;)
The Commentariat -- May 14, 2015
Internal links removed.
NEW. Missed this, but Charles Pierce brought me up to speed:
... Paul Lewis & Adam Federman of the Guardian: "The FBI breached its own internal rules when it spied on campaigners against the Keystone XL pipeline, failing to get approval before it cultivated informants and opened files on individuals protesting against the construction of the pipeline in Texas, documents reveal." CW: The Guardian's report is shocking. As Pierce writes, "... an FBI office acting as a private security force for a foreign energy giant ... seems to me to be a waste of taxpayer's money...to say nothing of a couple of amendments to the Constitution. I guess this is what cooperation within a dynamic global economy looks like."
NEW. Yes! Scott Bauer of the AP: "Russ Feingold announced Thursday he will run to reclaim the U.S. Senate seat he lost five years ago to Republican Ron Johnson, fulfilling the hopes of Democrats who have been pushing for the liberal to return to political office." ...
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved legislation to end the federal government's bulk collection of phone records, exerting enormous pressure on Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate majority leader, who insists that dragnet sweeps continue in defiance of many of those in his Republican Party. Under the bipartisan bill, which passed 338 to 88, the Patriot Act would be changed to prohibit bulk collection by the National Security Agency of metadata charting telephone calls made by Americans. However, while the House version of the bill would take the government out of the collection business, it would not deny it access to the information. It would be in the hands of the private sector -- almost certainly the telecommunications firms like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint -- that already keep the records for billing purposes and hold on to them from 18 months to five years." ...
... The Washington Post story, by Mike DeBonis & Ellen Nakashima, is here. The Guardian story, by Dan Roberts, et al., is here.
A Short-Lived Victory. Mike DeBonis & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Senate leaders announced Wednesday that they reached an agreement to consider and likely approve fast-track authority for President Obama to reach trade deals, a day after an unusual filibuster by Democrats of their party's presidential agenda. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell(R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) announced a plan that allows for a controversial provision that Democrats have been demanding -- legislation targeting China's alleged manipulation of its currency to make its exports cheaper -- a separate vote Thursday afternoon. Not a part of the broader trade package, the China currency legislation has been opposed by the Obama administration but favored by many senators from Midwest states hit hard by manufacturing job losses in the last two decades. This legislation, which also contains other measures for enforcing trade deals, is likely to pass the Senate but its ultimate fate remains in doubt in the House, with a potential presidential veto awaiting it." ...
... Ed Kilgore: "In other words, [Sen. Ron] Wyden's [D-Ore.] tactics worked, and [Mitch] McConnell blinked. Even if fast-track fails -- which may happen in the House even if it doesn't happen in the Senate -- Democrats may wind up with a broader non-TPP trade agenda with greater unity."
The New York Times Editors react to the DOJ's prosecution of & sentencing recommendation for Jeffrey Sterling, who was convicted to leaking classified information to James Risen of the paper (whom the feds threatened for years with jail time for his refusal to reveal his sources): "The government enjoys great flexibility from courts and the American public in deciding how best to protect national security. When it abuses that flexibility -- by going after journalists and their sources with a century-old law intended for Communist spies, or by to failing to hold torturers accountable -- the nation is made less safe." CW: I hope you listened to Marcy Wheeler's commentary, embedded in yesterday's Commentariat.
Murder on the Amtrak Express. Jon Hurdle, et al., of the New York Times: "The Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, killing at least seven, was barreling into a sharp turn at 106 miles an hour — more than twice the speed limit on that stretch -- when the engineer slammed on the emergency brakes, seconds before the train jumped the tracks, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.... Experts said the derailment might have been averted by a safety system called positive train control, that can, among other features, automatically reduce the speed of a train that is going too fast. To do that, the system must be installed on both the train and the route. The Amtrak train had it, but that stretch of track did not." ...
... The Incredible Callousness of the GOP. Heather Caygle of Politico: "House Republicans voted Wednesday to chop about a fifth of Amtrak's budget, less than a day after a deadly train crash that Democrats pointed to as a prime example of the dangers of shortchanging the nation's transportation needs. They also rebuffed Democrats' attempts to provide money for an advanced speed-control technology that federal investigators later said would have prevented the crash.... But the House proposal may face tougher sledding in the Senate, where transportation appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she hopes to set aside extra money for rail safety in her version of the funding bill. 'We have had a lot of derailments,' she said. 'We've had a lot of accidents.... So there are a lot of reasons for us to take a look at this.'" ...
