;)
The Commentariat -- April 18, 2021
Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "Over two decades of war that spanned four presidents, the Pentagon had always managed to fend off the political instincts of elected leaders frustrated with the grind of Afghanistan, as commanders repeatedly requested more time and more troops. Even as the number of American forces in Afghanistan steadily decreased to the 2,500 who still remained, Defense Department leaders still cobbled together a military effort that managed to protect the United States from terrorist attacks even as it failed, spectacularly, to defeat the Taliban in a place that has crushed foreign occupiers for 2,000 years. The current military leadership hoped it, too, could convince a new president to maintain at least a modest troop presence, trying to talk Mr. Biden into keeping a residual force and setting conditions on any withdrawal. But Mr. Biden refused to be persuaded.... Donald J. Trump declared that all American troops were coming home -- but never carried through a plan to do so." ~~~
~~~ Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Taliban leaders say Americans have all the clocks, but they have all the time. The Bush administration was arrogant and ignorant about occupying this medieval moonscape. Officials thought they could bomb the bejesus out of the people who hated us.... Even Barack Obama, once so prescient on the futility of invading Iraq, was suckered by the military into a pointless surge in Afghanistan, a near tripling of troops, in 2009.... We should have respected Afghanistan's reputation as 'the graveyard of empires' and Pakistan's deserved reputation for double-dealing.... As with Vietnam, many of those in charge knew for a long time that the war was unwinnable, but they hid the evidence, giving rosy forecasts while burning through $2.2 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives.... As vice president, Biden was a lone voice in the Oval Office objecting to the surge in Afghanistan. He told Obama, if you let them, the generals will box you in and string it out."
Ben Leonard of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Saturday denounced Russia over its treatment of prominent Putin critic Alexei Navalny amid reports his health is deteriorating in prison. 'It's totally, totally unfair,' Biden said, according to a pool report. 'Totally inappropriate.'... Navalny's doctor said Saturday he 'could die at any moment.'"
Hyung-Jin Kim of the AP: "The United States and China, the world's two biggest carbon polluters, have agreed to cooperate with other countries to curb climate change, just days before President Joe Biden hosts a virtual summit of world leaders to discuss the issue. The agreement was reached by U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua during two days of talks in Shanghai last week, the State Department said in a statement Saturday.... Kerry's Shanghai trip marked the highest-level travel to China by a U.S. official since Biden took office in January.... Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, to the April 22-23 summit."
Ta Ta, Trumpie. Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Michael Ellis, a former Republican political operative, resigned Friday as the National Security Agency's top lawyer, having been sidelined for three months after President Biden took office. The NSA director, Gen. Paul Nakasone, had placed Ellis on administrative leave the day ... Donald Trump left the White House -- just as Ellis was taking up the position. The reasons: a pending Pentagon inspector general probe, an official told The Washington Post at the time, and a security inquiry into Ellis's handling of classified information, according to a letter from Ellis's attorney to Nakasone, a copy of which was obtained by The Post. Nakasone had agreed to install Ellis as general counsel just days earlier under orders from Trump's acting defense secretary. The role does not require Senate confirmation. The inspector general inquiry into the circumstances of Ellis's selection remains open, Nakasone told Congress on Thursday." Ellis was formerly counsel to Devin Nunes.
