BUT BUT BUT BUT HER E-MAILZ...!!!!!

18 May 2017 update: March on, Blog March!

With love to the ever brilliant, beautiful, multi-talented, and angelic Robin Renee, who is truly the best person I've ever known, allow me, Dot Calm's shadow, to present

The Danger of Magical Thinking,
or How Magical thinking tRumped America

Greetings, fellow Dot Calm Readers, Freedom Fighters, and Truth Crusaders--and welcome fellow Blog Marchers!

Those of you who follow this blawg know that I usually blawg about politics. I also sometimes blawg about atheism because of the devastating effects of religion on American society. I guess my M.O. is to analyze the most imminent threat at any given time.

Sometimes, though, I like to look back and think about how we got to where we are today. That's where I'd like to take todaze post, if you'll indulge me.

Last July, I put together a blawg post titled "More TV for Christians: 'Wheel of fortune,' Christian style," re-posted below for your comfort and convenience. (Below that is a moar typical post.)

In that post, I posited what it would look like if Christians used their magical thinking more consistently in their lives, including in situations that show just how ridiculous magical thinking is.

My point in doing so was to draw attention to two facts: magical thinking is ridiculous, and those who use it are hypocrites. They really don't believe what they say they believe because, if they did, a day would not pass in which we would not see Christians behaving exactly the way I lampooned.

Although I discussed in that post some of the ramifications of magical thinking, like making piss-poor decisions without realizing that that's what you're doing and why, I didn't really go into the ramifications of magical thinking across an entire society.

Like the United States of America, where FOX News and Christian television and church preachers have been jumping through their own assholes to discredit science because they hate being told that their worldviews--and, with them, their lucrative livings fleecing the unsuspecting--are wrong, destructive, toxic, and unsupported and unsupportable by the evidence provided all around us by the observable, real world.

So, dear ones, hop into the Wayback Machine with me for a few moments, and let's go back maybe 30 years, when Reagan first started dismantling our free and fair media, allowing huge right-wing conglomerates to form and buy up vast swathes of our airwaves, replacing the Fairness Doctrine with "conservative" ideology and "family values."

Turn the clock forward a little from there, and you'll see the "religious right" fighting to foist creationism into our public school science classrooms and enforce mandatory Christian prayer in public schools.

Turn the clock forward a little more, and you'll see both right-wing (Christian) and left-wing (New Age) anti-vaxxers.

Turn forward a little more, and you'll see 9/11 truthers and climate science deniers.

Turn forward to today, and you'll see more Americans than not--some 80% of whom identify as some form of Christian--getting their science from their preachers' pulpits and FOX News and right-wing tawk radio than from actual science books or science teachers or, gawd forbid, scientists.

But why--why do these otherwise intelligent, reasonable people believe nonsense as if it's...well, as if it's God's own truth?

Because our public schools have failed them, leaving them science-illiterate and bereft of critical thinking skills...and because hate-and-fear-filled right-wing ideology and religion were only too ready, able, and willing to leap into and fill the void left by our sorry standards of education.

Most Americans believe nonsense because they ARE religious--because they've been taught magical thinking from their infancies.

They've been taught that the Santa Claus in the red Christmas suit isn't real, but the invisible one in the sky--who will also fry your ass for eternity in hell--IS real.

They've been taught that they'll get whatever they dream of if only they make the right incantations(prayer) in the right way (as the Bible proscribes) and if they wish hard enough (believe).

They've been taught that the real world is not real and that some arbitrary invisible world--for which no evidence exists--IS real.

In effect, they've been taught that black is white, up is down, right is wrong,...and slavery is freedom.

And they vote!

Which brings me to my point: Americans with precious little education and even less ability to think critically vote in this country, and they vote not based on what is true but on what they wish were true.

How many stories have you read lately of tRump voters getting skr00ed by tRump?

CBS News, May 7, 2017: Deported man's wife and friends rethink voting for Trump

WaPo, April 4, 2017: Trump supporter regrets vote after undocumented husband is deported

HuffPo, March 24, 2017: She Voted For Trump. Now, Her Husband Is Being Deported

These are just the first three I saw in a Google search on "trump voter deport"...the man deported in the March 2017 story didn't even have so much as a traffic ticket to his name.

How many tRump voters stand to lose their health insurance? Their Medicaid? Safe food, water, medications? Everything else our taxes pay for that keep these people alive and well?

(Funny...this tweet is from 2015, and it refers to Republican-voting LGBTQ+ people lamenting getting skr00ed by the Republicans they voted for.)

Which brings me to how we got to where we are today--how we rejected the most honest, most qualified presidential candidate in the history of this nation to elect an ignorant, arrogant, bullying, elitist, entitled, spoiled-brat, orange buffoon who never stopped telling us from the get-go exactly who and what he was.

The answer--or at least a yuuuge part of it--is magical thinking.

Too many Americans decided to believe that orange twAtler was what they wished he were rather than what he really was. They believed what they wanted to hear, not what he was actually telling them by word and deed.

They bit the bait of believing that a man born rich--with a history of stiffing his workers, defrauding the public, and skipping out on his bills every chance he got--could...would...somehow care about, care for, and take care of them.

It never occurred to them that, with tRump, they weren't at the table--they were on the menu.

Willfully or not, they fooled themselves because their critical thinking had been disabled long ago, when they were tiny children.

That's the problem with making yourself believe something--even if it's just one itsy bitsy eensy weensy little thing--that your rational mind knows isn't true: you deliberately disable one chunk of your critical thinking skills, and, by so doing, you unwittingly disable other chunks of your critical thinking skills that you had no idea and no intention of disabling.

In other words, in order to open the door deliberately to one piece of bullshit you want to believe, you open all sorts of back doors and trap doors inadvertently to all manner of bullshit you don't want to believe...only you have no idea that this is exactly what you've just done.

I speak from experience.

I grew up in a devoutly Catholic home and bought into all the crazy--hook, line, and sinker. God loves you, but He'll punish you in hell forever if you're bad. Humans are irredeemably dirty--women doubly so because women are the reason there's suffering in the world. People are inherently unworthy of being loved and have to earn it or fry in hell...but God will save you, maybe, if you believe in Jesus and tick all the boxes on the Holy Checklist. I believed it all and never questioned the truth of any of it until the priest child rape and molestation scandal broke in the double-aughts...and the Church was sorry not for shielding the perpetrators but for getting caught. And our local parishes all addressed the problem in their Sunday sermons by lambasting women for using birth control and having abortions. "An institution that can not merely tolerate but foment this kind of abuse has to be wrong at its most fundamental levels," I thought. And I left the Church, refusing to legitimize them by filling their pews with myself or their coffers with my money.

Even though I was no longer a Catholic, I was still a believer. I adopted some New Age ideas and floated around, looking for a spiritual home.

Then, I became close friends with a fundamentalist Christian. He was so passionate about his beliefs--so confident that he had it right--that I wondered whether maybe I had just been doing Christianity wrong.

First, he told me that my New Age beliefs were demonic. "That sounds like bullshit," I thought, so I ignored him. Then he said there was no evidence supporting my New Age beliefs. "Hm, he has a point," I thought...and *snap*--no more New Age beliefs for me, and I never looked back.

But I did suspend my disbelief and step into his world of Christianity. I allowed myself to believe everything he and his televangelist preachers told me. I believed that, if we all just prayed hard enough, this person's injured shoulder would heal without surgery (it didn't), or that person's weight problem would vanish virtually overnight (it wouldn't), or the guy who needed money would win the lottery (he didn't).

Then, my friend told me to read the Bible literally with a view toward believing it literally...a-a-a-a-and that was the first big step toward my becoming an atheist.

You see, the Bible is so chock full of contradictions, impossibilities, horrific immorality perpetrated by God Himself, and just plain factually wrong statements that it was obvious to me before I even finished reading Chapter 1 of Genesis that no supposedly divine being had a hand in writing it and that the supposedly divine being the book called "God" was an impossibility in and of itself--and, even if it did exist, which it clearly did not and could not, it was more of a monster or demon than something to admire and worship.

The hypocrisy of this fine, upstanding Christian man and all his favorite televangelists was another nail in the coffin. Pointing out all the greedy, abusive, and horrible behavior, I demanded of my friend, "If Christianity doesn't make you a better person, what good is it?"

On top of that, some time later when I was at this friend's house, I saw Lee Strobel on Christian television...and after he spent half an hour peddling evidence-free "evidence" for Jesus, I ended up looking up the historicity of Jesus myself online and discovered that--*gasp!*--it's entirely possible that Jesus is nothing more than a myth and that no such man ever walked the earth. (Here's a blawg post devoted to that piece of my deconversion.)

Well, friends, the realization that there might never have existed any such man as Jesus shook me to my core. The personal experience piece of my internal belief "network" was the last piece of my faith to fall--my favorite YouTube atheists explained that it was just my own brain talking to my own brain, which explains why prophecies fail--and I have to confess: I have never looked back; I have never been so free; and I have never been so en-garde against bullshit now that I have furbished up and reinstalled my bullshit-filtering critical thinking skills. (See Evid3nc3's YouTube vids for his fascinating deconversion story, which describes the "network" of faith.)

I say all this so you don't think I'm holier--or unholier--than thou when I denounce magical thinking. When I look back over my religious life, I see a LOT of poor decisions I made because I truly believed that something else would fix things and make things right. Now I know that it's up to me to make things right. It's up to me to make amends if I skr00 up. It's up to me personally to be my brothers' and sisters' keeper.

And I just luuuuuurve being free from all the guilt and wasted intellectual and emotional energy trying to figure out how to please and avoid displeasing something so invisible, arbitrary, and contradictory.

Now I just get to be me, the imperfect but hard-working human I was born to be.

And I finally feel safe, comfortable, and happy within my own skin.

I am no longer anyone else's dupe.

My own escape--to which I can only credit the intellectual honesty of desiring truth more than being "right," being confident, or believing--makes me that much more sensitive to magical thinking in others when I see it.

It makes me angry that the people with money and power in government and religion foment this destructive way of thinking so they can take advantage of otherwise well-meaning, intelligent, rational people.

And it pisses me the hell off because people I know and love--not to mention our nation at large--are shooting themselves in the foot all day, every day because they still adhere to magical thinking...and they have no idea they're even doing it.

Here is a weird but related observation:

Q; How do you know if an engineer is religious?

A: If he tells you, "I KNOW it works" when CLEARLY it doesn't!

That's magical thinking for you!

(I've seen this kind of bullshit a million times on the job. Personally, though, I was fortunate--somehow, I compartmentalized my magical thinking so that it never interfered with my engineering or scientific pursuits, and I always simply followed where the evidence led me. There but for the grace of the Flying Spaghetti Monster go I.)

So, with that introduction, let me present todaze pièce de résistance: "Wheel of Fortune, Christian-style!"

Enjoy!

- Dot Calm's shadow

P.S.--Until we meet again, please check out the FaceBook, YouTube, and other links down by the peas for moar n00z you can use! And don't forget to follow me on Twitter.

----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

In the game "Wheel of Fortune," players are presented with a puzzle that consists of words or phrases. They are invited to guess letters as they work toward solving the puzzle. Even the first guesses are educated guesses--they are not just wild guesses--because players know the number and the lengths of the words in the puzzle; they know the letters that make up the words in the language; and they know how those words usually fall together. As more letters are revealed, the players refine their guesses until enough letters are revealed to make the content of the puzzle clear. Thus, the players change their answers over time as more and more letters are revealed until they finally solve the puzzle.

In science, an observation leads a researcher to hypothesize what caused it. This hypothesis is not some wild-ass guess--it is an educated guess based on what the researcher sees and already knows about how the world works. The researcher then performs experiments to collect more observations--evidence--to verify or falsify the hypothesis. After each round of evidence is collected, the hypothesis is discarded, refined, or accepted for more researchers to experiment against--in other words, over time, as more evidence is obtained, scientists change their answers about the explanation. Once the hypothesis explains all the available evidence consistently across a number of fields and observed by many, many researchers, then it is considered to be a theory. When the action of a theory is expressed in a closed-form equation, that expression is considered a law.

My Tea Party Christian friend recently saw a scientific exhibit that got him all excited. He was so impressed with what he saw that he went home and looked up all the individual presentations online. He mused of the scientists, "If this is what they have completed so far, then imagine what they must be doing now that we can't see yet--imagine what they will be able to do in the next few years."

I found this interesting.

This is the same man who says that "science can't be trusted"...that "scientists make shit up"...that scientists "keep changing their answers."

Can you say "compartmentalization"?
I knew you could.

Ignoring that for the moment, I explained to my friend how science works, comparing it to the "Wheel of Fortune" game.

What surprised me most was that he was not at all surprised. The analogy made total sense to him.

But it got me thinking...

What if Christians played "Wheel of Fortune" through the lens of religion instead of reality?

Yes, friends--it's time for more "TV for Christians,"
Dot Calm's shadow-style!

[Cue cheesy theme music and cheesier announcer]

ANNOUNCER: It's time for WHEEL...OF...FORTUNE with your hosts, Vanna White and Pat Sajak!

[The audience applauds. The ever-lovely Vanna White, smiling radiantly, strides elegantly across the set in yet another stunning evening gown to take her place by the puzzle board. Pat Sajak takes his place on the set, keeping his mouth shut to hide his moronic politics and his envy of Dick Clark's permanent status as America's Oldest and most loved Teenager.]

PAT: Tonight's theme is Christianity, so our three players tonight are all Christians: Mash, Dodo, and Gomer--what lovely biblical names! Let's give them all a round of applause.

[APPLAUSE]

PAT: Vanna, what is our puzzle tonight?

VANNA [gesturing gracefully to the puzzle board]: Here it is, Pat. It looks like we have some punctuation.

PUZZLE BOARD: Ding...ding.

PAT: Mash, you won the coin toss, so you get to go first. Spin the wheel and pick a letter.

MASH: I already know the puzzle, Pat--it's "God is love"!

PAT [puzzled]: Mash, are you sure you want to make such a guess this early in the game? You don't have any money yet.

MASH: Oh, that's OK--God will provide.

PAT: Well, if you insist on making a guess without any letters or prize money, then try taking another look at the board. We usually don't give hints--we usually don't need to--but you can see how many letters are in each word. That should help you.

MASH: What, you mean change my answer like some Satanist scientist? Thanks just the same, Mister Sajak, but I already know what the puzzle is. It's "God is love"!

PAT [confused]: Vanna, is the puzzle "God is love"?

VANNA [looks at the puzzle and shakes her head]: No, Pat.

PAT: I'm sorry, Mash--your turn is over. Dodo, it's your turn. Spin the wheel and guess a letter.

DODO: Guess a letter? For what?

PAT [confused again]: To solve the puzzle on the board.

DODO: But Pat--there is no puzzle! There are no letters, so there is no puzzle. Until you have all the letters, you can't say there's a puzzle there at all. The puzzle doesn't exist. Even a five-year-old can see that.

PAT [even more confused]: Um, Dodo, that's the point of the game--to guess the letters to solve the puzzle. The puzzle is right up there, where Vanna is standing. The objective is to guess the letters so you can figure out what the puzzle says and win the money. Have you ever seen the show?

DODO: Can't say that I have. We don't keep no demon boxes in our home.

PAT: ...by which, I assume, you mean television sets.

DODO: That's right.

PAT: Well, would you trust me as an authority and a FOX News Republican that the goal of the game is to guess the letters to solve the puzzle on the board that clearly exists by where Vanna, who also clearly exists, is standing?

DODO: Well, my pastor owns a tee-vee. He says that FOX has gotten pretty socialist-Marxist-leftist these days, but it's still the most accurate news a good God-fearing Christian Republican can find outside of Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. But if you're an authority, then I guess I trust you if you insist that a puzzle exists.

PAT: Great! Then go ahead, Dodo, and spin the wheel
--if you believe it exists--and guess a letter.

DODO [spins the wheel]: T!

PAT: Vanna, is there a "t"?

VANNA [striding over to the reveal the lit-up letter on the puzzle board]: Yes, there is one "t," Pat.

DODO: I'd like to guess the puzzle now, Pat.

PAT: Go ahead.

DODO: Mash, my friend, you gave me the answer. The puzzle is "God will provide."

PAT [bemused]: Dodo, there's no "t" in "God will provide." I'm afraid your turn is over.

DODO: But Pat, I KNOW the answer. It's "God will provide." I know that I know that I know that I know! I have faith that my answer is right!

PAT: I'm sorry, Dodo. but that's the wrong answer. Our next contestant is Gomer. You're looking lovely this evening in your pink chiffon kerchief, Gomer.

GOMER: My husband always makes sure I cover my head when I leave the house, Pat, for the sake of the angels.

PAT: Is that in the Bible? I'm not familiar with that passage.

GOMER: It's 1 Corinthians 11:10, Pat--because man was not made for woman but woman was made for man, she has to have her head covered, to show that man has authority over her, because the angels are watching and will come down and have sex with her and spawn another race of giants like the ones that forced God to drown the world in the flood. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but that's what it says.

PAT [evidently surprised]: Wait, the Bible says that angels mate with women? And that the women give birth to giants? And that's why women have to keep their heads covered?

GOMER: Yes, Sir. But don't ask me because I'm a woman. I'm not allowed to instruct you because you're a man and thus my superior, per 1 Corinthians 14:34.

MASH: She's right on both counts, Pat. She's not allowed to instruct you, and angels really did come down, copulate with human women, and produce giants. It's in Genesis 6:4, "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." "Came in unto" means "had s-e-x with," and "sons of God" refers to the angels.

DODO: That's right! And now that women stopped covering heir heads in public in the 1970s, people are getting taller and taller and taller--they've been turning into the giants that the Apostle Paul warned us about!

GOMER: Heavens!

PAT: Fascinating! Who knew?

VANNA: But wasn't Goliath a giant, and didn't he come after the flood?

GOMER: That's right--he did.

PAT: So, it sounds like the flood wasn't so effective in killing all the giants after all if they came back afterward. Hunh, who knew that God's plan to wash away all evil was so...ineffective? Well, Gomer, it's your turn--spin the wheel and pick a letter.

GOMER [spins wheel]: S!

PAT: Vanna, is there an "s"?

VANNA: There sure is, Pat! There are three of them.

PUZZLE BOARD: Ding...ding...ding!

PAT: Spin again, Gomer, and pick another letter.

GOMER: Um, can I buy an "e"?

PAT: Sure thing, Gomer--looks like a good value for your money!

[DING...DING...DING]

PAT: Spin again.

GOMER [spins]: An "n," please?

VANNA: You're in luck--there is one "n."

GOMER [spins]: Hmmm...is there...an "h"?

PAT: There is one "h." Spin again, Gomer--you're doing really well!

GOMER [spins]: Hmm, well, now, I am really stumped. Is there a "r"?

VANNA: Yes, there is one "r."

GOMER [spins]: Is there a "c"?

PAT: Yes, there are three "c's." Well done! Spin again, Gomer.

[Gomer spins and goes bankrupt. The puzzle board makes a sad bloop. The audience groans.]

PAT: Oh! What rotten luck! And you were doing so well! That's how the wheel goes sometimes. Mash, it's your turn again. Now you've seen how the game is played, and you have a lot of clues now about what the puzzle is. Since you don't have any money, why don't you spin the wheel and pick a letter?

MASH: oh boy, Pat--I didn't want to wish ill on Gomer, but I prayed and prayed you would get back to me. I don't need to spin--I know the puzzle already! It's "God is love!"

PAT [facepalms]: I'm sorry, Mash, but that is still not the answer. Um...Dodo?

DODO: My prayer is answered--I never thought you would get back to me again! The answer is "God will provide"!

[Pat facepalms. The studio audience facepalms. Atheists watching at home facepalm.]

BUZZER: BUZZZZZZZT!

PAT: Oh, Gomer, if only we'd had another minute, but that buzzer means that time's up.

GOMER: Oh, that's OK, Pat--I had fun just being here.

[The audience applauds Gomer's good sportsmanship]

PAT: Vanna, would you please show us the answer?

[Vanna strides over and reveals the puzzle]

PAT: Well, that's it for our show this week--and a good take-home message for all the Christians watching. I'd like to thank our players for one of the most interesting and pointless games I've seen since forever. Vanna and I wish you a good night from "Wheel of Fortune." See you next time!

[Vanna and Pat smile and wave to the camera. Theme song plays. Audience applauds.]

THE END

Now, before you get your panties in a wad that I'm being all mean to Christians, consider: this is how Christians live their lives when it comes to things like religion, health, relationships, and money. They live their lives ignoring the observable reality they live in and demanding others do the same or at least pander to their delusions. They organize their lives around a fantasy that is no more reasonable than Santa Claus and feel persecuted that the rest of us don't.

Am I really the only one who thinks that this is NOT a good thing?

For example, my Tea Party Christian friend fully expects to win the lottery, despite the astronomical odds against it, because God. He's spent thousands of dollars on a voluntary tax on people who can't do math. I've personally had to bail out multiple religious family members through the years because they fully expected that God would provide. It never occurred to them that their expectations of magic were unrealistic. It never occurred to them that their salvation came at a cost to their loved ones. It never occurred to them that it wasn't God providing. No old bearded guy swooped down from the clouds, pulled a wallet out of the hip pocket of his white robe, asked them how much they needed, and handed them a wad of cash. It was their own family members making sacrifices...sometimes to cover some very unreasonable, irresponsible expenses...because these otherwise reasonable people clung to the unrealistic notion that "God will provide."

And they VOTE.

-----

Stay t00ned to #BlogMarch2017 tomorrow--the ever-fabulous Edie Weinstein will blog tomorrow on Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/bydivinedesign-283

Don't forget to peruse your way down to the peas, friends, to see what a moar normal blawg post looks like. Today, you'll find a little history in the making! Be good 2U! 

- Dot Calm's shadow

 

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

16 May post:

Greetings, fellow Dot Calm Readers, Freedom Fighters, and Truth Crusaders!

By now, dear ones, you've probably heard--especially if you follow me on Twitter--that benedict Donald tRump leaked highly classified, code-word intelligence to the Russians when he met with them and all their TASS reporters and electronic (surveillance?) equipment in the Oval Office the day after he fired James Comey, the man in charge of investigating his campaign's ties to Russia.

Wouldn't you just love to know how our adversary, who attacked us in the cyber domain and interfered with our 2016 presidential election, scored a meeting in the Oval Office?!??

But I digress.

 

"Code word" intelligence refers to a special category of sensitive compartmented information (SCI) that requires special briefings above and beyond Top Secret, which is already designated as causing "grave harm" if released.

Stop me if you've already heard that H.R. McMaster only denied what WaPo never said about tRump's leak in his "press conference" last night...as he lost his soul to the dementor's kiss of working for tRump's benighted administration. Which, of course, is an admission that what WaPo did report is the truth.

 

Stop me if you've also heard that the leaked intelligence came from Israel, one of our closest allies and one of the only forces sophisticated and determined enough to infiltrate ISIS in that part of the world.

 

By now, I figure evangelicals' haids must be sploding...

 

After all, they worship tRump like instead of JEEzus, and they just luuuuuuuuurve Israel...

 

They lurve it so much that they want to kiss it and hug it and pet it and squeeze it and pat it and pet it and rub it and caress it...and call it George...

 

 

But that's only because they want Israel intact j-u-s-t long enough to fulfill all the biblical prophecies so they can bring on the end of the world (which they're just st00pit and crazy enough to do themselves if it doesn't happen fast enough on its own)...!

 

But I digress.

 

So, where were we?

 

Oh, yeah.

 

So, tRump blabbed to Russia, who promptly reported everything he said to Iran, who hates Israel with a seething passion. And Russia confirmed the leaker-in-chief's leaks back to us, and to the rest of the world, via TASS. And tRump gave enough location information for Russia to deduce the rest of the information--the two pieces McMaster said that tRump didn't reveal. And THAT was enough for Russia to deduce the source of the intelligence by national origin, location, and personal identity.

 

BUT HER E-MAILZ!!!!!

 

As someone who's worked an entire career in DoD, I'd like to...well, I'd better not say what I'd like to do to tRump right now for blurting out secrets that were not ours, that were not his, to give because he felt so goddamned compelled to brag to Russia, as if they'd be impressed with what impresses a simp like him...!

 

What bothers me most is that the human source of that intelligence is marked for murder--assuming that he or she hasn't been taken out already.

 

Orange twAtler has innocent blood on his hands--not just the people injured by the hate crimes he fomented during and after his campaign; not just (hunh, "just"?!??) the 1000+ civilians murdered by our armed forces and allies since tRump got into office and made it clear how very little he values innocent human life.

 

No, benedict donald also has on his hands the blood of an Israeli agent who went undercover to fight ISIS--who tRump said was our greatest enemy and the biggest threat to us in all the world (they're not--our intel community, whom tRump ignores, says that the biggest threat against us is...wait for it...RUSSIA).

 

That's right, folks--because the orange, loofah-faced shitgibbon was feeling lowly, he decided to go off script and brag to Russia, effectively snuffing out the life of a brave soul half a world away who was risking life and limb to save OUR lives.

 

And this after firing the one man we had any hope of trusting--which wasn't a lot of hope, but it was better than nothing--to complete at least a somewhat honest investigation of tRump's Russian ties.

 

And all that after tRump and every single goddamned Republican carped on for the last two years about Hillary's e-mails, the importance of handling classified information properly, and what a big threat ISIS was and is.

 

Srsly, friends--the orange cockwomble buffoon is putting me out of a job because these blawg posts write themselves deze daze.

 

And that's not even mentioning how unlikely it is that Israel or any of our other allies will ever share their classified information with us ever again while PEWtin's cock holster is still in office. Innocent Americans will die for tRump's double-wide fat-ass EGO.

And, of course, the GOP has reacted with their usual fervid murmurs of mild discomfort and muted  tongue clicks of passing annoyance. As I tweeted, "Looks like @GOP has gone to full beige alert."

As I also tweeted, "The party of Reagan and Lincoln is now the party of Putin and Jackson."

 

I'm spitting mad, and I don't even know what to say any more. I guess you'll just hafta scroll down through the headlines and follow me on Twitter to catch the rest of the story because I am done. I can't afford to replace this laptop if I get so angry that I put a fist through its display.

 

GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Why is it that every week feels like yet another loss of innocence?

Watch this space, dear ones--my next post, the Thursday update to this post, will be part of my longtime and forever friend Robin Renee's Blog March--woo HOO!

 

Music, Writing, Activism - Robin Renee Blog

 

What's this Blog March All About? | robin-renee-online

My blawg march post will be a special feature rather than my usual current events rant and core dump, so please follow me on Twitter to keep tabs on what's pissing me off between now and this time next week.
 

And always remember...never forget...I lurves ya madLEH!

 

- Dot Calm's shadow

 

*****
The GOP are so incensed
at orange twAtler's leaks to Russia
that they've gone full beige alert

GOP: "I'm feeling pretty neutral about this..."
*****

Choo choo time headlines

Second Nexus: As Details Emerge on Dinner with Comey, Trump Goes Unhinged on Twitter

The Atlantic: Five Reasons Why the Comey Affair Is Worse Than Watergate
...Um, because RUSSIA HACKED OUR ELECTION, and TRUMP IS PUTIN'S COCK HOLSTER?!??

The Stern Facts: Russian Mobster Felix Sater Advised The Trump Campaign

Bloomberg: Trump Lawyers: Tax Returns Show Little Income From Russians
...benedict donald's law firm, Morgan Lewis, which won the  "Russian Law Firm of the Year" award, wrote tRump's "certified letter" claiming that tRump has no Russian financial involvement "with a few exceptions"--a $100 MILLION hedge that Twitter had a field day with.

WaPo: Why Republicans are finding it so hard to spin their war on Medicaid
...Um, BECAUSE IT WOULD KILL MILLIONS OF AMERICANS?!??

BuzzFeed: People Can't Stop Tweeting About How Relevant "The Handmaid's Tale" Feels
...Read the tweets, friends--simultaneously funny and frightening.

NY Times: If Liberals Hate Him, Then Trump Must Be Doing Something Right
...So, as I tweeted, if tRump ate their babies, they'd be thuh-rilled as long as teh libtardz were outraged.

NDN: On Trump's Meeting with Lavrov Today - Time To End The Appeasement of Russia
...As I tweeted, "appeasement" is way too mild of a word for the treasonous collusion between tRump and PEWtin.

BuzzFeed: These Activists Were Detained For Wanting Russia To Investigate Kidnappings of Gay Men
...Beautiful intelligent, sensitive, concerned, compassionate faces....

MalwareTech: How to Accidentally Stop a Global Cyber Attacks
...The guy simply bought a domain name, hurrrrrp?!?? There's also this from The Guardian: 'Accidental hero' halts ransomware attack and warns: this is not over.

DC Report: The Kazakhstan Connection: Trump, Bayrock and Plenty of Questions

Salon: Not exactly bedtime stories: My father, the Holocaust and a moment of bravery he'll never forget 
...Friends, this is what's at stake. Are we going to let Muslims, teh poorz, wimmins, POC, teh gayz, and everyone else Republicans hate go through what Nazi Germany did to the Jews? Are we going to let tRump and his moronic, Holocaust-denying minions repeat this gawd-awful history on Jews here?

Slate: The Trump administration's guide to twisting words

WSJ: Financial-Crimes Monitor to Share Records in Trump-Russia Probe

Chicago Tribune: My son lost his health insurance — and then he lost his life
...The kid had cancer, got over it, let his insurance lapse because he couldn't afford it, had a relapse, and died way too young. His mother is heartbroken. So am I. In tRumPEWtin's America, this could happen to any of us.

Cold War Daily: Russian influence and Shadow Brokers' message 'to elites'

AlterNet: Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed in Explosive New Documentary

Blue Dot Daily: Democratic Coalition: Paper Trail Implicates Mike Pence in Flynn over-up

New Republic: The Path of Most Resistance--The Promise and Perils of the Fight Against Trump 
...Friends, this is a REALLY important article! If you read nothing else, read THIS. Now that Hillary is setting up a PAC for The Resistance, it is incumbent on us NOT to let her or Bernie or ANYONE ELSE hijack this progressive movement! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!

NY Times: When the World Is Led by a Child
...David Brooks, a lifelong Republican, spells out what we're up against. Scary, scary piece.

Public Integrity: Cities to Trump, Clinton and Sanders: pay your police bills
...Is anyone surprised that tRump skipped out on his bills? Anyone? Bueller? BUELLER?

Foreign Policy: NATO Frantically Tries to Trump-Proof President's First Visit
...NATO tries to tRump-proof itself!! Holy sheeite--to what a sorry pass have we come?!??

ThinkProgress: North Carolina Senate GOP targets children who live in Democratic Districts
...By denying them STEM money! Srsly, folks--the NC GOP wants to make Democratic district kids st00pit enough to vote Republican!

WSJ: Former Employees of Donald Trump Say They Saw Him Tape at Trump Tower
...Three former employees witnessed tRump taping people. One reported that such a tape was used as evidence in court!

Patribotics: Russia probe means President Hatch; RICO Case Against GOP
...In other words, when the tRump-Russia house of cards collapses, we're looking at President Hatch. There's also
Bipartisan Report: BREAKING: Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell Busted Working With Russia 
Truth Examiner: Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell Both Received Campaign Money

Democratic Underground: TASS: Russian news is now reporting that Trump DID leak intel about  U.S. military operations, despite the White House explicitly denying this
...Here are live links from the screen-grab below:
http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/4253919
http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/4253919http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/4253919

The Dworkin Report: Evidence Tying Donald Trump to Russia

NY Times: Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation
...A clear and present case of tRump obstructing justice and interfering with the FBI's investigation of him. Apparently, Comey didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday--he has detailed memos of all of his transactions with benedict donald, and he certainly constitutes a credible witness. Compared to anyone, let alone Lying tRump.

WaPo: Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador
...Friends, here's the magical WaPo report that started yesterday's cascade of White House crisis. I wonder how Comey feels about his role in electing tRump NOW.

Raw Story: Kremlin news agency that was in the Oval Office for Trump-Russia meeting brags to Russians about leaked intel

Raw Story: WATCH: Trump’s speech at Liberty U is weirdly similar to Reese Witherspoon’s ‘Legally Blonde’ speech
...So, it's not only Melania who plagiarizes--dumbass donald does, too! How much ya wanna bet Barron cheats on his exams?

BuzzFeed: "Pay Trump Bribes Here" Was Projected Across The Entrance Of Trump's Hotel
...Friends, this article is just delicious! Sometimes, the n00z isn't all bad!

But wait--there's moar! Here are a few extra goodies courtesy of le Blawg March.

NY Daily News: The President's breach through the eyes of a former spy

Times of Israel: Former Israeli spymasters rip into Trump, say Israel must reassess intel sharing

Talking Points Memo: Report: McMaster Didn't Realize Import Of Classified Intel Trump Gave Russians

USA Today: Justice Department taps former FBI Director Robert Mueller As Special Counsel for Russia Investigation

WaPo: Read the transcript of the conversation among GOP leaders
..."I think Putin pays Trump"...read the article for what was said to whom. Spoiler: Paul Ryan knew tRump was on Putin's dole, and he did nothing.

BoingBoing: As Trump adviser, Flynn stopped a military plan Turkey opposed after being paid as its agent 
...The original story came from McClatchy. In short, Flynn was working for both Turkey and tRump, being paid by both, and in charge of making policy decisions regarding Turkey, which he clearly did on Turkey's rather than on our behalf. So much for "America first"!

NY Times: Miles of Ice Collapsing Into the Sea
..."Some scientists fear that West Antarctica's immense ice sheet may have entered the early stages of an unstoppable disintegration."

*****
Hey, benedict donald--
go back to Czar a Lago!
*****

Daily Kos, AlterNet, and Democracy Now! headlines

Daily Kos Recommended

• Trump tweets that yeah, he did peddle classified info to Russia (and tosses top aides under the bus)
  
  
• How I always win the abortion argument
  
  
• Texas NBA coach torches Trump again right before national playoff game
  
  
• Daily Kos is prepared to resist Trump every single day until he's impeached. Can you chip in $1 to support independent, progressive media?
  
  
• More chaos as Trump's loose lips cause another major scandal
  
  
• A letter to the Trump official who instructed a Native woman to 'be nice'
  
  
• U.S. officials on Trump: Very reckless, and doesn’t grasp the gravity of the things he’s dealing with
  
  
• White House launches flurry of statements on Trump leaking classified info—without denying he did it
  
  
• After town hall pressure, NJ congressman alerted bank board an employee was organizing against him
  
  
• NATO allies prepare for the arrival of Lil' Donny Tantrum
  
  
• Republicans repealed your online privacy, and now they want to repeal net neutrality (please sign).
  
  
• Intel agencies said Trump couldn't be trusted not to leak classified intel to Russia, guess what?
  
  
• House Republicans passed Medicaid-killing Trumpcare, now they're going after everything else
  
  
• Trump sees nothing wrong with forcing federal employees to take a personal loyalty oath
  
  
• Watch CA woman explain high-risk pools to her pro-Trumpcare rep—and obliterate him in the process
  
  
• Local Christian woman donates $20,000 to restore vandalized Idaho Anne Frank memorial
  
  
• Come on, kids! Come with grandpa to the range to learn about gun safety. Oh no!

Daily Kos Liberation League

The Daily Kos Liberation League features highly recommended posts about racial justice, gender equality, and LGBTQ rights.

• Texas judge 'punished' after Facebook post recommending the lynching of a Black defendant
  
  
• Texas House passes bill banning doctors from vaccinating new foster children
  
  
• Torch-Wielding White Supremacists March on Charlottesville
  
  
• Sign the petition: End felon voter disenfranchisement now
  
  
• Students at Texas HBCU fight having a Republican senator at their graduation (and win)
  
  
• Border Patrol's corruption rate has 'exceeded that of any other U.S. federal law enforcement agency'
  
  
• Sessions lengthens drug sentences because he will do anything to cover up his connection to Russia
  
  
• Trump's commission vice-chair has spent his life trying to stop brown and black people from voting
  
  
• July court trial could force Texas GOP to draw new congressional map for 2018
  
  
• Local Christian woman donates $20,000 to restore vandalized Idaho Anne Frank memorial
  
  
• Oregon Senate votes to make transgender life easier
  
  
• Texas House approves bill letting adoption agencies discriminate against LGBT, non-Christian couples
  

Daily Kos Breaking News
Breaking news from Washington:

• Trump revealed classified information in meeting with Russian officials, damaged U.S. security
  
  
• Tell Senate Democrats: Special prosecutor or shut it down
  

Daily Kos Recommended

• AP reports Trump's tax returns show no Russian money ... except none of that is true
  
  
• As Trump fumes, rumors of Sean Spicer's imminent demise continue
  
  
• NBC News reports Trump canceled trip to FBI because he was told he wouldn't be welcomed
  
  
• Daily Kos is prepared to resist Trump every single day until he's impeached. Can you chip in $1 to support independent, progressive media?
  
  
• Former FBI Director James Comey is willing to testify, but he wants it in public
  
  
• Country before party makes no sense
  
  
• Trump said to be considering staff shake-up amid disarray, demoralization, and deluge of leaks
  
  
• 'See, I picked someone from the other party.' That's how we got Comey—and President Andrew Johnson
  
  
• Employers to drop 7 million people from healthcare insurance under AHCA
  
  
• A love letter to Bethune-Cookman grads written by 200 black professors that you have to read
  
  
• Sign now to stop Trump's new FCC chair from allowing a corporate takeover of the Internet!
  
  
• Former Director of National Intelligence: Trump is engaged in 'assault' against US institutions
  
  
• America's great divide in dental care: 'The painful truth about teeth'
  
  
• Billionaires pour millions into buying Los Angeles school board seats for the Betsy DeVos agenda
  
  
• Progressives are blowing 2018 by dedicating too many resources to Russia story
  
  
• Despite regular check-ins with ICE, dad faces deportation after two decades in the U.S.
  
  
• NASA's planetary science budget may have room to take us to a strange and exotic world

Daily Kos Recommended

• As Trump fumes, rumors of Sean Spicer's imminent demise continue
  
  
• NBC News reports Trump canceled trip to FBI because he was told he wouldn't be welcomed
  
  
• Employers to drop 7 million people from healthcare insurance under AHCA
  
  
• Former FBI Director James Comey is willing to testify, but he wants it in public
  
  
• America's great divide in dental care: 'The painful truth about teeth'
  
  
• NASA's planetary science budget may have room to take us to a strange and exotic world
  
  
• Former Director of National Intelligence: Trump is engaged in 'assault' against US institutions
  
  
• Progressives are blowing 2018 by dedicating too many resources to Russia story
  
  
• AP reports Trump's tax returns show no Russian money ... except none of that is true
  
  
• A love letter to Bethune-Cookman grads written by 200 black professors that you have to read
  
  
• Country before party makes no sense
  
  
• Daily Kos is prepared to resist Trump every single day until he's impeached. Can you chip in $1 to support independent, progressive media?
  
  
• Billionaires pour millions into buying Los Angeles school board seats for the Betsy DeVos agenda
  
  
• 'See, I picked someone from the other party.' That's how we got Comey—and President Andrew Johnson
  
  
• Trump said to be considering staff shake-up amid disarray, demoralization, and deluge of leaks
  
  
• Sign now to stop Trump's new FCC chair from allowing a corporate takeover of the Internet!
  
  
• Despite regular check-ins with ICE, dad faces deportation after two decades in the U.S.

Daily Kos Recommended

• No, no, no. No Merrick Garland for FBI director, you idiots!
  
  
• AP reports Trump's tax returns show no Russian money ... except none of that is true
  
  
• Trump claims James Clapper 'choked like a dog'—and that's Trump's best argument for innocence
  
  
• Cartoon: The future of Trumpcare
  
  
• Can you chip in $5 to Daily Kos to help stop Trump?
  
  
• Cartoon: Confederacy of sociopaths
  
  
• Krugman: Yes, Republicans are perfectly willing to betray this country
  
  
• Cray-Cray Trump blackmails Comey, threatens media & mocks America—on TWITTER
  
  
• Comey is silent but his friends are pushing back on Trump. 'He hopes there are tapes.'
  
  
• Sign to tell the FCC: Do NOT kill net neutrality. These rules protect our Internet and keep it free and open!
  
  
• Democratic senator: Trump law firm that shows no income in Russia named 'Russia Law Firm of The Year'
  
  
• Cartoon: Freedom to be screwed, 2017 edition
  
  
• High school teacher writes letter to student newspaper saying homosexuals 'deserve to die'
  
  
• If you defend Trump, you will get burned. And Republicans (like his latest spokeswoman) love it!
  
  
• Border Patrol agents accused of 'extreme hazing,' including assaulting new officers on 'rape table'
  
  
• Sessions lengthens drug sentences because he will do anything to cover up his connection to Russia
  
  
• Trump's commission vice-chair has spent his life trying to stop brown and black people from voting

Daily Kos Recommended

• FBI uninvites Trump after interview
  
  
• Comey scandal goes from bad to worse for Trump
  
  
• Mike Pence caught lying about Comey firing thanks to Trump telling the truth for a change
  
  
• Daily Kos needs to raise $314,879.36 to close the books on May. Can you chip in $1 to support the team that brings progressive news to your inbox every day?
  
  
• Time interview with Donald Trump isn't just revealing—it's horrifying
  
  
• Trump finds a new excuse to cancel press briefings after he screwed up by telling the truth for once
  
  
• Godfather in the White House: Don Trump threatens James Comey
  
  
• Weak White House whines 'they tricked us' over Russian photographer allowed into Oval Office
  
  
• Texas House passes bill banning doctors from vaccinating new foster children
  
  
• Trump explains how he invented 'prime the pump' and how we threw $6 trillion into the Rose Garden
  
  
• Urgent! Sign the petition to protect net neutrality.
  
  
• On Lavrov meeting, Trump admits to being Putin's puppet, not just looking like one
  
  
• Special elections already bringing House Republicans and White House to fisticuffs
  
  
• HBCU grads show Betsy DeVos she is completely unwanted at their commencement and it is amazing
  
  
• Cartoon: Steve Mnuchin sings supply-side's greatest hits
  
  
• Shocking videos show ICE arresting immigrants, refusing to show warrant at Denver courthouse

***

Were Trump's Revelations to the Russians Criminal, or Just Stupid? We Can't Rule out Either By Heather Digby Parton, Salon It’s best to keep your seatbelt fastened at all times. The turbulence gets worse every day. READ MORE» Stephen Colbert Cuts Right to the Chase After Trump's Classified Info Fiasco By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet "If you're watching, you're a bad president, please resign." READ MORE» What Progressives Should Demand from the FBI By Richard Eskow, Blog for Our Future A political movement needs more than outrage, it needs a vision of a better world. READ MORE»

Donald Trump's Liberty University Commencement Speech Sounds an Awful Lot Like Reese Witherspoon's in 'Legally Blonde' By Elizabeth Preza, Raw Story "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon could have sworn he'd heard these words before. READ MORE» If You Think Corporate Media Is Bad Now, Wait Until This Monster Merger Goes Through By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet The right-leaning Sinclair Broadcasting Group could soon reach nearly three-quarters of American homes. READ MORE» Did the DNC Really Conspire to Prevent Bernie Sanders from Winning the Democratic Primary? By Chris Riotta, Newsweek A class-action suit has been underway for months, and the mainstream media has ignored it almost entirely. READ MORE» Donald Trump Is Close to Naming a Right-Wing Talk Show Host to One of the Country's Top Science Posts By Jessica Huseman, ProPublica Sam Clovis is an admitted climate denialist with no credentials of which to speak. READ MORE» AlterNet Comics: Jen Sorensen on What It Would Take for the GOP to Dump Trump By Jen Sorensen, AlterNet Only if he drops tax cuts for the wealthy. READ MORE»

Dutch Documentary Part II: Blood on Trump's and Kushner's Hands From Deals With Africa War Zone Diamond Mines By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet Lev Leviev's diamond empire stretches from Angola to New York, Moscow and Amsterdam. READ MORE» New Hampshire Republican Who Founded Woman-Hating Site Makes Outrageous Statements Validating Rape By Kali Holloway, AlterNet The state's Republican governor calls for his resignation. READ MORE» Trump Demands Loyalty From Everyone, But Gives It to No One By Paul Waldman, The American Prospect Thus there is a loyalty crisis in the White House. READ MORE»

Cover-Ups and Russian Financial Ties Stand Out as Trump's Russia Scandal Keeps Getting Deeper By Bob Cesca, Salon At this point, campaign collusion might be the least of his problems. READ MORE» Josh Fox's New Film Is Case Study in What Resistance Is All About By Reynard Loki, AlterNet The "Gasland" director explains why resistance is the opposite of the empty values Donald Trump represents.  READ MORE» Why 'Alt-Left' Is a Dumb Slur, But Left-Wing Populism Is the Future By Bhaskar Sunkara, The Guardian The label is meant to discredit us. But that won’t change the fact that left-wing populists speak to anti-system anger in a way that others don’t. READ MORE» Neuroscientist Carl Hart and Activist Tony Papa: We Need to Stop Jeff Sessions from Escalating the Racist War on Drugs By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! Even Rand Paul noted, "Mandatory minimum sentences have unfairly and disproportionately incarcerated too many minorities for too long." READ MORE» The Pro-Charter Billionaires Vs. Bernie and the Progressives in the Priciest School Board Race in U.S. History By Rachel M. Cohen, The American Prospect In Tuesday’s LA election, the Walton family, Michael Bloomberg, and Eli Broad are on one side; parents, teachers and Bernie Sanders are on the other. READ MORE» Bye Bye, Net Neutrality: The FCC Pretends, but Moves to Gut Current Policy By Kit Walsh, BillMoyers.com FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has endorsed a proposal that dismantles net neutrality protections.  READ MORE» The Depressing Reality of Mosul: The Planet Is Getting Flattened as One Ancient City After Another Is Destroyed By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch The world loses as destruction and mayhem know no bounds. READ MORE» Arming the Kurds: Trump’s Syrian Gambit By Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch Syrian Kurds are worried that, once Isis is defeated, the US will no longer need them. READ MORE» How Unequal Voter Turnout and Vote Suppression Helped Elect Donald Trump By Sean McElwee, Salon Voting in America is highly stratified and unequal. If it were slightly less so, Hillary Clinton would be president. READ MORE» A Sneaky Way to Hurt Social Justice: Cut U.S. Census Bureau Funding By Mona Chalabi, The Guardian Census numbers underpin just about everything we know about the economy, education, health and justice in America. That’s why they matter so much. READ MORE» How Female Farmers Are Fighting Big Ag's Gender Injustice by Taking Control of Their Food Systems By Ahna Kruzic, Erik Hazard, Food First The number of U.S. women farm operators has grown by nearly 300 percent since 1978. READ MORE»

