;)
The Commentariat -- August 6, 2015
Internal links removed.
Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "A federal appeals panel ruled Wednesday that a strict voter identification law in Texas discriminated against blacks and Hispanics and violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- a decision that election experts called an important step toward defining the reach of the landmark law.... The appeals panel said Wednesday that because illegal intent to discriminate had not been established -- in passing the law, legislators declared an interest in preventing voter fraud -- the district court in Texas should seek ways to alter the voter law short of overturning it entirely. The state could, for example, reinstate the acceptance at the polls of certain forms of identification that may be more easily available." ...
... Rick Hasen: "This is a narrow but important victory coming on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act.... It is quite possible that Texas will try to take this case en banc to the full 5th Circuit, or perhaps to the Supreme Court. It is also possible that Texas would let this play out in another round at the district court and then appeal, but that seems less likely. This also strikes me as an opinion written as narrowly as possible to still give a victory to the plaintiffs."
How to Get Voting Rights through a GOP Congress. Rick Hasen in Slate: "A strengthened Voting Rights Act should start with this proposition: When the state has no good reason for making it harder for people to register and vote, doing so should be illegal. If we can get Congress to acknowledge this fundamental point, we won't have to worry about parsing racial or partisan intent.... Voting rights will be protected without having to prove Republican racism. We will protect not just minority voters but student voters, military and overseas voters, poor voters, and voters who move around a lot and lose their registrations.... A colorblind amendment to the act seems like the only path through a Republican Congress to adding voting rights protections for the next 50 years of the Voting Rights Act.
Brian Murphy of the Washington Post: "President Obama took sharp aim at critics of the Iran nuclear deal on Wednesday, saying many of those who backed the U.S. invasion of Iraq now want to reject an accord that showed America's ability to work with partners rather than push ahead with potentially dangerous unilateral action." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Wherein the President explains international relations in the way that even your Uncle Fred & Tom Cotton, could understand:
... New York Times Editors: "President Obama on Wednesday made a powerful case for the strong and effective nuclear agreement with Iran.... Mr. Obama's defense of the deal, which is designed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from sanctions, was blunt and forceful. He likened Republicans to Iranian hard-liners.... The speech was so trenchant because Mr. Obama ably connected the opposition to the Iran agreement to recent history." ...
... Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed: "President Obama told Jewish leaders Tuesday that he'll talk to the Israeli press next month to sell the Iran deal in Israel, according to two sources who attended the meeting."
Norm Ornstein in the Atlantic makes a compelling case that when Congress returns in September, it will be in perpetual crisis mode: "... expect the slew of angry-populist presidential candidates, some of them sitting senators, including [Donald] Trump, Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, and others, to push Congress to toughen up, stare Obama and his Democrats down, and push for confrontation" on a host of issues, which now includes defunding Planned Parenthood. CW: Better not plan to visit Washington, D.C., this fall.
CW: Katha Pollitt of the Nation agrees with a comment I made here yesterday. In a New York Times op-ed, Pollitt writes, "On the issue of fetal-tissue research, we need to hear loud and clear from the scientific community. Anti-abortion activists are calling for a ban on this research, which ironically is used primarily to find treatments for sick babies. Will scientists let that happen?" Pollitt also urges women, their families & doctors to speak up for abortion & abortion rights. ...
... Amanda Marcotte of Alternet, republished in Salon, has a useful & informative guide on how to counter arguments against Planned Parenthood. "... conservative talking points are easy to debunk, but it's also important not to get so much in the weeds that you forget the larger point: The assault on Planned Parenthood is not about the videos at all, but a larger war on women being waged by conservatives.... The real goal is to make it harder for women -- especially low-income women -- to have happy, healthy sex lives.
AP: "Police must get a search warrant to obtain records about cellphone locations in criminal investigations, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The American Civil Liberties Union said the decision by a three-judge panel of the fourth US circuit court of appeals conflicts with two other federal appeals court rulings and increases the possibility that the US supreme court will take up the issue. Attorneys last week asked the supreme court to review an appeals court ruling in a Florida case that said search warrants are not required."
