Thread by @cmclymer

The five-day workweek in the United States had its start with a cotton mill in New England in 1908 that gave Sat. off for its Jewish workers to honor Shabbat, having them make up the work on Sunday. Christians protested that this violated the Sabbath, and so... (thread)

..the cotton mill gave both Saturday and Sunday off to their workers. This practice spread until 1926, when Ford became the first major corporation to implement the five-day, 40-hour workweek and finally, the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act made this federal law.

So, fast forward to 2019 when Robert De Niro says "fuck 'em" live on CNN in response to Trump apologists who are defending white supremacy, fascism, and all else, and Brian Stelter replies that although it's not an FCC violation, "it's still Sunday morning".

And yet, while for much of the country (myself included), it's a religious observance, Sunday morning would seem to be a brief period of rest and reflection for all of America -- a time to recalibrate, be that through prayer or coffee or staying in bed. A thoughtful peace.

If this is the Sunday morning Mr. Stelter wishes to defend, I would agree, and I would also say that by his own implication, much of what we've seen on Sunday morning shows, his own included, over the past two years have lacked thoughtfulness, nuance, and integrity.

Every Sunday morning brings apologists on our national news programs for the crimes, corruption, and cruelty of Trump and Pence, and while anchors, Mr. Stelter included, have certainly had great moments of holding these accountable, a LOT of strikes seem to slip past.

I am not blaming Mr. Stelter for Trump's awfulness, of course, but I am questioning his pushback against Robert De Niro w/ a conviction that seems to be absent in him + his colleagues on other shows in moments when Trump apologists are permitted to blatantly gaslight our country.

We are in the greatest constitutional crisis in our country's history, which overshadows Watergate by several magnitudes in criminality, to say nothing of the atrocities committed by this White House on a daily basis against marginalized communities.

We live in a moment in our nation's history when a white supremacist occupies the highest office in our government, stolen with the help of a foreign government, who is now under the threat of impeachment for courting a SECOND foreign government to help steal a SECOND election.

And all while Trump, who has committed criminal acts, continues to blatantly and openly attack LGBTQ people, women, people of color, persons with disabilities, religious minorities, etc. in between whatever opportunities are seized to funnel taxpayer money to his businesses.

This is the most corrupt, incompetent, and hateful person to occupy the Oval Office, and yet, his apologists are allowed to continue coming on these Sunday morning news programs and peddle outrageous lies and obfuscations, often without accountability of their propaganda.

So, when Robert De Niro says "fuck 'em" to the Fox News set who care more about ratings-pandering to white supremacists than the integrity of our constitutional values, I believe it to be quite thoughtful. At this point, I believe it to be prayerful, to say nothing of honest.

If you are more worried about your children hearing the word "fuck" on television than hearing someone who works for the White House defending violent white supremacy with little-to-no pushback, I question your priorities. More than that, I question your humanity and patriotism.

So, those who would criticize Robert De Niro for using profanity on Sunday morning in response to this white supremacist clown and his supporters don't seem to understand profanity or Sunday mornings, for that matter.

If anything, De Niro blessed us.

/thread