Today in Disgusting People (Update)

I have to admit to having almost no first-hand knowledge of Sean Hannity, since I don't watch either broadcast or cable TV, or listen to the radio. (I stopped listening to the radio years ago because they talk too much, and I find talking a distraction when I'm reading or doing something that needs musical accompaniment. I can watch a talk show, but I can't listen to one.)

At any rate, the take I have on Hannity is, as might be expected, from sources on the Internet, and considering the sources I usually check out, you might well imagine that my take is not positive. I think this confirms my judgment:

“When you look at this report and what it says, the major finding that the House Intel Committee have now ended their 14 month phase of this Russian investigation. There’s still a lot of other investigations to come. It confirms everything we have been telling you and it also confirms that the media and Democrats have been flat out lying to every American for over a year with their breathless hysterical reporting and they out of pretty much whole cloth created a Russian collusion conspiracy theory all designed to smear and delegitimize Donald Trump.” – Sean Hannity, speaking today on his SiriusXM show.

Gee, the House Intelligence Committee found no evidence of collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign -- uh, let me clarify that: the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee found no evidence of collusion, so they've ended their investigation before questioning all the witnesses and examining all the documents.

That's all Hannity needs to go full-tilt conspiracy theorist. Well, not up to the level (down to the level?) of Alex Jones, but still. . . .

This is an order of magnitude beyond sycophancy.

Well, now they can go back to investigating Hillary's e-mails.

Update: Here's more background if you need it.

Today's Must-Read: Is It an Insult If It's True?

It's a widespread comment on the internet that fundamentalist Christians aren't playing with a full deck. You've all heard or read it in one context or another. Well, get a load of this:

A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia has shown that religious fundamentalism is, in part, the result of a functional impairment in a brain region known as the prefrontal cortex. The findings suggest that damage to particular areas of the prefrontal cortex indirectly promotes religious fundamentalism by diminishing cognitive flexibility and openness — a psychology term that describes a personality trait which involves dimensions like curiosity, creativity, and open-mindedness.

The article points out that this does not offer a complete explanation for the prevalence of fundamentalism:

The authors emphasize that cognitive flexibility and openness aren’t the only things that make brains vulnerable to religious fundamentalism. In fact, their analyses showed that these factors only accounted for a fifth of the variation in fundamentalism scores. Uncovering those additional causes, which could be anything from genetic predispositions to social influences, is a future research project that the researchers believe will occupy investigators for many decades to come, given how complex and widespread religious fundamentalism is and will likely continue to be for some time.

So there you have it.

The article goes into some detail about how the study was conducted, but it's worth a read.

And I Hope

You all remembered to set your clocks, watches, and other timepieces an hour ahead, so you're as disoriented as I am. (Seriously -- it takes me a few days to adjust to the time change. If you thinks that's weird, I used to have jetlag flying in from New York or Asheville.)

Review: Geoff Johns, et al.: Superman: The Last Son of Krypton

Another one first published at Epinions and no longer available there:

One of the featured items on Free Comic Book Day at my local comics store was the first chapter of Superman: The Last Son of Krypton. It was interesting enough -- and showed a whole new facet of Superman -- that I checked to see if it was an ongoing series. Turns out, it's two stories that have already been collected.

In "Last Son," a rocket crash-lands in Metropolis, with a sole passenger. The "landing" part is thanks to Superman, who manages to slow it down enough to lessen the destruction. The passenger is a boy who speaks Kryptonese and tends to lift heavy objects without strain. Guess where he's from. Of course, it makes the papers, and suddenly, everyone wants the kid -- starting with Lex Luthor, but General Zod soon makes an appearance.

The second story, "Brainiac," is Superman versus Brainiac, who is busily sucking up all the information in the universe -- and then incinerating the creators. He's been looking for Superman, and now he's found him. That doesn't bode well for Earth.

In some ways, The Last Son of Krypton was a disappointment. What seemed at first like a new take on Superman -- as a father -- snapped right back into formula, first with Zod and his minions, and then with Brainiac. The boy became merely a plot device. It's a shame -- in this universe, Clark Kent and Lois Lane are married, there are lots of visits to Ma and Pa Kent, and there's a lot of potential for building some real humanity into Superman, but the parts never quite connect.

The Brainiac story is pure formula, and little more. Brainiac's dialogue is a reiteration of "You're powerless, you can defeat me, I win," repeated ad nauseam. There's as little character development here as there is in "Last Son" -- if anything, less.

The art saves this one. "Last Son" was drawn by Andy Kubert, and he's about to join my list of top comic artists. Superman is suitably craggy-featured, the boy Christopher is eminently appealing, and the rest of the characters are nicely conceived and rendered. My only objection here is that in some frames, depictions become a little too abstract. There is enough variation in the page layouts to keep things interesting, although in some passages they become so fragmented they're hard to follow.

"Brainiac" was drawn by Gary Frank, with inks by Jon Sibal, and again, the characterizations are apt (although Supergirl, who occupies a strong supporting role, looks a little vapid).

There's an "Epilogue" on this one, drawn, I assume, by Frank. The first portion is completely visual, and is tremendously evocative. (I can't tell you what it portrays, since that's a major spoiler.)

On the whole, Geoff Johns has done better, and I really wish he'd followed up on the opportunity to develop the relationship between Clark/Superman and Christopher without falling back on somewhat shopworn villains.

Giggle du Jour

I'm surprised Trump hasn't taken credit for ending the Korean War:

The Winter Olympics were “very, very successful,” Donald Trump told a Pennsylvania audience Saturday night.

Thanks, of course, to Donald Trump.

“We did a greta [sic] job with the Olympics,” Trump said. “Might as well say it, nobody else is going to say it.”

Why is Trump responsible? For bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula, of course.

“A little hard to sell tickets when you think you’re going to be nuked,” he said.

“It became a very, very successful Olympics,” Trump assured.

Nobody else is going to say it because it's BS.

It's Sunday Again

And that means good stuff at Green Man Review. This week's post title isn't really very informative, so, let's see: books, of course (Glen Cook -- Yay!), and music (all kinds of music), winter ales, graphic lit, a travelogue, and even a little brown mouse.

So scurry on over and check it out.

Why Not Just Shoot Them?

Just like your hero:

The Trump administration is studying new policy that could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for drug dealers, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, a sign that the White House wants to make a strong statement in addressing the opioid crisis. President Trump last week suggested executing drug dealers as a way to make a dent in opioid addiction.

I doubt that Trump knows which end of a gun is which. Maybe his Hemingway-wannabe offspring could give him lessons.

Saturday Science: Trees

For some reason, the evolution of trees has been on my mind a lot lately. Probably because on a visit to the Field Museum, I noticed the ginkgos in one of the islands in the parkway between the museum and Soldier Field: they looked like pines, one central trunk with the branches all radiating off the way the branches of conifers do (usually -- everything about nature is "usually"), so that they form a pyramid shape.

I did a little research and discovered that ginkgos are most closely related to cycads.

I also discovered that, although they make seeds, they don't have flowers, again like conifers. I spent a bit of time last spring observing the conifers planted around Lincoln Park Conservatory, and, yep: they don't have flowers, just little buds that release pollen and little proto-cones that form seeds when the pollen lands on them.

