;)
March 26, 2023
Marie: Had to buy a new computer. I'm going to try working from it, though even as I took it out of the box it was totally messed up, at least according to a rep from the company that provides my virus protection. I have to take all my computers in for servicing next week. Update: As of 8 am Sunday, so far, so good. Thanks to everyone for your patience. BTW, there are some very good comments by the usual suspects (sometimes disguised as "Anonymous") at RealityChexAnnex.blogspot.com that you might want to check out.
Afternoon Update:
Israel. Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, setting off raucous late-night protests, a day after Mr. Gallant became the first member of his cabinet to call for a halt to the government's contentious plan to weaken the country's judiciary. Announced in a one-line statement by the prime minister's office, the dismissal intensified an already dramatic domestic crisis -- one of the gravest in Israeli history -- set off by the government's proposal to give itself greater control over the selection of Supreme Court justices and to limit the court's authority over Parliament." CNN's report is here.
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Mark Walker of the New York Times: "President Biden's nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, Phillip A. Washington, has withdrawn from consideration for the job, according to the White House. Mr. Washington's Republican critics in the Senate had argued that he lacked sufficient aviation experience, and they raised questions about his connection to a corruption investigation in Los Angeles. His withdrawal came shortly after the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation said it would delay its vote on Mr. Washington's nomination, which had been scheduled for Wednesday."
An "Inquiry" in Search of a Cause. Jordain Carney of Politico: "Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg on Saturday night accused a trio of House Republicans of trying to interfere in his office, amid an escalating standoff over an investigation into ... Donald Trump. Bragg, in a brief statement, said that it was 'not appropriate for Congress to interfere with pending local investigations,' after Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), James Comer (R-Ky.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) -- the chairs of the Judiciary, Oversight and Administration Committees, respectively -- doubled down on their request for information in their own letter on Saturday.... The GOP lawmakers, in their letter, argued that they weren't overstepping jurisdictional boundaries because they could use Bragg's testimony and the documents to pass potential legislation. The letter provides new details on what House Republicans could pursue in response to the investigation into Trump, including legislation to 'insulate current and former presidents from such improper state and local prosecutions,' reforms to special counsel authorities, changes to the Federal Election Campaign Act and to how Congress dishes out public safety funds." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, these great patriots have in mind to make sure that a president* is indeed "above the law."
AP: "Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday he has been released from the rehabilitation facility where he had physical therapy for a concussion caused by a fall earlier this month. The 81-year-old Kentucky Republican said in a statement released by his office that he will work from home for the next few days. The Senate is scheduled to be on break for the weeks of April 3 and April 10."
National Threat Assessment. David Smith of the Guardian: "Donald Trump ... continued to invoke retribution and violence on Saturday when he used the first rally of his 2024 election campaign to rail against prosecutors weighing a criminal charge against him. Efforts by Trump's team to steer a more conventional, disciplined candidacy have wilted in recent days as the 76-year-old unleashed words and images that -- even by his provocative standards -- are unusually dehumanising, menacing and dangerous.... At Saturday's rally at Waco airport, there was little sign of Trump heeding the warnings and cooling off.... Trump claim[ed] that his personal life 'has been turned upside down' because of 'prosecutorial misconduct by radical left maniacs' and framed the various investigations as political attacks coordinated by Democrats in Washington.... Trump also launched his most sweeping attack yet on Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, seen as his strongest challenger for the Republican presidential nomination.... Trump claimed that Florida had been successful for 'decades' before DeSantis took office and accused him of disloyalty." ~~~
~~~ Michael Bender & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: “As a crowd in Waco, Texas, waved red-and-white signs with the words 'Witch Hunt' behind him, Mr. Trump devoted long stretches of his speech to his own legal jeopardy rather than his vision for a second term, casting himself as a victim of 'weaponization' of the justice system.... Mr. Trump tends to frame the nation's broader political stakes heavily around whatever issues personally affect him the most. Last year, he sought to make his lies about fraud in his 2020 election defeat the most pressing issue of the midterms. On Saturday, he called the 'weaponization of our justice system' the 'central issue of our time.'" The Washington Post's story is here.
Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "The New York Post, the previously pro-Donald Trump tabloid owned by conservative billionaire Rupert Murdoch, on Friday urged supporters of the former president to look elsewhere. The newspaper, which appears to have increasingly soured on Trump since the GOP's poor 2022 midterm election results, called out his threat of 'death & destruction' if he is indicted following an investigation into a hush-money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. 'He hasn't changed in the slightest. There is no shame,' wrote the Post's editorial board, which said it didn't disagree with claims that Trump faces a 'biased prosecution' but slammed the former president for seeking to inspire a mob. 'Time and time again, Trump's responses have been unhinged ... and self-defeating,' it continued, adding that 'Trump is not trying to make America a better place' but just seeking 'revenge.'"
