;)
The Commentariat -- August 13, 2015
Internal links removed.
Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that he had been given a diagnosis of cancer. 'Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that is now in other parts of my body,' Mr. Carter, 90, said in a statement. 'I will be rearranging my schedule as necessary so I can undergo treatment by physicians at Emory Healthcare. A more complete public statement will be made when facts are known, possibly next week.'"
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... new genetic tests confirm for the first time that [Nan] Britton's daughter, Elizabeth Ann Blaesing, was indeed [President Warren] Harding's biological child. The tests have solved one of the enduring mysteries of presidential history and offer new insights into the secret life of America's 29th president.... The Nan Britton affair was the sensation of its age, a product of the jazz-playing, gin-soaked Roaring Twenties and a pivotal moment in the evolution of the modern White House.... Never before had a self-proclaimed presidential mistress gone public with a popular tell-all book."
** Charles Blow: "Police abuse is a form of terror.... The black community's response to this form of domestic terror has not been so different from America's reaction to foreign terror." ...
... ** In a moving essay published in the Washington Post, Malcolm Graham writes that the murder of his sister Cynthia Graham Hurd in the Emanuel AME church massacre should be memorialized with more than the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse. "That might mean opposing restrictive laws that prevent minorities in America from voting or pushing states to expand Medicaid and embrace the Affordable Care Act or fighting bias in the courts, which place too many African Americans behind bars for long sentences for minor offenses or before their cases have been heard." Graham is not optimistic. ...
... Contributor safari, via Scott Kaufman of Salon, brings to our attention this video lecture by Ty Seidule, head of the department of history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, who demonstrates that slavery was the central cause of Southern states' secession & the ensuing Civil War:"
... See also safari's critique at the top of today's thread.
Jonathan Chait: "Black Lives Matter has had enormous success in driving police reform and raising awareness of racism, and has, on the whole, changed the country for the better. Liberals believe that social justice can be advanced without giving up democratic rights and norms. The ends of social justice do not justify any and all means. When we're debating which candidates are progressive enough to be allowed to deliver public speeches, something has gone terribly wrong."
Stephanie Armour of the Wall Street Journal: "The Obama administration has notified two states that took steps to halt Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood Federation of America that they may be in conflict with federal law. The law requires that Medicaid beneficiaries may obtain services, including family planning, from any qualified provider.... Three states said last week they will block hundreds of thousands of dollars from Planned Parenthood: Alabama and Louisiana moved to block funds under Medicaid, the state-federal health program for the poor, while New Hampshire's Executive Council is blocking state funding, so its move isn't subject to federal oversight. Planned Parenthood currently doesn't perform abortions in Louisiana but does in the two other states." Firewalled, so Google the story.
No, Mitt, et al., ObummerCare Is Not a Jobs-Killer. Max Ehrenfreund of the Washington Post: "President Obama's health-care reform hasn't meant less time on the job for American workers, according to three newly published studies that challenge one of the main arguments raised by critics of the Affordable Care Act. One provision of the law ... requires businesses with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance to those working at least 30 hours a week. That mandate took effect this year. Republicans, and some Democrats, worried that employers would look for ways to get around the mandate.... So far, though, researchers say employers have not changed how they hire and schedule their worker in response to the law." CW: I thought if you cried wolf three times, no one would ever listen to you again. The fable is way too optimistic.
Frank Rich on Chuck Schumer's "no" vote on the Iran deal: "... Schumer, for all his ostentatious deliberation, garbled the actual terms of the deal when announcing his opposition to it.... The whole exercise has been both disingenuous and cynical. But I can't find a single person who expected anything else from Schumer.... You can bet he would have come out for the deal in a second if he had calculated that voting "no" threatened his own political ambitions." Also, a good mini-essay on Donald & the Disappointments.
Kevin Drum: The Washington Post editors want President Obama to be nicer to people who compare him to Neville Chamberlain. "The Washington Post is unhappy with the 'certitude' with which President Obama is defending the Iran nuclear deal. Normally, the Post would prefer more certitude in Obama's foreign policy, but whatever.... [But, given Republicans' unanimous & unreasoned opposition to the international Iran deal,] Obama's best hope is to appeal at least partly to partisanship in order to keep enough Democrats in line to get the deal approved."