By contrast, the growth habit of most flowering trees (again, usually) is spreading: they want to capture as much light at possible, and any branch may become a secondary trunk.

Just some thoughts. I'll probably work this into a post in Earth: A Biography (which I'm going to get back into soon), but it needs more research.

(Footnote: And I discovered an error in the signage in the Fern Room at the Conservatory, which starts off "A small dinosaur would feel right at home in this room" since it's all ferns, selaginellas, tree ferns -- and cycads. It goes on to state that seeds hadn't evolved yet, which is not the case: seed-bearing plants first appeared about 360 million years ago, long before the dinosaurs; flowers, however, didn't appear until much later, while dinosaurs were running around doing dinosaur things. In fact, cycads are seed-bearing.)

Today in "Christian" Hypocrisy

From none other than frootlooop Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress:

Even paying off porn stars with whom he's had an affair is fine. Just fine:

A member of President Trump’s evangelical advisory board defended Trump over the controversy surrounding his alleged relationship with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, saying the allegations were “totally irrelevant” to evangelicals who support Trump.

Now, most normal people see this as screaming hypocrisy, but to someone as conceptually challenged as Jeffress, it makes perfect sense. They have an out:

The pastor, who oversees the First Baptist Church in Dallas, said evangelicals understand “the concept of sin and forgiveness.”

“We are all sinners, we all need forgiveness, [and] that forgiveness is available through Christ for anyone who asks,” he said. “And whether the president needs that forgiveness for this particular allegation, whether he’s asked for it, is between him, his family and his god.”

You see? You can be an absolute walking, talking piece of shit your whole life, but if you say on your deathbed "Forgive me, Jesus!" it's all good. You get a Get Out of Hell Free card.

(In my own tradition, if you wrong someone, you make it up to the person you've wronged, you don't ask a third party to forgive you. And no, we're not born sinners -- new souls are pure.)

Digby has a section here on how the Department of Health and Human Services is putting "right to life" policies in its guidelines for family planning services -- small tweaks that they hope no one will notice. You should read it to get the full take on how underhanded these assholes are.

Digby sums up the attitude nicely:

And if you think this means that they can never attack their political rivals on personal or sexual indiscretions, think again. They will shake their fists at the depraved infidel proclaiming that his (or her's) sexual dalliance means they have no moral authority to lead the nation. And we will rend our garments about what hypocrites they are and they will look at us through dead eyes and continue on without missing a beat.

There is literally nothing their Dear Leader can do that isn't fine --- except lose.

I'm more and more coming to understand that these kinds of "Christians" are people who really, really want someone to tell them what to do -- keep in mind that they worship a god that they typify as their "lord and master." They admire someone like Trump, who in turn admires people like Putin, Duterte, and Xi -- strongmen who don't even bother with the facade of democratic processes.

Like I said, normal people see this as hypocrisy. To "Christians" like Jeffress, it's part of the catechism.

The Evolution of a Terrorist Organization

Specifically, the National Rifle Association. It's long -- almost 17 minutes -- but it's fascinating, sort of like watching a building collapse.

This was posted by commenter KnownDonorDad in the comments to this post.

USA Today reports:

The National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit this afternoon against the state to block a law that had just been signed by Gov. Rick Scott that prohibits gun sales to anyone between the ages of 18 and 21.

“We filed a lawsuit against the state for violating the constitutional rights of 18 to 21 year olds,” said Marion Hammer, lobbyist for the NRA in Florida. NRA lawyers in Tallahassee and Washington D.C. were working on the complaint this afternoon, and filed the complaint moments before the court’s deadline.

It'll be interesting to see how that works out. You know the NRA will go all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Antidote: Parker Curry

You may have seen a news story on Parker Curry, the little girl whose mom took her to the National Portrait Gallery to see Michelle Obama's official portrait.

Hey @MichelleObama! Parker, the little girl who loves your portrait, has an important message for you and we promised her we'd deliver it! 👸🏾 pic.twitter.com/m60f6zhLkc

— AM to DM by BuzzFeed News (@AM2DM) March 5, 2018

Michelle got the message and responded as one might expect:

Parker, I'm so glad I had the chance to meet you today (and for the dance party)! Keep on dreaming big for yourself...and maybe one day I'll proudly look up at a portrait of you! pic.twitter.com/faUVTsYWun

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) March 6, 2018

Via Balloon Juice.

Today's Must-Read: #savetheelephants

I guess his Hemingway wannabe offspring prevailed on our so-called president to grant them more elephant tails:

Trump has done one single decent thing since he took office and it was defy his murdering neanderthal heirs and uphold the ban on imports of elephant trophies. I guess Uday and Qusay were the last people in the room on this one:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has quietly begun allowing more trophy hunting of African elephants, despite President Donald Trump’s pledge last year to uphold a ban on importing parts of animals killed by big-game hunters.

That's bad enough. (Yes, I am in favor of a total ban on hunting endangered species, and you won't want to hear my opinion on "trophy hunters".)

But this is what really pisses me off:

“Our biggest concern is there’s been too much back and forth by the U.S. government to the point of really confusing the public,” Jimmiel Mandima, the director of program design at the African Wildlife Foundation, said. “Why does the decision keep flopping, are we hunting or are we not hunting?”

Mandima, who noted that his group has long opposed the hunting of threatened, vulnerable or endangered species, said such confusion makes it difficult for the public to voice opinions about the issue, and harder for environmental groups to craft conservation recommendations.

(Emphasis added.)

That's the whole point.

Several environmentalists on Monday pointed out that the new import guidelines haven’t been made public, and Freedom of Information Act requests to determine what “case-by-case” actually means will likely take months. In that time, an unknown number of applications could be approved.

“We saw the public outcry last fall when [the trophy decision] was announced … not just from people who are traditionally Democrats,” Sanerib said. “The agency is really playing hide the ball. It’s incredibly disappointing.”

That's the way the Republicans "govern": don't tell the public what's going on.

Remember the "tax reform" bill? The one that was rushed through with no public hearings and no debate?

Footnote: This is what we should be doing:

In Kenya, the last male northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) in the world isn't faring well - the animal is past its prime and in declining health. With time running out, a global team of scientists and conservationists are trying to save the subspecies from extinction with help from the last two surviving females.

It's called "cooperation," and it's something we as a species are supposed to be good at:

Efforts to pull the species from the jaws of extinction have brought together institutions from around the world, such as the San Diego Zoo Global in the United States, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, and Embryo Plus, a South African company specializing in IVF procedures.

Read this one, too -- it's fairly detailed, and pretty informative.

About That "President for Life" Joke

Does anyone really think he was joking?

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough ripped Republicans who tolerate President Donald Trump’s not-so-funny jokes about becoming president for life.

The “Morning Joe” host and his guests reacted to Trump’s comments about Chinese President Xi Jinping consolidating power to remain in office indefinitely, and he told guests at his Mar-A-Lago club that “maybe we’ll give that a shot some day.”
ADVERTISING

“When Republicans are just saying, it’s just a joke, or when Republicans ignore the fact that this man is talking about being president for life, if they think that Donald Trump is joking, then they’re fools,” Scarborough said. “I don’t think they’re fools, I think they know exactly what he’s saying.”

Look, he's already demonstrated that not only does he know nothing about democratic norms or our system of checks and balances, he doesn't care; and when he has noticed them, he hates them.

