All Right, This is Absolutely It for the Day

• In Memoriam:  Mike Connors, actor.
• Dr. Monkey Hussein Monkerstein of Monkey Muck on one possible replacement for Obamacare.  (I don't have to explain satire, do I?  This is an adults-preferred zone.)

They Both Reached for the Gun

Mikhail Gorbachev appeals to sanity.

Understandable.

Loose Ends With Eddie Izzard Soundtrack

• Counter-populism.  Lessons from a Venezuelan, via supergee and twistedchick.

  In Venezuela, we fell into the abstraction trap in a bad way. We wrote again and again about principles, about the separation of powers, about civil liberties, about the role of the military in politics, about corruption and economic policy. But it took our leaders ten years to figure out they needed to actually go to the slums and to the countryside. And not for a speech, or a rally, but for game of dominoes or to dance salsa – to show they were Venezuelans too, that they had tumbao and could hit a baseball, could tell a joke that landed. That they could break the tribal divide, come down off the billboards and show they were real. And no, this is not populism by other means. It is the only way of establishing your standing. It’s deciding not to live in an echo chamber. To press pause on the siren song of polarization.

• It's International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Batocchio on the importance of not being a silent accomplice bystander when people are attacked in hate crimes.

  Hatred and fear certainly don't need to reach the level of genocide to destroy a country, and many lives before that. We know how these stories can go. The United States has plenty of ugly history but also some great accomplishments. Right now, we're seeing shades of the same spiteful, hateful and fearful spirit that displaced and killed Native Americans, enslaved black people, held lynchings as public entertainment and perpetuated Jim Crow laws. We don't need to and dare not wait for those impulses to grow further to oppose them. Luckily, we're also seeing some of the same spirit that moved abolitionists, suffragettes and freedom riders and we can't encourage or support those impulses enough. As Klein says, we can "demonstrate what this country truly stands for." We don't need to be silent bystanders. The lessons to be learned from World War II and the Holocaust are many, but they include: The nation that held the Nazis accountable to the rule of law at Nuremberg should not throw away those principles every time some insecure bully with a megaphone shits his pants. Bigotry must be challenged. And we can empathize, intervene and support one another.

• Vincente Fox suggests that Trump "grow up." (Video, Crooks and Liars.)  This may not be true.
• The Ironic Times, because

  TRUMP: MY CROWD BIGGER THAN OBAMA'S
  If you count no-shows

• Border Patrol head ousted.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm-hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Tangentially

After looking at the contradictory crapola (yes, that is the technical term) about the Ozymandian wall Trump is talking about erecting on the Mexican border (and how it will supposedly be paid for, and labor logistics [which Robin Williams covered in the Weapons of Self-Destruction show when the wall-wannabuilder was Arnold Schwarzenegger], and whether it will be effective [see East Berlin and East Germany], and the impact on our relations with Mexico [which are stiff right now], and what it might look like), I realized that the wall is a combination of Egyptian pyramids and "Well, he made the trains run on time."

(Aside to those who end up working on the wall, if that happens:  I suggest the Penelope option.  It's in the Odyssey, which is a cracking good fantasy adventure [complete with giant] in which the lady uses a novel [then] device to stave off men after her wealth suitors [no spoilers.  go read it].  I suggest adapting the tactic to the situation.  Oh, and form or join a union.)

And then I thought "Wait.  Who said that about Mussolini?  Was that even true?"

Um, no.  Not really.  Short version:  No.

Fascism is lies all the way down.

Embracing the Power of 'And': Unclear on the Concept/Stupid/Liar

• Guess who wants to investigate Republican Satanic panic "voter fraud?"
• Even Mike Huckabee is side-eyeing this "investigation."
• "Evidence."  (Nearly typed "evidenza," and I know none of you would get that.)  
• Meanwhile, Tiffany Trump, Steve Bannon, and Steven Mnuchin are registered to vote in two states, which according to the embedded Tweet is also "voter fraud."  (As the article states, only voting in two states is fraud.)
• Ms. Conway says that's not true.  Records say otherwise.
• The Field Negro on the weather, veracity, and lack of same.
• ETA:
  

  Fox News host Shep Smith recapped Trump's call for a major investigation into widespread voter fraud and explained why there is no data, facts, or evidence to prove there is voter fraud at all.