Slaves of New York. Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: "New York City’s slave market was second in size only to Charleston's. Even after the Revolution, New York was the most significant slaveholding state north of the Mason-Dixon line. In 1790, nearly 40 percent of households in the area immediately around New York City owned slaves -- a greater percentage than in any Southern state as a whole, according to one study." Joseph McGill, founder of of the Slave Dwelling Project, is bringing attention to this history. "Slavery in Southampton, the oldest English settlement in New York, dates almost to its founding in the 1640s.... Census records show that by 1686, roughly 10 percent of the village's nearly 800 inhabitants were slaves, many of whom helped work the rich agricultural land." ...
... CW: It has never before occurred to me that my early American ancestors, who lived in Massachusetts & other parts of New England, were slaveholders. Almost certainly, some were.
Timothy Cama of the Hill: "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning both an internal and outside investigation into how agency contractors caused a spill of 3 million gallons of mine waste in Colorado."
Presidential Race -- Big Dick Edition*
* As in Trump, Schindler, Weiner.
Panic! Niall Stanage & Kevin Cirilli of the Hill: "Democrats are worried that the furor over Hillary Clinton's private email server will be prolonged and intensified after her sudden move to hand it to the FBI. The [move] ... left Democrats scratching their heads as to why the former secretary of State had resisted turning over the server for months. Coupled with new polls that suggest Clinton is vulnerable, Democrats are nearing full-on panic mode.... The pattern seen in the email controversy -- months of stonewalling followed by an eventual concession -- has stoked worries about her flaws as a candidate. The slew of unimpressive poll numbers is exacerbating the situation. Some have shown slippage against her main left-wing rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Others have indicated her losing swing states against possible Republican opponents. Still others have revealed continuing weakness in her ratings on trustworthiness and favorability." CW: This is the Hill's top story this morning. ...
... Tom Hamburger & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The e-mail server used by Hillary Rodham Clinton when she served as secretary of state was turned over to the FBI late Wednesday afternoon from a private data center in New Jersey, according to an attorney familiar with the transfer.... The FBI's request for information about Clinton’s e-mail system followed a referral from the intelligence community's inspector general to the Justice Department in July.... In addition to obtaining the old server, the FBI recently obtained a thumb drive in the possession of Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, that contained copies of work e-mails kept on the server.... On Wednesday, [Clinton's] campaign worked to reassure donors and supporters.... In a blast e-mail, the campaign's communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, said 'this kind of nonsense comes with the territory of running for president.'" ...
Greg Gordon, et al., of McClatchy News: Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), "... the chairman of the Senate's homeland security committee, has asked a small, 13-year-old Denver technology company that managed tens of thousands of emails for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to describe what measures it took to safeguard national security information." CW: Has absolutely nothing to do with presidential race or with Johnson's Senate race, where early polls showed him trailing former senator & Democratic challenger Russ Feingold. ...
... Rachel Bade of Politico: "Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's most trusted confidante, is increasingly becoming a central figure in the email scandal that's haunting her boss on the campaign trail.... The Senate Judiciary Committee claims to have a well-informed but unnamed tipster who says Abedin is or has been investigated for criminal misconduct by the State Department inspector general...." CW: At least Bade admits her sourcing is irresponsible partisan gossip. But, hey, let's put it out there anyway. Clinton Rule: Where there's smoke.... Also, since it's Big Dick Day, let us not forget Mr. Huma Abedin. ...
... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Hillary Clinton's campaign went into damage-control mode -- again as the latest twist in the long-running saga over her private email use while serving as secretary of state opened up the Democratic front-runner to attacks on what GOP rivals called 'criminal' behavior.... 'Did she commit a crime? Yes. Will they prosecute it? Perhaps no,' Donald Trump said in an interview Tuesday night.... Neither Bernie Sanders nor Martin O'Malley -- who frequently draw contrasts with Clinton -- came near criticizing her email use...." ...
