Author: Mark Alexander

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I’m Loving Emerald City

It’s a very fresh retelling of the Oz stories, and I’m surprised I’m enjoying it as much as I am.

Of course the fact that Oliver Jackson Cohen (the “scarecrow”) seems to have a clause written into his contract that he must appear shirtless in every episode for a certain length of time has nothing to do with it.

Not that I’m complaining…

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Quote Of The Day

Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. The got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly, and focused on happier things than politics. They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away.

You know who weren’t nice people?

Reisters. ~ Naomi Shulman.

Now is not the time to be “nice” to white supermacists and neo-Nazis. Now is not the time to listen to “both isdes” in some misguided notion of “tolerance.” Now is not the time for politeness or silence. NOW is the time for good people to resist. Loudly and unambiguously. Democrats in Congress, are you fucking listening?

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After Only Two Weeks, Voters Yearn For Obama

Buyers’ remorse sets in. From Public Policy Polling:

Less than 2 weeks into Donald Trump’s tenure as President, 40% of voters already want to impeach him. That’s up from 35% of voters who wanted to impeach him a week ago. Only 48% of voters say that they would be opposed to Trump’s impeachment.

Beyond a significant percentage of voters already thinking that Trump should be removed from office, it hasn’t taken long for voters to miss the good old days of Barack Obama…52% say they’d rather Obama was President, to only 43% who are glad Trump is.

Why so much unhappiness with Trump? Voters think basically everything he’s doing is wrong:

-Overall voters are pretty evenly split on Trump’s executive order on immigration from last week, with 47% supporting it to 49% who are opposed. But when you get beyond the overall package, the pieces of the executive order become more clearly unpopular. 52% of voters think that the order was intended to be a Muslim ban, to only 41% who don’t think that was the intent. And the idea of a Muslim ban is extremely unpopular with the American people- only 26% are in favor of it, to 65% who are against it. When it comes to barring people from certain countries from entering the United States, even when those people have already secured a Visa, just 39% of voters are supportive to 53% who are against it. And just 43% of voters support the United States indefinitely suspending accepting Syrian refugees, with 48% opposed to that. Finally voters see a basic competence issue with Trump’s handling of the executive order- only 39% of voters think it was well executed, to 55% who believe it was poorly executed.

The attitudes of Trump voters on the issue of the order being a Muslim ban are telling. 71% claim they don’t think the intent of the executive order was to ban Muslims from entering the country, to 23% who say that was the intent. But then when you ask Trump voters what their feelings on banning Muslims from the country are, they support it. 48% of Trump voters support banning Muslims from entering the country, to 40% who are opposed. So they say it’s not a Muslim ban, but they want a Muslim ban, and 94% of them support the order.

Trump voters also continue to refuse to believe in the sincerity of those protesting him. 48% think the folks who protested at airports across the country last weekend were paid to do so by George Soros, to only 31% who think the protesters weren’t paid. Trump voters thought the women’s marchers were all paid by Mr. Soros as well so clearly the Trump administration is going to be very expensive for him.

-It hasn’t taken long for voters to develop a pretty dim view of Trump advisor Steve Bannon, and become wary of the extent to which he’s being given power within the administration. Only 19% of voters see Bannon favorably, to 40% who have a negative opinion of him. Only 34% of voters approve of his being given a seat on the principals committee of the National Security Council, to 44% who are opposed to that. What’s particularly telling is that only 19% of voters think Bannon belongs in that seat on the National Security Council more than the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence, to 59% who believe those folks are more deserving of that place at the table. Even Trump voters think he’s gone too far on that front- by a 40/35 margin they think the more traditional members should have that position rather than Bannon.

-Very few voters go along with Trump when it comes to his voter fraud paranoia. Only 26% of voters think millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 Presidential election, to 55% who believe that’s not a real thing. This is another issue where even a significant number of Trump voters become wary of his claim- 47% believe it but 27% don’t and another 26% aren’t sure. It’s been unusual to find things where a majority of Trump’s voters don’t go along with him.