  Not. Even. Fox. News.
• Oh, and four senior staff members on the State Department management team just resigned. Yes, I know it says "entire" and it was posted an hour ago.  That's still a big hit on institutional memory, according to the Washington Post article excerpted at Crooks and Liars.  (I changed the six to four because other sources reported four.)
• EFTA:  Rep. Ted Lieu:  Bring it on.
  

  "I want hearings immediately. I want to see them bring up witnesses that will validate president Trump's claims because they won't be able to find any."
  
  "This is going to show that president Trump is lying. There's really no other way to put it. He's just making stuff up. We live right now with a White House that puts out alternative facts. We have a president that lives in alternate reality. It's highly disturbing for America this is happening."

  Reported at Crooks and Liars.
• EEFTA:  It seems that Trump's source of "voter fraud" tales is, um, not exactly acquainted with the Light Side of the Force.  (The Guardian, so salt.)

  The conservative activist cited by Donald Trump as an authority on voter fraud owes the US government more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes, was once accused of lying about his qualifications, and has faced several allegations of ethical impropriety.

Rearranged because it looks better as a unified list.

OK, A Few More Words on, Umm,

Anti-fascist pugilism.  Snopes.com on whether Jack Kirby would have punched out Nazis with bonus "socking Hitler" Captain America cover.  Mark Evanier on whether Jack Kirby would have punched out the Nazi or written a cracking good story instead.  Tim's take on the subject.

In pleasanter news, I woke up with the memory of a dream of Meryl Streep and Adam Sandler singing a duet.

In Memoriam

Butch Trucks, drummer (audio plays on opening), Allman Brothers et al.  ETA [2/1/17]:  Suicide.

ETA: Mary Tyler Moore, actress (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Ordinary People)

Stepping Stones for Baby Steps

When I was a teenager, and probably for years before that, the various TV stations showed a lot of the World War II era movies.  The vast majority of them were in black and white, and all of them were explicitly anti-Nazi.  Not all of them targetted the same set of evils that German fascism embraced, but taken together, one could get a picture of the reason that fascism was Bad (yes, that is the technical term).

Many years have passed and "conservatives" and corporations have bought up broadcast media to the point where very few "independent" outlets remain, and I'm willing to bet that a lot of the more firmly anti-Nazi movies aren't shown anymore, even at 3 am.

Casablanca is an exception, but I suspect that it's more marketed and promoted as a "Classic," which, don't get me wrong, it is.  But the other movies, most of which reside title-lessly in my fuzzy memory (the one with the guy's hair in his face all the time, the one with Jimmy Stewart, the one with the street musician playing a Mendelssohn tune he identifies as Wagner to the Gestapo) seldom if ever crop up on the screen these days.  You can get '40s music on cable channels these days; you can't get '40s movies (well, TCM; but TCM is scattershot and includes silent films, lots of stuff from the '30s, '50s, '60s, and occasionally the '70s).

This matters because all these flicks posited a resistance and its costs.

And the costs of resistance were not small.  There were reprisals.  For example, Lidice.

So.  We have to continue to push back against fascism because it only gets worse.

• Hannah Arendt:

  The epistemological ground thus pulled out from under them, most would depend on whatever the leader said, no matter its relation to truth. “The essential conviction shared by all ranks,” Arendt concluded, “from fellow traveler to leader, is that politics is a game of cheating and that the ‘first commandment’ of the movement: ‘The Fuehrer is always right,’ is as necessary for the purposes of world politics, i.e., world-wide cheating, as the rules of military discipline are for the purposes of war.”

  Includes more links to Hannah Arendt's work.
• Washington Monthly (Nancy LeTourneau):

  This is an interesting development (taken from Variety.com):
  
  The White House has shut down its public comment line some time in the past few weeks, instead telling callers, with an automated message, that they should contact the administration via Facebook Messenger instead. There’s only one problem: Neither the new White House administration nor President Donald Trump seem to currently maintain an active Facebook Messenger account.
  
  Beyond that, Sam Stein summarizes how various federal departments are being told to cease communications (taken from Huffington Post.com).
  
