Category: Current Events

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The Extinction of the White American Dinosaur

From John Pavlovitz:

I love the look I saw this week.

It was the look of terrified dinosaurs realizing that the meteorite is on its way; the dilated pupils in the eyes of leadened, lumbering prehistoric monsters who've had their run of the house, now finding themselves at the precipice of extinction.

As the most diverse Congress in our history began its session, it was a harbinger of what is coming for this nation, and what it means for their species. America is growing more diverse, and its representative leadership (though still painfully lagging behind) is quickly making up ground. They can see the change in the weather and the light in the sky—and they are scrambling to avoid the coming impact because they can sense it will not end well for them.

It's why Mitch McConnell is holding the Government hostage over an ineffective, multi-billion dollar monument to racism of a border wall, that two-thirds of this country doesn't want.

It's why men like Tucker Carlson, rant mindlessly about successful women ushering in the "decline of men."

It's why Jim Mattis and Michael Cohen and General Kelly and Mike Flynn, and a perpetually revolving door of men are leaving or being forced out of positions of influence and leadership.

It's why Republican leaders have spent the past year creating a massive straw man out of exhausted migrant families and refugee children, as though they were wealthy foreign adversaries rigging a Presidential election.

It's why Right-wing trolls "leaked" a video of a college-aged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing, as if it was a clip of her saying she could grab less powerful men by the genitalia.

It's why Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr, performed embarrassingly contorted theological gymnastics, in order to align with this President over poor people.

It's why Donald Trump spent Christmas Eve bunkered down in the White House behind a smart phone, tweeting scattered, rapid-fire nonsense—instead of being with his family or reading or God forbid, serving someone.

It is the white-hot fear that has overtaken them all.

They're all in a scalding panic, because they understand that their brief moment in history to have their way and impose their will is quickly coming to a close. The landscape is being renovated, the climate is changing, and as a species they are dying—which is why they will do what all frightened animals do when they are backed into a corner and realize the level of the threat: they will grow more violent than ever before.

In the coming days, the Tweets will become more erratic, the legislative assaults grow more transparently desperate, the hate crimes more brazen, the sermons grow more alarmist and incendiary. These Jurassic, soon-to-be-amber-trapped relics, will act as if the very sky above them is falling, because in very real ways, it is. They will thrash and spit and bellow, in an effort to buy themselves a few more days and a bit more power and another Federal judge or two, but they cannot stave off their inevitable disappearance, as progress and civilization and time swallow them up.

(Continue reading.)

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Joie De Vivre

https://twitter.com/aoc_dances/status/1081066764677476354

I think the reason the GOP have their collective panties in a twist over newly minted Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is fourfold:

(a) She's a woman.

(b) She's a POC.

(c) She speaks truth to power.

(d) In her original video that spawned the above meme, she's expressing the kind of unbridled joy in life that the perpetually angry, ass-clenching GOP will never experience and it's driving them insane.

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Quote of the Day

Nancy Pelosi has just arrived at the Capitol and I want to run up to her screaming, "Mom! Mom! Thank God you're home! The babysitter is batshit cray and starting fires!" ~ Amee Vanderpool

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Tumblr Update

Tumblr was never big on my radar, other than for grabbing menz for posting on Voenix Rising. (And um…for other, more personal reasons.) It was difficult enough coming up new, at least mildly interesting content for this blog without having to also maintain a fully functioning Tumblr as well. Still, I liked the platform and occasionally posted (or reposted) material there that never appeared on VoenixRising, something that has become abundantly clear as I scroll through the "Media" folder of my recently downloaded Tumblr (and is something I hope to rectify going forward).

As I mentioned when the whole Tumblr debacle started, I already have more than enough unpublished material amassed to keep you porn-dog Voenix Rising readers happy for years, but Tumblr's announcement that it was deleting all NSFW material from its site really pissed me off; not so much because it would make finding new material more difficult, but because it was a direct shot across the bow to freedom of expression.

But where was everyone moving to? A lot of people seem to be opting for Twitter, a venue that I was absolutely shocked to discover allowed porn at all—and one I fear will be the next target of online censorship (although as Ben pointed out, as long as the Orange Menace's tiny fingers are clicking away, Twitter is unlikely to do anything to limit his audience, even if porn-dogs aren't exactly his target audience). I already have a Twitter presence as you well know, and if a lot of my favorite Tumblrs end up posting there I may actually be able to stomach more than two minutes a day on the site, but let's face it: the Twitter experience overall just isn't the same as Tumblr.

Others are moving to Mastodon. I checked it out, and it looks interesting. I created an account there and we'll see how it goes. I haven't posted much of anything yet, but if you want to bookmark me, click here. (I'll also be adding a link to the account on the "Social" widget at the right.)

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The Morning After

Was it a Blue Tsunami? No, but a blue wave did wash out a good amount of the garbage infecting government.