Interlude in the Sordid History of the Congressional White Supremacy Caucus. Daniella Diaz of CNN: "Conservative Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is scrapping the planned launch of her 'America First' caucus after receiving blowback from leaders in her own party, despite confirming through a spokesperson on Friday that the caucus would launch.... 'The Congresswoman wants to make clear that she is not launching anything. This was an early planning proposal and nothing was agreed to or approved,' [Greene's spokesman] said in an email to CNN, referring to a flier promoting the caucus, obtained by Punchbowl News, that used inflammatory rhetoric." MB: Wow! Too racist for the Party of Racists! (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Amy Wang & Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Saturday tried to distance herself from a document published by Punchbowl News that purportedly outlined the goals of a new 'America First Caucus' being formed by Greene and other hard-right GOP lawmakers. The document had received blowback from Democrats and some Republicans for promoting nativist policies and perpetuating the falsehood that there was widespread fraud and corruption in the 2020 election. On Saturday, Greene (R-Ga.) described the document as 'a staff level draft proposal from an outside group' and claimed she had not read it. She blasted the media for 'taking something out of context,' but did not specify to which policies in the document she objected. However, Greene did not deny plans to start an 'America First Caucus' and ended a lengthy Twitter thread by saying she supported former president Donald Trump's 'America First agenda.'... Greene and Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) are reportedly behind the new caucus, according to Punchbowl News.... Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who faces federal and House Ethics Committee investigations over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, tweeted Friday that he was joining Greene in the caucus." ~~~
~~~ Tommy Christopher of Mediaite gathers Twitter comments from members of Congress, "welcoming" the new White Supremacy Caucus. But some have questions. For instance, Ruben Gallego (D-Az.) wants to know, "So what kind of food will they eat in this Caucus meeting? Just purely Anglo Saxon food? What does that even look like ? Can you use spices? What about tomatoes and potatoes those were cultivated by Indigenous people of the New World?" Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) asks, "When you say Anglo-Saxon, do you mean Aryan? Or master race? Can I join? Will your caucus meetings serve tacos?" ~~~
~~~ Marie: According to my extensive research (I Googled "what did anglo saxons eat"): "They ate a mix of vegetables, including onions, peas, parsnips, and cabbage. Their favourite meats included deer and wild boar, which they roasted over a fire in the middle of their houses. They ate their meat with bread and washed their meal down with beer, rather than water." Margie, get your gun. A'hunting you must go.
** How the Supremes Enabled DWB Stops. Christopher Durocher in Politico Magazine: "Traffic stops figure prominently in some of the most high-profile police killings of Black people.... Five decades of Supreme Court precedent ... [have] successively opened the door to -- and given police an incentive to -- use traffic stops as an invasive tool of policing aimed mostly at people of color, primarily Black people.... The Supreme Court opened the door to legally permissible racialized policing with the 1967 case Terry v. Ohio, by allowing police to conduct certain cursory searches, now known as stop-and-frisks, based on the low legal standard of 'reasonable suspicion.'... The practice of racially profiling Black drivers was effectively endorsed by the Court in the 1996 ruling in Whren v. United States, which decided that police are allowed to use minor vehicle infractions as a pretext to initiate traffic stops with the goal of investigating other possible unrelated crimes. According to an analysis of over 100 million traffic stops, Black drivers are about 40 percent more likely to be pulled over than their white counterparts ... [and Blacks and Hispanics] are twice as likely as white drivers to have their cars searched after being pulled over.... In the earlier 1982 case Harlow v. Fitzgerald, the Court made the lethal decision to create the doctrine it called 'qualified immunity,' which has since allowed police to injure and kill with little or no consequence...." More on DWB linked under Virginia below.
Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post: "Being Black in America is exhausting." MB: Take a walk (don't linger!) in Capehart's shoes; the rules for Black people (and I'd say for others, especially young men, who don't "look White") are different from the rules for White people.
Elahe Izadi & Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "A Wyoming-based Swiss billionaire who formed half of the consortium making a bid to buy Tribune Publishing Co. has backed out of the deal, according to two people familiar with negotiations. Hansjörg Wyss had joined with Maryland business executive Stewart Bainum Jr. earlier this month in submitting the $680 million proposal to a special committee of Tribune's board, in an attempt to beat out an offer from Alden Global Capital. The development casts further doubt on whether journalists at Tribune newspapers can avoid a takeover by the hedge fund, which has a reputation for deep cost-cutting."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.
Thank You, Joe Biden, et al. Celine Castronuovo of the Hill: "Roughly half of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Saturday. Across the country, more than 128 million people ages 18 and older have received at least one shot, with more than 82 million fully vaccinated with one of the three vaccines approved for emergency use in the U.S., the CDC said. Overall, 49.7 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the data, and nearly a third are fully vaccinated."
The Washington Post has a story on how to handle your vaccination card. The article is free to nonsubscribers.
David Biller, et al., of the AP: "The global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million people Saturday amid repeated setbacks in the worldwide vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in places such as Brazil, India and France."
