I go to church.” My reasons for not going will soon be outweighed by the impending start of choir season; I’ll have to update the site, make a start on the tutorial, and show up at choir practice this week. Or next week. 😉 Aside from the music, I like being part of a community. Believing is tempered by reason – science has a place in my faith. The miracles don’t matter as much as the material: be kind, be compassionate, be hopeful.

Reasons to go to church: Marilyn McEntyre writes about why she goes to church: There are lots of stories of why people don’t go to church but she offers some reasons to take another look. Excerpts A healthy church will give you access to a treasury of words and music. – by Ann Fontaine – Tags: episcopal – https://www.episcopalcafe.com/reasons-to-go-to-church/>Episcopal Cafe: Reasons To Go To Church

This last one is interesting to me because I’ve attended a small Episcopal parish (more than one) that’s struggled to do the work with just a few people. Not as few as this one, but something amazing happened to them when they opened their doors to refugees. It’s the tale of what happens AFTER a split – based on the time period, it was probably over the ordination of a gay bishop and the acknowledgment that a LOT of the clergy in the church were (and are) gay. It’s that welcoming thing again. This little church found a way to welcome that completely changed them (which was hard and painful) but transformative in a good way.

‘All Saints’ movie details how refugees saved struggling Episcopal church: [Episcopal News Service] After a split over theology in the 1990s, there were only 12 members of the congregation left at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Smyrna, Tennessee, a suburb south of Nashville. The church couldn’t pay its mortgage. By 2007, the church was in danger of closing. – by Amy Sowder – Tags: episcopal – All Saints movie: how refugees saved struggling Episcopal church

That’s it –

Politics – Mon Aug 28 17 17:35:31 2017

Here’s a pocketful of links, stacked up for easy viewing.

Black-clad anarchists storm rally, assault at least 5 people: BERKELEY, Calif. — Black-clad anarchists on Sunday stormed into what had been a largely peaceful protest here against hate and attacked at least five people, including the leader of a politically conservative group who canceled an event a day earlier in San Francisco amid fears of violence. – Tags: politics – https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/black-clad-anarchists-storm-rally-assault-at-least-5-people/2017/08/27/57149418-8b91-11e7-84c0-02cc069f2c37_story.html

Trump to Fully Restore Military Surplus Transfers to Police: WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to reinstate in full a program that provides local police departments with military surplus equipment such as large-caliber weapons and grenade launchers, according to a document obtained by The New York Times. – by ADAM GOLDMAN – Tags: politics – https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/27/us/politics/trump-military-equipment-police.html

Clap Back: James Clapper On Why He Felt Compelled To Question President Trump’s Fitness to Serve: After more than 50 years in service of eight White House administrations, James Clapper was one of the least likely figures to publicly question a sitting president’s fitness to serve. – by Become a WGBH – Tags: politics – http://news.wgbh.org/2017/08/25/politics-government/clap-back-james-clapper-why-he-felt-compelled-question-president

Mar-a-Lago cancellations continue after Trump’s toxic tantrums: Charities continue to abandon Mar-a-Lago in favor of locations whose owners are less conflicted about the role of Nazis in our society. As we’ve said after each one of the other cancellations: ’bout time. – by Hunter, {{author}} – Tags: politics – https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/8/24/1692959/-Mar-a-Lago-cancellations-continue-after-Trump-s-toxic-tantrums

That’s it for this batch. Thanks for reading!

4 Pocket Links Wed Aug 23 20 20:06:13 2017

Aside

Here’s a pocketful of links, stacked up for easy viewing.

Flickr: Repository of Resistance Memes: A really useful collection of Resistance memes, many were used in a recent “tweetstorm Google doc created by Jhamel. – by Honey DemForce – Tags: politics, theresistance, trump – https://www.flickr.com/photos/151634815@N03/sets/72157685219931514

CaptainsLog2017 on Twitter – by Herr Trump in, CaptainsLog2017 ??, Scarlet Witch 2017 ? – Tags: trump – https://twitter.com/CaptainsLog2017/status/900220349593374720

