Oh, The Constitution.

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The Constitution. My feelings about it? Fuck the constitution. That superannuated paen to the rich and the immoral should have been scrapped long ago, and been replaced with something progressive and relevant. The very worst of people worship that ragged document, twisting it to support evil ideologies and actions; much like people with their holy books of myths (for the hard of thinking, yes, that includes the bible). Gun fondlers adore it, as do all manner of right wingers. Republicans routinely mouth off about their constitution love, and how great and grand it is, etc. It isn’t grand. It isn’t great. It’s a document of its times, put together in the flush of a successful genocide, by wealthy, bloodthirsty men, who weren’t overly concerned with moral or ethical behaviour. You can, of course, see the appeal to republicans, but more than anything else right now, the constitution highlights the abject hypocrisy of all conservatives.

Republicans are always the first to scream “constitution!” whenever there’s something proposed which they don’t like, and they are always the first to search for the tiniest of constitutional violations in the case of someone they find appalling, like President Obama. The conservatives went lunatic fringe, searching for anything which could constitute a violation, so they could oust him from office. Now, the pres-elect will be violating the constitution in the same manner he violated a very long line of women, but who wants to bet the republicans will be zealously pursuing those violations with an aim to impeach? I don’t imagine I’ll have any takers on that bet. I’d be willing to say they are going to find every gorram excuse in the book to absolve Donny in all the violations, and with that, they will demonstrate how little they actually care about that supposedly hallowed document.

What kind of nation allows the loser of a national election to become president — and then does it again 16 years later?

What kind of nation retains an electoral process that was originally designed to inflate the influence of slaveholders?

What kind of nation permits its Congress to write a time bomb into law that periodically forces rival factions into a game of chicken that could wreck the world economy?

What kind of nation fights a civil war over the question of whether people of African descent are people or property, and then looks the other way when the loser ignores the resolution of that war? What kind of nation waits until 1965 to guarantee black people’s right to vote?

Americans speak of our Constitution as if it were a religious text. To label a law “unconstitutional” is not simply to say that it violates some procedural rule or legal technicality, it is to label it fundamentally unAmerican. To do so is to question the values of any lawmaker despicable enough to support such a law, and to suggest that those values are at odds with who we are as a nation.

But our Constitution has not served us nearly as well as we would have been served by other systems adopted by our peer nations. Nor has it lived up to the expectations of its drafters.

Now, our country is facing a man of superlative ignorance. A racist. An admitted sexual assaulter of women. A man poised to violate the Constitution the very instant he takes the oath of office. A man who openly encouraged Russia’s efforts to usher him into the White House. A man who owes his election to the underhanded efforts of deep state actors within our nation’s internal police agency. A man who lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. And the Constitution has placed this man in the White House.

The Constitution gave Donald Trump command of the world’s most powerful military and an nuclear arsenal that can eradicate all life on Earth. It let him name a racist as our nation’s top enforcer of its laws. It let him use his office to sell hotel rooms to foreign diplomats. The Electoral College has voted. Trump will be our next president. This is what the Constitution hath wrought.

It did this because our Constitution remains the product of a compromise with moral monsters who believed that human beings could be owned as property. It did this because our Constitution offers no guarantee, or even much in the way of likelihood, that the men and women elected to lead the country will share the preferences of the nation as a whole. It did this because our Constitution fosters voter ignorance. It did this because our Constitution can be gamed — and was gamed quite successfully by the Republican Party.

Emphasis mine. And right there is exactly what the constitution means to conservatives: a means to get their way, to make sure fascism comes marching in, wrapped in a flag and carrying a bible. Nothing is sacred to conservatives, nothing at all. Well, no, a couple of things are sacred to conservatives: the state of their wallet, and the power to oppress and destroy other people.

The full story is at Think Progress, a highly recommended read.

ETA: It seems that even those republicans who might have spoken out are now too overcome by fear to do so. Ain’t fascism fun?

ETA: It’s begun, let’s write special laws, and Donny can just pardon people as he goes along!

Fuck every single person who has brought us to this, and fuck all those who will stand by silently, letting it happen.

Backing Black Business.

CREDIT: iStock.