Linda Greenhouse: "In Batson v. Kentucky, decided in April 1986, the [Supreme C]ourt ruled that prosecutors could be required to provide a race neutral explanation when their use of peremptory challenges to strike black potential jurors raised an inference of discrimination.... But the open secret is this: Batson hasn't really worked.... Blacks are still being excluded from juries at disproportionate rates, especially when the defendant is black and the crime victim is white." The Supreme Court has finally agreed to hear one egregious case of bias against black jurors. "What if we abolished peremptory challenges? There is nothing in the Constitution that requires them.... There clearly aren't five votes on the Supreme Court to abolish peremptory challenges. But just as clearly, their continued existence threatens to erode even further the public's confidence in the fairness of the criminal justice system, already stretched to near the breaking point."
Anna Palmer & Jeremy Herd of Politico: "Combined, Boeing and GE have halted political contributions to more than a dozen Republican lawmakers opposed to reauthorizing the [Export-Import] bank, after cutting checks to those lawmakers during the 2014 election cycle.... And an additional 17 Ex-Im opponents that received contributions in 2014 from one of GE's political action committees have gotten nothing this year from either company.... The battle over Ex-Im is the latest example of the GOP splitting with the business community."
Sam Byford of the Verge: John Hersey's "Hiroshima is one of the most remarkable works of journalism ever published. Its narrative non-fiction style was unusual for the time [1946], but even more striking was the way Hersey humanized the Japanese victims with sensitivity and dignity so soon after barrages of wartime propaganda had portrayed them as barbarians.... Albert Einstein reportedly ordered a thousand copies to spread the word, and several newspapers serialized it; Hersey asked them to donate to the American Red Cross rather than pay him." Read Hersey's essay here. It took up most of the New Yorker's August 31, 1946 issue.
Presidential Race
Scott Kauman of Salon: Megyn Kelly, one of the Fox "News" debate questioners, says Fox has a secret plan to keep Donald Trump in his place (um, would be center stage), should he fail to follow debate rules. ...
... Kaufman & Benjamin Wheelock do a send-up of the GOP slate: "What if the Democratic presidential primary were as bizarre as the GOP one currently is?" Their satirical take is totally unfair; unlike one candidate in their hypothetical Democratic primary, none of the GOP candidates is currently incarcerated.
Hillary's Trump Card. Robert Costa & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Former president Bill Clinton had a private telephone conversation in late spring with Donald Trump at the same time that the billionaire investor and reality-television star was nearing a decision to run for the White House, according to associates of both men. Four Trump allies and one Clinton associate familiar with the exchange said that Clinton encouraged Trump's efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party and offered his own views of the political landscape.... The call came as Trump was making a final decision about whether to run, and he was candid about his political ambitions and his potential interest in seeking the White House during the talk.... Clinton never urged Trump to run, the four people said." ...
Yay! Steve M. Has a Conspiracy Theory: "... the lead author is Robert Costa, who used to write for National Review and whose sources include many prominent Republicans. I assume the party has been saving this up for the eve of the first debate and fed it to Costa. But will Republican voters get the intended message -- that Trump is a traitor deployed by the evil Clintons to divide the GOP and guarantee Hillary's election? The fact that four 'Trump allies' confirmed the story tells me that either Trump isn't worried about that possibility or his 'allies' are very, very stupid.... On Twitter, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times has said that the call was recorded."
... Paul Krugman: "It's true that Trump isn't making sense -- but neither are the mainstream contenders for the GOP nomination. On economics, both Jeb Bush and Scott Walker are into deep voodoo. Bush takes his experience of presiding over a giant housing bubble in his state, as proof that he can double America's underlying growth rate. Walker is Brownback-light: his governorship on Wisconsin was premised on the proposition that tax cuts, spending cuts, and union-bashing can create an economic miracle, but the reality is budget deficits and subpar growth, lagging in particular the performance of neighboring Minnesota.... I'm not denying that Trump is a clown, an absurd figure. But given his party's field, that's not a distinctive judgment." ...
... Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump's presidential campaign ended its relationship with an Arizona-based politico Tuesday evening after BuzzFeed News asked about Islamophobic Facebook posts he wrote and racially charged Facebook posts about Barack and Michelle Obama. Asked by BuzzFeed News about Aaron Borders, who identified himself on various social media profiles and his LinkedIn as Trump's Arizona state director, the Trump campaign originally falsely denied that he had any connection to the campaign. But audio recordings provided by Borders to BuzzFeed News show Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski informing Borders of the campaign's intent to hire him. In a second recording, Lewandowski tells Borders that he is going to fire him over the Facebook posts, and in a third recording delivers a threat 'to sue your fucking ass to next year.' Trump fired a longtime aide last week after Business Insider unearthed racially charged Facebook posts." ...