CaptainsLog2017 on Twitter PHX pics: #PhoenixRally pics thread – by East Coast, Deb, Dani G, Vicki Ringer, Dracula’s Spatula, Eric DeBlackmere, Kenny J #Resist, Cynthia Pease, Mrir, C Barker Congdon, CaptainsLog2017 ??, Scarlet Witch 2017 ? – Tags: trump – https://twitter.com/CaptainsLog2017/status/900219373956341762

The strange story of a ‘Blacks for Trump’ guy standing behind the president at his Phoenix rally: At a number of political rallies over the last two years, a character calling himself “Michael the Black Man” has appeared in the crowd directly behind Donald Trump, impossible to miss and possibly planted. Almost always, he plugs his wild website, Gods2.com, across his chest. – Tags: trump – http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/The-strange-story-of-a-Blacks-for-Trump-guy-11952070.php

That’s it for this batch. Thanks for reading!

4 Pocket Links Mon Aug 21 21 21:56:18 2017

Aside

Here’s a pocketful of links, stacked up for easy viewing.

GOP senator unsure if Trump will be 2020 nominee: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told MSNBC that she was unsure whether President Donald Trump would be the party’s presidential nominee in 2020. – Tags: politics – http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/08/21/susan-collins-unsure-trump-2020-msnbc-sot-erin.cnn

Jeh Johnson: Confederate Statues Are ‘Neo-Nazi Rallying Points’: Martha Raddatz filled in on ABC’s “This Week” charged with the arduous task of eliciting some semblance of logic from Jerry Falwell Junior’s rationalizing of Trump’s deplorable defense of White Nationalists, KKK members and Neo-Nazis. – by Leftofcenter – Tags: politics – http://crooksandliars.com/2017/08/jeh-johnson-confederate-statues-are-neo

Angry Trump Grilled His Generals About Troop Increase, Then Gave In: WASHINGTON — President Trump’s skepticism about America’s involvement in Afghanistan was no secret to his staff. But his top national security officials were still taken aback at a meeting in the Situation Room on July 19, when an angry Mr. – by Maggie Haberman, MARK LANDLER – Tags: politics – https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/world/asia/trump-afghanistan.html

Michael Snyder Wants To Take Over The GOP And Fill Congress With ‘InfoWars Candidates’: Michael Snyder, a radical Religious Right prepper pundit who is among the Republicans candidates running for Congress in Idaho for the seat being vacated by Rep. Raul Labrador, is a kindred spirit of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and a regular guest on his radio program. – by Kyle Mantyla – Tags: politics – http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/michael-snyder-wants-to-take-over-the-gop-and-fill-congress-with-infowars-candidates/

That’s it for this batch. Thanks for reading!

6 Pocket Links Sun Aug 20 2017

Here’s a pocketful of links, stacked up for easy viewing.

The most pernicious racism is the stuff we don’t even think about : ***Dave Does the Blog: Literally don’t think about, as in the stuff that passes below our consciousness, that we don’t detect, let alone ponder. The stuff where we don’t even think about it as racism because it’s just How Things Are in our minds, axiomatic assumptions about people based on their race. – by Dave Hill – Tags: Racism, Blogs – http://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2017/08/18/pernicious-racism-stuff-dont-even-think.html

From airline cancellations to that ropey hotel, what to do about botched holidays: The Guardian and Observer consumer champions have joined forces to bring you a guide to your rights … from lost luggage to flight delays and bad hotels It’s that season again. The sleepless nights, the stressful confrontations and the hours spent on phone and email seeking resolutions. – by Miles Brignall and Anna Tims – Tags: travel – https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/aug/19/airline-cancellations-ropey-hotel-what-do-botched-holidays

Fit in my 40s: ‘I’m lazy: cycling in a pack changed that’: We did this for what felt like hours, but was actually 40 minutes – did I mention the vicious headwind? A role model is like a lemon zester: it’s only once you’ve got one that you realise you wanted one. – by Zoe Williams – Tags: cycling – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/19/fit-in-my-40s-bella-velo-cycle-club-richmond-park

Trumps to skip Kennedy Center Honors; organizers are ‘grateful’: The White House has announced that President Donald Trump and the first lady have decided not to participate in events honoring recipients of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors arts awards. – by Associated Press – http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-trumps-to-skip-kennedy-center-awards-20170819-story.html