As of this posting it's still a toss-up between Arizona's two Senate candidates. It may be days (or weeks) before we know the results, and even then both sides have said the courts will be enlisted no matter who wins.

And don't panic about Jeff Session's "resignation." We all saw this coming—including Mr. Mueller—who has undoubtedly already got failsafes in place for this very eventuality.

The following is unabashedly stolen from I Should Be Laughing because it sums up what happened yesterday more succinctly than I could ever hope to.

Okay … was it all we hoped for? Was it better than we expected? No, but that's okay because, first off, we took the House, putting an end to those in Congress who will do whatever the Racist-In-Chief wants to do.

Beto lost to Ted Cruz in Texas, but in the long run it might be for the best because whatever Beto O'Rourke does next, and in the future, he will always best Cruz.

Florida once again proved they put the 'Duh' in Flori-duh by electing racist Trumpets Ron DeSantis over Andrew Gillum, and, as of now, making it a tie between Rick Scott and Bill Nelson.

But enough about that …. Let's talk some good stuff.

Kim Davis, the Kentucky Kounty Klerk who famously refused to sign marriage licenses for gay couples, lost her reelection bid to Democratic challenger Elwood Caudill Jr.

Karma is good.

Up in Minnesota they have elected Ilhan Omar, a Democrat, as the country's first Somali-American elected to Congress. In Michigan, Rashida Tlaib, who also won her election. Tlaib and Omar will be the first Muslim women in Congress.

In Colorado, Jared Polis won the governor's race and is the first openly gay person to be elected governor in America.

Funny side note: the Colorado cake baker who refused to bake a cake for a gay couple now has a gay governor.

Angie Craig, a lesbian candidate, won her race to take the U.S. House seat for Minnesota, unseating Republican Jason Lewis, a vicious anti-LGBT lawmaker.

Allis not good everywhere, because Iowa has reelected Nazi-sympathizer, racist and white supremacist Steve King to a ninth term. Really, Iowa?

Democrat Anthony Brindisi is the winner of the race for New York's 22nd Congressional District, besting Trump supporter and asshat, Claudia Tenney.

Gay former Marine Neil Rafferty won his race for the State House in Alabama. The seat was vacated by Patricia Todd, Alabama's first openly gay legislator.

Chris Pappas is now New Hampshire's first openly gay member of Congress.

Kris Koback, a Trump lapdog, wanted to be governor of Kansas; Kansans said, 'No.'

Dana Rohrabacher, one of Putin's favorite lawmakers, appears to have lost his bid for reelection to represent California's 48th congressional district in Congress.

GOP Governor Scott Walker lost in Wisconsin.

Massachusetts voters have handed a resounding victory for transgender people, voting Yes On 3 and defeating a first-of-its-kind effort to repeal the state's landmark transgender rights law.

J.D. Ford, another openly gay man, bested Republican Mike Delph, who is best known for his staunch opposition to gay marriage equality.

Sharice Davids made history as the first openly gay Native American elected to Congress in Kansas.

Jennifer Webb, another LGBTQ candidate, and Democrat won a narrow victory to take a seat in Florida's state Legislature. Webb is the first openly LGBTQ woman elected to that position.

Ayanna Presley has become the first Black congresswoman in Massachusetts.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest person ever in the House of Representatives.

Lauren Underwood wins her House race, becoming the first Black Woman to win her Illinois district.

91% of all the House candidates Trump endorsed lost last night.

Democrats flipped—as of posting time last night—some 28 House seats.

Democrats have flipped 5 governor seats.

Democrats have flipped 4 state legislative chambers.

Democrats took control of the NY State Senate.

Democrats flipped 21 state legislative seats.

Democrats flipped 3 state Supreme Court seats.

Democrats broke the North Carolina GOP supermajority.

Democrats rebuilt the "Blue Wall" in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and that's a big deal for 2020.

Winning the House means that Adam Schiff, not Trump lapdog Devin Nunes, will chair the House Intel Committee.

Democrats can investigate and check the Trump Administration.

Your votes mattered.

But, no matter what happens, remember this: we are done with Paul Ryan.

And don't feel bad about the lack of a Blue Tsunami. With wins at local and state levels we are setting the stage for 2020 and beyond; with wins for women and people of color and LGBTQ Americans, we are setting the stage to take the power from old rich white men.

The game is on!

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Own It

You're trash. You've always been trash. When liberals were polite, you were trash. When liberals got a little rude, you were still trash. Now that we're tired of your shit and treating you like the trash you are, you're mortally offended and blaming us for being trash? Get the fuck out of here.

You laugh at sexual assault victims. You cheer Latino children being tortured. You get off on police murdering unarmed black men. You mock the disabled. You send death threats to high school students opposed to guns. You call for the murder of homosexuals. You. Are. Trash.

