Dear Everybody:
Every day this post seems to be about three things--what horrors ICE has perpetrated, what country Trump has decided to pick on, and how nuts/demented he is (which drives the other two stories) and the only difference is which one comes first. Today is no different.
Yesterday Trump toured a Ford factory, made an incoherent speech, and then flipped off an auto worker. (No, I am not making this up):
--As he was walking through the plant, a Ford worker shouted at him, "Pedophile protector!" Trump gave him the middle finger and shouted, "Fuck you!" Twice. (There’s video.)
--The guy who did it was suspended, but he said he didn’t care. "As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever."
--The guy is union, so he may not be fired, and even if he is, a Go Fund Me set up for him is up to $200,000 already.
--Tim Onion: "This visibly gets to him so people should keep doing it."
--Dan Hershfield: "It was actually pretty generous of the heckler to add the word ‘protector.’"
Then Trump went and made a speech that was supposed to be about the economy, but as we know, he is incapable of not making anything about himself and his grievances:
--Trump talked about the Somalis, how he really won Minnesota, Venezuela, Greenland, Renee Good, and an imaginary award Minnesota gave him. His only mention of the economy was to say, "In the coming weeks I will be laying out even more plans to help bring back affordability--and again, remember that’s a fake word by Democrats."
--Trump: "I won the popular vote all three times."
--Trump on the Panama Canal: "It was also the most profitable thing ever built. Thing. In other words, like buildings or casinos." (Trump bankrupted all his casinos.)
--Trump: "You are so lucky I allow you into this room to even be with me."
--Trump: "How about the swimming records? I mean you could go to sleep during the time the man comes in and the woman. You could go take a nap for a little while."
--Trump on Biden: "One time they had him spruced up pretty good. He was high as a kite. He was floating. He was up there, way up. That was a bad speech." (Projection much?)
--Trump: "I got an award in Detroit, in Michigan, many years ago, and still have it. They said it never happened. It did happen it turned out. I didn’t notice any apology..." (It never happened.)
--Trump, on what’s happening in Minneapolis: "One of the reasons they’re doing these fake riots--I mean they’re just terrible. It’s so fake. ‘Shame! Shame! Shame!’ You see the woman. It’s all practiced. They take hotel rooms and they all practice together. It’s a whole scam. We’re finding out who’s funding all this stuff too."
--Trump: "We’re freezing any and all welfare payments going to illegal immigrants. That will start effective immediately."
--Trump: "We’re canceling the EPA’s absurd tailpipe emissions standard, one of the worst ever!"
--Trump: "I ended the war on internal combustion engines once and for all."
--Trump vowed more strikes on Venezuela: "We’re gonna start hitting them by land too."
--Aaron Rupar: "I think this is really just an old talking point his brain hasn’t updated yet."
--rugbymom called his speech "a rambling off-topic mess. He has lost whatever ability he once had to stick to a script, focus on the current situation and audience, and read what Miller or someone else has written for him."
And in the course of the day, he held several interviews:
--Reporter: "Is there anything here in the US that limits your power other than your own morality?" Trump: "It’s limited by my morality and I have a very high grade of morality, so therefore it’s limited." Reporter: "Not the Constitution or the courts?" Trump: "Well that goes without saying."
--Reporter: "The CEO of Ford said he’s got 5000 open mechanic jobs. He can’t find people." Trump: "That’s a good thing. That means it’s vibrant. You’re gonna have a thing called robots."
--Reporter: "When I travel the country, they tell me they don’t feel it (the economy’s good) because grocery prices are up--" Trump: "They’re going to now. I’ve only been here for 11 months. I inherited a mess. If she got in, you wouldn’t have this job right now."
--Reporter: "The premier of Greenland said today, "We prefer to stay with Denmark." Trump: "Who said that?" Reporter: "The premier of Greenland." Trump: "Well, that’s their problem. I don’t know who he is. Don’t know anything about him. But that’s gonna be a big problem for him."
In Trump’s Hitler/Napoleon World Domination Tour news:
--Trump keeps defending the killing of Renee Good, but he is ready and willing to protect protesters in Iran: "If Iran shots (sic) and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP." He also said of the Iranian protesters: "One death is too much." (Yup, irony is dead.)
--Ron Filipkowski: "3,000 protesters have reportedly been killed since Trump posted this message 11 days ago." The number of protesters killed is now between 12,000 and 24,000, though it’s difficult to get good numbers because there is a complete internet blackout in Iran.
--canuckchuck: "What about the peaceful protesters being shot and killed in America?"
--The big headline is that Trump is expected to attack Iran within 24 hours. The White House says he has made the decision to intervene, and they have withdrawn all personnel from bases in Qatar.
--No information has been released about what form this attack might take, and I am very confused about what form it COULD take. He can’t strike Tehran because there are tens of thousands of people protesting there, many of them right in front of where the Ayatollah and other officials are headquartered, and I doubt if he can pull off a surprise attack to capture the Ayatollah like he did with Maduro in Venezuela because ditto (plus he’s already blabbed that he’s coming.) I don’t think he can bomb the nuclear facilities because he’s been claiming he completely destroyed them (he didn’t) plus I’m not sure what good that would do in stopping the slaughter of all those protesters, which supposedly this is all about. Plus, Iran is not Venezuela, as we have learned to our sorrow many times.
