The Ledes

Monday, September 30, 2024

New York Times: “Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88.”

~~~ The New York Times highlights “twelve essential Kristofferson songs.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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The Commentariat -- April 22, 2014

Internal links. graphics removed.

Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration is beginning an aggressive new effort to foster equity in criminal sentencing by considering clemency requests from as many as thousands of federal inmates serving time for drug offenses, officials said Monday. The initiative, which amounts to an unprecedented campaign to free nonviolent offenders, will begin immediately and continue over the next two years, officials said. The Justice Department said it expects to reassign dozens of lawyers to its understaffed pardons office to handle the requests from inmates." CW: Pretty terrific. ...

... Jane Hamsher comments on Jon Walker's Firedoglake story on the potential pardons: "Obama's legacy is a bit thin at the moment -- a neoliberal insurance bill that transfers millions from already burdened young people to the insurance industry, continued international interventionism, unprecedented domestic spying, exactly zero banksters prosecuted -- but if he actually frees massive numbers of people from the clutches of the prison industrial complex would qualify as a significant achievement." ...

... John Cole of Balloon Juice: "... this is great news, and long overdue, but the only reason it is happening is because of local activists on the ground who changed the [marijuana] laws in their states."

Justin Sink of the Hill: "President Obama on Monday said he has selected W. Neil Eggleston to become chief counsel, adding the expertise of a veteran attorney who was involved in some of the most heated legal battles of the Clinton administration. Eggleston, a white-collar defender who is now at Kirkland & Ellis, will replace departing White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler in mid-May." ...

... Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "In choosing a veteran of Washington's recurring oversight wars, the White House may be signaling that it expects the final two years of Mr. Obama's presidency to be defined by politically charged hearings, demands for information by Republicans in Congress and legal battles over the scope and limits of executive authority."

Timothy Cama of the Hill: "Environmental groups are marking the 44th Earth Day on Tuesday with an assault on the Keystone XL pipeline, greenhouse gas emissions and other issues related to climate change. Activists hope to use the day to press the case against Keystone, which they say would worsen climate change, while spotlighting the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) upcoming rule to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants." ...

... Darren Goode of Politico: "Horses, Daryl Hannah, sacred fires and Neil Young -- these are some of the things you're likely to see on the National Mall starting Tuesday as part of the latest protest against the Keystone XL pipeline. The 'Reject and Protect' protest is a weeklong event hosted by the Cowboy and Indian Alliance, a group of ranchers, farmers and leaders of seven Native American tribes." ...

... Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Experts say that Mr. Obama's eventual decision on the [Keystone XL] pipeline will have a marginal impact on global warming emissions, while ... dull-sounding E.P.A. rules and treaty talks will determine his environmental legacy." ...

... Peter Bell & Brian McGill of the National Journal: "In April 2010, Democrats spoke of Earth Day over 150 times, mostly in commemoration of its 40th anniversary. But no Republican has uttered the words 'Earth Day' on the House or Senate floor since 2010. The last to do so was Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, in support of expanding nuclear-power generation."

Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: Most Americans who have opted not to get health insurance cited the cost of insurance, but others said they objected to the government requirement, or to President Obama, or claimed they didn't need it. Some said it was because they had trouble signing up. ...

... Jonathan Cohn: Healthcare costs are rising. Cohn says the rate of increase is likely to taper off.

Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "The Boy Scouts of America, which voted last year to allow gay scouts but not openly gay scout leaders, has revoked the charter of a church-sponsored troop [in Seattle, Washington,] for refusing to fire its adult gay scoutmaster. The decision, which one gay rights organization said was a first since the policy change last year, essentially bars the Rainier Beach United Methodist Church and its 15 scouts from using logos, uniforms or names associated with the Boy Scouts as long as the scoutmaster and Eagle Scout Geoffrey McGrath, 49, remains in charge."

Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "A federal appeals panel in Manhattan ordered the release on Monday of key portions of a classified Justice Department memorandum that provided the legal justification for the targeted killing of a United States citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, who intelligence officials contend had joined Al Qaeda and died in a 2011 drone strike in Yemen. The unanimous three-judge panel, reversing a lower court decision, said the government had waived its right to keep the analysis secret in light of numerous public statements by administration officials and the Justice Department's release of a 'white paper' offering a detailed analysis of why targeted killings were legal."

