• About
  • The Poetry of Protest

Show Me Progress

~ covering government and politics in Missouri – since 2007

Show Me Progress

Blog Archives

Image

Vicky’s Twitter Gag

05 Saturday Mar 2022

Tags

Cartoons of Vicky Hartzler, Eric Greitens., Hartzler Twitter Suspension, Missouri Republican U.S. Senate Race, Vicky Hartzler, Vicky Hartzler Twitter

Posted by penroseonpolitics | Filed under US Senate

≈ 1 Comment

Image

Penrose On Politics: Hawley’s Crybaby Tour

06 Saturday Feb 2021

Tags

Insurrection, Josh Hawley, josh hawley cartoon, missouri, Penrose On Politics, U.S. Senate

Posted by penroseonpolitics | Filed under Josh Hawley, US Senate

≈ Leave a comment

Image

Ready

12 Wednesday Aug 2020

Tags

cap, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nasty

Posted by Michael Bersin | Filed under Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Image

Cable news network anchors waiting for the release of the Mueller Report

22 Friday Mar 2019

Tags

#resist, birds, Donald Trump, Grackles, media criticism, missouri, Robert Mueller, special counsel

Posted by Michael Bersin | Filed under media criticism, Resist

≈ 1 Comment

Image

There’s a bad moon on the rise.

29 Monday Jan 2018

Tags

affair, Donald Trump, Eric Greitens, right wingnuts, Russia

Posted by Michael Bersin | Filed under Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Image

It’s alway morning somewhere in the world…

20 Monday Nov 2017

Tags

sunrise

Posted by Michael Bersin | Filed under Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Image

What they’re saying on this day of national mourning

20 Friday Jan 2017

Tags

Donald Trump, inauguration, Political commentary, Russia

At today’s memorial service for the Obama legacy, the mourners had lots to say about the Great Orange Buffoon who will front for the GOP knife brigade while they slice up the corpse. A sampling:

On DailyKos an Obama Staffer offers this observation along with a spirited defense of the deceased, Obama’s many programs that benefited working people, along with advice about how to bring about its resurrection:

But part of progress is having to defend that progress, sooner or later, with your back against the wall. That time came sooner than expected, but it was always going to come. And reversing it is going to be a lot harder than Republicans advertised, because the benefits are just so damned real.

Eugene Robinson writes about the divisions in our society that are already exacerbated by Donald Trump, as well as all the ways that he falls short of the requirements for the job of leading our nation, his unprecedented dishonesty, his insecurity, his willful ignorance, his appalling opportunism, concluding that there may indeed be a second coming of progressive values if we just stand firm:

So I can’t pretend this is a normal inauguration. Of course I celebrate the peaceful and orderly transfer of power, but I also hope that Saturday’s protest march is big and loud and spirited — and that it represents the start, not the culmination, of something.
Trump’s power is not unchecked. We, the citizens, are the ultimate authority. We must let him know, through our elected officials and with our own rude voices, when he threatens to go too far.
Get ready. We have work to do.

Wajahat Ali at the New York Times was succinct in his response to Trump’s graveside remarks:

Listening to Mr. Trump’s speech today, I kept hoping, maybe, he would offer something unique and fresh, considering he said he had been preparing for three weeks. I’ve seen “Home Alone 2.” I know he can act. But despite his best efforts, he resorted to jingoism, fake patriotic populism, grandiose promises and an utter lack of self-awareness and irony as he promised to fight back against the very establishment he’s a part of. There was a predictable shout out to ending radical Islam forever, which is interesting considering the reports that the Islamic State has been actively celebrating his victory because of his divisive, anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies.

Also from the New York Times, Andrew Rosenthal, after initially declaring that in his speech today “Donald Trump gave us ‘American carnage’,”gets to the real essence of Trumpism:

But like everything the new president has ever said, the speech was as much about him as about anything else. He declared his Electoral College victory (which was not nearly matched by the popular vote) to have been a movement “the likes of which the world has never seen before.”

Greater, of course, than Christianity, or Islam, or Hinduism. Greater than the Renaissance or the Reformation. More powerful than the revolutions that created and destroyed Communism. Greater, of course, than the establishment of this very nation.

The best thing about the inaugural speech, in the end, is that it was short.

