;)
The Commentariat -- August 12, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Steve Eder of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, released a new batch of their own income tax returns on Friday, ratcheting up the pressure on her opponent, Donald J. Trump, to begin making public his own forms. The income taxes of Mrs. Clinton, along with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, showed an adjusted gross income of $10.6 million for 2015, revealing how during the campaign the Clintons have reined in their moneymaking efforts after many years of lucrative speeches, book deals and business endeavors. Mr. Kaine, the Virginia senator, and his wife, Anne Holton, reported income of $313,441 for 2015." ...
... CW: It's unlikely (tho not impossible) that the IRS is auditing Trump's 2015 returns, so he'll have to come up with another phony excuse for not releasing them. Plus, since he was running for president during 2015, he had plenty of time to make his returns "look good" by actually paying some taxes, making real charitable contributions instead of pretending to, etc. If he won't even let the public see his taxes for a year he could have cooked them, then he should just drop out & go on to overseeing Trump TeeVee. ...
... Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Years before he ran for the White House, Trump built his political brand by accusing President Obama of concealing his past.... But Trump has ensured that Americans know relatively little about him. He has refused to release many of the same documents that he demanded from Obama, including college transcripts and passport records. He has shirked the decades-old tradition of major nominees releasing their tax returns and other documentation to prove their readiness and fitness for office. And he has yet to release records showing why he received a medical deferment during the Vietnam War and whether he has actually donated the millions of dollars he claims to have given to charity.... Trump, in building a wall around his records, is setting a new standard for secrecy for modern-day candidates." -- CW
Latest Trump Threat. Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "Donald Trump on Thursday issued a threat to stop fundraising for the Republican Party after a report emerged that party officials could focus resources on down-ballot candidates." -- CW
Philip Bump of the Washington Post on Trump's repeated claims that President Obama "founded" ISIS & Trump's insistence that he really meant it, only to follow up with a tweet mocking the media -- CNN in this case -- for being too dumb to know sarcasm when they heard it: "But it wasn't [sarcasm].... Sarcasm is being ironic for the purposes of mockery. A guy trips and breaks his nose, and you say, 'Nicely done.' That's sarcasm. It is saying the opposite of what is expected, making it not a particularly sophisticated form of humor but a popular one." -- CW...
... OR, as Master of Sarcasm Andy Borowitz reports, "'People who are worried about me having the nuclear-launch codes should stop worrying, O.K.?' Trump told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. 'If I ever used nuclear weapons, it would be really obvious that I was just being sarcastic.'" -- CW
*****
Dear Do-Nothing Congress: Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The Obama administration on Thursday said it was shifting $81 million away from biomedical research and antipoverty and health care programs to pay for the development of a Zika vaccine, resorting to extraordinary measures because Congress has failed to approve new funding to combat the virus. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, told members of Congress in a letter that without the diverted funds, the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority would run out of money to confront the mosquito-borne illness by the end of the month. That would force the development of a vaccine to stop at a critical time, as locally acquired cases of Zika infection increase in Miami." -- CW
Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont led a chorus of critics after the Drug Enforcement Administration declined to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes -- the latest example of fast-changing politics in the war on drugs. 'People can argue about the pluses and minuses of marijuana, but everyone knows it's not a killer drug like heroin,' Sanders wrote in a tweet, after the DEA announced that marijuana would remain a Schedule I drug with 'no currently accepted medical use in the United States.'... In July, when delegates met to firm up the Democratic platform, pro-Sanders delegates won language in favor of de-scheduling marijuana. That plank, passed by a single vote, marked the most significant statement in favor of legal marijuana since the start of the war on drugs." -- CW
Adam Shell of USA Today: "Stocks rallied and the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all hit new closing highs Thursday, bolstered by a strong earnings report from department store Macy's, fresh data showing the labor market remains solid and a rebound in oil prices. It's the first time all three major market gauges have set new closing marks on the same day since 1999 -- specifically, New Year's Eve of that year."
Rachel Abrams & Sapna Maheshwari of the New York Times: "Macy's, the country's largest department store, said on Thursday that it would close 100 stores, saying they were more valuable as real estate properties. Walmart, the world's largest retailer, announced on Monday that it would buy a small online rival for more than $3 billion.... Other retailers have taken aggressive action, too, trying to turn their fortunes around. Billions of dollars have been poured into e-commerce efforts. Stores have turned to sharp discounting, temporarily lifting sales but hurting profits and upsetting partners.... People continue to spend. In the spring, household spending rose at an annualized rate of 4.2 percent, driving overall economic growth. But more and more, they now want bargains and convenience -- in stores and online --- and know how to find them." -- CW
Danielle Paquette of the Washington Post: As a U.S. Justice Department investigation & report revealed, Baltimore police "officers frequently dismissed or mishandled sexual assault complaints. They often neglected to interview suspects or send DNA evidence to laboratories. Between 2010 and 2014, authorities tested rape kits in just 15 percent of adult-victim sexual assault cases. The Justice Department concluded that 'gender bias' had infected investigations. 'In their interviews with women reporting sexual assault,' investigators wrote, 'BPD officers ask women questions such as "Why are you messing up that guy's life?"' Meanwhile, just 17 percent of sexual assault reports in 2015 ended with an arrest. More than half of the reports made to the department languished as open cases." -- CW: Given the department's rampant mistreatment of African-Americans, its rampant mistreatment of women scarcely comes as a surprise. ...