I think the Republicans are on board with the idea: as long as he's a willing tool who will enact their agenda and turn the U.S. into an oligarchy, they'll back him. That's what the Republican party has become.

Today's Must-Read: Whither America?

A thought-provoking and strangely reassuring piece from Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo:

America is forever reinventing itself. Synthesizing today and yesterday and turning them into tomorrow. It was folly to believe a reality TV star could turn back time and recapture some halcyon yesterday. Yet many did.

They really believed they could turn back the clock to the halcyon days of Ozzie and Harriet. Key quote:

Instead of making America great again, Donald Trump is instead hastening "the very decline his supporters so feared," Reid concurs. There will be no return to a world where white men rule and all others know their places and remain in them[.]

That's the thing about history: it's a function of time, and no matter how hard you try to stop it, time keeps marching on.

Needless to say, read the whole thing: it's a good analysis of demographics and where they are taking us.

Today in Just Plain Stupid

From none of than that man of staunch, steadfast principle (depending on which way the wind is blowing), Sen. Lindsay Graham:

I don't know what's in the water in Washington but it's making people insane:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said this week that a war with North Korea would be “worth it” in the long term.

Graham made the comments in an interview with CNN.

"All the damage that would come from a war would be worth it in terms of long-term stability and national security," the senator told CNN.

The only one who would come out of a war with North Korea with anything intact would be Vladimir Putin. And "long-term stability"? Yeah, I guess piles of smoking radioactive rubble are stable.

It's worth reading the whole post -- a completely unsettling outline of what would be involved and what the likely result would be. For starters, just forget South Korea as a viable entity.

Today in Stupid Comparisons

From none other than Pastor-Governor Mike Huckabee, apologist for all that's deplorable:

"People call it an 'assault weapon,'" Huckabee, frustrated, concluded. "Maria, if I take a pencil and stick it in your neck, that's an assault weapon."

Excuse me -- how many mass pencil stabbings have there been in this country?

Review: Jim Grimsley: Kirith Kirin

Originally published at Epinions.com. A more in-depth, more polished review appears today at Green Man Review.

Jim Grimsley is a successful playwright and novelist who has produced, in Kirith Kirin, a singular work of fantasy. The story revolves around Jessex, a boy of fourteen when the story opens, who narrates the tale of his entry into the service of Kirith Kirin, the Prince who lives in Arthen Forest, awaiting the call from the Queen, Athryn Ardfalla, to fulfill the next round of the Cycle and succeed her as King. The call is somewhat more than 100 years overdue, because the Queen’s wizard, Drudaen Keerfax, has convinced her that she can maintain her youth and vitality without returning to Arthen, and so remain in power forever. Kirith Kirin has in turn exiled Drudaen and Athryn from Arthen.

Jessex’ long-lost uncle Sivisal comes to bring him into Arthen on the basis of a dream and a prophecy. During his time as kyyvi (the acolyte who sings the morning and evening prayers in the ceremony of the lamps), Jessex is also being taught, secretly, by the Diamysaar, the Three Sisters who are ancient powers in the world and have bestowed the second name on the Twice-Named, who are, if not immortal, extremely long-lived. Jessex’s education, he is told, is being undertaken to prepare him to be assisant for a powerful wizard, Yron, who will come to free the world form Keerfax and his Shadow; under no circumstances must he discuss it outside of the place where he is being taught, nor may he use magic except during his lessons. The story of Jessex’s education is fascinating because Grimsley has a unique view of magic and its workings, and Jessex is a personable and very intelligent, if somewhat reticent, narrator. Needless to say, circumstances force Jessex to break his promise to the Sisters; since this happens halfway through the book, it really gives nothing away to say that, contrary to his expectations, Jessex is neither killed nor taken away from the world. With the gift of a cloak woven and sewn by the Sisters, Jessex becomes Kirith Kirin’s wizard and, very soon, his lover. Since this is a work of fantasy, eventual victory is assured, but there are some surprizing plot developments.

This is not a book for those who want a nice clean exposition that lays everything out right up front. Jessex, as narrator, is quite consciously telling a history to an audience who will be familiar with most of the background. He does explain what needs to be explained as he tells the narrative, but the picture of the lives of the Jisraegen (Jessex’ people) and the context of their world unfold slowly – their history, for example, which is a real, living tradition for them, is revealed as a series of asides that flesh out events that are being related. Jessex assumes that his audience knows who and what the Nivri and Finru are, and who the Orloc and Tervan and Venladrii are, and we learn enough by inference to satisfy. (Grimsley is not one, in this book at least, to clutter things up with useless detail. Fortunately for those whose curiosity burns, he does publish a glossary as one of the appendices.)

As a narrator, Jessex is very matter-of fact, and sometimes almost laconic. While there is no doubt that Jessex and Kirith Kirin love each other deeply and passionately, in the best romantic tradition, Jessex’ understatement and humor only make it less graphic and more real; likewise his references to the development of his powers as a wizard, which are again very straightforward and unapologetic. Not only is it refreshing to have a story told with this combination of circumspection and frankness, it also serves to build Jessex as a real person.

Music plays a huge role in this book: singing is how one makes magic, singing is how one worships YY-Mother, the Jisraegen god, music is how the Jisraegen entertain themselves in the evenings. Do not, however, expect Tolkien-style “The Road goes ever on” lyrics – songs are rendered freely, in verse forms that make me believe that Grimsley may also be a very talented poet. And speech is very direct, almost jarringly so in the beginning, until the reader begins to understand that these people are very direct and sometimes almost terse, and that the dialogue fits the flow of the narrative beautifully.

Grimsley is a talented writer, and this is a beautifully crafted book.

What's New at Green Man Review

Lots and lots of goodies this week. Just a sample:

Willow Wilson’s Cairo, Chinese magic, a first from the Archives, Frigg’s Frost on Fiddles, gamelan complete with dancer, and Other Matters

Lots of books this week, and the "other matters" are really worth checking out. So do it.

Remember Scott Pruitt?

Trump's EPA head who wants to hand over our national parks and national monuments to Big Oil? It turns out he's even worse than we thought:

Environmental Protection Chief Scott Pruitt believes the “most grievous threat” facing America are the courts, which he called the “imperialistic judiciary” and the “judicial monarchy,” claiming their objective is to create “religious sterility.”

Spoken like a true monarchist. And what, do you suppose, is "religious sterility," exactly?

This is so divorced from reality it's almost comedy:

“There aren’t sufficient scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution, and it deals with the origins of man, which is more from a philosophical standpoint than a scientific standpoint,” Pruitt said in 2005.

What the hell does that even mean?

It's a short post. It's amazing how much unhinged bullshit they manage to pack in, courtesy of Mr. Pruitt.

But don't worry -- he's promised to stop wasting our money on first class airline tickets and military planes. Maybe.

"What I've told them going forward is this: There's a change occurring. You're going to accommodate the security threats as they exist. You're going to accommodate those in all ways — alternate ways — up to and including flying coach, and that's going to happen on my very next flight," he said.

The post doesn't explain who "them" is -- his security team? If that's the case, this sounds rather ominous to me.

