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Sunday 19 February 2017

Sinking into Greatness, as the band plays the theme from Titanic / Our Scarlet Letter / Heathcote Williams: Two for Trump

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Putting green's pin flag is an actual miniature America flag here at Trump's Mar-a-lago: image via Mike Memoli @mikememoli, 18 February 2017

Trump gets what he wants in Florida

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump stand together during a campaign rally on February 18, 2017 in Melbourne, Florida.

Trump gets what he wants in Florida: Campaign-level adulation: Dan Merica, CNN, 18 February 2017

Melbourne, Florida (CNN) President Donald Trump, after a month of arduous and, at times, turbulent governing, got what he came for Saturday during a dusk rally here: Campaign-level adulation.

Trump, who just months ago finished campaigning for the office he now holds, was both selling what his administration has done in its first 30 days and trying to change the subject after a chaotic month. The President was forced to fire his national security adviser, struggled to roll out his travel ban and strained to explain a growing story about how members of his 2016 campaign made repeated contact with Russian individuals known to US intelligence.

Trump, clearly ready for some relief from the confines of Washington and the limitations of the house he ran to occupy, reverted back to his campaign habits, basking in what energized him for months during the slog of his race against Hillary Clinton.

At one point, Trump invited Gene Huber -- a supporter who said he arrived at the venue at 4 a.m. ET to be the first in line for the event -- up to the stage. The man was briefly stopped by the Secret Service before the President urged agents to let him come up and address the audience.

"I wouldn't say Secret Service was thrilled with that ... but we know our people," Trump said.

The moment evoked some of the unscripted flashes that defined Trump's 2016 campaign.

Surprise! Trump hands the mic to supporter at Florida rally

Trump hands mic to supporter at Florida rally: photo by Dan Merica/CNN, 18 February 2017

"I am here because I want to be among my friends and among the people," Trump said to open his rally. "This was a great movement, a movement like has never been seen before in our country or before anywhere else, this was a truly great movement and I want to be here with you and I will always be with you."

Trump, as he did often during the campaign, turned his fire on the media during the packed event -- estimated to number 9,000, according to Melbourne police -- slammed international trade deals made by his predecessors and pledged to bring back the jobs to the United States.

The President said his administration would release a new immigration order "over the next couple of days" that aimed to curb the flow of refugees.

Slamming the judges who decided the order was unconstitutional, Trump even read the US code that he believes gives him the authority to implement the executive order.

"If you have a college education you can understand it. If you have a high school education, you can understand it. If you were a bad student in high school, you can understand it," he said.

But Saturday's rally was different: Trump pulled up in Air Force One, not his private plane, stepping off the plane with first lady Melania Trump as his crowd roared and the speakers blared the theme song from the 1997 Harrison Ford movie "Air Force One."

"When the media lies to the people, I will never let them get away with it. I will do whatever I can so they don't get away with it. They have their own agenda and their agenda is not your agenda," Trump said Saturday.

As he bellowed, event attendees turned to the pen where the media stood and booed.

Trump previewed these attacks in the days leading up to his event, tweeting Friday that a list of outlets were "the enemy of the American People!"

Trump also looked to rebut reports of a chaotic White House, telling supporters, "the White House is running so smoothly, so smoothly."

What was unclear Saturday was what exactly Trump was campaigning for. The event was being run by Trump's 2016 campaign, Donald J. Trump for President Inc.

Before taking the stage, Trump was asked if it was too early to do another campaign event. His response: "Life is a campaign."

"Making our country great again is a campaign," Trump added. "For me, it's a campaign. To make America great again is absolutely a campaign."

On Friday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was headlining the event as a way to go around the media.

"People in this circle don't always do the best job delivering his message (because) nobody does it better than he does," Sanders said about the media.

"So he can do that very easily by taking the stage and talking directly to the people of America, addressing their concerns and being able to properly express exactly what he's doing and what his administration has done over the last month," Sanders said on Air Force One as the plane headed south to Florida.

Trump's presidential campaign was defined by raucous events where he would deliver hour-long stemwinders, responding directly to the chants of the crowd and seemingly plugging into the energy that his supporters were throwing his way.