... Mark Holden & Ronal Serpas, in a Washington Post op-ed: "There has been a surge of assertions about rising crime recently. At the Republican convention in July, GOP nominee Donald Trump said, 'Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this administration's rollback of criminal enforcement.'... As two strong conservatives, let us set the record straight. These statements on rising murders are highly misleading. The truth is that Americans are still experiencing hard-won historic lows in crime.... While we must work to address the issues driving this unacceptable localized violence [in Baltimore, Chicago & D.C.], it is not the norm.... If we care about law and order and changing the dire conditions in cities where violent crime is a perpetuating cycle, we need to rely on facts, not fear." CW: Holden is the top Koch Industries lawyer, so it appears this is the (mild) way the Koch boys seek to undermine Trump. Perhaps they'll step it up in coming months.
Michael Riley of Bloomberg: "Weeks before the Democratic convention was upended by 20,000 leaked e-mails released through WikiLeaks, another little-known website began posting the secrets of a top NATO general, billionaire George Soros' philanthropy and a Chicago-based Clinton campaign volunteer. Security experts now say that site, DCLeaks.com ... shows the marks of the same Russian intelligence outfit that targeted the Democratic political organizations." -- CW
Presidential Race
Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "In her first full-throttled rejection of Donald J. Trump's economic agenda, Hillary Clinton sharply criticized her opponent for advancing policies that she said would lift the ultra wealthy and cast middle-class and working Americans further into financial distress. Presenting a contrast between two starkly different economic visions during a major economic speech in Detroit, Mrs. Clinton called parts of Mr. Trump's tax plan a discount to benefit his ultra-wealthy peers and relatives. Faulting Mr. Trump for promising deep tax cuts for the wealthy and a gentler approach to financial regulation, she portrayed his proposals as reflective of traditional Republican thinking that would exacerbate the gap between rich and poor." CW: Possibly, Clinton drew these contrasts because they're, you know, true, as opposed to the supply-side baloney Trump's people gave him to read. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... John Wagner & Jim Tankersley of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton on Thursday sought to undermine the central premise of Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaign -- that he would bring relief to economically beleaguered Americans -- by casting him as a fraud and claiming that his proposals would help 'only millionaires like himself.' Clinton used what was nominally described as an economic speech to press her case that Trump's proposals and actions run counter to his campaign promises to lift workers and energize the economy."
On other campaigns, we would have to scrounge for crumbs. Here, it's a fire hose. He can set himself on fire at breakfast, kill a nun at lunch and waterboard a puppy in the afternoon. And that doesn't even get us to prime time. -- Unnamed Hillary Clinton Staffer, on campaigning against Donald Trump
Trump's Campaign Strategy. Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "'I don't know that we need to get out the vote,'... [Trump said on Fox 'News' last night]. 'I think people that really want to vote, they're gonna just get up and vote for Trump. And we're going to make America great again.' The Trump campaign has yet to develop on-the-ground support in critical battleground states as election day draws nearer and Hillary Clinton's poll numbers in those states rise." CW: The theory that Trump does not want to be POTUS is looking more plausible by the day.
Tom Hamburger & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump urged evangelical Christians to rally behind him in a speech [in Orlando, Florida,] Thursday.... Trump tried to draw a direct distinction between himself and Mitt Romney..., who would have become the nation's first Mormon president. Echoing some post-2012 analysis suggesting that Romney's religion led some evangelicals to stay home, Trump said 'religion didn't get out and vote' for the former governor, 'whatever the reason.'... Trump stressed his difficulties in the country's only majority-Mormon state -- making an apparent play for support by noting that he has a 'tremendous problem' in Utah." CW Translation: I'm a real Christian & Romney isn't. ...
And lo, did the philistine come before them. And they beheld his mane of brightest gold, and were swayed. -- Gospel of Paul (Waldman) 1:4 ...
... Eric Kleefield of the New Republic figures Trump is just trying to hand the Mormon vote to Clinton. -- CW ...
... David Smith of the Guardian: "Donald Trump insinuated that Hillary Clinton lacks mental stamina at a rally where he twice couldn't tell what day of the week it was.... 'By the way, is there any place to be that's better than a Friday night in Florida at a Trump rally? No place.' A few supporters shouted, 'It's Thursday!' Later he said: 'We joke. It's Friday night and we're having fun.' More supporters yelled, 'It's Thursday!' but he appeared to assume it was more cheering. In another, perhaps more deliberate lapse, Trump claimed: 'This place is incredible. We've got 2,000 people outside trying to get in.' In fact there were still hundreds of empty places in the 8,000-seat arena in Kissimmee, near Orlando." CW: Trump isn't as distracted as Smith implies; he just hasn't finalized how the days of the week will shake out when he adds Trumpday. ...
... Marc Caputo, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump's campaign and top Republican Party officials plan what one person called a 'come to Jesus' meeting on Friday [CW: or whatever day of the week it is] in Orlando to discuss the Republican nominee's struggling campaign, according to multiple sources familiar with the scheduled sit-down. Though a campaign source dismissed it as a 'typical' gathering, others described it as a more serious meeting, with one calling it an 'emergency meeting.'" CW: Will there be fisticuffs? It's Florida, so maybe somebody will wave a gun around (see the North Carolina campaign story, linked below). Also, I thought the Orlando "come to Jesus" meeting was Thursday with those evangelicals, where Trump speculated on his chances of getting into heaven. ...
... Brian Beutler beats back the widely-held GOP assumption that Hillary Clinton would lose badly to any of the other GOP presidential candidates. (I'm assuming here they don't mean Ben Carson.) ...
... CW: Still, the biggest headache for liberals would be Trump's abdicating the nomination gracefully and soon, bringing along his base to support whatever mostly-unvetted, trickle-down, misogynist whom Republican elders decided to anoint. While Trump's doing anything magnanimously seems unlikely, it's not outside the realm of possibilities, especially if GOP leaders make him an attractive offer. I do think Trump might quit before November, & the best hope for the Republic is that he'll do it Trumpelthinskin-style.
Oh, Crap. There Goes Another Constitutional Amendment. Patricia Mazzai of the Miami Herald: "A President Donald Trump might push for Americans accused of terrorism to be tried in military tribunal at the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the Republican nominee told the Miami Herald on Thursday." ...
... CW: Mazzei writes, "Under current federal law, it’s illegal to try U.S. citizens at military commissions. Changing the law would require an act of Congress." I'm no Constitutional scholar, but as far as I can tell, Congress does not have the power to militarize civilian courts. Under the Sixth Amendment, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law...." ...
... Update. Steve M. corrects me: "... the Supreme Court has said that it would be constitutional to change the law in a way that subjects U.S. citizens to detention and tribunals, as Adam Serwer noted in 2011: 'There is no bar to this nation's holding one of its own citizens as an enemy combatant," Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said during [a] floor speech defending the detention provisions Tuesday.'... Levin was referring to 2004's Hamdi v. Rumsfeld case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that Yaser Esam Hamdi, a US national captured during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, could be held in military detention but not without habeas review.'... So a lot of D.C. politicians have walked up to that line." CW Note: U.S. forces captured Hamdi in Afghanistan, allegedly fighting on the side of the Taliban; that is, he was an actual "enemy combatant." That is qualitatively different from a U.S. citizen committing a terrorist act in, say, Chicago. The justices' opinions in Hamdi seem to support that differentiation. In any event, the plurality opinion does not give Congress the right to try U.S. civilians in military courts but rather addresses Fifth Amendment due process rights (the Court decided Hamdi had them). ...
... Josh Israel of Think Progress has more on this, which supports my contention that Donald Trump's self-described love for the Constitution apparently does not include the Sixth Amendment.
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump, reaffirming his contention that President Obama was effectively a 'founder' of the Islamic State terrorist group, said Thursday that he intended to stick by his unorthodox campaign style, even if it meant taking 'a very, very nice long vacation' after Nov. 8.... It was a rare instance in which Mr. Trump has conceded that his approach might not work.... 'You meant that he [Obama] created the vacuum, he lost the peace,' [conservative radio host Hugh] Hewitt suggested... No, I meant he's the founder of ISIS. I do,' Mr. Trump said.... 'But he's not sympathetic to them,' Mr. Hewitt replied.... 'He hates them. He's trying to kill them.' 'I don't care,' Mr. Trump replied. 'He was the founder. His, the way he got out of Iraq was that that was the founding of ISIS, O.K.?'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The story has been updated, with Nick Corasaniti added to the byline. The new lede: "Facing one of the toughest stretches of his presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump on Thursday acknowledged in unusually candid terms that he faced daunting hurdles in crucial states, as he swung wildly at Hillary Clinton to try to blunt her questions about his fitness to serve in the Oval Office." --
... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly explains the clever strategy here: "What do you do when you want to distract people from the fact that you just suggested that your political opponent could be assassinated? You call the current POTUS a terrorist, of course." -- CW ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Part of what motivates Trump to make [such] questionable statements is that he feeds off the approval of his base.... It was almost Pavlovian, watching Trump ride the wave of applause as he said, over and over, that the U.S. president had founded [ISIS].... Politicians always pander to their bases, but it rarely looks like this.... The militant group, which started referring to itself as the Islamic State three years ago, was formed in 2002 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to the Mapping Militants project at Stanford University." CW: Once again we learn that Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama had an amazing reach. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... CW: As Bump reports on the exchange with Hewitt, Hewitt asked Trump, "By using the term 'founder,' they're hitting you on this again. Mistake?" Trump replied, 'No, it's no mistake. Everyone's liking it. I think they're liking it." In other words, it doesn't bother Trump that the majority of the electorate is repelled by his lies; all that matters is the cheers from his audience of troglodytes. It's a sickness. So, congratulations, Republicans. Are you listening, Reince? ...
... Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "First, Trump completely botches the history of ISIS: The group was founded in 1999 and really grew up after the US invasion of Iraq. If any US president could be blamed for ISIS's 'founding,' it would be George W. Bush, not Barack Obama. Second, Trump is, intentionally or not, validating conspiracy theories about America's relationship with ISIS. It's a terribly irresponsible thing to say -- and illustrates one of the many reasons Trump would make an awful president.... The real sources of ISIS's recent growth were the Syrian civil war and political sectarianism in Iraq, neither of which was within the power of United States to prevent." -- CW ...
... CW: Perhaps the most telling part of the Hewitt-Trump conversation is where Hewitt tries to talk Trump off the ledge by pointing out that President Obama is hardly ISIS's BFF:
Hewitt: But he's not sympathetic to them. He hates them. He's trying to kill them.
Trump: I don't care. He was the founder. His, the way he got out of Iraq was that, that was the founding of ISIS, O.K.?
Trump's refusal to even entertain obvious facts is -- both in language & message -- stunningly childish & petulant. It's the sort of response you would expect from a troubled six-year-old having a temper tantrum. It should preclude any normal person's voting for him & cause Republican officials to finally realize & deal with the fact that their peeps have nominated a madman.
... The Schoolyard Bully's Guide to Political Campaigning. David Graham of the Atlantic: "Accusing Obama of treason, or of founding ISIS, are however neatly of a piece with Trump's baseless insistence that Obama is not American and was born abroad -- just new ways to portray him as an alien other. Ironically, Trump himself has been labeled an other, completely alien to the existing U.S. political system and its norms. It stands to reason that he'd mirror such attacks: When Trump is criticized, his go-to rhetorical turn is 'I'm rubber, you're glue,' which is why ever since Clinton labeled Trump unfit for office because of his 'temperament,' Trump has made criticizing her own temperament a centerpiece of his stump speech, using the word repeatedly." -- CW ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post annotates the full CNBC interview Trump gave yesterday. "National Republicans should be terrified, Blake writes. CW: His annotations seem both accurate & amusing. ...
... ** He Was for It (for Years) Before He Was Against It. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump has said repeatedly ... that President Obama 'founded ISIS'.... 'He was the founder of ISIS, absolutely,' Trump said on CNBC on Thursday. 'The way he removed our troops -- you shouldn't have gone in. I was against the war in Iraq. Totally against it. (Trump was not against the war as he has repeatedly claimed.) 'The way he got out of Iraq was that that was the founding of ISIS, OK?' Trump later said. But lost in Trump's immediate comments is that, for years, he pushed passionately and forcefully for the same immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. In interview after interview in the later 2000s, Trump said American forces should be removed from Iraq." Kaczynski provides multiple public statements Trump made over the years urging rapid U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. -- CW
... New York Times Editors: "When Mr. Trump fans racist rage against the president, suggests that gun owners take up arms against Mrs. Clinton, or speaks darkly of a 'rigged' election, he is not trying to woo Republican skeptics, independents or undecided voters. He is appealing to the mob.... His behavior this week raises a more disturbing scenario. Perhaps he has given up on winning through civil means and does not care about the consequences of his campaign of incitement." -- CW ...
... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: On Thursday, Trump's running mate mike pence tried to clean up Trump's comment about President Obama's being the "founder of Isis." CW: At one point during his tap dance, pence said, "Everybody in this country knows exactly what Donald Trump means, whether it be on that or other issues. He's a plainspoken man." Which makes the update below all the richer. ...
