;)
The Commentariat -- December 4, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The woman who helped carry out the shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., on Wednesday had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a Facebook posting, according to federal law enforcement officials. There is no evidence the Islamic State directed the woman, Tashfeen Malik, and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook, to launch the attacks, which killed 14 and wounded 21, the officials said. But the Facebook post has led investigators to believe that the couple took inspiration from the group, they said." ...
... Eli Saslow & Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post provide an account of how the shooting went down, according to survivors who were in the room.
Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "The United States has been eliminating a mid- to high-level Islamic State figure every two days, on average, contributing to President Obama's decision to send a new Special Operations force to Iraq to intensify efforts to locate and kill militant leaders there and in Syria, a senior administration official said Thursday."
*****
The theme of today's Commentariat, as it is on many a day, is "Republicans Are Endangering Your Health & Safety." -- Constant Weader
Paul Krugman: "We're looking at a [Republican] party that has turned its back on science at a time when doing so puts the very future of civilization at risk. That's the truth, and it needs to be faced head-on[, especially by both-sider journalists]. ...
... Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker: "The best that can be hoped for during the next week in Paris is that the rest of the world ignores the U.S.'s Republican leaders. Would that we had that luxury here at home.... Congressional Republicans rail against the federal government; then, with their own antics, confirm their worst criticisms. (Who, nowadays, would make the case that Americans should have faith in Washington?)" ...
... The GOP Then & Now. Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "... formerly classified documents from the Bush [I] and Reagan administrations obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and released on Wednesday by the National Security Archive ... portray senior officials in the two Republican administrations pressing for an aggressive response to international environmental issues of the day -- including, during Bush's term, climate change.... The assertive posture contrasts with the positions taken this week by leading Republican presidential contenders, several of whom publicly mocked [President] Obama's efforts to secure an international climate treaty in Paris. The GOP-controlled House voted Tuesday to block the administration's signature regulation to cut greenhouse-gas pollution from U.S. power plants."
** Matthew Rosenberg & Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "In a historic transformation of the American military, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said on Thursday that the Pentagon will open all combat jobs to women. 'There will be no exceptions,' Mr. Carter said at a news conference." ...
... So far Republicans aren't screaming, but they are warning that the move may mean young women have to register for the draft. CW: I don't see why.
Ian Lovett, et al., of the New York Times: "The married couple who police say killed 14 people at a social services center had built more than a dozen pipe bombs and stockpiled thousands of rounds of ammunition, officials said Thursday, and they fired as many as 150 bullets at victims and police officers in a rampage that shattered a quiet day and ended in their own deaths. The F.B.I. is treating the shooting as a potential terrorist act, though they are far from concluding that it was, two law enforcement officials said Thursday. The suspects' extensive arsenal, their recent Middle East travels and evidence that one had been in touch with people with Islamist extremist views, both in the United States and abroad, all contributed to the decision to refocus the investigation." (Also linked yesterday, with a different lede." ...
... Ben Mathis-Lilly & Elliot Hannon of Slate, 7:35 pm ET: "After notifying the families, the San Bernardino County coroner's office released the names of the 14 victims killed on Wednesday." ...
... The Los Angeles Times has biographical information on some of the victims. ...
... Thomas Gibbons-Neff, et al., of the Washington Post: "The story of the shooters doesn't fit with the profiles of hundreds of others who have killed large numbers of fellow human beings. To start with, one of the two shooters was a woman -- Farook's wife of less than two years, Tashfeen Malik, 27 -- exceedingly rare for such cases." ...
... Joan Walsh, now of the Nation: "Our prolonged gun control stalemate reflects the far-right's deep distrust of democracy, and it's worsened by a party that panders to that paranoid base. Increasingly this right-wing fringe believes it's going to need its guns to overthrow an illegitimate government -- especially the one run by gun-grabbing Barack Obama.... a large but poorly organized majority of Americans support sensible gun-control laws. But they don't get what they want, because one of our two major parties panders to its lunatic fringe." ...
... CW: Walsh portrays distrust of democracy as "the real reason we can't have gun control." I don't think that's right. The real reason is the lede sentence in Elizabeth Bruenig's brief post, linked below. ...