  Multiple federal agencies have told their employees to cease communications with members of Congress and the press, sources have told The Huffington Post.
  
  The freeze has startled aides on the Hill and people at those agencies, who worry that it could abruptly upend current operations and stifle work and discussions that routinely take place between branches of government.
  
  Agencies reporting that they have received such messages from the White House so far include:
  
  the Department of Health and Human Services
  the Environmental Protection Agency
  the Department of Agriculture
  the National Institutes of Health
  the Department of Transportation

  Mmmmmmm-hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
  
• [ETA:  More from Crooks and Liars.]
• And the New York Times used the word 'lie' in a headline about Trump.  (Crooks and Liars, with photo of hard copy.)

Because I'm Supposed to be Out Getting Fresh Air, That's Why!

• Paul Krugman excerpted by Janet Allon at AlterNet (because I have only one free article left at the New York Times until February and someone might die):

  People tend to forget the extent to which the last Republican administration was also characterized by cronyism, the appointment of unqualified but well-connected people to key positions. It wasn’t as extreme as what we’re seeing now, but it was striking at the time. Remember “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job”? And it caused very real damage.

• The top ten projections of "evil Obama plots" right-wingers may attempt to enact themselves (well, except the one about invading Texas, which was silly even for them. Bogart [in Casablanca] has already issued the warning about invading New York) listed in AlterNet.
• A brief entry on non-violence and clocking the Nazi, which led to
• "On the Propriety of Punching Nazis, An FAQ"

  But isn’t this sinking to their level?
  
  That depends. After you punch the Nazi, do you espouse the tenets of National Socialism?
  
  No.
  
  Then you’re better than a Nazi.

• I know that someone, somewhere is altering the lyrics to the Smiths' "Panic" to say "Punch a Nazi," so here's a link to the video so you can do that competently.
• (I am not including the Nazi-clocking video.)

In Memoriam

Yes, I've fallen behind. Sorry.

• Maggie Roche, of The Roches ("We don't give out our ages and we don't give out our phone numbers.")
• William A. Hilliard, journalist (The Oregonian)
• Roberta Peters, soprano (slideshow)
• Wayne Barrett, investigative reporter (Village Voice)
• Eugene Cernan, last man to walk on the moon
• Dick Gautier, actor
• Antony Armstrong-Jones, aka Lord Snowdon, photographer and royal spouse
• Nat Hentoff, writer (Village Voice, et al.)
• Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, as of May. An appreciation by David Ettlin.
• Clare Hollingworth, broke the story of the German invasion of Poland in September, 1939
• Zhou Youguang, helped to develop Pinyin (Romanized Chinese character conversion)
• William Peter Blatty, writer (The Exorcist, et seq.)
• Bishop Eddie Long, who was mentioned here when his scandal was current. The Root has an article.

Changing of the Guard

• President Obama's accomplishments as listed by Rachel Maddow (video, Crooks and Liars, Karoli Kuns)
• Donald Trump sworn in as President.
• I'm going to the movies.
• Noam Chomsky on "election-rigging."  Everything is coming back to paste the US one in the chops (antique slang), aka Karma turns the wheel of fate some more (in the sense that foreign policy acts from many years ago are bearing poisonous, not-in-our-favor fruits).  Although this sounds an awful lot like victim-blaming, to be honest.  (Actual interview at truthout, summarized at AlterNet.)
• Three from Jesse Curtis (new site!  more scholarship!):
• One of the many acts of resistance will be joining the NAACP.  Here's why.
• Quoting Scott Culpepper:

  Christian scholars are indeed a subversive influence. Critics are right in labeling us a subversive influence if what they mean is that we subvert the subordination of facts to falsehoods calculated to sway popular opinion, the substitution of shallow shibboleths for deeper reflection, and the sacrifice of principle on the profane altar of political expediency. And there will be a greater need for us to keep on subverting these things with all the energy we can muster in the age of Trump.
  
  The times call for renewed conviction, creativity and courage on the part of Christian scholars.

• "Here are some early thoughts on the intersection of rap, whiteness, and evangelicalism.."
• *Ahem*
  

  You can't get hired by McDonald's unless you have some concept of what the job entails. But apparently, you can get a position in Trump's cabinet if you have no idea what your department does.