Today's Must-Read: The Kind of Citizens We Need

Tom Sullivan has a really good post at Hullabaloo on why the survivors of the Parkland shooting are turning into such a major force in the debate over gun control. (And it says something about the pathetic state of America that we have a debate on gun control.) I found his first paragraph more than a little humorous:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) suggested in a tweet Wednesday, "We claim a Judea-Christian heritage but celebrate arrogance & boasting. & worst of all we have infected the next generation with the same disease." That last barb seemed aimed at students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. They returned to school for the first time Wednesday after a mass shooting on Valentine's Day claimed 17 of their classmates.

First off, Senator NRA's $3 million water boy, your "Judea-Christian" [sic] heritage celebrates arrogance and boasting. Read your Bible.

Sullivan quotes extensively from an article by Dahlia Lithwick that's also a must-read.

Sullivan's conclusion is right on the mark:

What upsets Rubio and the Examiner is that Stoneman Douglas students don't know their places. Schools that are preparing students to serve their country rather than the economy are not fulfilling their mission. Their issue with Stoneman Douglas is it is not turning out sheep.

It seems that despite Betsy DeVos' efforts to turn public schools into trade schools, some kids are getting the kind of education I had. We had art, we had music appreciation classes, we had debate (what they called "speech classes" when I was in high school, where we learned how to actually think about what we were saying), we had literature, we had foreign languages (which were a state requirement). And please note that I didn't go to elite private schools -- I went to public schools in a very Republican (back when that meant something besides "fascist") small town.

And Sullivan's right -- that kind of education does not turn out corporate cogs. It turns out trouble-makers -- you know, people like the founders of this country.

For Sure, We Should Arm Teachers

One of Trump's (actually, the NRA's) more insane ideas: let's arm the teachers so they can . . . what? Well, here's one scenario:

A Georgia high school teacher is facing a number of charges after he barricaded himself inside an empty classroom and fired a handgun while students stood outside the door, authorities said Wednesday.

The shooting, which took place around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, led to a frantic lockdown at Dalton High School. One student suffered a minor ankle injury while running down the halls, police said at a press conference.

Dalton police spokesman Bruce Frazier said the teacher, identified as social studies teacher Jesse Randal Davidson, 53, locked himself inside of the room and refused to allow students inside.

“When the principal put a key in the door to try to unlock the classroom, Mr. Davidson apparently fired a shot from a handgun through an exterior window of the classroom. It does not appear that it was aimed at anybody,” Frazier said at a press conference.

It doesn't take much imagination to transpose the teacher's actions to a classroom full of students.

Needless to say, teachers are vehemently opposed to the idea, as are school administrators and just about everyone else who has any experience with, for example, being in a combat situation. It's not a popular idea -- except, of course, with the NRA and their wholly-owned subsidiaries in Congress and various state governments.

Via Hullabaloo.

Grrasping at Straws

Gregory T. Angelo, the head of Log Cabin Republicans, thinks that Trump is the most LGBT-friendly president ever. Seriously. You want to know why?

“This president is the first president to enter the White House who believes that marriage equality is settled law of the land,” Angelo said, referring to a “60 Minutes” interview from over a year ago in which Trump was asked about his views on same-sex marriage. He didn’t actually state his own position on the matter, but said that the issue was “settled law.”

“Barack Obama didn’t believe that when he entered the White House,” Angelo said. “Hillary Clinton only came around to that position in 2013.”

But Trump never changed his stated position from the presidential campaign, and he doesn’t actually support marriage equality. Obama and Clinton both have supported same-sex marriage for several years.

Now, Angelo isn't the brightest porch light on the block, but really -- how desperate to you have to be? Yes, he's phrasing it very carefully, but really.

Via Joe.My.God.

Image du Jour

Thanks to commenter Avenger280 at Joe.My.God.:

 

So Who's More Backward?

This article stopped me on this morning's browsing:

A Muslim country is about the last place you’d expect to be at the forefront of transgender rights. Yet Pakistan has been taking steps to recognize its transgender citizens that would be considered far too radical for a supposedly tolerant nation like the U.S.

Pakistan’s latest move is especially bold: sending transgender youth to serve as volunteers for this year’s Hajj, the annual trek to Mecca, Islam’s holiest site. The decision is a de facto challenge to conservative Muslims who vociferously oppose any form of LGBT rights.

In fact, the decision by Pakistan is just the latest in a line that undermines widely held notions about Muslim attitudes toward transgender people. As an added sign of just how far advanced Pakistan is relative to the U.S., the Hajj volunteers are being drawn from the Pakistani equivalent of the Boy Scouts. Some 40 transgender Scouts took their oath to the organization last week.

We're still fighting over who gets to pee where.

The article cites a couple of other countries that have, by our standards, very advanced policies in place regarding their transgender citizens: India and Nepal.

Just on a wild guess, I'd say it has a lot to do with their cultural histories, but I don't know enough to make a definitive statement. I do know that, given the age of the civilizations of these countries, Islam is a late add-on, in the case of Pakistan; Hinduism doesn't have the same attitude about non-binary identities as the desert religions. In America, Christianity came with the first settlers. (It's worth noting here how Americans magnified some of the less admirable qualities of European culture; for example, the male dominance so prevalent in Europe was largely show. In fact, psychologists call it "mythical male dominance": women not only had their own spheres of authority, but had a fairly substantial amount of behind-the-scenes input into decisions made by men. In America, this mythical dominance became real.) Given the spatial dislocation of the early settlers, and in some cases the conscious rejection of the culture they had left*, it's not really very surprising that America is, socially, backward, especially in areas having to do with sex and sexuality.

At any rate, this is a pretty good take on where we rank in terms of dealing with our trans citizens -- nowhere near the top.

* Think about the Puritans, who by all reports were fairly awful people; sadly, they've been idealized as part of the American mythos, with a concomitant effect on our cultural attitudes.

Stray Thought for the Day

From this article by Peter Baker at the New York Times on Mueller, Manafort, Gates, et al.:

In a fiery speech to supporters on Friday, President Trump went after his vanquished opponent from 2016. “We had a crooked candidate,” he declared.

We had a crooked candidate, and he got elected.

Via Bark Bar Woof Woof.

What's New at Green Man Review

It's Sunday again at Green Man Review, with something old, something new, and everything interesting:

Aaron Copland’s ‘Hoe Down’, Wild China, identity in science fiction, ‘hedgehog highways’ and other neat stuff

Off you go -- enjoy!

Review: Kenny Fries: The Healing Notebooks

First, a note: I'm trying to kick myself into doing some substantial writing again, and found myself going through the review pages and found a number of reviews that were originally published at Epinions and are no longer available there. I may re-use some of them at other sites, but they will have to be re-worked first (different audiences need different approaches). So I thought I'd revive the Sunday reviews department here and republish some of them, which may help me start writing original pieces. This is the first, originally published in 2003. If you have a reaction, leave a comment.

I first read The Healing Notebooks several years ago, when the second wave of friends was dying around me. Like so many of the literary works produced by gay men in this period, these poems are about loss, but they are much more than that.

What keeps me coming back to these poems, what has kept me coming back to them for ten years, is their incredible simplicity, which opens to amazing depth and strength. My long-time favorite of these twenty brief works, a sketch made at the dinner table, starts “Not the way they hold me,/but the way they hold/the cup . . .” In fourteen short lines Fries paints a picture of love that may have been matched, but never exceeded, and he does it through a spare, distilled observation of the commonplace, ending “of all hands/your hands/of all men/you.”

