;)
The Commentariat -- December 3, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Amie Tsang & Matthew Phillips of the New York Times: "Stocks rose on Wall Street Monday after President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China reached a truce in the countries' trade war.Shares of industrial stocks rose, as exporting giants such as Boeing, Caterpillar and Deere pulled the export-reliant S&P 500 industrial sector higher. Semiconductor makers, which have been hurt by the potential for the trade war to disrupt their widespread production networks in Asia, rose as well. Those early gains, however, were tempered by doubts that the fragile cease-fire -- essentially a 90-day postponement of planned additional American tariffs on Chinese imports -- would put the dispute between the world's two largest economies to rest permanently.After gaining nearly 1.4 percent in early trading Monday, the S&P 500 was up by less than 1 percent by late morning."
When a Mob Boss Tweets. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday said Michael Cohen does not deserve leniency for cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, arguing that his former personal lawyer should serve a 'full and complete' prison sentence. 'He makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY reduced deal for himself, and get his wife and father-in-law (who has the money?) off Scott Free [sic],' Trump wrote on Twitter of Cohen. 'He lied for this outcome and should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence.' Trump sought to further distance himself from his onetime ally by incorrectly claiming that Cohen's crimes were 'unrelated to Trump.'... While he blasted Cohen for turning against him, the president encouraged other people tied up in the Mueller probe to show loyalty. Trump praised his on-again, off-again adviser, Roger Stone, for refusing to cooperate with investigators. 'He will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about "President Trump." Nice to know that some people still have "guts!"' Trump wrote of Stone."
Julie Barnes & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The C.I.A. has evidence that Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, communicated repeatedly with a key aide around the time that a team believed to have been under the aide's command assassinated Jamal Khashoggi, according to former officials familiar with the intelligence.The adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, topped the list of Saudis who were targeted by American sanctions last month over their suspected involvement in the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. American intelligence agencies have evidence that Prince Salman and Mr. Qahtani had 11 exchanges that roughly coincided with the hit team's advance into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where Mr. Khashoggi was murdered. The exchanges are a key piece of information that helped solidify the C.I.A.'s assessment that the crown prince ordered the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Virginia resident who had been critical of the Saudi government. 'This is the smoking gun, or at least the smoking phone call,' said Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A. official now at the Brookings Institution. 'There is only one thing they could possibly be talking about. This shows that the crown prince was witting of premeditated murder.'" Mrs. McC: This is a reiteration of news we linked over the weekend, but it's a stronger statement about the strength of the evidence.
Ben Hubbard & Stanley Reed of the New York Times: "The tiny, wealthy Persian Gulf state of Qatar will withdraw from OPEC in January, the country's energy minister said on Monday, hinting that it wanted freedom from an oil cartel dominated by Saudi Arabia, one of its regional rivals. The minister, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, said Qatar would focus on its gas industry and dismissed the idea that the withdrawal was connected to politics, but not without taking a jab at Saudi Arabia and its clout in the organization. Qatar is one of the smallest producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and its modest contributions to the oil market will most likely dampen the effect of its move on prices, which have been battered in recent weeks by fears of a glut."
It's Okay. It's New Jersey! Claude Brodesser-Akner of NJ.com: "FBI agents raided the home of Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam just before 8 a.m. Monday morning.... At least a dozen agents were seen going in and out of the Ohio Avenue home Monday morning, removing more than 10 boxes. An FBI spokeswoman at the scene said both FBI and IRS agents were involved in the search of home.... Gilliam, a Democrat elected in November 2017, was also recently served with municipal criminal summons from a mid-November brawl at the Haven nightclub. Gilliam and Councilman Jeffree Fauntleroy II were involved in a fight outside the Haven Nightclub at Golden Nugget Nov. 11 around 2:22 a.m. People involved allege the elected officials assaulted them and chased them with a car."
*****
Two Takes on the Same International Man of Misery:
1. Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "... Donald Trump said his trade agreement with China was 'one of the largest deals ever made.' He dubbed his new accord with Canada and Mexico the 'most significant, modern and balanced trade agreement in history.' And he insisted that the world leaders he's lambasted on the world stage had become great friends. As he crisscrossed Buenos Aires, posing for photos with dignitaries and boasting about his accomplishments, Trump left behind a trail of exaggerations meant to paper over the fractious first half of his term and rebrand himself as a globe-trotting statesman.... The president arrived back in Washington on Sunday feeling triumphant, believing his latest international trip to be a resounding success.... But behind the veneer is a more complicated reality. His deal with President Xi Jinping of China was effectively an agreement to continue trying to agree. The president's critics argue that the new North American trade agreement is little more than NAFTA 1.1. And behind all the smiles, many world leaders still have a strong distaste for Trump."
