I'm still very tired, because I have had almost no sleep over what is happening to our nation.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today's took me 2:48 (average 5:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: …But then I thought, Maybe not. There’s a strong argument that there’s nothing more hilarious to a child than the notion of adults screwing up. The cliché of the bumbling sitcom dad, as well as every Kevin James movie ever made, relies on this principle. When kids see adults do something stupid, it makes them feel smarter and more secure about their own place in the world. Finally, I had something I could work with.
When my daughter came home, I sat her down at the kitchen table, gave her a Kit Kat from her hoard of Halloween candy, and offered this explanation of the election: “Imagine the stupidest thing you could ever do, like peeing on a stack of pancakes. Now, imagine that the United States is a stack of pancakes. Millions of grownups just peed on it.”
She started giggling. This explanation made sense to her. As she ran off to play, I was relieved, and grateful for the alacrity with which children laugh at their elders. But I am still waiting for someone to explain the election to me.
Wow Andy! What a perfect way to explain the election of Fuhrer Drumphenfarten to a child. This is the end of the article, Everyone, please click through for the beginning.
From YouTube (SNL Channel)(Hat-Tip JD): Election Week Cold Open
This brought me agonized tears for my country.
If you cannot access this SNL video because you're in Canada or elsewhere, try http://globalnews.ca/news/3063982/kate-mckinnons-hillary-clinton-sings-leonard-cohens-hallelujah-in-post-election-snl-skit/?sf42252769=1
From Think Progress: On Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump appointed Steve Bannon as “Chief Strategist to the President.” Bannon is the proprietor of Breitbart, a website that promotes and caters to the alt-right, a euphemism for people who promote white nationalist and white supremacist ideologies.
Ben Shapiro, who worked alongside Bannon as Editor-at-Large of Breitbart, said that under Bannon’s leadership “Breitbart has become the alt-right go-to website… pushing white ethno-nationalism as a legitimate response to political correctness, and the comment section turning into a cesspool for white supremacist mememakers.”
In short, Fuhrer Drumphenfarten's right hand man in the White House is a Nazi. The Alt-Right are calling Bannon "Trump's Minister of Propaganda" and celebrating.
Cartoon:
That's what Republican Supply-side Jesus (the opposite of the real Jesus) promised. That's what he did.
15 Responses to “Open Thread – 11/14/2016”
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4:43 "Shot" is definitely the mot juste.
TNY – Brilliant, Andy. Exactly the right touch. Now can someone explain to me why we elected someone so outrageous that the entire mainstream media is swimming with advice on how to explain it to your kids? I can only thank God I don't have any.
SNL – I learned about Leonard Cohen before he was cool, and then drifted away, so was not familiar with "Hallelujah." (I do, however, know "Sisters of Mercy.") What a song. What a performance. How poignant and touching and absolutely right.
TP – Nothing to say. "I told you so" is not really anything to say.
Cartoon – Saw this while combing through the library, and I could not agree with you more that it is more appropriate now than ever. Sigh.
NYer: What a wonderful way to explain to a child how and what to expect from this incoming administration, and how our world is going to change. The innocence of a child. Wish I was a kid again, myself.
YT: Kate owned it. When I first watched this, I got choked up. Watched it a second time, and I cried. Says it all, imho.
TP: Ugh. Just plain u.g.h.!!!
Cartoon: A.men.
I feel your pain. I think I'm (and others in my inner circle) are in the waves of depression here in my red state, as I'm sure most are feeling it. Hope that you get some rest though. Take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Andy: Very well put. It's making me laugh,too. And, the video is great!
SNL: So well done, saw it Saturday night.
TP: I have commented, before, about the peole who will gravitate towards the Empty One, by invitation, or on their scuzy own, and here is an example of just that.
This piece, sent to me by a good friend, strikes a chord that vibrates, resonates, I belieive, with most of us:
Amen
Lord have mercy on us all.
Thanks, Mitch, this is the best explanation of our grief that I have read and I am sharing it.
Very well said!
Any chance of having Prozac – or some other mood-elevator psychotropic – added to all our water supplies?
Lord knows we're going to need it!
The New Yorker: Thanks for posting this, I sent it to my son. His seven year old daughter has had three serous arguments at school since the election. She is a yellow dog Democrat at the age of seven! Remember, they live in Mississippi, not exactly a baston of Blue voters.
UTube SNL: This put a lump in my throat. We must never give up! I just wish I knew what to do now, other than the very real work of trying to get more progressives involved in the next state elections, and hoping to survive the next four years.
Think Progress: This tells more about Trump than anything. Either he is to dim witted to know he has appointed a Nazi, or he knows and is glad. Either one is horrible.
Cartoon: Yep.
Thanks, TC! Loved Andy's piece!
Puzzle — 3:24 A picture of many, many progressive eyes in the US for now, to be revived with the passion of a new start.
The New Yorker — Sometimes, it is best that adults understand like a young child. Is it necessary to understand all the complexities right now? The complexities will take longer to be revealed. From that point, iy is necessary to plan and build.
Youtube — I hope you don't mind that I added the link from JD's e-mail so those that can't get SNL may be able to get the other. It is very, very moving. I have been singing it for days having heard it performed elsewhere.
Think Progress — Freakin' unbelievable!
Cartoon — "…deliver you to evil!" Hell is entering the White House through the front door come January and it won't be pretty!
I don't mind at all.
It's all very worrisome, TomCat,, but you can't have Drumpf and the Republicans win more than the election by having your health get poorly due to sleep deprivation. It's easier said than done, I really know that, but you can do so much more to fight them if your bright and bushy tailed. Oops, I might have the wrong species there.
TNY: Andy explained it well to his young daughter, and for now she was happy in her innocence. But how is he going to explain the next four years, and their aftermath, to her? In those years she'll grow old enough to see she and her generation will have to live with the consequences of adults screwing up. They are the generation that has to eat those peed-on pancakes
YouTube(SNL): Bittersweet tribute to Cohen and Democracy.
TP: Well, as you can imagine, this was measured out big time in our national news. They didn't call Bannon, or Drumpf, a fascist but they didn't have to, it was very clear from the report. It's not a surprise, but still a shock. The man who everybody thought would not let himself be controlled is completely overwhelmed, panicking and throwing America under the bus even before he's taken office. Drumpf is going down hill even faster than I expected him to.
Cartoon: Too appropriate.
Wasn't it nearly 47% who didn't vote – for whatever reason. Perhaps they weren't allowed time off work, perhaps they didn't realise or found it too difficult to get some sort of postal vote/vote early, perhaps they thought it didn't matter as no country with any respect for itself could elect anything like Trump. I hope they are sorry now and soon realise how their non-participation in politics has given evil its head.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing – Edmund Burke.
Can you take melatonin TC? I have just bought some for a friend with the most awful sleep problems and it is helping her…
46.9% didn't vote
25.6% voted for Clinton
25.5% voted for Trump
1.7% voted for Johnson
< 1% voted for Stein
Thanks all! Hugs!!