Perry the Prayer to Be Energy Secretary.

Rick Perry speaks to Fox News (screen grab).

Rick Perry speaks to Fox News (screen grab).

Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, whose style of governance was basically “hey, let’s pray!”, has been tapped by Trump to be Secretary of Energy.

CBS is reporting that President elect Donald Trump has chosen former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) to be his energy secretary.

[…]

According to Major Garrett of CBS, two sources have confirmed Perry will be offered the spot  and will accept.

As CBS notes, Perry sits on the boards of two major energy companies, including Energy Transfer Partners which owns a subsidiary Dakota Access LLC, which is attempting to build the Dakota Access Pipeline.

It’s not enough to say all these rich assholes are living in one another’s pockets, they are living in each others rectums. It’s quite the racket Trump is setting up, making sure that all his investments don’t suffer by protecting his fellow investors, all of whom are climate change deniers, and pro-fossil fuels. (See here for the Exxon mess.)

People must get serious about fighting filthy energy, our lives are at stake. When we remove the earth’s ability to sustain us, we’ll die, and not pleasantly so. When we have poisoned all the water, we’ll die. And once again, water systems are not neatly contained puddles. Water flows, it meets other water, it’s an intricate and beautiful network, one which is vital to the health of our earth, and the life residing on it. Everywhere you look, more pipelines are being approved, against public sentiment and wishes. Trudeau, who styled himself a friend to the Indigenous nations of Canada, recently approved two major pipelines. Trump has vowed to okay Keystone XL, and while he won’t be pinned down on DAPL, he says “there will be a fast resolution”. As he’s heavily invested in ETP, I’m sure it doesn’t take much work to figure out which way he will go. The coal industry is also getting much more pushy, pinning their hopes on a Trump presidency. As usual, much of the pipelines and planned coal stations will be on Indigenous land, and treaties will be broken left and right, while colonialists happily destroy the ability of Indigenous people to sustain themselves, and make sure their land and water is always at risk of being poisoned beyond repair.

Does anyone think that the blatant disregard shown by Trump and his appointees won’t matter? Climate change is real, and we are already feeling the effects of it. Sea levels are rising. Water is routinely poisoned by gas and oil. Land which used to yield food is now rendered blasted and useless from fracking. Things will continue to get worse unless we change things right. fucking. now. Trump and his cronies have no interest in that at all. They plan to accelerate all the damage. When great swathes of the U.S. are no longer inhabitable for 3 to 6 months a year, what’s going to happen? Do you have enough money to purchase alternate residences, and the money cushion involved in moving back and forth? Are you going to get out your precious, beloved gun and start shooting people who don’t have resources? What do billionaires care about any of that? The entitlement brought on by having endless amounts of money and power allows them to think they will never, ever be victimized by such things, but planetary climate change doesn’t care about billionaires, and while it might get them last, it will get them.

The most recent pipeline leak here in nDakota, it was not detected by all that supposed early detection equipment, so no more of the same, tired bullshit about how safe pipelines are, and oh, they have detection equipment, because that crap does not work, and pipelines leak, end of story.

People in Arkansas and Oklahoma need help to stop a pipeline.

…More. Right. The orange man is on deck. Trump the troll. His minions. Pipeline lovers. Oil-addicted junkies. Wall builders and bigots. The illegal immigrants in this country are not brown. I’ve said this before. Many times. These gibbed geeks are the descendants of European invaders. But enough of that. Word is the oil-and-gas fat cats at Energy Transfer Partners are pissing and moaning into their whiskeys and ryes. Whiny brats. They said they’ll push on. President Andrew Jackson pushed on, too. The Trail of Tears happened anyway. “Justice Marshall made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Another whiny brat.

There’s little justice in this world, but on December 4, Native Americans got a taste. It’s always a fine feeling when good prevails over evil. And that’s what these pipelines are. Evil. Pure. Unadulterated. How could they not be? The oil oafs and their seedy oligarch asshat homies know pipelines leak. And they know people get sick when they do. Just ask the folks in the gulf who are still suffering from the massive BP oil spill. They agonize from chronic respiratory illnesses and skin diseases. THEY know what happens when pipelines leak and poison the water, sink into the soil. But these paunchy pipeline pricks turn a blind eye in the name of profit. They are gibbed vermin, and they deal in deception. …

Excerpt from Simon Moya-Smith, writing from the Oceti Sakowin Camp.