--Trump said that if the Ayatollah proceeds with the hangings of protesters scheduled for this weekend, the US would intervene. When asked what the endgame was for the United States by intervening, Trump said, "The endgame is to win. I like winning."
--Iran has vowed to retaliate against any US strikes. The Ayatollah said Iran is ready to defend itself "with full force and until the last drop of blood" if it comes under attack.
--Since that statement, Trump has appeared to back off, saying that he’s been assured the killings have stopped and there are no hangings scheduled, though that is highly unlikely. Reporters think that is his way of saving face for backing down in the face of Iran’s threats.
In ICE/Gestapo news:
--Six top DOJ officials quit after they were pushed to investigate the ICE shooting victim’s widow. The New York Times: "Mr. Thompson’s resignation came after senior DOJ officials pressed for a criminal investigation into the actions of the widow of Renee Nicole Good, the Minneapolis woman killed by an ICE agents."
--Aaron Rupar on the DOJ who want to investigate Good’s widow: "These are absolutely monstrous people."
--Ron Filipkowski: "Prosecutors around the country who continue to resign to protest the illegal, unethical, and immoral actions of DOJ are heroes. For many, these are dream jobs. Highly coveted career positions. They are walking away from them to do the right thing when many would remain silent."
--The DHS is now claiming that the ICE agent who shot Renee Good is suffering from internal bleeding and that’s why no signs of injury were visible. (The reason he doesn’t show any signs of injury is because her car never hit him.)
--Meanwhile, there are citizens out there with REAL injuries, like the 21-year-old protester in Santa Ana, California, who was permanently blinded last week when an agent shot him at point-blank range with a pepper ball. His name is Kaden Rummler, and he has completely lost the sight in his left high, his tear duct was destroyed, and the eyelid was partially destroyed. Doctors found pieces of plastic and glass in his skull, metal in his stomach lining, and metal lodged millimeters away from a carotid artery which can’t be removed.
--After they shot him, he begged agents to call an ambulance, but he said they taunted him instead, "laughing at the fact I would never get to see out of my left eye again."
--DHS is denying the whole thing (as usual): "This is absurd. DHS took this rioter to the hospital for a cut and he was released that night. Make no mistake. Rioting and assaulting law enforcement is not only dangerous but a crime." (Note: They’re lying about his being a rioter, too, and about protesting being a crime. It’s not. Whose version are you going to believe?)
--The video that’s all over the internet today, though, is of a woman being dragged screaming out of her car by agents and forced to the ground. She was a disabled woman on her way to a doctor appointment when agents stopped her for no reason, smashed her car windows, sliced her seat belt, and dragged her through the window even though she kept screaming that she was disabled. It’s harrowing to watch.
--Fox News: "There’s new video of a woman in Minneapolis saying she’s trying to get to a doc appointment and these federal agents bust into her car, drag her out. Is it fair to say some of these operations are going too far?" GOP Rep Mary Miller: "If you break the laws and resist arrest it’s not going to be pretty. This is what happens."
--Trump’s government also continues to push the idea that the protesters are being manipulated. Trump spokesman Tricia McLaughlin: "I don’t think those individuals even really know what they’re protesting. I think they’ve largely been brainwashed not just by the media, but by the politicians themselves." (Oh, I think they know.)
In other Epstein files news (the first Epstein files news was the "Pedophile Protector" thing), there have been several developments:
--Trump has issued an executive order saying that no more Epstein files will be released.
--Bill and Hillary Clinton rejected Comer’s subpoena to come testify before Congress in a closed-door session, saying they would gladly come testify in public.
--The Democrats have requested a special master to take over the release since the DOJ obviously can’t be trusted. The judge has ordered the DOJ to explain why they have not turned over the documents. They have until January 16th to respond.
In Resistance news:
--Minnesota is planning a statewide economic boycott on January 23rd.
--Judge You Harshly: "Whenever we disobey, obstruct, or slow them down, we mark a win, because time is NOT on their side."
In other news:
--The Supreme Court ruled today that a Trump ally who was involved in the election fraud of the 2020 election has standing to challenge the rules for mail-in voting. The decision was 7-2.
--Axios reports that the US has seen measles cases reach one of their highest levels in decades this past year. If the state’s cases continue to climb, the US could stand to lose its status as a country that’s fully eliminated measles.
In good news:
--A federal judge ordered that the HHS restore nearly $12 million dollars in funding to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
--House Democrats defeated a Republican bill to let employers deny overtime to workers by classifying the time as job training or education. 6 Republicans joined the Dems to defeat the bill.
--The APSU professor who was fired because of comments he made about Charlie Kirk after his death has been reinstated and awarded $500,000.
Best comment of the day, from jgt1900--"I have never seen this level of force and brutality used to make arrests. It’s like using the SWAT team to arrest jaywalkers...These people label themselves as police on the SWAT style uniforms, but they are not like any police force I have ever seen in a US city. It’s hard to tell if the videos are from Minneapolis or Tehran. The tactics aren’t much different."
Today’s bit of poetry, from T.S. Eliot’s "Four Quartets:": "For us there is only the trying. The rest is not our business."
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis