Welcome to our Sunday edition. The Good News Roundup is a place where we root around under the rocks and inside the dark clouds to find the silver(ish) linings. There are lots of other places to play the role of Chicken Little. Here, we seek to highlight the stories that renew our hope in the future and our belief that this national nightmare shall end. Good news wears a lot of disguises. There’s the “Holy smokes. How could they be that stupid? This is going to cost them in November.” story. There’s the “Holy jumpin’ Jehoshaphat. Somebody’s going to jail for this.” expose. There’s the “Holy crap. tRump is toast.” opinion piece. There’s the overperforming election result. There’s the Twitter beatdown. There’s the upside down polling results. There’s the man on the street “He sucks” interview. And there’s a lot more. So, if you want to wallow in a sky-is-falling narrative, I’m going to ask you to ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky.
It appears to me that finding good news is getting easier and easier and that’s good news all by itself. I don’t know how or when tRump will fall; I just know he will (see today’s poll).
Remember, as long as we continue to fight back against injustice, well will succeed. sic semper tyrannis.
Watch out for Tweets ‘o the Week from oldhippiedude later on today and Monday’s Good News Roundup from Jessiestaf tomorrow at 7AM Eastern.
Many of the links used in this edition of the Roundup are not necessarily to the most recent article about the particular issue being described (Sunday being a slow day for breaking news). They do serve to point out just how much bullshit has fallen out of focus because of all the new shiny bullshit they’ve produced in the meantime.
Resist. Vote. Indict or Impeach. Imprison.
The Cold Open
The Breaking Good News
The first installment of Town Hall for Our Lives happened yesterday. There were about 130 events around the country. Looks like we’ve got a lot chickens in the republican coop.
The organizers of last month’s March for Our Lives have taken their movement to town halls across the country and invited congressional lawmakers—who have returned to their districts for a two-week recess—to discuss action on gun control. According to the Town Hall Project, more than 130 of these meetings are taking place, with most of the events happening on Saturday.
Though invited, no Republicans appeared at any town halls, and many of the forums featured empty chairs to symbolize their absences.
Remember how Righteous Donnie Projects-a-Lot was bitching about Amazon not paying taxes? It turns out the the president’s own online store reportedly only collects taxes in two states. This is the same store that Jimmy Kimmel found made all its crap overseas.
President Donald Trump has recently ramped up his attacks against Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos for not paying enough in local and state taxes. While there are plenty of problems with the president’s criticism, it looks as if hypocrisy might be a new one.
Amazon collects taxes in 45 states, but the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the president’s own online store—which offers an array of Trump-branded items including Trump wine glasses, baseball caps, and golf accessories—pays local taxes in only two states, Florida and Louisiana. Though the web store claims it is headquartered in Trump Tower in New York City, it doesn’t appear to pay New York state taxes either.
The self-proclaimed master race muttonheads demonstrated that they really are domestic terrorists (contrary to Mr. Fine People’s opinion) Leaked Docs Show Neo-Nazis Building Bombs to Protect Themselves From Antifa
They like to present themselves as the master race. But leaked chat logs show a neo-Nazi outfit terrified of anti-fascist activists.
Before the group imploded amid a domestic violence case last month, the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party was bickering with former allies, and besieged by anti-fascist protesters, leaked chat logs reveal.
Henry and Baloo: Dog and cat travel companions gain cult following. Just click through to the BBC story. You’ll be smiling all day (unless you are a republican animal antagonist)
Another week. A continuing demonstration of serial stupidity unmatched in US History. The week in review.
Faux Noise was lying (and by the commutative property of lying assholes so was tRump) about the caravan of immigrants. Also, Jeremy Peters: Right-wing media and Trump lied about migrant "caravan" in "a villainization of immigrants"
Surprise. Surprise. Surprise. trump is lying about Amazon and the USPS.
Pruitt (he of the Cone of Silence) lied about raises and room rentals. He got a vote of confidence (aka kiss of future death) from tRumpelthinskin, but not from Chief of Staff Kelly. HuffPo has a Pruitt scandal summary.
The greatest expert on trade who ever lived (see #17) is busy tanking the economy with a MAD* trade war. [Not really good news, except in the sense it should significantly lower support for tRump in farm country] By the way, tRump isn’t enacting tariffs on any of the crap he or the girl of his dreams (Ivanka) have manufactured in China.
tRump’s lawyer’s lawyer threw both tRump and Cohen under the bus. And then tRump did it too.
tRump Throws Away His Notes, Regurgitates False Claims From Campaign Instead
Inside the Decade-Long Russian Campaign to Infiltrate the NRA and Help Elect Trump
Jimmy Kimmel calls Sean Hannity an entire ass clown circus.
Mexico Agrees to Pay for Trump’s Psychiatric Care
Bonus modified quote: Everyone has a right to be stupid, but Comrade tRump abuses the privilege. — apologies to Leon Trotsky
*Mutually Assured Destruction
Thank you Mr. Mueller, may I have another.
Well, Space Cadet Spanky McBonespurs’ ass has changed color. It’s now bright red (like a baboon’s) from the beating he’s been taking (and, if rumors are true, enjoying).
SS Manafort hit a Muellerberg. Seychelles unravels. The aging super colluder at Cambridge Analytica is turning into a boat anchor. tRump’s fixer, Michael Cohen is in the crosshairs.