2. David Nakamura & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "After midterm elections in which their party loses political power in Washington, American presidents have traditionally used foreign travel to change the subject.... But in the wake of the Republicans' electoral setback last month, President Trump has, once again, eschewed tradition. Trump returned to Washington on Sunday after a relatively subdued two-day visit to the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, where he announced modest breakthroughs on trade but chose to avoid provocative meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. His performance -- coupled with his listless two-day visit to Paris days after the midterms, during which he skipped a visit to an American cemetery and appeared isolated from other world leaders -- has created the impression of a president scaling back his ambitions on the world stage amid mounting political crises."
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "This was the week in which we learned that a lot of what had been reported as speculative, or reported but not taken seriously, or reported but forgotten, now maps onto real facts. This was the week that Trump confederates were shown to be liars or admitted to being liars.... Mueller is now setting down markers around which of Trump's advisers and associates and family were involved in Russian entanglements that may have compromised them and with efforts to cover those entanglements up.... For anyone who still allows the facts to determine outcomes, even through the confusion and the hectic pace, this was the week it got real." ...
... All the President*'s Scumbags. Paul Waldman in the Washington Post (Nov. 28): "... movies and television have given us a distorted view of how conspiracies work. The Hollywood version of a conspiracy involves careful planning, skilled operatives, multiple moving parts coming together with uncanny efficiency and usually a scene in which everyone involved gets together so the leader can say, 'Okay, here's the plan,' which he then runs through so everyone understands how the whole thing will go down. In the real world, conspiracies are more likely to involve the lack of any coherent plan, a bunch of bumbling fools only partially understanding what the other fools are up to and then frantic attempts by all concerned to avoid responsibility when the whole thing unravels or gets revealed. That appears to be what the conspiracy to get Donald Trump elected president was like." ...
... Katherine Miller of BuzzFeed News: This Rusher Thing is "the best TV show Donald Trump will ever create.... It's sort of fun and destroying our souls all at once.... [Popular literary, film & TV] series feature: dozens of characters; complicated and overlapping plots; a distance from our own reality; and, with notable exceptions, limited interiority (you don't know what most characters are thinking or feeling). Combine the density of the plots and that interiority gap, and you the viewer have a lot of room to roam where it comes to theories, side plots, and hopes for how it all might turn out. And isn't that what we're looking at with the Russia investigation, except in real life?"
Julia Davis of the Daily Beast: "Following the abrupt cancellation of Donald Trump's G20 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian state media roasted him. Known for seamlessly adhering to the Kremlin's viewpoint, the troupe of Putin's cheerleaders took turns laying into the president of the United States.... Trump remains willfully ignorant or blissfully unaware of the Kremlin's disdain, stating: 'I think we have a very good relationship... So I'll meet with him [Putin] at the appropriate time.'" Mrs. McC: Some of the Russian commentary sounds like what we might say here on Reality Chex.
