Someone is going to get lost if this sign is accurate.
Feb 4 // Jan 21 2017
Day two. No rest for the ornery.
And the Beat Goes On.
It was a day for the history books in the nation's capitol, and frankly for the world if the numbers are to be believed. Quite a day for women everywhere, but most joyfully for those who hold the newly inaugurated President in enormous contempt. And really: aren't they the only voices that matter?
On January 21, 500,000 women met and marched in Washington D.C., to express their dissatisfaction with President Trump. "Once it happens in a generation that a spirit of resistance is awakened," said Rabbi Sharon Brous. "This is one of those moments. Our children will one day ask us ‘where were you when our country was thrust into a lion’s den of demagoguery and division,'" she said. (We have enormous admiration and respect for any parent who has no doubt that one day his or her children will use a phrase life "thrust into a lion's den of demagoguery" correctly in a sentence.)
Worldwide estimates reported some 2.6 million people gathering for 673 protest marches, in all 50 states and 32 countries. Thirty-two countries! We call that solidarity. We call that loyalty. We call that astonishing but mostly because we're not sure our entire staff could name thirty-two countries. According to USA Today's January 21 story, seven of these – in Washington, New York (400,000), Chicago (150,000), San Francisco (100,000), Oakland (60,000) and Boston (100,000+) – counted as many as 1.3 million among their numbers. The New York Times crowd numbers counted 250,000 in Chicago and 175,000 in Boston. Another 20,000 in Phoenix, 60,000 in Atlanta and tiny little Key West coming in with 2,000. (Presumably, the other 1.3 million were in the other locations: 667 marches in 45 states and 32 countries.) Huge numbers no matter how you count it.
Suffice it to say, not every woman in the country was caught up in the fervor.
Praise the Lord...
President Trump surprised no one by all but ignoring the gathering. He had other appointments on his schedule.
He and Vice President Pence visited the National Cathedral for an interfaith prayer service. The goal was unity, notwithstanding the half-million women nearby who were unified only in their contempt of Mr. Trump. But hey, unity is unity!
The service had representatives from Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Mormon, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist and Bahá’í faiths. Notably, Imam Mohamed Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center offered a Muslim call to prayer. Fellow Muslims expressed dismay at this, given President Trump's campaign promises to impose a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country as well as a registry to monitor those who practice the religion. (More on this promise in an upcoming 'two weeks ago' update. Let's just say he seems to be a man of this word.)
...And Pass the Ammunition
Appearing before the CIA, Donald Trump continued his baffling behavior by giving a speech about his war with the media, and confirming the size of the crowd at his inauguration. Yes, he did. We read the entire address; it's here if you care to take a look. Leaving aside his colloquial language and the fact that this President speaks exactly not like any politician we've ever heard, this is a fact: In his remarks, that the White House posted as 25 paragraphs in length, five of them are about his dismay with the media. That's five too many - we agree! - but the fact is, he spoke about more than that. We're not sure we read about anything else in the news.
A new broom sweeps clean. Well, it might. But in this case, it didn't sweep a thing.
Here's today's Two Weeks Ago News quiz, the first one offered Jeopardy-style:
A.: Less than forty-one minutes.
Q.: How long does it take for facebook and twitter to sputter in outrage over a news report?
Q.: When is your office not your office?
A.: When it's the Oval Office.
It's in a public place, and whoever occupies it is - in reality - a Temp. And on day two on the job, our Temp-in-Chief did not remove a bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office. In just forty-one minutes, from the time the "bust removed" story appeared when it was corrected by Time Magazine, everyone on facebook and twitter had all but had it with the misogynist, racist and disrespectful behavior being shown by our new President toward a true leader. Except: Oops.
There may have been other news two weeks ago - we're sure there were several executive orders executed, all conceived to destroy the world - but we'll get to them. Thinking about all this anger is exhausting.
Day two. No rest for the ornery.
And the Beat Goes On.
It was a day for the history books in the nation's capitol, and frankly for the world if the numbers are to be believed. Quite a day for women everywhere, but most joyfully for those who hold the newly inaugurated President in enormous contempt. And really: aren't they the only voices that matter?
On January 21, 500,000 women met and marched in Washington D.C., to express their dissatisfaction with President Trump. "Once it happens in a generation that a spirit of resistance is awakened," said Rabbi Sharon Brous. "This is one of those moments. Our children will one day ask us ‘where were you when our country was thrust into a lion’s den of demagoguery and division,'" she said. (We have enormous admiration and respect for any parent who has no doubt that one day his or her children will use a phrase life "thrust into a lion's den of demagoguery" correctly in a sentence.)
Worldwide estimates reported some 2.6 million people gathering for 673 protest marches, in all 50 states and 32 countries. Thirty-two countries! We call that solidarity. We call that loyalty. We call that astonishing but mostly because we're not sure our entire staff could name thirty-two countries. According to USA Today's January 21 story, seven of these – in Washington, New York (400,000), Chicago (150,000), San Francisco (100,000), Oakland (60,000) and Boston (100,000+) – counted as many as 1.3 million among their numbers. The New York Times crowd numbers counted 250,000 in Chicago and 175,000 in Boston. Another 20,000 in Phoenix, 60,000 in Atlanta and tiny little Key West coming in with 2,000. (Presumably, the other 1.3 million were in the other locations: 667 marches in 45 states and 32 countries.) Huge numbers no matter how you count it.
Suffice it to say, not every woman in the country was caught up in the fervor.
Praise the Lord...
President Trump surprised no one by all but ignoring the gathering. He had other appointments on his schedule.
He and Vice President Pence visited the National Cathedral for an interfaith prayer service. The goal was unity, notwithstanding the half-million women nearby who were unified only in their contempt of Mr. Trump. But hey, unity is unity!
The service had representatives from Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Mormon, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist and Bahá’í faiths. Notably, Imam Mohamed Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center offered a Muslim call to prayer. Fellow Muslims expressed dismay at this, given President Trump's campaign promises to impose a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country as well as a registry to monitor those who practice the religion. (More on this promise in an upcoming 'two weeks ago' update. Let's just say he seems to be a man of this word.)
...And Pass the Ammunition
Appearing before the CIA, Donald Trump continued his baffling behavior by giving a speech about his war with the media, and confirming the size of the crowd at his inauguration. Yes, he did. We read the entire address; it's here if you care to take a look. Leaving aside his colloquial language and the fact that this President speaks exactly not like any politician we've ever heard, this is a fact: In his remarks, that the White House posted as 25 paragraphs in length, five of them are about his dismay with the media. That's five too many - we agree! - but the fact is, he spoke about more than that. We're not sure we read about anything else in the news.
A new broom sweeps clean. Well, it might. But in this case, it didn't sweep a thing.
Here's today's Two Weeks Ago News quiz, the first one offered Jeopardy-style:
A.: Less than forty-one minutes.
Q.: How long does it take for facebook and twitter to sputter in outrage over a news report?
Q.: When is your office not your office?
A.: When it's the Oval Office.
It's in a public place, and whoever occupies it is - in reality - a Temp. And on day two on the job, our Temp-in-Chief did not remove a bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office. In just forty-one minutes, from the time the "bust removed" story appeared when it was corrected by Time Magazine, everyone on facebook and twitter had all but had it with the misogynist, racist and disrespectful behavior being shown by our new President toward a true leader. Except: Oops.
There may have been other news two weeks ago - we're sure there were several executive orders executed, all conceived to destroy the world - but we'll get to them. Thinking about all this anger is exhausting.