Profiles in Cowardice.

Reddit.

Reddit.

“Make America Great Again.” That phrase presupposes there are great people who happen to be Americans who will make this amazing transformation take place. I’m willing to concede that most Trumpoids are indeed great in their own minds, however, outside of that, not so much. Let’s have a look at some of these Trumpoids, all of whom are more than willing to shout “make America great again!”, and see where their paths have taken them on the way to said greatness.

Andrew Anglin -- via Wiki commons.

Andrew Anglin — via Wiki commons.

Andrew Anglin, who runs The Daily Stormer website, now says he plans to lead a march in the town aimed at Jews in the community.

“We are planning an armed protest in Whitefish,” Anglin wrote. “Montana has extremely liberal open carry laws, so my lawyer is telling me we can easily march through the center of the town carrying high-powered rifles. I myself am planning on being there to lead the protest, which has been dubbed ‘March on Whitefish.’”

According to Anglin, he claims he will be busing in “skinheads from the Bay Area,” adding, “Currently, my guys say we are going to be able to put together about 200 people to participate in the march, which will be against Jews, Jewish businesses and everyone who supports either.”

“We have to stand up to these people, and we have to force an apology,” The Forward reports Anglin wrote. “This will be an absolutely massive victory for our cause. We have never done this before.”

[…]

Prior to the 2016 presidential election, Anglin claimed that “Virtually every alt-right Nazi I know is volunteering for the Trump campaign.”

It seems that part of making America great again is to 1) be a nazi, and 2) do something about those awful Jewish people. Gee, that doesn’t sound familiar at all. :insert near-fatal eyeroll here:  Via Raw Story.

Moving on to a group profile of sorts, many of those poised for American Greatness™ were thrown off balance by Trump tweeting Happy Hanukkah to Jewish people. (It seems that all those “great” American Trumpoids have a serious mental block when it comes to Trump having a Jewish daughter and son-in-law.)

There are more blustery upsets of the MAGA kind at Raw Story.

Random, er Blizzard Monday.

We got slammed with another blizzard, and are buried. We’ll be stuck a day or two.

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From my studio window. Normally, you’d be able to see the large thicket of wood which shelters animals and birds.

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From my studio window, towards the street.

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Front deck. I don’t wanna go out there. Birds are giving me pitiable looks. Okay, okay.

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Opening the front door. Oh man. Not fun.

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Sinking in snow up to your upper thighs – not fun. Sigh.

All images © C. Ford.

That’s Not Nerve-wracking, No.

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif threatened nuclear retaliation against Israel after apparently being tricked by a story on a fake news site.

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif threatened nuclear retaliation against Israel after apparently being tricked by a story on a fake news site.

In the coming Age of Anxiety, we are going to have to pin a lot of hopes to those world leaders who are actually adults with a faculty for critical thought, and who aren’t twitter addicts. That certainly leaves the States out, but there are plenty of other contenders for Twit leaders as well.

Now it seems that another fake news story has prompted the defense minister of Pakistan to threaten to go nuclear.

The defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, wrote a saber-rattling Twitter post directed at Israel on Friday after a false report — which the minister apparently believed — that Israel had threatened Pakistan with nuclear weapons. Both countries have nuclear arsenals.

“Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh,” the minister wrote on his official Twitter account, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too.”

Yes, fake news is a serious problem. That said, is it really too much to expect those who are in a position of power and leadership to be calm and at least take out 10 to 20 seconds to verify a story? At the very least, yell at a staffer to check a story out before becoming utterly unglued and saying something stupid on Twitter.

“Our nuclear program is too serious a business to be left to Twitter-addicted politicians”, said prominent TV journalist Nusrat Javeed.

I agree, fully. Unfortunately, the U.S. will shortly have a new king president who is not only a twitter addict, he’s an extreme narcissist with the brain of a gnat. Not at all nerve-wracking.

Via NY Times and Raw Story.

Merry Christmas and Long Live the King!

Reint-a-Claus (Fritz Liess).

Reint-a-Claus (Fritz Liess).

The Twittersphere has been exploding throughout the holidays, and with good reason. Apparently, not one person in the “Trump Team” is capable of anything except gaffes, which they happily publicize all over the place, then have to rush in and try to spin it with very poor excuses. Normally, I’d say this would be a banner time for comedians, except they are in fear of all those Trumpoids, who seem to be singularly humourless.