Presidential Races. A Brief History of October Surprises, and Three That Weren't. Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "The concept of an October surprise has been around American politics since at least 1838, when federal prosecutors announced plans to charge top Whig Party officials with 'most stupendous and atrocious fraud' for paying Pennsylvanians to vote in New York for their candidates.... The scandal that has ensnared Donald J. Trump, the paying of hush money to a pornographic film star in 2016, is in a rare class: an attempt not to bring to light an election-altering event, but to suppress one. The payoff to Stormy Daniels ... can trace its lineage to at least two other episodes foiling an October surprise. The first was in 1968, when aides to Richard M. Nixon pressed the South Vietnamese government to thwart peace talks in the closing days of that election. The second was in 1980 ... [when] allies of Ronald Reagan may well have labored to delay the release of American hostages from Iran until after the defeat of Jimmy Carter. The tortured debate over precisely which election law might have been violated in 2016 is missing the broader point -- all three events might have changed the course of history."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The United States said there was no reason to change its nuclear posture after Russia said it moved 10 nuclear-capable warplanes to Belarus, which shares a long border with northern Ukraine.... Russia has likely launched more than 70 Iranian-designed drones against targets across Ukraine since the beginning of March, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Sunday...." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
Israel. Steve Hendrix of the Washington Post: "Israel's defense minister, a senior ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called Saturday for a freeze on the government's controversial attempt to remake the country's judicial system, saying the massive backlash it has sparked was becoming a threat to the country's security. Two other members of Netanyahu's Likud party immediately joined in the call to pause the judicial push, and at least one other was said to be considering it, according to Israeli media. The defections could endanger the ability of Netanyahu's coalition of ultra-Orthodox and right-wing nationalist parties, which hold only a four-seat majority in the parliament, to ram through the package of legislation. The defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has been signaling for days that he was uncomfortable with the growing number of military members who have joined in the mass protest movement against the judicial overhaul. Hundreds of reservists have pledged to boycott their regular training missions, and the Israel Defense Forces confirmed that the number of absentees was growing."
News Lede
New York Times: A powerful tornado "touched down ... [and] nearly obliterated the small Mississippi Delta town of Rolling Fork in one of numerous scenes of destruction and heartbreak across swaths of Mississippi and Alabama. At least 26 people were killed, dozens more were injured, and homes and businesses were smashed to pieces." ~~~
~~~ The AP's report is here. The Washington Post has a story here. And the New York Times is now updating developments. Washington Post live updates are here.
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Reader Comments (11)
The current boca a boca, or moutho a moutho between the former dicktator and the wannabe future dicktator (or dickgator, if you will), boils down to the influence of something we discussed not long ago, the traitor Id, the unrestrained, unmediated subconscious, the mindless primitive set loose upon our political landscape.
DeSantolini has been described as a sort of Trump 2.0, a Fatty without the baggage. A more refined, slicker, more acceptable (to those chimerical “independents” and “undecideds”) authoritarian piece of shit. A scary thought.
But since TFG has started raining adolescent feculence on the Ronito Show, the poll numbers have done a 180. Where DeSantolini was up by double digits a short time ago, he’s now doing an imitation of Chump of the Month, that string of hapless jabronis that Muhammad Ali used to handily dispatch, beaten and bloodied, in between fights with guys named Norton and Frazier.
Because here’s the thing…MAGA morons don’t want a slicker, more sophisticated Trump without the baggage, a guy who can be vicious without seeming to get his hands dirty. No. The Id doesn’t give a shit about sophistication. They want the loudmouth, cheap shot, rabbit punching bully boy who never couches his bigotry, hatred, and grievances behind desiccated legalistic casuistry. They don’t want “Don’t say gay”, they want “Fuck those queers!” They don’t want “No Black History”, they want “Send those niggers back to Africa”. They don’t want “No abortion” misogyny, they want “She’s too ugly to rape” misogyny. They don’t want smooth Victor Orban, they want sieg heiling Hitler.
Trump is still the guy who best channels their own hatreds, bigotry, and fears. They don’t want dog whistles. They want klaxons.
Plus, DeSantolini couldn’t be elected urinal inspector without MAGA approval, so while Fatty regales the morons with references to Meatball Ron, and Ron the Groomer, DeSantolini has no comeback for fear of pissing off the mindless primitives intoxicated with Trump toxicity.