Paul Krugman: Trump Is Putting Us on the Path to Economic Ruin By Ilana Novick, AlterNet As bad as the relentless lying is, the fiscal policy is so much worse. READ MORE» John Oliver Has Just One Question for Americans After Trump's Latest Spectacular Meltdown By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet This insanity will never stop, warns the host of "Last Week Tonight." READ MORE» Donald Trump Could Name the Worst Possible Candidate to Replace James Comey at the FBI By Heather Digby Parton, Salon Mike Rogers and Trey Gowdy are partisan hacks, but John Cornyn stands out for sheer shamelessness. READ MORE»

The Numbers Are In: Trump's Trillion-Dollar Tax Cuts Will Take a Stunning Toll on American Society By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet Even the administration admits the tax cuts are unlikely to help the middle class. READ MORE» This Is What Emboldened White Supremacists Look Like By Douglas Williams, The Guardian The removal of Confederate monuments sparked a neo-Klan rally in Charlottesville Saturday. READ MORE» Reince Priebus Inadvertently Reveals Just How Easily the President Can Be Duped By Brad Reed, Raw Story The White House chief of staff is reportedly scrambling to prevent aides from slipping the president Internet hoaxes. READ MORE» Preet Bharara's Russian Money-Laundering Case Abruptly Settled, Raising Eyebrows By Heavy Mettle, DailyKos At least two lawyers involved in the case have been killed, and a third "fell out" a window. READ MORE» AlterNet Comics: Brian McFadden on James Comey's Future Career Plans By Brian McFadden, AlterNet He's available to meddle in any election, even ones in high school. READ MORE»

As Millions Pour Into Georgia's Congressional Runoff, The Voting Machinery is Among The Worst in America: Hackable, Paperless, Unverifiable By Lulu Friesdat, AlterNet Computer experts have no confidence in Georgia’s election results READ MORE» The Video That Suggests Trump Is Suffering from Alzheimer's By Kali Holloway, AlterNet Could a more serious illness be at work beneath the bluster and the ego? READ MORE» 12 Features of White Working-Class Trump Voters Confirm Depressed and Traumatized Multitudes Voted for Him By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet A nationwide survey reveals the sorry state of middle America. READ MORE»

There Are 21 Million Victims of Human Trafficking Right Now: Coming to Grips and Trying to Solve Mass Human Suffering By Ilana Novick, AlterNet Panel at Columbia explores the atrocities of human trafficking. READ MORE» Has a ‘Sealed Indictment’ Been Issued Against President Trump? By David Ferguson, Raw Story Numerous independent sources reportedly say a sealed indictment was granted against the president. READ MORE» It’s the Wealth Gap, Stupid: Inequality Drives 'Economic Anxiety'—Both Real and Perceived By Erin Keane, Salon Salon talks to the social psychologist author of "The Broken Ladder" about why both sides think somebody’s cheating. READ MORE» Evidence Mounts That School Choice Isn't Delivering Promised Results, Not That K-12 Privateers Are Listening By Jeff Bryant, Education Opportunity Network What if school choice results in bad choice? READ MORE» The Delicate Art of Diplomacy in the Trump Era is Being Left to Military Generals By Vijay Prashad, Frontline (India) We are looking at the demise of diplomacy with America's State Department on life support. READ MORE» Marijuana Could Help Elderly and Alzheimer's Patients By Marcy Kreiter, International Business Times New research suggests cannabis may actually be good for memory, especially on the elderly, reversing brain aging and restoring learning ability. READ MORE» The Urban Common Spaces That Show Us We Belong to Something Larger By Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine We must protect the parks, pathways, and gardens that connect us to each other and to the ecosystems of our home. READ MORE» Why Long Work Hours Don’t Work for People or the Planet By Dr. David Suzuki, AlterNet Our endless cycle of toil and consumerism increases stress and depletes the Earth's resources. It's time to consider a better way to work. READ MORE» Getting Out of Our Coal Hole By Oscar Reyes , OtherWords States that invest in renewables are reaping the rewards. Those that stick to coal are faltering. READ MORE»

Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet Dutch TV did what no American TV network dares, suggesting Trump's past includes illegal racketeering. READ MORE» Trump Has Presented America with Not Only a Constitutional Crisis, But a Total Civic Implosion By Jim Sleeper, BillMoyers.com Trump's naked contempt for civic culture is what's really threatening our republic. To save it, we need to rescue our civic wellsprings. READ MORE» Trump Says He Invented an Economy Theory That Was Actually in Use Before He Was Born By Kali Holloway, AlterNet This guy is in his own dream world. READ MORE»

The Evidence Is Overwhelming: Cannabis Is an Exit Drug for Major Addictions, Not a Gateway to New Ones By Paul Armentano, AlterNet People dependent on cocaine, opioids and other prescription drugs could ease out of their addictions with cannabis. READ MORE» Veteran Journalist Who Covered Watergate Says Trump's Russia Scandal Is Even Worse — Here's Why By Travis Gettys, Raw Story The latest Trump drama feels a lot like déjà vu. READ MORE» Historian of Fascism: Why Trump Firing FBI Director Comey Amid Russia Probe is So Worrisome By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! Top Republicans are on Trump's side, and once elites are coopted to an authoritarian, it can be very difficult to jump ship.  READ MORE» The Financial Crisis That Spawned Austerity, Corporatized the Democratic Party and Gave the World Donald Trump By Jacob Sugarman, AlterNet New York City's near-default in 1975 altered the course of American politics, explains "Fear City" author Kim Phillips-Fein. READ MORE» Growing Evidence Points to a Specific Diet That Can Starve Cancer Cells of Their Prime Fuels By Dr. Nasha Winters, Jess Higgins Kelley, Chelsea Green Publishing Deep nutrition is the answer to cancer.  READ MORE» Is John Oliver a Hypocrite on Taxes? By Matthew Sheffield, Salon The popular HBO comic appears to have used legal loopholes to greatly reduce his property tax in New York City. READ MORE» Progressive Senators Are Going Big for Employee Ownership of the Businesses They Work at By Jessica Bonanno, AlterNet Two common-sense pieces of federal support for employee business ownership on the table. READ MORE» Who Are the Out-Of-Town Billionaires Wading into a City School Board Race? By Peter Dreier, Huffington Post The LA school board race may be the most expensive in the country with out-of-town billionaires – including the Walton family – trying to defeat progressive Steve Zimmer.  READ MORE» Luxury Airport Terminal in Los Angeles Features Screen That Lets the Rich Watch Everyone Else Suffer at the Main Terminal By Rory Carroll, The Guardian LAX’s mega-exclusive terminal has beds, massages, and an iPad to watch people slog through the main airport. But the manager denies it’s about inequality.  READ MORE» Bill O'Reilly Has a Thoroughly Bonkers New Conspiracy Theory About Why He Was Fired from Fox News By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet The disgraced television host is blaming George Soros for his ouster. Of course. READ MORE» Jeff Sessions Escalates Drug War and Urges Prosecutors to Seek Harsh Sentencing By Anthony Papa, AlterNet After years of progress, our Attorney General is trying to drag us back to the 1980s. READ MORE» Corporations Are Showering D.C. with Huge Amounts of Lobbying Dough , $840 Million in the First 3 Months of 2017 By Jillian S. Ambroz, DC Report Forget Trump's tough talk on lobbying bans—he’s let quite a few of them in through the back doors of the White House and federal agencies. READ MORE» Trump Has Displayed a Blatant Disregard for Science, Ethics and Human Rights Based on His Fracking Policies By Wenonah Hauter, Center for Humans and Nature True energy security cannot sacrifice public health in our communities, and the climate on which we depend. READ MORE»

Donald Trump's Big Mouth May Have Just Gotten Him Impeached By Jefferson Morley, AlterNet McConnell rejects calls for an independent prosecutor, but he can't stop the president from prosecuting himself. READ MORE» Paul Krugman: The Republican Party Is Just as Treasonous Than Trump By Jacob Sugarman, AlterNet The New York Times columnist says it's time we acknowledge the GOP has no interest in democracy. READ MORE» Comey Furious over Trump Team's Smear Campaign — and He's Prepared to Respond: Report By Travis Gettys, Raw Story The former FBI director could prove more dangerous to the president outside the agency than ever before. READ MORE»