-Voters continue to be very skeptical of the funding plan for the wall with Mexico. Only 40% of voters are in support of building the wall if American taxpayers have to front the cost for it, to 54% who are opposed. And there’s similar opposition when it comes to the 20% tax on items imported to the US from Mexico that the administration floated last week- only 37% of voters support that to 50% who are opposed to it.

-Obamacare continues to become more popular the more talk there is about repealing it. 46% of voters now say they support it to just 41% who are opposed. And only 33% of voters think the best course of action is for Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act and start over, to 62% who think it would be better to keep it and fix the parts that need fixing.

Another aspect of Trump’s unpopularity is that he’s losing all of his fights. In the last week he’s gone on the attack on Twitter against John McCain, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and CNN and in each case we find voters siding with Trump’s adversary:

-By a 51/37 spread voters say John McCain has more credibility than Trump.-By a 52/41 spread voters say the Washington Post has more credibility than Trump.

-By a 51/42 spread voters say the New York Times has more credibility than Trump.

-By a 50/42 spread voters say CNN has more credibility than Trump.

Overall 47% of voters approve of the job Trump’s doing to 49% who disapprove. And 45% have a favorable opinion of him to 52% with a negative one. But when you dig down on the actual policies he’s pursued and actions he’s taken, the picture gets even worse for him.

A few other notes:

-68% of voters have a favorable opinion of the National Park Service, to only 9% with an unfavorable opinion of it. Only 30% of voters approve of censoring the Park Service’s social media accounts, to 52% who disapprove of that. Trump voters do support censorship of Park service social media accounts, 59/12, though.

-Only 13% of voters approve of the job Congress is doing, to 68% who disapprove. Paul Ryan has a 35/43 approval rating, and Mitch McConnell’s is 17/55. Democrats lead the generic Congressional ballot 45/42.

Full results here.

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Oh, suh-NAP!

Apparently 45 dissed Arnold Schwarzenegger at the National Prayer Breakfast. At the National Prayer Breakfast. Once again 45 makes everything about him.

Schwarzenegger’s response was epic.

“Hey Donald, I have a great idea. Why don’t we switch jobs? You take over TV since you’re such an expert in ratings, and I take over your job and people can finally sleep comfortably again.”

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Quote Of The Day

This is the strange way of the world, that people who simply want to love are instead forced to become warriors.” ~ Lauren Oliver

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Me…

…walking away from anyone and everyone who is still saying, “Give him a chance.”

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My First Thought…

…was that I did not beat cancer to deal with this crap.

And then I realized that maybe that was the reason I did—and to fight against it.

From Wil Wheaton:

This Is A Fixed Point In Time

I am so disgusted by my government, and the cowards in Congress who refuse to stand up to the popular vote losing madman who currently sits in the White House, so profoundly out of his depth, he can be controlled by a neonazi and sent off to watch a children’s movie while thousands upon thousands of my fellow Americans take to the streets to challenge and resist his deplorable, unconstitutional, Fascist actions.

Yet I am also proud, inspired, and comforted by the millions of people not just in America, but around the world, who are standing up and declaring that we will fight this despicable scourge, this illegitimate, incompetent, corrupt, hateful, bigoted, petty tyrant, and everything he stands for. We will fight him until he is defeated, and we will never forget the appeasers and cowards who did nothing to stop him. Those who stand by silently, or offer empty words are no better than the evil men and women who enable this would-be dictator.

This is a binary moment in history, and all of us must make a choice that we will live with for the rest of our lives: you may choose to stand with Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Richard Spencer, and the racist white nationalists who support them, or you may choose to stand on the side of justice, equality, and the rule of law.

Choose wisely.

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Quote Of The Day

And only one week in…

The man is a serial liar, or delusional. Either way, the word of the President of the United States now means nothing.” ~ John Aravosis, writing about 45’s (from this point forward I refuse to even write his name any more) “secret plan” to defeat ISIS.