Cecelia Kang & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments in a civil case filed against the two-year-old private firm [Aereo] by ABC, CBS, NBC and other major broadcasters alleging that Aereo is no different from cable and satellite firms that are required to pay hefty fees to rebroadcast their shows.... Aereo uses thousands of tiny antennas to capture broadcast television programs, then converts the shows into online video streams for subscribers in 11 cities.... Aereo argues that it is entitled to draw freely from programs transmitted on public airwaves. If successful, the argument has the potential to blow apart the expensive channel bundles that have been forced on American cable consumers and to radically reduce the cost of watching television." ...

... Andrew Cohen of the Atlantic analyzes the arguments in the Aereo case. Plus, "Whatever else it represents, this case is a sign that the industry can no longer control its future the way it once could. It's a sign that technology is once again pushing up against the law. And if the history of this country teaches us anything, it is that the law cannot hold back technology for long."

Paige Cunningham of Politico: "The Supreme Court will consider Tuesday whether an anti-abortion group can challenge an Ohio law that could have restricted it from publicly accusing a political candidate of voting for taxpayer-funded abortions in Obamacare. The justices aren't likely to decide whether the law chills free speech -- although Susan B. Anthony List and even the Ohio attorney general say that it does. They're instead being asked to decide whether SBA List has standing to challenge the law since the group was never prosecuted under it." ...

     ... CW: I think the lying liars have the better argument. Giving the state the right to decide which political ads are "true" and which are not gives the party that appoints the "deciders" an incalculable advantage.

David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "In a case that could strengthen truth-in-labeling laws, Supreme Court justices on Monday voiced deep skepticism about Coca-Cola's Pomegranate Blueberry juice that is 99.4% apple and grape juice, saying the name would probably fool most consumers, including themselves. The high court is hearing an appeal from Stewart and Lynda Resnick of Los Angeles, makers of a rival pomegranate juice called Pom Wonderful, who complained that the name of the Coca-Cola product, sold under the Minute Maid brand, is false and misleading."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times interviews Justice John Paul Stevens.

And let's face it, Obama, whether deservedly or not, does have a -- I'll say it crudely -- but a manhood problem in the Middle East. -- David Brooks (See video in yesterday's Commentariat)

You know who had a 'manhood' problem? George W. Bush. He acted childishly, wantonly invading Iraq without a shred of international legality, because Saddam 'tried to kill my daddy.' He even adopted the diction of a 4-year-old as he initiated the mass slaughter of several hundred thousand people and the displacement of millions. You see, the opposite of 'manly' is not, as Brooks imagines, 'cautious.' It is childish petulance.... As 9/11 should have signaled to us, there is a price to pay for recklessly inserting ourselves into quagmires in global backwaters. It isn't worth it, and Obama is a man because he knows that, whereas Brooks is an insecure little boy. -- Juan Cole

Michael Roppolo of CBS "News": "Overall, Americans show more skepticism than confidence in the scientific concept that a Big Bang created the universe 13.8 billion years ago. There was also considerable doubt about the science behind global warming and the age of the Earth..., according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll." ...

... Alexis Madrigal of the Atlantic points out that the wording of the question could have scewed the results toward dumb. Here's his lede, though: "A majority of Americans don't believe in even the most fundamental discovery of 20th century physics, which 99.9 percent of members of the National Academies of Sciences do: that our universe began with an enormous explosion, the Big Bang." ...

... CW: Isn't everything that passes for knowledge really just hypothesis or opinion? What about the .1 percent of scientists there who don't cotton to the Big Bang theory? The richest Americans -- the top one-tenth of one percent -- control almost 40 percent of the nation's wealth. So that means .1 percent of scientists has a 40% chance of being right. I'm pretty sure this brand of logic would fly on Fox "News." ...

Phyllis Schlafly's Bra. Twelve-year-old Madison Kimrey explains to Schlafly why women should have choices & not center their lives around appealing to boys & men. Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link.

Massimo Calabresi of Time: The New York Times' early reporting (2005!) on Cobalt ignition problems is trouble for GM executives who claimed they had no knowledge of the shut-off problem. One of those execs who could feel the blowback: Debbie Dingell, wife of longtime Rep. John Dingell (D-Michigan). Debbie was PR director in 2005, & she is now running for her husband's Congressional seat.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the propeller beanie." Charles Pierce anoints pajama-boy Rep. Blake Farenthold (RTP-Texas) Royal Regent of the Crazy. Sometimes titles of nobility are appropriate, even in a country where they are unconstitutional.