Could Donald Trump lose in the GOP primaries?: President Donald Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad summer vacation has sent the administration reeling. – by Peter Feaver, (c) 2017, Foreign Policy – Tags: politics – http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-gop-fp-comment-1efbba6a-8426-11e7-b359-15a3617c767b-20170818-story.html

A letter to my American friends: when did the dream die?: It is difficult for Americans to watch the presidential parody that is Donald Trump with anything approaching equanimity. But it is also hard for non-Americans – long-time friends and admirers of the United States – who look on helplessly from afar. – by Simon Tisdall – Tags: politics – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/19/a-letter-to-my-american-friends-when-did-the-dream-die

That’s it for this batch. Thanks for reading!

Links Sat, 19 Aug 2017 tagged Politics

Here’s a pocketful of links, stacked up for easy viewing.

Steve Bannon vows to ‘go to war’ for Trump agenda after sacking: Donald Trump’s former chief strategist has vowed to go to war against the president’s opponents, after being fired from his job at the White House. Steve Bannon, who has returned as head of ultra-conservative website Breitbart News, said he would fight for the agenda that won Mr Trump the election. – by Anthony Zurcher – Tags: politics – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40985180

Finland killings: Stabbings in Turku a ‘terror attack’: Police in Finland say they believe the killing of two people in the south-western city of Turku on Friday was a terrorist attack. They said the attacker, who was shot in the leg by police and taken into custody, was an 18-year-old Moroccan. – Tags: politics – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40985528

How the Republican party quietly does the bidding of white supremacists: Let us finally rip off the veneer that Trump’s affinity for white supremacy is distinct from the Republican agenda. It isn’t It takes approximately 30 seconds to send a tweet. A half hour to draft and release a statement. And the shelf life of both is only marginally longer. – by Russ Feingold – Tags: politics – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/19/republican-party-white-supremacists-charlottesville

What Trump’s Increasing Isolation Could Mean For His Presidency: There’s a telling photo that has gotten some attention in social media following Steve Bannon’s exit as President Trump’s chief strategist. (You can see it above.) – by Domenico Montanaro – Tags: politics – http://www.npr.org/2017/08/19/544580016/what-trumps-increasing-isolation-could-mean-for-his-presidency

The crazy summer of Trump controversies that you’ve already forgotten: The end of summer is around the corner, with students soon returning to school and people across the country planning their fantasy football rosters. But with the daily intrigue and drama from the White House, the summer also feels as if it stretched across years. – by Alex Horton – Tags: feedly, ifttt, politics – https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/19/the-crazy-summer-of-trump-controversies-that-youve-already-forgotten/

Trump, first lady to skip Kennedy Center Honors over concerns of ‘political distraction’: President Trump and first lady Melania Trump have elected not to attend the annual Kennedy Center Honors in December amid a political backlash among those who will be feted at the event. – by David Nakamura – Tags: politics – https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/08/19/trump-first-lady-to-skip-kennedy-center-honors-over-concerns-of-political-distraction/

That’s it for this batch. Thanks for reading!

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Moving On From Picasa? WTH, Google?

Goddamit, Google, not again. You’re retiring yet another essential productivity tool!!

Since the launch of Google Photos, we’ve had a lot of questions around what this means for the future of Picasa. After much thought and consideration, we’ve decided to retire Picasa over the coming months in order to focus entirely on a single photo service in Google Photos. We believe we can create a much better experience by focusing on one service that provides more functionality and works across mobile and desktop, rather than divide our efforts across two different products.

Via Googleblog:
Moving On From Picasa”

I grumble at the way Picasa indexes things, but have based my entire blogging and online creative workflow around how Picasa organizes my images. I use plugins to make batch uploading to Flickr and Facebook easy.

Goddamit, goddamit. Whatever happened to “Don’t Be Evil?”

Global air ticket fraud sweep nets 118 arrests | Reuters

This is just one kind of airline ticket fraud – where someone intends to travel on the ticket purchased with a stolen credit card.

(Reuters) – More than 100 people were arrested worldwide this week after an investigation spanning 45 countries into the use of stolen credit cards to buy plane tickets, European police agency Europol said on Friday.

Source: Global air ticket fraud sweep nets 118 arrests | Reuters