John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, took aim at special counsel Robert Mueller in an interview airing Sunday, criticizing what he called 'unethical' tactics by prosecutors in Mueller's office after former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. In an interview with AM 970 in New York, Giuliani accused Mueller of crossing a line by 'intimidating' Trump's allies into saying 'what he believes [is] his version of the truth.' 'They obviously exerted a lot of pressure on him. Mr. Cohen unfortunately has a history of significant lies in the past,' Giuliani told host John Catsimatidis...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Oliver Laughland of the Guardian: "Roger Stone ... has said he has not discussed a potential pardon with the president should he be implicated in ... Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller's investigation appears laser-focused on Stone's possible ties to WikiLeaks amid mounting evidence that Stone and another Trump ally, the conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, may have been aware of the organisation's plans to publish stolen emails from the Clinton campaign long before they were released. Speaking to ABCs This Week on Sunday, Stone again denied ties to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, and insisted he had not discussed a pardon with Trump. 'There's no circumstance under which I would testify against the president because I'd have to bear false witness against him,' Stone said. 'I'd have to make things up. And I'm not going to do that. I've had no discussion regarding a pardon.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ben Kamisar of NBC News: "New York Democrat Jerry Nadler, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Sunday that new revelations from one of President Trump's allies amount to proof that Russia had 'leverage' over Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.... 'The fact that he was lying to the American people about doing business in Russia and the Kremlin knew he was lying gave the Kremlin a hold over him,' Nadler said. 'One question we have now is, does the Kremlin still have a hold over him because of other lies that they know about?'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Kris Schneider of ABC News: "The leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee [Adam Schiff] said Sunday on 'This Week' that there is now a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation..., Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen, who he said confirms that 'the president and his business are compromised.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kyle Cheney of Politico (Nov. 30): "The top Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees said Friday they spoke with acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker, who pledged to follow 'all the regulations, policies and procedures' that govern special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Elijah Cummings, the likely incoming chairmen of Judiciary and Oversight, respectively, say Whitaker also committed to testifying before their panels in January, when Democrats will take control of the House." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Roey Hadar of ABC News: "Former FBI Director James Comey wrote on Twitter that he will testify privately before a House panel Monday on the condition that he will be able to speak freely afterward and that a public transcript will be released within 24 hours. 'Hard to protect my rights without being in contempt, which I don't believe in. So [I] will sit in the dark, but Republicans agree I'm free to talk when done and transcript released in 24 hours. This is the closest I can get to public testimony,' Comey wrote on Twitter Sunday morning.... Comey had filed suit in federal court Thursday to block the subpoena requiring him to testify behind closed doors to the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, instead preferring to testify publicly. In the lawsuit, the former FBI director condemned the process as being powered by 'a poisonous combination of presidential tweets and the selective leaking that has become standard practice' for Republican lawmakers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Contributor Nisky Guy is surprised to learn that Comey is not a fan of selective leaks.
CBS News: "Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, who oversaw U.S. naval forces in the Middle East, was found dead Saturday in his residence in Bahrain, officials said. Defense officials told CBS News they are calling it an 'apparent suicide.' Stearney was the commander of the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. Rear Adm. Paul Schlise, the deputy commander of the 5th Fleet, has assumed command, the Navy said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
This belongs in Infotainment, but I can't adapt it to the narrow format:
Wingers are very, very upset about this HuffPost tweet:
The holiday TV classic "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" is seriously problematic. 😳 pic.twitter.com/dOgqPF3bAP
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) November 29, 2018
This should probably go under Infotainment, too:
... "Trump's Book Club." Katie Rogers of the New York Times Is So Mean: "President Trump, a leader who is not exactly a man of letters -- at least not beyond those on his CAPS LOCK keyboard -- has been using his Twitter account to promote a slew of books that he regards as 'incredible,' 'terrific' and 'great originals.' At least six books, presumably in the running to line the conspiracy theory section of the future Trump presidential library, have titles like 'Spygate: The Attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump' and 'The Russia Hoax.' The authors are supporters like Jeanine Pirro, a longtime friend whose book 'Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy,' has, according to the president, aptly explained 'the phony Witch Hunt.' Most of the titles given an Oprah's-book-club-like stamp by the president have authors who mirror his view that there are forces within the government intent on bringing him down. And some contain their share of Trump-friendly declarations that do not necessarily track with the truth: 'The Russia collusion investigation is over,' Ms. Pirro wrote in her book. (It's not.)" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
"That Shit Doesn't Work." Michelle Obama Begs to Differ with Sheryl Sandberg. Opheli Lawler of New York: "Speaking about work life balance, and finding a way to excel in your career and marriage, [Michelle] Obama spoke frankly about what works and what doesn't -- and that the expectation of 'having it all' isn't always feasible. 'That whole "so you can have it all." Nope, not at the same time,' Obama said. 'That's a lie. And it's not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn't work all the time.' The crowd erupted at hearing the former first lady say 'shit,' and Obama quickly apologized. 'I forgot where I was for a moment!'"
Franklin Foer of the Atlantic: "The world overflows with affection for the man long known as Poppy -- that clubbable, slightly daffy avatar of decency. But the encomiums for George H. W. Bush are coated in thick, water-beading layers of nostalgia. On the surface, obituaries for 41 carry the longing for a time when American politics was ruled by men of 'high character' and a sense of 'public duty,' the very antithesis of the present partisan era&'s coarseness.... All the florid remembrances are packed with fondness for a bygone institution known as the Establishment, hardened in the cold of New England boarding schools, acculturated by the late-night rituals of Skull and Bones, sent off to the world with a sense of noblesse oblige. For more than a century, this Establishment resided at the top of the American caste system. Now it is gone, and apparently people wish it weren't.... But good manners are hardly the same as moral courage; prudence is sometimes hard-hearted. Those who are mourning the passing of the old Establishment should mourn its many failures, too." ...
