;)
The Commentariat -- Dec. 17, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post: "The House on Thursday passed the tax portion of the year-end budget deal as Congress seeks to quickly wrap up its remaining business with members itching to head home for the holidays. The vote was 318 to 109.... House Republicans provided most of the needed votes, 241, to pass the tax package, which House Democratic leaders oppose because they say it is too expensive and does not do enough for low-income workers.... The House vote on the appropriations package, which will occur Friday morning, could be close. If both bills pass the House, they will be rolled into one package that the Senate is expected to clear for the president's signature as early as Friday afternoon."
Lolita Baldor of the AP: "U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged on Thursday that he used a personal email account to conduct some government business until 'a few months ago.' 'I should have known better,' Carter told reporters traveling with him in Irbil, Iraq, the regional capital of the Kurds. "It's not like I didn't have the opportunity to understand what the right thing to do was. I didn't do the right thing.'" ...
... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that his committee would conduct a review to determine whether Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter had sensitive government information on the personal email account he used to conduct a portion of his government work. 'With all the public attention surrounding the improper use of personal email by other administration officials, it is hard to believe that Secretary Carter would exercise the same error in judgment,' Mr. McCain, a Republican, said in a statement, adding that his committee had requested copies of Mr. Carter's emails to conduct the review." ...
... CW: Okay, Sen. McCain. That's fine. Now where's the outrage on the Times story about the Pentagon covering up & dismissing charges that Navy SEALS abused prisoners & killed a detainee? Isn't that worse? ...
... Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "While fighting grinding wars of attrition in Afghanistan and Iraq, [Navy SEALS] Team 6 performed missions elsewhere that blurred the traditional lines between soldier and spy. The team's sniper unit was remade to carry out clandestine intelligence operations, and the SEALs joined Central Intelligence Agency operatives in an initiative called the Omega Program, which offered greater latitude in hunting adversaries.... Its activities have also spurred recurring concerns about excessive killing and civilian deaths.Afghan villagers and a British commander accused SEALs of indiscriminately killing men in one hamlet; in 2009, team members joined C.I.A. and Afghan paramilitary forces in a raid that left a group of youths dead and inflamed tensions between Afghan and NATO officials. Even an American hostage freed in a dramatic rescue has questioned why the SEALs killed all his captors." As an old Navy man, Sen. McCain, you might want to look into just how this team operates & if the claimed indiscriminate killings really is "keeping us safer."
Yasmeen Abutaleb of Reuters: "Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who opened fire on a San Bernardino holiday party earlier this month, were buried Tuesday in a quiet, graveside funeral. Many of those who attended mosque with the couple refused to attend, two mosque members said."
*****
GREAT commentary & links from everyone yesterday & Tuesday. Thank you all so much. Also, thanks to the woman in Danbury, Connecticut, with the reindeer antlers on the hood of her car. If not for her, I'd still be in Danbury. But I'm not. I'm home! Glad Nisky Guy made it, too -- AND in time to contribute.
Today in Responsible Government. David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Congressional negotiators introduced a sweeping year-end spending and tax-break package Wednesday that bursts through previously agreed budget limits with $66 billion in new spending for 2016. It also makes permanent an array of tax benefits at a cost of adding more than a half-trillion dollars to the deficit. The legislation, which President Obama is expected to sign, showed Republicans and Democrats reluctantly bowing to the unsatisfying realities of a divided government." ...
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The White House gave a thumbs-up on Wednesday to a sweeping year-end deal on taxes and government funding." ...
... Uh-oh. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "The $1.1 trillion omnibus bill includes language that would dramatically increase the number of visas available for foreign workers, setting off alarm bells among conservatives and labor unions. Congressional leaders quietly slipped the provision into the 2,009-page funding bill, with rank-and-file lawmakers only discovering it Wednesday morning. The move immediately sparked protests from both ends of the political spectrum. The provision could more than triple the number of H-2B visas for foreign workers seeking jobs at hotels, theme parks, ski resorts, golf courses, landscaping businesses, restaurants and bars. The move is intended to boost the supply of non-agricultural seasonal workers." ...
... Mike DeBonis & Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post on what-all else is in that big ole spend-and-give-away package. ...
... Everything Old Is New Again. (But It Wears a Beard.) Jim Newell of Slate: "When Paul Ryan was handed the speaker's gavel in late October, he pledged to restore normal order to the People's House and eliminate the sort of backroom deals that rank-and-file members complain are shoved down their throats at the 11th hour. So, late Tuesday night, Ryan unveiled a few thousand pages of consequential tax, spending, and regulatory legislation costing roughly $2 trillion and gave Congress and the public two whole days to review everything.... The agreement Ryan reached with fellow congressional negotiators also looks much like one [former Speaker John] Boehner would have reached.... Republicans made all sorts of business tax breaks permanent without any new way to pay for them, so, hooray!"
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would raise short-term interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis, a decision it described as a vote of confidence in the American economy even as much of the rest of the world struggles. The widely anticipated announcement -- that the Fed would raise rates to a range between 0.25 percent and 0.5 percent -- signals the beginning of the end for the central bank's stimulus program. Fed officials emphasized that they intended to raise rates gradually, and only if economic growth continues. Short-term rates will rise by about one percentage point a year for the next three years, Fed officials predicted. Interest rates on mortgages and other kinds of loans, and on savings accounts and other kinds of investments, are likely to remain low for years to come."
Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Cuba and the United States reached an agreement Wednesday night that will allow U.S. commercial airlines to begin operating flights to the island for the first time in decades, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the discussion."
Our American Heroes Abroad. Nicholas Kulish, et al., of the New York Times: In 2012, Navy SEALS apparently beat to death an Afghan detainee & abused other. The Pentagon covered up the incident. "Even before the beatings, some of the SEALs had exhibited troubling behavior. According to the soldiers and Afghan villagers, they had amused themselves by tossing grenades over the walls of their base, firing high-caliber weapons at passing vehicles and even aiming slingshots at children, striking them in the face with hard candy." ...
... BUT Wait! We have more important things to discuss:
... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter relied on a personal email account to conduct a portion of his government business during his first months at the Pentagon, according to White House and Defense Department officials and copies of Mr. Carter's emails obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Carter continued the practice, which violated Defense Department rules, for at least two months after it was publicly revealed in March that Hillary Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account as secretary of state, the officials said.... In a written statement on Wednesday, a spokesman for Mr. Carter said that the defense secretary had determined that he had been wrong to use the personal account."
** Christie Smythe & Keri Geiger of Bloomberg: "A boyish drug company entrepreneur [Martin Shkreli], who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested by federal agents at his Manhattan home early Thursday morning on securities fraud related to a firm he founded.... Federal prosecutors accused Shkreli of engaging in a complicated shell game after his defunct hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, lost millions. He is alleged to have made secret payoffs and set up sham consulting arrangements. A New York lawyer, Evan Greebel, was also arrested early Thursday. He's accused of conspiring with Shkreli in part of the scheme." CW: But, but, I thought Capitalism Was Awesome. Could this possibly mean that regulations are a good thing? ...
... Update. Here's the New York Times story, by Stephanie Clifford & Andrew Pollack.
** Adam Goldman, et al., of the Washington Post: "U.S. law enforcement officials said that gun charges are expected to be announced Thursday against Enrique Marquez, who bought the assault rifles used in the deadly San Bernardino attack. It is not clear if Marquez, 24, has been arrested yet."
Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama will travel to San Bernardino on Friday to join in mourning the 14 victims of the Dec. 2 mass shooting that he has called an act of terrorism, the White House said Wednesday."
Emma Green of the Atlantic: "Williamson County, Tennessee, embodies demographic stereotypes about the South: The county just south of Nashville is overwhelmingly white, Christian, and Republican. But this fall, a curious controversy emerged there. Parents and school-board members have voiced worries about alleged Islamic indoctrination in the public schools.... How has Islamic indoctrination become a point of controversy in a county that's chock full of churches?... In the absence of Muslim neighbors, it's easier to see those who practice Islam as fundamentally foreign, and to elide their faith with violence."
Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times: "The fortunes of the wonder fuel that promised to help clean the environment, secure America and save small family farms have steadily dwindled as environmentalists, food advocates and auto enthusiasts sour on its promise. Now that fuel, corn-based ethanol, finds itself threatened with a defection that was once unthinkable: Iowa voters." CW: Ya coulda fooled me. I spent a lot of time at gas pumps these past couple of days, what with dragging that trailer up the East Coast, & every place I filled up, no matter the brand, promised to put up to 10 percent ethanol in my tank.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Dan Primack of Fortune: "For nearly a week, the media and political worlds have been wondering who paid $140 million to purchase Nevada's largest daily newspaper, The Las Vegas Review-Journal. The primary buyer had taken great pains to remain anonymous, but Fortune has learned from multiple sources familiar with the situation that it is Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp.... Adelson, a major Republican Party donor who hosted Tuesday night's debate at his Venetian property, had been widely rumored to be the buyer including by employees at the Review-Journal itself, which this morning ran a front-page story that detailed Adelson's ties to Michael Schroeder, a regional Connecticut newspaper publisher who was the only person listed on regulatory filings related to the sale." ...
... CW: Somehow I missed the news that Adelson was the lovely host. If there was any question in anyone's mind as to whether or not the GOP is bought & paid for, the question now has a definitive answer. ...
... Ravi Somaiya & Sydney Ember of the New York Times have more on the secret purchase. ...
... Brian Stelter of CNN Money: "'I have no personal interest' in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson said Tuesday night, in his first public comments about the mysterious sale of Nevada's biggest newspaper. Speaking with me on the sidelines of the CNN debate, Adelson batted away speculation that he is one of the new owners of the newspaper. He repeatedly indicated that he is not. He seemed to be enjoying the guessing game."
Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "The fierce debate over screening visa applicants in the wake of the San Bernardino attacks was thrown into question Wednesday after the head of the FBI said the married couple responsible for the shooting did not, as has been widely reported, make public social media posts supportive of jihad. FBI director James Comey said there is no evidence to suggest the couple, who killed 14 people in California this month, were part of a terrorist cell and that while they had communicated 'a joint commitment to jihad and to martyrdom', those were private messages rather than open social media postings." Thanks to Ophelia M. for the lead. ...