Mike Pence Is Neck-Deep in Donald Trump's James Comey Mess By Heather Digby Parton, Salon The vice president knew all about Michael Flynn's questionable activities. This scandal could bring him down too. READ MORE» Stephen Colbert Declares Victory in His War of Words with Donald Trump By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet "The president of the United States has personally come after me and my show. Yay!” READ MORE» Greg Palast: Trump Picks the Al Capone of Vote-Rigging to Investigate Federal Voter Fraud By Greg Palast, AlterNet Kris Kobach is the GOP mastermind behind a secretive system that purged 1.1 million Americans from the voter rolls.  READ MORE» 'America Is in Deep Sh*t': Seth Meyers Pushes the Panic Button as Trump Unravels in Real Time By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet "The optics of the last 48 hour have been a disaster." READ MORE» AlterNet Comics: Tom Tomorrow on America's Confederacy of Sociopaths By Tom Tomorrow, AlterNet Before the election, Trump promised that everyone would be insured. Now... READ MORE»

These Are the 6 Biggest Roadblocks That Could Prevent Senate Republicans from Destroying Obamacare By Jefferson Morley, AlterNet Reality stands in the way of Senate Republicans planning to repeal Obamacare.  READ MORE» A Coup in Real Time? Historian Says Comey Firing Is Trump's 'Open Admission of Collusion With Russia' By Chauncey DeVega, Salon Yale historian says Trump has now admitted guilt; former intelligence officer says Flynn was a Russian agent. READ MORE» Noam Chomsky: How the Corporate Media Is Undermining One of the World's Key Left-Wing Leaders By Anushka Asthana , The Guardian The US radical thinker blames the media for Jeremy Corbyn’s unpopularity and says he would vote for him. READ MORE»

Paul Ryan Has Fantasized About Destroying Medicaid Since He Was 'Drinking at a Keg' in College By Michael Hayne, AlterNet Ever since assuming office in 1999, Congressman Paul Ryan has made every attempt to take a chainsaw to the entire edifice of the New Deal programs. READ MORE» 'It's a Debacle': Republicans Seethe at 'Rank Amateurs' in Trump White House for Botched Comey Firing By Brad Reed, Raw Story Trump should prepare himself for an even more brutal round of leaks. READ MORE» Texas Senate Votes to License ‘Baby Jails’ as Child Care Facilities By Gus Bova , Texas Observer SB 1018 would effectively lower state standards in order to license the facilities. The legislation was written by a for-profit private prison corporation. READ MORE» We Have a Justice Department More Willing to Prosecute Laughter Than Murder By Ebony Slaughter-Johnson, OtherWords It's a bonkers moment in our Justice Department. READ MORE» How the Christian Right Is Using Junk Science to Attack Transgender Rights By Bill Berkowitz, Buzzflash at Truthout “McHugh has publicly called transgender people ‘caricatures' and described them as ‘confused' and ‘mad.'” READ MORE» There Has Been a Nuclear Accident in America, and Experts Say the Exposure Risk Is Real By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! Department of Energy declared a state of emergency at the Hanford nuclear site. READ MORE» Tom Price Praises West Virginia Police After Journalist Is Arrested for Asking Questions By Charlie May, Salon After a reporter was arrested for asking HHS secretary Tom Price a question, Price commends the police. READ MORE» Here's What Will Probably Happen If Assad Falls in Syria (Hint: The Opposite of Peace and Democracy) By Jonathan Cook, AlterNet The war on terror was never about democracy, it's about maintaining access to oil.  READ MORE» Experts: Why Going Gluten-Free Boosts the Risk of Obesity By Nicola Davis, The Guardian Food adapted for those with celiac disease often has more fat and less protein, and no benefits to non-sufferers, finds research. READ MORE» Remarkable Women Are Reshaping the World, and Are Still Practically Anonymous By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet Trust Docs follows a handful of anonymous trailblazers from across the globe. READ MORE» International Church Of Cannabis Is Now Offering 'Weed Weddings' By Catie Keck, International Business Times We now have "the first ever church to offer wedding services in a ‘cannabis-friendly’ environment.'” READ MORE»

***

Stories An Impeachable Offense? Questions Swirl as Trump Accused of Sharing Top Secret Intel with Russians Senior White House officials were apparently so alarmed by President Trump's disclosures of classified intelligence to Russia that they called the CIA and ... Read More → Breathtakingly Irresponsible: Former Bush Iraq Adviser on Trump Sharing Secret Intel with Russians President Trump has appeared to confirm parts of a bombshell Washington Post story that he had disclosed highly classified intelligence last week to Russian ... Read More → Why I Am Suing Trump: Washington State AG Fights Admin on Muslim Ban, Drilling, Drug War & More On Monday, a federal appeals court in Seattle, Washington, heard arguments over Trump's second travel ban, which sought to prohibit all refugees and ... Read More →

Headlines → WashPost: Trump Shared Classified Intelligence to Russian Foreign Minister Airwars: Up to 100 Civilians Reported Killed by U.S.-Led Airstrikes in Iraq Reports: U.S. Airstrikes Killed 30 People, Including a Dozen Children, in Syria State Dept.: Syrian Government Burning Bodies of Those Killed at Saydnaya Prison Yemen: Death Toll from Cholera Outbreak Rises to 187 Afghanistan: 5 Children Killed While Playing Near Mortar Round Award-Winning Mexican Journalist Javier Valdez Assassinated in Sinaloa Trump Meeting with Turkish President at White House Today Seattle Appeals Court Hears Arguments over Trump's Second Muslim Ban Japan: Thousands Protest U.S. Military Bases on Okinawa U.N Calls for Investigation into Murders of Transgender Women in El Salvador Trump to Expand Global Gag Rule, Threatening Funding of Hundreds of Health Clinics In Victory for Voting Rights, Supreme Court Refuses to Hear NC Voter Law Appeal California: Farmworkers Sickened by Toxic Chemical Approved by Scott Pruitt's EPA West Virginia: Former Cop Sues After Being Fired for Not Shooting Suicidal Man

Stories Donald Trump is Deep into Watergate Territory Now: Former Congresswoman Who Probed Nixon Speaks Out Fallout continues to grow over President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey last week. The firing came just days after Comey requested more resources to ... Read More → Neuroscientist Carl Hart: We Need to Stop Jeff Sessions from Escalating the Racist War on Drugs In an escalation of the war on drugs, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded two Obama-era memos that encouraged prosecutors to avoid seeking ... Read More → Son of Hunger-Striking Palestinian Leader Marwan Barghouti: I Haven't Touched My Father in 15 Years It has been almost a month since over 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have been on hunger strike inside Israeli jails. The strike, which began on April 17, was called by ... Read More → Columbia Neuroscientist Receives Death Threats for Speaking Out Against Deadly Philippines Drug War President Trump recently invited Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to visit the White House, despite criticism from human rights groups over Duterte's ... Read More →

Headlines → Computer Hack Using Stolen NSA Cyberweapon Wreaks Havoc in 150 Countries James Clapper: Trump Represents Assault on U.S. Institutions Trump Threatens to End Daily News Briefings White House Close to Finalizing $100 Billion Arms Deal with Saudi Arabia North Korea Launches Latest Ballistic Missile Test Denver: Jeanette Vizguerra & Arturo Hernández García Win Deportation Stays Vermont Activist and Dairy Worker Cesar Alex Carrillo Deported to Mexico Trump Administration Revokes DACA for DREAMer Jessica Colotl Yemen: State of Emergency Declared in Sana'a as Cholera Kills 115 People Pakistan: 25 Killed in Attack on Politician's Convoy in Balochistan WHO: Ebola Kills 3 in Democratic Republic of Congo Mexican Activist for Families Whose Children Have Been Disappeared Is Murdered Mexico: Group of Reporters Attacked by Armed Men in Iguala, Guerrero Hong Kong: Families Who Sheltered Edward Snowden in 2013 Face Deportation Virginia: Torch-Bearing White Mob Protests Removal of Confederate Monument

Stories Donald Trump Orders "Election Integrity" Commission Headed by Architects of Voter Suppression Voting rights activists are expressing alarm after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday creating a "Presidential Advisory Commission ... Read More → Would Trump Have Won Wisconsin—or the 2016 Election—Without Widespread Voter Suppression? A new report has called into question whether President Trump would have actually won Wisconsin during the 2016 presidential election without the state's strict voter ... Read More → On Black Mama's Bail Out Day, "Goal is to Free Our People from These Cages" Before Mother's Day On Thursday, racial justice groups began bailing women out of jail as part of a nationwide "Black Mama's Bail Out Day." The effort, taking place in nearly 20 cities, ... Read More → Jailed Reporter Barrett Brown on Press Freedom, FBI Crimes & Why He Wouldn't Do Anything Differently We turn now to the investigative reporter Barrett Brown, who recently completed a four-year prison sentence related to the hacking of the private intelligence firm ... Read More →

Headlines → Trump Says "This Russia Thing" was Part of Reason He Fired Comey Acting FBI Director Says Comey Had Not Lost Trust Within Agency Critics Say Trump's Election Commission Will Further Suppress Vote Sessions Tells Prosecutors to Seek Harshest Sentences for Drug Crimes Senate Approves Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative Iowa Rep. Rod Blum Faces 4 Straight Angry Town Halls This Week Airwars: 60+ Civilians Killed by U.S.-Led or U.S.-Backed Airstrikes in Iraq Tuesday Argentina: Massive Crowds Protest Shortening Sentences of Dictatorship-Era Torturers Greek Pensioners Blockade Finance Minister & Call for General Strike on May 17 Report: Mexico 2nd Deadliest Country in World in 2016, Behind Syria Residents Celebrate Major Environmental Victory at Seneca Lake Chancellor of UCSB Backs Student Calls to Divest from Fossil Fuels Dakota Access Has Already Leaked Oil and It's Not Yet Even Operational Florida U. Awarding Posthumous Degree to Trayvon Martin Radical Priest and Catonsville 9 Member Thomas Melville Dies at 86

 

*****
Steve Mnuchin was behind Madoff's Ponzi scheme!

*****

M00bies!

