Tuesday Reads: Winter Is Coming, In More Ways Than One.
Posted: December 13, 2016 Filed under: Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, morning reads, U.S. Politics | Tags: Donald Trump, Syria 44 Comments
Good Morning Sky Dancers,
Winter is coming, in more ways than one. Cold and dark is settling in here in New England. As we all know, we face the possibility of terrible times to come in our country as a result of the election of Donald tRump and the global rise of right wing authoritarian leaders.
Personally, I’m going through a tough time right now. I will be evicted from my home sometime soon. I’m not sure when it will happen–it could be a month or it could be a few months. I have applied for senior housing in my town, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay here long enough to get an apartment. If I can’t do that, I’ll have to go back to Indiana and try to find housing there.
As you can imagine, I’m pretty overwhelmed emotionally and physically, and I’m actually feeling situationally depressed for the first time in years. Frankly, I think the depression is more related to the Trump horror than to my personal troubles. My housing situation has been up in the air for years, and I’m actually looking forward to getting out of this place. It’s just the process of doing it that is getting me down.
As you can imagine, I’m having some trouble concentrating and that affects my ability to read and write about the news. Anyway, here’s what I have for you today. It’s a mixed bag.
The New York Times: ‘A Complete Meltdown of Humanity’: Civilians Die in Fight for Eastern Aleppo.
Pro-government forces retaking the eastern neighborhoods of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 82 civilians on Monday, the United Nations estimated, in what one official called “a complete meltdown of humanity.”
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, warned that the blood bath in Aleppo, a once-thriving northern metropolis that is close to falling under the government’s complete control after more than four years of fighting, could spread to other cities where rebels are active.
“What is happening with Aleppo could repeat itself in Douma, in Raqqa, in Idlib,” he said on Tuesday. “We cannot let this continue.”
Also on Tuesday, the French government said it was “deeply concerned” about reports of a chemical attack in the eastern suburbs of the city of Hama a day earlier. The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, an international coalition of humanitarian groups, said the attack had killed at least 93 civilians and wounded 300, but those numbers could not be confirmed independently.
The death toll for eastern Aleppo, recorded in four neighborhoods — Bustan al-Qasr, al-Fardous, al-Kallaseh and al-Saleheen — included 11 women and 13 children, some shot in the streets as they tried to flee the fighting, said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. He cited reports the world body had received from reliable contacts inside and outside the city.
Mr. Colville said pro-government forces had also reportedly entered homes and killed those they found inside, including women and children.
I’ll be honest. Maybe deep down I’m a hawk like so many have claimed about Hillary, but I don’t understand why the Obama administration has done so little to oppose the Russians in Syria and Ukraine. I also favored the intervention in Libya and, like Hillary, I still think it was the right thing to do. I admit I’m no expert, but to see the human misery that is coming out of Syria is far beyond heartbreaking. Yet, it appears the U.S. will not act.
Vox: This Trump voter didn’t think Trump was serious about repealing her health insurance.
Debbie Mills is a 53-year-old furniture store owner in Bell County, an area of the state right on the Tennessee border. Earlier this year, doctors discovered that her husband has non-alcoholic cirrhosis. He now needs a transplant if he’s going to survive. Mills and her husband keep a bag packed, waiting for the doctors to call with news that a liver is available.
This all means that Mills really, really needs her health insurance. And she’s very grateful for the Affordable Care Act, because she couldn’t afford insurance before it was passed.And yet she voted for Donald Trump. Until we spoke, she said she hadn’t taken Trump’s repeal threats seriously. As we talked, she started to process what his election might mean for her family’s future.
Two excerpts from the interview:
On voting for Trump
Sarah Kliff
So how did you decide to vote for him, since he’s one of the people promising to repeal Obamacare?
Debbie Mills
Well … we liked him because he just seemed to be a businessman.
We’re in a small, rural area where there’s not a lot of businesses right now going on, and so we can’t really have anything else shut down, because it affects everybody.
Michele Palazzo, photo of winter storm Jonas in NYC, 2016
We were in an area where there’s lots of coal. And so we don’t work in the coal mines, but … one job affects this job and affects this job. If they’re not working, they’re not grocery shopping, they’re not going and buying furniture, they’re not buying clothes, they’re not doing anything.
We’re more or less sort of a general store. We sell a little bit of everything. But the coal miners are not able to purchase anything.
Christmas is a lot different than what it used to be because they were getting their Christmas bonuses. And they would come and they would buy the TVs and the recliners and they would redo the whole kitchen and do new dining room tables for the family Christmas or Thanksgiving or whatever. And now it’s not like that.
On losing their health insurance
Sarah Kliff
Do you think if it does go away, you’ll regret your vote in any way? Thinking, “I voted for this person who took away my health insurance.” Or … it’s like, that’s one of so many things, like you said, jobs, the economy?
