The unholiest of days has arrived.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
25 Comments
Thanks! I needed that. Been a while since I’ve seen it.
Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries. love it
Have some music:
Have even more music:
I am going to open a wine bottle and find my way to the bottom. That is the plan. Monday, back at it.
Thank God I am flying across the country today. By the time I get home this whole fucking disastrous day will be over and I won’t have been forced to watch a damn minute of it.
If we get through the weekend without martial law being declared it will be a relief. This administration’s barely concealed motives and lack of restraint are profoundly disturbing; it seems more putsch than orderly transition.
Watch Washington DC and Standing Rock. They are the likely canaries in the coal mine.
At this point I’m watching for a consolidation of power in the intelligence and domestic security agencies and a Reichstag fire.
Take note of the state of the U.S. Empire and the world on this date. Revisit this diary one year from now and note the differences/events that have occurred.
The humans are about to get what they deserve. Your stewardship of this planet, of each other, is …
You write.
I will finish this sentence for you in the only possible way that is objectively true.
How?
Do not believe anybody who claims to have even a clue about what is specifically going to happen. Especially do not believe anybody who appears to be certain on the subject.
All the hand flapping and “OMG!!!” level worrying amongst the leftinesses?
It’s just more of the same impotent, “The sky is falling!!!”, kneejerk, worrywart bullshit that functioned to help to permit Trump to win.
Relax.
Evolution ain’t through with us yet.
Bet on it.
And if it is, there is not a goddamned thing that you can do about it.
Bet on that as well.
Peace.
It’s what’s for dinner.
AG
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/feds-investigating-money-transfers-amp-communications-between-ru
ssia-and-trump-associates
“American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, current and former senior American officials said.”
Just to state this clearly, that means that on the eve of Trump’s inauguration the nation’s top law enforcement and intelligence agencies are pursuing a counter-intelligence probe of contacts and payments between key members of his campaign and Russia. We have not been here before.
Good thing Comey had the integrity not to discuss ongoing investigations before the election.
Yeah, well he figured that was a good idea.
As Josh points out in that linked essay, Trump is now the boss over all these agencies and could put a stop to any and all investigations of him or his staff or appointees.
Perhaps the candidate foretold back in 1962 with Laurence Harvey playing the role has finally emerged. Hope nobody mentions the queen of diamonds anywhere near him.
The sick feeling that walloped me on Election night is back in full force, and I’ll be slightly off balance for a while while this monstrosity of a presidency takes form.
Not giving trump and his band of villains any air time today, but I’ll be looking for the anticiapted power of the protest marches tomorrow.
Part of me is still in denial, but I’m not going to surrender to despair. I know the difference between right and wrong, and trump is the most wrong thing that can happen to the country. We have to keep reminding ourselves that we are better and smarter than those who oppose us and try to pull the country apart for their own gain.
Good luck to all who pitch in to fight the battle against the oppressive machine that will do more damage than we ever imagined.
Had to counsel my 12 year old on dealing with having to watch the inauguration in school as part of social studies. I told him how I had to watch Reagan being sworn in at school and how hard it was for me, but the comparison seems weak. Talking to my kids has been the hardest part of this nightmare over the past 2 months, I know I’m not alone.
Happy unholiday
http://crooksandliars.com/2017/01/ellen-degeneres-pays-tribute-obamas
Brings a tear to my eyes
There are 63 million people in the US (and their significant others and closse friends) who have been going through the stages of grief over the past 10 weeks. We have seen denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance.
For those who have, as so many on the left who were critical of the Clintons and the Obama, been early arrivals at acceptance, it is time for a reminder that acceptance is acceptance of the current situation, not the current direction of the new government (which is still shrouded in doubletalk and conflicting directions.) A pragmatic (yes, that is a thing) resistance thoroughly understands the current situation as what it is without compromising the future and those who will inhabit it. That is a tough tension of contrary (without becoming contradictory) facts to keep in mind. Even tougher to use as the basis for deeds.
Whatever else, remember Martin Niemoller’s wisdom. We are all connected and when subjected to an unholy alliance we are all targets and all allies.
And remember the wisdom about authoritarias when they describe events and narratives that your witness is different. “Who are you going to believe? The authoritarian or your own lying eyes.”
We are entering a period of a hundred-day snow job. Both by the Trump administration and the business-as-usual Democrats who are seeking to co-opt our grief for more of the same. The only reason that wrangling over facts cannot come to closure in resistance in the deliberate fuzzing of facts. The only reason we will not move forward is faintheartedness in the face of authoritarian games under the label of pragmatism.
Just as there is Resistance ™ and resistance, there is Pragmatism ™ and pragmatism.
Resistance must move to closure on facts, strategies, tactics and commitments if it is to be successful.
We do not yet know what the risks are but the symbology of hell means our intuition is that they are high, that Trump will not be a president who is obedient to the Constitution over his own propensities.
I don’t know which circle of Dante’s inferno we have arrived at. Maybe we might figure that out. Because there is likely much worse to come in events.
We have the comfort of having survived other dysfunctional Presidents and Congresses. Let not that comfort become anything more than a release to hope and action and not complacency.
You’ve heard this lecture before.
At noon, it becomes real. Welcome to the perpetual land between the no longer and the not yet where creativity can change things.
“There are 63 million people in the US (and their significant others and closse friends) who have been going through the stages of grief over the past 10 weeks. We have seen denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance.”
Are you referring to Trump voters, because he is the one that got 62.98m votes? Clinton got 65.85m votes. I have noticed you have used this number previously, and it seems like you mean Clinton voters.
When I last checked in on the numbers, it was 63 million Clinton and 61 million Trump.
But I expect that shortly after today the Clinton voters will be through their grief and the Trump voters will just be starting into denial.
thank you
A friend is having a colonoscopy today. I said: how appropriate. Your bowel is being infiltrated while Trump is inaugurated. Fitting?
At least she’ll be knocked out. And won’t witness the travesty in Wash DC.
I am diligently avoiding any news, photos or whatever of this event. Ugh.