... Trains Are for Democrats. Philip Bump of the Washington Post explains the callousness: "Trains are more cost effective in more densely populated areas, and more densely populated areas in the United States tend to vote Democratic. There's another level of politics at play, of course; many conservatives consider the idea of a federally funded transportation program to be anathema. And since so few of their constituents actually use the system, there's little incentive to want to offer political support." CW: Apparently it's okay if Democrats die. To be fair, Republican peoples do use roads & bridges out there in the Heartland, & Republicans are no more anxious to fund those than they are to fund public transportation. ...
... It seems Sen. Bob Corker noticed this, too. Jordain Carney of the Hill: “'I will be stunned if the Republicans deal with the Highway Trust Fund responsibly. It's not going to happen,' he told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.... The Tennessee Republican slammed Republicans... 'The first step to showing that we [Republicans] can responsibly deal with, you know, the fiscal issues that matter is the highway bill, and yet it very much appears to me that there will be a kick the can down the road,' he [said,] adding that it's 'incredibly irresponsible, total failure, [and a] abdication of leadership.'" ...
... Paul Nussbaum of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "The train's engineer, who has not been identified, declined to give a statement to police investigators and left the East Detectives Division with an attorney, police commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said Wednesday." ...
... ABC News UPDATE: "The engineer of the Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia 'has absolutely no recollection of the incident or anything unusual' and 'no explanation' for what caused the crash, his attorney told ABC News. The engineer, Brandon Bostian, 32, of Queens, New York, was 'very distraught' to learn that the crash killed at least seven people, the attorney, Robert Goggin, told ABC News. He added that Bostian voluntarily turned over a blood sample and his cell phone and is cooperating with authorities."
Emmarie Huetteman of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday voted to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, approving a revised version of a bill that Republican leaders had abruptly pulled in January amid objections from some of their own members. The measure passed in a 242-to-184 vote, with one member voting present. The bill dropped a provision in the original version that would have required women who became pregnant through rape to report their assault to law enforcement authorities to be eligible for an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.... The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, has expressed support for the legislation, but with pressing issues like trade and surveillance on the docket, it was not expected to get immediate consideration in the Senate.... But it is a near certainty that Senate Democrats would block an abortion ban...." ...
... Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "The Obama administration on Wednesday said it was 'disgraceful' for House Republicans to push a late-term abortion ban bill that also puts up barriers for rape and sexual assault victims.... [Press Secretary Josh] Earnest said the White House's previous veto threat still stands despite 'some rather cursory changes' made to appease Republicans."
Ben Protess & Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "The Justice Department is preparing to announce that Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and the Royal Bank of Scotland will collectively pay several billion dollars and plead guilty to criminal antitrust violations for rigging the price of foreign currencies, according to people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Most if not all of the pleas are expected to come from the banks' holding companies, the people said -- a first for Wall Street giants that until now have had only subsidiaries or their biggest banking units plead guilty. The Justice Department is also preparing to resolve accusations of foreign currency misconduct at .... In reality, [the government's] accommodations [to the banks] render the plea deals, at least in part, an exercise in stagecraft." CW: Yup. And absolutely Too Big to Jail.
Scott Higham, et al., of the Washington Post: "The state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan secretly funded an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference in Baku, on the Caspian Sea, in 2013 for 10 members of Congress and 32 staff members, according to a confidential ethics report.... Three former top aides to President Obama [-- Robert Gibbs, Jim Messina & David Plouffe --] appeared as speakers at the event. Lawmakers and their staff members received hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of travel expenses ... [and gift] valued at $2,500 to $10,000, according to the ethics report.... The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, known as SOCAR, allegedly funneled $750,000 through nonprofit corporations based in the United States to conceal the source of the funding.... The lawmakers who took the trip were Reps. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.), Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), Rubén Hinojosa (D-Tex.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.), Leonard Lance (R-N.J.), Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Ted Poe (R-Tex.) and then-Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Tex.)."
Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "A top member of President Obama's Secret Service detail under investigation for his conduct during a White House bomb threat probe notified the agency this week that he plans to retire, according to officials familiar with his decision. The decision by Marc Connolly comes ahead of the public release of a report concluding that he and a colleague were likely impaired by alcohol on the night of March 4 as they drove into a temporary barricade and into an active crime scene, according to government officials briefed on the matter. The findings of the report, scheduled to be released Thursday, prompted Secret Service Director Joseph P. Clancy to place both men on administrative leave pending further punishments, the officials said."