Be Careful What You Wish For, Ctd. Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "One month after the lightning annexation, residents of [Crimea] find themselves living not so much in a different state, Russia, as in a state of perpetual confusion. Declaring the change, they are finding, was far easier than actually carrying it out. In Crimea now, few institutions function normally. Most banks are closed. So are land registration offices. Court cases have been postponed indefinitely. Food imports are haphazard. Some foreign companies, like McDonald's, have shut down." ...

... Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "Russian forces skillfully employed 21st-century tactics that combined cyberwarfare, an energetic information campaign and the use of highly trained special operation troops in its annexation of Crimea."

Beyond the Beltway

Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "The Oklahoma Supreme Court stayed the imminent executions of two murderers late Monday, ending a Kafkaesque legal showdown in which courts argued over jurisdiction even though the prisoners had successfully challenged the legality of the state's secrecy in obtaining lethal drugs. On Monday, lawyers for Clayton Lockett, who was to be executed at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and Charles Warner, who was to be executed at 6 p.m. next Tuesday, filed the latest of several appeals to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, asking it to set aside its odd jurisdiction battle and grant a delay while there was still time."

News Ledes

AP: "In the most high-level visit of a U.S. official since crisis erupted in Ukraine, [Vice President] Biden told leaders from various political parties that he brings a message of support from President Barack Obama as they face a historic opportunity to usher in reforms." The Guardian story is here.

CNN: "The first American man to win the Boston Marathon since 1983 crossed the finish line Monday, triumphant in a storied race that has become a national symbol of resiliency and determination. Meb Keflezighi, 38, won the men's division with an official time of 2:08:37, according to the Boston Marathon's Facebook page." With video.

AP: "Although [a] 15-year-old [airplane stowaway] apparently wanted nothing more than to run away, his success in slipping past layers of security early Sunday morning made it clear that a determined person can still get into a supposedly safe area and sneak onto a plane.... In San Jose, airport officials said they were reviewing how the boy slipped through security that includes video surveillance, German shepherds and Segway-riding police officers."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (15)

Here is an interactive map illustrating poverty in America:

http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2014/01/05/poverty-map/

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Re: Dumb and dumber; "82% of people polled agree that smoking causes lung cancer. 33% of people polled do not believe that man is responsible for global warming. 54% of people polled believe in a supreme being because the world is so complex."
Dumb: 18% of people polled do not agree smoking causes lung cancer. 67% of people polled do not accept man's role in climate change.
Dumber: cigarette companies make billions selling lung cancer and 82% of people polled are aware of it. Energy companies make billions selling climate change and 33% of people polled are aware of it.
Dumbest: Fifty years from now the poll numbers will be about the same but Florida will be under about 3 feet of water and cigarettes will be twenty dollars a pack.
My scientific solution: smoke more; more smokers, more cancer, more cancer, less people. Less people, less global warming.
Exactly 100% of the people polled (representative sample of one (1) US adult) said that was the stupidest thing she had ever heard. Exactly 100% of the person polled also opinionated I should stop my survey and go to work. Turns out there is a supreme being, and she's not that complex.

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJJG

Wait...

You mean Phyllis Schlafly has a bra? She didn't burn that years ago?

(I must have my little jokes now and then...)

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Juan Cole does an exceptional job of kicking David Brooks where his balls should be.

What is it about conservatives that they are so insecure that they must constantly be thumping their chests to proclaim their manhood (the idea of Brooks chest bumping other effete, fake ivory tower wingnut "intellectuals" has all the makings of an LSD hallucination) or decrying the questionable toughness of others based on 4th grade conceptions of manhood?

This weekend I was happy to (re)view a William Wyler film from the 50's (a time of great manliness), "The Big Country", which was rather subversive for its time, considering that it was a big budget western with stars like Greg Peck, Charlton (Mr. NRA) Heston, and Jean Simmons.

The thrust of the plot (how's that for a manly expression?) involves a New England sea captain (Peck) who comes a-courtin' out west, ready to marry the daughter of a big time asshole rancher played by wonderful character actor Charles Bickford. The story concerns a feud between two groups over rights to a water source for their cattle but the biggest theme is what constitutes a true man (and by extension, a woman, it was the fifties after all) and the nature of conflict resolution (hint: guns are way down the list).

Peck is constantly picked on and called a "dude", considered a namby pamby wuss because he doesn't fit the locals' conception of what it means to be a man. He won't fight (unless it's for a good reason and on his own terms) Charlton Heston's insulting bully, and he refuses to play their dick measuring games. For this he's branded a coward. Of course, he's anything but. He's a guy who can navigate a wooden ship across hundreds of thousands of miles of open ocean and arrive at the exact spot he chooses. He doesn't have to prove himself to anyone and he knows it.

