Bannon: A Trump Collectible.

Wonkette.

According the latest, it’s Ms. Kushner who wants Bannon ousted, as she’s veddy, veddy concerned about … the Trump brand. Aww, you didn’t think it would be beautiful babies, did you? According to the de facto First Lady, Bannon is just one of daddy’s collectibles.

As pressure has borne down on the Trump administration to produce some victories to mark its first 100 days in office, Bannon has reportedly been finding himself increasingly isolated and overruled in the Oval Office. According to the Times, the president’s daughter has been making a case for Bannon’s removal to her father “in the strongest terms.”

“Ms. Trump has never been close to Mr. Bannon, although she appreciated the ferocity of his work. She puts him in the category of colorful, rough-hewed characters her father collects, with the likes of Roger Stone, a longtime Trump operative,” the Times said.

“In recent weeks, she has spoken bluntly about Mr. Bannon’s shortcomings to the president. She was especially incensed by articles she believed were planted by Mr. Bannon’s allies suggesting he, not her father, honed the populist economic message that helped sweep the Midwest. She made that point in the strongest terms to her father, who agreed, according to a family friend,” the report continued.

Ivanka Trump reportedly sees one of her roles in the White House is to serve as a protector of the family brand. Throughout the campaign and since her father’s inauguration, she has reportedly worried that the ultraconservative Bannon — with his failed Muslim ban and repeated attacks on her husband by Breitbart.com — will damage the Trump brand.

I rather imagine Bannon and his supporters aren’t going to be overly pleased at the depiction of Bannon as a plaything. Tsk. Via Raw Story.

Descent of Night.

Descent of Night. A very hurried shot, rain still threatens. Now, all I need are some trifolds and good weather to get a good shot. Click for full size.

Descent of Night, acrylic and ball point pen on gesso panel, 18″ x 24″. © C. Ford, all rights reserved.

Friendship Benches.

Like many simple ideas, friendship benches and grandmothers is an absolutely brilliant one. Zimbabwe has a wealth of people suffering ills, much like every place else on the planet. Mental and emotional difficulties and struggles are stigmatized all over the world, and even when there are abundant resources, many people won’t reach out because of that stigma. Most places don’t have abundant resources, but they do have troubled people who do not want to be stigmatized. So, what to do? There’s a small program in parts of Zimbabwe, where older women receive training, and they spend time on the friendship benches, where people can come and talk them, and be listened to, which I feel is a cure for a great many ills. Most people simply don’t listen, and often, even when someone does, they get awkward and embarrassed because they can’t fix a person’s problem. What gets missed much of the time is that people aren’t necessarily looking for a fix, they simply need someone to listen, someone to care. The Grandmothers are also happy, because they feel needed, rather than lonely and neglected. Friendship benches are an idea which needs to be widespread, all over the world.

The therapy room is a patch of waste ground, and the therapist’s couch a wooden bench under a tree. The therapist is an elderly Zimbabwean woman, in a long brown dress and headscarf.

Her patients call her “Grandmother” when they come along to sit on her bench and discuss their feelings, their depression or other mental health issues.

[…]

The benches are a safe place for people struggling with depression, which in the Shona language is called kufungisisa, “thinking too much”.

It is a world away from conventional approaches to mental healthcare, but the Friendship Bench project has changed the lives of an estimated 27,000 Zimbabweans suffering from depression and other mental disorders.

The grandmothers, all of whom are trained to improve a patient’s ability to cope with mental stress, listen and nod, offering only an occasional word of encouragement.

[…]

“When they first get to the bench, we use an intervention which we call kuvhura pfungwa [opening of the mind]. They sit and talk about their problems. Through that process, the grandmothers enable that patient to select a specific problem to focus on, and they help them through it,” he says.

Through at least six one-on-one sessions with the health workers, the patients are encouraged to speak about their problems and their mental illness.

Traditionally, elderly women play the role of counsellor for younger members of the community. On the bench, however, the grandmothers listen more, and lecture less.

“We used to talk a lot, ‘Do this, do that’. But now we ask them to open up, open their minds and hearts,” says Sheba Khumalo, a grandmother.

The Guardian has the full story.

“I Wanna Ride in the Gold Carriage, Waaaah!”

The Mexican president rode in the state carriage in 2015 but President Obama chose to spare his hosts the security nightmare. Mr Trump faces a more severe threat in October. TOBY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images.