Former campaign aides said before the that they were not surprised Trump was getting back on the road so early in his first term, in part because it was what fueled him for months on the campaign trail.

Michael Caputo, a former senior adviser to Trump's campaign, said he expects this sort of campaign-style event will be the "first of many."

"He grew very familiar with the rally concept and I expect him to return to where he is comfortable when he needs to recharge," Caputo said. "The fact that Trump showed us a new way of winning should have given everyone a hint that he would show everyone a new way of governing."



Trump pulls up to his Florida campaign rally in Air Force One
: image via Dan Merica @danmericacnn, 18 February 2017


 Large crowd now gathered in front of media pen chanting “tell the truth” and “cnn sucks”: tweet via Zeke Miller @ZekeJMiller, 18 February 2017

image via Andy Adams @FlakPhoto, 18 February 2017

And there it is. “You can’t always get what you want” plays Trump off the stage: tweet via Zeke Miller @ZekeJMiller, 18 February 2017

Trump to reporters who asked if it is early to have a campaign event: "Life is a campaign. Making our country great again is a campaign.": tweet via Dan Merica @danmericacnn, 18 February 2017




Street Scene. Rainy day at Dhaka street corner where traffic is like organized chaos Photo © Adam Wong
: image via LensCulture @lensculture, 24 December 2016



Asked @POTUS about criticism for early campaign stop. "Life is a campaign," he answered: image via Mike Memoli @mikememoli, 18 February 2017

Stagecraft is too perfect for @POTUS rally, Air Force One arrived as the movie theme played. Crowd bonkers as he enters hangar.: tweet via Mike Memoli @mikememoli, 18 February 2017


[Untitled]: image via Gabe Ortíz @TUSK81, 18 February 2017

 
Literally the only thing he did different was it wasn't behind him as he spoke: image via Andrew Kaczynski @KFILE, 18 February 2017
 

How is entering on Air Force One to music from the movie Air Force One not using it as a prop exactly?: image via Andrew Kaczynski @KFILE, 18 February 2017



#DonaldTrump #GOP #SneakPeek #SteveBenson #Cartoon #arizonarepublic: image via Becca Dyer @CopyeditorDyer, 13 December 2016
  
@POTUS: "A great spirit of optimism is sweeping – and you see it – is sweeping across the country.": tweet via Mike Memoli @mikememoli, 18 February 2017
 

 @POTUS and @FLOTUS wave to supporters after campaign style rally. Back to Mar-a-lago
: image via Mike Memoli @mikememoli, 18 February 2017



So many crises, so little time. #MSC2017: image via ian bremmer @ianbremmer, 18 February 2017 


President Trump is working on a “streamlined” version of his travel ban, says Homeland Security secretary: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes. 18 February 2017 
  

 
Thousands of people marched for immigrant rights in downtown Los Angeles today: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes. 18 February 2017 
 

 
Thousands of people marched for immigrant rights in downtown Los Angeles today: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes. 18 February 2017 
 

 
Thousands of people marched for immigrant rights in downtown Los Angeles today: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes. 18 February 2017
 

Thousands of people marched for immigrant rights in downtown Los Angeles today: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes. 18 February 2017



Scenes from around Los Angeles yesterday: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes,18 February 2017 

 


Scenes from around Los Angeles yesterday: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes,18 February 2017 

 


Scenes from around Los Angeles yesterday: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes,18 February 2017 

 

Scenes from around Los Angeles yesterday
: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes,18 February 2017



Excessive rain and possible sewer failure probably caused the Studio City sinkhole that swallowed 2 cars last night: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes, 18 February 2017



Just saw this guy surfing down Coldwater Canyon in Studio City. #LARain @KPCC: image via Mo Reese @MOXXX, 17 February 2017

Our Scarlet Letter


Brilliantly subtle. Posted 1/27, day of #MuslimBan, by @whywelook. Display window, W. 42nd, NYC) -- #ScarletLetter
: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 18 February 2017


 Hell w #instagram caption contest, @thedailybeast. Consummate example of Trump's need for mirroring. #normalizing #casestudy #NPD: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 18 February 2017


Via @flakphoto @EPAScottPruitt @EPA #EPA #environment #climatechange: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 18 February 2017