Debbie Mills
I don’t know. I guess I thought that, you know, he would not do this. That they would not do this, would not take the insurance away. Knowing that it’s affecting so many people’s lives. I mean, what are you to do then if you cannot … purchase, cannot pay for the insurance?
You know, what are we to do?
So I don’t know. Maybe he’s thinking about, you know, the little people that are not making the big money, like what they make in New York and Washington and all the places that, you know, this is not, you know, something — this is people’s lives that’s being affected.
Honestly, I should feel sorry for people like this, but my financial situation is probably a lot worse than theirs. I guess I’m sorry they are so ignorant and maybe even stupid, but I have a lot more anger than pity toward tRump voters. I guess that makes me nasty. Well I’m OK with being a nasty woman right now.
Last night Chris Hayes and Bernie Sanders had a “town hall” meeting with tRump voters in Wisconsin. There is no way in hell I was going to watch that. I’m sick and tired of the obsession with the so-called “white working class” in the “rust belt.” Meanwhile, the millions and millions of women, African American, Latino, Asian and other Clinton voters are disrespected and ignored.
We tried to save this country. Bernie Sanders did nothing to help and plenty to hurt Clinton’s chances. It’s time for Sanders to either start acting rather than talking. Let him get a Democratic governor elected in Wisconsin, Michigan, or Pennsylvania. Then maybe I’ll listen to him.
Meanwhile, a good story for Chris Hayes to cover would be the conflicts of interest at his own network, NBC.
I liked this piece at the Paris Review on women and aging: Becoming Invisible: An Interview with Mary Ruefle.
Well, thematically, aging and death become one in the same for writers, and very often you lose young readership because you’re no longer interested in the things young people are interested in. The time for exuberance, energy, endless curiosity, endless activity within a body of work, that drops away and everything becomes bittersweet. But this becoming invisible—all women talk about it. There’s a period of transition that’s so disorienting that you’re confused and horrified by it, you can’t get a grip on it, but it does pass. You endure it, and you are patient, and it falls away. And then you come into a new kind of autonomy that you simply didn’t have when you were young. You didn’t have it when your parents were alive, you didn’t have it back when you were once a woman to be seen. It’s total autonomy and freedom, and you become a much stronger person. You’re not answerable to anyone anymore. For me, it was a journey of shedding the sense of needing to please someone—parents, children, partners.
Men don’t become invisible in the same way. There’s a difference in power between men and women, and I know I’m using an archaic formula but I do belong to another century. For the longest time, male power was posited in the accumulation of wealth or experience, and experience was something every man could have. And a woman’s power was always posited on physical attractiveness, the ability to have children. So as a man ages, he gains power, and as a woman ages, she loses it, or feels as though she does. If you go back to this paradox, which I understand people may find antiquated, you find there are still shards and shreds of it everywhere.
Read the rest at the link.
More reads, links only:
Summer Brennan at The Literary Hub: Notes from the Resistance, a Column on Language and Power.
The Cipher Brief: Fmr. CIA Acting Dir. Michael Morell: “This Is the Political Equivalent of 9/11.”
The Washington Post: Trump risks war by turning the One China question into a bargaining chip
The New Republic: The Democrats Must Stop Ceding the Security State to Republicans.
Michael Isakoff: Suspected Russian cyberattack waged on Clinton campaign just days before vote.
The Washington Post: Nixon saw Trump coming. But he wouldn’t have supported him.
Mother Jones: A Guide to Donald Trump’s Huge Debts—and the Conflicts They Present.
Vanity Fair: Why Angry White America Fell for Putin.
The Daily Beast: President Obama on Campaign Hacks: ‘Very Clear Relationships’ Between Team Trump and Russia.
Huffington Post: Harry Reid: The Trump Campaign ‘Was In On’ Russia’s Election Hacking.
What else is happening? Please post your thoughts and links in the comment thread and enjoy the rest of your Tuesday.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
The latest from Kurt Eichenwald at Newsweek.
HOW DONALD TRUMP’S BUSINESS TIES ARE ALREADY JEOPARDIZING U.S. INTERESTS.
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/12/23/donald-trump-foreign-business-deals-jeopardize-us-531140.html
I cannot believe Rick Perry is going to be energy secretary. Didn’t he want to get rid of that department?
I think that’s the point. The repubs have wanted to get rid of lots of these departments for years. If you put people in charge who believe the departments should not exist, they can be dismantled..
He’s thinking about all the $$$ he’ll get in bribes — errr, business deals — from energy corporations while he wrecks the department.
And now this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/13/scientists-are-frantically-copying-u-s-climate-data-fearing-it-might-vanish-under-trump/?utm_term=.fa539a90ae99
I’m glad they’re doing that. Strange things have happened to reports and data that the top boss doesn’t like.
