Caption Saturday.

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I need a caption for this pic.

*Pic from vox.com 

The president calls journalists the enemy, and today five of them are dead.

I am quite sure that the domestic terrorist who slaughtered five people today in Maryland was not from Venezuela, North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Syria, or Yemen. And in case you were wondering, those are the countries on trump's travel ban list. All those countries are responsible for a whopping eight percent of the world's terrorism. Maybe instead of trying to keep folks from some of these other countries out, we should be worried about the terrorist  who are already here in our country. They have created terror time and time again.

Today's attack,  sparked in part by the words of the president, is proof of how dangerous the words from the most powerful man on earth can be. There is no denying that trump  has created a hostile environment for journalists and those in the news business,  and the end result today was the slaughter of five innocent people who happen to work for a newspaper. trump, when asked about the shootings in Maryland, cracked a smile and walked away. Of course, being the twitter coward that he is, he tweeted about it.

"Prior to departing Wisconsin, I was briefed on the shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland," Mr. Trump tweeted. "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene."

Save your "prayers".  If there is a God she doesn't hear you.

*Pic screenshot from NBCNews.com

Open thread.

It's open thread night, and I need your opinions on a couple of big news items.

For instance, how will Justice Kennedy deciding to call it quits affect the future of the Supreme Court? trump gets another appointment, and that should scare every person who is not a card carrying Nazi.

With the huge upset of a mainstream democratic congressional candidate in New York by a left leaning upstart, does that mean there is a huge split in the democratic party? Or, is it all just wishful thinking on the part of pundits and the chattering class to make the mid-terms more interesting?   

First, ban all the Muslims.

What a  day in America. She is a country that is looking more like Germany circa 1933 than the "shining city on a hill" that Reagan liked to talk about. It is a country now being controlled by a right-wing and racist cabal that is hell- bent on taking us to a darker time in our history. 

The Supremes  gave the president a win with his Muslim ban, the vote was close (5-4), but close only counts in horseshoes.

Just remember this day the next time someone tells you that elections don't matter. It was trump's pick , Neil Gorsuch, who had the deciding vote. Gorsuch, thanks to Mitch McConnell, was able to hijack the Supreme Court pick of Barack Obama and put the right-wingnut jurist on the court. 

Justice Sotomayor's dissent in the case was on point. Unfortunately she was in the minority.

"Ultimately, what began as a policy explicitly 'calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States' has since morphed into a 'Proclamation' putatively based on national-security concerns," ....But this new window dressing cannot conceal an unassailable fact: the words of the President and his advisers create the strong perception that the Proclamation is contaminated by impermissible discriminatory animus against Islam and its followers." 

This is a slippery slope, but Americans will support it, because it has a negative effect on Muslims and not Christians. In their minds, it will only effect the lives of those other people. 

Enjoy this all for now trumpbots, today it's the other guy, tomorrow it will be you.

Anyway, given the current climate in our country, stories like the following does not surprise me.

" The mayor of a western Pennsylvania town called for black protesters to be “destroyed” by a water cannon in a misspelled Facebook post.

Karen Peconi, the mayor of the Pittsburgh suburb Arnold, shared a Viral Leaks video on her account that showed black “rioters” being sprayed with water hoses and a photo of teenage civil rights demonstrators being hosed by firefighters 55 years ago in Birmingham, Alabama, reported WTAE-TV.

The Facebook posts were made in response to ongoing protests of the police shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose Jr., who was killed June 19 by police officer Michael Rosfeld while fleeing a traffic stop.

“I’m posting this so the authorities everywhere sees (sic) this … bring the hoses,” wrote Peconi. “They don’t care about jobs for PGH … none of them work now. That’s how they can do this at 7 a.m. Very sad.”

She called on law enforcement to blast protesters with a “water canon,” misspelling “cannon.”'. [Source]

Bring on the German Shepherds. This is trump's America, and this is his kind of Mayor. Right down to the misspelled tweet.

Sarah gets the boot.

  I guess everyone has heard by now what happened to Sarah Sanders in Virginia recently. 