... All the News That's Fit to Invent. Kevin Drum: "So where did this notion come from, anyway? The answer is a New York Times story on Sunday headlined "U.S. Visa Process Missed San Bernardino Wife's Zealotry on Social Media." It told us that Tashfeen Malik 'talked openly' on social media about jihad and that, 'Had the authorities found the posts years ago, they might have kept her out of the country.' The story was written by Matt Apuzzo, Michael Schmidt, and Julia Preston. Do those names sound familiar? They should. The first two were also the authors of July's epic fail claiming that Hillary Clinton was the target of a criminal probe over the mishandling of classified information in her private email system. In the end, virtually everything about the story turned out to be wrong.... Coincidentally or not, their source(s) have provided them with two dramatic but untrue scoops that make prominent Democrats look either corrupt or incompetent." ...
... CW: Yes, and ain't it another amazing coincidence that the Times published this fake story perfectly timed to give the GOP presidential debaters an easy-to-understand "example" of how President Obama's "politically correct" ISIS strategy is completely stupid?
Thanks to Ken. W. (and his daughter-in-law) for this message brought to you by more owners of the GOP:
Presidential Race
Rebecca Traister of New York: "This moment, this election, these years represent the death throes of exclusive white male power in the United States.... And while the resistance may be symptomatic of death throes, a rage at the dying of the white male light, it nonetheless presents a very real threat -- there is the possibility that the old and angry may triumph over the new and different.... If [Hillary Clinton] wins, she -- and we -- will be forced to do battle with this rising, chilling, ever more open threat from those who feel enraged that their country is no longer their own. I fear that there's a lot more terror ahead of us."
Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton on Wednesday picked up the endorsement of the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who gave his backing to her while calling for increased taxes on the country's highest wage earners. Mr. Buffett began his remarks at an event in Omaha with some stark statistics. In 1992, the top 400 wage earners in the United States made an average of $48.6 million each, compared with $335.7 million in 2012, Mr. Buffett said, using the most recent statistics available based on income tax returns." ...
... Monica Alba & Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News (Dec. 15): "Hillary Clinton further detailed her plan to defeat ISIS Tuesday, and specifically spoke to the threat of homegrown radicalization in a city that has been on the front lines, while also warning that Islamophobia is not just offensive but harmful to American national security."
Via Greg Sargent:
Paul Krugman: "Somehow there seems to be a pattern in this chart from the editor of PolitiFact, but I can't quite put my finger on it:"
Gail Collins watched the debate so we of lesser fortitude would not have to: "In summary: Kill the families. Screw the orphans. Carpet-bomb Syria, but in a targeted way." CW: It was hard to imagine, when I was a young person, that when I got all growed up here in the USA, we would have a viable candidate for president who was so insane that we could laugh at his plans to "carpet-bomb into oblivion" hundreds of thousands of Iraqis & Syrians. That's partly because Ted's "plan" does not involve actual carpet-bombing (because he doesn't know what carpet-bombing is or that the Pentagon would probably instigate a coup before they would approve it) & partly because we are in denial of such a bellicose ignoramus having any chance to becoming POTUS. Wake up, folks. "Dr Strangelove" is alive! Also, will "the sand glow" only in "targeted" areas?
David Sanger of the New York Times: "In a surprisingly substantive debate on foreign policy Tuesday night, Republican presidential candidates had a chance to present their alternative to what was portrayed as President Obama's failed approach to the upheaval in the Middle East. But in their effort to demonstrate their skills at analysis and leadership, the politics and history of the region often eluded them.... For most -- with Jeb Bush apparently an exception -- the strategy to defeat the Islamic State largely seemed to boil down to this: Drop your bombs first and figure out the diplomacy later, if at all."
"For Republicans, Bigotry Is the New Normal." Washington Post Editors: "THE REPUBLICAN Party, once small government's champion, is now the party that breeds presidential contenders who would monitor schools and mosques, shut down parts of the Internet and exclude certain immigrants for no reason beyond the faith they profess. In the GOP debate Tuesday, those ideas -- along with can-you-top-this rhetorical barrages aimed at illegal immigrants and Syrian refugees -- received a generally polite reception, with constitutional, legal and practical questions contemptuously dismissed as 'political correctness.'... Today the fringe candidates have stormed center stage, brandishing their zeal and hyperbole and, disturbingly, dragging the mainstream along with them."
Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The presidential debate ... crystallized the Republican Party's growing consensus on national security and its strikingly hawkish response to threats at home and abroad, with the candidates vividly channeling the alarm and fear coursing through the GOP base.... Using bellicose language at a moment of pitched voter anxiety, many of the candidates committed themselves to a confrontational set of policies that, while energizing conservative activists, could prove difficult to carry out internationally and pose the risk of a backlash from war-weary swing voters next fall.... Pollster Geoff Garin, who advises a super PAC backing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, said the GOP debate opens the door for Clinton to be 'the strong and steady grown-up in the room.'"
I Know It Must Be True Because I Saw It at the Picture Show. Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: Ted "Cruz and, to varying extents, other candidates onstage appeared to view the Middle East as a kind of set for 'American Sniper' -- a woebegone place of dusty towns crawling with bad guys and not much else. What else can explain the willingness to entertain such civilian casualties? What else can explain the rather strange talking point from Donald Trump, the current front-runner, that the United States should simply 'take the oil' lying around in Iraq and Syria?"
Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches: "The Republican presidential field has forgotten all about how marriage equality is going to force them into intentional Benedictine communities, or how nuns and craft stores would have to pay 'crippling' fines rather than violate their religious convictions. They've been blinded by another kind of fear. [The Tuesday] debate, which was focused on foreign policy, further revealed the Republican field's selective use of both the First Amendment, and, in a brief and probably since-forgotten moment, the Bible." CW: The First Amendment protects the Christian religion (& Jewish religion, insofar as it jibes with Christianity.)
Thomas Edsall of the New York Times: "Despite what liberals might think, [Donald] Trump's success in capitalizing on voter animosity to immigration and to political correctness has shocked many conservative Republicans.... The extended aftermath of the financial collapse of 2008 has given Trump the opportunity to exploit a political opening: the shift to the right that predictably follows such crises.... The dynamic interaction of three current trends -- voter anger over immigration, over offshoring and robotization, and over damage wrought by the economic meltdown of 2008 -- has been crucial to Trump's success." ...
... CW: Edsall is carrying water for the GOP elite, who -- after giving lip service to & outright encouraging the basest instincts of their baser & baser base since the 1970s -- are now shocked, shocked that's there's extremism going on here. "Blah" people, "Kenyan" economics, "well, Obama says he's a Christian"; the gay "agenda" will ruin your straight marriage, "convert" your straight children & gays will have sex in your living room; women will abort their "babies" right up to their due dates & have sex in your living room with random partners, Planned Parenthood sells baby parts; Mexicans are taking all the good jobs, Muslims will impose Sharia law, Christians are losing their freedoms; etc., etc. etc. -- all this malarkey is coming from "establishment" candidates, the same fellows these so-called elites have been supporting for decades. ...
... Chumps Won't Dump Trump. Paul Krugman: "... it's becoming increasingly plausible that [Trump] will go all the way. Why? One answer -- probably the most important -- is what Greg Sargent has been emphasizing: the majority of Republican voters actually support Trump's policy positions. After all, he's just saying outright what mainstream candidates have implied through innuendo.... I would, however, add a casual observation: at this point Trump has been the front-runner for long enough that it's very hard to imagine his supporters suddenly losing faith, because it would be too embarrassing.... For the Trump bubble to burst, many people ... would have to slap their foreheads and say, 'Wow, he's not a serious person! What was I thinking?' And very few people ever do that sort of thing."
Yay, Joe Scarborough has a Trump-Cruz conspiracy theory (begins about 35 sec. in):
Pamela Engel of Business Insider: "After [Richard Burr (R-N.C.).] the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said his staff was looking into whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) referenced classified information during Tuesday night's Republican debate on CNN, the committee issued a statement saying that is not the case." Thanks to P. D. Pepe for linking to an earlier story on this.
The GOP's hilariously inept, mendacious presidential candidates:
(Part 1) CW: Last winter, when it came out that Chris Christie had accepted a personal $30,000 gift from King Abdullah II of Jordan, he claimed it was all okay because he & Abdullah were friends & the Christie & Abdullah families just wanted to have a nice get-together. Usually, a person will remember the name of a friend -- especially if that "friend" also is, like, royalty! -- who gives him a $30,000 gift. Apparently, Christie, unlike the Donald, does not have "the world's greatest memory" -- because in Tuesday's debate, Christie said, "'When I stand across from King Hussein of Jordan, I say to him, "You have a friend again, sir, who will stand with you to fight this fight," he'll change his mind,' Mr. Christie said. It might be a tough conversation: King Hussein died in 1999; Mr. Christie would be talking with his eldest son, King Abdullah II."
(Part 2)
One of the things I would immediately do in addition to defeating them here at home is bring back the warrior class: Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know, every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. -- Carly Fiorina, during Tuesday's debate ...
... Jordyn Phelps of ABC News: "... Carly Fiorina said she did not misspeak during Tuesday night's debate when she said that Gen. Jack Keane retired early because he 'told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear.' But Keane, who served during the Bush administration, retired before Obama became president. Keane, now a FOX News contributor, came forward to say that Fiorina got the facts wrong surrounding his retirement. 'No, I have never spoken to the president,' Keane said on FOX News. 'That's not accurate, and I never served this administration. I served the previous administration.' When asked Wednesday if she misspoke, Fiorina dug in on the accuracy of her statement.... Gen. David Petreaus' retirement, for instance, followed revelations that he shared classified information with his biographer and alleged mistress. Gen. Stanley McChrystal ... retired soon after he was quoted directly criticizing the president and his policies in a 'Rolling Stone' article. Though McChrystal did have disagreements with the president, it was the publicity of the discord -- and not the internal disagreements themselves -- that preceded his early retirement." Emphasis added. ...
... Shakezula in Lawyers, Guns & Money: "Keane retired in 2003. When Obama was still in the Illinois General Assembly.... Good thing none of these dudes is dead or she'd be Vince Foster Conspiracy Theorying up a storm and we'd all die laughing. But the fact she has no idea why Petraeus was 'retired early' and thinks he should be brought back was even more of a howler than the initial claim about Keane. And while the chance that she'll be nominated ranks down there with the chance Ted Cruz will stop reminding everyone of that terminally damp guy who stares at girls on the train, don't expect to see the back of her until sometime after the election. Whoever does get the nomination may well pick her as VP. Unless team GOP stays confused about who it's running against and picks Dr. Carson." Emphasis added.
