No title can do this justice

Twelve dead California.

Jeff Sessions fired (yay) and replaced with a lickspittle who wrote an OpEd stating Mueller has gone too far and Judges need to take biblical views.

Jim Acosta banned from White House after the White House released doctored footage making it look like he attacked an intern.

 THIS ALL HAPPENED TODAY.

We've barley had time to think about the impact of the midterms, and things have taken a shockingly quick downward spiral. This IS NOT NORMAL. Scandals every day are abnormal. A president who attacks individuals is not normal.I've been screaming "this is not normal" for two years. And even though we flipped the house and won a lot of victories, it now feels so, so insignificant.

All because the worst president in history still sits atop his empire, the trembling lickspittals in the GOP unwilling to stand up for America.

America and God judges you. Only one of them will have mercy. 

The Trippening part five; that's entertainment

FiL made us a huge breakfast of bacon, gravy, eggs, hash browns, and drop biscuits. But  no worries, we're gonna work all that off by immediately going to the movies with the family.

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Look at this cool display the theater had:

And yes, I liked the movie.

We saw Going in Style, a really funny bank-heist movie, and (apparently) a remake.  Would recommend to anyone who enjoys Freeman, Caine, or Arkin.

After the movie we had lunch at Jason's deli. Now, I come from a long line of people who can be particular about delis, but this one was very nice. And you got complimentary ice cream!

A very accurate portayal of my caprese panini.

I'm resting a bit now, before tacos and trivia night at the local clubhouse with the family.

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Minor/major no-vacation note here: yes, the press secretary is a Nazi. Yes, he needs to be fired. No, I don't think he will be. I'm so tired of posting about how I'm terrified for my friends and family. I'm no less terrified, but I can't spend every moment screaming. There are memes I could add here for visual appeal, but fuck that, I'm not about to let this be a joke.

And yes, this happened on the first day of Passover. Seems like we need a modified end to the prayer.

"Praise to You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, for giving us life, for sustaining us, and for enabling us to reach this season.

...for we may not reach another.

Happy Passover.

Okay, back to the family fun. Promise.

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Another night spent at karaoke, with friends, family, and tacos.

Specifically these tacos, Mmm.

It was a great day.

Boycotting boycotting

Hawaii was the first state to block Trump's new travel ban. So now Trump supporters are urging a boycott of Hawaii.

Much like the laughable Hamilton boycott, this is just idiotic on it's face. Not only can you NOT boycott something you weren't able to get to/use anyway, people are not considering the everyday things they use from Hawaii and how a serious boycott would actually affect them.

Want to eat guacamole? NOPE! You're boycotting that now, along with coffee, macadamia nuts, bananas, guavas, papayas, and tomatoes. No pineapple on your pizza either.

or your pens.

Well, what about a night at the movies? Have fun avoiding Dwayne Johnston, the best-paid star in Hollywood. Also no Game or Thrones of Justice League for you, thanks to Jason Momoa.

This guy made Aquaman cool, damnit!

You can't even drown your sorrows in soda; Hawaii makes a LOT of cane sugar. Which is in pretty much everything. No tuna fish, no cotton cloth, or special spam recipes either.

Though like pineapple, this will hit some harder than others.

"Boycotters" need to admit it: #BoycottHawaii is just saber rattling. They're not going to bother to check where these things come from, or pay more to get non-Hawaiian versions of them. And good luck to them trying explaining how Moana is evil to their kids. See how far that gets you.

Oh, and just in case they are able to avoid ALL these things, Maryland has also stopped the ban. Yet (gasp!) I don't see anyone saying #BoycottMaryland and it's fine output of crabs and planes. It's almost like a bunch of racists seized on a state they were never going to visit anyway, just to be part of an echo chamber!

And as for the possible lost tourism? I think this sums it up pretty well:

That moment when

One of my favorite video game reviewers is a crazy racist.

JonTron, a video game an movie reviewer so funny that I actually watch his video game reviews, tweeted and debated in a video some things about immigration, racism, and other hot-button political issues. Highlights apparently include him claiming "colonialism benefited the people that were colonized, wealthy black Americans commit more crimes than poor whites, the court system doesn’t display bias against people of color, that Irish and Italians were always considered “white” in America, and that Black Lives Matter doesn’t disavow violence."

Well, shit.

The JonTron reddit page has locked down in response to this, but not before some memes got in. Memes make everything better, right?

No, memes don't make everything better.

Damnit, I just got to work, saw there was an article about JonTron in google news, and now I've got a damned moral dilemma. I wasn't even sure I had any subject matter for a blog. I wish I didn't.

This isn't like when rape allegations are brought against a celebrity, and I can get rid of their books and unsubscribe from their channel without looking back. This is America, and Jon can hold any political beliefs that he chooses. They can be dumb, ignorant, or even alternative facts, and you'll still go far, as Mr. Trump has proven.

But a bunch of the things he said were just incorrect on their face. Black Lives Matter DOES advocate for non-violence. Irish and Italians weren't always considered white in America. There IS racial bias in our courts.

The question now is, can I separate JonTron the entertainer from Jon Jafari the person I deeply disagree with.

This isn't without precedent. Mel Gibson is a fine actor, even if he is a shitty human (although, I've not watched any of his directorial work or old movies since the incidents). I've often said you either need to be a good person or a good actor (my chosen hobby) for me to work with you. I can count on one hand the number of people I personally know who have failed on both counts.

Sometimes the charge is too great, and one thing cannot trump the other: I've rid my home of Bill Cosby and Orson Scott Card's material. Rape, Homophobia, and Antisemitism are my hottest hot-button issues. You fail those marks, I don't care how talented you are. We're done.

So, one of my favorite entertainers is at best, misguided and misinformed, and at worst an active racist and isolationist.

I guess if we can have one running the country, I can watch one make funny videos.

Broken News 2.0

In the few hours that have passed since my last blog, Trump suggested that Jews themselves are making the bomb threats.

A spokeperson already's covering for Trump, stating "He means (he) was referring to protesters."

Steven Goldstein has said it better than I can:  “If the reports are true, President Trump has gone over the Anti-Semitic deep end,” Steven Goldstein, the executive director of the Anne Frank Center, said in a statement.” "Mr. President, have you no decency? To cast doubt on the authenticity of Anti-Semitic hate crimes in America constitutes Anti-Semitism in itself, and that's something none of us ever dreamed would disgrace our nation from the White House,” Goldstein added. “If the reports are true, you owe the American Jewish community an apology."

People are going to die, and this MONSTER is blaming the victims. Classic abuser move.

Broken News

Hey, so I haven't made a depressing blog about antisemitism yet.

It's still going on. Headstones wasn't even the beginning; there's been a spike in antisemitism, with 67 bomb threats in 27 states. Yes, that includes the mitten.

After months of threats and desecration, Trump stated it was "horrible" and vowed to take unspecific action. He also refused to call these hate crimes antisemitism. Much like he refused to address that Jews died in the Holocaust. Maybe that's because President Bannon is a not-so-closeted white supremacist.

The Anne Frank Center has decried Trump's inaction several times. Today they stated Trump is at least partly to blame. Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center, said: "Mr. President, it doesn't matter whether you think you are personally responsible for the continued acts of hate against Jews, including today's latest bomb threats. Rightly or wrongly, the most vicious antisemites in America are looking at you and your administration as a nationalistic movement granting them permission to attack Jews, Jewish institutions, and sacred Jewish sites. Mr. President, you cannot just say this is not your fault. Slow and inadequate responses can make it partly your fault. You must do more than belatedly condemn antisemitism. You must act to prevent it as if all our families were at stake."

Trump has Jewish grand-kids, remember. He can't even muster up the courage to condemn something that DIRECTLY AFFECTS HIS FAMILY.

The Anne Frank Center has condemned Trump and his reactions (and lack thereof) before. They're saying what I've been saying; Trump's (in)action is NOT ENOUGH.

We've seen what happens when these sorts of acts are unaddressed, or half-heartedly condemned.

Maybe there's too much going on for him to address this, you say?



Yeah.

Trump's silence isn't just on this issue. There's been no word from the White House about the fatal terror attack on a Kansas man. Instead he whines about FAKE NEWS, the NY Times, and his cowardice about the White House Correspondence Dinner. And he has the gall to say the media doesn't report terror attacks?

I'm getting off topic.

There's two ways this ends; someone actually kills a Jewish person, or the threats stop and nobody gets hurt. I'll pray for the latter.

I'm prepping for the former.