Standing Rock: No DAPL Roundup.

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© Marty Two Bulls.

The Twists and Turns of Extortion.

Foreign governments and lobbyists have rushed to book rooms at the new Trump International Hotel in D.C., expecting to curry favor with the president-elect. Chip Somodevilla/Getty

Foreign governments and lobbyists have rushed to book rooms at the new Trump International Hotel in D.C., expecting to curry favor with the president-elect. Chip Somodevilla/Getty.

Newsweek has broken a story about the twisty financial ties of Trump, and how very easy it would be for foreign governments to do some serious arm twisting, to get Trump to do their bidding. As I hope has been made clear through dozens upon dozens of posts, Trump is primarily concerned with his name and his wallet. This whole government thing, not so much. Anyone who thinks Trump will actually divest prior to inauguration, oh please, make it back to reality land. That simply won’t happen. Trump has already stated he doesn’t care if it’s a violation of the constitution. Unfortunately, that particular mess does not rest there. If you need one more reason to actively fight against Trump, here it is – this is person who thinks of the presidency as nothing more than a good business opportunity. He not only does not understand the implications, he does not care. This is just the tip of the iceberg, one which spells out, very clearly, that Trump is placing the U.S. government in a prime position to be blackmailed by an assortment of other governments.

Despite universal condemnation of the ongoing slaughter of Filipinos, Trump signaled his approval of Duterte’s policies during a phone call on December 2. According to Duterte—an account that has gone uncontested by Trump—the president-elect endorsed his tactics as “the right way.” Duterte added: “[Trump] was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem.” (He also said Trump invited him to the White House, a courtesy not yet extended to Theresa May, the prime minister of Britain, America’s most important strategic ally.)

[…]

One thing, however, is clear: The Trump family has an enormous financial interest in keeping Duterte happy. Trump Tower at Century City in Makati, Philippines, is on the verge of completion, with potential buyers having placed deposits on at least 94 percent of the condominiums, according to Century Properties, the Trump Organization’s business partner there. During the U.S. presidential campaign, Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric traveled to Makati to shovel some dirt in a ceremony to celebrate the structural completion of the building; a photograph of the two men shoveling alongside top Century Properties executives was posted on the building’s website. (On that same website, a line of jewelry by Trump’s daughter Ivanka is offered for sale, and it is expected to be available for purchase at the $150 million property.) As with almost every property with Trump’s name on it built over the past decade, his company is not the developer; it merely sold its name to Century Properties to use on the building. Although details of the transaction are not public, contracts for other Trump branding deals reviewed by Newsweek show that they require a multimillion-dollar up-front payment as well as up to 25 percent of the developer’s revenue, year after year. So, under the deal, Trump’s children will be paid millions of dollars throughout their father’s presidency by Jose E.B. Antonio, the head of Century Properties.

Duterte recently named Antonio the special government envoy to the United States. The conflicts here could not be more troubling or more blatant: President Trump will be discussing U.S. policy in Southeast Asia with one of his (or his children’s) business partners, a man who is the official representative of a foreign leader who likens himself to Hitler. Also note that the Trump family has an enormous financial interest in Duterte’s deadly campaign: Rooting out crime in the Philippines is good for the real estate values.

The full, in-depth article is here.

Rachel Maddow also addressed highly troubling concerns when it comes to a Trump financial tangle and Turkey.

According to Maddow, Trump has a business relationship with the Doğan family, owners of Doğan Holding, which is building twin towers in Turkey bearing the Trump name for which the Trump family stands to make millions of dollars.

[…]

Maddow then got to the heart of the matter.

“Turkey desperately wants the U.S. government to extradite an imam [Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen],” Maddow explained. “They [the U.S.] have said that they are not extraditing him. But if that’s what you wanted, what if you could squeeze the personal financial interests of the American president as a way to get what you want from the American government?”

“I mean, the Trump family and the president-elect themselves, they stand to make millions of dollars from their relationship with the Doğan group in Turkey. That will stop if they get locked up,” she continued. “So they started locking them up. Nice leverage, right? It would be one thing if it was business leverage — but it’s leverage against all of us as Americans.”

As Eichenwald notes in his article: “If Erdoğan’s government puts more pressure on the company that’s paying millions of dollars to Trump and his children, revenue flowing from that tower complex in Istanbul could be cut off. That means Erdoğan has leverage with Trump, who will soon have the power to get Gulen extradited.”

Full story and video here.