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Dear World, From America

Dear World,

We felt we needed to say something while saying something is still allowed.

We know many of you have lived under malevolent, unhinged Dictators before, but this is new for us. For its history our nation has been led by men who, despite their varying flaws and deficiencies, some of which were quite disturbing—were by and large, normal human beings.Whatever darkness in them, they had at the very least, a baseline of humanity and decency that more often than not insured rational behavior.

This man is not normal.

He is unstable, malignant, devoid of integrity—and he does not speak for us.

Please understand that nearly three million more people voted for his opponent Hillary Clinton than for him. (Yes, we realize this is completely screwed-up). Millions more voted for other candidates, and sadly nearly 90 million of our people did not vote at all. The point is, the vast majority of Americans are not with him. He does not speak for us. His America is not our America.

Over the past week, we’ve watched long erected pillars of our Republic bulldozed in the stroke of a madman’s pen. We’ve seen the very hallmarks of who we are as a nation tossed in the garbage; the celebration of diverse coexistence, the open welcome to the oppressed, the guarantee of unalienable rights for every person, the same access to health and opportunity and safety afforded to everyone, the freedom to speak without censor or restraint. At this moment these are all in great jeopardy.

Things we took for granted in our leadership: things like goodness, wisdom, and basic truthfulness are no longer in play, and as things are eroding quickly we wanted to let you know that we’re sorry.

We’re sorry that our apathy and laziness have yielded such a reckless, impulsive, small man to steward this nation.

We’re sorry for the jagged, bitter ugliness that is characterizing us in these moments.

We’re sorry to those suffering greatly, who have braved such peril to seek refuge here and who’ve now been turned away based on the faith they profess.

We’re sorry to our Mexican neighbors who’ve been fashioned into convenient villains for erecting a grandiose, wasteful display of false protection that we do not want.

We’re sorry to Muslims everywhere who’ve been used as pawns to generate irrational fear among those already susceptible to bigotry and discrimination.

We’re sorry to the leaders of the world, who instead of being met by level-headed, measured, intelligent dialogue, are now greeted with the social media rantings of a furious child.

We’re sorry to those who now experience the Christian faith as a racist, Nationalistic bully pulpit wielded with malice toward the very diverse Humanity Jesus lived and died for.

We’re sorry to people everywhere whose lives are made more tenuous, more violent, less safe, less secure than it has been before.

We want you to know that this is not who we are. It may be who this man is. It may be who those sharing power with him are. It may even be the tens of millions who originally voted for him (though that support is vanishing quickly among those who not among the religious zealots and extremists).

But this is not America. It is not the steady, strong beacon of freedom that it was intended to be. It is not the America our people have fought and died for. It is not the one first formed in the crucible of oppression and cast into the words of our ever-disregarded Constitution.

This is not our America. Our America affirms the inherent, priceless beauty of every human being. Our America declares that no person is ascribed less value because of their skin color, religion, gender, financial means, sexual orientation, nation of origin, or any other variable. Our America is home for those seeking hope and joy and rest.

And we are going to fight for this America. Through political channels and through grassroots activism, through the use of our Press and of our personal voices, we’re going to expose this man’s incompetence, call out his heart sickness, and condemn every violent, reckless, vicious act when it does not reflect our hearts and our will. Please do your best to disregard anything that comes from his mouth or those loudly and continually parroting his propaganda. They have proven themselves mortally allergic to the truth.

And we hope that in whatever way you can, that you will stand with us.We know that we have made this mess ourselves. We understand that you have your own problems to contend with, some far more urgent and pressing than this, but we believe that we are a single community; that we are tethered together in our Humanity, that we are in real-time crafting the life our children and their children will inherit.

Dear World, we’re sorry and we hope you’ll endure these days with us.

With Despair and Hope in equal measure, in Peace and Unity with you,

The American Majority 

(Source)