... CW: When I read the Politico story yesterday, I thought I should check around to see if Clinton was really in trouble. Wow, yes! writes John Schindler of the Daily Beast: "The Spy Satellite Secrets in Hillary's Emails. These weren't just ordinary secrets found in Clinton's private server, but some of the most classified material the U.S. government has.... People found to have willfully mishandled such highly classified information often face severe punishment. Termination of employment, hefty fines, even imprisonment can result.... Claims that they 'didn't know' such information was highly classified do not hold water and are irrelevant. It strains belief that anybody with clearances didn't recognize that NSA information." ...
... So who is John Schindler, whom the Daily Beast IDs as "a security consultant and a former National Security Agency counterintelligence officer."? J. K. Trotter of Gawker (July 2014): "Remember John Schindler, the conservative talking head, retired NSA spook, and Naval War College professor who briefly went incognito after screenshots of (what appear to be) his penis leaked onto the Internet? While he has since reappeared to Twitter -- where he first drew attention for defending domestic spying and criticizing Edward Snowden -- he has refused to comment on the mysterious emails, sent to the Naval War College by an unnamed blogger, that prompted the school to place him on leave, and his penis under official investigation." Critical of Ed Snowden? Sort of. "From nearly the outset I've stated that Snowden is very likely an agent of Russian intelligence...." A pompous blowhard? Yeah.
Gabriel Debenedetti: "In a bid to climb his way into the thick of the presidential race, Democrat Martin O'Malley will launch a three-week, more than 15-stop tour of Iowa on Friday to promote a set of new policy proposals...."
Eliza Collins of Politico: "Donald Trump has seized a commanding lead in Iowa, drawing nearly double the support of his closest competitor, in a new poll by CNN and ORC.... The poll, which was conducted after last Thursday's debate..., showed Trump leading the Republican field with 22 percent among Iowa caucus-goers. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson came in second with 14 percent, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who until recently was leading polls in Iowa, came in at 9 percent." CW: Bear in mind that the Iowa caucuses are 5-1/2 months away & that caucuses can be highly volatile, with individual caucus-goers changing their votes as the meetings proceed. In fact, only 15 percent of those polled indicated they had "definitely decided" on a candidate. As Nate Silver often notes, early poll numbers are not particularly predictive of the eventual winner. "Our emphatic prediction is simply that Trump will not win the nomination. It's not even clear that he's trying to do so." In the linked post (Aug. 11), Silver explains his reasoning. ...
... Steve M. comments on the poll results. There's a gender divide. Also, too, Iowa Republicans seem to like the non-pols better than the professional politicians. CW: I would note, tho, that if you add up the results for all of the pols, they top those of Trump & Carson, with 60% for pols & 36% for non-pols. ...
... Paul Waldman explains why insurgent candidates like Bernie Sanders & Donald Trump seldom win the nomination. "... the one insurgent candidate in the last few decades who actually won his party's nomination: Barack Obama. In 2008 he was new and different and exciting, but he also played an extraordinarily skilled inside game, garnering the support of colleagues in the Senate, key African-American members of the House, and party activists all over the country. And it turned out that Obama and the people who worked for him outperformed Hillary Clinton's campaign at all the things one normally expects the insider candidate to excel at...."
When Whiney Boys Collide. Jose DelReal & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: Rand Paul & Donald Trump hurl insults at each other. "Trump's initial response came several hours after Rand Paul's presidential campaign released an aggressive attack video Wednesday questioning Trump's conservative bona fides.... The Paul campaign said the ad would run in New Hampshire and Iowa through the weekend." Here's the ad, which was released online yesterday:
... Colin Campbell of Business Insider: "Asked about the ad during CNN interview later in the day, Trump defended his record.... Trump dismissed Paul's other attacks as 'old stuff' and then trashed his opponent. 'You look at a guy like Rand Paul: He's failing in the polls, he's weak on the military -- he's pathetic on military,' he said.... 'I actually think he's a far better doctor than he is a senator.' He also pointed to last week's indictment against pro-Paul political operatives working for a super PAC supporting his campaign. The indictment was related to their 2012 work on the campaign of Paul's father, Ron. 'Rand's campaign is failing. Hasn't his whole team been indicted?' Trump asked. "So he's a mess -- there's no question about it.'" ...
... Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said Wednesday that he disagrees with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's idea that the United States should go into Iraq and seize oil being used to fund the Islamic State militant group, saying that there are limits on what military power can do. Odierno's comments came in a wide-ranging briefing with reporters at the Pentagon as he prepares to retire as the Army's top officer after 39 years of service." ...
... The Howard Stern Primary. In light of Donald Trump's criticism of Megyn Kelly's appearance on Howard Stern's radio show some while back, Chris Moody of CNN reviewed some of Trump's conversations with the shock jock. Trump "field[ed] questions about everything from the size of his genitalia to premature ejaculation, sleeping with another man's girlfriend and his wife's bathroom habits. He's also criticized several women for their body shape, described the time he watched a celebrity sex tape, fondly recalled days before the rise in sexually transmitted diseases made condoms necessary and once compared a shrinking economy to a woman's contractions in pregnancy.... A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on this story."
Everything was going great in Iraq and victory had been achieved, until Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton threw it all away. Nothing is the fault of Republicans, or of the people who supported and launched the Iraq war, the single worst foreign policy decision in American history. George W. Bush made no mistakes that might have any lessons for us, and the answer to every foreign policy challenge is to be more bellicose and more eager to use military force. -- Paul Waldman, summarizing Jeb!'s big foreign-policy speech
... ** Fred Kaplan of Slate: Jeb Bush's "40-minute [foreign-policy] speech, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, was a hodgepodge of revisionist history, shallow analysis, and vague prescriptions." CW: Jeb!'s understanding of Syria is just as profound as his brother's grasp of Iraqi politics, so naturally he proposes -- if vaguely -- to invade Syria with tens of thousands of U.S. troops -- & who knows? -- throw cash out of helicopters. Whatever. Anyway, he's planning another "successful" surge in Syria and/or Iraq or someplace around there! I'd suggest he go back to the drawing board, but I wouldn't trust him around a pencil sharpener. What a doofus. ...
... Would-Be Bush III Would Be Bush III. Steve Benen: "His brother caused an international catastrophe, and the former governor is outraged by the way in which the Obama administration cleaned up his brother's mess. That's the Jeb Bush message in 2016 in a nutshell. According to the GOP candidate -- or at least the Bush/Cheney advisers who wrote the speech for Jeb's teleprompter -- the war in Iraq just wasn't long enough.... Gone are the days in which the Florida Republican declares himself his 'own man,' driven by his 'own ideas.'... Jeb Bush has, for reasons that deny reason, embraced his brother's foreign policy as his own."
Mary Spicuzza, et al., of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Gov. Scott Walker approved $250 million in public money for a Milwaukee Bucks arena Wednesday, paving the way for a Common Council vote on the proposal next month.... The bipartisan legislation commits taxpayers to paying half the cost of the $500 million arena over the next 20 years in exchange for the team remaining in Wisconsin's largest city. The governor ... made no changes to the bill with his powerful veto pen." ...
... Paul Waldman: "That $250 million that taxpayers will be spending for the benefit of a single private enterprise just happens to be the same amount that Walker succeeded in cutting from the state's university system this year.... One of the Bucks owners, Jon Hammes, is a national finance co-chairman of Walker's campaign and has given $150,000 to a Walker super PAC.... One might have expected more from a politician who is basing his presidential campaign on his eagerness to 'fight.'... But it turns out that he's only interested in fighting people like union members. Extortionist plutocrats, not so much.... Walker's justification -- that ponying up for the stadium will be worth it because of the economic impact -- has been disproven by just about every analysis of stadium financing.... It's another reminder that the principles of small government and fiscal responsibility that conservative politicians like Walker pledge their fealty to are highly contingent on who's benefiting and who's being hurt."
Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Asked how he may appeal to Republicans who ... are uneasy about his support for a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants, support for the Common Core education standards and his expansion of Medicaid in Ohio with money from the Affordable Care Act, [Ohio Gov. John Kasich] defended himself on each issue. And then he uncorked an impassioned argument about his party's need to redefine conservatism,' [in a brief meeting with reporters in Derry, New Hampshire]. In an echo of the religious-based defense he has made of his Medicaid expansion, an argument that irritates many small-government conservatives, Mr. Kasich said, 'I think conservatism is about giving everybody a chance, demanding personal responsibility, but allowing people to pursue their God-given purpose.'"
Beyond the Beltway
John Mura & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A county clerk [in Morehead, Kentucky,] is apparently defying a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Two same-sex couples seeking licenses left the Rowan County courthouse empty-handed Thursday morning.The Rowan County clerk, Kim Davis, who says her Christian faith bars her from authorizing same-sex marriages, has refused to issue any licenses, either to same-sex or heterosexual couples...."
Way Beyond
Carolina Hawley of BBC News: "Swedish prosecutors will drop their investigation into sexual assault allegations against Julian Assange on Thursday because of the statutes of limitation, the BBC has learned. The Wikileaks founder still faces the more serious allegation of rape. But prosecutors have run out of time to investigate Mr Assange for sexual assault because they have not succeeded in questioning him. He denies all allegations and has said they are part of a smear campaign."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "A new forecast from NOAA says this El Niño is 'significant and strengthening,' with the potential to become very strong -- even rivaling the strongest on record. This is the strongest forecast NOAA has issued so far this year." ...
... The Los Angeles Times story is here. The New York Times story is here.
Washington Post: "A warehouse in the Chinese port city of Tianjin erupted in a series of explosions late Wednesday, killing 44 people and spewing massive fireballs and billowing clouds of smoke into the night sky. The blasts, which were powerful enough to register on earthquake monitoring scales, came from a warehouse storing 'dangerous and chemical goods' that had caught on fire, state media reported."
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Reader Comments (15)
I'd be interested in getting some of your historical insights regarding this video on whether slavery was the central cause of the Civil War given by the head of the history department of Westpoint in uniform!
http://www.salon.com/2015/08/11/was_the_civil_war_fought_over_slavery_heres_the_video_to_show_idiots_who_think_the_answer_is_no/
He seems to gloss over the Lincoln part, referencing his ambiguities but overall making him out to be much more "enlightened" than politically adept in my mind. Also, the video seems to absolve the North's racism and extreme inequalities in treatment, even if the African-Americans were technically free.
One thing that is not disputable is how many Southern Pride patriots are going to have their heads explode over such an 'offensive' and 'revisionist' history given by an Obummer lackey in a rented U.S. Army suit, because no Real Soldier would have punched them in the groin that hard with the Truth.
Finally, props to the speaker, as he does include quite a few zingers that IMHO weren't entirely necessary to get the ideas across, but were lightly coded, destined for a certain percentage of the populace.
Here's a rundown of senators for, or against or wobbly on the Iran deal.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/senators-obama-iran-deal_55cb6670e4b0923c12beceb7?kvcommref=mostpopular
Robert Oppenheimer once said in a speech about Atomic weapons that no country could expect in any meaningful sense to win an Atomic War. "We may be likened to two scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life."
Which is exactly what I was thinking last night while watching a pro/con discussion about the Iran deal. The hope to get rid of all nuclear bombs seems to have gone by the wayside and we are tearing our hair over Iran's possible attainment of said weapons, which if deployed Iran knows it's gonna be annihilated. I'm at a loss to understand this except having a bomb gives countries an extra biggie to beat their chests over.
@safari: Don't have time to read your link, but will do so later. Looks interesting.
I'm not that up with Howard Stern's show––does he get off at poking around in other's private parts, relishing the secrets of sexual couplings and sizes of organs?
Just watched the Rand Paul TV ad (posted above) and good golly! maybe the Donald is a Democratic plant as many right-wingers charge. Then we got to the dramatic wrap-up with speechifying Dr. Paul and I was reminded of some weeks back when online discussions & some commentary here touched on 'women's voices' and how irritating some of the high-pitched ones were. And, boy, it's not just women...L'il Randy's pipes aren't the ones I would want to be hearing at a Presidential press conference or fireside chat! In fact, his voice seemed to get more shrill and more annoying as the commercial wrapped up.