Beyond the Beltway
Indiana. Andrés R. Martínez, et al., of the New York Times: "At least four of the victims [of the Indianapolis mass murder at a FedEx facility] were members of the Sikh community, and the attack renewed the fears of American Sikhs, who have over the years been accosted for wearing turbans and attacked in a house of worship.... The authorities have not said whether hate or bias might have played a role in the attack." The story has been modified to include the details reported in the item linked next. ~~~
~~~ New York Times: "Brandon Hole, the 19-year-old who the police say fatally shot eight people at a FedEx facility on Thursday night, legally purchased two semiautomatic rifles he used in the attack more than six months earlier, according to the chief of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. In March of 2020, the police had seized a shotgun from Mr. Hole after his mother raised concerns about his mental state, records show. But, Chief Randal Taylor said, the fact that Mr. Hole was legally able to make the more recent gun purchases indicates that, despite his mother's warning and the police seizure of a gun, the authorities had not deemed him subject to Indiana's so-called 'red flag' law, which bars people who are found by a judge to present dangerous risk from possessing a firearm. Under the state's longstanding red flag law, the authorities have two weeks after taking someone's weapon to argue before a judge that the person is unstable and should be barred from possessing a gun for a period of time. But Chief Taylor was unsure whether a hearing like that ever took place -- even though the police never returned the shotgun they had seized last year." The item is part of a NYT liveblog.
Minnesota. Under Court Order Not to Arrest Journalists, Cops Harass Them Instead. Adrianna Rodriguez of USA Today: "Journalists covering a protest in a Minneapolis suburb [Brooklyn Center] Friday night were forced on their stomachs by law enforcement, rounded up and were only released after having their face and press credentials photographed. The incident occurred hours after a judge issued a temporary order barring the Minnesota State Patrol from using physical force or chemical agents against journalists, according to court documents. It also barred police from seizing photographic, audio or video recording equipment, or press passes. Minnesota State Patrol on Saturday said in a statement, 'troopers checked and photographed journalists and their credentials and driver's licenses at the scene in order to expedite the identification process.' While some journalists were 'detained and released during enforcement actions after providing credentials, no journalists have been arrested,' MSP said.... The court order was part of an ongoing case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union after journalists say they were targeted during protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, who was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin last year."
South Carolina. Hannah Knowles & Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "An Army sergeant and instructor in South Carolina was charged Wednesday with third-degree assault after a video captured him shoving a young Black man and saying he was 'in the wrong neighborhood,' authorities said. The confrontation from earlier this week near Columbia, S.C., sparked a public outcry, and protesters crowded Wednesday on the sidewalk outside the home of the soldier, 42-year-old Jonathan Pentland, who is White.... Two reports of alleged assault were also made against the young man after deputies responded Monday, according to the sheriff's department, and they are being investigated. The young man has 'an underlying medical condition that may explain the behavior exhibited in the alleged incidents,' the agency said."
Virginia. DWB. Gary Harki of the Virginian-Pilot: "The video of Windsor Police drawing guns on Caron Nazario before pepper spraying him may have gone viral, but it wasn't a surprise to some Black people who drive up and down U.S. Route 460 between Suffolk and Petersburg. Many who use the route to travel from Hampton Roads to Virginia State University said they expect to get pulled over there on the pretext of speeding or tinted windows. They say the real reason is because they are Black.... Eight Black former VSU students and faculty ... say it's been common knowledge for decades at VSU that if you travel through the area, you'll be stopped on the pretext of speeding or a minor infraction, then get harassed by police.... In Virginia, about 20% of the state's 8.5 million residents are Black, but in Wakefield, Waverly and Windsor the percentage of cases involving Black people that land in General District Court, where speeding tickets and minor traffic citations are heard, is far higher."
Way Beyond
Myanmar. AP: "Myanmar's junta on Saturday released more than 23,000 prisoners to mark the traditional new year holiday, including at least three political detainees, and the military leader behind the February coup confirmed he would attend a regional summit later this month. It wasn't immediately clear if those released included pro-democracy activists who were detained for protesting the coup. State broadcaster MRTV said that junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing had pardoned 23,047 prisoners, including 137 foreigners who will be deported from Myanmar. He also reduced sentences for others. As security forces continued the deadly crackdown, unconfirmed but credible accounts with photos on social media said that three people were killed Saturday in the central city of Mogok, in Myanmar's gem mining region."