CREDIT: iStock.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) just launched a database of black businesses to support, with the goal of “[building] long-term economic power for Black communities.”

On Monday, the organization unveiled backingblackbusiness.com, an interactive map and directory of online stores where customers can purchase food, health and beauty supplies, entertainment, and lifestyle goods — all from retailers owned by black people. The site also includes nonprofits, and allows business owners to add themselves to the database.

The full article is at Think Progress.

I clicked over to backingblackbusiness.com, and while I’m not in LA or NY, plenty of business owners have online shops, and after perusing a few (I got completely caught up in Loving Anvil, and am plotting on when I can spend money there) I don’t think I’ll have any problems at all, supporting black businesses. The site is brand new, so a bit rough, but there’s a lot to explore!

Word Wednesday.

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Agathokakological.

adjective ag·a·tho·kak·o·log·i·cal \¦a-gə-(ˌ)thō-ˌka-kə-¦lä-ji-kəl\

Composed of both good and evil. From Ancient Greek ἀγαθός ‎(agathós, “good”) and κακός ‎(kakós, “bad”).

There may be an opposite fault; for indeed upon the agathokakological globe there are opposite qualities always to be found in parallel degrees, north and south of the equator.– Robert Southey, The Doctor, Etc.

Merry Christmas! You’re Fired.

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General Motors: GM announced Monday that it will lay off 1,300 workers at a Detroit plant. The workers make the Chevy Volt, in addition to the Chevy Impala and Buick LaCrosse.

Those job cuts are in addition to 2,000 other GM (GM) employees who will lose their jobs within a month.

Boeing: Layoffs are nothing new for Boeing in 2016 — the company has already fired thousands as demand for jumbo jets slumps. But Boeing (BA) told employees Monday it will continue to cut jobs at its commercial airplane unit in 2017, citing fierce competition with rival Airbus and a drop in new orders.

Airbus also told its labor unions in November that it was cutting around 1,200 jobs.

GoPro: The action camera company announced plans last month to lay off 200 workers. That comes after it laid off more than 100 employees in January.

Many of the latest job cuts come as GoPro (GPRO, Tech30) plans to shut down its entertainment unit. That group was responsible for featuring videos shot on GoPro’s action cameras.

Xerox: The company is splitting in two before the end of the year, and company President Jeff Jacobson says layoffs are coming — even though the point of the split was to stem the company’s sales slide.

He declined to say how many will be let go, but the 39,000 employees at Xerox’s (XRX) legacy copier business are most likely to be impacted.

Caterpillar: After laying off 10,000 employees last fall, Caterpillar (CAT) said last week that it will issue another round of pink slips.

The construction giant didn’t say how many jobs will be cut, but it said it will try to place as many as possible in new jobs at the company. A post-recession rebound has proved difficult for Caterpillar. Its forecast for the coming year is pretty dour.

The Limited: The clothing store told all 248 employees at its Ohio home office that their jobs are in jeopardy. Earlier this month, the company said on an earnings call that it is looking for cash to keep the company alive, and it might have to shutter stores.

Ho Ho Fucking Ho. And people think Trump is going to magically fix this? The man who handed Carrier millions upon millions so they can automate people out of their jobs? Dream on, as you fall into poverty.

More bad news here: Trump ignores Indiana factory relocating to Mexico.

Via CNN.

Tebori Cats.

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Kazuaki Horitomo is a California-based Japanese artist who combines two of his great passions – tattoos and cats – into one. As an illustrator and tattoo artist, Horitomo is steeped in the Japanese tradition of tebori (a technique of tattooing by hand) and his illustrations reflect that. Some of our favorites works are the humorous and surreal depictions of cats performing tebori on other cats.

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Horitomo’s brand Monmon Cats derives its name from monmon, the old slang word in Japanese for tattoos. Horitomo currently works at State of Grace Tattoo in San Jose. But if tattooing isn’t your thing, you can also pick up his book, or buy prints from his shop. Or you can just follow him on Instagram.

Via Spoon & Tamago, where you can see much more! Now I want to tattoo one of the cats with rats.

What Healthcare?

© nicolasjoseschirado, fotalia.

© nicolasjoseschirado, fotalia.