Girlfriend went to a restaurant and was refused service. Apparently the owner of said establishment has had enough of Sarah lying to the American people while she defends the trump regime.
Anyway, the last time I checked, lying heartless assholes are not a protected class in this country.
trump officials need to just start ordering in. I hear Papa John's delivers. 

Now, as is to be expected, the delicate snowflake like psyche of the right-wingnut has been damaged. Even some liberals, like former Obama right hand David Axelrod, was on board to say that what happened to Sarah was not right. Some wingnuts even tried to draw parallels to blacks not being served at lunch counters back in the day.

I need a break! This isn't even close. Sarah can find a million other restaurants that will accept her unlike those black folks back in the day whose skin color prevented them from doing what white folks did. Conservatives are always trying to quote Dr.King by talking about being judged by the content of your character, well that is what this restaurant did:  judged Sanders by the content of her character. 

Sorry, I don't feel bad for Sarah at all. She will be fine. Who I do feel bad for are the countless number of black folks who have to justify their existence doing mundane things every damn day.

Like a Doctor coming off of long night- shift in Atlanta, only to have the entrance to her condo blocked by a white condo owner who did not think she belonged.  Like the woman who was shaded while shopping at Walgreens and was stopped by officers even after paying for the items.  Like the the 8 year old who had the cops called on her for selling water.  Or the black photographer who had the cops called on him while he was doing his job because he was...well black.   I could go on (because there are lots more stories like the ones above), but I think you get the point.

Finally, I have a question: Does anyone know if the Red Hen Restaurant in Virginia takes reservations? I plan to be in the D.C. area next week and I would love to support them.

*Pic from rawstory.com

Caption Saturday.

I need a caption for this pic.

*Pic from twitter.com

She really doesn't care, and her husband doesn't either.

 Folks, can things get any crazier with this administration?

Yesterday trump announced a reversal of the administration's policy to separate children from their families while holding them in cages. Or, as the trump people call it: Rooms with cages around them.

Today we learn that they don't know what to do next, that children will still be separated from their families, and some might never be reunited. We also learn that some of these facilities that they are being held in are worse, in some cases, than actual prisons. 

Anwhoo, things went from crazy to downright bizarre. The first lady wore a jacket for her photo op with the suffering children, and it was, well.... here is what it said: "I REALLY DON'T CARE. DO YOU?" Huh?!

If I didn't know better (trump is not that smart), I would think that this was some kind of massive distraction to have the press talk about Melania so that she can play the victim role. I suspect, though, that this is just Melania being clueless. "Be best"  

Anyway, tell me what you think that jacket was all about.

*Pic from twitter.com

trump makes a calculated political decision.

"Trump signed the order and made the announcement to reporters while flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Nielsen, of course, claimed just days ago, “We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period.”

The President stated that this executive order is “about keeping families together” while still having a strong border and upholding a “zero tolerance” policy.

He expressed his dismay at the “sight or the feeling” of children being separated from their parents.
“You’re gonna have a lot of happy people,” Trump added before signing it." [Source]

But he will not be happy, because this is not what he wanted. He played political games with the lives of innocent children to get his stupid border wall. History will not be kind.

Not surprisingly, he told another lie. He declared that only congress could stop this inhumane and pointless policy, and yet, today he signed an executive order preventing families from being separated while their immigration status is being determined. He lied for days about it, and yet, this too shall pass. We will excuse his many lies because the devil is not expected to do the right thing. He is the devil we know, the one that was elected to lead us.

"The "darker impulses of the American soul" has been what we have been facing for months. trump's former adviser mocked a disabled child on television and thought nothing of it, an entire television network of sycophants have been downplaying the cruel treatment of children  ("Summer camps"?) as if it's normal and we should all sign on to it. -----Heck we pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council for crying out loud!

Of course, as black folks, we know about these darker impulses. And no matter how folks in the majority population try to pretend that it doesn't exist, we know that it's always lying just below the surface. It's how we got Donald trump, and all the people who support him. It's how people can look at all those heartbreaking images of children and make excuses for this president by blaming every one else but him. Finally, though, people are starting to take notice. Make no mistake, political pressure and not empathy for the children is what led trump to capitulate. He does not care about those children, and the country knows it.