... "David Cop-a-Feel." Mrs. McCrabbie: It is worth noting that those cold New England (boys') boarding schools did not teach that "good manners" and "noblesse oblige" should be accorded to attractive young women. One suspects the curriculum included instruction on "droit de seigneur."
David Leonhardt of the New York Times on the good old days "when CEOs cared about America." Elizabeth Warren has a plan to force them to "care" again.
Presidential Election 2020
You can't be fresh-faced if you've got consultants who are running their 25th campaign because they're going to water down your fresh face so badly and try to get you to do things they're comfortable with because they've done it in their 25 other campaigns. -- Garry Mauro, the Texas land commissioner, and friend of both Beto O'Rourke and his father ...
... Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "Rep. Beto O'Rourke may have lost in Texas, but he's winning in Obamaland. Aides to the former president and the man himself say O'Rourke's campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, gave them flashbacks to Obama's precocious political rise and has positioned the young white congressman as an early if unlikely heir to the first black president's 'hope and change' mantle. Obama said as much at an event in Chicago last week and some of his former political lieutenants have been publicly encouraging O'Rourke to consider a 2020 presidential bid, while privately counseling him on what to expect should he jump in.... 'The reason I was able to make a connection with a sizable portion of the country was because people had a sense that I said what I meant,' Obama told his former strategist David Axelrod last week, adding that O'Rourke has that same quality. 'It felt as if he based his statements and his positions on what he believed. And that, you'd like to think, is normally how things work. Sadly it's not,' Obama added." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I still like Beto for veep, but then that's the same thing I thought about Obama in 2007.
Natasha Korecki of Politico: "In just a matter of weeks, [Michael] Avenatti's fortunes have taken a nosedive, rapidly downshifting him from 2020 presidential prospect to political pariah." But he still thinks he's going to be the next POTUS. Mrs. McC: The guy needs therapy.
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Oh, For Pete's Sake. Brittany Wallman of the Sun-Sentinel: "Broward Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda Snipes announced Saturday she will fight her suspension by the governor, and rescinded her letter of resignation that preceded it.Gov. Rick Scott suspended Snipes late Friday afternoon, citing 'widespread issues with voting' in Broward County.... The governor Friday replaced Snipes with Republican Peter Antonacci, president and CEO of the state's business-recruitment agency Enterprise Florida. Antonacci has history with Broward elections: He prosecuted the 2004 Senate hearings against Broward's prior elections supervisor, Miriam Oliphant. Oliphant was removed by Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, also for alleged incompetence. Antonacci represented the governor's office.... After the November election, which brought unflattering national attention to her operation, Snipes submitted a letter of resignation that was to take effect Jan. 4, a date that likely would have kept the current governor from selecting her replacement. Scott was elected to the U.S. Senate and will be sworn in on Jan. 3."
Way Beyond
France. Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "President Emmanuel Macron returned to France on Sunday from a summit meeting in Argentina to find his country in turmoil after a day of violent protests, surveying the destruction for himself even as his government weighed declaring a state of emergency. A third weekend of nationwide protests by the 'Yellow Vests' movement, largely made up of working-class people angry about a planned increase in fuel taxes, left burned cars and smashed store windows in several of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Paris. Broken glass and empty tear gas canisters fired by the police littered Paris, where hundreds of vandals joined the ranks of the protesters. One person died in the unrest this weekend, bringing to three the number of casualties on the margins of the demonstrations over the last three weeks. More than 260 people were wounded nationwide, at least 133 of them in Paris, according to the prefecture of police. Some were bystanders caught in the fray who needed treatment after exposure to tear gas. About 412 people were arrested nationwide. The interior minister, Christophe Castaner, said on Sunday that the government might declare a state of emergency." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Angelique Chrisafis of the Guardian: "The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will hold an emergency meeting of senior ministers on Sunday after central Paris saw its worst unrest in a decade on Saturday. Thousands of masked protesters fought running battles with police, set fire to cars, banks and houses and burned makeshift barricades on the edges of demonstrations against fuel tax rises. On Sunday morning, Paris authorities hired extra trucks to begin removing the carcasses of burnt cars on from the scorched pavements of some of Paris's most expensive streets, amid graffiti calling for Macron to resign. Piles of teargas canisters littered broken pavements in front of rows of shattered shopfronts and smashed windows, as TV channels showed non-stop footage of central Paris in flames during Saturday's events." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Israel. David Halbfinger & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "The Israeli police recommended on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on bribery, fraud and other charges, accusing him of trading regulatory favors for fawning news coverage, in what is potentially the most damaging of a series of corruption cases against him. It was the third time this year that the police have urged that Mr. Netanyahu face criminal prosecution. And it dealt another blow to his teetering governing coalition, which narrowly averted collapse last month and is clinging to a one-vote majority in Parliament while edging closer to calling early elections. Mr. Netanyahu, who ... continues to dominate all potential challengers in opinion polls, now must await the decision of the attorney general, whom he appointed, on whether to indict him in all three cases. That may take months, and Mr. Netanyahu could well win another term as prime minister before he is formally charged...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (13)
Concerning Fatty’s immense self-regard and wildly overblown histrionics over the signing (NOT ratification) of new NAFTA (as Macron likes to—correctly—call it): it’s like a third rate contractor hired to install replacement windows in a three story luxury mansion taking credit for building the whole thing from the ground up.