... CW: It appears "I'm going to sue your fucking ass to next year," is the default method of handling any little unpleasantness that may come the way of the Donald. In Trumpspeak, it is of a piece with, yet a lesser threat than "I'm going to mess your life up ... for as long as you're on this frickin' planet." You can see why Trump appeals to the lumpenproletariat of the right; he is the Tony Soprano of presidential candidates: a loudmouthed, garish, sociopathic mob boss with a family of wiseguys to whack anyone who annoys him. There are millions of angry people out there who wish they had the wherewithal to be more like Tony & Trump. ...
... Scott Keyes of Think Progress: "Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump regularly calls for getting rid of gun-free zones. However, if the real estate magnate is to succeed in his quest, he'll have to start with places like Trump-branded hotels and golf courses.... ThinkProgress spoke with a number of hotels and golf courses in the Trump empire and found that multiple locations were gun-free zones, even for guests with concealed-carry permits." CW: Nice catch, Scott, but the inconsistency between Trump's policies & his corporate practices is entirely consistent with Republican Rule IOKIYAR. ...
... James Surowiecki of the New Yorker: P. T. "Barnum's key insight into how to arrest public attention was that, to some degree, Americans enjoy brazen exaggeration. No American businessman since Barnum has been a better master of humbug than Trump has.... [Trump's] bizarre blend of populist message and glitzy ways has allowed him to connect with precisely the voters that any Republican candidate needs in order to get elected (including many whom Romney couldn't reach)."
Glen Thrush & Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Jeb Bush ... was as surprised as anybody when Donald Trump jumped into the 2016 presidential race in June.... Like everyone else, Bush soon found Trump impossible to ignore.... 'Seriously, what's this guy's problem?' he asked one party donor he ran into recently according to accounts provided by several sources close to Bush -- and he went on to describe the publicity seeking real estate developer now surging in public polls far ahead of Bush and all the 15 others in the Republican field as 'a buffoon,' 'clown' and 'asshole.'" Whatever Bush wants to call Trump, the most accurate appellation ... is the label that should have been Bush's: 'frontrunner.'"
The Sound of Rich People Clapping. Ken Vogel of Politico: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won a surprising nod in an informal straw poll of major conservative donors gathered by the Koch brothers' operation last weekend in Orange County, California, according to sources familiar with the gathering. In a closed-door session that included about 100 donors, Republican pollster Frank Luntz asked donors to clap to indicate their choice for the Republican Party's nomination. While Luntz did not formally track or announce the results, sources say it was clear that Walker got the most applause, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who received roughly the same amount of applause.... Walker's presentation on Saturday did not exactly electrify the crowd, though it seemed generally well-received." CW: No doubt what they find so attractive in the Scottie Puppet is how lightweight he is: they can pull his string with remarkably little effort. ...
... Freeedom & the One Percent. Alele Stan in the American Prospect: At last weekend's Koch Konfab, Jeb! was his awkward self, but he said something that surely pleased his lovely hosts who own "the second-largest privately held corporation in the United States":
The one that is unique to America? Private property rights. Private property rights.... And you know what the second was? Private business. Not a public company ... a private business. Because a private business, by the way, through trial and error, they can do what they want. They don't have to worry about the quarterly returns, and get on the call to listen to shareholders or analysts say why it's stupid to be spending money on something that may be out of the ordinary. -- Jeb!
... Stan: As president, Bush would help these secretive companies "do what they want."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "A supporter and former close adviser to Senator Rand Paul has been charged with hiding secret payments to secure the endorsement of an Iowa lawmaker during the 2012 presidential campaign of his father, former Representative Ron Paul, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. Jesse Benton, who was Ron Paul's presidential campaign manager, is accused of paying more than $70,000 to Kent Sorenson, a former Iowa state senator, to win his support ahead of the state's caucuses in 2012. Mr. Sorenson had been backing former Representative Michele Bachmann but later switched to support Mr. Paul." ...
