;)
The Commentariat -- Jan. 26, 2015
Internal links, defunct video removed.
Jim Avila & Devin Dwyer of ABC News: "President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama took in the elaborate pageant of military power and cultural pride from a viewing platform under steady drizzle in the capital New Delhi. They spent much of the day beneath umbrellas as a colorful display passed before them, including bejeweled camels ridden as cavalry, brigades of arm-swinging troops, cultural dancers, marching bands, and motorcycle stunt men." ...
... Peter Baker & Ellen Barry of the New York Times: "President Obama swept aside past friction with India on Sunday to report progress on climate change and civilian nuclear power cooperation as he sought to transform a fraught relationship marked by suspicion into an enduring partnership linking the world's oldest and largest democracies."
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration will propose setting aside more than 12 million acres in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness, the White House announced Sunday, halting any chance of oil exploration for now in the refuge's much-fought-over coastal plain and sparking a fierce battle with Republicans, including the new chair of the Senate Energy Committee." ...
... Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "If the proposal is enacted, the area would be the largest wilderness designation since Congress passed the Wilderness Act over 50 years ago. But the proposal seems unlikely to find support in Congress, now with a Republican majority in both houses and a leadership that has consistently rebuffed Mr. Obama's environmental agenda."
Worse than Most Third-World Countries. Margaret Talbot of the New Yorker: "Papua New Guinea, Oman, and the United States of America ... are the only three countries in the world with no paid-maternity-leave law.... The majority of U.S. employers do not offer paid family leave, for the simple reason that they don't have to.... Obama's new proposals don't offer sweeping changes, but they are significant as the first real expansions of family-friendly -- people-friendly, really -- policies in a long time.... If conservatives oppose these policies now, they will have to explain why American workers, virtually alone in the world, must struggle on without such basic protections. And that won't be easy." ...
... CW: Now let's think about how there Republicans' refusal -- and they will refuse -- to mandate paid maternity and sick leave -- squares with their strict anti-abortion policy.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "There are nine justices on the Supreme Court. It takes four votes to hear a case, but it takes five to stay an execution. That can leave a lethal gap. A death penalty case can be important enough to claim a spot on the court's docket of perhaps 75 cases a year. But the prisoner who brought it may not live to see the decision. In agreeing on Friday to hear a challenge to the chemicals Oklahoma uses to execute condemned prisoners, the court brought fresh attention to the life-or-death importance of a single vote."
Charles Pierce Blow relays a harrowing incident his son, a student, experienced at Yale. A campus cop, for reasons the cop refused to state, pulled a gun on Pierce's son, who we can feel safe to assume is a young black man. [Thanks to safari for the author-error catch.] ...
... CW: This makes me weep. When I worry somebody will screw something up, I am the somebody I worry about. That is the luxury of being white. If you're a young male of color, you have to worry about everybody else, especially those who are or may be armed. This, BTW, is a big piece of the tyranny of the NRA. By pushing for & succeeding in getting (white) legislators to pass concealed-carry, [NEW: stand-your-ground (see Nisky Guy's comment below)] & other "Second Amendment" laws, the NRA & their legislator-enablers effectively terrorize every person of color. Men of color walk through life knowing that at any time & for no apparent reason, a stranger may pull a gun on them. The type of gun laws that have been passed over the last decade or more are not anti-crime laws; they are racist laws. We should quit pretending otherwise. The Second Amendment, since its proposal & ratification, has been one of the racist parts of our Constitution. The other parts were repealed. The Second Amendment is all the racists have left. And they are pushing it as far as they can. It's no surprise that Dick Heller, the plaintiff in Heller v. the District of Columbia -- the case in which the Supremes decided in a 5-4 decision that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm -- is a white guy (and a special D.C. police officer) who lives in a majority-black town. ...
... Update: Pam McLoughlin of the New Haven Register reports on the Blow story. ....
... Update 2: See JJG's "natural reflex" comment in today's thread re: my thinko-typo.
Ed Pilkington & Dominic Rushe of the Guardian: "Google took almost three years to disclose to the open information group WikiLeaks that it had handed over emails and other digital data belonging to three of its staffers to the US government, under a secret search warrant issued by a federal judge. WikiLeaks has written to Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, to protest that the search giant only revealed the warrants last month, having been served them in March 2012."
Max Fisher of Vox: "... two prominent Fox News hosts, Chris Wallace and Shepherd Smith, harshly criticized Boehner and Netanyahu on Friday for secretly arranging a Netanyahu speech to Congress that is transparently aimed at undermining President Obama, and set up without the White House's knowledge." ...
... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "Where was all the outrage when Republicans literally lied the country into war with Iraq? Or repeatedly cut food stamps for no reason? Or shut down the government? Or voted over 50 times to prevent people with pre-existing conditions from having access to health insurance? Or voted for the Paul Ryan budget? Or refused to acknowledge human-made climate change? Somehow all of those crucial things that harm millions of people and weaken our national security became partisan issues for the Village Center to tut tut about and ask for compromise. But Boehner and Netanyahu's social snub is somehow the last straw. That says a lot about the Washington elite and where their misplaced priorities are."
Dan Diamond of Forbes on Scott Pelley's "60 Minutes" interview of Mitch McConnell & John Boehner. You can watch the interview here. Thanks to Forrest M. for the lead.
Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast on the case for the estate tax. An excellent post to send to your selfish, ignorant Tea party friends who think the gummit will steal their imaginary big inheritance from them. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link.
Brooks Barnes of the New York Times: "'The Hunting Ground,' set for release in theaters and broadcast on CNN, was billed by the Sundance Film Festival as a 'piercing, monumental exposé of rape culture on campuses.' Judging by viewer reaction at the film's premiere and the comments of two United States senators [-- Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) & Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) --] afterward, festival programmers might have undersold it."
CW: Wish I'd picked this up for Sunday's God News. Lawrence Krauss in the New Yorker: "Recently, the Wall Street Journal published a piece with the surprising title 'Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God.' At least it was surprising to me, because I hadn't heard the news. The piece argued that new scientific evidence bolsters the claim that the appearance of life in the universe requires a miracle, and it received almost four hundred thousand Facebook shares and likes. The author of the piece, Eric Metaxas, is not himself a scientist. Rather, he's a writer and a TV host, and the article was a not-so-thinly-veiled attempt to resurrect the notion of intelligent design, which gives religious arguments the veneer of science -- this time in a cosmological context." Krauss, an astrobiologist, takes down Metaxas' claims one-by-one.
Iowa Freedom Summit -- the Aftertaste
Via Bloomberg Politics.
Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register: "No one seemed to regret the absence of Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush from the stage during a marathon session of conservative political theater in Iowa, as a string of GOP speakers urged Iowa Republicans not to buckle to the establishment. A parade of nine Republicans who are considering presidential bids engaged in an all-out battle for the conservative vote at U.S. Rep. Steve King's inaugural Iowa Freedom Fest. While the 1,500-member audience, made up predominantly of constitutional and religious conservative activists, seemed plenty happy with the speeches by Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Carly Fiorina, it was Scott Walker and Ted Cruz who were best received."
Steve M.: "Dear Republican Party: This weekend, the press was at the Iowa Freedom Summit trying to help Americans figure out whether you're ready to run the country. What we found out was that you're more interested in roasting the country, or at least roasting whoever in the country isn't Republican (or isn't your type of Republican)." Steve provides "some examples of Republican insult comedy.... Wait -- these are the folks who thought Obama's State of the Union address was undignified? No -- these folks are Don Rickles."
It is good that we have a deep bench and its primary competition that will surface the candidate who's up to the task and unify and this person has to because knowing what the media will do throughout all of 2016 to all of us it's going to take more than a village to beat Hillary. -- Guess Who
... Freakout Nation: "Unhinged Woman Climbs Onstage At Iowa Freedom Summit, Starts Rambling Incoherently. At the 'Iowa Freedom Summit,' Sarah Palin delivered one of her strangest speeches yet and even Scott Conroy from RealClearPolitics, described it as the 'strangest speech I've ever seen Sarah Palin deliver.'... Toby Har[n]den, a Conservative columnist, described Palin's speech as 'Bizarro.'" ...
... Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story reports on some Twitter responses to the unhinged woman's speech. CW: Now, & for the past six years or so, I have felt a little sorry for Palin, because I think she may be actually unhinged. Thanks, John McCain!
Conor Friedersdorf of the Atlantic: "If [Donald] Trump takes the steps necessary to qualify on the ballot in even a single significant primary state, the political press should cover him as a candidate.... Barring that, there are so many people more worthy of political coverage than Trump that a blanket ban on stories about him would serve major news organizations better than the present approach, which I defy any of them to persuasively defend." ...
... CW: Friedersdorf is right. Barring Trump's saying or doing something extremely hilarious, I'm taking Friedersdorf's advice. Ergo, if you're looking for the Trump Daily Report, look elsewhere. Bad Hair Days must be super-duper bad. ...