But what irks the Neanderthals in "The Big Country" is exactly what pisses off faux Big Men like David Brooks and what scared Dubya into starting a war based on lies.

Bush and Cheney had every opportunity to prove themselves when it counted and fight a war they both supported. Bush deserted and Cheney couldn't even bring himself to put on a uniform. And so, to prove what tough guys they were, years later, they sent others to die in their place.

Brooks was all for sending others to die as well.

As long as he could stay safe and comfy in his leather club chair, tapping out bullshit paeans to a jejune idea of manhood that should have been discarded by the eighth grade. Real tough guys are men like my dad who, even after suffering multiple heart attacks, dragged himself out of bed every day he was able, until the day he died, to take care of his family. I'm sure Brooks would have considered him a wuss because he didn't regularly get into brawls.

Obama doesn't feel he has to prove himself to wankers like Brooks, and start wars and blow shit up. And Brooks can't stand it. So what to do? Begin an intelligent conversation or loudly complain that the president's manhood is in question? If David Brooks and others like him, had a smidgen of real manliness, he would be ashamed for descending to "I know you are but what am I" sorts of sniveling.

My dad would just shake his head.

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@AK: I fell a little in love when I first watched Charles Bickford in "Johnny Belinda." I caught "The Big Country" a few weeks ago on PBS––got in around the middle just to see Bickford. Like you I rather liked the message of strength in men being portrayed by characters that kept their guns tucked away and used their intelligence to solve the problems. And to segue here to Brooks whose idea of strength seems lopsided at best and whose comment on a conservative symposium the other night blew me away. He was again characterizing Obama as weak––said this country needed/wanted a strong firm figure as a president––someone like–––wait for it––G.W. BUSH! I thought I heard him incorrectly, but no, he went on to explain that the public sensed a strength in Bush, thereby voting for him. WEll, I never! I said as I spit out the hand made toffee I had been sucking on.

Which made me think of Bush's mother, Babs, who once said her boy was destined for great things which then made me think of Norman Mailer, a complicated guy who tried so hard to be the great manly man of the century because, he, too, had a mother who said, "My boy's a genius," and telling one of Mailer's wives that he needed more love than other men, always feeding him the narcissistic succor for him to mainline. So maybe Brooks has/ had a mother that fed him all that milk and honey and never had someone like Akhilleus's father to model for him what manliness really means.

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Conservative pols who get to thump their chests about the large numbers of citizens they imprison and the corporations and corrections establishments who make a bundle off each prisoner will not be happy that the president is upsetting their continuing goal of throwing more people in prison, some for the slightest offenses, and keeping them there longer than any nation on earth. He's taking money out of their pockets.

The idea. They're not in the justice business. They couldn't spell "justice" with an open dictionary in front of them.

They're in the punishment for them-money for us business.

Hope this works out. The first released prisoner who runs a stop light will get wall to wall coverage on Fox. But kudos to the president, to Holder, and their people for seeking true justice.

Can't you just hear the Fox screamers already? "Obama to release murderers and rapists. AND BLACKS!" This could make the Willie Horton scheme look like an ad for Avon.

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

PD,

I just had a great, but unexpected, laugh reading your comment.

You mentioned that the Decider's mother's vision of little Georgie as a great man (as she watched him in the backyard performing a vivisection on the neighbor's cat) made you think of Norman....for half a second I thought the next word was going to be "Bates".

Ha!

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

This just in:

Racism and racial inequality are OVAH....like, forever.

Pretty cool isn't it?

Hey, at least that what the Supreme Court says. And when are they ever wrong?

So the poorest black kid from the worst neighborhood in the country has the exact same chances in life as John Roberts' kids. Pay no attention to those all white colleges. And don't even think of complaining that black people have to wait in line for seven days to vote, per the GOP. Racism is done. Finito. Per the SCOTUS.

Everyone commence the Happy Dance. Okay, it may look like the Pee-Pee Dance, but it's not, so cut that out.

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

For those who learned their math via the CW's cartooned arithmetic lesson above, more in-your-face facts to deny in today's NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/upshot/the-american-middle-class-is-no-longer-the-worlds-richest.html?

And my snotty comment:

"Some years ago Thomas Frank famously asked "What's the Matter with Kansas?"

As this article--just the latest in a long march of depressing statistics that tell us what we should already know--makes even more clear, the question should be more inclusive. What, indeed, is the matter with all of us?