The Tiny Toddler Tyrant is having a tantrum over riding in the Queen’s gold carriage when he visits London. Needless to say, it’s a security nightmare in the best of times, and these are not the best of times. President Obama waived this bit of pomp in order to spare everyone said security nightmare, but Tiny Toddler Trump? Oh no, he wants his carriage ride. A gold carriage? Why, that just has “Trump” written all over it, right?

Donald Trump waving from the Queen’s royal carriage is not a scenario many would have foreseen a year ago, but it has become a very real prospect, forcing security services to plan an unprecedented lockdown.

The White House has made clear it regards the carriage procession down the Mall as an essential element of the itinerary for the visit currently planned for the second week of October, according to officials.

Security sources have warned, however, that the procession will require a “monster” security operation, far greater than for any recent state visit.

Essential? No, it’s not essential. President Obama showed that it was no such thing, and had a wonderful visit. This is a capsule portrait of the monstrous toddler currently loose in the white house. He wants what he wants when he wants it, there’s zero possibility of acting like a godsdamn adult. Yet another 70something white man who thinks the world is his little plaything on a gold platter. Naturally, there isn’t one single thing on this planet which is more important, and essential than Tiny Trump getting his gold carriage ride.

British security services are balking, saying the president’s wish is presenting them with “monster” problems is helping to keep the U.S. president safe.

London Metropolitan Police have already been making plans for Trump’s visit, expecting tens of thousands of protesters to descend on the procession route. Their preference is for Trump to make use of a bullet and bomb-proof car that was previously used by former President Barack Obama.

“The vehicle which carries the president of the United States is a spectacular vehicle. It is designed to withstand a massive attack like a low-level rocket grenade,” a police source explained. “If he’s in that vehicle he is incredibly well protected and on top of that it can travel at enormous speed. If he is in a golden coach being dragged up the Mall by a couple of horses, the risk factor is dramatically increased.”

Perhaps they should consider spraying the merely spectacular vehicle with gold paint, and having horses trot along in front.

Via The Times of London and Raw Story.

The Amazing World of AMKK!

Azuma Mokoto and Shiinuke Shunsuke.

Need to brighten up your universe and recapture a sense of wonder, delight, and glee? Look no further than AMKK, a world of intense, joyful artistry and botany. They are featured on The Creators Project, where you can see so much, and read all about these magical artists, then you can go and wander over to their website, and get absolutely lost in the most amazing, oh, well, just have a wander, it will do your non-existent soul so much good!

The Internet Is Optional: “Nobody’s got to use the internet.”

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (YouTube).

By golly, a representative of the Party of Very Old White Men has declared that the internet is optional! You don’t need that silly web thingy, no sir! The distance between these willfully ignorant, very old white men and reality continues to widen. They seem to think that you really don’t need net access at all, outside of email or finding delicious porn, so if you don’t like the stripping of privacy rights, well, you can go without.

In a town hall appearance held on Thursday, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. defended his decision to vote to repeal the Broadband Consumer Privacy Rules passed by the FCC last October by arguing that “nobody’s got to use the internet.”

When a constituent attending the event in Wisconsin’s fifth district raised the issue that she has only one ISP available in her neighborhood and now has little recourse to protect her personal information from her internet provider, Sensenbrenner responded:

“You know, nobody’s got to use the internet….I don’t think it’s my job to tell you that you cannot get advertising through your information being sold. My job, I think, is to tell you that you have the opportunity to do it and then you take it upon yourself to make the choice.”

The congressman’s press office doubled down on this, responding to a tweet claiming Sensenbrenner said “not to use the internet” by stating, “Actually, he said that nobody has to use the internet. They have a choice.”

Sensenbrenner’s view contrasts with that of the United Nations, which has labeled internet access a basic human right, and with most trends that see more and more reliance on internet access to partake in other basic tasks, from completing school work to searching for employment.

As people in the tweet streams pointed out, people don’t have to use indoor plumbing, cars, electricity, or many other nifty modern things, but that would make life very difficult, and messy. Change happens, and if you’re a dinosaur who wants to sit in their swamp and sulk, have at it, but you should not be in position to legislate what other people can or cannot do, or what they can or cannot have. It’s damn near impossible to do anything without net access anymore, and someone who was in touch with reality would be aware of that one.

And no, I’m not going to apologize for being ageist. I am sick to death of old white men who think they rule the world, and how they see things is how it is. I’m hardly young myself, and I know not all older people are unrepentant dumbfucks, many of them are grand, ferociously intelligent people. Unfortunately, we seem to be short on them in what passes for U.S. government. I do want younger people in government. I want people who are not set in concrete and stuck in the 1950s. I also want lots of women and people of colour in government. It’s a dream.

Via Raw Story.