Wherein Mitch McConnell Puts to Rest (One Would Hope) a Pervasive Village Meme
Steve Benen: A wide variety of Beltway media types have ... argued repeatedly that Obama's reluctance to schmooze is an impediment to policymaking progress.
John Harwood of CNBC to Mitch McConnell: President Obama's gotten some grief for not being more sociable with members of Congress. Had he had a bourbon with you once or 10 times, would that make any difference to how you guys actually relate?
McConnell: No. I think it's all good stuff for you all to write. But it has no effect on policy. The reason we haven't done more things together is 'cause we don't agree on much. It's nice to have social occasions, but we don't all hate each other anyway. It wouldn't make any difference. Look, it's a business.
More on the Extraordinary Effort to Cure ObamaCare Cooties. Peter Sullivan of the Hill: After Florida Gov. Rick Scott went to Washington Tuesday to complain to members of Congress that the Obama administration was trying to "coerce" Florida into accepting the Medicaid expansion, "the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced it will hold a hearing into the alleged coercion this summer." CW: As we know, this is all about Scott & his allies wanting gobs of federal heathcare aid that is not part of ObamaCare.
Adam Smith of the Tampa Bay Times: "U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, the outspoken, populist Democrat who thunders against Wall Street fat cats, and used to to joke about Mitt Romney's low tax bill, incorporated a couple hedge funds in the Cayman Islands so investors could avoid taxes. Grayson Fund Ltd. and Grayson Master Fund were incorporated in 2011 in the Cayman Islands, a well known tax Haven that Romney used as well, records show. That was the same year he wrote in the Huffington Post that the IRS should audit every Fortune 500 company because so many appear to be 'evading taxes through transfer pricing and offshore tax havens.'... 'When I set up my investment funds I set it up like everyone else,' Grayson said, complaining about the Tampa Bay Times looking for 'some stupid, bull---- story. ... You want to write sh-- about it, and you can't because not a single dollar of taxes has been avoided,' he snapped."
The Breasts of Human Kindness. Jessica Roy of New York: "The House GOP's Twitter account became the victim of an embarrassing Twitter photo-cropping issue on Wednesday when it accompanied a quote by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers with a photo of the Congresswoman's boobs.... The tweet has since been deleted."
Presidential Race
Reagan Lives! Jonathan Chait: "Yesterday, Chris Moody [of CNN] asked several Republican presidential candidates one of the most revealing questions of the presidential campaign so far: Who is the greatest president alive today? Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump all named Ronald Reagan, notwithstanding the fact that Reagan, at least according to the liberal media, is no longer alive.... The Reagan answer was not a mistake -- it was the reflection of a party lacking a usable past.... Republicans today embrace George W. Bush's ideas but not the man himself. This leaves them with no living model of a successful presidency they can publicly identify. The question of which president they would choose is not a trick but a reflection of a stark reality: They have no evidence the demands of conservative ideology and practical governing success can be reconciled." ...
... Another Accidental Candidate. Emily Stephenson & Emily Flitter of Reuters: "Republican Jeb Bush appears to have unintentionally announced his candidacy for president in 2016 in a conversation with reporters on Wednesday that was caught on video. Speaking in Nevada..., [Bush said,] 'I'm running for president in 2016....'" ...
... Ed O'Keefe & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Asked repeatedly in recent days whether he would have supported an Iraq invasion based on what is known now, [Jeb Bush] has replied 'Yes' or 'I don't know,' or has refused to answer, depending on the venue. The stumbles mark the toughest period yet for Bush's still-undeclared campaign and have lit a fire under his likely GOP opponents, many of whom have happily proclaimed that they would not have authorized the Iraq invasion under those conditions. Many conservative leaders and pundits are also lacerating Bush as appearing unprepared to address an obvious topic and are casting him as a tone-deaf relic of the GOP elite.... In addition to [New Jersey Gov. Chris] Christie, at least five other potential Bush rivals have said in recent days that they would not have backed the invasion if they knew in 2003 that the intelligence on Iraqi weapons was inaccurate: Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), plus Ohio Gov. John Kasich." And John Bolton! ...
... O'Keefe recounts Jeb's extensive comments -- in response to hostile audience questions -- on Iraq. ...
