Good King Trump

[The Lone Ranger]

Meanwhile, when I go onto Facebook, I see all kinds of posts from people praising Trump for having the "courage" to do this -- while insisting that we have nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about; it's all the fault of those dirty "illegal immigrants" for doing this to their own children.

Oh, and an awful lot of them insist that the outrage is all faked, that it's nothing more than political posturing by "people who hate Trump and freedom." I'm guessing that's the narrative being pushed by Fox "News," and that they're mindlessly repeating this talking point?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Shout out to the hostage takers vowing to take no further hostages from among the descendants and ongoing victims of the United Fruit Company.

[erimir]

They will not be releasing the hostages they already took, however.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Ha.

Trump has defenestrated the United States through the Overton window

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 21, 2018

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Young immigrants detained in Virginia center allege abuse

And:

Hi there, fellow genealogists and historians!

Did you know that archivists at @NARA_RecMgmt -- yes, the very National Archives we all know and love -- may become complicit in helping ICE destroy millions of records of rapes, solitary confinement, and deaths in ICE custody?

— Reclaim The Records (@ReclaimTheRecs) June 20, 2018

[The Lone Ranger]

What's happening on the U.S. southern border is so hideous that even a lot of prominent Conservatives are upset about it -- or are pretending to be, anyway. That's all to the good, at least.


But what's so truly heinous is the people who are A-OK with all of this. I've been hearing so very many people praising Trump for having the "courage to do what needs to be done" and saying that they have no sympathy whatsoever for the families that are being ripped apart, because "they brought it on themselves." Some of them admit that it doesn't look good, but that we shouldn't be upset about it, because Trump and ICE are "just obeying the law."


But wait ... aren't these many of the same people who were outraged -- OUTRAGED, I tell you -- about what happened to Elián González? Weren't they loudly decrying the "jack-booted government thugs" who "ripped Gonzalez from the arms of his loving family"? [To return him to his father -- after, I note, two different Federal Courts ruled that only González's father had the legal right to decide where he lived. So, you know, those "jack-booted government thugs" were just obeying the law.]

Aren't these some of the same people who went on at great length, expressing disbelief that any Administration could be so heartless, cruel, and outright evil as to allow such a thing to happen to even a single child? Aren't these some of the same people who insisted that any Administration that would permit such a thing has lost all moral authority?


Of course, they never gave a flying rat's ass about the fate of a little brown child. But where Elián González was concerned, it was politically expedient to pretend that they did. Now, of course, they don't have to pretend that they care in the slightest about these people -- and so they don't bother.


Instead, I see a lot of Conservatives insisting that the outrage about what's happening is fake, and is nothing more than political posturing from people who "hate Trump and America." It's Conservative Political Philosophy 101 -- always accuse your opponent of doing what you're doing.

It's projection too, I suspect. After all, a great many of them have made it abundantly clear that they don't care at all about the well-being of brown people -- but they're more than willing to use brown people as political pawns. So naturally, they can't imagine that the people who are protesting the inhumane treatment of immigrants are actually concerned about those immigrants as fellow human beings, much less that they actually -- *gasp*! -- care about the atrocities that are being committed upon these people.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Ian Bremmer: Trump tossed candy to Merkel at G-7, said ‘don’t say I never give you anything’

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

We’re...we’re at number 8 aren’t we. pic.twitter.com/fHTMcuuAIM

— Hend Amry (@LibyaLiberty) June 21, 2018

House GOP leaders postpone vote on compromise bill - The Washington Post

Originally Posted by Paul Ryan

I think these are the seeds that are going to be planted for an ultimate solution.

That sounds Final.

[JoeP]

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

PROPAGAND-OFF! Fox News vs. North Korean State TV pic.twitter.com/B9CfxgN0XC

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 21, 2018

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

We’re...we’re at number 8 aren’t we. pic.twitter.com/fHTMcuuAIM

— Hend Amry (@LibyaLiberty) June 21, 2018

House GOP leaders postpone vote on compromise bill - The Washington Post

That sounds Final.

Fox & Friends host: "These aren't our kids. Show them compassion, but it's not like he is doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas"https://t.co/VWYB5hRPif pic.twitter.com/CMO9oTLIEX

— Media Matters (@mmfa) June 22, 2018

Well well well.

[slimshady2357]

Seth Rogen on getting asked by Paul Ryan to take a photo together. Tried to link the video at 4:20 (wink, wink, cough, cough) so hope that worked.

Paul Ryan Asked Seth Rogen For A Photo - YouTube

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

A restaurant owner in Lexington, Virginia kicked Sarah Huckabee Sanders & her party out of his restaurant on moral grounds. A waiter at The Red Hen served Sarah Huckabee Sanders for a total of 2 minutes before the owner kicked her out along with 7 of her other family members

�� pic.twitter.com/qn4QxDoUKm

— Stone Cold (@stonecold2050) June 23, 2018

Add:

Note: Sarah Huckabee Sanders has a personal account.