All of which might be good for the country since with Fatty growing increasingly extreme and out of control, not to mention multiple pending indictments, voters may decide against four more years of Trumpian chaos and idiocy.
But that’s not taking into account the democracy killing, election stealing schemes currently in place on the right.
Meanwhile the Traitor Id is keeping Slick Ronito in Palookaville.
For now.
@Akhilleus: You're on to something there. When I was young, there thrived a common conception that a woman couldn't be president because she hadn't served in the military (most had not). That remained a thing, at least until we got around to electing a male president who hadn't served: Bill Clinton. But Clinton's opposition to the Viet Nam war was a "scandal" and nearly cost him the election.
And the idea behind the military service "requirement" was always that it showed fortitude. (Never mind that Ronald Reagan's "service to his country" during WWII was to stay in Hollywood & make short promotional films dispensed to the real troops.) Women just are not as "strong" as men, so they don't have what it takes. There are many reasons Hillary Clinton lost to the Perpetually Peeved One, but his supposed "strength" was one of them. Trump proved he could "stand up" to anybody: a female debate moderator, hecklers at a rally, a genuine war hero like John McCain, etc. (Ah, well, anybody but leaders who posed actual threats to the the U.S., like Putin & Little Kim.)
I think we're seeing this same phenomenon in the Trumpolini/DeSantolini stand-off. Trump is as happy to bash DeSantis as he is to bash any opponent. DeSantis hasn't got the cajones to stand up to Trump. Ronito's timid little whines about how as president he would run a tight ship, without ever mentioning Trump's disastrous "administration," & so forth, don't count as standing up to anybody. The vicious Trump base can see that. In fact, the only thing they like about Ron is that he has stood up to sexually-disoriented teenagers & school librarians. They want a bully, and Trump will ever keep his promise to be the worst of them, except where it matters.
So the snake oil salesman went to the wild west, Waco (wacko)
and had to hold his rally at the airport because he's stiffed every
convention center in the past. They're on to him at last; sure took
long enough.
And all those gun toters had to go through security? Why? I thought
guns save lives, that's what gun lovers and the NRA preach.
Usually when a potential presidential candidate travels around the
country, the wife is there by his side, smiling and waving. Where
was Melanie and the Spawn (sounds like a sixties rock band).
I saw photos of all that trump junk for sale, t-shirts, hats, flags,
(condoms?) but the retards buying this stuff have the balls to complain
about the price of eggs or butter, then spend ten times as much to
support the grifter-in-chief.
He also said that when he won, he won more counties than anyone
in history had ever won. Does he even realize that we have many
counties where the population is like, 10 voters and ten thousand
cows? How can someone who's probably never read a book talk
about history? Don't answer that.
A sports sermon:
"March Madness is in full swing, and I’m glad. The athletes’ phenomenal talent, skill and grace displayed in riveting dramas of winners and losers present a spectacle hard for me to resist.
But lately I’ve noticed my enthusiasm for the madness of March is diminishing. What has happened to college sports has played a large part in that decline.
Oh, I still watch some of the games and I still have my favorites. If my university is in the tournament, I answer my tribe’s call and root for it. Those tribal instincts also extend to geography. Washington teams have my near-automatic allegiance. (Go Zags!) When tournament brackets so arrange it, I’ll root for the PAC-12 team over almost any other.
I’ve noticed, though, that a madness we all know too well has washed away some of the pleasure college sports once brought to me: The Madness of Money.
The professionalization of college sports is not new. Colleges, for instance, rely on football players to bring in enough revenue to support other less lucrative sports. Scholarships are a kind of wage offered to athletes, and university athletic programs have long served as farm teams for the professional sports where the big money is.
Over the last decade, though, money has moved from the periphery to the center of college sports. High school athletes are offered millions by universities to enroll (blackenterprise.com). College athletes leap from school to school through the “transfer portal” (cbssports.com). College athletic conferences break apart and reform in pursuit of better TV deals. The athletes and universities are still there, but their tribe’s totem is not a Huskey or a Cougar. It is $$$.
Again, money, that great American solvent, is dissolving all rules, restraints, and loyalty to proud tradition.
I preferred the old Madness of March. "
BTW, Gonzaga was crushed last night, but I'm OK this morning...
BRIDES FOR SALE:
To continue with Marie's post re: women issues, China is having one hell of a time with their diminishing population:
"As China faces a shrinking population, officials are cracking down on an ancient tradition of betrothal gifts to try to promote marriages, which have been on the decline. Known in Mandarin as caili, the payments have skyrocketed across the country in recent years — averaging $20,000 in some provinces — making marriage increasingly unaffordable. The payments are typically paid by the groom’s parents."