Josh Marshall at TPM describes Trump’s inauguration speech in terms of what it portends for American democracy:

This speech was about grievance and reclamation, reclaiming power, wealth from those who’ve stolen it. These themes can make sense and be salutary for countries which are weak, battered and poor. When they become the rallying cry for the strongest and wealthiest of countries, that is always dangerous. Our work is cut out for us.

Even conservatives were disgusted by Trump’s tone. Here’s some of what Jay Nordlinger had to say at the National Review:

–Trump’s inaugural address was boastful, huffy, ungracious, half cocked, and demagogic. It was almost certainly the most demagogic inaugural address in our history. […].

–There is a gap between those who think that Trump is fit for the presidency, in mind and character, and those who don’t. That gap is damn near unbridgeable.

–To my ears, Trump’s address was nasty and borderline un-American — for all its talk of patriotism and “America First.”

TPM also  has photos showing how empty the National Mall was today compared to the last Obama inauguration. Looks like nobody but the deplorables came to the funeral today. And guess what? They really could fit into a basket.

On the topic of attendance Trump does what he does best – lie via twitter:

It’s even worse that his tweeted comment implies: according to Slate: ” Donald Trump’s new Twitter background is a photo from the inauguration of Barack Obama: http://slate.me/2jHrPia ‘”

Not everybody  thinks funerals ought to be sad though. In Russia, wouldn’t you know, they were toasting the inauguration of the hand-picked-by-Putin President of the newly established United States of Corruption:

MOSCOW — In an upscale loft space in downtown Moscow’s Central Telegraph building, Russian politicians, political analysts, hangers-on and activists were toasting President Trump’s inauguration Friday evening, applauding as he took the oath of office to become the 45th president of the United States.

“It’s going to be a lot of action, drive, excitement,” said Dmitry Nosov, a sturdily built former member of parliament who wore a gray-checked blazer with a bear pin. “Not dull like it has been.”

What else is there to say.

Posted by willykay | Filed under Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Image

Lacy Clay vs. the Republican PC brigade

15 Sunday Jan 2017

Tags

art, Congressional Art Competition, David Pulphus, Duncan Hunter, Lacy Clay, Political Correctness

pulphus.image.jpg

By now almost everybody knows the story of Lacy Clay and the painting shown above – when there’s a story that involves conservative outrage, it gets around thanks to the first rate rightwing propaganda network. But just in case you don’t know why the image above is interesting for more than its aesthetic qualities, or if you’ve forgotten the details, here’s a quick summary of the events:

There’s something called the Congressional Art Competition for high school students in each congressional district. Each year, the most recent winner’s painting is hung in a tunnel passageway between the Longworth House Office Building and the Capitol. Over six months ago, Missouri Rep. Lacy Clay (D-1) hung the painting above, by the winner of the competition in his district, St. Louis high school student David Pulphus.

The Independent Journal Review, a right-leaning news site, noticed the painting recently and decided that its depiction of seemingly beastial police was worth a little outrage, which led Fox News to pick up the story. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) saw an opportunity to publicly flex his John Wayne muscles, grabbed the painting off the wall and deposited it in Rep. Clay’s office after lots of well-publicized posturing. Rep. Clay quickly flexed his muscles right back at Hunter and rehung the painting. Whereupon lots of other GOP representatives tried to get in on the show, publicly bloviating while shuttling the painting back and forth. Finally Republicans decided to call in a big gun and appealed to the Architect of the Capitol who ruled that “exhibits depicting subjects of contemporary political controversy or a sensationalistic or gruesome nature are not allowed.” So, now it looks like there’ll be a premature bye-bye to Pulphus’ painting.

Do you see anything funny (both ha-ha funny and otherwise) about this scenario? If not, let me lay it out for you:

  1.  Isn’t it conservatives who are usually mouthing off about about political correctness? As Alex Nowrasteh recently wrote in the Washington Post, “conservative writers fill volumes complaining how political correctness stifles free expression” and yet here they are actively trying to stifle free expression in the name of that god of the blue-haired country-club matron, “good taste.” Something offends them and theirs, it’s got to go, but when it offends me and mine, we’ve got to shut up because political correctness.
  2. Speaking of PC, are policemen and women really so fragile that they can’t face up to the fact that there are whole segments of the population that don’t regard them as protectors? Why do Republicans want us to enforce “safe spaces” for cops, when they’re so disturbed by the same kind of “safe spaces” on campuses (and, for the record, I oppose controversy-free zones on campus too).
  3. How does it help police to deal with “wounds that we’re trying to heal,” in the words of the president of the St. Louis County Police Association, if we stifle any point of view that doesn’t flatter the police? Lots of us believe that a wound can’t heal until its existence is freely acknowledged. Why aren’t these congressmen more interested in finding out why an intelligent, talented young man depicts police with animal faces? (And, by the way, he also depicts a protester with a wolf face – there’s lots of diverse animal imagery in the picture.)
  4. Jonathan Adler argues that there are inconsistencies in the response of the Capital Architect: that the office did not object to the painting when it was first hung six months ago, and that other paintings with a political message have not been removed (he offers an example here), adding that “this painting was targeted because of its specific message, not because it is too political.” In other words, the criteria used to remove the painting is inspired more by the particular PC ox that is being gored than by an objective application of the rules.
  5. If I were a cynical type of person, I might think that Rep. Duncan Hunter’s embrace of the controversy – and he was the one who really got it going –  might have had something to do with his desire to deflect attention from the ethics investigations into his campaign finances in which he was forced to reimburse $62,000 to his campaign for charges including “oral surgery, a garage door, video games, resort stays and a jewelry purchase in Italy.” But that’s just me. For purposes of discussion, I’m willing to accept that he and his very tasteful pals are just enslaved by conservative PC.

If Rep. Hunter and his GOP colleagues weren’t so politically correct, however, they might have been more willing to use the painting to encourage discussion of the questions that it raises. Adler notes:

On Thursday, someone placed a “Blue Lives Matter” flag on the wall above the painting. Whether or not such an impromptu display is allowed under the Capitol’s rules, this is a much more appropriate response than stealing the painting from the wall or otherwise seeking to have it removed. Displaying the Blue Lives Matter flag is a way to express disapproval of the painting’s message and endorse a counter-message. It is, in short, responding to potentially offensive speech with more speech. It is exactly what conservatives (and others) tell college students to do when they are confronted by speech that offends them, whether it’s an art installation or a speech by an Internet provocateur.

Of course, if there were to be a real discussion, folks like Hunter and the particular constituents he panders to might have to take into account the way their political correctness plays from an African-American perspective. As Etefia Umana writes in The Root:

These elected officials’ behavior is a clear display of privilege. African Americans get the message: Freedom of expression is only for police-worshipping, privileged citizens. The representatives will likely not be punished because law enforcement and elected officials have far more restraint for white “protesters” than for black resisters.

 God forbid that in the era of the Trumpocalypse we actually try to come together. Of course, David Pulphus’ painting has by now had more of an impact and started more discussions than during the past six months when it hung mostly unnoticed in a congressional hallway so maybe it’s a wash.

Posted by willykay | Filed under Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Image

The sun on the meadow is summery warm…

14 Monday Nov 2016

Tags

missouri

20161114-img_8517-pano

Posted by Michael Bersin | Filed under Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Image

Blunt’s Sinking Boat

06 Sunday Nov 2016

Tags

Blunt Lobby, Missouri Senate Race, Roy Blunt, Senator Blunt, special interests

blunts-sinking-boat-11-6-16

Posted by penroseonpolitics | Filed under Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

← Older posts

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007

Categories

  • campaign finance
  • Claire McCaskill
  • Congress
  • Democratic Party News
  • Eric Schmitt
  • Healthcare
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Interview
  • Jason Smith
  • Josh Hawley
  • Mark Alford
  • media criticism
  • meta
  • Missouri General Assembly
  • Missouri Governor
  • Missouri House
  • Missouri Senate
  • Resist
  • Roy Blunt
  • social media
  • Standing Rock
  • Town Hall
  • Uncategorized
  • US Senate

Meta

  • Log in

Blogroll

  • Balloon Juice
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Digby
  • I Spy With My Little Eye
  • Lawyers, Guns, and Money
  • No More Mister Nice Blog
  • The Great Orange Satan
  • Washington Monthly
  • Yael Abouhalkah

Donate to Show Me Progress via PayPal

Your modest support helps keep the lights on. Click on the button:

Blog Stats

  • 736,292 hits

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...