  Mark Evanier points to a David Remnick essay.
• Driftglass, as usual, says it best.

And We Have Anti-Science People in Power

Woman died from extremely antibiotic-resistant bug.

We may soon return to the days when pneumonia was usually fatal.

Scandalous Gossip Du Jour

Seth Meyers:

"Look, nobody wants to believe Trump paid Russian hookers to pee all over a bed more than I do, but there is zero proof that happened," he explained. "Plus, I find it hard to believe Trump actually paid somebody for services rendered."

AlterNet.  Why we should retire the term "fake news."  Entirely aside from the suspicion that most fake news emanates from Faux Noose.

Fireflies in the Night

So I had a brief discussion with sib and sib-in-law because they can't plan their health insurance while the fate of Obamacare is up in the air, in which I called the Republicans calling for overthrow repeal when they have no clue about how to replace it "Stupid."  Also "illiterate, ignorant, and clueless" although not in that order.  Also "conservative."

My regular readers know that I don't think much of Republicans and even less of "conservatives."  I hold the "right"-wing in general and the "alt-right" particularly in contempt.  The folks with honor, integrity, and actual morals choosing that frequency of the political spectrum are so few and far between now that I tend to class them as anomalous exceptions.

What has been known to confuse people is that I only sporadically consider myself as being of the "left."  Mostly I'm what used to be called "center-somewhat left."  I grew up with anti-Nazi and anti-Communist indoctrination via old movies, encyclopedias, newspaper editorials, and the occasional drama, plus 1984.   Both fascism and communism were tyrannies that would squash the life out of you and turn you into a grey and faceless pancake.  The strain of fascism in Germany was bent on killing Jews; the strain of communism in China focussed on people who did not fit the category of "peasant" and on sloganeering.  And fascists and communists hated each other above all.

So, y'know, I don't see that totalitarian/authoritarian differentiation that conservative thinkers (Jeane Kirkpatrick) thought was important.  A dictator is a dictator, period, the end.  Weltanschauung with "pragmatic" blinders.  Most of the "international crises" of today date back to the early Cold War in which American diplomacy tended to support "right"-leaning governments with all sorts of aid and reacted like stereotypical "housewives facing mice" to "left"-leaning governments.  (Does Mohammad Mosaddegh ring a bell?  How about Salvador Allende Gossens?  Probably didn't matter to Ho Chi Minh.)

What I have noticed over time, however, is what amounts to a phobia (yes, I've used that word before in this context, and I intend to use it again) around "socialism."  These days there's less panic because most people think that orthodox socialism is irrelevant, but occasionally some people blame Senator Sanders' showing in the 2016 primaries on the "stain" of socialism.  When people talk about Obamacare as "socialized medicine," I have to laugh.  At this very moment, Making Light is hosting a discussion of Universal Basic Income in which some of the comments touch on actual socialized medicine and there's no comparison; the ACA is as complicated as it is to avoid any taint of socialism.

Some things work better in a capitalist system.  Some things work better in a socialist system.  That's all.

Flawed Zircon

Via skippy, Jonathan Chait's examination in New York Magazine of the "intellectual collapse of the center" featuring the damage done by, among others, Mr. David Brooks:

Of all the failures that have led to the historical disaster of the Trump presidency, perhaps the least-remarked-upon is the abdication of responsibility of the American center. Those of us with moderate inclinations need an effective center as a brake against extremism. When one party veers too far from the center, the center joins the opposing party, until the extreme one can be coaxed back into the mainstream. David Brooks calls for a rejuvenation of the center under the Trump presidency. But Brooks himself is the perfect encapsulation of why the center has proven so hapless, allowing itself to enable extremism rather than prevent it.

Read the rest. Including the Upton Sinclair quote.

Also, check out Driftglass, who presents a flipflopping Mitch McConnell.  (Also a David Bowie video.)

Looking for tactics for effective opposition and strengthening your ethical fibers?  One article by Matthew d'Ancona for The Guardian, mostly aimed at the British "left," and one article by Jonathan Crowe which suggests using disgruntled Republicans to remove the President-elect.

