Sunday Reads: Presidency of Horrors
Posted: March 26, 2017 Filed under: Afternoon Reads, Donald Trump, morning reads, open thread, Rape Culture, Real Life Horror, the GOP, We are so F'd, Women's Rights 22 Comments
What a week it has been…
This presidency is like a horror show, and I’m not talking about a good one either. It is beyond Plan 9 From Outer Space…
The images are my commentary on that.
Things are very bad at home right now. Cancer is a bitch. So the post today is just links. In no particular order…
Yale History Professor Timothy Snyder’s latest book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century outlines some of the things that fall under dictators as they rise to power. In a conversation Friday with Bill Maher, the host asked Snyder if this was his “busy season” given President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.
Maher asked Snyder to give the top three lessons from tyranny for which Americans should suit up.
“Don’t obey in advance,” was Snyder’s first instruction. He doesn’t necessarily mean obeying leaders or authority rather, “don’t follow what everyone else is doing… figure out what you stand for and be yourself.”
His second instruction was that Americans must defend institutions. Many anticipate that “the institution will save us” but Snyder said that this kind of thinking is wrong. “We have to save the institutions. They don’t do it on their own. This is the moment of ‘ask not what the institutions can do for you. Ask what you can do for the institutions.’”
His third was for Americans to believe in the truth. “Without truth, we don’t have trust. Without trust, we don’t have the rule of law. Without the rule of law, we don’t have democracy,” he continued.
More at the link.
Scientists turn spinach leaf into working human heart tissue | The Independent
Researchers have turned a spinach leaf into working human heart tissue.
Scientists struggle to make large-scale human tissue – while they have had success in creating small lab samples, it is much more difficult to make them at the size of tissues, bones or whole organs. But that’s what will be needed if the tissue proves useful in the treatment of disease or injury.
Now they have come closer to solving perhaps the hardest of those challenges ,and creating a vascular system that can deliver blood into the new tissue.
47 Days to Leave their Village and Never Return
An eviction notice is never the kind of letter you want to receive, but in 1943, the villagers of Imber, on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, all received the very same letter, regretting to inform them “that it is necessary to evacuate” their home to be “made available for training by December 17th”, giving them just 47 days to pack up their lives and “quit” Imber, never to return.
How a new women-only cab service is helping women get around in Pakistan
One of the many barriers perpetuating that disparity is a lack of safe transportation options, as many women face sexual harassment when taking public transit — and cabs can be no better. Noor Jehan, a Pink Taxi driver, told the Independent most women in Pakistan would “think thrice” before getting into a car alone with a man.
Dystopian dreams: how feminist science fiction predicted the future | Books | The Guardian
From Mary Shelley to Margaret Atwood, feminist science fiction writers have imagined other ways of living that prompt us to ask, could we do things differently?
Thin-Skinned Trump Targets 17-Year-Old Coder For Kitten Website
Instead of running the country, Trump has decided his priority is sending cease-and-desist letters to high school girls for making funny websites, where they clearly don’t know that the indexsy lists top uk seo agencies exist and that it is essential to have help with SEO if they want to be successful.
Alone in the Wild for a Year, TV Contestants Learn Their Show Was Canceled – The New York Times
The remaining contestants on a reality television series have emerged after surviving 12 months in the Scottish wilderness — fending off hunger, infighting and fatigue — only to learn that the show stopped broadcasting after four episodes, the last of them in August.
The show, “Eden,” was billed as a unique social experiment in which 23 men and women living in isolation “would take on the challenge of building a new life and creating a society from scratch,” according to a statement promoting the show.
The contestants were taken to a 600-acre estate on the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula on the west coast of Scotland, which is known for its forests, lochs and beaches.
But “Eden” proved to be anything but paradise.
CNN analyst: Sources say Mike Flynn may have turned on Trump and become a witness for the FBI
Tasmanian tiger: ‘Sightings’ of extinct animal spark hunt in Australia | The Independent
Carnivore hunted to extinction by European settlers may have survived in isolated wilderness area, if sightings by park ranger and tour guide are genuine
Regretful Trump Voters Are (Mostly) a Myth
Angry Trump voters blame everyone but the president for US healthcare fail
Frank Rich: No Sympathy for the Hillbilly
tRump voters are assholes!
That video is sheer horror…
Some more horror tales:
Fifteen Percent Of Undergrad Women At UT Austin Reported Being Raped, Survey Finds
10 critics of Vladimir Putin who wound up dead – Chicago Tribune
Russia’s Putin Picks Le Pen to Rule France – The Daily Beast
U.S. Confirms Coalition Strike Killed as Many as 200 Civilians in Mosul
U.S. airstrikes may have killed as many as 200 civilians in Mosul.