First, Ben Carson and then Rick Perry?
Is it me or do all of Trump’s picks have early onset Alzheimer’s?
it’s Trump dementia.
BB, I’m sorry to hear that you’ll be forced out of where you live. That’s awful. As if our country being duped into fascism wasn’t bad enough as it is. Gentle hugs for you.
Thanks. I was fortunate to be able to stay here for so long. I’ve actually lived in this house for 30 years, but it wasn’t mine. I cared for my mother-in-law for many years and the family let me stay here. But there’s has been an inheritance fight and the taxes haven’t been paid for a long time.
I’m going to try to fight this until I can get housing. I can get on an emergency list once I get an eviction notice, but the court is playing games with me hoping I’ll leave without their having to go through the legal process.
I’m so sorry.
Good luck BB! I hope everything turns out well.
At our age any kind of upheaval can be pretty traumatic.
I’m sorry, BB, and hope with all my heart that you land on your feet and in a better situation.
30 years is an exceedingly long time nowdays to live in one place, with countless memories and accumulation of stuff. I know moving isn’t a simple process at any time, but yours must be really tough. I’m sure that is especially true when you aren’t even sure what to take, on account of the uncertainty of your next abode. The cost of moving has gone up a lot recently as well, adding to the conundrum. Just go where you will be safe and as secure as any of us can be right now. I don’t want to interject additional worry, however, check out the future funding for that senior center. They can be quite livable, my grandmother, then mother lived in the same one in Vancouver, WA for years.
Thanks for letting us know your situation, BB. How you can create powerful posts and deal with this is amazing. I believe you will prevail and get what you need.
I’m very concerned to hear of your housing crisis. Hope senior housing becomes available in a timely way.
Thanks. I hope so too, but if I have to go to Indiana it wouldn’t be the end of the world. At least I have that option.
BB, agree with you on Syria. The humanitarian aspects alone demand intervention.
I think if Hillary had still been SOS, she might have gotten Obama to take some action. Men just don’t seem to be as sensitive to the human costs.
Your comments above about Russia/Ukraine and Syria are brave, BB. It’s made me think about my own reticence. I do believe there are times when action is what is needed. Like you I’m no expert.
I’m also with you completely about not feeling sorry for bigots. It’s a load of manure to be expected to coddle and tolerate bigots. If you voted for tRump – you are a FKIN bigot. Period.
Yes. And when someone tells you who they are, and what they’re going to do, and their whole history bears that out — believe them!
bb, I’m so sorry that you are losing your home. I wish there was something I could do to help but I hope it helps for you to know that you are loved and respected here. Stay in the fight and never give up, there is another place along the path that is the right place for you. Hugs.
Thanks. It helps a lot, believe me. I think things will work out one way or another.
I am sorry about your situation, BB. I truly believe things will work out & maybe, be one of those deals where you are in amazement (in a good way) of the new place you are brought to. This year has really been hard in so many ways.
I’m feeling awful about your situation BB, and more than saddened it’s happening this time of the year. It’s hard enough dealing with Trump and looking at our future, what’s going to be left of it after he is done. But the hassle and fear of locating housing, is well, a bummer.
You are a terrific nasty lady, and we love you, and will never abandon you. You’ve made a lot of sacrifices to help us get through this past 8 years. Whatever we can do, please let us know.
Thanks so much, Fannie.
Hi BB.
Here is a link to an article at Vox that explains Putin’s meddling in Brexit and the US election, and, next up, 2017 elections in Germany and France. I now understand that nationalism is (as you have maintained) the motive.
http://www.vox.com/world/2016/12/13/13922006/trump-putin-cia-election-weak
The link to the Paris Review interview with Mary Ruefle has expanded my perceptions as well. Thank you so much for that! (I’ve ordered the book!!)
For what it’s worth, when I’m facing difficult challenges, putting one foot in front of the other and trusting I’m going in the right direction helps me remain (somewhat) calm and collected. We do what we can, then it’s up to the universe to unfold as it will.
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump
That’s been glaringly obvious to anyone who’s paying attention. But now it’s undeniable.
What part of the CIA report (and the popular-vote tally) does Sanders not understand?
https://twitter.com/JamesWolcott/status/808801550546116609
So now Sanders is using right wing thinking…politically correct. That was the biggest fuzzy of the race.
BB, I am very sorry to hear of your difficulties. And of course they are aggravated by all the miserable news in the political world. It just helps take the spirit out of one in terms of dealing with the daily things. Hopefully you can find some decent and affordable housing. It is of course no consolation at all to know that there are going to be millions of Americans who are going to suffer financial hardships with the social darwinists running the country.
I am going to share something which will do no pragmatic good at all, but it is something I think needs to get out there, even if it upsets people.