 

Going faster now. Photo @tedsoquiphoto #instagram #hope
: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 18 February 2017


Abandoned | by Sohail Bin Mohammad

Abandoned [Dhaka]
: photo by Sohail Bin Mohammad, 9 January 2016

Street | Dhaka | 2016 | by Sohail Bin Mohammad

Street [Dhaka]
: photo by Sohail Bin Mohammad, 7 July 2016

Dhaka | 2016 | by Sohail Bin Mohammad

[Dhaka]
: photo by Sohail Bin Mohammad, 16 February 2016

Untitled | by sasistudios

[Chennai]
: photo by Sasikumar Ramachandran, 18 February 2017 

Untitled | by sasistudios

[Chennai]
: photo by Sasikumar Ramachandran, 18 February 2017 


Rexall Drug store, Columbus Ave 1965: image via Old School Boston @OldSchoolBoston, 16 February 2017 



#Obamacare #ACA #GOP #SneakPeek #SteveBenson #Cartoon #arizonarepublic: image via Becca Dyer @CopyeditorDyer, 30 January 2017

Heathcote Williams: Two for Trump



The preposterous now seems possible. Say it with me: "President Trump": image via David Horsey @davidhorsey, 25 February 2016

Heathcote Williams: The Statue of Liberty’s Burka
 
The President is obsessed with deporting Arabs
Although, by a superb comic irony,
It was an Arab who modeled for the United States’ icon --
Namely the Statue of Liberty.

The sculptor’s monument was initially designed
For the opening of the Suez canal:
The original depicted an Arab woman holding a torch.
It was destined for the canal’s southern portal.

His first drawings show “a gigantic female fellah, or Arab peasant”
With a veil modestly hiding her lips,
The sculptor told Egypt’s ruler she represented “Progress”
A beacon, to light the way for oncoming ships.

Unfortunately for the artist, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi,
Egypt’s bankrupt Khedive couldn’t afford its installation
But undeterred, Bartholdi recycled it and offered it to New York
To commemorate the American revolution.

Its first title had been, “Egypt carrying the Light to Asia’
But now the figure’s veil would be removed
And for his prospective US clients Bartholdi called it,
“Liberty enlightening the world”.

But despite Bartholdi’s tweaking the flowing Arab garments
And his turning them into Graeco-Roman dress,
It’s still a huge stone Arab that occupies New York Harbour,
Making fun of the President’s petty mindedness –

And of the President’s paranoia for far more Americans die
As a result of their falling out of bed,
Or their being stung by bees rather than being killed by terrorists
Never mind their fellow-citizens shooting them dead.

Despite the most worthless President in US history
Wishing to banish all Arabs from his shores
An Arab giantess in New York is welcoming migrants
And giving the lie to his immigration laws.

However much the President may demonise Arabs
There’s one who’s rooted to the ground,
Making a better job of symbolising American liberty
Without her having to utter a sound.



#US #DonaldTrump #GOP #SneakPeek #SteveBenson #Cartoon #arizonarepublic: image via Becca Dyer @CopyeditorDyer, 30 January 2017

Heathcote Williams: Donald J. Trump: president of the US plutocratic pornocracy

      I don’t like to analyze myself because I might not like what I see – Donald Trump 

On buying a beauty spot in Scotland for a golf-course
And for luxury condominiums,
Trump notices some old houses on the horizon
And he orders them bulldozed to oblivion.

On seeing a woman that he desires, he oafishly
Recommends “grabbing her pussy”.
He boasts that, ‘My fame lets me take liberties;
‘My fame allows me to abuse her.’

Trump’s grandfather ran brothels in the Yukon
And to his grandson, people are also for sale.
Trump’s ego tells him he has supernatural powers
And that almost nothing is beyond the pale.

“I will deport 12 million Latinos”, Donald Trump insists --
This buddy of asset strippers and union busters --
A charlatan who papers over his character’s cracks
With bank loans and with megalomaniac bluster.

Trump was a casino owner (a synonym for gangster),
A suitable past for the President of casino capitalism
Who boasts about who he’s been able to shake down,
And who also represents a home-grown neo-fascism.