... Update. You had to know this was coming (even if mike pence didn't). Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "For the second time in less than a month, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is writing off a statement many found offensive -- this time, that President Obama was the 'founder' of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) -- as 'sarcasm.'... 'Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) 'the founder' of ISIS, & MVP. THEY DON'T GET SARCASM?' [Trump tweeted]." CW: Yup, it's definitely the media's fault for reporting Trump means what he says when Trump says something repeatedly and insists numerous times that he means what he says. In a week or two, Trump will deny he ever said President Obama was the founder of ISIS, & the media are at fault again for lying about him.
NEW. Marc Fisher & Michael Kranish have another excerpt from the book Trump Revealed in today's Washington Post, but it doesn't, ah, reveal much. -- CW ...
... NEW. AND Jason Horowitz of the New York Times has a long piece on Fred Trump & on his influence on his son Donnie. CW: Maybe the Times is dumping this stuff now in case Donnie, in the near future, goes on to more trivial pursuits.
Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "While Trump makes little sense as a mainstream candidate vying for office, his incendiary words are perfectly appropriate if his goal is to make a name for himself in the world of sensationalistic television, an avenue he very well may pursue with Trump TV after the election ends." -- CW
** A Huge Lie about Childcare. You know, it's not expensive for a company to do it. You need one person or two people, and you need some blocks, and you need some swings and some toys. It's not an expensive thing, and I do it all over. And I get great people because of it. Because it's a problem with a lot of other companies. -- Donald Trump, Iowa, November 2015 ...
... Jill Colvin & Catherine Lucey of the AP: "When Donald Trump vowed this week to make child care more accessible and affordable, it was just the second time during his White House campaign that he's talked about an issue that affects millions of working Americans with young children. The first came months ago in Iowa, when ... [Trump] touted his own record as a business owner during a candidate Q&A, telling voters he provided on-site child-care service for his employees. There is no evidence, however, that any such programs exist.... The two programs Trump cited -- 'Trump Kids' and 'Trumpeteers' -- are programs catering to patrons of Trump's hotels and golf club. They are not for Trump's employees, according to staff at Trump's hotels and clubs across the country." -- CW ...
... Emily Crockett of Vox: "It's a rather tone-deaf screw-up from Trump, who has (very) recently turned child care into a major policy proposal for his campaign. It doesn't help that the child care policy he is now proposing also helps well-off Americans substantially more than low-income families...." -- CW
James Stewart of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has paid ... perhaps even zero federal income tax in some years. Indeed, that's the expectation of numerous real estate and tax professionals I've interviewed.... That's because Mr. Trump, as a prominent and active developer, can take advantage of some of the most generous tax breaks in the federal tax code to reduce his reported income to near zero, or even report a loss.... Mr. Trump has said in the past that highly paid corporate executives 'get away with murder' on their taxes while boasting that he pays as little as the law allows.... Mr. Trump ... has not released [his tax returns]. One obvious potential reason is that he reports little or no taxable income, and thus pays very little to support the government he wants to run.... This may also explain why Mr. Trump has not disclosed many large charitable contributions, because the charitable deduction would be of scant value if he has little or no taxable income."...
... CW: Many Americans pay taxes at a higher rate than does Mitt Romney, but I wouldn't be surprised if millions of us also paid more in actual dollars than Donald Trump does.
** Paul Krugman: "... right now, when it matters, [Republican party leaders like Paul Ryan,] have decided that lower tax rates on the rich are sufficient payment for betraying American ideals and putting the republic as we know it in danger." Read the whole column. -- CW ...
... Danielle Allen of the Washington Post: "With every morally reprehensible, politically dangerous and socially damaging attack [Donald] Trump makes on decency, constitutionalism and individual people, [Paul] Ryan produces yet another talk bubble of coddling enablement. Ryan is about to write himself into history as one of those who were asleep at the switch at a pivotal moment of American political decline." -- CW
Anna Palmer of Politico: "More than 70 Republicans have signed an open letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus urging him to stop spending any money to help Donald Trump win in November and shift those contributions to Senate and House races.... Former Sen. Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire and former Reps. Chris Shays of Connecticut, Tom Coleman of Missouri and Vin Weber of Minnesota are among the Republicans lending their name to the letter. Close to 20 of the co-signers are former RNC staffers...." -- CW
Sean Sullivan & Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post: "A former staffer for Donald Trump's campaign alleged in a lawsuit this week that a top [Trump] aide in North Carolina pulled out a gun while the pair traveled together in February and held the loaded firearm to the staffer's kneecap.... [The plaintiff, Vincent] Bordini, reported the incident to other Trump staffers, the lawsuit claims, but [Earl] Phillip[, Trump's North Carolina state director, who allegedly threatened Bordini with a loaded gun,] wasn't fired or suspended." CW: As should be obvious by now, not all of the nut jobs Trump attracts are the ones who show up at public rallies.