... Scott Martelle of the Los Angeles Times: "The law of the land, regrettably, is that the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution protects an individual's right to own a gun. But not a blanket right to own any kind of gun, and the San Bernardino killings showed yet again the kind of fast, massive carnage that comes with firing military-style weapons with magazines of cartridges at defenseless victims. That such guns can be sold legally to civilians is an atrocious idea, and renewing the federal assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004would be a good place to start attacking the problem." ...
... CW: Yes, why not an assault weapons ban? Oh, here's why:
... Elizabeth Bruenig of the New Republic: "For gun executives, mass shootings equal profits." ...
... Joshua Holland of the Nation: "Perhaps the most frightening thing we know about gun violence comes from a study conducted by researchers at Duke, Harvard, and Columbia that was published earlier this year in the journal Behavioral Sciences and the Law. It found that almost one in 10 Americans who have access to guns are also prone to impulsive outbursts of rage.... The researchers also found that those who own many firearms are significantly more likely to exhibit signs of uncontrollable anger than people who own just one.... Very few among that group had been diagnosed with the kinds of mental illness that would be unearthed in a standard background check...." ...
... Max Ehrenfreund of the Washington Post: "Premeditated mass shootings in public places are happening more often, some researchers say.... In general, though, fewer Americans are dying as a result of gun violence -- a shift that began about two decades ago.... This decline in gun violence is part of an overall decline in violent crime." ...
... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "The Senate on Thursday passed legislation repealing the core pillars of ObamaCare, taking a major step toward sending such a bill to the president's desk for the first time.... The measure passed 52 to 47 after the Senate voted to significantly strengthen the bill originally passed by the House and brought straight to the floor by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The House will need to approve the amended legislation before it can be sent to the White House.... Democrats were ... unable to block the GOP measure, which was brought to the floor under budget reconciliation rules that prevented a filibuster." ...
... Kelsey Snell & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Thursday voted down two gun control proposals put forward by Democrats in response to this week's deadly shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., in a series of votes that highlighted the intractable party divide over how to respond to gun violence. The Senate rejected a measure from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to expand background checks for guns purchased online and at gun shows on a 48 to 50 vote and an amendment from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to prevent people on the terror watch list from purchasing firearms on a 45 to 54 vote.... Still, it remains the closest the Senate has come to a consensus on gun control and will likely remain a big part of the debate." ...
... CW: Well, of course, GOP senators voted against these measures: the proposals are horridly restrictive & unfair, & the amendments' sponsors are both left-wing radicals. ...
... Reena Flores of CBS News: Speaker "Paul Ryan pushes mental health bill after San Bernardino shooting.... The House speaker touted legislation introduced by Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pennsylvania, that would revamp the country's mental health systems." ...
... Christi Parsons & Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "White House officials are seeking a way to use executive authority to close the so-called gun show loophole that allows thousands of people to buy firearms each year without a background check, but complicated legal issues have slowed the process.... One option for Obama is to set a threshold for the number of guns a person would be allowed to sell without obtaining a license."
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Thursday rejected an amendment to the ObamaCare repeal bill that would have allowed federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The measure sponsored by three Senate Republicans would have stripped language from the bill blocking federal funds for Planned Parenthood. It fell short by 3 votes, 48-52." CW Translation: Senate Republicans (and Joe Manchin [D-W.Va.]) voted to block funding for Planned Parenthood.
Scott Wong & Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday he plans to roll out a long-awaited replacement plan for ObamaCare in 2016, lifting healthcare reform to the top of the House GOP's agenda in a presidential election year. 'There are many things to do, but most urgent is to repeal and replace ObamaCare,' Ryan said. 'We think this problem is so urgent that, next year, we are going to unveil a plan to replace every word of ObamaCare.'" CW: He also promised a pony to every little girl whose parents weren't lolling in the hammock of complacency.
Politico: "The Senate passed the biggest transportation infrastructure bill in a decade Thursday, sending to the White House a $305 billion five-year package that keeps federal money flowing to highway, transit and rail projects -- and reopens the controversial Export-Import Bank. After years of public pleas from the construction industry, a forceful lobbying blitz backed by Big Business and labor groups, and billions of dollars in bailouts, the Senate easily passed the bipartisan bill on a 83-16 vote just hours after the House approved the measure." ...