Standing Rock: No DAPL Roundup.

Sacred Stone Media/YouTube Grassroots coalition against DAPL announces December as a month of action, focused on banks.

Sacred Stone Media/YouTube
Grassroots coalition against DAPL announces December as a month of action, focused on banks.

We, the below stated, are a coalition of grassroots groups living and working in the Dakota Access resistance camps along the Cannon Ball River in Oceti Sakowin treaty lands.

Sacred Stone Camp | Indigenous Environmental Network | International Indigenous Youth Council | Honor the Earth

The following is a coalition statement on the next steps for the #NoDAPL fight:

As we reflect on the decision by the U.S. Army (NOT the U.S. Army Corps) to suspend the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) river crossing easement and conduct a limited Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the resistance camps at Standing Rock are making plans for the next phase of this movement.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II has asked people to return home once the weather clears, and many will do so. Others will stay to hold the space, advance our reclamation of unceded territory affirmed in the 1851 Treaty of Ft. Laramie, and continue to build community around the protection of our sacred waters. They will also keep a close eye on the company, which has drilled right up to the last inch it can, and remains poised and ready to finish the project.

[…]

[Read more…]

An Unholy Trinity.

Russia’s $500 billion oil deal with Exxon was killed by U.S. sanctions. CREDIT: Wall Street Journal, 9/11/2014.

Russia’s $500 billion oil deal with Exxon was killed by U.S. sanctions. CREDIT: Wall Street Journal, 9/11/2014.

For those people who may have read all the posts about Standing Rock, DAPL, and ETP, and wondered why there was a fuss, it’s just a pipeline, right? Well, you need to read, and understand that all these smaller actions by big oil are just the tiny feeder roots of what they really want to do, and what they really want to do is stuff their already overflowing pockets, and if our earth is damaged past the point of no return, eh, who cares, because money.

There’s been little reaction to Russia’s role in making sure Trump was elected, and that should be an electric shock to all those people who care about democracy, among other things. The insane amount of attention paid to “emails! emails” when it came to Clinton was near unbelievable, but there’s solid evidence of just how much Russia did influence and manipulate this election, and all of a sudden, conservatives don’t give a shit? You may think that marching fascism in is okely dokely, because you think it’s wrapped in Christian Jingoism, but it’s going to bite your head off too. This is a game of serious money and power, and the only ones who count are those who have the goods to ante up. The rest of us? We do not matter, and that message needs to hammered home, hard. We. Do. Not. Matter. People, please, wake the fuck up.

The aligning interests between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s choice for U.S. president (Donald Trump), and Big Oil represents the gravest threat to humanity (and democracy) since the rise of the Axis powers in the 1930s.

That’s because while Trump may not be able to destroy global climate action and the landmark 2105 Paris climate deal all by himself — as he pledged to do during the campaign — he probably could do that with help from Russia and the trillion-dollar oil industry.

So much is explained by Trump’s Secretary of State choice. Media reports now say it will be Rex Tillerson, CEO of oil giant ExxonMobil, which had made a $500 billion oil deal with Putin that got blocked by sanctions.

Stalling the biggest oil deal ever did not just “put Exxon at risk,” as the Wall Street Journal reported in 2014. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow explained last week this deal was so big it was “expected to change the historical trajectory of Russia.”

This deal could explain why Putin appears to have interfered in U.S. elections in favor of a Trump victory. Recently, “the C.I.A. altered its formal assessment of Russia’s activities to conclude that the government of President Vladimir V. Putin was not just trying to undermine the election,” as the New York Times reported Saturday, “but had also acted to give one candidate an advantage.”

You can certainly make a plausible case, as many have, that Putin had enough motivation to interfere simply to undermine the legitimacy of U.S. elections.

[…]

But for Putin and the kleptocrats who benefit from his rule, little matters more than enriching coffers right now. It is no coincidence that just last week, Putin revealed Russia had sold a 19.5 percent stake in the Kremlin-controlled oil giant Rosnet for $11.3 billion to Qatar and others, “confounding expectations that the Kremlin’s standoff with the West would scare off major investors,” as Fortune reported in a must-read piece that connects major pieces of this puzzle.

There’s so very much to this story, the full article is at Think Progress. If for some reason, you think the Paris accord will help or make a difference, you need to go read just how easy it will be for Trump and Putin to nullify it. If for some reason, you think democracy is still alive, you need to disillusion yourself – that’s close to gone, and the celeb-elect has not yet taken office. Once he does, the the death knell sounds.