Paul Waldman: Marco Rubio is no Barack Obama. Even if he were, his timing is off & his party is totally not into change they can believe in.
Michael Gerson, former Dubya speechwriter, now WashPo columnist: All the GOP candidates screwed up -- except Jeb!" This would have been a good (and ethical) place for Gerson to mention his former job as a Bush hack, but he didn't. ...
... Tough Talk from Low-Energy Candidate. Alex Isenstadt & Shane Goldmacher of Politico: "Prior to the debate, senior Bush aides began looking into the possibility of making a clear break with Trump -- potentially with the candidate stating that, if Trump were the nominee, Bush would not support him. The former Florida governor didn't go that far, but the option may still be on the table." CW: Well, okay, not tough talk. But his advisors, unwilling to speak on the record, are hinting that someday Jeb! might think about getting tough." ...
... Eliza Collins of Politico: "Trump's bottom line: I don't want his support anyway." CW: AND Jeb! can't come to my inaugural ball. Which will be yuuuuge! ...
... Update. Besides, which as Akhilleus points out in today's thread, Trump has a more important endorsement. Andrew Roth of the Washington Post: "Putin said Russia would work with 'whomever the American voters choose,' but singled out Trump. 'He's a very lively man, talented without doubt,' Putin said according to the Interfax news service after the three-hour news conference. He added that Trump is the 'absolute leader in the presidential race.' 'He's saying he wants to go to another level of relations, closer, deeper relations with Russia,' Putin continued. 'How can we not welcome that? Of course we welcome that.' Trump in October gave a similar assessment of Russia's leader, saying he could 'get along very well with' Putin despite differences."
Beyond the Beltway
Reuters: "A New York man has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for his role in a plot to build a remote-controlled radiation-emitting 'death ray' intended to harm Muslims and the president, Barack Obama. Eric Feight, 55, pleaded guilty in January to a federal charge of providing material support to terrorists. He admitted helping Glendon Scott Crawford, a self-proclaimed Ku Klux Klansman, in modifying an industrial-grade radiation device, which tabloid newspapers dubbed a 'death ray,' and building a switch to operate it from a distance."
Lynh Bui, et al., of the Washington Post: "Jurors deliberated more than 16 hours over three days but still could not reach a verdict in the trial of the first officer to face prosecution in Freddie Gray's death, forcing an already-weary Baltimore to continue waiting for any resolution in a case that has strained the city for months. Hours after Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams declared a mistrial on Wednesday, court officials announced that he would meet with attorneys Thursday to determine a new trial date."
Ryan Felton of the Guardian: "Last week, Larycia Hawkins, an associate professor of political science at Wheaton College, announced her decision to wear a hijab as a demonstration of 'human solidarity' with Muslims.... Wheaton, a private evangelical liberal arts college in Chicago's west suburbs, placed the professor on administrative leave, pending a review the college said she's entitled to receive as a tenured faculty member." Thanks to Marvin S. for the lead. ...
... CW: I wonder what, if anything, would happen if dozens of people wearing Muslim dress started showing up at Trump rallies -- just sitting there, together, saying nothing. Maybe dozens of Central American workers, fresh off their jobs & still wearing their work clothes also stood together. I know the kidz like to make a racket, but sit-ins can be mighty effective.
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Reader Comments (29)
<< CW: I wonder what, if anything, would happen if dozens of people wearing Muslim dress started showing up at Trump rallies -- just sitting there, together, saying nothing. Maybe dozens of Central American workers, fresh off their jobs & still wearing their work clothes also stood together. I know the kidz like to make a racket, **but sit-ins can be mighty effective**. >> ** My Emphasis **
Brilliant! This should definitely be done!
You've beckoned me back to my young teenager's introduction to the Civil Rights Movement, Anti-War & Anti-Cluster Bomb Protests (Grumman had - still has? - a facility on Long Island, where we body-blocked traffic) etc etc etc: Civil (usually) Disobedience . . . Or sprinting at top speed away from high-pressure hoses or gas.
I would gladly don a hijab the next time The Trumpster (dares to make) a public appearance in NYC.
Rather than stealing your thunder, Marie, why not contact MoveOn (or some other groups) that organize marches, demonstrations, etc.
I think this Dress Code thing of yours could really fly . . . certainly on The Coasts, at first . . . then even further.
Whadya think?
Gotta love this photo of the - now - very Persian-looking House Speaker.
My fantasy is that he'll be yanked out of line at some airport (or elsewhere) as a match for some poor innocent who made it onto a government Watch List.
I'm pathetically low-tech when it comes to the likes of Photo-Shop. And so I'm hoping someone (one of ya'll?) can give this image a few tweaks and bring it up to Islamaphobia speed.
I think if I had to watch "Morning Joe" each day I'd have to forgo breakfast––watching that show induces the collywobbles (a term my father used when we kids were sick and vomited). "A lot of strong performances?" And giving that title to Chris Christi? But on to Joe's conspiracy theory ––Wow! great insight here–-poor guy must have stayed up half the night to figure that one out. But I think he has it wrong–-I think Trump doesn't realize how long Cruz has been on the move here–-first cow tailing Trump, then sucking up Trumps's message, then slowly and carefully edging closer and closer until someone is gonna fall off the cliff and Cruz is smart enough to know how to prevent that happening to him–––until, of course at the end when he won't be the last man standing.