... Keith Laing & Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "The House overwhelmingly approved a five-year, $305 billion highway bill Thursday, advancing the first long-term national transportation spending package in a decade and cementing an early legislative achievement in the Speaker Paul Ryan era. The 359 -- 65 vote comes one day before federal infrastructure funding runs out, and sets up a likely Senate vote to pass the measure before Friday's deadline. All dissenting votes were cast by Republican lawmakers. The White House has said that President Obama is planning to sign the bill."
Eric Levitz of New York: "Here's a quick rundown of the [House Committee] report's five most embarrassing revelations [about the Secret Service]. The agency let a fake congressman meet with President Obama.... They let a random Czech guy chill at George H.W. Bush's House.... Via email, agents discuss foreign trips like frat brothers planning spring break. Their current director [Joseph Clancy] misled Congress about the agency's incompetence. People hate working for the Secret Service."
Justin Salhani of Think Progress: "Anti-Muslim rhetoric, recently on display as lawmakers discuss the issue of resettling Syrian refugees, began on the fringes of the far-right and has infiltrated mainstream politics, according to a new report released by the National Security Network.... As the report points out, anti-Muslim rhetoric is becoming increasingly prominent among Republican presidential candidates." (Here's the Wikipedia page on the National Security Network, which appears to be pretty mainstream moderate-left.) ...
... John Stanton of BuzzFeed: "Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Thursday warned that the Justice Department could take aggressive action against people whose anti-Muslim rhetoric 'edges towards violence' and told the Muslim community that 'we stand with you in this.' Speaking at Muslim Advocate's 10th anniversary dinner, Lynch said since the terrorist attacks in Paris last month, she is increasingly concerned with the 'incredibly disturbing rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric ... that fear is my greatest fear.'"
Presidential Race
Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton on Thursday called for gun control measures and reiterated President Obama's statement that terrorism had not been ruled out as a motive in the mass shooting the day before that left 14 people dead." ...
... Noah Bierman & Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times: "After the shooting rampage in San Bernardino, Democrats forcefully demanded a tightening of the country's gun laws.... Republicans talked of an entirely separate policy failure, drawing on news reports that the massacre may have been spurred by religious extremists.... But it was Donald Trump who ramped up the rhetoric further than all the others. As his remarks turned to San Bernardino, Trump said [President] Obama's refusal to use the term 'radical Islamic terrorism' indicates that 'there is something going on with him that we don't know about.' The ominous comment echoed Trump's history of questioning Obama's birthplace and airing of false claims that the president practices Islam." ...
... CW: Yo, Donald, partly for the same reason government agencies don't use the term "radical Christian extremism." ...
... Daniel Strauss of Politico: "A day after the shooting massacre in California, Republican presidential contenders were utterly unapologetic about their opposition to new gun-control laws." Ted Cruz, for instance, is appearing an event this week to "unveil his 'National 2nd Amendment Coalition'" at a "shooting range ... that defines its corporate purpose as, 'to glorify God in all we do and to be a positive influence to all who come in contact with CrossRoads Shooting Sports LLC.'" Rand Paul chose the moment to introduce a bill that "would remove existing restrictive firearm ownership laws in the District of Columbia...."
"Yuge Lead." Nick Gass of Politico: "Donald Trump is the top choice of more than one out of every three Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters, according to the results of a new CNN/ORC poll released Friday. And it's not even close -- at 36 percent, Trump's closest competitor for the GOP presidential nomination is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, at 16 percent." ...
... Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump said Thursday that he is unexcited about the upcoming primary debate and irritated by CNN's coverage of his campaign, but confirmed that he will appear at the network's GOP forum scheduled for Dec. 15 in Las Vegas.... [Trump]'s decision comes after days of hedging and complaints over his lack of compensation for being a ratings boon for media hosts of GOP primary debates. Over the weekend at a rally in Macon, Ga., he suggested that CNN should pay $5 million for him to appear." ...
... The Weakling. Kevin Drum: "There you have it, ladies and gentlemen: your master negotiator at work. The guy who'd get Mexico to pay for a wall. The guy who'd squeeze Iran like a grape. The guy who'd save us from the wily Chinese.... But when it comes to pressing CNN for a bit of chump change, he ... can't even get a face-saving little tidbit out of it. CNN told him to get lost, and he promptly folded. He was bluffing the whole time and everyone knew it." ...
... Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Republican presidential candidates were supposed to competing for the endorsement of mega-donor Sheldon Adelson on Thursday. Instead..., in front of the crowd of influential GOP powerbrokers and donors who are members of the [Republican Jewish Coalition], bizarre moments repeatedly popped up as the two frontrunners in the race, Donald Trump and Ben Carson, both demonstrated their lack of knowledge of foreign policy in startling and astonishing ways.... Trump told borderline antisemitic jokes and ... repeatedly referenced stereotypes of Jewish business acumen and wealth in his speech." ...
You're not going to support me even though you know I'm the best thing that could happen to Israel. I know why you&'re not going to support me -- because I don't want your money. You want to control your own politician. -- Donald Trump, to the Republican Jewish Coalition ...
... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump drew a few rare boos toward the end of his appearance at Thursday's Republican Jewish Coalition candidate forum, after refusing to say that Jerusalem should be the undivided and recognized capital of Israel." ...
... CW: See? Sometimes Donald Trump is right. Also, he is apparently the only GOP presidential candidate who refuses to kiss Adelson's Golden Ass.
Extreme Chick Peas? Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Ben Carson, whose presidential campaign has been stymied with questions about his depth on foreign policy, addressed one of the most influential Republican Jewish organizations on Thursday but probably left few there with much confidence that his knowledge is growing. He repeatedly mispronounced the name of the extremist group Hamas, saying something that sounded more like hummus." CW: Listen to the video -- I don't think Carson's pronunciation was quite as bad as Peters makes out, & he did get the pronunciation right in the last iteration on the tape. He read his whole address, so it's possible the author, whoever s/he may be, occasionally included diacritical marks. His reading, to be sure, appears to be akin to that of a schoolboy, forced to stand in class & read his textbook for the first time. ...
... Nonetheless, Tad Friend tweets, "Ben Carson not just concerned about Hummus terror threat, but about dire situation in Baba Ghanoush and Tabouli."
If you want a really good friend, find somebody who is Jewish. -- John Kasich, on what his mother told him when he was a child
Because stereotyping people is okay, if you do it in a good way. -- Constant Weader
... MEANWHILE, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), whose "poll numbers hovering near 1 percent," continues to make sense on some issues. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "During a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition forum in Washington, Mr. Graham laid into his rivals for alienating women and minorities. He took particular issue with Senator Ted Cruz...."
If somebody is a suspected terrorist on a watch list, they can be indicted at any time, and once you're indicted, you cannot own a firearm. This is a red herring to suggest that we should have background checks for those on the terror watch list. Why aren't these people prosecuted? -- Carly Fiorina on why gun-control legislation is unnecessary
Not sure here if Fiorina doesn't understand Constitutional presumption of innocence, doesn't understand that you have to be suspecting of having actually committed a crime to be indicted & prosecuted for one, doesn't understand the meaning of the word "watch," and/or doesn't understand the concept of time, as in before-and-after. Anyway, a nice reminder of the intellectual & moral depravity of the GOP candidates. As if you needed one. -- Constant Weader
Beyond the Beltway
Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Donald L. Blankenship, a titan of the nation's coal industry whose approach to business was scrutinized and scorned after 29 workers were killed at the Upper Big Branch mine in 2010, was convicted Thursday of a federal charge of conspiring to violate mine safety standards, part of a case that emerged after the accident, the deadliest in mining in the United States in decades. The verdict reached by a federal jury [in West Virginia] made Mr. Blankenship, 65, the most prominent American coal executive ever to be convicted of a charge connected to the deaths of miners. He had been accused of conspiring to violate mine safety regulations, as well as of deceiving investors and regulators; prosecutors secured a conviction on only one of the three charges. Mr. Blankenship was acquitted of making false statements and securities fraud. He faces a maximum of one year in prison on the misdemeanor conspiracy charge." ...
... Evan Osnos of the New Yorker: "The most lasting legacy may reside in the trial itself: the portrait, revealed in internal memos and recordings, of a toothless regulatory system and a corporate culture that exposes the men and women of Appalachia to extraordinary risk."