Freethought Resistance.

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We have a brand new blog on the network, a group blog that most of us will be contributing to at some point. I’ll let PZ explain:

Freethought Resistance is a new group blog for FtB. Many of us are horrified at the current turn of events in the United States: the rise of the contemptible alt-right, police violence, institutionalized misogyny, demented right-wing militias, the abuse of water protectors in the name of oil interests, theocratic thugs generating growing opposition to the legitimate rights of GLBTQ individuals, and in general, rising intolerance. To cap it all off, we now have a president-elect who is corrupt, treasonous, and incompetent, who is stocking important offices in government with individuals with a long history of opposing the goals of those offices, and who are often grossly unqualified and incompetent themselves.

We oppose this wholesale destruction of democratic values and the equality and liberty of American citizens. To that end, we’ve created this blog to specifically express our outrage with the current intolerable state of affairs.

The purpose of this blog is:

  1. To report on and document abuses and criminal activities of the right wing and theocratic zealots;
  2. To express our own opposition to these acts;
  3. To promote activism;
  4. To provide information about opportunities for activism;
  5. To provide an online rallying point for opposition to the illegitimate government of the United States.

Multiple bloggers from various sites on FtB will be contributing to this blog. We will also consider guest posts from other parties. If interested, send submissions to your favorite blogger with a request for consideration for posting on Freethought Resistance.

I have one disagreement right away, which should be no surprise. As I stated here on Affinity, I refuse to go along with the white supremacist attempt at re-branding, and will not use “alt-right” unless it’s part of something being quoted. Nazis are nazis, and I will not go along with their attempt to make themselves look like spiffy, intellectual people. They aren’t, they are the same vile bigots who have always lurked under greater society, and I don’t think we can afford them so much as an inch. We are living in dangerous times, and making these evil persons sound like nothing more than conservatives is to lull ourselves into a state of shrug, telling ourselves it can’t be that bad. It is that bad.

Anyroad, have a visit, and add to your bookmarks, please! Freethought Resistance.

The Carrier Scam Continues.

United Technologies CEO Greg Hayes shakes hands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence before Pence speaks at Carrier Corp Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, in Indianapolis. CREDIT: AP Photo/Darron Cummings.

United Technologies CEO Greg Hayes shakes hands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence before Pence speaks at Carrier Corp Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, in Indianapolis. CREDIT: AP Photo/Darron Cummings.

As part of the deal President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence struck with Carrier, the company has promised to make a $16 million investment in its Indianapolis facility — an investment management plans to use on developing technology that will allow them to replace human workers with robots.

The company’s plans were confirmed by Greg Hayes, CEO of United Technologies, Carrier’s corporate parent, during a CNBC interview earlier this week.

“We’re going to… automate to drive the cost down so that we can continue to be competitive,” Hayes said. “Is it as cheap as moving to Mexico with lower cost labor? No. But we will make that plant competitive just because we’ll make the capital investments there. But what that ultimately means is there will be fewer jobs.”

This news comes on the heels of Trump blasting Chuck Jones, president of the United Steelworkers 1999 union that represents Carrier workers, for the sin of correctly pointing out that Trump exaggerated the number of jobs his deal “saved” during a December 1 news conference at the factory. Trump said the company agreed to keep 1,100 jobs at the Indianapolis factory when the real figure is closer to 800, with 550 workers at the factory facing layoffs despite Trump’s deal. In addition, Carrier still plans to ship 700 jobs from a separate factory in Huntington, Indiana, to Mexico. And as part of the deal, Indiana taxpayers will dole out $7 million in tax breaks to the company.

After Trump smeared him on Twitter, Jones received threats against his family.

After all this, it would be nice if people finally understood that Trump does not give one tiny little shit about jobs. He put on a show, then wandered off to something else, having no attention span, but he did make sure to tweet nastiness about Mr. Jones, who now gets to endure a mass amount of harassment, like others who have been the subject of Trump’s bile. The Celeb-elect is busy treating the presidency of a whole country like it’s a game, a new asset to play with, at least until he gets bored, which won’t be long, given his history. He has once again stated that he will not divest, so he’ll be violating that constitution so beloved by Trumpoids, who are unsurprisingly quiet about this violation. I guess it’s okay if conservative assholes figuratively set it on fire; it’s only wrong if those awful lefties do it. So, if nothing else, all you Trumpoids can stop the “jobs, jobs, jobs” talk. It’s not as though that was ever believed by any sort of majority, and trying to keep up the thin facade will not work. Trump and his cronies have theirs, why on earth would you ever think they care about yours?