... Paul Waldman summarizes: "George W. did the right thing, and everything that went wrong was somebody else's fault." ...
... Marc Caputo of Politico Magazine: "Jeb Bush has never publicly resolved the conflict between the Bush family code of loyalty and the imperative he now faces -- as a possible GOP front-runner -- of making the case that he's his own man.... Jeb's lack of clarity on a life-or-death topic like war has spooked longtime supporters and some otherwise-loyal donors. 'It's true we want to raise $100 million by the end of the month,' one Bush donor told Politico Magazine, refusing to speak on record for fear of appearing disloyal. 'But if he doesn't give a clear answer about something so simple and figure out how to deal with the issue of his brother, we're going to have to spend every penny of that cleaning up his mess.'" ...
... Latest Jeb Feint. Michael Bender of Bloomberg: "... Jeb Bush said Wednesday that questioning about how he would have handled Iraq War authorization 'does a disservice' to military service members killed in action." CW: It's hard to be more craven than hiding behind the bodies of soldiers. ...
... Not Necessarily His Own Man. Maggie Haberman & Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "As he strains to win over Republican activists, particularly in crucial early-voting states like Iowa and South Carolina, [Jeb] Bush is being confronted with a distressing realization: He may now need to lean on his brother to survive the Republican primary, despite the damage that could do to Mr. Bush in a general election. In private conversations, Mr. Bush's allies have often taken note that his brother's approval ratings among likely primary and caucus voters are sky high." ...
... Gail Collins: "If the version of Jeb Bush we've been seeing lately is the one we're going to be stuck with, then one of the other Republican contenders is going to win. Maybe the guy who thinks Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery. Or the guy who once linked vaccines to children with mental disorders. The guy who used to peddle a 'Diabetes Solution Kit.' The guy with the bridge traffic jam! Right now, you know, it's all hypothetical." ...
... Or this little snot. ... Marco Flip-Flops on Iraq. Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Wednesday that he would not have authorized the invasion of Iraq given what he knows today, becoming the latest candidate to weigh in on a question that has tripped up likely GOP rival Jeb Bush.... But Rubio ... in an interview with Fox News in March..., said he didn't think it was a mistake to go to war in Iraq. 'I don't believe it was. The world is a better place because Saddam Hussein doesn't run Iraq,' said Rubio." CW: Pretty hasty reversal for someone who sells himself as a "foreign policy savant" & a mighty ambitious stab in the back to his longtime mentor.
Carly Fiorina, Deadbeat Millionaire. Sam Brodey of Mother Jones: "Carly Fiorina, the Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO, is marketing herself as a pragmatic, fiscally responsible businesswoman -- the only GOP candidate who knows, as she says, 'how the economy actually works.'... Until late last year, Fiorina was close to $500,000 in debt from her 2010 run, nearly all of it in unpaid compensation to campaign staffers and outside consultants, according to Federal Election Commission filings.... In January, Fiorina -- whose own wealth is estimated up to $120 million -- personally donated $487,000 to her Senate campaign, and then she made good on the back pay...."
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, who has been ramping up for a potential White House bid, plans to make an announcement about his political future on May 30 in Baltimore, aides said Wednesday."
Annie Karni of Politico: Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer has made seven or eight "significant" corrections to his book; the corrections will appear in the Kindle version, Amazon has announced. A HarperCollins spokesperson says the changes are "minor," not "significant."
Beyond the Beltway
Oliver Laughland & Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "The Baltimore police lieutenant charged with the manslaughter of Freddie Gray was accused of threatening to kill an ex-girlfriend.... Brian Rice ... [also was] accused of threatening to kill the husband of another ex-girlfriend, having that man wrongfully arrested, and warning that he was preparing to kill himself, as part of an intense dispute that saw him twice disciplined by chiefs and stripped of his guns. Experts on policing have expressed dismay that Rice was permitted to stay in his job after his supervisors were repeatedly informed of his actions, which extended to trying once again to have the man arrested on 29 March this year. Two weeks later he initiated the arrest of Gray...."
Spencer Hsu & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) on Wednesday granted an absolute pardon to a convicted sex offender, ending a decades-long campaign by an imprisoned man whose claims of innocence were eventually joined by prosecutors and police. Final proof that Michael Kenneth McAlister, 58, was wrongfully convicted came when another man -- a serial rapist who bore an uncanny resemblance to McAlister -- recently confessed to the 1986 attempted rape and kidnapping in Richmond, the governor said."