Beyond the Beltway
Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "On Wednesday, a three-judge panel struck down the [Republican-drawn North Carolina] state legislative maps as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.... The loss of these maps is still a blow to Republicans. In 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won North Carolina's electoral votes by only a two-point margin over President Obama. Yet the state legislative maps proved so favorable to Republicans that the GOP captured a supermajority of both houses of the state legislature.... By packing African-Americans into relatively few districts, the state minimized black voters' ability to influence elections in other parts of the state, and prevented them from forming coalitions with non-black voters...." -- CW
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Reader Comments (20)
@pat wrote Thursday evening:
"'"Incorrigible is really the word for him. He acts like a child and no one outside of conservative media holds him to account. These people are forfeiting their lives for you… This guy is just acting like a petulant child...My experience with his staff is they are just amateur hour...they are completely incapable of acting like adults. It’s infuriating.'"
"Really, REALLY?? You are linking to an ex-secret service guy who is calling the President of the United States a petulant CHILD?
"What, he couldn't bring himself to say 'uppity???'
"I just lost a great deal of respect for you and for Marie."
As far as I can tell, this is a fairly dimwitted comment, though pat is welcome to correct me. In the quotation, Akhilleus is citing a former Secret Service agent who spoke ill of the president, as an example of Secret Service agents who speak ill of the president.
I don't have a dog in this hunt, so I'm not sure why I'm implicated, but I don't know why Akhilleus is, either.
As for pat's losing "a great deal of respect" for us, I feel pretty safe in saying that both Akhilleus & I are doing all right in the self-respect department, so we don't need the approval of strangers.
But, holy cow, think before you write, especially before you cast aspersions on another commenter. (Me, you can diss; I don't care, & if I find your comment offensive enough, I'll just ax it, though I can't recall that I've ever deleted a comment for knocking just me, unless it's really repetitive. There is a limit to the number of times I think it's useful to call me names.)
Making it personal, as you did, is not appropriate. The only reason I let your comment stand was that Akhilleus made his remark in the body of the Commentariat, giving it somewhat more weight than if he had written it in the Comments section. As you might notice, I disagreed with Akhilleus, too, but I disagreed with his opinion, not his character. If you can't see the difference, consult a professional or a trusted counselor.
At any rate, if you don't understand the purpose of an illustration, to the point that you turn the point of the illustration around 180 degrees, you just come off seeming like a dope, as pat does here, though again, maybe I'm wrong. It happens.
If I'm right, pat, you'll want to apologize to Akhilleus for completely misconstruing his point.
Marie
Update: In a subsequent comment, pat confuses one Secret Service agent with another. The agent to whom she refers was Dan Bongino, who had direct responsibility for the protection of both Presidents Bush II & Obama (& perhaps Clinton; I'm not sure on that). Another Secret Service agent who wrote a book dissing the Clintons but reportedly never got close to them is Gary Byrne. Just because you "vaguely remember" something, I can tell you from personal experience, doesn't make it true. Especially if you're going to criticize another writer here, do it with facts, not vague, inaccurate remembrances.
Stocks rallied and the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all hit new closing highs Thursday, bolstered by a strong earnings report from department store Macy's, "
On the same day that Macy's announced the closure of 100 stores.
What is wrong with this picture?
@Schlemazel: Macy's not only had a better-than-expected 2nd quarter, investors saw its closing its less-profitable stores as a positive.
Marie
@Schlemazel: Retail's been a-changing! There's a Macy's about ten miles from me, last time I was in the mall and in that actual store there...was mebbe 15 months ago. Meantime, I have continued to shop Macy's (they are great with FREE shipping & delivery) ONLINE. (Just as CW stated in her blogpost). Brick-and-mortar isn't making it.
Please don't accuse the poor mentally ill Mr. Trump of lying. He has no clue what the truth is. Whatever he dreams at the moment freely comes out of his mouth as fact. And as said yesterday, his only focus is to get cheers from a crowd. Any crowd would do. So he found the right crowd at the beginning of his campaign for POTUS candidate and now all positions are designed for one purpose, a cheer from that crowd.
Dear Dopes,
I wuz onwy kiddiinj wehn I sed Obamba made up ISUL.
R U stuphid? It's caled sar....something...czm. Or sumpthin. Rite, Paulie? Thats paulie manfrt. He's my pal.
it wuz a jok.
ok? stuphids?
sined,
Donnie Trump
5 yers old.
Every day there is something even more unbelievable about this guy.
And if you go to the CNN link in the previous comment, you'll read this incredible statement from Gingrich who says, essentially, that Trump was right anyway, he just doesn't know how to use words kerrectly yet. That must come in first grade:
"Gingrich said if Trump had said Obama and Clinton's policies had created the opening for ISIS, he'd be defensible. 'When you instead compress them into 'Obama created ISIS,' I know what Trump has in his mind, but that's not what people hear,' Gingrich said. 'He has got to learn to use language that has been thought through and that is clear to everybody, and to stick to that language.'"