Really it was irksome and seemed to continue even though the commercial stopped. Oops! Suddenly realized that was my whistling tea kettle screeching in the kitchen right at the end of Paul's orations. Coffee's ready now!
@safari: Thanks for the link. I've embedded the video above. I agree completely with your critique. The vast majority of white Americans, north & south, Lincoln included, believed that black people were "inferior" to whites & should be socially, if not politically. segregated. The majority of states had anti-miscegenation laws, for instance, although some abolitionists opposed these laws.
Marie
Marie,
Thanks for the link to the article about Warren Harding's love child. For whatever reason it brought to mind an old Al Stewart song titled "Warren Harding" that is now stuck in my head. In this linked clip Al mentions that Harding once stated that he was unfit for office and should never have been elected. I don't know if this is true since I've been unable to verify the quote myself.
Also, regarding slavery in the North. One of our local historical sites is the Colonel Ashley House. Col. John Ashley had a slave named Mum Bett who sued for her freedom and won, effectively ending slavery in Massachusetts.
@Unwashed: You are correct re: Harding–-he never wanted to be President and hated being one.
. H.L. Mencken wrote, “No man ever passed into the Eternal Vacuum to the tune of more astonishing rhetoric.”
Of course the Civil War was about slavery.
And in 2015 it still is.
Today slavery by any other name--the various forms of economic slavery from a regressive tax structure that increases inequality to the peonage of undocumented workers to an absolute unwillingness to institute universal healthcare, all of which create and maintain odious class distinctions--retains the same rank smell.
What but slavery are the Koch-Confederate policies really about?
@Ken Winkes: I wouldn't compare Koch World to slavery because I think that diminishes what slavery really was. Even the Koch puppets aren't proposing that overlords can beat or rape their employees, for instance, or can force them to stay in a job they don't want. They're not asking that ordinary workers become human chattel with no individual rights. It is true that they want control over women's reproductive autonomy, so to that extent wingers do propose an element of slavery. It's also true that the right works to limit voting rights, which is an effort that has slavery as its direct antecedent. The right also is proposing -- through its efforts to rescind social safety net programs -- to do what Northern slaveholders did: "free" their slaves when the slaves became enfeebled, leaving the new "freemen" to fend for themselves on the streets.
But overall, Americans have more freedom today, & I think would have more freedom if the Kochs were kings of the U.S., than slaves or indentured servants ever had.
Marie
Let's Not Lose the Thread.
P.D. reminds us, this morning, of the prescient words of Robert Oppenheimer:
"...no country could expect in any meaningful sense to win an Atomic War."
Alas, plenty there were (and still are) who believed exactly the opposite; that an Atomic (soon to be nuclear) War was both survivable and winnable. One who believed this fantasy happened to be in the audience the day Oppenheimer said those words in a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations, Lewis Strauss. For uttering such a sensible but, to the right-wingers, unacceptable truth, Strauss, with plenty of help from Oppenheimer's many enemies, began the witch hunt that brought him low.
The hunt is still on. As is the idea that using nuclear weapons wouldn't be all that bad, and that we should consider a preemptive strike against Iran, perhaps with these types of weapons. And that anyone (Obama) suggesting any other course of action must be given the Oppenheimer treatment. This thread connects the overheated rhetoric and immature fantasy scenarios of a winnable, survivable nuclear war that has been around since the Enola Gay landed back on the island of Tinian in the Marianas a few hours after the beginning of the Atomic Age of War.
Despite the mountains of evidence collected from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, right-wing advocates for the build-up and use of nuclear weapons forged ahead with plans for winnable nuclear engagements. Lewis Strauss, now working with the Navy, established a test to "prove" that naval vessels could survive an atomic blast and go on about their business after the mushroom cloud had dissipated.
