Quote of the day – “Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump.”

“Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump. It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, whoever disagreed, whoever challenged him — it is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

– Omarosa Manigault, speaking in “The Choice 2016,” a Frontline episode about the presidential candidates airing this coming Tuesday, September 27, at 9 PM Eastern

The original Trump surrogate

Quote of the day – Trump reality vs. Trump illusion

“Although Donald’s business career is marked by early successes overshadowed by later, repeated failures, flirtations with personal bankruptcy, sequential corporate bankruptcies, the squandering of billions of dollars, and the safety cushion of a multimillion-dollar inheritance from his wealthy father, he is prime-time TV’s most sought-after and enchanting guru for aspiring entrepreneurs. Donald is the country’s premier embodiment of the self-made man.” – Timothy L. O’Brien, TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald (2005)

I highly recommend Chapter 8, “TrumpSpin,” to members of the media.

Recommended: Sherpa

Tremendous documentary, now on the Discovery Channel. (One aspect I emphatically do not recommend are the subtitles. Why anyone would place small white subtitles with no box behind them over a snowy, icy landscape is beyond me.)

“Saudi Arabia Uncovered” this Tuesday, March 29, on Frontline

“All the people are angry, but the problem is that they can’t speak. Everyone is scared of being imprisoned…. If the truth comes out it will be the beginning of the end for [the regime].”

Frontline on PBS will be airing “Saudi Arabia Uncovered” this Tuesday, March 29, at 10 PM Eastern, 9 PM Central. People, at least in the US (I’m not sure about other countries), will also be able to watch it online beginning on Tuesday.

AMA calls for ban on DTC drug ads

Better late than never, I suppose.

Quotes of the day

From the MSNBC news “ticker” during Rachel Maddow tonight:

“Three people killed and more than 20 injured in stabbing and shooting attacks in Israel.”

“Secretary of State Kerry condemns attacks on Israeli civilians, says violence ‘has got to stop’.”

“Israeli PM Netanyahu vows ‘aggressive’ response to recent spate of violence.”

Another perspective.

Does the Israeli government think this can go on forever? It can’t, and it won’t.

“The Bangladesh Blogger Murders” on BBC

BBC Our World is showing a report on the murders of atheist and secularist bloggers in Bangladesh. It describes the strong Bangladeshi secular traditions the courageous bloggers and others are determined to preserve and defend.

Our World: The Bangladesh Blogger Murders will be broadcast this weekend on BBC World News, at 11.30, 16.30 & 22.30 GMT on Saturday, 26th September and at 17.30 GMT on Sunday, 27th September.

I’ll post the video if/when it becomes available.

Two good James O’Brien interviews about Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the US, and the UK

(The second interview begins around the 7-minute mark.)

As Glenn Greenwald argues:

It’s so fun - and so easy - to highlight and protest the bad acts done by the countries declared to be the Bad Ones by your own government. It’s not quite as fun or easy to highlight and protest the bad acts done by your own government itself or its closest allies. Yet as O’Brien pointed out, journalism is far more valuable, and the public interest served far more, by doing the latter rather than the former.

Dear Rachel Maddow,

Hugo Chávez was not a dictator. He was a popular, democratically elected president of Venezuela. You imperil Venezuelan democracy and empower the Right in Venezuela and the US when you repeat such bogus characterizations. There are very real forces working diligently to overthrow South American democracies and to (re)establish US-dominated corporatocracies, real dictatorships, and your carelessness has helped their cause. Millions of lives are at stake. I hope you’ll be more responsible in the future, and correct this error from tonight’s broadcast.

Update: This goes for you, too, Bernie Sanders.

Mr. Robot

Good show.



Good soundtrack.

Historical quote of the day

“Either we will have a coup, quick and dry, or another kind, or the proposal we’re making [for the Chávez government to step down]. There’s no other way to get past the deadlock being played out here in Venezuela.” – Venezuelan rightwing opposition leader Leopoldo López, April 11, 2002

This statement from an interview on a morning talk show is quoted in Roberto Lovato’s Foreign Policy article, “The Making of Leopoldo López.” Lovato was interviewed yesterday on Democracy Now!:



The full transcript is here, but the interview is a bit rushed and potentially confusing to anyone unfamiliar with the context. Better to read the FP article itself. (I do wish citations or video links had been provided for all of the quotations. That really should be standard practice.) A couple of thoughts:

The US rightwing propaganda and psyops experts, aided by the US media, have convinced our resident dupes that these people are progressive democratic activists and not far-Right, fat cat, violent coup-plotters. It’s the Cold War all over again.