... Sean Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Jesse Benton, a longtime ally of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who is heading up a super PAC supporting his presidential campaign, has been indicted by a federal grand jury.... Two other former Ron Paul campaign officials were indicted, including John Tate, who was Ron Paul's campaign manager and is now also involved with heading up the pro-Rand Paul super PAC; and Dimitri Kesari, who was Ron Paul's deputy national campaign manager.... Both Ron Paul and a spokesman for Rand Paul issued statements accusing the Justice Department of a politically-motivated attack.... Benton is married to the granddaughter of Ron Paul, Rand Paul's father."
Gubernatorial Race
Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "A Mississippi truck driver who claims to have spent no money on his campaign won a nomination to be governor early Wednesday morning. Robert Gray, 46, reported spending zero dollars on his campaign to become the Democratic party's nominee for governor, and defeated two rivals with 51% of the vote. He told the Associated Press that he did not vote on Tuesday 'because he was busy'.... 'I know my two opponents, they campaigned real, very hard. But still they wasn't getting to the mass majority of people.'... He said that his family did not know he was running for office. The state Democratic party has said it has contacted Gray, and Mississippi public radio reported that the unexpected nominee was quickly shuffled behind closed doors at the party headquarters in Jackson." CW: Sounds like an excellent candidate. ...
... R. L. Nave of the Jackson Free Press: "Gray said he plans to stay in the race until November and wants to debate Gov. Phil Bryant. At his own party, Bryant walked out clad in cowboy boots and a smile to the cheers of family, friends and patrons as the predictable results came that he would represent the GOP as their nominee for Mississippi governor."
Beyond the Beltway
Cindy Chang & Joel Rubin of the Los Angeles Times: "Capping years of scandal, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has agreed to federal oversight and to sweeping reforms aimed at ending deputy abuse of inmates as well as improving chronically poor treatment for mentally ill inmates. The agreement announced Wednesday establishes an independent monitor who will make sure the reforms are carried out. Richard Drooyan, a former Los Angeles Police Commission president who served on a blue-ribbon commission that was highly critical of Sheriff's Department operations, was appointed to be the monitor."
Josh McElveen of WMUR Manchester: "New Hampshire's Republican-led Executive Council rejected $639,000 in state funding for Planned Parenthood along party lines Wednesday amid a renewed national debate over whether the organization should receive public money.... The contract rejection will cut Planned Parenthood's public funding by about one-third in New Hampshire, officials said, as the organization will still receive federal money. Both [Gov. Maggie] Hassan [D] and Jennifer Frizzell, vice president for public policy at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said the loss of the state contract will result in diminished services." The deciding vote came from Chris Sununu, a son of John, who claims to be pro-choice but who is evidently tacking right in a run-up to a gubernatorial bid.
Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "A man armed with a hatchet attacked a movie theater in the Nashville area on Wednesday afternoon before he was shot and killed by police officers, authorities said. One man was injured by the hatchet. That man and two other people also needed treatment after being 'blasted with pepper spray' by the attacker, said ... a Nashville police spokesman."
Jade Helm, Ctd. AP: "Investigators are questioning a person of interest after shots were reportedly fired a second consecutive day near a military facility in southern Mississippi, officials said Wednesday. There were no reported injuries.... The description of the shooter was the same in both instances, Patterson said: a white male in a red pickup truck.... Earlier reports that two people were involved proved to be wrong...." ...
... Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "How federal agents foiled a murderous Jade Helm 15 retaliation plot" where in three men planned "to lure government forces into a trap, federal officials say, and were amassing a stockpile fit for war.... Federal officials say three North Carolina men -- Walter Eugene Litteral, 50; Christopher James Barker, 41; and Christopher Todd Campbell, 30 -- spent months compiling their cache, much of it purchased through a military surplus store owner who became so concerned about the plot that the person became the FBI's informant."
Jim McLean, KCUR, Kansas City: "Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's administration will not follow through on plans to limit welfare recipients to cash withdrawals of $25 per day. Phyllis Gilmore, secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said Tuesday that federal officials objected to the limit, saying that it would prevent needy families from having 'adequate access to their cash assistance.'... Gilmore said in a news release, 'This was an amendment offered during legislative debate. At the time of discussion on the floor, DCF advised against such a low limit. I'm pleased that we now have the guidance we needed to rescind this measure.'" Via Think Progress.