Two massive demonstrations, as part of Operation Crossroads, involving hundreds of large and small vessels were done at the Bikini Atoll. Some ships survived and the test of nuclear survivability was considered a success, but Strauss neglected to take into account the evidence from post-blast effects well known by that time, especially the tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Japanese who "survived" the attack but died of radiation poisoning, some within weeks, some, of radiation spawned tumors, within years.
The stupidity of this position is even more pronounced when you consider that as the Reagan administration planned for a winnable nuclear war, his Deputy Undersecretary for Defense, T.K. Jones, made this incredible statement about how to survive a nuclear response if the US made the first strike (Reaganauts were all about first strike capability, the idea of a defensive posture was never a concern).
"Everybody's going to make it if there are enough shovels to go around. Dig a hole, cover it with a couple of doors and then throw three feet of dirt on top. It's the dirt that does it."
Got that? It's the dirt that does it. Never mind that people twenty miles from the Hiroshima blast, down deep in cellars died of radiation poisoning, shovels, a hole, doors, and some dirt You're all set. And this guy was a Reagan official, not some benighted alky wandering around with his fly down, sleeping under bridges. Marie has pointed out that we tend to forget just how radical and dangerous Reagan was. She is not kidding. He was a fucking fruitcake surrounded by truly insane people, many of whom are still around flapping their lips about war and destruction in positions of authority!
In fact, Poppy Bush was a firm believer in first strike nuclear war. Wingnut think tanks came up with survivability statistics that sounded like the ones made by this guy. Dr. Strangelove, of course, was a black comedy, but these guys were serious. Many of you doubtless recall Reagan talking about a nuclear war in Europe, the Soviet Union, and the United States. This is from Reagan's diary:
"Thur Dec 3 1981: NSC meeting--I approved starting a Civil Defense buildup. Right now in a nuclear war we'd lose 150 million people. The Soviets could hold their losses down to less than were killed in WWII."
150 million. Tops. Give or take a few mill. No biggie. So Civil Defense build up. What would that be? Sand bags and tanks of water in high school basements (we had some in mine; holdovers from 50's civil defense insanity).
But this idea has never gone away. Does anyone really think Bush and Cheney's scheme of a first strike in Iraq came out of the blue? Attacking another country, demonstrating the United States' ability to unleash "Shock and Awe", has been a right-wing wet dream since the Dulles brothers bought their first double breasted suits. In the sixties, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Air Force General Curtis LeMay was one of those "who, like many others in the American military, spent the crisis waiting, eagerly, for nuclear war to start." LeMay was praying for WWIII.
It was bad that these people learned nothing from the Japan bombs and their aftermath. Forty years after we had Reagan officials coming out with batshit crazy stuff like this:
" . . . it is possible for any society to survive [a nuclear war] . . . nuclear war is a destructive thing but still in large part a physics problem."
It's all academic, right?
But now we have the brother--the fucking BROTHER--of the worst, most inept, most dangerously stupid president in history, who actually DID start a war for no good reason, a little more than 10 years ago, calling for more war, more invasions, more shock and awe.
Oh, and one more thing. Class? Who here thinks there was never a discussion among the Bush Cheney Wolfowitz Rice Rumsfeld war criminals about using nuclear weapons in Iraq? Show of hands. None? Yeah. You're right.
So let's not lose the thread. The people who are talking about bombing Iran, the same ones who wanted to invade Iraq, are still itching to drop another nuclear bomb. They still think a nuclear war is not just survivable but winnable.
This is why they deep sixed Oppenheimer. Anyone harshing the mellow of their warrior wet dreams has to go. And now we have a phalanx of Confederates battling each other to see who gets to kill the peace plan first, to see who can win the War Lottery.
Here's the problem. The idea of a controllable war is simply beyond the pale. Once the dogs of war are off the chain, there is not much control and things can spiral out of control completely at any time.
Bush and Cheney believed they could control the situation in Iraq, believed it would all be over in days. All of these idiots running for president also believe they can predict and control events if they began a shooting war, possibly a nuclear war, with Iran. Wingers always opt for war first believing in their ability to deal with any contingency. But since humans were throwing rocks at each other fighting over water holes, conflicts have rarely been controlled to anyone's liking. Rome thought they had Carthage under control. What happened there? All of Europe predicted a month long war in 1914. No problem. What happened? I could go on.