ICYMI

Also ICYMI

LOL! DEFEATed Cruz is DEFEATed. Or should that be DEFLATed?

And tRump is so friendly with our enemies. He's all smiles and laughs and back-slapping and warm handshakes with these snakes. But he won't even touch the leader of the free world, Angela Merkel. And he's hung up on allies like Australia and Canada. Srsly
--WTF, donnie?

These SNL skits are da bomb!!! Love love love!!!

Garden Spice strikes again!

This is horrible--a veteran journalist was arrested in West Virginia for asking fuckwad Tom Price a question...!

 

orange fuckwad is SUCH an obvious LIAR...!

 

Funny or Die's "tribute" to our "president's" first 100 daze

Randy Rainbow NEVER disappoints! LOL!!! Hey, kidz--don't forget to visit Randy's Patreon page and throw him a few bux!!

And since I won't be able to augment todaze m00bies with my Thursday update because I'll be Blog Marching, Imma leave these little pearls of HISTORY IN THE MAKING here 4U--enjoy!

*****

Go to RandiRhodes.com
and buy a stinkin' podcast!
*****

Well, friends, that's it for today. Until we meet again, don't forget to RESIST with Resistbot:

text "Resist" to 50409

And check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation's website so you can protect your online privacy:
https://www.eff.org/

Remember to boycott all the tRump shills on the boycott list below and tell them why.

And don't forget to read Dot Calm's shadow's favorite independent sources of news and information:
  
Randi Rhodes's Homework page
DCReport.org
Open Secrets
Democratic Coalition Against Trump
MaddowBlog
Michael Moore's FB page -- go here first and do whatever activism he suggests
Daily Kos
AlterNet
Democracy Now!
Democratic Underground
Boing Boing
Vox
Conservatives are Destroying our Future
Conservative Clown Car
God, the Good Lord Above
...skip the media outlets in the boycott list below unless you want trump propaganda. And TELL their advertisers WHY you are boycotting those media outlets!

On the lighter side:
McSweeney's Internet Tendency
      
And check out these great YouTube channels:

Randi Rhodes Air Force
Keith Olbermann: The Resistance
Thom Hartmann
Late Night with Seth Meyers
LastWeekTonight
Secular Talk
The Young Turks
The Thinking Atheist
MisterDeity
NonStampCollector

...or, if you just want something mindless and fun, try Tested

Also, don't forget to add these to your Twitter feed if you haven't already:

 

@joyannreid

@georgetakei
@malcolmnance

And now you can add me, too!

@dotcalmsshadow

And don't forget to follow

@AlexJonescopy

unless, as he says, you're a total globalist. "It's not a parody account--it's performance art!" He also urges us to retweet everything he says unless we want the globalists to win. (Srsly, friends--he's a riot. Don't drink coffee while reading his tweets.)

Peas, friends. Take care of yourselves for me. Trust me--you're worth it! And go have a Fireball and some chocolate while you still can, will ya? Time is short now that the mouth of trump hell has opened...
  

- Dot Calm's shadow

Consider the preemptive Blogger phuqued-up phormatting disclaimer to be in effect. Grrr.

-- Dot Calm's shadow

      

 

*****

*****

     

Boycott List

Boycott media!

Don't bother with these media outlets any more unless you want trump propaganda--these media outlets have whored themselves out to trump for access for the low, low price of "fancy" cocktails and a "fancy" dinner, consisting of Donald's shriveled orange acorn dick, at chump's "fancy" (aka FAKE PLASTIC, just like everything else about trump and his FAKE PLASTIC family) "resort" in Florida. What an upstanding, responsible response to trump's denying press conferences since 27 July 2016...retch. So much for comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable, and speaking truth to power to keep that power reined in and in check...!

• Axios
• Bloomberg
• Breitbart because duh--according to AlterNet, Howard Dean Lends Voice to Consumer Activist Group Hitting Breitbart in the Wallet—And It's Working
• CNN
• FOX because of course
• MSNBC (includes Joe Scarborough, but Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes may still be OK as long as their corporate overlords allow it)
• NBC (they also have the reality TV show conflict of interest--and they just hired a couple of FUX Noise escapees, so beware a hard swing to the far, far right)
• POLITICO--their top editor(s) went and paid to party with trump, so now more and more trump propaganda has been showing up there, to my infinite disgust

Don't forget to contact these media outlets and their ADVERTISERS and TELL them all why you're boycotting them! So what if we spend a little less money overall? The money we save now may give us enough breathing room to jump ship before trump crashes the economy.

Boycott vendors that support trump, sell trump shit, and otherwise pander to hate!

Boycott Victoria's Secret--they kick out shoppers who are guilty of shopping while Black!
    
Here's a twofer: let's save our money for when dump tanks the economy and grab the trumpussy grabber-in-thief where it hurts most--by his wallet!

Want to boycott trump? There's an app for that!

And here's a list of trump companies.

There's also a spreadsheet of trump supporters and vendors that carry trump merch that includes the vendors below.
Don't forget New Balance, who praised and supported trump: 1 (800) 595-9138.

Here's the list from Mindy Fischer, featuring 28 vendors that sell trump merchandise. BOYCOTT them all and TELL them why!

6pm
Contact info: (888) 676-2660, HQ- (702) 943-7777
cs@6pm.com

Amazon--pressure them to DUMP BREITBART, while you're at it!
Contact info: (888) 280-4331 HQ- (206) 266-1000
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html?skip=true

Belk
Contact info: (866) 235-5443 HQ- (704) 357-1000
http://www.belkfeedback.com/(X(1)S(sbbxm3z11e1guxbtctk2wdkc))/Index.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Bloomingdale's
Contact info: (800) 777-0000 HQ- (212) 705-2000
http://survey.medallia.com/?blm-tuwyt-com

Bluefly
Contact info: (877) 258-3359 HQ- (212) 944-8000
flyrep@bluefly.com

The Bon-Ton
Contact info: (800) 233-7626 HQ- (800) 937-5449
http://investors.bonton.com/contactus.cfm

Bed Bath and Beyond
Contact info: (800) 462-3966 HQ- (908) 688-0888
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/selfservice/ContactUs?…

Burlington Coat Factory
Contact info: (855) 355-2875 HQ- (609) 387-7800
http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/contactus.aspx

Carson's 
Contact info: (800) 945-4438 HQ- (317) 971-6200
http://investors.bonton.com/contactus.cfm

Century 21 department store
Contact info: (877) 350-2121 HQ- (888) 221-2551
https://www.c21stores.com/contact

Dillard's
Contact info: (800) 345-5273 HQ- (501) 376-5200
http://www.dillards.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContactUs

DSW Shoes
Contact info: (866) 379-7463 HQ- (614) 237-7100
http://www.dsw.com/dsw_shoes/customer_service/send_email.jsp

Hudson’s Bay
Contact info: (800) 521-2364 HQ- (800) 521-2364
https://www.thebay.com/webapp/wcs/stores…

HSN
Contact info: (800) 284-3900 HQ- (727) 872-1000
https://www.hsn.com/cs/email_us/default.aspx

Jet
Contact Info: (855) 538-4323 HQ- (844) 538-2255
help@jet.com

Joss & Main
Contact info: (866) 263-8325 HQ- (617) 532-6100
https://www.wayfair.com/help/faq.php

Lord & Taylor
Contact info: (800) 223-7440 HQ- (212) 391-3344
https://www.lordandtaylor.com/webapp/wcs/stores…

Macy’s
Contact info: (800) 289-6229 HQ- (513) 579-7000
http://survey.medallia.com/?mcy-tuwyt-com

Marshalls and TJ Maxx
Contact info: (888) 627-7425 HQ- (508) 390-1000
https://www.marshallsonline.com/contact-us

Neiman Marcus WE WON! Needless Mark-up DUMPED TRUMP, w00t!
Contact info: (888) 888-4757 HQ- (562) 463-9333
https://www.neimanmarcus.com/assistance/contactUs.jsp

Nordstrom WE WON! Nordstrom DUMPED TRUMP, w00t!
Contact info: (888) 282-6060 HQ- (206) 628-2111
https://nordstrom.custhelp.com/app/ask/incidents.c$sent_queueid/12

Overstock.com
Contact info: (800) 843-2446 HQ- (801) 947-3100
https://help.overstock.com/app/ask

Perfumania
Contact info: (866) 557-2368 HQ- (800) 228-3489
http://perfumaniaholdings.com/contact

Saks Off Fifth
Contact info: (877) 551-7257 HQ- (212) 320-4700
https://www.saksoff5th.com/contactus

Stein Mart
Contact info: (888) 783-4662 HQ- (904) 346-1500
http://ir.steinmart.com/contactus.cfm

Wayfair
Contact info: (866) 263-8325 HQ- (617) 532-6100
https://www.wayfair.com/help/faq.php

Winners
Contact info: (514) 788 4949 HQ- (905) 405-8000
https://www.winners.ca/en/contact

Zappos
Contact info: (800) 927-7671 HQ- (702) 943-7777
https://secure-www.zappos.com/contact

Zulily
Contact info: (877) 779-5615 HQ- (206) 724-0500
http://www.zulily.com/contacts

OK, friends--let's get busy!