Little by little women around the world are fighting for their personhood in ways we have not seen before and that has caused a great hue and cry from–-mostly males–--to try and "put them in their rightful place." It's an old song and dance but we are hearing new lyrics along with louder bass notes and the dance isn't ring around the rosy any longer.
Ken,
And speaking of college sports and money, since all the number 1 seeds are out, Vegas must be thrilled because probably 90% of the brackets are now worthless, not to mention all those high rollers who dropped a packet on one of those number ones.
And while we’re on the subject of sports and gambling, you and I are old enough to remember when this was a big no-no, at least in theory. But gambling has kept the guy who broke Ty Cobb’s record for lifetime hits out of the Hall of Fame permanently (at least I hope so). Pete Rose placed bets on games in which he was the manager of one of the two teams. That means he could effectively affect the outcome of the game to line his own pockets.
Asshole.
But now, the biggest advertisers on any sports events are gambling operations, Fan Duel, etc. whose ads invite fans to sign up and start gambling on the games. Step right up, Mr. NCAA fan and start frittering away Junior’s college money.
I remember as a kid being stunned that people would bet against their own team. I couldn’t figure it out. I had nothing in principle against someone betting on their team to win. But betting on them to lose? What?? Then I learned about the betting line. So you like the Zags (Gonzaga, to the non-sports fans). And you’d be happy to see them win, but the line says they should beat Team X by 12 points. You think “No way” so you bet accordingly.
Now, when you pick up the sports page, the first thing you see are the betting lines for all the games.
Because it ain’t about the game. It’s about the money.
Just think of the casinos the Fat Fascist owned (and ran into the ground). Only Trump could own a business that allows you to basically print money, but fuck it up. And he almost put the country in the crapper too. King Midas in reverse, as the song used to say.
I guess it’s always been about the money.
But hey, one thing I’m always grateful to Gonzaga for (in addition to some excellent basketball over the years) is Bing Crosby. Thanks, guys.
Forrest,
“Melanie and the Spawn” actually does sound like one of those one-hit wonders from the 60’s. Can’t you see a gray haired Junior on some cheap-ass late night TV commercial hawking his “big record” from 1966, with Melanie and the Spawn? Act now and you can get this autographed picture of all of us on some local TV show in Duluth, back when we was fab.
Or maybe it was Waco.
Akilleus,
My still Catholic and very liberal Spokane sister got her start teaching Latin at Gonzaga Prep, moved to the Gonzaga University Library for a time, then jumped to a distinguished career in library administration in both Idaho and Spokane, serving during some of those years at the national level for the ALA.
She's still in Spokane raising political hell.
So I have reasons (for me other than religion) to have a special fondness for Gonzaga.
It doesn’t appear that there was an uprising by pitchfork and AK wielding MAGA morons at Fatty’s Waco wiener roast yesterday, but that doesn’t mean the spores of hatred and fear he spreads like Johnny Appalling-seed won’t grow into something dangerous in the future.
The Branch Trumpidians still see this loser lunatic as The Only One. I read interviews with several cult members who still say Fatty is the Only One, the one who will go back to Washington and “drain the swamp”. He had four years to do that. Instead, he unleashed wild predators into a swamp of his own creation.
But look, Trump isn’t promising a better America, better jobs, a chicken in every pot, good education and healthcare. Fuck that. He’s promising payback, retribution, destruction, revenge. Because that’s what his cult wants too. Don’t forget, Timothy McVeigh was at Waco during the stand-off 30 years ago, selling bumper stickers about gun love and government hatred. Two years later he was blowing up a building in Oklahoma City.
Hatred within cults runs deep and burns long.
Another reason DeSantolini has problems is that he doesn’t have his own cult. He’s a little tinpot dictator who is running Florida into the ground. He’s not a cult leader like the Fat Fascist. He seeks to siphon off support from the Branch Trumpdians.
You think those people in Waco 30 years ago would have traded in David Koresh for Trent Lott? Trade a sword wielding warrior against the libs, blessed by god for a…politician?
Yeah, right.
@Akhilleus: "The Branch Trumpidians"?? Perfect.
Just was by Floridapolitics.com and reading how Matt Gaetz is warning DeSantis against any opposition. to Trump. Especially he must block any extradition to other court venues. (as I understand it he can't)
It's a good site, where the state gop proudly bares it's butt to the nation.