Unfortunately, Confederates have never learned this lesson. Now they're calling for more war.
That thread is still there. We lose sight of it at our own peril.
Marie,
Get your point and wholly agree. It was a deliberate, if possibly misguided exaggeration.
But I would maintain the elements of economic and sexual oppression experienced today in different forms both here and around the world arise from the same common human motives that create and endorse (note present tense) human slavery.
Whether we're talking about the ISIS sex slavery noted in today's NYTimes header, here in the U.S., as you say, the Right's very real war on women, the power struggle between employers and workers, our updated Jim Crow voting restrictions or the mindset that leads the hawkish to suggest we should not treat others nations as equals but when they have the temerity to annoy us, physically whip them into shape, all that and more derives from the (most often male) urge to bully, dominate and in some sense own others.
Whether we call it a class war, a race war, a war on women or a civil war (I'll drop the caps) between those who would dominate and those who would be free, it is still going on.
(Don't know what Koch kings would do, but we have hints that suggest I would not like it. )
P.D.,
Fine Mencken quote. He was a good one for the piquant punditry. I had not previously heard his thoughts on Harding's passing.
My favorite comment concerning a president's demise comes from Ms. Dorothy Parker who, upon learning that Calvin Coolidge was dead asked "How can they tell?"
Armageddon notwithstanding, PD raises an important point: The Iranian clerics may be flakey, but they are not suicidal. They know full well that if they were to launch a nuke against anyone, Iran would cease to exist as a country. Our leaders would do well to point that out publicly, not to Iran, who already know it, but to Bibi and his Washington Acolytes. The larger danger is that Israel would launch first.
Is the gene for self-reflection turned off in Confederates? Do they have no self-awareness? Pretty odd for such a solipsistic group. If you're gonna base all your actions on the premise that you are the only one who matters and only your worldview is valid, then it should stand to reason that you know what's in your own mind, your own personal history, proclivities, desires, strong and weak points, etc.
Oh well, never mind. I only bring it up because world class bunghole and the person Plato would have to have meant had he ever had Socrates involved in a dialogue with someone named Hypocritus, Dinesh D'Sleaza, (wouldn't you LOVE it? Socrates pinning this whiny little fleabag with one of his patented jiu-jitsu logic moves?) has posted a tee-hee-so-funny horribly Photoshopped picture of Hillary Clinton dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, created apparently as a six year old's first try at photo editing, with the caption, "Oh, I'm a Clinton, the law doesn't apply to me."
Laugh? I thought I'd die.
Especially considering that this lame-o, botched Photoshop fail is being sent out by a real felon, an ex-con who was sent to the slammer because he was stunned to find out the law actually does apply to him as well (an outrage!), and who only recently was allowed to wear something other than Department of Corrections Neon Orange.
Oh, those Confederates. If they had brains....well, I suppose if they had brains they wouldn't be Confederates.
@Ak, My high school coach/phys-ed teacher (we had daily 1 hr PE back then) would often comment on some boy's dumb behavior: "If he had brains he's be dangerous."
Safari,
Just got a chance to watch the video. I think you're correct about the venom that gets directed to inconvenient truths about Confederates, and toward any who dare to speak truth about their origin and the historical, undeniable facts connected to their provenance.
There is no more effective bulwark against the fetid and decrepit "we did it for states' rights" argument than the exact words of their predecessors who, in state after state, make clear that their primary goal is to keep other human beings in chains. Mighty Christian of them.
So I don't believe the message was delivered with too much oomph. Subtlety doesn't work on deluded minds nor with the willfully ignorant. Sometimes a punch in the groin doesn't work either. But at least it forces them to come up yet another excuse besides, "Hey, y'all, we think them nigras should live out their short, brutal, extraordinarily painful lives in chains doing whatever the fuck we tell them to do".
We have a van full of Confederate candidates for president who still feel that way. They can deny it, but as with attempts to ignore the real reason they went to war a century and a half ago, their actions tell a more truthful story than whatever bullshit they're slinging.
Thanks for the link.