“Anybody with a heart would feel strongly about it,” he added. “At the same time, we don’t want people coming into our country illegally.” 

Operative word being "heart". You clearly don't have one.




  

There will be no profiles in courage from this bunch.

"The administration’s current family separation policy is an affront to the decency of the American people, and contrary to principles and values upon which our nation was founded. The administration has the power to rescind this policy. It should do so now." ~John McCain~ 

Such a shame that the only republican to speak out against the immoral and reprehensible acts taking place at the border is a man who might not have long for this earth.  

Donald trump is a despicable and loathsome human being. He has no heart, no soul, and not a single ounce of humanity. So what he and his administration is presiding over at this time in our history is not surprising. What is surprising (or maybe not) is the silence from republican leaders such as Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. Why would they tarnish their legacy and their place in history to defend the indefensible?  

Today Donald trump sent his DHS Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, to face the press and to express to the world that he is doubling down on his policy of separating children from their families. Needless to say that it didn't go well. She came across as out of touch and clueless when it comes to this issue, and she did her best Irma Grese  impression for all of us. Just like her boss she told lie after lie, and she did bat an eye while doing it. 

"Reporters repeatedly asked whether the children were being used as “pawns” in an attempt to advance Trump’s legislative agenda on immigration. 

Nielsen pushed back by accusing Congress of being at fault for refusing to close “loopholes” and claiming children are being used as pawns by traffickers. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also tried to divert blame onto legislators when asked similar questions at the Monday briefing. 

Both officials pushed a debunked idea that the family separation policy is the law.

“It’s a law passed by the United States Congress,” Nielsen falsely said in response to a reporter. “Rather than fixing the law, Congress is asking those of us who enforce the law to turn our backs on the law and not enforce the law. That’s not an answer.”'

The president of the United States could end this travesty tomorrow, but he won't. He is too busy playing to his base and trying to score cheap political points with his extremist and white supremacist friends. We are not surprised that he can get to them. Let's face it, they are not the brightest and best among us.What is surprising is that he is getting all these powerful people in his party to go along with him, because they either fear him or fear losing the power that being close to him brings.

I never thought that I would live to say this, but they could all learn a thing or two from John McCain.  

  

"Zero tolerance. "

 "And whosoever shall offend one of [these] little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea."  ~ Mark:42~ 

Well let's just throw all of these monsters in this administration in the sea right now.  Because they are certainly offending children in no uncertain manner.

Imagine snatching children from their families and trying to justify it by saying it's a part of some sort of political long game. Or worse, lie about it and say that it's the other guy's fault. They are calling at a "zero tolerance policy", and they have said that they do not have to justify it.  Ask yourselves this  question right-wingnuts: What would Jesus do?   

This is a new low, even for an administration that we thought could not go any lower.
You have to wonder where all of trump's religious supporters are hiding. The ones who scream bloody murder because women actually have a choice over their own bodies. They want to protect babies in the womb, but not when they actually get here. I mean even the president's wife came out of her [keep me away from Donald]cocoon long enough to say that taking children from their families is not right.  

Finally, though, America is starting to take notice. (At least those of use with a conscience. The trump cultist will say that this is all a part of the supreme leader's plan.) Hopefully the American press will stay away from trump's shiny objects that he uses to distract and focus on his everyday policies. I suppose that if enough people declare their outrage they will have no choice.  And for the record, trumpbots, it is not illegal to seek asylum. Let me repeat that: IT IS NOT ILLEGAL TO SEEK ASYLUM.

"They're willing to risk harm to a child being traumatized, separated from a parent and sitting in federal detention by themselves, in order to reach a larger policy goal of deterrence," said Jennifer Podkul, director of policy at Kids in Need of Defense, which represents children in immigration court. 

Somebody get the rope.

Caption Saturday.

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I need a caption for this pic.


*Pic from slatecom 

Open thread.