News Ledes
New York Times: "A Stradivarius violin that disappeared without a trace after it was stolen in 1980 from the violin virtuoso Roman Totenberg has been found, and is being restored to his family, said one of his daughters, Nina Totenberg. Ms. Totenberg, the legal affairs correspondent for NPR news, reported the discovery of her father's stolen violin on Thursday morning on NPR's 'Morning Edition.' She said in an interview that law enforcement officials were planning to hold a news conference about it in New York on Thursday afternoon.... Ms. Totenberg said that the woman had inherited the violin from the man Ms. Totenberg's father had suspected all along of stealing the instrument."
AP: "What initially appeared to be another mass shooting at a [Nashville] movie theater ended up being an attack by a disturbed homeless man who wasn't armed with a real gun and was eventually shot and killed by police."
AP: "Japan marked the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Thursday, with Mayor Kazumi Matsui renewing calls for U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders to step up efforts toward making a nuclear-weapons-free world. Tens of thousands of people stood for a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m. at a ceremony in Hiroshima's peace park near the epicenter of the 1945 attack, marking the moment of the blast. Then dozens of doves were released as a symbol of peace."
Washington Post: "The United States has begun conducting airstrikes over Syria from a base in southern Turkey, the Pentagon said Wednesday, opening a new front in the Obama administration's air war against the Islamic State."
New York Times: "Bill Cosby will be questioned under oath in October in a second case involving accusations that he sexually assaulted a young woman, a judge said on Wednesday. The deposition of Mr. Cosby, 78, in the case involving Judy Huth, a California woman who said she was molested by the entertainer in 1974, when she was 15, was allowed to go forward last month, when the California Supreme Court denied Mr. Cosby's petition for review."
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How much do you know about the GOP candidate's religious practices? Take this quiz as I did and hope you do better–- to my despair I got 2/14, but I took it over and got a better score having learned fun facts such as "which candidate once practiced exorcism" and "which candidate left his church because it was too liberal."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/quiz-republican-candidates-religion_55c270bbe4b0d9b743daabef?kvcommref=mostpopular
Those in support of Sam Brownback must wear blinders, even while seeing what is happening all around them."People are leaving Kansas," Gene Suellentrop told the writer (his nephew) in January.
the Kansas Experiment "
Lots more about the economic experimentation going on a la Laffer.
I won't be watching tonight's Wrestlemania 2016. First, I don't have cable, and if you want to watch, you have to fork over your hard earned shekels to Murdoch and Ailes so fuck that. You can't even watch it online without having a cable subscription. Another indication as to who matters and who don't.
Also, I don't have a barf big enough to last the hour and my wife would think it unseemly if I were to sit down with one of those giant yard waste bags between my legs.
But if I WAS watching, I'd have to be playing this:
The GOP Debate Drinking Game! Ta-Da.
You remember those TV based drinking games that college kids used to play, like "Hi Bob"? To play "Hi Bob" everyone shows up with their drink of choice at a time when the old Bob Newhart Show came on. As soon as someone walked onscreen and said "Hi Bob", which happened about 27 times in the half hour, everyone had to drink.
Silly? Of course. That's the whole idea. But not nearly as silly as what's gonna happen tonight.
So here's a couple of examples:
Take a shot whenever...
Trump says "loser" ""tremendously successul" or "stupid"
Walker says "I took on the____in Wisconsin!"
Bush squirms answering questions about the Iraq War.
Anytime any candidate says "All lives matter".
You get the idea. In fact, I think the candidates themselves should play this game during the "debate" which really isn't a debate. I'd almost consider getting a cable subscription to watch stupid become EXTRA STUPID.
I'd say "enjoy" but I don't think that's quite the right word.
The Salon bit about a Democratic paddock as packed as that for the Republican horse race is silly. It isn't even a little funny and if you're gonna indulge in that sort of thing, it better be funny. It's just that you really have to stretch to find true idiots in the Democratic ranks. On the Republican side you can't even spit without hitting two or three. Okay, I'll give you Jenny McCarthy. And Edwards and Hart were not very smart about how they carried on their personal lives but neither were morons.
This is, however, a useful exercise in demonstrating the fallacy of the Both Sides Do It meme.
Even if you could resurrect the spirit of Saul Alinsky, the standard bearer for Confederate bêtes noires, it wouldn't be the same. Alinsky was a smart guy committed to making the world a better place, not advocating for war and more guns and less healthcare and the imposition of Biblical Law. Plus, he wasn't a douchebag.