U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "... Prince Philip was laid to rest on Saturday at Windsor Castle in an austere, meticulously choreographed funeral that captured his steely role in Britain's royal family and offered a solemn glimpse of its uncertain future. Queen Elizabeth II bade farewell to Philip, her husband, who died on April 9, two months shy of his 100th birthday, from solitude inside St. George's Chapel. She was clad in a mask and kept at a distance from her children and grandchildren by pandemic social distancing requirements, which limited attendance to 30 people. Her grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry were separated as well, by one of their cousins, as they walked behind Philip's coffin. This quirk of royal protocol dramatized the rift between the brothers that opened after Harry's marriage to an American former actress, Meghan Markle.... But this was a somber occasion, a family convening in sadness to mark the death of a man whom many credited with providing stability and meting out discipline to younger royals as they struggled to navigate the pressures of duty and celebrity." An AP News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Louis Lucero of the New York Times: "With coronavirus restrictions firmly in place, some of Queen Elizabeth II's relatives sat in small family groups with children and spouses to mourn Prince Philip, her husband. But she sat alone at the end of a pew, and for many watching the proceedings from home, the sight of the newly widowed queen, who will turn 95 next week, was perhaps the saddest image of the day." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post has a slideshow of scenes from Philip's funeral. If you want to watch video highlights, this 6:15-minute Sky News reel isn't too bad.
News Ledes
Another Saturday Night. AP: "Authorities in [Kenosha,] Wisconsin pleaded Sunday for help in locating a suspect who opened fire at a tavern in a confrontation that left three people dead and two people seriously injured. Kenosha Sheriff David Beth said while the suspected shooter is still at large, the public is not believed to be in danger. The suspect apparently knew the victims and targeted them, although it is not clear whether the victims knew him The shooting happened at Somers House Tavern in Kenosha County after the suspect was asked to leave the bar and then returned and opened fire." ~~~
~~~ Washington Post Update: "Sgt. David Wright, a public information officer for the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department, said in a statement Sunday afternoon that a 'person of interest' was located and charged with first-degree homicide. Officials left open the possibility of additional charges as the investigation continued."
~~~ AND Sunday Morning, Too. CNN: "Three people were pronounced dead at the scene of a shooting in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, according to tweets from Austin-Travis County EMS. The shooting appears to be 'a domestic situation that is isolated,' a tweet from Austin police said. Police identified the suspect, still at large, as Stephen Nicholas Broderick, 41.... Broderick is a former Travis County Sheriff's Office detective who was charged with the sexual assault of a child, Travis County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kristen Dark told CNN."
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LETTER FROM THE HOUSE:
Yesterday I received a letter from Nancy who is in a stint over these nincompoops on the other side. In black letters she tells me that the Republican Party is now firmly in the grip of our best freind Fatty, Marjorie T.G. and QAnon. Now if I had been AWOL for four years this might have come as a shock–- like––wow! how could this have happened in this country of milk, honey and overt racism? However–– so Nancy goes on to let me know that the Dems have only a five seat margin in the House––she emphases this by saying "a razor- thin margin." We are in the grips of extremism, delusion and insurrection, she says. Those five seats keep the House from being overrun by a political party that seems to no longer believe in democracy, tried to stage a coup, and embraces white supremacism. But Nancy doesn't stop at that: she gives us a long history of what Trump has done to desecrate our democracy and our standing globally and now that we have a lick and a prayer ( I would have used "promise" but Nancy, we know, does a whole lot of praying.) with our new administration we need to help it forge ahead.
I'm impressed with this letter since it is so detailed and well wrought and yes, Nancy, I will send some $$$ to the DCCC. I'm hoping others do the same.
The daffodils are waving their lovely petals in the wind and so far they spring up every April even in hard times.
@PD Pepe: I think this is one of the stupidest "philosophies" of the New Testament, but it fits into your comment, so here goes: "And why are ye anxious...? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." -- Matthew 6:28 & 29
Stupid or not, it has been hard not to notice that the birds keep singing, the squirrels keep scurrying, the ducks & geese keep swimming, and the flowers keep popping up, even through the reigns of The Trump terror & the Covid-19 plague (part of which we can attribute to the Trump terror, of course).
Here's another, unrelated, thought for a Sunday that for some reason popped up in my wander mind this morning. Years ago, my husband and I were at a dinner party, and it turned out we were the only not-Jews there. At some point in the evening, the subject of religion arose, and one of the guests asked me what it was about Christianity that was so appealing. She just couldn't see it. To her, Christianity seemed to be Judaism onto which a fake messianic figure had been layered.
I thought about it a moment, and here's what I said, more or less: "Well, yes, that's true, but the messiah figure had a purpose. He became our redemption. The notion is that Jesus died for our sins, so all we have to do is have faith and confess our sins, and we are redeemed, no matter what awful things we did.