Dem to Trump: ‘You truly are an evil man’ | TheHill
5 ways Trump is mentally torturing us now
Trump Is Dragging Us Into Another War… And No One Is Talking About It | The Huffington Post Well, we are talking about it here on the blog…
Fox Host Does Trump’s Dirty Work | Crooks and Liars
Trump’s day in tweets: Saturday, March 25 – LA Times
His tweets have the power to shape international relations, send stock prices up — or down — and galvanize the American public.
We’re watching how Donald Trump is using this platform of unfettered communication now that he’s commander in chief. Here is everything Trump has tweeted since he was sworn in as 45th president of the United States. In many cases, we look at what he was reacting to and whether what he said was accurate. And, as much as possible, we’ll relate what else was going on at the time. Check back for more as Trump continues to tweet.
Nearly 1 million pounds of chicken recalled due to ‘metal objects’ | WSB-TV This chicken was sold throughout the US…so make sure you don’t have any in your kitchen.
Caution: Your Supermarket Grocery May Be Carrying More Germs Than Your Toilet : HEALTH : Tech Times
Trump’s semi-truck photo op turned into picture book | TheHill
Anna Kendrick, Lin Manuel-Miranda and Others Vie to Be Stephen Hawking’s New Voice
Stephen Hawking is shopping for a new voice. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with his old one, it’s just that he’s had it for 30 years and he’s ready to swap it out. Happily, celebrities ranging from Liam Neeson to Anna Kendrick to Rebel Wilson to Lin-Manuel Miranda were more than willing to offer their services, each vying pitifully to have their vocal cords associated with one of the greatest minds in modern physics.
“Stephen…it’s me…surely it has to be me,” said Neeson in his fake audition tape, his neck wrapped tight in a heavy scarf despite being indoors. Kylie Minogue, standing under the shade of a tree, insisted she should be his new voice, since all of her songs are about…science. Lin-Manuel rapped.
“No.” Hawking said, his horror palpable.
The production was created for British charity Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day, a high profile telethon that raises money for kids both in the U.S. and in poor communities in developing countries.
In the end, Hawking ultimately rejected each celebrity entreaty, selecting instead Sir Michael Caine. He didn’t even have to audition. Figures.
And on that note I will wrap this thread up…
Hope everyone is having a better day then we are, lol. This is an open thread…
Sima
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
grayslady
Minkoff Minx
mablue2
peggysue22
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Hey ho….just a bunch of links today. My mom is having to have a lot of blood transfusions. And yesterday she developed some sort of antibodies? I think that is what they are called? like an allergic reaction…anyway. So she is in a bad mood today. I got to go. I hope y’all have a good Sunday.
Take care sweetie! We love you!!! Hugs to mom!!!
JJ – hope things improve for you and your mom. I get cranky myself when I’m tired or hungry. Thanks for the links! Gotta love that Ted Lieu!
Hugs to you and your mother! Our immune systems make antibodies in response to something sensed as foreign — could be against anything from pollen to medication to components of transfusions. Hope that it calms down and all goes well. Take care of yourself too!
Thank you JJ, and hoping your Mom does better!
Love you, JJ. Hugs to you and your mom.
If I lose my job before I’m eligible for Medicare then I am headed for the poor house. I have never understood why health insurance had to be linked to employment. It is absolutely a barrier to entrepreneurship.
only in the USA
And it penalizes children, retired people, volunteers, home caregivers, students, sick and disabled people, or makes them dependent on a patron or relative for coverage.
Yes it was all predicated on a patriarchal system where Father held a life-long job at the manufacturing plant. Now we live in a “gig”economy. Part-timers and contractors.
I hope this healthcare mess will eventually lead to single payer. I’m tired of hearing the pundits talk about how we can’t do that.
Lots of good links, thx JJ.
Great links, JJ, but I couldn’t get past the first three paragraphs of the Rich article.
Hillary deserves a public flogging??????????????
Of course, no mention of Sanders’ part in hobbling the Democratic candidate.
Frank Rich has nothing but contempt for both Clintons.
Maybe, Maureen Dowd would close the nookie store if he didn’t bash Hillary at every opportunity.
I hear you Sweet Sue. I couldn’t help but think, what the hell. The oldest domestic problem in America has been the poor. And all of a sudden the Hillbilly bundle it up to win an election for Trump? So much for the financial wizards who when they speak expect us to do what we are told.
Hills has been enduring an undeserved public flogging for her entire public career.
Frank Rich can go to hell.
Corporations are still telling females what they can and cannot wear, no matter what age.
OMG……..there it is, was just saying that we are tired of these financial wizards expecting us to do as we are told, and follow their orders, or else!
Excellent article on the additions and mis-translations of the “word of god.” Some of the info I already knew, but there’s been a lot of recent research from new sources on what was in and not in the earliest writings (which weren’t written down until a few centuries into the C.E.).
Nice wrap-up of #TrumpRussia so far.
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