And perhaps I’ve already said too much. These are fragile-seeming works, small, quiet poems that keep resonating long after you have put the book back on the shelf, slight songs that do not really speak to intellect. (How much magic is there in a spectral analysis of sunrise?) There is something almost Japanese about them in their serenity, their fine distillation of the mundane into a potent, numinous draught that takes us far from the everyday events that they describe. There is a particular vision in this collection, perhaps born of the necessity of making every second matter, measured against the reality of time that suddenly has a limit: “Watch the moment./It is nothing complacent.”

What makes us human? Scientists, theologians, everyone has tried to answer this question, and the answers come up lacking. Kenny Fries provides an answer that I don’t think will have to be revised: We make our art as our common humanity, a memory that is much more than history. Our paintings, our dances, our music, our poetry are all guardians of the moments from our lives that have meaning far beyond the mere events. “. . . It is the leaf I am/holding, the orange burning/the heat of summer into my hand./How else can I remember this orange/in the winter gray?” Poetry like that of Kenny Fries, in its elegance and simplicity, peels away the layers of irrelevance and makes our souls tangible.

Trump Toadie Outrage #732

I sort of blipped on this one when I first saw it, but fortunately a post at Mock Paper Scissors reminded me. From The Intercept, which first reported the story:

The lead U.S. agency tasked with granting citizenship to would-be Americans is making a major change to its mission statement, removing a passage that describes the United States as a nation of immigrants. In an email sent to staff members Thursday and shared with The Intercept, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna announced the agency’s new mission statement.

It reads:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administers the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values.

USCIS’s previous mission statement, still available on the agency’s website Thursday, read:

USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.

My first question, in reaction to the new statement, is "Just whose values? Trump's?"

And then "securing the homeland"? Don't you mean "Vaterland"?

And of course -- stop me if you've heard this -- when it comes right down to it, the only place that people are really native to is East Africa. So basically, we're all descended from immigrants.

#NeverAgain

This statistic comes at the end of this post by Spocko* at Hullabaloo, which is focused mainly on corporations that are severing ties with the NRA and strategies for applying economic pressure on politicians and legislatures, but this sort of caps the argument:

Since the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High, at least 69 kids under 18 have been shot. 26 of them were killed. Those numbers are from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Gun Violence Archive.

To refresh your memory, the shooting happened on Valentine's Day. Eleven days ago. That's more than six kids shot every day; more than two killed. Kids.

There's a chart with statistics on gun violence just this year at the Gun Violence Archive link. If you want to see how badly out of control this situation is, click through and take a look.

And the idiot-in-chief wants to arm teachers.

Armed Educators (and trusted people who work within a school) love our students and will protect them. Very smart people. Must be firearms adept & have annual training. Should get yearly bonus. Shootings will not happen again - a big & very inexpensive deterrent. Up to States.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2018

On that score, read this post by Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo on what people who've actually had combat training think of that idea:

Learning to shoot is one thing. Learning to fight is something else, especially when the target isn't paper and is shooting at you.

"Anyone who tells you that arming teachers is a solution is clueless," Friedman writes.

Yeah. That fits.

Just Because

Because I'm sick of Trump and all his satellites, and sic of the NRA (who should all be shot), and sick of the news in general. So, thanks to Bark Bark Woof Woof, there's this:

The male cast of "King Kong the Musical" perform "Big Spender" from Sweet Charity at Twisted Broadway Melbourne; and annual charity event raising money for Oz Showbiz Cares Equity Fights AIDS.

I Knew It!

Believe it or not, I do think about other things than being snarky about right-wingers.

Northwest Coast totems

I spend a lot of time at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, which is no surprise, given my life-long fascination with the natural world and the way it works, which in my mature years has also become a fascination with human cultures and their origins. (Sometimes the processes can be remarkably similar, if mostly metaphorical.) On a couple of recent trips, I noticed the strong resemblance between the iconography of the Northwest Coast peoples of America, the high cultures of Meso-America, and the Polynesian peoples of the Pacific, and in fact an affinity between the art of those groups and certain motifs in Chinese and Japanese depictions of, for example, gods and demons -- common motifs, such as large, staring eyes and protruding tongues as a sign of power. I considered the possibility that there was a common origin somewhere back in the mists of time, especially since evidence points to origins of at least some of the American Indians and the peoples of the Pacific island in close proximity --possibly in Southeast Asia and/or the area of Indonesia and New Guinea.

Well, lo and behold! While reading Joseph Campbell's The Flight of the Wild Gander, a group of his essays that deal with the origins of myth and religion, I ran across a passage in "Bios and Mythos" (pp.30-31 of the New World Library edition of the collected works) in which Campbell notes the work of a number of anthropologists who have entertained similar ideas, specifically the work of Robert Heine-Gedern, who, he says, "showed that late Chou Dynasty art motifs had been somehow diffused from China to Indonesia and Middle America."

Maori totems

And searching through that rag-bag memory of mine, I remember references to the Lapita people of Taiwan, coastal Southeast Asia and the Malay Archipelago, who are generally considered to be the ancestors of the peoples of the Pacific Islands. This ties in with another memory of a reference to the origins of some Amerindian languages in Southeast Asia, but I don't remember the specific locality that was mentioned. (This is kind of a sketchy association, since there are a number of languages spoken in that region, some of which are relatively recent results of movements of peoples from mainland China and possibly India. I really can't confess to be up to snuff on that particular area.)

The bottom line is that there is some validity to my idea of a common artistic tradition between America, East Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

(A side note: at the beginning of the exhibition "Ancient Americas," the Field has a video outlining the two main theories of how people arrived in the Americas from Asia: either via the Bering land bridge during the most recent glaciation, or by boat. These are always presented as two theories in opposition, but it occurs to me that they're not mutually exclusive. Another booby-trap engendered by either/or thinking.)

Polynesian panel

Meanwhile, In Talahassee

It's all about priorities:

The Washington Post reports:

The Florida House of Representatives was in session on Tuesday considering several issues. These included a motion to debate a bill banning the sale of assault weapons in the aftermath of the mass shooting that killed 17 people last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and a resolution declaring pornography a public health risk.

The House chose not to consider the gun-control bill. Less than an hour later, state Rep. Ross Spano (R) presented his resolution, arguing that viewing porn can lead to both “mental and physical illnesses” along with “deviant, or problematic sexual behaviors.” The House approved the resolution by a voice vote, to the chagrin of many House Democrats.

Something to Ponder

This, from commenter Jean-Marc in Canada in the comments thread at this post at Joe.My.God.:

To those in the US who insist this is about mental illness and not access to guns, something to consider from your neighbor to the north. FYI, this also happens to be true of the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc. #Parkland #MentalIllnessMisconceptions #GunReform pic.twitter.com/LuwZNObUnI

— Jon In Canada🌈 (@sirlthr69) February 21, 2018

Just sayin'. . . .

Culture Break: Sam Hamill: What the Water Knows

I promised you something besides music for a "Culture Break" post -- here's Sam Hamill reading one of his poems.