"You can see how appealing this is: you go out on Saturday night, you get drunk, you swear a lot, you punch the guy on the next barstool, you pick up a woman and you're unfaithful to your wife, etc. Hours later, it's Sunday morning, you go to church, you ask God to forgive you, and you're good to go. The ancient Jews had to make sacrifices: turtle doves and goats & shekels and so forth. But the Jesus story ended all that; Jesus was the sacrifice. Believe in him, and you'll spend eternity in some sort of blissful heaven."
And everyone at the table converted on the spot. Well, okay, that's not true, but I think I was right way back then about the essential difference between Judaism and Christianity and why so many people have flocked to Christianity. To be fair, the whole Christianity thing was a Jewish idea -- it came from pharisaic tradition -- so Christians should get over thinking they're somehow "superior" to Jews or their religion is "better." Sorry, Nazis.
@Ken Winkes: I guess that's MY Sunday sermon.
Marie,
Thanks.
Very gratifying to have an All-Star as a backup.
Surrounded by grandchildren this morning. Gratifying, too, in its own noisy way, but not a morning for politics.
Christianity ... just another mystery religion from the East, not especially successful with the Abrahamic sects living around the Jordan river valley.
BUT ... when it got sold into the civilized world from Antioch and to the West, as an "end times" fulfillment of the better-known prophecies and an update of the mystery religions, its popularity took off. Still, not really big-time until the Roman state declared it a state religion, and entangled it with political power, and from there the sky was the limit. The main Hebraic sect, Judaism, from which it sprang was reduced to the part of the scapegoat for those who could not really understand the "sacrifice" concept of Christianity. But what was appealing to the not-so-early Christians (gentiles) may be that the organization of church-state-people that grew up several hundred years AD made it more comfortable to join than to remain outside. The expectation of imminent end-times is a powerful persuader, if you believe it.
Everything was much more complicated, but if you studied just one (any interior) photo of the symbolism and ritual in the Windsor chapel where Philip's requiem was just held, (much less the interior of St Peter's Rome a few eeks ago) you can appreciate just how much power and energy was generated by organized Christianity over the past 12 or so centuries. It was hard not to associate with all that. And naturally, Jews who did not assimilate were often considered hard-headed, obstinate and froward for not doing so.
I'm no expert, just joining the discussion, but it seems to me that after all that Jews have been through in the past 150 years or so, there must be a certain pride of having survived all that and kept the faith, making it even more difficult to comprehend motives for conversion than ever before.
Interesting discussion.
I will never understand Christianity, and the fact that horrible people who are miserable human beings and societal psychopaths are A-OK as long as they confess and profess to follow/believe in Jesus. These days, Jesus is out of favor, it seems-- to heck with taking him as a role model... My stepdad was raised Christian Science and my mom was a Methodist-turned-Unitarian, and we followed the UU church when the kids were growing up. Now none of them are churched, per se. That is why I have nothing in common with southerners, or the black church followers or the Catholics, although my husband was raised Catholic. I don't think I am unusual in any of this. I don't bother to explain to anyone, but in my mind, I blame Christianity for a lot of what is happening in the world today. I don't "get it" and I never will.
@Patrick: Yes, and illiteracy surely contributed to the acceptance of Christianity, too. The religions around the Mediterranean did a lot of borrowing from each other. Gods & goddesses got different names and acquired different characteristics as they "moved" from place to place.
One of my favorite goddess stories is the story Rhea as she evolved in Rome. Rhea was known as the mother of the Greek gods & goddesses, and as she moved around, also as Cybele, Ops, and other names. Rhea was also the name of the mother of Romulus and Remus. So eventually a cult of Rhea -- a/k/a Magna Mater -- developed in Rome, and a temple was raised to worship her, although it's hard to know "which" Rhea was the object of adoration, since she had acquired attributes from a number of different cultures.
The faithful affectionately called her Ma Rhea -- "my Rhea." So there was nary a whimper from the parishioners when the temple was changed to a Christian church named for the mother of Jesus -- Santa Maria. (I can't remember if this is the Santa Maria Antiqua in the Roman forum or another church.) In any event, the faithful barely noticed they had become "Christians" because both Rhea & Mary were revered for their maternal qualities, and, um, because Ma Rhea and Maria are homonyms.
As the Church Lady would say, "How conveeeenient!" Yes, yes, it is.
I brought this up once before but worth a repeat in context: William Faulkner in "A Fable" inferred that Christianity was formalized by the Romans because its original basis was dangerous political pacifism rather than divinity. If only all the soldiers were persuaded simply to lay down their arms and refuse to rob and stab, the state would become powerless. Ergo, make the movement a religion that can be controlled and used.