Dear racists, I know that you have been emboldened to let your Klan flag fly with the election of Donald trump, but you still have to be careful when in polite company. Plus, there are these things called cell phones that can document your every move. trump is giving you all a false sense of security.

This lady got away with being a flat out racist because her victims were too passive and afraid to retaliate.So did this one.  But sometimes you trumpbots have to realize that being a racist publicly isn't always a wise choice. Take this one, for instance,  he found out the hard way that you should just keep your open racism for trump rallies. Or this one, who actually got booted from college. 

Anyway, it's open thread night. Let me know what y'all think.

When morals go missing.

We all know by now that Donald trump is an immoral person. He is  a man who would rather stroke the ego of a killer and a human rights abuser than the leader of a friendly nation, because said egomaniacal madman strokes his ego in return. 

trump called the leader of North Korea "strong, funny, smart", and a great negotiator whose people love him. Yeah, that same guy who has death camps disguised as prisons in his country, and who routinely starves his people to death. It's easy for a person with no morality to love a man like Kim, and it's easy to see why trump wishes that he could lead the same type of Dystopian 1984 style society like the one that now exists in North Korea. If only trump could get the American opposition and the press to obey him like the rest of his minions, life would be no doubt good in trump world. Sadly for him, though, this is America, and we still enjoy certain freedoms, that, at least for now, he cannot take away. 

Finally, speaking of morality, here is a wonderful article from Charles Blow describing what trump's campaign of bigotry has brought us. 

" Racist comments don’t hurt my feelings. Not at all.

However, I find that people assume that they are hurtful, both the persons spewing them and those empathic about the perceived pain.

But I register no such pain. I’m from the Toni Morrison school of morality on the subject of race. As she once told Charlie Rose:

'I always knew that I had the high ground, all my life. I always thought those people who said I couldn’t come in the drugstore, and I had to sit in this funny place, and I couldn’t go in the park — —”

Rose interjects:

'You felt morally superior to them from Day 1.'

Morrison continued:

'I did. And I thought they knew that I knew that they were inferior to me, morally. I always thought that, and my parents always thought that.'

You see, racism is a moral corruption built on an intellectual fallacy and exists as a construction invented for the very purpose of violence. So, when people demonstrate that they subscribe to theories of racism, they have shown their hand, and I am immediately roused by the euphoric understanding that they are compromised, diminished and assailable.

Instead of reducing me, their racism reduces them. That is the ironic, poetic justice of it.

Of course, one only has to think about it for a moment to find the enormous hole in the logic that racism morally weakens the object of the sickness rather than the possessor of the sickness.

Although it doesn’t hurt my feelings, it does enrage me when racists are granted power in society to allow their idiocy to have a negative impact on other people, whether that be culturally, psychologically and spiritually, or materially and physically.

It enrages me when ignorance is elevated and empowered, when historical truth is eschewed, when current realities are denied.

But this moral rage is separate and apart from emotional distress, the former being active and energetic while the latter is passive and plaintive.

In this context, Roseanne Barr’s recent racist tweets, including one suggesting that the Obama-era White House official Valerie Jarrett was the offspring of apes, were not emotionally injurious, but were rage-inducing.

I doubt Jarrett’s feelings were hurt because she knows, like everyone else, that even with two broken legs and rubber crutches she could run moral and intellectual rings around Barr any day of the week.

Appearing at a town hall about race on Tuesday night, Jarrett said: “I’m fine.”

Later, when asked if she agreed that Donald Trump had set a tone that has made people feel increasingly empowered to make racist statements, she said: “Tone does start at the top, and we like to look up to our president and feel as though he reflects the values of our country. But I also think every individual citizen has the responsibility too, and it’s up to all of us to push back.”

That was ever so diplomatic of Jarrett, but the blunt fact is that while racism and racists predated Trump’s presidency, he has clearly relieved a lot of the guilt and shame some may otherwise have felt about having their hatred and intolerance on display.

Trump is a walking, talking permission slip for the white supremacist.

He had the gall to tweet on Wednesday:

“Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that ‘ABC does not tolerate comments like those’ made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?”

First, he included no condemnation of Barr’s comments at all. Failure to rebuke can rightly be taken as tacit approval and acceptance.