The word "substantive" has been used to describe the debates. I have always understand that word to mean having a firm basis in reality–-an important, meaningful, exchange–––although another meaning is "having a separate and independent existence" –--so maybe???
@Ophelia––I'm getting my burka at the ready––Good idea!
Second chances, likely for all those potential buyers who lost out on the recent purchase of the "...only copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album for several millions of dollars..." by one Martin Shrekli, aka smug jerk bastard.
Everyone is on the story of the arrest (minutes ago) on fraud charges from the Times to HuffPost to WaPo. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/business/shkreli-fraud-charges.html on Mr. Shrekli.
There's a sense that so many will find this a feel good story. Even his lawyer was arrested.
Former NJ Republican Gov. Christine Whitman writes an article on Trump using the words Hitler and Mussolini. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/12/donald-trump-rhetoric-gop-opinion-213441
It is getting to the point where I want Christie to be the Republican candidate. As Marie mentions his little mistake about his 'friend', the King of something or other, I am reminded of the incredible number of almost daily messes he creates in NJ. In a POTUS election, the Dems will have the problem of trying to decide what to tell in an only one minute ad on TV.
And Marie, like Ophelia M., I really like your idea about all those scary people showing up at a Trump rally. Maybe they will have to allow supporters to carry AK47s.
Marvin wrote: "Former NJ Republican Gov. Christine Whitman writes an article on Trump using the words Hitler and Mussolini."
Great. Maybe now she can add Stalin!
The Busted Trumpet has netted himself a coup. He's been endorsed by Vladimir Putin. Bullies have to stick together, I guess. Putin probably looked into Trumpy's soul and saw someone he can "do business with".
"Putin said Russia would work with 'whomever the American voters choose,' but singled out Trump.
'He’s a very lively man, talented without doubt,'... the 'absolute leader in the presidential race.'"
Lively. That's what I want in a president. Hey, if you're gonna be a bigoted liar, might as well be a lively bigoted liar. The other tyrants will love you.
And just to give you an idea of what Putin's endorsement really means, here's an inside view from someone who once thought Putin himself was the bee's knees, none other than George W. (The Decider) Bush:
"Bush was astonished that Putin had tried to influence him by offering to hire a close friend of the president’s and he found Putin’s understanding of the world disconnected from reality. 'He’s not well informed," Bush groused. "It’s like arguing with an eighth grader with his facts wrong.'"
So much to say about that statement. Sheesh. I tried to come up with something about one wrong-assed eighth grader to another but nothing is as succulently perfect as Bush's own words. But think about this, if George Bush thought Putin was disconnected from reality (George fucking Bush!) and not well informed (!)...words fail me.
But Trump, no doubt, would appreciate Putin's attempt at influence peddling. So now we have a blowhard liar and bigot being supported by a whack job war monger who came across as a disconnected, fact challenged eighth grader to an inept, incurious, smirking frat-boy war monger.
Whaddaworld.
When Christi was on Fox with M.Kelly last night they both laughed off the "Hussein" mistake––so silly of me, says Christi...But the bigger blunder was his not realizing that Russia has had a military base in Syria for years.
Oh, Carly, thou art such a spin weaver–––I betcha she's gonna stick to her general story bout the top brass jest like she still says she done see all those baby parts being cut up on a table.
This is what makes politics such a kick!
P.S. Love that graph above!
Just watched the Koch Brother's CCD video––––LOVE it!! thanks Ken. This is really terrific!
The Fabulous Bridges Brothers -
Many thanks to you, Ken (and your daughter-in-law), for sharing this brilliant Koch Koncert (a whole helluva lot went into producing this)!
And thank you, Beau, for having the balls to so openly speak-out!
Re the KKK Death Ray story linked above:
Naturally that got my attention. As far as I can figure out, pursuing the Reuters link and beyond, the only sanely plausable explanation is that these squirrels were trying to get hold of an industrial x-ray machine. These are widely used to inspect welds and structures in airframes, pressure vessels, and other critical areas. The radiation levels in these devices is very dangerous, and rigorous safety precautions must be adhered to, but the idea that they could be weaponized to harm someone at a distance is a fantasy worthy of a Ben Carson. Ain't no way around the inverse square law.
So now, I'm afraid, it's story time again. During my career at NASA I spent many years helping to develop instruments for imaging x-rays and gamma rays produced in solar flares. Testing and calibrating these instruments involved using high energy x-ray machines, as well as radioactive isotopes. To handle those requires training and certification by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and I had a few of my college student interns so certified. This somewhat alarmed one of the mothers of a student, who came to see me about it. I was able to reassure her: "I understand your concern, ma'am, you're afraid that your grandchildren might have two heads. Please don't worry about it. The levels from the isotopes that Jason will be handling -- there's no way you'll get two heads. A third eye? Maybe, depends on the breaks. But two heads? No way." A little physics humor there. OK, I know I'm weird.
@ Marvin S. -
Ya think Whitman is attempting a Come-Back?
Let's never forget that, while head of the EPA, she reassured us - just days after The Twin Towers collapsed - that the air was safe!