I find it hard to come up with an example of poets reading their own work that aren't almost painful to watch. I really think they should all take a class in the oral interpretation of literature before they're allowed to read in public. I watched a video of Jorie Graham, a poet for whom I have immense respect, reading one of her works -- it looked like she was in pain. (I don't understand why people think that a poet is automatically capable of reading his or her work aloud in public. There's an element of acting in that, and let's face it -- poets aren't actors.)

Yes, of course I've reviewed one of Hamill's collections: Dumb Luck.

Well, It's Started (Update)

Given the moral bankruptcy and somewhat questionable mental stability -- not to mention a complete lack of humanity -- on the fringe right, I suppose it was only a matter of time before we started seeing things like this:

The Washington Times has created a village of village idiots. The village idiot of the village of idiots is columnist Cheryl K. Chumley. Monday she writes: “Obnoxious, ignorant teens now demand curbs on guns.”

Teens across the nation, fed up with school shootings, are planning marches, media events and three-minute demonstrations at the White House in order to get across their messages of frustration with the Second Amendment and to demand lawmakers take immediate action.

Now if only they weren’t so dang entitled, snarky and obnoxious.

Looks like the NRA has decided to take the gloves off. This is, of course, the Moonie Times, home of the unhinged. But they're not alone. This popped up in the comments to this post at Joe.My.God., courtesy of commenter Eddi Haskell:

Gateway Pundit is the home turf of Jim Hoft, widely considered the stupidest man on the internet.

This is just the beginning -- I'm sure we'll see more attacks on the survivors of the shooting -- and of course, there will be death threats. I wonder how long it's going to take Fox News to pick up on this.

Update: It didn't take long at all, and we get a twofer: Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, all in one smelly package:

While speaking to Fox News Sunday, Limbaugh was asked by host Chris Wallace if a planned march by students could get lawmakers to act to prevent school shootings.

"Chris, I have to ask if anybody is really serious about solving this because none of this -- by the way, I couldn't care less about the gun angle of this," Limbaugh replied, referring to a group of students from Parkland that Wallace had just spoken to. "None of this is going to solve -- prayers and condolences don't solve it and marches aren't going to solve it. Chris, the next shooter is out there."

"It's not the fault of the NRA. It's not the fault of any -- it's the fault of the people doing this and our inability to deal with that and stop them," he insisted. "Until we're willing to get serious about where we are and how do we they stop this from happening and marches aren't going to do it, saying no more guns isn't going to do it, bashing the NRA isn't going to do it."

If this sounds more than a little incoherent, well, when you're trying to deflect blame away from the ones who are holding your leash and you have absolutely no case, that's about par: just bury it in word salad.

The post at Joe.My.God. is about Marion Le Pen speaking at CPAC:

Jaws dropped on Twitter this afternoon when CPAC published the full agenda for this week’s convention, revealing that French fascist Marion Le Pen will speak from the main stage immediately after Mike Pence.

Marion, you may recall, is the even worse niece of National Front leader Marine Le Pen and in 2012 at age 22 became the youngest person ever elected to the French Parliament.

You may or may not know that France's National Front was founded by Nazi collaborators.

This is today's GOP.

Footnote: On the other side of the coin, the conspiracy theorists are on it. The ever-reliable Alex Jones:

“Their whole globalist system is falling apart. The left’s been caught running Antifa that’s cop-killing. They’ve been caught in their own documents that came out a month ago—George Soros’ son funding movements trying to get national riots going when Obama was in in 2015 to be able to trigger civil war,” Jones said.

He continued, “You can see exactly what they’re saying. And then someone that fits, not the profile of a nihilist like we were thinking, but someone who is completely mentally ill, autistic, totally suggestable, will do whatever he’s told, on psychotropic drugs, who doesn’t have parents—it’s in the news—magically is there and all the eyewitnesses are saying multiple shooters.”

If it sounds unhinged and incoherent -- well, that's Alex Jones.

And Fox is right on this one:

According to Fox News scumbag Todd Starnes, the surviving students of the massacre in Parkland, Florida are organizing against future massacres because they’ve been brainwashed by the “government-funded indoctrination camps” that non-scumbag Americans call public schools.

This afternoon Starnes also posted this on Facebook: “The Mainstream Media is using survivors of the Florida school shooting as propaganda pawns to attack President Trump, the NRA and the Second Amendment. They are literally using children as human shields in their bloodthirsty attempt to take down the president.”

And of course, they're coming to take your guns.

The really awful thing about this is that people actually believe this bullshit.

Today's Must-Read: Tipping Point?

Maybe, just maybe, in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, we've reached a point where enough people are ready to say "Enough!" that we might be able to do something about it.

Let's start with this post from Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo:

A gunman entered her high school on Valentine's Day and killed seventeen of her classmates. Wiping back tears, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzales held back nothing else in challenging President Trump, national politicians, and the National Rifle Association in a powerful speech to an anti-gun rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Saturday.

If there is one thing teenagers' eyes see better than adults', it is hypocrisy. Their tolerance for it is lower too.

Gonzales told the crowd:

In February of 2017, one year ago, President Trump repealed an Obama-era regulation that would have made it easier to block the sale of firearms to people with certain mental illnesses.

From the interactions that I had with the shooter before the shooting and from the information that I currently know about him, I don't really know if he was mentally ill. I wrote this before I heard what Delaney said. Delaney said he was diagnosed. I don't need a psychologist and I don't need to be a psychologist to know that repealing that regulation was a really dumb idea.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa was the sole sponsor on this bill that stops the FBI from performing background checks on people adjudicated to be mentally ill and now he's stating for the record, 'Well, it's a shame the FBI isn't doing background checks on these mentally ill people.' Well, duh. You took that opportunity away last year.

Grassley said after the Florida shootings, "We have not done a very good job of making sure that people that have mental reasons for not being able to handle a gun getting their name into the FBI files and we need to concentrate on that."

The blatant hypocrisy is staggering. And it's worth noting that Grassley took in $9,900 from the NRA in the 2016 election cycle alone. I can't find a total for Grassley, but he doesn't seem to be in the first rank like Richard Burr ($6,986,620), Roy Blunt ($4,551,146), Thom Tillis ($4,418,012), Cory Gardner ($3,879,064), or Marco Rubio ($3,303,355), none of whom think it's the right time to talk about gun control.

She's not the only one calling the politicians to account. Cameron Kasky, another student who survived, at CNN:

We can't ignore the issues of gun control that this tragedy raises. And so, I'm asking -- no, demanding -- we take action now.

Why? Because at the end of the day, the students at my school felt one shared experience -- our politicians abandoned us by failing to keep guns out of schools.

But this time, my classmates and I are going to hold them to account. This time we are going to pressure them to take action. This time we are going to force them to spend more energy protecting human lives than unborn fetuses.

And they're organizing:

Student survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting announced a “March for Our Lives” this morning calling for lawmakers to take substantive action on guns.

Emma Gonzalez, the student who gave an impassioned speech yesterday, told CNN’s Dana Bash, “We’re going to be facing this with trepidation and determination, and we have an incredible support system around us. We are going to be the difference.”

Cameron Kasky said right into the camera, “We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around.”

He said on March 24th, students “in every single major city” will be marching to send a message about how lives are literally on the line.

“This isn’t about the GOP, this isn’t about the Democrats,” he said. “This is about us creating a badge of shame for any politicians who are accepting money from the NRA and using us as collateral.”