Jason Hancock of the Kansas City Star: "Text messages obtained by The Star reveal a sexually charged relationship between House Speaker John Diehl [R] and a college freshman in a Missouri Capitol internship program that shut down abruptly last month. The conversations unveil a flirty rapport and suggest an intimacy between arguably the state's most influential lawmaker and a young woman.... Diehl lives with his wife and three sons in Town and Country, Mo." CW: The Star publishes the context of the text messages, which are predictably banal; e.g., "God I want you right now." Via Daily Kos. ...
... Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch: "Earlier this year, Diehl and the president pro-tempore of the state Senate filed an amicus brief in defense of the state's anti-gay-marriage amendment, leading the Missouri Family Policy Council, the state affiliate of the Family Research Council, to praise the speaker 'for demonstrating moral leadership and true integrity in standing up for the sacred institution of marriage and the family values of the people of Missouri.' The state affiliate of the Southern Baptist Convention thanked him for 'fighting to defend biblical marriage.'"
Way Beyond
Letters from a Prince. Robert Booth & Matthew Taylor of the Guardian: "A cache of secret memos between Prince Charles and senior government ministers has been released after a 10-year legal battle, offering the clearest picture yet of the breadth and depth of the heir to the throne's lobbying at the highest level of politics. The 27 memos, sent in 2004 and 2005 and released only after the Guardian won its long freedom of information fight with the government, show the Prince of Wales making direct and persistent policy demands to the then prime minister Tony Blair and several key figures in his Labour government. From Blair, Charles demanded everything from urgent action to improve equipment for troops fighting in Iraq to the availability of alternative herbal medicines in the UK, a pet cause of the prince.... The letters revealed not only that ministers often responded actively to his suggestions but they appeared to hold his interventions in high regard.... Since the beginning of 2010, the prince held 87 meetings with ministers, opposition party leaders and top government officials.... The letters emerged amid growing signs that Prince Charles is planning to rule in a far more outspoken way than the taciturn Queen."
News Ledes
Palmyra's Roman theater.AFP: "Islamic State group fighters have advanced to the gates of ancient Palmyra on Thursday, raising fears the Syrian world heritage site could face destruction of the kind the jihadis have already wreaked in Iraq. Isis fighters were battling Syrian troops less than two kilometres (barely a mile) from the remains of one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world, Syria's director of antiquities said.... The jihadi advance on the well-preserved remains came as an international conference was under way in Cairo to address the destruction already wreaked by Isis on the ancient sites of Nimrud and Hatra in Iraq.
ABC News: "Irish police have arrested four individuals on terror charges after bomb components were found in an unspecified location near the border with Northern Ireland, only five days before an official visit by Prince Charles and Camilla."
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Reader Comments (22)
While bodies were being dug out of the rubble of the Amtrak crash, a tragedy that could have been avoided with proper funding, Republicans, the so called pro-life party, sent a clear message to the families of the deceased and the injured: "Go fuck yourselves. If you can't take a limo to work like we do, drop dead." House Reprehensibles slashed the Amtrak budget even further than they've already cut it, by an an additional $252 million, about 18%.
When Democrats called them on a move that was callous even for them, not to mention a further indication of their complete lack of concern for infrastructure, Republicans screamed at them for trying to "politicize" a tragic event.
These people do not even merit considertion as humans. Criminally defunding a transportation system that tens of thousands of Americans rely on every day and then when their willful negligence causes the deaths of many of those Americans, cutting the funding even further while the bodies are still warm. I can't even come up with an adjective powerful enough to describe how aggressively cold blooded these assholes are. Can't do it.
"one Bush donor told Politico Magazine, refusing to speak on record for fear of appearing disloyal. 'But if he doesn’t give a clear answer about something so simple and figure out how to deal with the issue of his brother, we’re going to have to spend every penny of that cleaning up his mess.'”
You gotta love the logic of this anonymous Richy Rich, living in his silver spoon bubble of money and privilege.
Behold! the amazing power of MONEY! It does everything for you! It can chauffeur you to work, it can order your food and deliver it too, it can give you massages and happy endings for the right price, it can rewrite tax structures and make others grovel at your feet, and the most mysterious and wonderful attribute of all, it can magically clean up messes! Any mess, from the Bordeaux wine stains in your carpets, to the interns lipstick on your fancy collar, to the blatant lies and craven beliefs of your desired elected marionette, er, ahem, official!