Let's face it, the Republican Party has been taken over by socially, economically, technically, scientifically, civically retarded idiots; by Bible beaters and racists and misogynists and haters of all stripes. These people have no opposite numbers in the Democratic camp.
Let me put it to you this way. Who is the liberal Rush Limbaugh? Who is the liberal Donald Trump? Who are the liberal Koch Brothers?
See what I mean?
If you're gonna spend your time wanking, at least make sure it's fun.
@MAG: although I didn't finish the (long) article by Chris Suellentrop on the Kansas experiment, I found the comments absolutely fascinating. They were (mostly) so articulate and well thought out - and so negative toward what Brownback and the other diehards are doing. Many pointed out that if low taxes are what matters in deciding where to site a business, Kansas would be booming and other, higher tax areas not so much. Of course the reverse is true. Smart business leaders want what only a fairly taxed area can provide, especially good schools and quality of life. I was shocked to learn that Kansas places a high tax on groceries. To me, any tax on groceries is unconscionable, and reveals a lot about the true motivations of those in charge: they want welfare - for the wealthy.
@Akhileus: I had no interest in watching the clown car debate, but a group of friends got together and decided to have a debate watch party. So thanks for linking to a drinking game guide - that should come in quite handy! I might consider taking a sip every time Planned Parenthood is mentioned, but I won't have a designated driver so maybe that's not a good idea.
P.S. This group gets together at crucial times such as debates and election night coverage. Many good nights, but one of the worst was the devastating Romney/Obama first debate, which was so painful to watch, even among friends. Moral of that: never count Obama out.
@Akhilleus...won't be watching either. Not having cable myself is not the main reason. Actually, thinking of Netflix and "The Search for General Tso" might be a more fascinating night.
Howard Schultz (Starbucks) has an interesting piece over on the Times with some savvy points...and others less so.
@Victoria D. Ain't it the truth, one often gets so much more from the commenters then the opinion writer him/herself! Must confess, I usually skip Douthat, Brooks, Friedman et ilk and go straight to the comments!
Marie,
Really liked the Tony Soprano/Trump comparison. The biggest difference is (if one were to consider the real life Tony Sopranos) that mob bosses don't get to declare bankruptcy as The Donald has had to do FOUR TIMES, not to mention his many big idea fails (Trump Vodka? Trump Airlines, Trump Mortgage LLC, etc). Mafia bosses have to earn. If they don't...
The Donald just walks away from his messes, from all the fired employees, all the bad financing, the shuttered businesses, and starts on another Big Idea.
It's funny how Trump is considered, by Forbes, for instance, a success, because he keeps his own money protected even though so many of his business ventures failed. I guess that means their definition of success is whoever makes money, not whoever creates thriving, healthy business that employs a lot people and provides goods and services, improves the product and the business, and pays off for stockholders as well.
If he's elected, he could be the first president to have the United States, as a going concern, file chapter 11 under his unstable stewardship (if it worked that way). But he'd have his own money protected as always. Then he can retire to one of his casinos or hotels that hasn't been closed down for failure to pay its debts, and write another book.
I think I like the Mafia way better.
MAG and Victoria,
It ain't much of a laffer for people living in Kansas.
But this is what you get when you live in a fantasy world and you base your decisions on irrational ideological marching orders. The whole idea of low taxes translating to piles of money is, on it's face, ridiculous. It's based on the unproven and rickety idea that, set free from taxes, rich people will jump on their white stallions and lead us all to wealth and prosperity. Seriously, no half-assed writer of fairy tales would propose such a ludicrous outcome. You have to then assume the inverse is also true, that people with money, if they have to pay a dime in taxes will stay home and do nothing. This is demonstrably untrue. Yes, they may do what they can to lower their taxes, including bribing congressmen like the Kochs do, but they're not sitting at home reading Town and Country.
And, as you both have implied, corporations need more than just low taxes to thrive. They require infrastructure, a solid, educated employee base, good schools and services to attract better employees and a vibrant business and social life. Putting all your eggs in the No Tax basket means you're left with a wasteland which then forces you to hit people (especially the poor) over the head with ridiculous sales taxes when they go to buy the cat food for grandma, 'cause they can't afford anything else since they lost their jobs when the owners of their business pulled up stakes and headed for some blue state that offered more than parched Bible verses and Confederate flag bumper stickers.