There's video at the link which doesn't seem to be at CNN's YouTube channel and which I can't embed.

Maybe we need to start targeting those senators and representatives who are flouting the wishes of a large majority of Americans.

Sullivan's parting thought is worth repeating here:

In most reports on her speech, this early section gets left out:

I read something very powerful to me today. It was from the point of view of a teacher. And I quote: When adults tell me I have the right to own a gun, all I can hear is my right to own a gun outweighs your student's right to live. All I hear is mine, mine, mine, mine.

Contrast that with the comments of the conservative Australian rancher Jon Oliver spoke with in 2013. He did not want to part with his weapons when the government banned them after the Port Arthur massacre, "But ... I felt as if I had a bit of a duty to the rest of our society."

What he said.

And a thought, to all those congresscritters and senators who never think it's time to talk about gun control, and/or that it should be easier to buy guns:

Why is the Capitol a gun-free zone?

What's New at Green Man Review

In spite of everything, Sunday rolls around every week, and here it is again. Lots of neat stuff at Green Man Review, if I do say so myself:

A New Album by Joan Baez, Bee Gees Down Under, Yet More Taza Chocolate, Jack Vance, Baby Groot and Other Matters

And did you know Abraham Lincoln was a wrestler? Check it out.

They're Not Even Pretending Any More

Via Joe.My.God., in the category of "Blatant, Shameless Liars" we have yet another White House shill spouting "alternative facts," and this one's a doozy:

Journalists lashed out at a White House spokesman on Saturday after the aide to President Trump claimed that news media and Democrats have caused more “chaos” than Russia.

White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley made the comments during an interview on Fox News while responding to special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of Russian nationals for meddling in the 2016 election.

“There are two groups that have created chaos more than the Russians and that’s the Democrats and the mainstream media,” Gidley asserted on Fox News.

“[They] continued to push this lie on the American people for more than a year, and frankly Americans should be outraged by that.”

Actually, when you look at actual events, statements, etc., the ones who are causing the most chaos are -- you guessed it: Trump and his minions.

But it gets better. Maybe you should hide your irony meter -- it probably won't survive this one (via Towleroad):

And the White House also issued a statement: “We cannot allow those seeking to sow confusion, discord, and rancor to be successful. It’s time we stop the outlandish partisan attacks, wild and false allegations, and far-fetched theories, which only serve to further the agendas of bad actors, like Russia, and do nothing to protect the principles of our institutions. We must unite as Americans to protect the integrity of our democracy and our elections.”

Kind of takes your breath away, doesn't it?

Today in Disgusting People

Take your pick:

Donald Trump:



With thanks to commenter fuzzybits at Joe.My.God.

That post quotes from this article about our second candidate, Greg Gutfeld:

“Society is changing. You have to teach them how to respond,” he said, before referring to kids as “soft targets.”

“You have to be rational about it, which means hardening soft targets through drills and training,” he said. “Learning combat. Learning hand-to-hand combat. This works, by the way, for terror, if there’s a terror attack, and it works for school shootings.”

Gutfeld asked “How do you improve upon this rationally? Well, you train them. That simple.”

What an absolutely insane idea. Can you see a first-grader aiming a karate punch and some guy with an assault rifle? In this context, I think "You have to be rational about it" makes a good laugh line.

Next up is Kentucky Governor Matt Blevin:

In the wake of a shooting that left at least 17 dead on Wednesday in a high school outside Boca Raton, Florida, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin (R) focused on violent video games as part of a "culture of death that is being celebrated" and leading to these kinds of incidents.

"There are video games that, yes, are listed for mature audiences, but kids play them and everybody knows it, and there's nothing to prevent the child from playing them," Bevin said in an interview on WHAS' Leland Conway show Thursday morning. "They celebrate the slaughtering of people. There are games that literally replicate and give people the ability to score points for doing the very same thing that these students are doing inside of schools, where you get extra points for finishing someone off who's lying there begging for their life."

"These are quote-unquote video games, and they're forced down our throats under the guise of protected speech," Conway continued, seemingly referring to a 2011 Supreme Court decision that prevents content-based restrictions on games. "It's garbage. It's the same as pornography. They have desensitized people to the value of human life, to the dignity of women, to the dignity of human decency. We're reaping what we've sown here."

That's just the tip of the iceberg. But he's not alone -- he's just the one who popped up in my surfing this morning. As it happens, the link between video games and violence is somewhat tenuous:

International comparisons of per capita spending on violent games and gun-related murders show a negative correlation between the two. And meta-analyses of video game violence studies have found no real link between imaginary on-screen violence and actual aggressive behavior.

Again, via Joe.My.God.

And last (for the time being) but certainly not least, the ever reprehensible Bryan Fischer:

I know a man who was living in a neighborhood when a salesman came door to door selling home security systems. He told the salesman he already had one. “What’s your security system?” he asked. The man replied, “God and a loaded gun.”

It wasn’t a matter of either/or but both/and. I suggest we have mass school shootings because we don’t have enough God on our campuses and we don’t have enough guns.

When tragic school shootings happen, like the one in Florida, everyone sends their “thoughts and prayers” to the families of the victims. But why don’t we pray before these shootings happen instead of waiting until somebody’s dead? Everyone understands that prayer in school is appropriate in the wake of a tragedy like this. But if it’s appropriate after, there’s no reason it’s not appropriate before.

As might be expected, he turns it into an argument in favor of prayer in schools -- and more guns.

And, yes, via Joe.My.God.

The appalling thing is, this is all from three of the first four posts I saw at the first site I visited this morning. I'm sure there are more, but enough is enough. For right now, at least.

It' Not Really Baby Steps Any More

Our rush to dictatorship. (You can call it "totalitarian," "authoritarian," or whatever. It's dictatorship.)

To start, from the No. 1 source for "fake news," Sarah Huckabee Sanders:

NBC's Kristen Welker was asking Sanders some pretty reasonable questions about why Rob Porter was allowed to have access to classified documents when he did not have the clearance to do so. As the questioning became more pointed, Huckabee Sanders got more defensive.

Finally, she let fly. “I think we’re doing and taking every step we can to protect classified information,” Sanders snarled. “I mean, frankly, if you guys have such concern with classified information, there’s plenty of it that’s leaked out of the Hill, that’s leaked out of other communities, well beyond the White House walls. If you guys have real concerns about leaking out classified information, look around this room. You guys are the ones that publish classified information and put national security at risk,” Sanders said, taking aim at every reporter in the room.

Dictators don't like an independent press.

Digby goes into this issue more thoroughly in an earlier post:

I don't think E.J. Dionne is a hysteric, do you? And yet he seem concerned. Very concerned:

The autocratic leader lies and then falsely charges his opponents with lying. He politicizes institutions that are supposed to be free of politics by falsely accusing his foes of politicizing them. He victimizes others by falsely claiming they are victimizing him.

The autocrat also counts on spineless politicians to cave in to his demands. And as they destroy governmental institutions at his bidding, they insist they are defending them.

In fact, dictators don't like independent anything, especially anything that restricts their power. (This one is a must-read, for sure.)