Yessirebob! By strategically placing the money over the potentially candidacy-ending wound, in quantities varying according to the size and depth of the infection, the money will magically kickstart brain dead zombies to write puff pieces and contort the facts, disseminating the falsehoods through communication networks at an incredibly fast and efficient rate (again depending on quantity of medicine applied) which, upon disseminating into the public airwaves, will effectively erase previously understood facts by entering the brain, surgically removing the once well-interpreted idea and implanting seeds of doubt and skepticism until the new misinformation blooms across the minds of America, leaving behind fertile soil for new lies, falsehoods and misinformation to take shape into the form desired by the money men.
Behold! The purifying power of money!
Mittens Romney saw that tweet featuring the oddly cropped image of Cathy McMorris Rodgers. He was so impressed that he called his staff and immediately ordered them to produce binders of boobs.
I can't comment on the NYT site, so I'm hoping that Gail Collins reads this fine blog.
Gail and commenters:
I refuse to endorse Job as Palinesque. He is a genius and communicates more clearly than a bell compared to the idiot from Wisconsin (conveniently out of the country so he wasn't asked about the "knowing what you know now" hoopla).
Another sample of Walker's nonscripted remarks:
Oct 2, 2014
"I think the bigger trend is not if I have a gender question, it's actually that she's off the chart from where a Democrat normally is, gender-wise, with male voters as opposed to female," Walker said.
We have been calling our gov Palinesque and his comments word salad for years. Need more evidence of his communication skills? I have lots more, but not much in the months since he's non-declared, because he gone deep and only snippets of his stump speech are making it into the news.
Gail tried to make a big deal of his being a college dropout, but he turned it into a plus. The point isn't that he didn't finish college, it's that he show s his contempt for education and reasoned analysis in everything he does. I hope she'll get back to him.
@Akhilleus: Mitt already has binders full of boobs. They're on the shelf where he keeps his research on GOP presidential candidates.
Marie
Funnier than the cropped boob image, we might also focus on the boob, errr-r chap in the background whose eyes seem to be directed on the foreground boobs!
Yes, the Amtrak crash MIGHT have been prevented if those slow-down devices were installed other than on the train.
But, the truth probably is in the engineer's behavior. Was this his first ever DC to NYC run? Overconfident in his abilities?
Or another Andreas Lubitz?
His 'not remembering anything' at this point could be the beginning of his legal defense.
Safari,
Excellent points, all.
Partway through your comment, I was struck by the comparison to a Tom Waits song that promises all the things money will do, and a few more besides.
If you've never heard Step Right Up, take a minute and listen. This is oddball Beat poetry on a music bed of punchy jazz base with sax fills. All distinctive Waits traits.
Here's a taste:
"It removes embarrassing stains from contour sheets, that's right
And it entertains visiting relatives, it turns a sandwich into a banquet
Tired of being the life of the party?
Change your shorts, change your life, change your life
Change into a nine-year-old Hindu boy, get rid of your wife..."
Okay, the part about the nine year old Hindu boy always cracks me up, but the most prescient line is the one we have to remember when dealing with the money men and their pet piranhas in congress:
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away."
(By the way, for fans of "The Wire", the theme song
"Way Down in the Hole" was written by Waits, a musical treasure known mostly, and unfortunately, by just a tight fan base and other musicians.)
" I can't even come up with an adjective powerful enough to describe how aggressively cold blooded these assholes are. Can't do it."
When I was teaching I had to deal with some pretty deviant ruffians whose pleasure in life was to reduce you either to tears or insanity. To be able to express to them your actual feelings in words would have been verboten––"You little piece of shit, shut the fuck up" kind of language was only in your head silently sitting there becoming more and more frustrated. To be able to maintain control and gain respect one had to devise all sorts of clever methods. Since I speak a little Italian and can do a pretty good mimic of "fake" Italian I'd face these critters with what sounded like a barrage of scary sounding language that, to my great delight, not only shut them up, but after one kid asked what I had just said and I told him, "YOU don't want to know," that classroom with those boys became one of my favorites. One of the best compliments I ever got was overhearing a student saying to a new kid on the block, "You'll like her, but don't mess with Mrs. Pepe or she'll cut your balls off."