Trump’s a demagogue who’s prone to magical thinking
With a compulsion to build concrete penises
Upon which his name appears in enormous letters
And whose robotic staff repeat, “he’s a genius”.

He has pretended to be anti-establishment
And to be standing up for the little guy
Yet without Wall Street and the Deutsche Bank
This exhibitionist parasite would die.

He’s a slave to his monumental indebtedness.
He owes 600 million dollars.
But now that he’s President he can pay his creditors,
The mob and their sinister callers --

While doubtless remaining reluctant to pay taxes
For he regards tax evasion as an art.
When challenged about his not filing tax returns
He brags, “That makes me smart.” 

He’s risen to power on the magniloquent claim
That he’ll make America great
While representing the lowest common denominator
Of his country’s racist hate.

In 1992 the Casino Control Commission fined him $200,000
For removing African-American card dealers
From his Plaza Hotel’s casino to appease the racism
Of the Plaza’s big-spending gamblers. 

Trump would disparage his black casino employees as “lazy”.
“I’ve got black accountants and isn’t it funny?” he’d say,
“Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people
“I want are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” 

“When Donald and Ivanka came to the casino”,
Recalls Kip Brown, an employee at Trump’s Castle,
“The bosses would order all the black people off the floor,”
He told the New Yorker in a 2015 article.

Regarding an African-American President
As an affront to his Aryan sensibility,
Trump became vocal in the ‘Birther’ movement
Questioning Obama’s legitimacy.

Trump failed to disavow the Ku Klux Klan
When they supported his candidacy.
He’d airily pretend he didn’t know who they were
With an ignorance approaching lunacy.

Donald J. Trump has been elected President
Of the US’s plutocratic pornocracy --
A plot twist, and suddenly the whole world
Is having to adjust to his squalid reality.

He believes women should suffer punishment
If they decide to have abortions.
He sees life as conquest and victory and winning,
As if in a childish competition.

In a half-hearted apology for mocking women’s looks
Trump says he does it “to be entertaining” --
Unaware that he himself is overweight and bright orange
And hardly qualifies as an oil painting.

“I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”
Says Trump who advocates torture.
“When I say they’ll do as I tell them, they’ll do as I tell them,”
Is how he plans to overcome any legal stricture.

Fifty billion tons of carbon dioxide fall annually
On the earth, causing deadly climate change,
Yet Trump says he’ll cancel the lifesaving treaties
The international community has arranged.

So more earthquakes will be on the horizon
And extreme heat will now be inevitable.
One man’s hot air will have consequences
As air becomes less and less breathable.

We need some global warming. It’s freezing!
Trump would joke while he was out campaigning
Then America’s Emperor repeats his strident rhetoric
And his insistence “the swamp needs draining.”

He threatens to attack ISIS with nuclear weapons --
To use a nuclear sledgehammer to crack a nut --
Unable to see that every Trump Tower would be
Transformed into a radioactive mud hut.

Donald Trump is really Donald Drumpf,
To give him his ancestral, and risible name.
It suggests dumbness, even the passing of wind
As well as the merciful transience of fame.


Heathcote Williams: The Statue of Liberty's Burka and Donald J. Trump: president of the US plutocratic pornocracy, via public reading rooms, 2017


 
Trump and Netanyahu, officializing the apartheid in #Palestine via @MintPressNews #Israel: image via Carlos Latuff @LatuffCartoons, 16 February 2017


What you need to know is that it's a military exercise. Are you trying to chose your side? #FrenchAirForce @ReutersPicturesoftheweek.: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 18 February 2017


#DonaldTrump  #GOP #SneakPeek #SteveBenson #Cartoon #arizonarepublic
: image via Becca Dyer @CopyeditorDyer, 12 February 2017

Untitled | by pratyay

[Untitled]
: photo by pratyay, 10 September 2016

Untitled | by pratyay

[Untitled]
: photo by pratyay, 10 September 2016

Untitled | by pratyay

[Untitled]
: photo by pratyay, 10 September 2016

1 comment:

vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras) said...

Ah, please say “cheese”--then stick them thumbs up yer bums, ya good fer nuttin’ bums.