Rebecca Ruiz, et al., of the New York Times: "The investigation into corruption and bribery in soccer that in May rocked FIFA, the sport's multibillion-dollar governing body, metastasized on Thursday when United States officials unsealed a new indictment that alleged an even more extensive network of criminal behavior across dozens of countries and involved some of the most powerful people in international soccer. Sixteen new defendants were identfied, with charges including wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering, aimed almost entirely at individuals from Central and South America."
Lindsay Toler of St. Louis Magazine: "A new bill from State Rep. Stacey Newman [D] attempts to tackle Missouri&'s gun violence problem by applying the restrictions placed on women seeking abortion services to all prospective firearm purchasers, such as a requirement that anyone buying a gun first watch a 30-minute video on fatal firearm injuries. 'Since Missouri holds the rank as one of the strictest abortion regulation states in the country, it is logical we borrow similar restrictions to lower our horrific gun violence rates,' Newman said in a statement." Her bill is, of course, doomed in Missouri's GOP-led legislature. ...
... Anna Merlan of Jezebel has more on the provisions of Newman's proposed bill. Among other things, the bill certainly points out how preposterous Missouri's abortion laws are.
Channeling Nino. Jonathan Oosting of MLive: "Michigan officials should 'reclaim this state's sovereignty by not recognizing or enforcing' the U.S. Supreme Court decision that gave same-sex couples the right to marry, according to a resolution set to be introduced in the state House.... 'The Supreme Court is not a Legislature,' [Rep. Tom] Hooker [R] said. 'Courts do not substitute their social and economic beliefs for the judgement of legislative bodies or elected and passed laws.'... Other speakers included Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton, who is expected to introduce a similar resolution in the upper chamber.... The non-binding resolution, if adopted, would do little to change policy in Michigan, where Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette have both said the state must recognize and enforce the Supreme Court ruling, which is the law of the land."
He Was Just Daydreaming about Killing & Eating Women. John Riley of New York Newsday: "A Manhattan federal appeals court Thursday affirmed a trial judge's decision overturning the conviction of so-called 'cannibal cop' Gilberto Valle for conspiring to kidnap and eat women, concluding that federal prosecutors, the FBI and a jury had mistaken twisted fantasies for reality." CW: Now where does Valle go to get his reputation back? Ah, well, an uplifting holiday story, all the same.
News Lede
New York Times: "The American economy created 211,000 jobs in November, the government reported Friday, a robust showing that all but guarantees policy makers at the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade when they meet this month. The unemployment rate held steady at 5 percent, unchanged from October."
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Reader Comments (22)
Parts of Michigan are quite beautiful, I grew up there, my family lives there, but I fled west over 30 years ago. Still a good decision. You'd think the Gamrat / Courser embarrassment would have the idiots laying low for a minute. Nope - do what your best at I guess.
Diane, apparently the Michigan Republicans have never heard of the US Constitution. Of course they are serious supporters of slavery.
The Michigan Republicans aren't saying anything different from what our favorite jurist Antonin Scalia has said, as Richard Posner & Eric Segall laid out in an NYT op-ed, linked yesterday.
Marie
"Republicans Are Endangering Your Health & Safety." --
Perfect event in NJ as an example. Republicans overwhelmingly support bill to limit guns to the mentally ill. Gov. Pissey of course veto's it and yesterday only 4 Republicans support the override. In other words the party supports Pissey, not the people who elected them.
I once commented that we should consider that the Republican Party are the new Nazis. I think I gave them too much credit. My current choice is the new Mafia. A criminal enterprise using politics as a way to make power and money.
The reason they are so successful is the unique state of a significant part of the American mind. I mean they are the only political party on the planet who denies the truth. It shows that America is truly exceptional. Again, the land of the free and the home of the dumb. And the cause is brains tortured by religion.
And the Republican Mafia does a great job. They kill a hell of lot more people than the Italian mob ever did.
@Marvin Schwalb: At least the Mafia usually have a "reason" for killing their victims, even if the reason is pretty terrible. The victim is the intended target. Republicans prefer randomly-selected victims. Maybe a student sitting in class (Umpqua College), maybe a health inspector at a holiday party, maybe a black woman attending a prayer meeting (Charleston), maybe a spouse who leaves an abusive marriage. Whoever.
Of course Mafiosi probably seldom have regrets -- unlike those nice Republicans whose thoughts & prayers are with their victims.