But then, the man who never apologizes for his growing glut of offenses wants an apology for unspecified “horrible statements” about him.

Did he apologize to the Central Park Five for calling for their executions?

Did he apologize to Barack Obama for leading the charge on the racist birther lie?

Did he apologize for calling Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers?

Did he apologize to the Muslim community for saying that Islam hates us?

Did he apologize to African countries or Haiti and El Salvador for describing them with an expletive?

Did he apologize to Colin Kaepernick and other protesting N.F.L. players for calling them sons of bitches?

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Donald Trump, White House racist, Nazi sympathizer, alt-right hero, receiver of laurels from the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, is the absolute last person who should be demanding an apology in this Roseanne controversy.

Barr and Trump are morally and intellectually compromised by their racial contempt. It enrages me that they have the power to influence the culture and, in Trump’s case, to actually craft toxic policy." [More here] 

And with trump comes stories like this and like this every day. (By the way, did you see the lady in that last link? Is it just me who believes that racism literally makes you uglier on the outside?) 

They were always with us folks, they just feel a little more comfortable now. 

"Little Rocket Man" is not looking so little these days.

 Tonight the American president meets with his moral twin in Singapore. They will be comparing notes on who has the worst haircut in the history of haircuts and whose hands are bigger.

I kid of course. Actually trump and his minions are touting this as the meeting of the century. To hear them tell it this meeting will change the world forever. Forget Tehran 1943, this will be bigger.  There will be no more nukes, North and South Koreans will unite, and there will be Burger King joints on every corner in Pyongyang. A trump hotel will follow soon as well.  Do they have Nobel Peace Prizes in orange?

Anywhoo, while trump is kissing up to "Little Rocket Man" , and putting on his latest dictator reality show, he seems to be on a mission to diss our friends to the North and our Allies in Europe. He even personally called out the Canadian PM in no uncertain terms. (I think he is jealous of the guy.) I mean the man (trump) really made a fool of himself at the G7.  So much so that he had other world leaders questioning his sanity; not to mention the sanity of us Americans for electing him as our president. There is this pic of him and the other leaders that says it all. To say he did Putin's bidding is is an understatement. Putin didn't have to be there, he had trump.  trump is doing his best to weaken Nato, which is exactly what Putin needs him to do. (Can I get those shower videos back now, Vlad? Not yet Donald, you still have some work to do.)

One of trump's top aides said that there is a "special place in hell" for the Canadian Prime Minister. The devil sure is slick. I never knew that hell had different kinds of places. I always thought that once you were there it was pretty much a wrap. So if that's the case, where will guys like trump and Kim Jong Un kick it in Satan's place? Rhetorical question. If you believe in such a place you have to believe that the devil will just keep them alive and force everyone there to look at their haircuts, 24/7. That is a hell that no man or woman can bear. I am sure of it.

Anyway, I found the following to be the most interesting news coming out of trump's summit.

 "South Korean news agency The Chosunilbo reported that when Kim arrived in Singapore this week on an Air China Boeing 747, he also was accompanied by an IL-76 transport plane carrying food, "his bullet-proof limousine and a portable toilet."

And accordingly to Lee Yun-keol, who worked in a North Korean Guard Command unit before defecting to South Korea in 2005, that's par for the course.

"Rather than using a public restroom, the leader of North Korea has a personal toilet that follows him around when he travels," Lee Yun-keol told the Washington Post.

The reason? They are protecting against a literal info dump.

"The leader's excretions contain information about his health status so they can't be left behind," Lee Yun-keol explained." [Source]

One could argue that trump should be bringing his own  portable toilet as well. We wouldn't want those foreign governments going through.....well, you get the idea.

*Pic from cnn.com 

Mental health issues or racism?

One of the reasons I like blogging is because I get to share interesting and informative things with you and then get your opinions and thoughts on these issues.

For instance, someone recently sent me an article from The Root, which they said infuriated them. Why? Because, they said, it was just another sad case of living while black in America, and privileged and entitled Missy resenting us being in her space.