First, as usual, Master of History Gingrich is 100% wrong on the plain facts. The Decider and his monkey man sidekick created the the opening for ISIS. Second, how is it that a presidential candidate needs tutoring, from a weasel who uses language as a club to beat on people and to twist truth into a burnt pretzel, in how to form a correct sentence?
We can leave aside the appallingly dense part of this story, that a ridiculous, lying statement made by Donaldo, a claim easily disproved and one on which he doubled down within 24 hours, he now tries to poo-pooh as "sarcasm".
Yeah, Donnie, we know what sarcasm means. Do you know what "imbecile" means? Probably not on the first grade word list.
But, as with many 5 year olds (not all, plenty are quite a bit smarter than Trump), he believes he can just say what he wants and it will be all better.
"Hey, assholes, c'mon. I was just kidding" is not what you want as the motto of your campaign for the White House.
Unless you're 5. And stupid. Oh, and a douchebag.
My daughter posted a photo on Facebook showing Susan B. Anthony being beaten and arrested for trying to vote - in 1872. The post asks 'was this when America was great?'
A perfect example of the core problem- CHANGE. Sex, skin color, religion, anything that is different than you. The problem is change makes you think you are losing control. I doubt it is genetic. It is how you were brought up. Your friends, neighbors, family are all like you.
I might have already posted this variation on Johnson's famous definition of "patriotism" being the last refuge of a scoundrel, but came to see as I dealt with teen bullies spouting hurtful, sometime downright racist comments, if patriotism is the last, "I was just kidding" is often the first.
A certain sign of moral midgetry, even in a teen. But in an adult running for President, encouraged to top yesterday's outrage by a horde of adoring idiots, just another element in this silly election season that passeth understanding.
On other matters. Zika. The only way to really control the spread is a vaccine. The idea that this is of no interest to Republicans creates a new meaning of immoral.
Marijuana. On the list of absurd is the idea that we can't do serious research on the potential medical use. Finally it seems to be coming.
This issue reminds me of an event in Portland OR that I wandered through last summer. A POT festival. Speakers talking about their frustration with lack of medical use. I thought I had a solution. If a major drug company would start selling medical pot, it would only take a month for Congress to approve a law for medical pot. The reason for the month is that is how long it would take the drug company to pay the bribes.
Marvin,
Regarding the unconscionable foot dragging by Republicans in approving the president's request for funds to address a serious public health issue before it becomes epidemic (see Puerto Rico), as with any other topic that connects Obama and Confederates, they would rather stick needles in their eyes (calling Dr. Paul) than do anything, sign anything, or approve anything they believe could redound to the president's credit. No way they're gonna let some Kenyan, Muslim nee-groe look like he did something good for the American public.
And the faux concern over so-called budgetary responsibility is rich coming as it does from the most shiftless, shifty, and untrustworthy congress in living memory. They'd approve that budget right quick if it were some pork barrel defense project for their home states or a new weapon for the Pentagon.
That's the Confederate way. Plenty of money for death. As little as possible for life. So much for the pro-life thing. Another scam.
Invertebrates Weekly!: featuring Mitch McConnell!
If it isn't clear by now to everyone who loves democracy that Mitch McConnell cares only for his own ass, above country, above morality, above ethics, above decency, and above the fate of the planet, his continued supine submission to electoral expedience in supporting the candidacy of a monster should work wonders.
The other day, the Turtle Man tried hard as he could to pull that scaly head back into his shell, put his hands over his turtle ears and sing "la-la-la-la-la, I can't hear anything!" During an appearance before the Middletown, KY Chamber of Commerce, McConnell, after being asked about his choice for president's call to have the Democratic candidate assassinated, McConnell laughed (really, he did), declined to answer (not a word on Trump's suggested policy of using murder as a political tool) and simpered that all he really wanted was to have a "Trump free day". In other words, he was desperately hoping he wouldn't have to comment on one of the most scurrilous statements ever made by an American presidential candidate, his guy.
This is reprehensible on so many levels it's just stunning. Here is the Senate Majority Leader on one hand, avoiding in the most cowardly fashion possible, answering direct questions from constituents, not a pack of DC reporters, mind you, but people who fucking voted for him. He ran and hid. Why? We all know why: Trump. That's why. But nothing, not even the murder of a nun or the waterboarding of puppies by his guy (see link above if that reference is just too weird) will make him change his mind about voting for this prick. "Voting for Trump is easy for me" he whimpered, head barely visible from inside his shell.