Next, an almost offhand remark from Digby:

Tuesday's televised annual Global Threat Hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee seemed like a rare and special event. What used to be considered routine and ordinary in American political life -- open hearings with government officials testifying about the issues of the day -- felt like an exciting look into the secret workings of the Star Chamber. Considering that we are in the midst of one of the most significant presidential scandals in American history, concerning possible conspiracy with a foreign power and an active coverup, it's extremely odd that we have so little public congressional testimony about any of it. That's not the way our system is supposed to work.

Dictators like to do things behind closed doors.

Digby brings up another telling point later in the post:

But that wasn't the most dramatic moment. That came when Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., asked a simple question that sent shockwaves through the hearing room. He asked the assembled intelligence leaders if the president had ever urged them to address the threat of further Russian interference.

He has not. When pressed, Rogers said, “I can’t say I’ve been specifically directed to blunt or actually stop" future Russian attacks. Pompeo tried to defend Trump, but the best he could come up with was to say the CIA takes “all kinds of steps to disrupt what the Russians are trying to do.” Wray said he had not been specifically tasked to combat Russian interference by the president. Coats said the same. When asked if the president has ordered an inter-agency strategy, he replied, "We essentially are relying on the investigations that are underway."

Dictators like to control things. Everything. Especially examination of those things that brought them to power.

Blip!

Oops -- Yesterday was St. Valentine's Day. Or, if you are so inclined, Ash Wednesday.

Happy whatever.

(Strangely enough, in my heavily Latino neighborhood, I saw not one person with ashes.)

Tool du Jour (Updates)

In the wake of yesterday's school shooting in Florida (and it occurs to me that I could start a department on this blog titled "Massacre du Jour," but that would be a bit too ghoulish), Fox News' Steve Doocy asked Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-NRA) if it was appropriate to be talking about gun control:

“It’s not, only because people don’t know how this happened,” Rubio said. “[We don’t know] who this person is, what motivated them, how did they get a hold of the weapon that they used for this attack.”

. . .

“I think it’s important to know all of that before you jump to conclusions that there’s some law we could have passed that could have prevented it,” he continued. “There may be, but shouldn’t we at least know the facts?”

The facts that are necessary to know are: some wacko got his hands on an assault rifle, walked into a public high school and started shooting. Who the shooter is and his motivations are secondary; how he got the weapon is wide open: over the counter at a gun shop, at a gun fair, mail order -- there are a lot of options.

Via Joe.My.God. who adds this little tidbit:

Marco Rubio, hooker for the #NRA, took $3,298,405 in blood money from them in 2016. I'm sure there is a Proverb he can tweet that will make that all OK . . . #GunControlNow https://t.co/h2P7li2Glx

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) February 15, 2018

And why doesn't the cry "Save the children!" resonate with Republicans when it's used for gun control the way it did when it was used against gay civil rights?

Sorry -- silly question. Mrs. Betty Bowers provided the answer. (And it looks like one of Jimmy Kimmel's writers has given us the answer for a lot more Republicans.)

I can't let this go without adding this to the mix:

Footnote: We can learn a lesson from Australia:

In April 1996, a 28-year-old man armed with semi-automatic rifles entered a cafe in the small Australian town of Port Arthur, shot and killed 35 people and injured 23 others. It was the worst mass shooting in Australian history.

The day after the massacre, the country’s prime minister, John Howard (a newly elected leader), started to put together the most sweeping gun control reforms ever contemplated by any Australian government.

The country passed the National Firearms Agreement, which banned automatic, semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns. It also introduced a stricter system for licensing and owning guns. The agreement is considered one of the strictest gun laws in the world. . . .

It took just 14 days after the Port Arthur massacre for gun laws to be proposed and then passed by the Australian government.

In the decades before the Port Arthur killings, there were 13 mass shootings in Australia (defined by academics as the killing of five or more people, not including the shooter).

Since the 1996 gun reform, Australia has not had another mass shooting.

(Emphasis added.)

Australia has also seen steep declines in gun-related deaths overall. You think maybe there's a connection?

Culture Break: Bill T. Jones, Joshua Roman, and Somi: Red Circle, Blue Curtain

Believe it or not, this popped up out of nowhere in the comments to a post at Joe.My.God. While watching it (and I've admired the work of Bill T. Jones for a long time, since my own days as a dancer/student), it occurred to me that I've been doing almost nothing but music for these "Culture Break" posts, and there's a lot more to culture than that. So, with that said, we're going to call this "dance/performance".

From the description at YouTube:

Legendary dance choreographer Bill T. Jones and TED Fellows Joshua Roman and Somi didn't know exactly what was going to happen when they took the stage at TED2015. They just knew they wanted to offer the audience an opportunity to witness creative collaboration in action. The result: An improvised piece they call "The Red Circle and the Blue Curtain," so extraordinary it had to be shared ...

So maybe I'll start keeping a list of not-music I can include. Just to liven things up.

And I've really got to figure out TED.

Today's Must-Read: Immigration (Update)

From Digby, a real eye-opener on how Americans really feel about DACA, Dreamers and immigration in general:

With numbers like these, why in the ever-loving hell are these right wing nativist bigots getting heir way on immigration? Why?

As the Senate kicks off immigration week, February 6, 2018 polling from Quinnipiac offers a reminder that the American public overwhelming supports Dreamers and strongly opposes key elements of the White House immigration framework.

Among the key findings in the new Quinnipiac Poll:

By an 81-14% margin, Americans want Dreamers to gain citizenship: Support is overwhelmingly pro-Dreamer when respondents were asked if they support, “allowing undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children to remain in the United States and eventually apply for citizenship.”

Support for Dreamers is overwhelming across party lines – 94% of Democrats, 82% of Independents, and 68% of Republicans support citizenship: GOP voters support citizenship by a 68-24% margin, white men by a 75-20% margin, and voters over 65 by a 80-14% margin.

That's only the tip of the iceberg.

OK -- we all know why Trump is touting eliminating immigration (come on -- you know that's what he wants -- except from Norway): because he's a pig who's made his political career by appealing to all that's worst in people. And the worst in people comes out and votes for him.

What the poll shows is that most Americans are much better than Trump and his core supporters.

I'd say this could be a major issue going into the midterms -- because the Republicans, being the party of goosestepping in unison, are going along with it. I don't trust either McConnell or Ryan, in spite of assurances, but bring up immigration, especially protection for Dreamers, anytime soon. But there are so many issues going into the midterms -- the tax boondoggle, the exponentially growing deficit, the Wall, Russia, civil rights, you name it -- that singling out one is almost impossible. It does help that the GOP is wrong on every count, but they've got the big money behind them, which translates into saturating the airwaves with ads. And don't forget Fox, your No. 2 source for fake news -- after the White House press office.

Read the whole thing. And think about Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III and his support for "law enforcement" (which in his terms means putting as many brown people as possible into privately run, for-profit prisons). And Betsy DeVos and her concern for the rights of white, straight, cis-gendered school children. And forget about clean air, drinkable water, and national parks, thanks to Scott Pruitt.

Update: Read this rather sobering take by Betty Cracker at Balloon Juice.

This Week at Green Man Review

Another week, and more goodies for you. Lots of goodies, in fact:

’De Herinacio: On the hedgehog’, Don’t Talk About It by Australian expat Ruby Boot, live Irish Music from De Dannan & Skara Brae, Hobos, Mary-Sues, Live from Here replaces Prairie Home Companion and other matters. . . .

May other matters -- like chocolate! Scoot on over and take a look.