This week DAOTUS* has been running around crowing he’s only a subject, not a target of Mueller’s investigation. STOTUS** giddy enthusiasm aside; there is no reason to fret about this. Manafort wasn’t a target until days before his indictment. Faux Noise, Dershoshitz, MNICOTUS*** and others bleating about exoneration are talking through their very prominent asses. I have it on good authority from absolutely no sources whatsoever that POSOTUS**** is not going to be happy with Mueller’s report on how tRumpie & his band of sniveling traitors were bad, bad wittle colluders and obstructers.
A handy Mueller timeline through April 3rd.
Mother Jones published an excellent Trump Russia scandal recap last month.
*Dumb Ass of the United States
** Stupid Turd of the United States
*** Malignant Narcissist in Chief of the United States
**** Piece of Shit of the United States
Summarizing the Kids vs the NRA, et al
Cameron Kasky used the clear backpacks to make a point about women’s health. Damn, the kids are kicking some serious ass.
Jamie Allman, a St. Louis radio idiot suggested ramming a red hot poker up David Hogg’s ass. As of Sunday morning he hadn’t been fired yet. The article contains advertiser boycott information.
Some recent entries from the #NeverAgain twitter feed. Not all of the town hall activity happened yesterday. And there’s another remembrance event coming up on the 20th for Columbine.
Pat Toomey (R-Disgusting) has received $1,467,821 from the NRA. That makes the price tag here in Pennsylvania around $0.85 per student (based on 1,722,619 enrollees in 2016-17). He’s an even cheaper sellout than Rubio.
Poor little NRA shills (hey Laura, I hear you lost another) got their fe-fe’s hurt and are complaining about boycotts not being fair. Let’s take a ride in the time machine, back to the days of Baby Bush.
tRump’s Evangelicals continue to contort themselves into pretzel shapes never seen in nature (or bakeries)
I’m not the best person to make these arguments as I’m not anywhere close to being a biblical scholar. I’m seeing this kind of pushback more and more among Christians who aren’t married to tRumpolini. I’d love to see tRump’s Christian opposition make inroads into tRump’s evangelical support.
- The words of Jesus supersede the Old Testament proclamations where there is a conflict.
- Most every biblical justification for supporting tRump ignores what Jesus said.
- Ergo, support for tRump is based on a faulty reading of the Bible.
- Also, to be forgiven you must repent.
- Pass it on.
There are resources for making the dueling verse arguments. Here are just a few.
Debunking tRump is King David reborn
On immigration
An interesting analysis about bridging the partisan divide
The Stormy troopers are coming for you, Donnie.
Congressional Republicans Continue to Disappoint
People are saying there’s a room in the White House that houses a filing system where tRump stores all of his congressional supporter’s balls and other tender bits. This kind of genital mutilation has become common in Republican circles. I hear they are all being fitted for ill-fitting brown shirts.
Art and Comedy and Music vs tRump
tRump & the oligarchy is under siege from artists, comedians and musicians all over the world. It’s not just our late night hosts with their daily excoriations. Colbert, Kimmel, Myers, Noah, Bee, Oliver et al have a lot of compadres sharing the task of ridiculing the puppet in chief. This onslaught is having an effect. If the measurable rise in disdain was traded on the Stock Exchange, we wouldn’t have seen any loss in value these last few weeks.
It’s Been an Amazing Year for Political Artists Telling Donald Trump to Shove It [Mother Jones November 11th, 2017]
For many Americans, Trump’s first year in the White House has been, in a word, ugly. But the Trump administration has resulted in some of the most provocative political art in American history. “Painting is not made to decorate apartments,” Pablo Picasso famously said in 1945. “It’s an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy.” Over half a century later, world-famous performance artist Marina Abramovic said, “The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind.”
Mrs. Betty Bowers on Guns
Indecline’s The People’s Prison was featured last week. Here’s another of their installations
Operatico Politico and The Parody Project are proud descendants of Tom Lehrer
Today’s Quote
William Wilberforce was a British politician and anti-slavery advocate. He died 3 days after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which he had championed, was passed by Parliament. The way that the thoughts of our ancestors echo down to the present is yet another source of strength for the resistance.
You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know. — William Wilberforce
John Newton penned Amazing Grace in 1779. Too bad the white supremacists never got the point.
Another Gratuitous Cat Photo
Finale
George Carlin wrote a book called Brain Droppings in 1997. I think Carlin was a genius. I’m not, but here are some droppings from me to you. I wish George was around to give us his take on today.
I think we should update the “Don’t tread on me” flag to read “Don’t piss on us”
tRump isn’t just a bull in a china shop; he’s an elephant in a window factory.
Is it Conspiracy Theory when they are engaged in an actual conspiracy? I think we’ve reached the stage of Conspiracy Fact.
Bezos should exempt any tRump associated product from free delivery and impose a handling surcharge in addition to shipping costs. It’ll be a tRump specific tariff.
I think he succeeded in draining the swamp. He’s converted it to a cesspit and populated it with semi-sentient turds.
Putin has his hand so far up his puppet’s ass that Donnie Two Scoops is using Vladimir’s middle finger to brush his teeth.
Disclaimer: Any perceived elitist, arrogant or insincere statements are inadvertent and totally caused by contamination from the subject material. Obscure references, on the other hand, are intentional and one of my many weaknesses.
A request to readers — Sunday’s format is evolving. If you have feedback on what you’d like to see added/subtracted/boosted/lowered in the Sunday Roundup, please share your view.