I am so fucking angry at this right now it’s not even funny. And I probably shouldn’t be. But I am.
I’m fucking livid.
Et tu, Warren and Sherrod?
In a statement regarding her decision, Warren expressed “concerns” about Carson’s “inexperience in the field and his comments on poverty and government dependency,” but supported his numerous promises to expand affordable housing options—including for the homeless and LGBTQ people—and recruit a bipartisan team. “In light of these promises, I support Dr. Carson’s nomination, and look forward to working with him to ensure that he follows through on his commitments,”she said.
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“Dr. Carson is not the nominee I would have chosen to lead HUD, due both to his lack of experience and his often troubling public statements over the last three years,” said Brown in a similar statement. “But despite my reservations, and my disagreements with some of his positions, I will give Dr. Carson the benefit of the doubt based on commitments he has made to me in person and to this committee.”
So basically, two of the only people in Congress I trusted, two of the only people in Congress I have always thought would make a great part of a “Progressive Revolution” (though not the faces, because such a revolution needs to be diverse, inclusive, and intersectional), are fucking supporting Ben Carson for HUD Secretary.
And before you get all “they’re picking their battles!” and “he’s just a puppet; they know what they’re doing”, here’s the thing…
Ben Carson, puppet or not, will destroy housing. It’s not just the fact that he’s remarkably unqualified; it’s the fact that the entire Trump administration is poised to destroy this country, and Ben Carson as HUD secretary is just more proof of that. As a fellow member of TWiBNation said on Facebook:
Carson’s failure will severely impact the poor, the underrepresented, people already on the margins of society.
And to put a personal touch on it, here’s another TWiB friend. She will be directly hurt by Trump and Carson:
I live in federal housing for the disabled. Although my disabilities are invisible and I have 2 Masters degrees, I’ve been turned down for jobs and regular housing. I have been trying to find similar housing back East where there are more employment opportunities and have been on waiting lists for a year and a half. I am petrified that the orange plague and his pet coon will cut or end this program. This bitch is fucking with my life.
If Senator Warren and Senator Brown really are “picking their battles”, then they are fucking horrible at doing that. This is a fucking battle they should be fucking fighting, instead of backing down like fucking spineless cowards.
God fucking damnit.
It’s all shit.
All of it.
Dara M Wilson is right. Burn it all down.
(And now you know why I’ve basically been posting fun, funny, cool things instead of writing about politics and social issues; I’m too angry to write about it. Everything I hear and/or read leaves me wanting to hurt something. 2016 was shit, yes. But it’s only going to get worse. And yes, I’m using my anger as I can, sending letters, making phone calls when I feel capable [phone calls cause anxiety for me, though, but I do ’em anyways for this], signing petitions, etc. But blogging about it?
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…
…)
… and his pet coon … ?!?!!!
That person’s just proven the untrustworthiness of her thinking for all time.
@Pierce R. Butler… you’re assuming she’s white?
Nathan @ # 2 -- oops; guilty as charged.
Warren is part of the machine. Just because she’s demonstrated that she’s willing to take a poke (with a padded blunt object) at some of america’s enemies (like the banks, Wall St, and Donald Trump) doesn’t mean that she’s not a ruthless, heartless, piece of politician garbage. Remember: it’s pretty much impossible to serve in congress without being utterly compromised in all respects.
If Senator Warren and Senator Brown really are “picking their battles”
She’s a lesser evil, she’s gonna support lesser evilism.
@5, Marcus Ranum:
Out of curiosity, what is “lesser evilism” in the sense that you use the term? It seems to be slightly different from my use of it.
I can’t help but think that the Trumpistas, in nominating Carson, have thought back to Samuel Pierce (Reagan’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development).
During Ronnie’s eight years, HUD provided scandals like a string of firecrackers; much of the US homelessness “crisis” (permanent condition, now) that developed then came from having that Department’s money siphoned out by a series of insider scams.
Pierce himself was, disappointingly to me, acquitted on all charges; he had, it seems, just sat by cluelessly enabling his “leadership team” as they extracted the funds from one program after another. If there’s one thing we here can agree on with the Trump Inner Circle®, it’s the cluefreeness of Dr. Benjamin Carson.
Jessie Harban@#6:
Out of curiosity, what is “lesser evilism” in the sense that you use the term?
The way the US is run, all the politicians are evil, so any that is pretending to be a populist or an “outsider” is actually an insider in outsiders’ clothing. I refer to people like Warren as “lesser evils” because they are taking advantage of the fact that the US is under control by authoritarian ideologues and -- compared to them -- they look good. They are, actually. They’re lesser evils.
Bernie is a “lesser evil” in Marcus-land. He’s also a member of the establishment, who has participated as an insider for a decade, by staking out a position that is slightly more populist than the extreme corporatists who occupy the rest of the government. It made him look much more populist and palatable than he would otherwise. He’s not anywhere near a populist, or even a socialist, because he’s part of the machine too. He certainly is a “lesser evil” compared to someone like Clinton, who was clear about her allegiance to the oligarchy all along -- Bernie didn’t intend to bite the hand that feeds him, but he promised to gnaw on it gently. Clinton promised to fawn over it. So Bernie was a lesser evil.
Ironically, the first true outsider to come to Washington in a long time is Donald Trump.
So, I use the term “lesser evilism” to encapsulate the game theory that Washington imposes on the people, offering them two bowls of shit and putting sriracha on one of them. The one with the sriracha is the lesser evil.