As Marie recollected, so many of us could never have envisioned - when we 'growed up' - that our world (locally & globally) would / *could* become what it has.
I miss my parents, deeply, yet also feel they've been spared (while acutely aware - when still living - of the toxic, downward trajectory) the further impoverishing/corrupting of our current state of affairs.
@D.C. Clark: Thanks for weighing in on the death-ray machine. How big is an industrial x-ray machine? Doesn't sound like something you could carry in your pocket. And if it's yuuuge, how far could it shoot a beam & kill or hurt people from a distance?
And, on a less serious note, which you don't need to be a NASA scientist to answer, is there a Second Amendment right to carry a death-ray machine &/or the remote controls that operate it?
Marie
"...bring back the warrior class."
Sounds like something you would have heard in 19th century Prussia or Weimar Germany or from Bushido aficionados in 1930's Japan.
The Warrior Class! Right on, baby. Because that's what the world needs now. More war.
Cruz wants to carpet bomb entire regions. Trump wants to "bomb the shit" out of any place that pisses him off. Carson wants the Book of Revelations to come to life and, while he's waiting for End Times fun and games, get back to waterboarding undesirables. Rubio wants....oh who the hell knows?
There's so much fist shaking, drawn swords, and loudmouths running around in a frenzy of bellicose fury, I've got that Khatchaturian piece playing in my head. Wonder how Liarina, Trump, Cruz, et al would look on stage doing the Sabre Dance?
Can't you picture these pretend tough guys dressed up in 19th century satin Russian uniforms on Ed Sullivan hippity-hopping across the stage waving swords over their heads, clenching scimitars between their teeth and doing Cossack kick moves?
"And next on our shew, from the wilds of Wingnuttia, the Amazing Baggerinos doing the famous Sabre Dance, let's have a rilly big hand for these folks..."
D.C.,
To make matters worse, that third eye could be blind. Hoo-boy.
Marie,
I have no doubt that Famous Originalist Nino Scalia would not hesitate to point out that "a well armed militia" does not rule out death rays. "Is that an industrial X-ray machine in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
I can see the gun show ads now for Saturday Night Death Ray Specials. 20% off if you wear your hood.
Wait...I'm pretty sure Liarina left out a few generals who were fired by Obama for saying bad things about him: Patton, Washington, Pershing, MacArthur, Westmoreland, Grant AND Lee, and a few other guys whose names she couldn't remember off the top of her slanted head but they sure were crackerjack members of the Warrior Class. She's had them all over for dinner so she should know. And she's not backing down from that statement so don't even ask.
Modern Life and The Warrior Class,
This morning I was at the local supermarket. The checkout person was a very pretty, very young lady, bearing on her right forearm a hideously ugly tattoo of an assault rifle and the words: "Isaiah 6 - 8".
Which verse is: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Some further Googling discovered that this is apparently inspired by a scene in a WW2 flick called "Fury", and expressive of something like "Kill a Kraut for Christ" updated to "Murder a Muslim for Jesus".
I resisted the temptation to ask my bloodthirsty young checker whether she had read the New Testament. She may have been Jewish. She also had waist length hair, indicating she was not in the military -- yet.
Though saddened, who am I to judge? At her age I was sufficiently bloodthirsty to enlist and volunteer for waaaaay too many things.
"Vee grow too soon oldt, und too late schmart." As some of those old Krauts used to say -- too late.
Is sex part of the War on Christmas now?
Citing the Bible, a homeless shelter in Kentucky, run by something called the Emergency Christian Ministries, has kicked all women and children out of their facility, just in time for the holidays, lest unauthorized sexy time ruin Christmas for the shelter operators. The women and children will spend Christmas--and many other days to come--under a bridge somewhere. If they're lucky.
Emergency Christian Ministries Director Billy Woodward declared "...that he had to put a stop to the 'sex problem.'"
"'They may want to meet or slip in a room occasionally, we can’t have that,' Woodward explained. 'It seems like these last days it’s getting worse … the ungodly type.'"
Yeah because "godly types" kick poor women and children out into the snow and rain at Christmas.
This is the sort of Christianity being pushed by the Cruzes and Carsons and pretty much the entirety of the Republican Party. This is their kind of America. And their kind of religion. A vengeful, pinched, petty, brand that decides to punish women for taking the briefest sliver out of their shitty lives to enjoy a pleasurable moment. To make some kind of connection other than a kick in the teeth. Sex? Holy shit! Can't have that. Jesus wouldn't like it. Out they go.
But in keeping with orthodox Confederate rules, it's only the women--and their kids--who have to pay the price.
The men get to stay and enjoy a warm bed and Christmas dinner.
I guess the "emergency" part of this Christian ministry is that filthy sluts are having sex without permission. It's an emergency! Throw 'em to the wolves. I'm surprised they weren't stoned to death in the town square. Isn't that a Bible law too?
Christ, these people! Merry fucking Christmas, you assholes.
So the plot to x-ray Muslims to death was impracticable? The mere wispy imaginings of racist crackpots?
Sounds almost like some on the Main Stage the other night who clearly don't know the first thing about carpet bombing or think we will solve all our problems by bringing back a warrior class we never had, their dim understanding of technology and military science exceeded only by their utter ignorance of what makes people tick.