Despite Trump’s pro-worker campaign rhetoric, the details of the Carrier deal and Trump’s nomination of fast food executive Andrew Puzder as labor secretary suggests he doesn’t have an issue with companies replacing humans with machines. Puzder is a proponent of replacing human workers with robots, telling Business Insider last March that machines are “always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.”

CNN, citing a McKinsey & Co. study, reports that “45 percent of the tasks that U.S. workers are currently paid to perform can be automated by existing technology. That represents about $2 trillion in annual wages.”

Oh, there’s love for the workers, alright. Workers that don’t require payment and have no capacity to complain. Love for human workers? Not there.

Full story at Think Progress.

Resistance: Mike Hot-Pence.

The resemblence between Mike Hot-Pence (Glen Pannell, left) and VP-elect Mike Pence (right) is uncanny. Just, one wears pants, the other doesn't.

The resemblance between Mike Hot-Pence (Glen Pannell, left) and VP-elect Mike Pence (right) is uncanny. Just, one wears pants, the other doesn’t.

Glen Pannell has found a great way to be a one-person resistance, his resemblance to Mike Pence being the key. What started as a bit of Halloween fun has morphed into doing good for people. Many cheers for Mike Hot-Pence!

You see all sorts of things in Times Square these days, Spidermen fighting Elmos, naked cowboys — and now pants-less vice president-elects.

There’s a new character in Times Square and he looks an awful lot like Mike Pence.

Glen Pannell wears a suit, tie, no pants — just short shorts — and goes by “Mike Hot-Pence,” raising money for Planned Parenthood, the environment, and soon, the Trevor Project for LGBT youth. He raised over $300 for Planned Parenthood and the Natural Resources Defense Council the first weekend in December.

Pannell kept hearing, “you look like Mike Pence! You should be him for Halloween,” so much that he did it. But the actor/director and designer thought that wasn’t creative enough, so Pannell stepped out as “Sexy Mike Pence” and hasn’t turned back.

The activist, who’s gay, said he wants to use his resemblance to Pence to champion causes Pence has opposed.

Pannell finds a “patch of sunlight” in Times Square and carries a repurposed whey protein bucket for donations, because “Mike Hot-Pence cares about the environment.”

Pannell designs the labels himself. When speaking to the News, he remembered he needed to make and print one for his upcoming charity, The Trevor Project. (Glen Pannell).

Pannell designs the labels himself. When speaking to the News, he remembered he needed to make and print one for his upcoming charity, The Trevor Project. (Glen Pannell).

“I am raising money for groups that would be especially vulnerable during a Trump/Pence administration,” he said. The donations, which Pannell screenshots and posts on his Twitter feed, are donated in the name of “Mike Hot-Pence.”

Pannell says he isn’t interested in being immature or disrespectful. Rather, he wants to use his resemblance to call attention to Pence’s record as a public servant.

“His policy over the last 16 years makes me very afraid for the next four years. I want to make it about the issues.”

And Glen is doing a great job, too. If you’re in NYC, and see Mike Hot-Pence, be resistance minded, and send some pennies his way.

Full story at NY Daily News.

No DAPL: Oren Lyons Speaks Out.

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Oren Lyons is a faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, Onondaga Council of Chiefs, Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy) and a longtime international indigenous rights and sovereignty activist.

Accompanying article at ICTMN.

Jesse McLain, Asshole Bigot.

“Us North Dakota people are going to f*ck you up!”

I’m a nDakotan, Mr. McLain, and I think people like yourself are in dire need of a brain upgrade, along with classes on how to use said brain. This asshole bigot was caught on video threatening protectors at the Ramada Inn in Bismarck. Mr. McLain was arrested. At least Bismarck cops are being actual cops, not oil thugs. Mr. McLain was busy informing people he’d not only fuck them up, but fuck their wives too, because nothing shows what kind of a tough dude you really are by threatening rape.

A 33-year-old man was arrested Wednesday and charged with terrorizing a man involved in the pipeline protests outside the Ramada Inn in Bismarck.