It’s one more example of him taking full credit for the hard work of other people, work he could never, ever have accomplished on his own.
The original NAFTA was a far more impressive and difficult achievement, something Fatty has neither the ability nor vision nor attention span to have created, but as always, he’s happy to pat himself on the back with laughable encomiums like “greatest ever” a term he likely employs whenever he inspects the bowl after going number two.
@Akhilleus: You should know by now that Trump has all the best shit.
HW may well have been the last of the "noblesse oblige" school of Republicanism; the last of the Rockefeller Republicans.
The problem with that, though, is it never occurred to the members of that set that this nation was founded on the notion that there shouldn't be any sort of noblesse to be oblige-ing.
The current iteration of the Republican party is so awful, though, that even liberals are waxing nostalgic for the days when republicans were merely arrogant aristocrats. Given a choice I suppose I'd take Poppy over any of the current crop, but as long as we're dreaming I'd just as soon take FDR.
Just a note on climate change. Florida Power & Light is building a new fossil fuel plant.......and elevating it 11 feet in case of sea level rise.
@Bobby Lee: It's only Monday, but thanks for this week's best illustration of irony.
Todays Guardian quotes David Attenborough. "Collapse of civilization is on the horizon."
I suggest everyone read Cormac McCarthy's book, [THE ROAD] and see our future unless we take strong action.
I'm sorry, but I simply cannot indulge in the wistful nostalgia for the "good old days" of Poppy Bush.
If the Trump family are the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, the Bush family makes the Corleones look like juvenile delinquents who knocked over the local popcorn stands, and Poppy was smack in the middle.
Everyone is touting his great experience. Sure. He did a lot of things. And made a lot of money off the connections he made. Two words: Carlyle Group.
As both an ex-president and an ex-CIA director, Poppy was the perfect hire. And he joined a bunch of other Bush era cronies making tons of money off the misery and death of millions of other human beings around the world. James Baker was a vital cog in Carlyle's international war mongering operations, as was former Raygun Secretary of Defense (as well as deputy director at the CIA), Frank Carlucci. Richard Helms and William Casey (MORE CIA directors) were on board as well. These last two got to know the ins and outs of making money off world conflicts while working for the Bank of Crooks and Criminals (BCCI) before moving over to the new BCCI, Poppy Bush's Carlyle Group.
Carlyle specialized in playing both sides against the middle and siphoning out all the money they could. They were agnostic about whom they exploited (Americans, for one) and virulently opportunistic about making money off suffering and war.
James Baker, who was instrumental in shoving Dubya into the White House, spent time during the Iraq Cluster Fuck representing both sides in a dispute over Iraq war reparations. On one hand, he was tasked by Dubya to make sure (*cough-cough*) that Iraq's "rebuilding efforts", ya know, after the unnecessary war of choice he began, weren't stymied by immense war debts (see Treaty of Versailles and WWII).
On the other hand, Baker, as a representative of Poppy's Carlyle Group, was representing the interests of Kuwait who wanted its pound of flesh for the first Gulf War, prosecuted by....POPPY! Guess who won? Poppy, Baker, Kuwait, Carlyle and the Saudi royal family (oh yeah, Poppy represented their interests too). Guess who lost? Everyone else. The defunct Iraqi government was unable to rebuild shit. Instead, insurgents ran roughshod over the place and ISIS was formed as a result.