I know it's hard to look in the mirror and realize that you're the worst that humanity has to offer but you made that choice. No one forced you to be a garbage person. You did that. You. You can stop any time you want, too. But you won't because deep down inside, you like being trash. Own it. That's why you love Trump so much. He told you that being trash is OK and you thought you could come out of the shadows and walk tall as a garbage person.

It's not working out the way you thought it would and that's pissing you off so very, very much but I couldn't care less. Blame us all you want for your weakness. No one believes your whining bullshit anymore. Not even you. You're trash and in four weeks, America is going to take the trash out.

Source

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By Your Deeds Shall You Know Them

From John Pavlovitz:

To Young Men and Women of America,

Have you heard us?
Is our message getting through?

We've been talking to you this week, trying to make sure you understand who we are, what kind of America we're building here, the future nation we're dreaming of.

We think we've been clear and compelling in our declarations, and we've done our best not to leave any ambiguity as to our hearts or our plans or our intentions.

We think our tirades and our condescension and our insults and our sneering tantrums have spoken eloquently about us and about you.

We hope Lindsey and Donald and Chuck and Orrin and Mitch and Brett and Susan have made a strong case—but if not, let us be more explicit in these moments, so there can be no confusion. After all, November is coming and we want you to be certain…

To the Young Men of America,

You can do whatever you want to young women.

You can disregard their humanity,
force yourself on them physically,
ignore their pleas to stop,
proceed without consent,
hurt them,
humiliate them,
indulge your urges,
treat them as property,
and silence, slander, and intimidate them after the fact.

You can do this as often as you like, to as many young girls as opportunity and your desires allow.

We will have your back (providing you are white, wealthy, and one day vote Republican.)

We will marshal our every resource of finance and position and privilege in protecting and defending you.

You will receive sanctuary in our midst, regardless of the horrors you are responsible for or the recklessness and brazenness of your conduct.

We will help you in any way we can, to malign your accuser's character, destroy their credibility, and embarrass them further.

We will blame alcohol or her memory or her behavior in the past.
We will talk about your viciousness in ways designed to make it seem commonplace.
We will paint you in as flattering a portrait as we can, so that you actually come out looking like the victim, so that the accusations are actually a help.
We will have no loyalty to the truth or to goodness or decency, if such things pose a threat to either your narrative or our prosperity.
We'll use the invaluable resource of the Evangelical Church to even make supporting you, part of God's will.

If no other option is available, we will simply ignore what you've done. (After all we installed a President that way.)

We will never allow the violence you make young women endure, to prevent you from having opportunity and advancement and success.

We can promise you that.

And to Young Women of America,

You don't matter.

Not your trauma or your pain,
not the innocence you lose,
not the damage you sustain,
not the scars you are marked by,
not the nightmares you are haunted by,
not the peace you no longer find,
not the confidence that leaves you,
not the fear that is ever present,
not the shame that you cannot shake,
not the silence you are imprisoned by.

We simply do not see you as valuable—at least not as valuable as the status quo we're protecting or the legislation we're coveting or the religion we're perpetuating or the votes we're needing.

You are the acceptable collateral damage of our misogyny and entitlement.

Your body, your emotional health, and your sense of safety—simply aren't worth more than a Supreme Court seat.

Of course, should a pregnancy somehow be created by your violation, we will vigorously demand that you be forced to carry it, even if it exacerbates your pain and magnifies your despair. After all, we urgently need to perpetuate the appearance that we are pro-life—just not your life.

We can imagine this is less than ideal for you, but we hope you understand that this is how it has always been, and we are counting on you to indulge us one last time, and we appreciate your cooperation.

After all, ee have a Patriarchy and a predatory President to protect.

So, young men and women of America, we hope you see us with clarity.
We hope that in these days, we are exposing ourselves fully.
We hope you know who we are now.

We'll see you in November.

Sincerely,

The Republican Party of 2018

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Quote of the Day

Mitch McConnell just stood on the Senate floor and called the women accusing Brett Kavanaugh liars. Somewhere in America a young woman was just sexually attacked. She hears him loud and clear: Vote. ~ Randi Mayem Singer

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Quote of the Day

Sometimes I think it's useful to think of this presidency as a hostage-taking situation. We have a president holding liberal democracy hostage, empowered by a cult following. The goal is to get through this without killing any hostages, i.e., without irreparable breaches in our democratic system. Come at him too directly and you might provoke the very thing you are trying to avoid. Somehow, we have to get the nut job to put the gun down and let the hostages go, without giving in to any of his demands. From the moment Trump took office, we were in this emergency. All that we now know, in a way we didn't, say, a year ago, is that the chances of a successful resolution are close to zero." ~Andrew Sullivan

When Andrew Sullivan starts sounding sane, you know we're in trouble.