Jesse McLain, of Bismarck, was allegedly one of two masked men captured on video yelling expletives and threats, including “take your protestin’ … back home” and “us North Dakota people are going to … you up,” into a vehicle at the hotel at 1400 E. Interchange Ave. on Monday afternoon, according to a Bismarck Police affidavit filed in the case.

Based on descriptions given in the affidavit, McLain is the man wearing a skeleton mask on his face. No charges have yet been filed against the other masked man seen in the video.

[…]

Police identified McLain after connecting the license plate on his grey van to a local service company in town, where he is an employee and driver of the van, according to the affidavit.

McLain was released from jail on Thursday afternoon on $2,000 bond set by South Central District Judge Gail Hagerty, according to the Burleigh County jail.

Via BisTribune.

Standing Rock: We Need To Go Home.

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We’re in the midst of a blizzard here in nDakota, and sub zero temps. Chairman Archambault has put out the call to go home.

Putting people at risk in that way is something the ancestral leaders would never have done, he said.

“I don’t want anyone to be living in an unsafe environment,” Archambault said. “We need to stay in prayer, believe in our prayer, and begin our journey home in prayer. I believe in my prayers and in the Creator. Take the lessons we learned here and apply them at home—unity, peace, prayer.”

The camps’ efforts to get the NoDAPL battle to this point have been essential, but “now it is time we pivot to the next phase of this struggle,” Archambault said. “That will be lead on different fronts like in court, with the new Administration, with Congress, and with the investors.”

He said the path is being laid down “to help the world understand that what we asked for, and what we got is the right decision. The world is watching us, and our behavior will determine the final outcome.”

Archambault suggested that each resident make a plan for closing and exiting the camp, leaving the land as it was when they got there, and to get home before the bitterest part of winter sets in.

“Pass this on—let everyone know that we are thankful for their passion and commitment and we are thankful for them all standing with us,” Archambault said. “It’s time now to enjoy this winter with your families. We need all to respect the host tribe’s wishes. We are asking all tribes to pass this on to their members.”

The winter, he added, has barely begun, and the current storm is tamer than what the worst of the season will bring. Temperatures drop even lower than they already have, and the shelters at the camps would be no match for blizzard conditions.

Acknowledging that people were socked in by the storm, Archambault said it was time to take the water protection battles beyond Indian country, to the rest of the U.S. and the world.

“I understand that folks cannot go at this moment, but as soon as this current storm has passed, we must execute an exit strategy and continue our battles to protect water,” Archambault said. “These efforts are not only needed in Standing Rock, but they are needed throughout Indian Country, across America and internationally. I want you to know that Standing Rock stands with you as you return home to carry this energy and movement into the future.”

That’s just a small bit from the full article, which is at ICTMN. People are unable to leave right now, roads are closed everywhere (we’re snowed in too), but this blizzard will pass eventually, then it will be time for people to make their way to safety.

There’s a good rundown of the current ETP financial woes, and the takeover by Sunoco here.

“We’ve hurt you in so many ways. We’ve come to say we’re sorry.”

And A Very Merry to You, Ms. Bigot.

Lexi Magnusson of Seattle's Christmas lights display (Facebook.com)

Lexi Magnusson of Seattle’s Christmas lights display (Facebook.com)

Lexi Magnusson — who lives in a small town outside of Seattle — recently met her new neighbor, a woman who stated outright that she and her family had moved away from Oregon because schools there were “making it okay” for students to be openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

[…]

“She’s Mormon and heard that we were, too. My guess is that she thought we were still believers, even though my husband told her we no longer attend,” she told Huffington Post. “I imagine she thought we still held the same belief about LGBTQ issues as the Church does. We absolutely do not. It’s why I left the Mormon church.”

“I responded only with, ‘Your kids are going to be exposed to this no matter where you take them. Kids these days get it. They know not to be horrible to other kids based on how they were born,’” Magnusson recounted. “Then I walked inside [my house] and rage-ate a bowl of nachos.”

Magnusson then decided to decorate her lawn with a giant, glowing rainbow flag make of 10,000 Christmas lights.

“Our new neighbors are bigots,” she posted on Reddit. “Since regular aggression leads to assault charges, I went with passive aggression. 10,000 lights later.”

“I felt good the entire time I put them up,” she told HuffPost. “I sent a text to my cousin who loves Christmas lights like I do, and who is also gay. His approval was everything.”

You can read Ms. Magnusson’s FB post at the link. All I want to say here is thank you, Lexi Magnusson, you make this world a better, shining place.