It is: @SarahHuckabee

She used the federal government’s account for the Press Secretary (@PressSec) to target a private business owner. https://t.co/fbu4oSejXG

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) June 23, 2018

[The Lone Ranger]

So, what was the deal with the jacket Melania wore for traveling to a Texas detention center?

Monumental stupidity on her part? Evidence that she leads such an incredibly sheltered life that she has no idea how monstrous it makes her look? Or something else?


I've read speculation that it was a deliberate attempt to bait the media, in order to give the Sociopath-in-Chief an excuse to make "outraged" tweets about the media "disrespecting the First Lady."

[erimir]

The simplest explanation is that it's an accurate description of her feelings. She doesn't give a shit.

It seems pretty obvious, given who she decided to marry, that she was willing to promote the Birther bullshit, tolerate Trump's philandering, and interact with Trump's horrid family and promote her husband's racist xenophobic campaign focused on illegal immigrants (despite her own questionable immigration history!) that there are quite a few things she doesn't give a shit about. She made her #BeBest campaign about combating cyberbullying despite the fact that her husband is a total cyberbully. Does this mean she actually opposes what Trump does, or at least what he does on Twitter? There's no evidence of that from anything else. So she releases some bullshit "both sides"/"a crisis that arose for no particular reason" statement about the family separation stuff and goes to do a photo-op about it. And wears a jacket that says she doesn't give a fuck. The woman is a former model who clearly cares about fashion - that ain't no mistake.

So probably the explanation is simply that: she doesn't actually give a fuck about those kids. She's got her gold-digger money and Barron is set up for life. That's probably all she cares about.

The fact that you can see evidence that the life she's chosen is not necessarily making her all that happy, for example, in the photo below with her sister you can see a more sincere smile on her face than I've ever seen her have with Donald, or the evidence from the many remarked on expressions and body language that suggest she really doesn't like Trump that much... doesn't mean that staying with him is not a choice she's making consciously. Maybe she's sticking with Donald for Barron's inheritance. Maybe things aren't working out the way she hoped, but she can't stand the idea of being a common person again with more limited means. But she would be just fine if she left him, and if she spilled the beans on him, she wouldn't even lack for money. She chooses to be stay and be complicit in his awfulness. So who knows why she stays with him. But also, who cares? Fuck her.

show spoiler

[lisarea]

One thing that stuck out for me was that that jacket cost like $40. I don't closely follow her clothing choices or anything, but I had the impression she had much more expensive tastes than that. Apart from the nasty trucker hats, of course.

That message was totally intentional, and it was targeted to their base. The people who actually don't care, like Brian Kilmeade.

So yep, I think she is saying she actually doesn't care, and they're just affirming that for their hardcore base while maintaining what they believe is some kind of plausible deniability.

I don't think you can underestimate just how nasty those people are.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

The Russian Witch Hunt is Rigged!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2018

He crossed the streams

[Ari]

Yeah it's pretty clear she's always at a constant simmer because the contract she signed didn't say anything about dirty children and press tours and presidential stuff. She was supposed to be on a Yacht with some Champagne, Fuck everyone else!

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

SURPRISE!

While you weren't looking the Trump regime rolled out a 132-page plan to consolidate power, take away our safety net, and sell government properties off en masse. Pay attention! https://t.co/Y9WFhsylTh

— Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) June 23, 2018

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Double double. :timhortons:

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Be a shame if something happened to due process:

When the government begins to call for the suspension of due process, for punishment without trial, when it suggests citizenship based on "merit," then fascism is not far away.

Little by little, bit by bit, warning sign by warning sign, we are becoming monsters.

32/ pic.twitter.com/L078P75BOd

— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) June 24, 2018

[Kael]

Not really little by little at the moment. More like diving headfirst right off the slippery slope.

[The Lone Ranger]

A big part of the problem is "outrage fatigue." NPR had a story on the general phenomenon earlier today.

The story used the Travel Ban as an example. When Travel Ban v1.0 was put forth, there was a great deal of outrage, and massive protests erupted. So, Trump and company waited a bit, then rolled out Travel Ban v2.0. It wasn't substantially different from the first Travel Ban, but people were less inclined to pay attention the second time around. Still, there was sufficient outrage that it was quickly quashed.

So, after a bit, Travel Ban v3.0 came. Again, it wasn't substantially different from the original, but a lot fewer people paid attention. Even so, enough people made a fuss that it never really went anywhere.

Then, after a bit, Travel Ban v4.0 came around. And scarcely anyone noticed. The media paid virtually no notice, and there were few -- if any -- protests.


And so, stuff that would have been all but unimaginable just two years ago is routinely being enacted today -- and scarcely anyone notices.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

SPACE FORCE.jpg

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Fact checked a few items and seems legit.