Why have we bought into the myth that the unions that negotiated middle class incomes for millions are a bad thing?

Why have we supported "free trade" agreements that were really about rendering corporations "free" to move middle class American jobs offshore?

Why have we supported self-destructive tax policies that can only siphon more and more of the nation's wealth into the hands of the few?

Guess we're not all that "exceptional" any more..maybe just exceptionally stupid.

But, wait! We might be getting poorer, but who cares? We still have lotsa guns!"

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Thank you PD Pepe for the link to the takedown of Phyllis Schlafly by Madison Kimrey. I'd like to encourage readers to watch the video of Madison that is embedded within the article. Wow! What poise and what delivery from a 12 year old! Something about her reminds me of Elizabeth Warren.

I discovered in reading the comments to the article that Madison has a blog. Wow again. I'm sending the link to my three daughters, age 19-29. I'd love to see this young woman's work go viral, and stir up the young people to vote this November.

http://functionalhumanbeing.blogspot.com

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJanice

Madison Kimrey is indeed impressive and gives me hope for the future of the country. Watch her school a NC Senator.

https://www.upworthy.com/a-senator-said-voter-registration-was-confusing-watch-a-12-year-old-clear-that-up-for-him

I saw that a while ago and was blown away.

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterDaveS

Happy Earth Day!

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/04/22/us/politics/22reuters-usa-florida-sealevel.html?hp

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer

If I was having a LSD hallucination and David Brooks appeared, I would know right then I had done "too much LDS in the Sixties".

The reason the NYT still employee him is that even though he is encouraging but certainly not participating in the fighting of hunter-gather battles of masculine stereotypes from neolithic times, according to my cmd+F he is mentioned 14 times here today. Some years ago at a party, I had a guest get quite pissed off at me because I called what's-his-name, Bobby Trump. Forget or fuck up his name and sooner than later the exit door will have his name on it. Think about that Krystal or was it Kringle who was the chief of staff for Dan "the certainly un-manly" Quale, HW's VP was a one year or less wonder at the NYT. Only wonkish Weaderians et al. remember that putz.
Regarding the preppy drug ring at Haverford: many of the drug dealers at many fine high schools go on to distinguished careers in business and politics. They use the same skill sets.

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterCitizen625

If I was having a LSD hallucination and David Brooks appeared, I would know right then I had done "too much LDS in the Sixties".

The reason the NYT still employee him is that even though he is encouraging but certainly not participating in the fighting of hunter-gather battles of masculine stereotypes from neolithic times, according to my cmd+F he is mentioned 14 times here today. Some years ago at a party, I had a guest get quite pissed off at me because I called what's-his-name, Bobby Trump. Forget or fuck up his name and sooner than later the exit door will have his name on it. Think about that Krystal or was it Kringle who was the chief of staff for Dan "the certainly un-manly" Quale, HW's VP was a one year or less wonder at the NYT. Only wonkish Weaderians et al. remember that putz.
Regarding the preppy drug ring at Haverford: many of the drug dealers at many fine high schools go on to distinguished careers in business and politics. They use the same skill sets.

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterCitizen625

Dave,

Wow. If this girl ever decides to run for office, I will send her a check.

"Out of the mouths of babes" comes to mind, but it's more like an implicit understanding of the underhandedness of the GO fucking P.

First, voter registration is only (if you take them at their word) confusing for the wingnuts because they don't believe in voting. They don't believe in democracy. They have grown up with the idea that if they put their names in, they win. Automatically. Because they are "real" Americans and the GOP dirty tricks machine will see to it that they are elected, no matter what. Dirty tricks, gerrymandering, vote suppression, last minute changes of voting places (only in Democratic areas of course) will effectively negate the presence of Democratic votes.

And considering the white supremacist fantasy world in which Republicans live--given today's destruction of affirmative action--I just learned that Barbie (yeah, that Barbie) has a last name. I never knew this (did you?). But if you know her last name, you stand a chance to win some serious bar bets.

And given the fact that the Supreme Court today eviscerated the idea that race could ever possibly be an issue in the United States, (you know, with such non-racist nice guys as Rush Limbaugh), you won't be surprised to learn that the last name of Barbie, proud visage of 50's Americana, totem of of the Father Knows Best era, inveterate clothes horse, proud vestige of the era of women in second place (please don't give me any shit about Feminist Barbie), anatomically outrageous avatar of patriarchal conservatism, is.......Roberts.

And fuck me if I can come up with a decent punch line for that.

April 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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