Confederates will never admit this. This is why they will continue to follow this ideological dead end and continue to lose support among Americans who can think beyond YOU ESS AY! Which means, of course, there'll be a whole lot of elections stolen in the near future.
Think Alexander Pope's priceless epigram written on the collar of a puppy Pope allegedly gave to Frederick, Prince of Wales, (who died before his father and hence gave us his son, Mad King George III) perfectly fits (the epigram and the collar, both) all of those who recently groveled at the Kochs' knees?
"I am his highness' dog at Kew.
Pray tell me sir, whose dog are you?"
I certainly do.
As of tonight, no more Jon Stewart, alas, but we still have Pope, who at times would have had us think All was Right in a perfectly ordered world, but his exquisitely expressed mockery tells us he knew better...
AK. Useful contraction coined by my son and widely used in our house - retarded idiots = "R'idiots"
I wonder if the mass debaters will talk about this tonight.
Red State dung mound, and keeper of the Confederate Flame of Flatulence, Erick Erickson (will his son be called Erick'sson Erickson? Just curious...) has a special, super secret, only for Bible Beater ears, plan (seems like they've all got secret plans these days) as to how, even though tens of millions of people think they're all R'idiots (thanks, Diane) and hate their politics with a vengeance, a demographic that grows every day, Confederate Haters will beat their enemies and....WIN! (something else they're always pumped up about).
So here's the plan (guess it wasn't so secret after all).
He's gonna get millions of Latinos to breed, breed, breed ('cause you know how those people are, right?) and all their kids will love, love, love them some extremist right-wing Confederate religious nuts and vote, vote, vote for them 4eva!
And here's the best part. Gays and lesbians will just die out, along with any other liberals who don't hippity hop with Jesus, and they'll all go straight to the fiery pits to play pinochle with Satan, who probably cheats, and they'll never, ever, ever win again even though the Queer Loving Supremes made them think they're as good as anyone else because they aren't. So there.
Good plan!
Seriously kids, I couldn't invent bullshit this stupid. And don't you try it at home either except in the presence of an expert at stupid like Erickson Erikson Erick Son, whatever the fuck his name is.
First the breeding part is pretty creepy, doncha think?. It smacks of master race type stuff. But I want to know how it is that this douche believes Latinos by the million (billion?) are gonna all fall in love with the party of Donald (Murderers and Rapists) Trump and Steve (Cantaloupe Legs) King? Is there something I've missed?
So up until now it's all just stupidity and, well, extra added stupid on top. But here's where it gets scary. This moron is holding a convention in Atlanta starting today where he'll be talking about how liberals and LGBT types are all pawns of Satan and hate Jesus and how Confederates have to kill--sorry, overcome--them all. And you know who's gonna be there to jump up and down with him about hating gays and lib'ruls and their BFF Satan?
Here's the list.
Pretty much every GOP presidential candidate will be there bowing their heads to pray for horrible things to happen to people they hate. These candidates believe that they have to appeal to hate filled ideologues who have the core moral beliefs of guys who ran the Spanish Inquisition. Or George W. Bush. Not sure who's wins that one.
This is some abominable shit. The idea that all these clowns will be shuffling off the stage in Cleveland tonight just as fast as they can go in those floppy shoes, and hightailing it down to Atlanta to snuggle up to this belly-in-the-mud lizard.
Do you think a single one of these "leaders" will tell Erick-dick that his plan is stupid and he's a ridiculous wanker and a dangerous demagogue?
Rhetorical question, that.
As I've said before, this isn't where we're headed.
It's where we are.
..."Senator Chuck Schumer, the most influential Jewish voice in Congress, said Thursday night that he would oppose President Obama’s deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program.... As if on cue, Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who was widely expected to oppose the deal, announced his opposition Thursday night."
SHIT! As if we did not already know, AIPAC wins the day. Looks like the deal is done, fini, ovah! (Bibi will sleep well tonight.) I have such disdain for Chuck Schumer--whose main objection is what it would be like if Iran does not change in the 10 years the accord is in effect. Jeepers, it has been a million years, and Chuckie has changed not one iota. Once a creepy Ass Wipe, always a creepy Ass Wipe?
P. S. I am soooo upset that he is distantly related to Amy Schumer! I used to like her. But knowing her "distant" relative makes me suspicious that she also is an AIPACian. Hope not!