On Sunday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) tweeted out a Christmas greeting that included a reference to a “new King.”

“Merry Christmas to all!” wrote RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and co-chair Sharon Day, according to TheHill.com. “Over two millennia ago, a new hope was born into the world, a Savior who would offer the promise of salvation to all mankind. Just as the three wise men did on that night, this Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King. We hope Americans celebrating Christmas today will enjoy a day of festivities and a renewed closeness with family and friends.”

Twitter users were baffled and a little horrified to see a major political party calling its Republican-elect a “king” before he’s even sworn into office.

Oh look – we now have an official godling and a king. Oh joy. The idiot lunatics are in charge. You can see some of the choicer twitter reactions at Raw Story.

A Visual Trumpmare.

Art is commentary, that’s particularly true of political cartooning. Here’s a small sample of how some artists have been feeling about the looming Trumpmare.

Trump cartoon by Norwegian Cartoonist Christian Bloom.

[evening] Happy TrumpMas.

#Trump amorimcartoons.com.br/world.html

My Cartoon Wednesday @ The Times on the new West Wing. #Trump #Tillerson #Putin.

Class and crass…#Hiroshima #NuclearProliferation

Via Raw Story.

And, from Ricardo Caté:

trumptydumpty2-001-607x485

Trumpty Dumpty.

Via ICTMN.

You can see many more cartoon commentaries at Fusion:

By David Rowe, Australia.

By David Rowe, Australia.

The Daily Bird #214.

Greenfinches from Charly:

When the birds finally stood still, the wind moved the whole tree. The females seemed more cautious and and even less likely to pose for a picture than males. Overall are these little buggers restless and they come by only for a short time every day in a flock of ~10 individuals.

Beautiful little dinosaurs! Click for full size.

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© Charly, all rights reserved.

Gifties!

We’re being happy and excitable this year. First up, this exquisite piece of swarf, used by Rick as a wrapping decoration, and it wins best wrapping deco ever.

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Isn’t that gorgeous? Then, more art supplies, and beautiful, intoxicating paper for me, from Rick. A new easel, too, in its own case! There are never enough art supplies. Can’t wait to start using these. :D

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Then, for Rick, more sharp and shiny. He’s been wanting a second machete, and this one is considerably heavier than the first one, and can be used one or two-handed. Specs after the photos:

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Specifications: Condor Discord Machete:

Overall Length: 27 inches.

Blade Length: 18 inches.

Blade Thickness: 3mm.

Blade Material: 1075.

Handle Material: Micarta®.

Sheath: Hand Crafted Wetted Leather.

Weight: 2.6 pounds.

Country of Origin: El Salvador.

Xmas Packaging.

I think there might be a roll or two of very dusty wrapping paper, somewhere in the house. I’ll confess to a love of wrapping paper with creative design, but it’s quite a waste. So I got out the cheapshit markers. As You can see, I have a ways to go, so best back to it. :D

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© C. Ford.

Just Give Us Your Life History, Please.

The prompt includes a drop-down menu that lists platforms including Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. | Getty.

The prompt includes a drop-down menu that lists platforms including Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. | Getty.

NEW YORK — The U.S. government quietly began requesting that select foreign visitors provide their Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts upon arriving in the country, a move designed to spot potential terrorist threats that drew months of opposition from tech giants and privacy hawks alike.

Since Tuesday, foreign travelers arriving in the United States on the visa waiver program have been presented with an “optional” request to “enter information associated with your online presence,” a government official confirmed Thursday. The prompt includes a drop-down menu that lists platforms including Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, as well as a space for users to input their account names on those sites.

The new policy comes as Washington tries to improve its ability to spot and deny entry to individuals who have ties to terrorist groups like the Islamic State. But the government has faced a barrage of criticism since it first floated the idea last summer. The Internet Association, which represents companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter, at the time joined with consumer advocates to argue the draft policy threatened free expression and posed new privacy and security risks to foreigners.

Now that it is final, those opponents are furious the Obama administration ignored their concerns.

[…]

After the policy changed, Nathan White, the senior legislative manager of Access Now, again blasted it as a threat to human rights.

“The choice to hand over this information is technically voluntary,” he said. “But the process to enter the U.S. is confusing, and it’s likely that most visitors will fill out the card completely rather than risk additional questions from intimidating, uniformed officers — the same officers who will decide which of your jokes are funny and which ones make you a security risk.”

Politico has the full story.