Last night, Meryl Streep gave an acceptance speech (lifetime achievement [Cecil B. DeMille Award]) at the Golden Globes during which she decried policy positions the President-presumptive has declared without mentioning him by name.  Naturally, today the flying monkey squad (h/t everybody) is screeching.  I give you Kellyanne Conway (Crooks and Liars).

ETA, because everything appears after I think I've finished the post:  Via Shakesville, "Everyday Authoritarianism is Boring and Tolerable" by Tom Pepinsky, who actually lives in an authoritarian state.

Everyday life in the modern authoritarian regime is, in this sense, boring and tolerable. It is not outrageous. Most critics, even vocal ones, are not going to be murdered like Anna Politkovskaya, they are going to be frustrated. Most not-very-vocal critics will live their lives completely unmolested by the security forces. They will enjoy it when the trains run on time, blame the government when they do not, gripe at their taxes, and save for vacation. Elections, when they happen, will serve the “anesthetic function” that Philippe Schmitter attributed to elections in Portugal under Salazar in the greatly underappreciated in 1978 volume Elections without Choice.

Life under authoritarian rule in such situations looks a lot like life in a democracy.

Consider yourself warned.

Yahrzeit.

Yahrzeit.

In Memoriam

Maggie Jochild, one of the mainstays of the Group News Blog.  Jesse Wendel wrote a fine eulogy for her:

Her writing helped GNB in ways public and private. It is fair to say Maggie's writing was core to the respect and fierce devotion our readers gave GNB at its peak. In addition to her public contributions Maggie as a person, as a force of nature, caused numerous behind the scenes changes at GNB which made us better writers, better advocates for our readers and mission (which mission she helped redefine), and better with each other. She made us better people.

(Loads slowly. Be patient.)

"One almost gets the idea that Republicans like the "voter fraud" canard because "level playing fields" are not really to their taste."

Yes, I've just quoted myself.  And now I'm going to cite myself.  Remember when I mentioned Alabama closing DMV offices to thwart obtaining official ID (driver licenses) for voting?

Guess what?

[...]  We now know the driver's license closures saved little money -- somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000, tops, according to Bentley's former ALEA secretary Spencer Collier. The routine shortfalls in the General Fund budget typically range from $100 million to $200 million. The closures didn't even scratch that. They were a naked act of political vengeance.

[...]  In the 10 counties with the highest proportion of minorities, the state closed driver's license offices in eight. The other two remained open because it might be too much to explain, I suppose, for Alabama not to have driver's license offices in Montgomery or Selma.

Maybe the governor didn't intend to target minority citizens with the closures, but ultimately his intent is beside the point.

ETA: via twistedchick on Dreamwidth

Dirt, With Delusions of Grandeur

• God has ethics?

  What a damn mess in Arkansas. It seems that some Republican members of the State House and the State Senate conspired to dump a ton of money on rightwing Christian colleges in the state. For about $600,000 of taxpayer money to tiny Ecclesia College in Springdale, Arkansas, the Republican politicians got about $38,000 each in kickbacks.

  Crooks and Liars, Juanita Jean (I've moved her link, but it's the one she used.)
• If you are shooting people and you are not in the armed services or firing in self-defense and/or they have done you no harm, there is something seriously wrong with your mental functioning, whether or not you are considered clinically mentally ill.
• I keep saying that it's that word "intelligence."  
• Talladega College's marching band will perform at the inaugural parade.

  "We respect and appreciate how our students and alumni feel about our participation in this parade," Hawkins said in a statement Thursday.
  
  "As many of those who chose to participate in the parade have said, we feel the inauguration of a new president is not a political event but a civil ceremony celebrating the transfer of power," Hawkins added.
  
  The announcement followed several days of intense debate on social media.

  I'm hoping the optimistic view is correct.
• Mmmmmmmmmm-hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

  Intelligence agencies have reportedly found substantial evidence that Russia meddled in the US election to help Trump, but Trump has steadfastly continued to cast doubt over the credibility of US intelligence officials on the subject. He is set on Friday to receive a briefing from US intelligence agencies on the Russian hacking.