I gotta tell you, though, I didn't see what others saw as racism. (Not like this. Now this is racism)What I saw after reading this article and watching the video, was a woman suffering from mental illness who clearly needed help. Now some would argue that racism is a form of mental illness, and I tend to agree, but the sick woman in this video would have acted the way she did no matter what the race of the people in her apartment complex.

I pity her because mental illness is real, and these spate of high profile suicides should tell us as much. Heck in my humble opinion (not mention the opinion of some real mental health professionals), your president suffers from mental illness. Watching him try to play president and make a mess of our world order ought to tell us as much. But I digress.Back to Missy with the issues in Oklahoma City.

Watch the video and tell me what you think.     

Caption Saturday.

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I need a caption for this pic.

Example:John Bolton-Don't you dare talk to our supreme leader like that. 

Angela Merkel-Shut up and trim your mustache, John. You look like a nineties porn star. 

*Pic from sputniknews.com

Open thread.

Tell me what's on your mind.

I have a few things on mine.

Like Melania finally emerging from exile, and her husband telling the media that they were "vicious and unfair" to her.  I guess when he was having unprotected sex with a porn star while she recovered from giving birth to his son that wasn't "vicious and unfair".

Like this video of these cops in Arizona beating  the crap out of an innocent man for no reason.  (This is why NFL players choose to kneel.)

Like the fact that literally anything black folks do in America warrants some kind of "color aroused syndrome" type behavior.  Let's go ahead and add walking your dog while black to the list of things that will cause the cops to be called on you.

Like that incredibly impromptu press conference given by Malcolm Jenkins of the Eagles today. 

Like the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, and what it means for civil rights issues going forward in this country. 

Like the fact that trump made such a big deal about NFL players honoring the national anthem, but he himself doesn't even know the words. 

Like the fact that Karma is so real. 

Thoughts?

The Eagles did not land.

 

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  "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel"~Samuel Johnson 

Most of you read this blog know that I am a big time Eagles fan. During the football season I pretty much bleed Eagle green, and I am still pinching myself after our Super Bowl win over those New England Cheatriots. 

Now I, like most Americans, understand that it is customary for the Super Bowl champions to visit the White House to celebrate their victory with the president. I also knew this would be problematic because this particular president pretty much told NFL players to leave the country if they didn't kiss his ring, obey all his commands, and stand and sing the national anthem. (Even though he doesn't  know that words. himself) He also called their mothers bitches. Throw in the fact that the Eagles are one of the most "woke" teams in the NFL, and there is no way this was going to be easy. But, as is to be expected with this autocratic president, the Super Bowl champions were still expected to go to Washington and participate in his charade. 

To the Eagle's credit, they told the players that if they wanted to go to the White House they would be free to do so.  And some- including the team's quarterback- said that they would go. 

So the invite was on, and today was to be the day that Gang Green descends on Pennsylvania Avenue. Sadly for trump (and this is a fact), less than a dozen players agreed to go. The White House expected a lot more, and trump, who is obsessed with size, could not live with the optics of only having a few of the Super Bowl champions show up.  So what did he do? He quickly disinvited them before they showed up and embarrassed him.  But that wasn't enough. He also told a lie about the Birds and their actions during the NFL season when giving his reason for canceling the invitation. For the record, not one Eagle took a knee during the playing of the anthem, and not one stayed in the locker room. trump concocted this lie to appease his base and keep the culture war raging.

The biggest losers in this fiasco might be the NFL and the owners. trump is getting what he wants by creating this phony patriotism battle, and the owners are losing the public relations battle with their fans, as well as credibility with their players. The owner's panicked and caved to trump without consulting with the players and thinking that trump would get their back. They misread the landscape. They didn't realize that trump didn't want peace; he wanted war.  

Today the president held something called the Celebration of America, it was meant to be a patriotic event where the president can stand in front of a bunch of flags and bask in the glow of all the faux patriotism surrounding him. Of course, it didn't go as planned. A couple of protesters reminded us that we still live in America, and one wannabe dictator whose ego is almost as large as his list of crimes will not change how we live our lives.   

*Pic from theatlantic.com