Marie
Republicans' attempts to frame mass gun violence as a "mental health" issue that can be solved by appropriate legislation to provide more treatment is a chimera. Since they oppose federally mandated background checks, what difference would identifying potentially dangerous mentally ill people make? In any case, many of the mass shooters would never be identified as mentally ill - as a prime example, the male shooter in the San Bernardino case had a good job which presumably meant he wasn't displaying outward signs of mental illness. It is also troubling that the conversation is so often framed as if the S. Ct. in the Heller case dictated that their could be no regulation of guns; that wasn't at all what they said, but the gun sales lobby has sold it like it is. Much like "sale of baby parts" has become accepted into the national conversation even though that is demonstrably not what happened.
I thank Marie for reminding us of the piece by Posner and Segall linked yesterday––I missed that. It's an extraordinary piece parsing the words of Scalia to reveal a justice whose mindset mirrors those of the conservative right. One needs to ask: Is he capable at this point to even be part of a Supreme Court? It's as though a physician dispels the code of treatment for all.
In Nigeria the government rounds up gays, tortures them and kills them. Homosexuality is looked at as abhorrent and against the laws of God. Religion rules––because it's supreme.
While Ben Carson is enjoying his Hummus, olives, tabouleh, and baba ghanoush he seems nary the wiser after having recently traveled to the middle east. He tells us those refugee camps are pretty darn comfy and what we should be doing is sending then more money.
Cruz, on the other hand, was the prime subject on Trevor Noah last night. NO ONE likes Ted Cruz except maybe his family who he rounded up for endless videos of close encounters. When John Boehner was asked what he thought of Cruz, he held up his finger–-the middle one.
And Trump's sly suggestion that maybe there's something wrong (read secret) about Obama because he won't use the phrase "Islamic Terrorism" is disgusting. Yes, that old birther business––"WE might have a Muslim in the White House"––and after listening to some Trump followers (interviewed on CSpan) I have no reason not to believe that they believe this along with whatever else Trump has bellowed forth. They love him for "calling the shots," for "saying what we think––he has the guts to tell it like it is."
and all the people danced to the La jiggy jar dardo....
At least there's one sane voice who's willing to speak truth to idiocy.
[CT]"Sen. Murphy tells the rest of Congress: your prayers won’t stop gun violence."
He seemed kinda like a doofus when I first met him years ago at a local campaign event. I'm glad that I voted for him though.
The NY Daily News cover today is even better than yesterdays. It lists a whole group of American Terrorists including Wayne LaPierre.
The first Bush was almost onto something.
It is the economy, stupid.
Or maybe the better construction might be: It is "the market" that makes us stupid.
Of course Republicans are endangering our health and safety. As acolytes of the market they worship, they see no other choices. If it makes a buck it's good, and if it makes a ton of money it approaches Godhood. They see everything through the corporate lens of short-term profit and loss. Profit is good. Loss, bad. There is room for no other consideration in their political calculus. Money is morality.
Health care? A rational single-payer system would eliminate the private insurance profit centers, so it is not just bad, but evil.
Climate change? The fossil fuel industry makes billions, so fossil fuels must be especially good, and naturally anything that interferes with that profit must be fought on all fronts by all means.
The vastly profitable gun industry, likewise. It must be good, too, because it makes some people very rich. The collateral damage that makes headlines is just the necessary and unfortunate cost of doing a good business.
All regulation of business practices must be looked at in the same way: If regulations limit corporate profit, they must be aborted before legislative or regulatory birth or expunged as soon as possible thereafter. No exceptions.
Furthermore, the party visionaries, not content with protecting the short-term interests of Mammon they worship work to extend His sway.
Public schools, parks and roads, established for the long-term good of the masses, paid for by those same masses' money, could be privatized and transformed into overnight profit-centers for the few. Wouldn't that be swell!
In short, there is no value whatsoever in health and safety. The only value is profit.
(And whacky as this vision is, it's not just the R's that share it; too many Dems have eaten of the same poisonous fruit..)
@Unwashed: Chris Murphy is one of our shining lights in the Senate. According to my good friend, CT's Speaker of the House, who worked with Chris on many issues when he was a state rep., said "The guy's the real deal–- one of the most sincere, honest and really smart people I've had the pleasure of knowing."