  Breaking news:

  Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Russia was behind fake news during the presidential election when questioned at a Senate hearing on Thursday.
  
  Democratic Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed asked Clapper, “One of the aspects of this Russian hacking was not just disseminating information they had exploited from computers, but also the allegations of fake news sites, fake news stories that were propagated. Is that an accurate- is that one aspect of this problem?”
  
  “This was a multifaceted campaign,” Clapper replied. “So the hacking was only one part of it, and it also entailed classical propaganda, disinformation, fake news,” he said during the hearing, which is focused on the topic of Russian hacking.

Well, Something Screwy's Going On

• Spocko's Brain:  "This is how we fight."
  

  Adult bullies have lots of tools. The right wing bull[ies] have no problem screaming foul at any action they don’t like and crying to authorities who actually do their job. [...] “Sure I killed people, but nobody expects me to follow the law! But the good guys are supposed to follow the law!” Then, when it’s shown the law was followed, “Okay, he did it legally, but I was tricked, so it’s not fair!”
  
  When the bad guys are out-maneuvered, [...] they go into denial, they demand justice. They present themselves as victims, but [image]
  
  it’s yet another way to try and bend the system to their will.
  
  [...]
  
  In this case part of the win is to let the other lesser Capone-types know they aren’t safe. Then it’s changing laws to make it harder to game the system.
  
  Part of winning is acknowledging the corrupting power of money, and setting up systems to monitor it that aren’t easily captured. This is all part of the fight. It’s not as exciting as epic battles, but it is crucial for future success.
  
  [...] We will win some. We will also lose some. Activists who are taking on powerful interests need powerful friends during the losses and the wins.
  
  I’m encouraged and excited by reading about re-energized activist groups and new ones. We need lots people to understand the system we are in now vs. previous systems.
  
  We need to learn how to fight to make an impact. And we need to be reminded of the importance of persistence. We can never stop fighting until the fight is done.
  
  

  Emphasis added.  Spocko uses Trading Places to illustrate his points, so follow up by reading his post.
• Jurassicpork on political autopsies, the "imploding" Democratic Party, and the recent election.  Not because I agree with him (I don't.  Too much conspiracy theory for my taste), but for the analysis of the article by Todd Purdum at Politico, which conflates "Clintonism" with Democratic Party principles.  (Mention of "Democratic Party principles" invariably reminds me of the Will Rogers quote:  "I'm not a member of any organized political party...  I'm a Democrat.")  Everyone seems to have a pet theory (for example:  Fannie Wolfe at Shakesville cites misogyny.  Avedon's Sideshow cites This Week's Ryan Cooper on Democrats' mishandling of the economy.  And so on).
  
  I'm tempted to say (in my role as satirist and strewer of parentheses) that the results of the late election were due to space aliens and Bigfoot, and no one can prove that wrong.
• Speaking of space aliens, one of the idiot conservative pundits has said that people who refuse to perform at the Trump inaugural are "un-American."  I'm sure that Elton John and Celine Dion are grossly insulted.  Not.  (Also, "un-American" as a Scary Accusation of Horrible Horribleness passed its sell-by date in 1985.)  Is Ted Nugent unavailable or is he just asking too much money?
  
  (Y'know, it does not seem to be enough to win an election and therefore power; right-wingers want love, too.  They won't get any from me; I'm bigoted against bigots.  In case you did not notice.)
• Oh, the ethics thing:  If your first thought on seeing that the Republicans wanted to do away with an independent ethics office was bitter amusement, come sit by me you were not alone.  ETA:  I knew I should have checked with Professor Chaos!

But Driftglass Says It Better!

• "63 Million of My Neighbors Conspired to Take My Kid's Health Insurance Away." Long quote from cnn.com on what repeal would mean.

  Almost all of my 63 million neighbors who conspired to take my kid's health insurance away are the same neighbors who voted to re-elect Bush Administration monsters who lied us into the wrong war, bankrupted the country, pissed away our global reputation and crashed the economy.

• Mr. Dowd has a centipede in his colon and a hornet in his hat. Also he might want to do a bit of research on Presidential farewell addresses (Driftglass gives 5 examples) before waving his racism ignorance in public.

One shouldn't bring Twitter to a nuance fight.