And speaking of which, what is it with Kenyon College? The evidence presented in Frances Stonor Saunders’ The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters was surprising given my previous image of the school. And now I learn that López and several rightwing figures in the US involved with the Venezuelan opposition are alumni…

How is it possible…

that the promising The Divide was cancelled, while the atrocious Murder in the First was renewed? Murder in the First is so very bad – the writing, the characters, the storylines,…did I mention the writing? I’m actually offended by this show. It’s not that the stories are lazy or mediocre, but that they’re actively, aggressively awful. I truly hate it.

On the other hand, Lifetime’s UnREAL is a summer surprise. Not that Devious Maids isn’t entertaining, but this is in another league.

A reminder of how much Republicans hate women and girls

Rachel Maddow last night on Republican priorities:

Dr. Sidney Freedman

And speaking of television…

Growing up, I never knew any psychiatrists. There were none in my immediate world of family and parents’ friends. So I came to understand what psychiatrists did through TV characters. Reading Paula Caplan’s book reminded me that my model of humanistic psychiatry – to be sure, there might be some idealization in my recollections – was Sidney Freedman, an occasional character on M*A*S*H played perfectly by Allan Arbus. He was compassionate, curious, undogmatic. He rejected military claims about psychological problems manifesting weakness or cowardice, and always appreciated the psychological toll of war. He took people’s problems seriously, whether a surgeon’s sleepwalking or a soldier’s belief that he was Jesus, but never pathologized them. (And his few interactions with Col. Flagg were beautiful.)

Contrasting that model to today’s psychiatry is depressing. It’s true that he was a fictional character. And that there do exist some humanistic practitioners today. And also that the psychiatry of that era wasn’t all wonderful: humanistic currents were always marginal or marginalized; sexism, homophobia, victim-blaming, self-help nonsense, and adjustment psychiatry abounded; and terrible interventions were used (some of which continue today). But I’m happy that the M*A*S*H writers created the character – today, when it seems psychiatry couldn’t get less humanistic in its approach, Sidney Freedman reminds us that another psychiatry is possible.

Incidentally, Me TV will be showing the M*A*S*H finale episode – which features Dr. Freedman - along with interviews with actors and writers, this Sunday, May 3, at 7 PM EDT.

Speaking of Jon Stewart…

I didn’t know any of this:

Jon Stewart recently purchased a farm in New Jersey with the intention of providing a sanctuary for farm animals rescued from cruelty.

…Stewart’s wife, Tracey, is also an avid supporter of farm animals’ rights. She discovered Farm Sanctuary after reading Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food, [Gene] Baur’s 2008 account of the conception and evolution of the organization….

…“The joy of interacting with animals as friends instead of using them for human consumption is life-changing,” says Tracey in a press release. “A trip to Farm Sanctuary should be on everyone’s to-do list, but you can also bring a little bit of sanctuary home when you sponsor an animal through the Adopt a Farm Animal Program.”

…Because of these reasons, the organization has named two rescued sheep Jon and Tracey in their honor. The Stewarts will be further recognized at a Gala on October 24 2015 in New York City.

Here’s a link to the Farm Sanctuary.

And here's president and co-founder of the Farm Sanctuary Gene Baur on The Daily Show a few weeks ago:

Black Ties Matter

Jessica Williams gets it just right:*

The Daily Show
Daily Show Full Episodes, More Daily Show Videos, Comedy Central Full Episodes

*(except the capital, in the global context, encompasses much more of the country)

You and Me

Whatever the vicissitudes in the quality of Revenge,* the music has never faltered. In the last episode:



* The line last week about how Amanda was being seen as the modern-day Count of Monte Cristo was perfect.

The many ways to lose your voice

Ophelia posted earlier today about Deeyah Khan’s article, “Women’s Voices Must Not Be Silenced.” It struck me because it touched on what I’ve been thinking about in recent weeks, especially since learning about the heartrending plight of Tamil writer Perumal Marugan last month. Khan argues:

We need to be able to guarantee the safety of all artists and activists for human rights, so that it no longer takes extraordinary courage to call for a better world – so that every person with the ability to imagine peace, equality, progress and justice can express their dreams and hopes without fear.

We tend to focus on the most desperate cases, on the bravest people who already write and continue writing in the face of threats, violence, and repression. My culture even tends to romanticize so-called artistic suffering, to the point that personal pain and political repression are thought to be the basis for and even a requirement of great art. But even the most courageous artists defending free expression don’t want to be martyrs. They want to live in a world in which there are no martyrs to free expression and in which voices aren’t lost. And there are so many ways to lose them.