But Poppy made out like a bandit. Carlyle made billions selling weapons and consulting services to the US (and Saudis, and others) during the Afghan and Iraq wars, conflicts started by the son of Carlyle's number one asset, Poppy Bush. And guess who else he represented? the BIN LADEN FAMILY! Head spinning yet?
Don't be confused, it's all about making money by affiliating yourself with anyone who will pay, including those whose business was/is killing Americans. Don't forget that Poppy's daddy shilled for Hitler and did business with the Nazis long after the war had started, stopping only when congress told him to knock that shit off.
And I won't even mention Willie Horton.
So the Great George H.W. Bush? Fuck him.
I know Marie doesn't like spitting on the recently dead, but let me tell you, if a Bush thought they could make an extra dime by pissing into my freshly dug grave, they'd be lined up around it like drunken sailors in a hoochie-house men's room.
The same sort of insider, elitist establishment power centers promoted by such as Skull and Bones type secret societies went on to ensure an immensely successful and lucrative career for Poppy as poor people around the world crashed and (literally) burned.
A thousand points of light, my ass.
Akhilleus,
Timing is everything. Poppy chose a good time to die.
It took a Pretender, as egregiously offensive in public as he is in private, to make the first Bush look good (Bush II never did).
I'm struck by how closely your accurate portrayal of Poppy hews to Marie and Safari's comments on the end of the corporate social contract.
Real, misplaced nostalgia might be defined as the belief that it ever existed.
Ken,
It really is a scam of immense proportions. And Carlyle is not the only player. But to look at their position in society as a whole is instructive. Hint: it exists only to make money coming and going. They're like a corporation which sells fire insurance to people in California, only they don't pay off if there's an actual fire. But they also sell fuel and matches to arsonists. Then, on the back end, they own construction companies that come in after the conflagration to suck up any government money around for clearing and cleaning, and then tell homeowners (the ones who survived), that, for a few mill, they'll happily rebuild their lost homes. And, oh yeah, they can sell them some more "fire insurance" for the next time.
The only trick they miss is finding a way to sell oxygen. But then they'd sell it to the fire as well as to those trying to survive.
@Ak
I feel ya on the Bush "greatest man" fatigue. It's frankly embarrassing that all these presidential "historians" on teevee exalt and adulate to high heavens this man but can hardly bring themselves to talk about the many very unsavory acts he also left behind. The only criticism I did see called out was his infamous "Willie Horton" racism, but nothing on foreign policy blunders. Only that he was "the greatest mind!".
Good call on the Middle East profiteering, but as a student in Latin American Studies, my mind immediately went to Central America when I heard he died. More specifically, Panama. For those who need a refresher, look up December 1989 "Operation Just Cause". I'm assuming the name is both ironic and cynical because it really was a very deadly mission, "just because" he could. Basically Bush Sr. was afraid he was being seen as a limp dick on the world stage so he sent in the US military to smash Panama with some bombs to show his former CIA asset Noriega who was boss. Bush claimed "national emergency" grounds for the operation, because, well, "just 'cause". So our exceptional democracy on the bright shiny hill went south to launch some bombs on civilians as they're preparing for Christmas day (pretty Christian of us, right? Evangelicals surely approve)! Yeah, who approved that one? Well, there was Sec of Defense Dick "how am I still alive?" Cheney, not to mention notorious war criminal Elliot Abrams leading the charge at the State Dept. Yeah, Bush Sr. empowered some pretty sordid characters. That's on him too.
The world's a dirty place, and empires throw their weight around sometimes, I get it. But launching bombs into crowded civilian neighborhoods on people that posed no threat to us, right before Christmas...that's just small and sadistic. And that giant asterisk needs to be nailed to the Bush Sr. legacy alongside all the "praise and glory".
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-george-hw-bush-fall-panama-noriega-570478
More about the wonderfulness of the Carlyle Group (NOT)
...here's a late November Esquire piece by Charlie Pierce "When a Private Equity Shop Buys a Nursing Home, "'It Ain't good for the Patients." ".
And there have been other scathing reports.
Washington Post had one as well. Couldn't find the link.
@safari: forgot all about that Panama "Just cause" cuz we can–- horror show. Afternoon media footage on the plane take-off to D.C. and the accolades by those that talk is, of course, what is protocol for a past president that dies. We here don't have to cotton to those norms and can cast the stones where they must lie.
I'm with Ak and others, have refused to read any of the Bush I accolades. Asswiper and sire to dumbass II and low-energy III entitled elitists.