Then another constituent castigated the Turtle for not offering enough support for Trump. What did he do? He tried to turn it back on this constituent, a fully fledged supporter of Donaldo, by whining that she doesn't have to answer questions about Trump when he gives out with the crazy, but he (poor, poor, pitiful Mitchy) does.
Boo fucking hoo.
So let's look at that. He says he supports Trump, but is too craven to answer desperately serious questions about his fitness, and yet is too panic-stricken to cheerlead for the guy. What does this say about McConnell? Lots. And none of it good. A big reason he's on the cover of this issue of "Invertebrates Weekly!"
And the kicker? What is uppermost in the lizard brain of Mitch McConnell? The fate of the country in the hands of an ignorant, narcissistic dilettante? The damage to democracy itself and the American Experiment? The danger of letting a 70 year old infant get his stubby fingers on the nuclear codes?
No.
"I may or may not be calling the shots next year" he moaned. A reference to his own sorry future if Republicans don't maintain control of the senate.
Mitch McConnell: A tower of Jello
And people wonder how we could ever have gotten to the place where a mentally ill maniac could be on the verge of becoming president.
Clintons made $10.6 million in 2015, paid federal rate of 34% Hillary Clinton released her 2015 tax return in a move that appeared aimed at pressuring Donald Trump to do the same. (http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/12/clinton-releases-latest-tax-returns-paid-rate-of-43.html )
If only Trump's tax returns came out, wouldn't it be funny (hahaha-NOT) to compare Clinton earnings and the tax rate
paid by Honest Hillary to Devious Donald's.
Yeh! a little sarcasm here!
Here is my dream. The Clinton's made $10.6 million and Trump made $1.6 million.
@Marvin. I know! would be the icing on the cake.
I know global warming is just a fake, but tomorrow at noon it is going to feel like 107degrees. Not in the Sahara but in NYC.
I have been going to the City every Saturday except when it rains or snows for years. Now, for the last few weeks and who knows in the future I frequently need a new plan.
Kurt Eichenwald, in an open letter to Paul Ryan, tries to coax the Lyin' One into condemning the monster he now supports for president. He couches it as a moment in which Ryan can prove his character, but Eichenwald misses the point. Ryan IS proving his character. He's a fraudulent, self-serving weasel, a pretentious Serious Person who is about as lightweight as they come on the intellectual scale.
But the real reason to read this piece is for the personal anecdotes of Trump's life as Business Genius back in the 80's when Eichenwald first met him, anecdotes that would be a lot funnier if they weren't so scary.
My favorite is the one about a declaration, back in 1990, by one of Trump's senior executives, that he was mentally ill.
Normally I'd take an anonymous claim like this with a large grain of salt, but there are so many other corroborating statements and incidents going back years that it's entirely possible that this guy has been off his rocker for decades.
A mentally ill person supported without qualification or question by Paul Fucking Ryan. Leader.
Marie, your observation that Trump's response ion the Hewitt interview is one "...you would expect from a troubled six-year-old having a temper tantrum." is so apt.
I keep going back to the story about an 8-year old Trump who hit his music teacher because he didn't think he knew anything about music. Eight years old. Physically assaulted a teacher. Thought he knew more than the teacher (sound familiar?).
He has not matured past that point. Look at any story from his childhood and it will explain the adult Donald Trump.
Maybe the news outlets should hire 8-year olds to cover Trump. I'm sure they would treat him appropriately.
@Marvin,
They do sell medical "pot" in the form of Marinol, which uses the active natural substance in marijuana. When my mother was taking it for nausea during her chemotherapy treatments, she told me that if she didn't have insurance the prescription would cost $800. I told her that I was sure I could find her a joint from a pot dealer for a lot less.
I sincerely hope that Trump dials back just a bit of the out-of-control ignorant and vicious blurts until its way too late for a replacement. The GOP mega bucks posse won't hesitate to throw all the money they can at a new, superficially less obvious mental and moral reject.
On another note. In counseling, going with the resistance, can be an effective tool. Malignant narcissism is unlikely to improve with treatment. However, I'm not concerned with Trump's mental health improving. When he follows blatant lies with "it was a joke" or "it was sarcasm", a lot of energy is wasted on trying to prove the lies and his glaring ignorance. Narcissistic personality disorders neither acknowledge nor believe they are ever wrong. If we accept that he's joking or being sarcastic about the serious accusations and statements he's made, how is that "sense of humor" going to benefit the US on a domestic or global stage or demonstrate fitness for the presidency. Clearly, if he's being "misinterpreted", this would have serious implications in a crisis or in sensitive diplomatic situations. Understanding and respect for other cultures, including the nuance of language, is the basis of diplomacy. Basically, whether the blurts are outright lies (which we know they are) or he was "joking", he's shown himself dangerously unfit and he is an untenable corner of his own making. Narcissists can be sometimes be neutralized with paradox.