If you’re raised to believe you have nothing to say, or nothing anyone wants to hear, your voice can be lost. If you’re ignored, your voice can be lost. If you’re abused or taught to fear and hide from the world, your voice can be lost. If you’re not taught how to read or to express yourself, your voice can be lost. If you’re hungry or malnourished, your voice can be lost. If you’re led to believe that writing isn’t something people like you should do – because you’re a boy, because you’re a girl, because you’re black, because you’re poor – your voice can be lost. If you’re indoctrinated, punished for independent or “sinful” thought, and sheltered from new ideas, your voice can be lost. If you’re bullied and terrorized at school, your voice can be lost. If you’re traumatized as a child by war or mass violence, your voice can be lost. If you’re forced to spend your childhood working on a farm or in a factory or taking care of others, your voice can be lost. If no one in your world understands or believes in you, your voice can be lost. If you have nowhere to share your ideas, your voice can be lost.

If higher education isn’t affordable, your voice can be lost. If every day is a struggle just to survive or to care for your family, your voice can be lost. If you have to work long hours to support yourself or your family, your voice can be lost. If you’re homeless, your voice can be lost. If you’re unemployed and lose hope, your voice can be lost. If you’re terrorized and abused by your partner, your voice can be lost. If you don’t have access to books or research materials, your voice can be lost. If you have to migrate and never have secure legal status, your voice can be lost. If you’re a refugee, your voice can be lost. If you become sick and don’t have access to health care, your voice can be lost. If you have a disability your society can’t or won’t remedy or accommodate, your voice can be lost.

If your country’s government censors or destroys your work, your voice can be lost. If they threaten you or your family, your voice can be lost. If they spy on you, your voice can be lost. If they criminalize writing about the subjects you care about, your voice can be lost. If they block your access to the internet and to communities you could join, your voice can be lost. If they bar you from studying, your voice can be lost. If they secretly destroy your career, your voice can be lost. If they alienate you from colleagues and friends, your voice can be lost. If they blackmail you, your voice can be lost. If they blacklist you, your voice can be lost. If they make you think you’re hated, harmful, or irrelevant, your voice can be lost. If you’re denied reproductive rights, your voice can be lost. If they conscript you into the military, your voice can be lost. If they convince you that it’s futile to continue writing since your work will never be published or have an audience, your voice can be lost. If they (or a corporation) launch an underground campaign to smear and discredit you, your voice can be lost. If they imprison you, your voice can be lost. If they call you insane, if they institutionalize and forcibly drug you, your voice can be lost. If they beat or torture you, your voice can be lost. If your country is invaded and thrown into chaos, your voice can be lost.

If your society ignores, dismisses, or mocks you or your work because you’re a woman, or black, or gay, or undocumented,…, your voice can be lost. If you’re harassed or threatened or stalked online, your voice can be lost. If you’re raped, your voice can be lost. If your family threatens you, your voice can be lost. If they claim you’ve dishonored them, your voice can be lost. If they force you into marriage, your voice can be lost. If your community denies you the right to go out alone, to socialize, to travel, to experience life, your voice can be lost. If fanatics threaten you or your family, your voice can be lost. If they intimidate media outlets so they won’t publish your words, your voice can be lost. If they create a climate of fear by attacking and killing writers and artists, your voice can be lost. If they create a climate of fear by attacking and killing black people, immigrants, Jews, Muslims,…, your voice can be lost. If they menacingly protest the presentation of your work, your voice can be lost. If they put a bounty on your head, your voice can be lost. If they convince you that things are only going to get worse for writers, your voice can be lost. If they force you into exile, your voice can be lost.

We should admire the bravery of people like Raif Badawi and his colleagues, like Avijit Roy and Rafida Ahmed Banna, like the staff at Charlie Hebdo, like the women listed by Deeyah Khan. We should honor those martyred for their courage. But we should understand that the struggle to realize the right of free expression involves so much more than these desperate battles, and so much more than the strength and resilience of individual writers. It involves the long struggle for a world that not only does away with the many forces that silence people but actively cultivates free expression. I think this also means greater empathy; it means not demanding some narrow model of heroism from writers.

I’ll leave you with Crystal Valentine, reciting her poem on Melissa Harris-Perry’s show this morning:

“It's a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”

I HATE that fucking song. HATE. It’s featured, fully into this century, in virtually every single season of singing competitions. And to make matters worse, it’s often chosen by women. Imagine if it were about how “this is a white man’s world.” Can we send it back to 1966?