Let's see..... What sentence did the court decide to mete out to the first set of crackpots?
Hmmm. It gives one to think.
The Apuzzo story (U.S. Visa Process Missed San Bernardino Wife’s Zealotry on Social Media) was pretty damning to the administration and now it turns out not to be, actually, true. So far there is radio silence from the Public Editor and I can't find a correction either. But surely some additional treatment is in order. The article was pretty categorical about the failure to check public social media and went so far as infer that unnamed sources at Homeland Security felt checking such would be "inappropriate."
Also I wonder why the Times is so quick to run with and highlight in headlines these half-baked theories
Marie and all re Portable Death Rays:
Some of the industrial x-ray units are fairly small, would fit in a mid-sized suit case. If you stood still within, say 20 feet on the wrong side of one in operation, you'd exceed your maximum allowable annual dose in several minutes. As with anything that radiates, intensity decreases with the square of the distance: twice as far away -- one forth the dose, four times as far -- one sixteenth, etc...
Not like the Star Truck Hand Phaser.
Won't trivialize the issue, though. Over the years there have been many very serious violations of safe handling practices with these devices. And, to me more alarming, mishandling of radioactive materials. The specter of a terrorist 'dirty bomb' is a very real concern. Even a fairly low level event, resulting in few immediate casualties, could contaminate and render useless substantial areas of vital real estate. Needs only a small amount of isotope, and a few ounces of explosive to disperse it.
D.C.,
Shhhh....you'll give Ted Cruz ideas.
@ Akhilleus RE -
<< But in keeping with orthodox Confederate rules, it's only the women--and their kids--who have to pay the price.
The men get to stay and enjoy a warm bed and Christmas dinner. >>
Exactly!
This brings to mind when Cruz (Was it Cruz? The gang's begun to mentally merge in my mind like a rotting grilled cheese sandwich) boasted of the availability of condoms from a coin-operated machine in his (high school's?) lavatory. Easy Peasy, that matter of birth control, no?
What I can recall from Days of Yore is that carrying - and *not* using - those readily obtained condoms was far more a (fictionalized) token of proof that the guy was "getting some". Or pretending to use the "rubber" in order to hold onto it for bragging rights.
Whether he actually got it in - or kept it zipped - it always boiled down to the girl being a slut (a theme that has hatefully carried-over, exponentially, to Modern Times) to the tune of << no warm bed or Christmas dinner >> for the female-folk.
Ophelia,
Your memory is quite precise. It was BMOC Cruz who disparaged the importance of any kind of birth control apart from the cavalier approach of the manly studs who picked up random "wanton sluts" and who may or may not have decided to access the condom dispenser in some stinking frat house men's room prior to demonstrating their manliness (for the thirty or forty seconds they could hold out).
Not long ago, I commented on the phenomenon of right-wing male managed (if it was convenient) birth control, and rather than recall the initial umbrage taken at such chauvinistic asperity, have chosen here to reproduce a portion of that comment:
"But for the white guys, those poor victimized heroes, pretty much everything is an assault on their superiority, on the patriarchy, on their manhood, ergo Cruz's pathetically unexamined idea about men and boys being in charge of "getting the rubbers". (I'll bet he was one of those dickheads who kept a rubber in his wallet to show off to the other guys as proof of his studliness. The only problem was the rubber never left the wallet. It became frozen in place like a leather frieze, most young women being savvy enough to avoid misogynistic douchebags who kept rubbers in their wallets in the first place, in case they "got lucky".)"
Ted (I've Got a Rubber, Bitch) Cruz in a (Lilliputian) nut-sack.
I generally don't like anything associated with Paul Ryan, but I'm happy to see the possible increase in H2B visas. I don't know about the rest of the country, but here on the coast of Maine there simply are not enough "unskilled workers" to fill the needs of our tourist economy.
The H2B visa application process is complicated and expensive but without those foreign workers most of the businesses in my town, including my own, would be unable to operate. The result would fewer jobs for local workers and a lot less money being spent in our state.
Over the past few years the rules governing H2B visa employees have been tightened up -- many of them for good reason. Plenty of people were being misled about the work they would be performing, where they would be living, and the wages they would be paid. With the new rules in place I can't imagine that too many bad employers are getting away mistreating their foreign workers anymore.
Like most things the visa program and the need for H2B workers is much more complex than it would seem at first glance.
Akhilleus -
Thank you for resurrecting an earlier posting of yours for my behalf, which I enjoyed reading.
<>
Tee-Hee
@ Gail Leiser -
Thank you for posting - and enlightening me - about the H2B Visa Program as it concerns Maine.
Prompting (shaming?) me to become better informed, I came upon several sites on the subject. The following is from The Ellsworth American: "Injunction May Ease H2B Visa Logjam"
http://www.ellsworthamerican.com/featured/injunction-may-ease-h2b-visa-logjam
Akhilleus, once more & finally, RE "<>" . . .
My "Tee-Hee" was to reference the following, which - no doubt - was censored by one of the internet's profanity patrol.
<>
Tee-Hee
Akhilleus, once more & finally, RE "<>" . . .
My "Tee-Hee" was to reference the following, which - no doubt - was censored by one of the internet's profanity patrol.
<>
Tee-Hee