TRUE BLUE REPORT: Blue Ribbon Winners—Swastika removers, 9th Circuit panel, and The Persisterhood!

On Saturdays, the True Blue Report “Blue Ribbon” will be awarded to an individual or group with the most successful, dramatic, or encouraging act of resistance in the previous week.

I will choose some winners in the body of the diary and also accept nominations for others in the comments.

 

“Nazi symbolism. On a public train. In New York City. In 2017.”

The first ribbon goes to the people who responded quickly and with Blue Team ingenuity when they saw swastikas and anti-Jewish messages written in magic marker on the windows and advertising posters on a subway train last Saturday.

One of the messages said “Jews belong in the oven.”  Deplorables just gotta be deplorable.

But because we believe in science, someone in the group knew that the alcohol would remove the markings.  Passengers on the #1 train pulled out bottles of hand sanitizer and tissues and cleaned up the vile mess in minutes.

Gregory Locke, who took pictures and posted about it on Facebook, reacted when one fellow traveler commented “I guess this is Trump’s America.”

Locke responded, “No sir, it’s not. Not tonight and not ever. Not as long as stubborn New Yorkers have anything to say about it.”

From the tough questioning during the oral argument, many expected the three judge panel to split 2-1 on DJT’s travel ban.  Judge Clifton may not have felt he was performing an act of resistance, but he still gets a ribbon for doing the right thing, since the unanimous ruling was a happy surprise, and robbed Rcons of their usual talking point criticizing judges appointed by Democratic presidents.

The best part of the ruling was DJT’s all caps twit-tantrum reacting to the “political decision”

SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017

 and the various responses to it, beginning and ending with Colbert:

SEE YOU IN COURT WHERE WE ALREADY ARE BUT A DIFFERENT COURT SHUT UP NO YOU'RE STUPID!

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) February 10, 2017

President Trump, after losing in court, says he will see the court. In court.

— Matt Viser (@mviser) February 9, 2017

"SEE YOU IN COURT"
"Ok cool, that is where we work, so it is very convenient for us"

— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) February 10, 2017

Trump's SEE YOU IN COURT is like if Matt Ryan had gone home and tweeted SEE YOU AT THE SUPER BOWL.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 9, 2017

OK, everyone, @realDonaldTrump and/or his supporters have now deleted this GIF three times. Please RT to get it back to the top! He hates it pic.twitter.com/GXueSHJSft

— David G. McAfee (@DavidGMcAfee) February 10, 2017

Sir, this is two sentences. It shouldn't be a comma. It should be a period. #GrammarNeoNazi https://t.co/tFjqCzorH2

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) February 10, 2017

 and my own contribution:

@StephenAtHome well, he could have used a semicolon... that is, in the parallel universe where we have a POTUS who knows what a semicolon is

— TrueBlueMajority (@TruBluMajority) February 10, 2017

But of course the biggest bluest Blue Ribbons go to all the various members of the Persisterhood!

First, I have to correct a glaring error from last week, when Sally Yates should have been at the very TOP of the Blue Ribbon list for standing up against DJT’s travel ban in the first place and getting fired for it.

She is one of the last to become a member of the persisterhood before the neologism went viral, joining many other famous women in history who are now being tagged with the label.

Republicons are trying to regroup now, claiming it was done intentionally, to make Elizabeth Warren the face of the D party and the new R boogeyman.  Boogeywoman?  Boogie on reggae woman?  I’ve got Stevie Wonder on the brain…

Yeah, right.  I do not give McConnell credit for that level of 11th dimensional chess.

Rcons did not want the Sessions letter read in the Senate chamber and thought they had come up with a way to shut it down.  The backlash caught them by surprise and now I am absolutely positive they regret creating such a simple, powerful, memorable framing device.

Mitch McConnell gave Dems a timeless meme that went all around the world in record time.  The plan is to fan this spark into a flame that will carry through the midterms to the 2020 election and beyond.

So innumerable blue ribbons go out to all the persisters in the persisterhood throughout history and all the women and girls whose activism is yet to come!

In honor of Black History Month (wish we could still put images side by side):

Last but not least: blue ribbons go to all the people continuing to pressure their congresscritters at Town Halls:

I don’t remember anyone referring to paid protesters during the t-potty days, even though some of them *were* being bankrolled by the Koch brothers.  Now some Rcons are trying to hide behind that new talking point.  “Paid protesters.”  “Not really my constituents.”  “Bused in from out of state.” Others, forced to concede that the protesters are legitimate, claim it doesn’t matter if a few rowdy Dems come to the Town Halls, since DJT won the state big.

What they forget is we outnumber them.  By a LOT.  Half the eligible voters didn’t vote and DJT got less than half of the ones that did, so the fact that he got 23% of the voters in their state should not comfort them.  We are the silent majority now and the oft-repeated cry of “I never protested before but this is so awful I had to get out and do something” is going to translate into “I never voted before/gave to a candidate before/worked on a campaign before” in 2018 and 2020.  And the energy will still be with the Blue Team as DJT continues to behave in more and more outrageous ways.  We can bring new voters out of the woodwork too.

So that’s my selection of blue ribbons for the week.  Have I left out someone obvious?  Please add your own ribbon recipients below, as well as your favorite “still she persisted” images!

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Previous TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries

Feb 10: The first three words of the Constitution are “We, the People” not “I, the President”

Feb 9:  Who first inspired your political activism? Who inspires you now?

Feb 8:  We cannot and will not be silenced—Here’s what to do if they try to silence you

Feb 7:  Plain Talk Tuesday: Tell people the Affordable Care Act is the same as OBAMACARE

Feb 6:  Interview Skills 101—Internalized oppression and what Ryan Lizza did right.  BRAVO!

Feb 5:  These protest signs with Bible cites will confuse and befuddle RWNJs

Feb 4:  Blue Ribbon Winners: Temple B’Nai Israel, Judge Robart, CNN, Senate Phone Callers

Feb 3:  Not rich, not smart, not a good businessman, not a winner—DJT is NOTHING he claims to be

Feb 2:  Thursday action—Encouragement, thanks, and apologies (pick one or more)

Feb 1:   July 7, 2009 to August 25, 2009 and September 25, 2009 to February 4, 2010

JANUARY

Jan 31:  If you’re on overload that’s part of their plan—there’s more than one way to #resist

Jan 30:  Interview Skills 101 for reporters attempting to interview KAC and other Rcons

Jan 29:  Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness

Jan 28:  Blue Ribbon Winners: Women's March participants and #NoMuslimBan demonstrators and...

Jan 27:  I wish Steve Bannon would tell me to keep my mouth shut

Jan 26:  Thursday Action—Have you ever written a letter to the editor?  Here’s how to start

Jan 25:  The Asch Conformity Study, inauguration crowds, and the importance of speaking out

Jan 24:  #ResistTrumpTuesday—good news day or another paying dues day?

Jan 23:  Spy the Lie 101:  How to enjoy watching Rcon spokesbot interviews, even KAC!

Jan 22:  Why I prayed for the President* today

Jan 21:  The only silver lining in the midst of these clouds

Inaugural (!) diary:  Stop expecting Republicons to make sense