President Obama was a guest on what used to be Jon Stewart;s show, now hosted by Trevor Noah. From what I have heard, he was cheerful, laughed, seemed pretty much okay with everything, though perhaps disappointed. On the hacking, he said that it had been out there, but that people wanted to concentrate more on the emails, where there was nothing there. He didn’t seem too upset with how the election turned out. Said we need to reflect about how this happened, and learn from this.
I think that there is something psychologically missing in Obama. He is certainly sane and rational. He loves his family. He knows where the good side of things lie on issues. But there is some strange absence of a will to fight, particularly fight Republicans. From day one, he never fought them. He tried to coddle them, compromise with them on their terms. He did not even fight for his swing Supreme Court Justice. And he did not fight for Hillary, even though he wanted her to win. And he did not stand up and tell Americans that there was a major threat to our nation’s independent sovereignty, that a foreign power was actively attempting to influence the election. And he didn’t tell Americans that the FBI Director was running his own personal criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton, even though there was no evidence of any crime, which is the basic standard necessary before any FBI investigation is conducted. You don’t say, “well, maybe there might be a crime here, let’s spend a year and see what we might find.” That violates Due Process, it violates the Fourth Amendment. Comey did that, and Obama knew he was doing it, and he said nothing. And Obama did not tell Americans that there were massive voter suppressions under way; and he did not use his DOJ to go after every one of these, and to file suit against the states conducting them. He did not do any of it.
And so in my mind, one can compare him to Richard II, or to Neville Chamberlain, or to any person in history or fiction who meant well, but did not possess the character trait that would cause him to fight evil with courage and fierceness. Can you imagine JFK or LBJ or Truman or Bill or Hillary Clinton just sitting there and letting the Republicans intimidate them into not telling about the hijacking of democracy, because they were afraid that the Republicans who were selling out the democracy might call one of them partisan?
What I would have said to McConnell and the rest of them, when they made that threat, is that I would tell the American people, and I will also tell them that you are trying to hide that information, that you are putting your political agenda ahead of American freedom and independence. And then let’s see how they react to that, in the middle of the election season. The Republicans were likely bluffing, but no one called it. If they were not bluffing, then they could be called out as traitors. The Republic was hanging in the balance, and truth and forcefulness was needed to save it. Whatever admirable qualities Obama indeed has, they were here subsumed by his strange and haunting failure to stand up to the other side, to risk a fight, to risk being attacked as partisan. That is a terrible failure in a president, and to me, at least, it means that Obama never should have become president, because he was unwilling to, and incapable of, fighing against the burgeoning Far Right Republican Party which would do anything to win elections, even sell out the country. Far too many Democrats desperately wanted Obama, because they liked the image, they loved the metaphor. But either through misogyny, or a need to feel racially virtuous, or a simple inability to accurately assess the character of a person, they rushed in to get Obma elected. And again, despite his decency and his gifts, he was not up to the task when everything in this country was on the line. It is like a Greek or Elizabethan tragedy; the wrong man at the wrong time. And it makes me sad to write it, but I don’t think there is any other way to look at it, as we sit here frightened of the future.
“failure to stand up to the other side, to risk a fight”
Sigh Yes, We Told You So!
“On the hacking, he said that it had been out there, but that people wanted to concentrate more on the emails, where there was nothing there.”
This is why leaders are supposed to lead. Well, my reflection and learning from this tells me that if you get a warning about foreign interference and hacking, then do nothing, you may as well just put out a добро пожаловать sign. Kiss your legacy goodby, Obama.
Trans.: Welcome!
Feels that way to me.
I agree with everything you’ve written, William…thanks for putting it into such eloquent words for me.
https://twitter.com/MJB_SF/status/808523412968640512
So keep it up!
Honey this:
“I’ll be honest. Maybe deep down I’m a hawk like so many have claimed about Hillary, but I don’t understand why the Obama administration has done so little to oppose the Russians in Syria and Ukraine. I also favored the intervention in Libya and, like Hillary, I still think it was the right thing to do. I admit I’m no expert, but to see the human misery that is coming out of Syria is far beyond heartbreaking.”
I’m right there with you on that….fucking big time.
May all beings of Wisdom influence this to a good end!!
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/310309-harvard-professor-says-gop-electors-are-close-to-blocking-trump
With the way every single thing has gone in this election, I figure that they’ll miss by one or two votes. Or they’ll somehow do it, but we’ll end up with some awful Republican whose only virtue is that he is not Trump. The person who got 66 million votes doesn’t get to win. And we absolutely know she won Michigan with all those votes not counted in Detroit, which would have gotten her to 248, but she still wouldn’t win, because Republicans will never vote for Hillary Clinton to be President.
https://twitter.com/summerbrennan/status/808921268477198337