Chris is on the Foreign Relations Committee, has traveled extensively to the Middle East, then sends us long letters describing the outcomes. He is liberal, progressive and yesterday tried to pass that gun legislation. I am thankful and proud he is my senator.
The Mendacious Right.
This morning I caught most of an interview on NPR with Russell Moore, a bigwig in the Southern Baptist Convention. He was answering questions about how Christianists and their allies in congress will handle this new Muslim problem (if indeed, the San Bernardino slaughter turns out to be based in radical Islamic ideology).
He said mostly good things about being careful not to paint all American Muslims with the same brush. Not bad for a Christianist. But then the conversation veered to the Planned Parenthood murder and here's where Christian/Wingnut ideology took over.
Moore stated, categorically, that the pro-life movement has nothing to do with violence. I almost fell over. It was like the chairman of GM claiming his company doesn't make cars. The interviewer, Linda Wertheimer, typically pretty good at these sorts of things, pushed back (a little). Nope, replied, Moore. No violence at all, and in fact, he sniffed a bit sanctimoniously, pro-lifers decry every single act of violence perpetrated by people outside their control, or something like that. The idea being, as espoused elsewhere in the Right Wing Bubble, that if violence does occur (an extremely rare event, natch) it is certainly not condoned and doesn't reflect the ethos of the vast majority of pro-lifers.
I wanted dearly for Wertheimer to bring up something like the statistics I dug up the other day on violence against women, staff, and doctors, at women's healthcare clinics. A quick roundup: between 1977 and 2014, nine murders and 17 attempted murders; since 1995, 5,147 violent incidents recorded at US abortion clinics, not including 2015. They include 922 reported incidents of vandalism, 663 anthrax or bioterrorism threats, 354 stalking incidents and 204 reported death threats. That's over 250 such violent attacks every year--that's five every week. And finally, in that same timeframe, nearly 170,000 clinic disruption events where pro-lifers try to disrupt work at clinics and harass, intimidate, and spit on women who might be coming in for nothing more than a check up.
So what Moore is saying, pretty much what Cruz and Hugh Hewitt were saying the other day, is he knows no one who has done any of those things and certainly doesn't support those actions.
Wertheimer did try to press him but he simply held to his position that she was wrong and he was right.
It's become the standard response mechanism on the right that when you're cornered or are in danger of losing an argument, to simply lie. Much more often than not, you won't be called on it and if you are, lie again. Then attack the questioner.
The sad thing about this is that this guy Moore seemed to be a reasonable guy (it was reported last week that he has been critical of Trump for his calls to shut down mosques and of Cruz for his demands for religious tests for refugees). If a guy like this is unwilling to recognize or acknowledge the virulent and violent rhetoric which inevitably spills over into actual violence, then there really is no hope that any of these people will ever back down from continuing along the same path. You don't agree with us? We will harass and intimidate you. If someone takes our violent rhetoric to heart and decides to take action and shoot you, well, our prayers are with you and we don't agree with his shooting you but we're not changing our methods and we certainly will never acknowledge any culpability.
Just lie. It's so easy. But that old saw about never being able to fix something if you're unwilling to admit there's a problem comes to mind. Not only won't these people admit there's a problem, their position is that it's the other side (liberals and women) that's to blame for the violence. Now that's some serious denial.
The majority of the GOP can be accurately described as "radically ignorant extremists" . The rest of them are "ever-so-slightly-less radically ignorant extremists." However, none of the later are either running for or hold office..
The latest reporting about Tashfeen Malik, radicalized and reportedly posting her ISIS love online, will provide jet fuel for more guns and hate talk.
And let's be clear, being a mass murderer does not automatically make you mentally ill. Actions in the name of determining mental illness are much more intrusive and an infringement of rights than a national gun registry. A gun is tangible. Mental illness is not, nor is it a predictor of violence, like owning guns. But then....the country prefers fear and knee jerk over facts and critical thinking.
A sheriff in upstate New York was on the radio this morning advocating that all licensed gun owners start carrying their guns as a matter of course, so they'll be ready to take down those terrorists.
I still remember the wisdom of the good guy with the gun in Tucson when Congresswoman Giffords was shot. He decided that newly-arriving responders would have no way of knowing he was not the bad guy, so he didn't pull out his gun. And he lived to tell about it.