So–––language, or the lack of to describe or deal with the kinds of "cold-blooded" law makers whose behavior, like my young guns, drive you crazy perhaps we need to march into those congressional halls and scream some fake Italian. Fun to fantasize , but, oh, how I'd love to confront those buggers.
And speaking of buggers: John Deihl's dilemma is too delicious! Another example of hypocritical Christian love and affection.
Hats off to Bob Corker. When a Republican like Corker is criticizing his own fellows then there's hope for some bridges to get fixed? Maybe? A road or two?
Marie,
Ha. GMTA. My post originally included a second line to the effect that when Mittens opened the binder of boobs, he saw more than he could handle: Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee....etc..
I cut the line 'cause it seemed to water down the joke.
Comedy (even the half-assed variety) is a demanding mistress.
With so much that is gripping in the headlines and the heating up presidential race, it is easy to overlook articles that address policy issues. But I commend to you an excellent piece by Dr. Atul Gawande in last week's New Yorker (if this was already linked in RC, I missed it). In "Overkill," Gawande explores the impact of unnecessary medical procedures on our nation's medical costs - and not incidentally on patients' health. He recounts some striking successes, including some in the town of McAllen, TX - the site of his original 2009 article on sky-high medical charges that was a must- read at the White House, among other places.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11/overkill-atul-gawande
The anecdote regarding the WalMart optician who was on the verge of spinal surgery was particularly compelling. Who knew WM could do something so right!
@PD Pepe: I am a woman after your own heart. When I was in my 20s, I got roped into a long-term subbing job teaching a class of 8th-grade remedial math students. Some of the students had been held back for a year or more, so they were 16 or older & thought they were pretty suave -- & not exactly into the study of mathematics. The leader of the pack came up to me on maybe my 3rd or 4th day on the job & said, "Wanna screw?" He waited a second before he held up an actual screw as cover. Of course his posse thought that was hilarious. I said, "Yeah, & when I do, I'll find someone more interesting than you. Now siddown." Thereafter, I think I actually taught those kids some arithmetic.
Marie
P.S. Owner's privilege. No more bragging about your classroom successes -- unless you are/were a poly sci or civics teacher.
@CW So, no former art teacher need tell of quelling classroom antics. Rats! It's always the art program that get cut!!!!!!!!
PD,
Almost all the teachers I know have accumulated enough great stories for a couple of novels and at least one solid memoir. I love the pseudo Italian verbal barrage story. I wonder if the Glen Ford character in "the Blackboard Jungle" should have worked on that technique. I'll have to try it in a meeting if people start veering off topic.
And speaking of the trials and tribulations of holier than thou Republicans who just can't seem to keep things zipped (mouths or flies), there's another in Texas, a gay-hating Christian family man, Senator Charles Perry who has been stalking a stripper for some years now (I have to stop briefly to marvel that the phrase "gay-hating Christian family man" doesn't even merit a minor double take).
This guy even hired other disturbed losers to watch where she went when he had to be home with the wife and kids. What a peach. He wrote something called the “The Preservation of Sovereignty and Marriage Act” which was designed to attack gays and lesbians, but, luckily for him, has nothing in there against stalking strippers in your spare time, even after they've moved out of state to get the hell away from your creepy ass.
But on another topic, since the first part of your post concerned itself with language and writing, and since all of us communicate out here exclusively with the written word, I think it wouldn't be out of place to recognize the passing of William Zinsser, whose magnum opus, "On Writing Well" served as a life preserver to those all at sea amidst dangling modifiers and awkward phrasing. A favorite lesson of his involves periods. I don't recall the exact wording, but it went along the lines of "...can't say much about the period except that many writers don't get there soon enough."
@Marie: One last post before heading off to the dentist.
Squarespace Squarepants is misbehaving again!
The Sturm und Drang surrounding Jeb Bush offers several timely lessons.
First, it shows just how wrong the received wisdom of "pundits" and party insiders can be. Juanito was considered by many a sure bet when and if he decided to run. His problems with the base were acknowledged, but the weight and heft of a potential Bush run was never questioned. One stupid comment and a flock of follow-up stupidity has reduced that heftiness considerably, to the point where people are wondering if the guy is as big an idiot as his war monger brother. So much for received wisdom. And from the looks of it, he won't be disowning The Decider's war crimes any time soon.