For all the years of screaming over the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare by the sea of conservative idiots, who insisted death panels would be a comin’ for everyone, what actually happened was that a multitude of people not only lived, but they got healthier, too. That’s generally what happens when people have heath care. In my view, ACA isn’t enough, uStates should grow the fuck up and join all the places in the world who have figured out that healthy citizens are a good thing, and that healthcare is a basic right.

Oh, but we can’t have that, not here in this pit formerly known as America, why that, that might smack of socialism, oh no! It’s juvenile, willfully ignorant conservatives who are going to bring death, which to them, is by far more preferable than having healthcare for all citizens. Now, those who are sitting on nice piles of cash and can afford good coverage, they aren’t worried. It’s just the rest of us who will suffer, and conservatives have never rated on the empathy scale, they just don’t give a fuck about anyone except themselves. Oh, yes, conservatives are, by and large, spiteful assholes, and they just can’t wait to kill off healthcare, out of spite. Yes, a lot of people are going to die because of spite. There’s no reason to dismantle the ACA, it works. It’s not the best plan, but given how many obstacles conservatives kept throwing, it was a near act of brilliance to get most people desperately needed healthcare. When people don’t have healthcare, they can’t face any debt care would bring, and medical debt piles up fast, ask anyone who has had a medical emergency. One emergency can land you in a pit of poverty for a lifetime. Just why in the fuckety fuck do moron-minded conservatives think that’s a dandy plan? So, when people have no insurance, no care, they just keep going until they drop, literally.

Why does that define “exceptional America”? Because to me, that’s a good description of a 3rd world pit with despotic rule, where there’s at most a shrug over people dying. Condemning people to death should not be a source of pride. It should be a source of shame, but, conservatives seem to have no sense of shame, along with no empathy.

Not long ago, Americans learned that the average life expectancy for white people in this country – those most likely to have voted for Donald Trump – actually declined for the first time in many years. The pathologies and frustrations believed to have driven that decline may have motivated the tiny handful of votes that gave Trump his Electoral College victory.

But not long after their euphoria over his inauguration fades, they are going to learn why his administration is so likely to drive those statistics in the wrong direction. Despite his promise to protect Social Security and Medicare – and his vow to replace the Affordable Care Act with “something much better” – Trump’s cabinet appointees and his allies in Congress plan ruinous changes to those programs. And that will mean ruin, and in thousands of cases death, for the mostly white and working class people who depend so heavily on them.

Unless the Republicans come up with a plausible bill to replace Obamacare, which has eluded them since 2009, millions of their constituents will lose the health insurance they have only recently gained – and yes, thousands of those people will die next year.

[Read more…]

Pressure. (Updated.)

From left to right: Trump International Hotel, President-elect Trump, Ambassador of Kuwait Salem Al-Sabah, The Four Seasons Hotel CREDIT: AP/Flickr/Composite.

From left to right: Trump International Hotel, President-elect Trump, Ambassador of Kuwait Salem Al-Sabah, The Four Seasons Hotel CREDIT: AP/Flickr/Composite.

The Embassy of Kuwait allegedly cancelled a contract with a Washington, D.C. hotel days after the presidential election, citing political pressure to hold its National Day celebration at the Trump International Hotel instead.

A source tells ThinkProgress that the Kuwaiti embassy, which has regularly held the event at the Four Seasons in Georgetown, abruptly canceled its reservation after members of the Trump Organization pressured the ambassador to hold the event at the hotel owned by the president-elect. The source, who has direct knowledge of the arrangements between the hotels and the embassy, spoke to ThinkProgress on the condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak publicly. ThinkProgress was also able to review documentary evidence confirming the source’s account.

In the early fall, the Kuwaiti Embassy signed a contract with the Four Seasons. But after the election, members of the Trump Organization contacted the Ambassador of Kuwait, Salem Al-Sabah, and encouraged him to move his event to Trump’s D.C. hotel, the source said.

Kuwait has now signed a contract with the Trump International Hotel, the source said, adding that a representative with the embassy described the decision as political. Invitations to the event are typically sent out in January.

[…]

Less than two weeks after that event, Politico reported that Bahrain, another Middle Eastern monarchy, would host its National Day reception at the Trump hotel on December 7.

Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) harshly criticized the Bahrain event, writing in a letter to Trump that he should “reject all business income from the Bahraini monarchy and all other foreign governments.” McGovern wrote that Trump’s “private commercial dealings with a repressive governments” endanger the fundamental principle that the president will “act solely in our country’s interests.”

The Republic of Azerbaijan also recently co-hosted a Hanukkah party at the Trump hotel, despite the anti-Semitic undertones of the Trump campaign. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, blasted the decision as “tone deaf at best, naked sycophancy at worst.”

Smaller countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan may perceive patronizing the Trump Hotel as an easy way to gain access and favor with the incoming Trump administration.

And there’s the tone of the new administration, as corrupt as could possibly be. I’m not altogether sure why conservatives aren’t in a tizzy over this, perhaps they feel this is just normal rich guy privilege, or they are hoping to get a slice of the fat pie. It’s a free for all now, whoever manages to toss a bit of money and flattery Trump’s way will get whatever they want. Today’s mood: I want off this ship before it sinks all the way down.

Full story at Think Progress.

UPDATE: Pressure on Kuwait to move event to Trump hotel a ‘paradigm impeachable offense’.

Inauguration “Opening Day”.

CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

The day after his inauguration, a group of people with enough money will have the chance to hang out with President Donald Trump and even get to go hunting with his sons.

That’s according to a draft invitation obtained by TMZ for an “Opening Day” reception on January 21 at the Washington Convention Center. The event will “celebrate the great American tradition of outdoor sporting, shooting, fishing, and conservation,” and the highest sponsors (those shelling out $1 million and $500,000) will receive a private reception and photo opportunity with Trump, as well as a “multi-day hunting and/or fishing excursion” with Donald Trump Jr. and/or Eric Trump.

Both Donald Jr. and Eric have been actively involved with the Trump transition, and Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway has indicated it’s still possible they might have positions in the West Wing. This is despite the fact that Trump has indicated they will manage his business while he’s President.

This is only the latest example of access to the Trump family — and thus his administration — being for sale. Ivanka Trump, who is considering moving to DC and possibly even serving as de-facto First Lady, recently attempted to auction off a coffee date for $500,000 through CharityBuzz, but it was abruptly canceled after many questioned the ethics of so blatantly selling special access to the first family. According to the Trump Organization, they decided to hold off on the auction until “our team was aligned on steps moving forward.”

There’s more at Think Progress. I just, I, uh, can’t. The sheer amount of wrong is overwhelming, and why aren’t people seriously skeeved out over Ivanka acting the wife all the time? I’m going to bury myself in work and pretend this is all a bad dream.

NC: HB2 To Be Repealed.

Roy Cooper (Wake Forest University/Flickr).

Roy Cooper (Wake Forest University/Flickr).

Following a surprise move by the Charlotte City Council, Gov.-elect Roy Cooper said Monday that Legislative leaders have promised him to call a special session Tuesday to repeal House Bill 2.

“Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore assured me that as a result of Charlotte’s vote, a special session will be called for Tuesday to repeal HB 2 in full,” Cooper said in a statement. “I hope they will keep their word to me and with the help of Democrats in the legislature, HB2 will be repealed in full.

“Full repeal will help to bring jobs, sports and entertainment events back and will provide the opportunity for strong LGBT protections in our state.”

Cooper’s announcement followed the Charlotte City Council’s 10-0 vote Monday morning to rescind the LGBT ordinance that prompted House Bill 2.

One piece of great news, on a day which is going to be an all around bad one for those of us who aren’t into fascism.

The Charlotte Observer has the full story.

From Think Progress: Charlotte surprisingly repeals LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance in advance of hyped HB2 repeal.

In a 10–0 vote, the Charlotte City Council abruptly repealed the city’s LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance Monday morning in what appears to be a deal with the North Carolina legislature to repeal HB2. This is a compromise they’ve rejected twice before, and it’s unclear what motivates their sudden faith that state lawmakers will actually put an end to the discriminatory law.

Indeed, there’s every reason to believe that both Charlotte and Governor-elect Roy Cooper (D) have been duped.