I think our Michigan Republicans have seen how popular congress
has become (ha!) with trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act
fifty-something times and they are playing copycat with same sex
marriage which the nutjobs still claim threatens the sanctity of
marriage (Gamrat comes to mind). I may be wrong, but I'm thinking
that when the Supreme Court rules that something is now the law
in all 50 states, wouldn't it be only the Supremes who could
reverse that law? It's all so confusing.
Forrest,
It's certainly not confusing to religious extremists like Mike Huckabee who has come right out and declared that the Supreme Court does not have the last word on matters of law. He does. And so do other Confederate haters.
He has advanced the idea that any state that doesn't feel like going along with a SCOTUS decision is free to ignore it, thus a decision in favor of equal treatment for all Americans who wish to be married, could be scuttled by states or governors of the "right" mindset.
Of course Huckabee, not too quick on the history uptake, forgets (or maybe never knew) that a former governor of his state, Orval Faubus, tried to pull this trick after the Brown decision. The president set him straight by pulling the plug on his gambit of calling out the National Guard to keep black kids out of Arkansas' all-white public schools.
And, naturally, for a self-proclaimed scholar of constitutional law, as all wingers claim to be, Huckabee, surprisingly has never heard of Marbury v Madison which absolutely gives the court the power of determining what is what is not constitutional.
Certainly, congress could pass a new law attempting to reverse any of the Court's decisions, but only the justices have the right of judicial review and that new law would likely come back to the Court which could then head butt the offending lawmakers.
Of course, if Huckabee is right, then plenty of Court rulings could just as easily be ignored by liberal or progressive governors (not that there's that many of them). Must be hard being so ignorant.
Had tv on in background while reading the internet. Glanced up and here were these msnbc ghouls rummaging through the detritus of the shooter's home. Revolting!! Thought it was just me but no, someone else shares my sensibilities.
http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/12/what-the-hell-just-happened-on-msnbc/418893/
"REPUBLICANS ENDANGERING MY HEALTH" . . .
I make it a habit of keeping my home phone's answering machine ON 24/7.
(Do-Not-Call lists have yet to shield me from The Ridiculous to The Threatening, but 99.9 tenths of the time, the intruders will - thankfully - hang-up.)
I let my machine pick-up for the toll-free number that rang just a few moments ago:
"Hello. This is Ben Carson. And I'm so glad that I (we?) have the opportunity - ".
I've nostalgically held onto my Mother's enhanced-hearing landline, which facilitated what my cordless could not have: a most emphatic landing of handset to cradle. Even my reflexive curiosity had no interest in hearing the rest.
That manufactured mellifluous voice - in my home! - was enough to bring on an episode of vomitus maximus.
This is the first time I can recall *ever* receiving a robo-call from a repug.
I'm sensing it will not be the last.
After reading all the data on gun deaths, climate denial, health for men only I realize that I still haven't got the story straight. Reality is the similarity for real. So the number one terrorist organization threatening the USA is not ISIS, it's the Republican Party which has the same agenda.
@Ophelia M.: I know you've just been traumatized, so it's mean to laugh, but your account of encountering Doc Ben in your living room is pretty funny.
He was in Fort Myers a few weeks ago, & all the ladies said he was "So nice!" as if he'd be surly while hawking his latest stupid book.
Marie
Thank you, Marie, for your kind condolences. ;)
You're not at all being mean (I'm laughing while typing this) and as my narrations can be a bit dry, I'm glad that you felt the humor.
So . . .
Rest assured that while I was instantly taken aback, hearing that voice in my "space", my recovery was a swift one, as I belatedly recalled having neglected to include "Doctor" when quoting his salutation: I suspect I unconsciously (subconsciously?) deemed him undeserving of that title.
But . . . Yes . . . A rather creepy (dare I say pervy?) tone in that anesthetized voice he's rehearsed so well - - A fitting accompaniment to those drug-ish-ly drooping eyelids.
(Still have to smack myself - figuratively - to comprehend that Ben & Friends are actually presidential candidates.)
@ Cowichan -
RE http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/12/what-the-hell-just-happened-on-msnbc/418893
<< . . . msnbc ghouls rummaging through the detritus of the shooter's home. Revolting >>
Thank you for posting this.
I agree - Positively revolting!