A secondary lesson deriving from the first demonstrates how far idiots can go before most people cotton on to their shocking lack of acuity and general smarts. The presidential cauldron is not for the squeamish or the stupid as we shall see once the GOP clown bus starts making regular stops around the country. Someone will survive, but he (or in the extremely unlikely case of Fiorina, she) will be the best snake in the shit hole.
Woe is us.
On the other side, I am waiting with bated breath for the first Clinton/Sanders debate. There will be no Blue Dogs trying to pull everyone towards the dark side, and we won't have a dark horse spoiler like Nader to wreak havoc with those pesky undecideds.
A more left-ified Hillary, should she be the one, would be taking on the remaining shit holer and things could get loud (although she may slip back toward the middle once Bernie is in the wind).
But I doubt she'll be taking on Juanito unless, as Safari says, money, money, money cures his foot in mouth disease.
@MAG: Checked my spam page, & you haven't been spammed. Let me know when you get back from the dentist what I problem is & I'll see if I can resolve it. You may not be in any condition to speak clearly, eat or drink without dribbling, but you can type.
Marie
Two things about the train derailment:
Rachel Maddow interviewed former congressman Patrick Murphy on Tuesday night's show. He was on the train. This usually well-spoken man was almost incoherent at times, most likely from shock. It is a visceral first-hand account.
My wife was supposed to take the train down to DC today. She was able to switch to a Southwest Airlines ticket to BWI. More expensive, not that much faster when you deal with the fuss at each end of the trip, and less working time in transit.
And after all, those airlines are private companies. They don't get any help from the government. Oh, except for the airports. And air traffic control. And I suspect there are other areas where they get a bit of help. But they are all private.
Schocking Update -
Former Rep. and interior-design maven Aaron may be getting a little nervous with a seventh staffer of his being subpoenaed to testify in front of a federal grand jury about his alleged misdeeds. No mention of how the state grand jury inquiry is going.
His father must have had the inside scoop in making a past comment about Aaron doing OK if he manages to stay out of jail. He might get lucky and not be required to move into more austere accommodations. If not, perhaps he can make a special request to get the Dan Rostenkowski Suite.
Does anyone else think it's hysterical that Republicans think the greatest president alive today is a dead guy? Of course it's a bit of a trick question since there are only five and three of them are Democrats. The other two are a Bush and a shrub (hey, if Poppy is a Bush and Dubya is a shrub, what does that make Jebbie? A weed?).
But it makes no difference. For Confederates, no question is clear enough to deserve a straight answer unless it has to do with taxes or abortion or war.
So the answer to the question "who is the greatest living president, Obama, Clinton, Bush I, Bush II, or Carter", is "Reagan".
Oh...kay.
It's gonna be a GREAT election season. Laughs? Like you read about.
Hang on kids, bad news.
Fuller Brush Man and brain damaged demagogue John Bolton has announced that he will NOT be running for president. At least not this time.
I know, I know. It's a sad day, a sad day. I was hoping for a list of cities he would bomb on his first day in office. It would have been like that scene in "The Godfather" where Michael Corleone has all his mafia rivals whacked while he's at church attending a baptism. "I John Bolton..." boom goes Teheran "...do solemnly swear.." boom goes Paris "...to faithfully execute..." boom goes Pyonyang.
The Fox piece announcing the sad news makes it sound like Bolton is a combination of Talleyrand and von Clauswitz, but neglects to mention what fun it would have been to see Bolton and the other GOP loonies firing dung-filled socks at each other in the highly anticipated Clown Shoe Colloquies.
But fear not, the Bolt Man promises that he'll be flapping his lips 'til the bitter end. He's already serving as a sort-of advisor on foreign affairs (oh god!) to the Tailgunner, so look for even more dangerous unhinged gibberish from that direction.
Ahhh....Johnny we hardly knew ye, but it was more than enough for me, I tells ya.
I already can't stand Jeb, but that crack about those killed in action makes me want to throw up. An obvious question: Why were they killed in action? Could it be because of a war started under false pretense? This guy is fucking dangerous. He thinks he's intelligent, but guess what? He isn't.
The other things: Terri Schiavo and delivering Florida to his brother. Wait... If Al Gore had won, maybe there wouldn't have been a war. Ergo, both Bush brothers have a lot to answer for.
In re Jeb Bush: the man cannot listen and seems deficient in the 'answers' department to boot. I, for one, can see how he could identify so strongly with his brother the artist.