... Presidential Race
Americans used to think Iowa and New Hampshire held the first caucus and primary in the nation every four years. Not anymore. Now the 'Koch brothers primary' goes first to determine who wins the blessing and financial backing of the billionaire class. This is truly sad and shows us how far Citizens United has gone to undermine American democracy. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are all speaking at the winter meeting of the so-called Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
Bernie Sanders: "To end the ability of billionaires to buy elections, Sanders on Wednesday introduced a constitutional amendment that would undo the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That narrow 5-4 decision and subsequent court cases struck down decades-old laws that had limited how much money wealthy individuals and corporations may contribute to campaigns. Vermont and 15 other states along with voters and city councils in more than 600 cities and towns already have passed measures supporting a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. 'People across the political spectrum are demanding that billionaires not be able to buy American democracy,' Sanders said."
Rick Klein of ABC News: "The first 2016 presidential forum of the year revealed sharp divisions on foreign policy Sunday night, with Sen. Rand Paul breaking with his colleagues on both Iran and Cuba -- a split that's likely to play out in detail over the next year. Flanked by Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio, Paul joked when the panel's moderator, ABC's Jonathan Karl, asked a question about Cuba, 'I'm kinda surrounded on this one.' He was right. The night's liveliest moments came when Paul said his colleagues in Congress should give the president negotiating space with Iran before imposing new rounds of sanctions. 'They're saying you want 535 negotiators, not the president,' said Paul, R-Kentucky. 'Diplomacy is better than war, and we should give diplomacy a chance.' His fellow senators pounced.... Sunday night's panel was sponsored by the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, a not-for-profit connected to Charles and David Koch that is holding a donor conference at an exclusive resort in Palm Springs. The 75-minute forum featuring the three senators and Karl was the only portion of the conference that wasn't shielded from the press and the public." ...
... CW: Worth noting: Paul's ability to be affable even when facing off demagogues in a high-stakes battle. This is an important political talent which I'm afraid Scott Walker shares. Candidates who can maintain their composure while Chris Christie or Rick Santorum goes ballistic have a huge advantage. As they should. In the "Annals of 'Journalism,' Ctd." department, I'm not surprised to find Jonathan Karl of ABC News has obtained the Koch Seal of Approval. ...
... David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Rand Paul wants to lead the United States. On Saturday in Texas, his father was speaking at a conference about how to leave it.... This weekend was a crucial one for Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky and un-declared candidate for the presidency. He was in California, trying to line up donors at an opulent retreat organized by the billionaire Koch brothers. At the same time, his father ... was in the ballroom of an airport hotel [in Houston, Texas], the final speaker at 'a one-day seminar in breaking away from the central state.' He followed a series of speakers who said that the U.S. economy and political establishment were tottering and that the best response might be for states, counties or even individuals to break away." CW: So is it okay if the First Father is a raving secessionist?
Ali Elkin of Bloomberg Politics: "New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has formed a political action committee called Leadership Matters for America as he prepares for a likely presidential campaign, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday." ...
... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "Christie also referred to himself as a 'candidate' at the Iowa Freedom Summit this weekend, though he never specified what he's running for. 'I'm sure you'll not agree with me or any other candidate on every single issue,' Christie told Iowans. 'If you want a candidate who agrees with you 100 percent of the time, I'll give you one suggestion: Go home and look in the mirror.' Kind of aggressive for a job interview." ...
... Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "As [Chris] Christie explores a White House run built around personality, pugnacity and spontaneity, there may be no better laboratory for studying that unconventional approach than his radio call-in show, 'Ask the Governor,' a high-wattage rumpus that beams his many moods into the kitchens, cars and smartphones of those he governs.... On any given night, as many as 50,000 people call in. The show serves another function: public accountability. The governor has ordered his entire cabinet to listen, and he assigns commissioners tasks, by name, during the broadcast.... The show has offered a glimpse into Mr. Christie's preoccupation with power, hierarchy and popularity." ...
... The Times publishes summaries of some of the call-ins, responses & resolutions (or not).
Beyond the Beltway
Susanne Craig & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Sheldon Silver, the longtime speaker of the New York State Assembly, agreed on Sunday to relinquish his duties on a temporary basis as he fights federal corruption charges. His decision came amid mounting pressure from his fellow Democrats in the Assembly.... In an unusual arrangement, Mr. Silver would not quit his post. Instead, he would temporarily delegate his duties as speaker to a group of senior Assembly members."
Today in Responsible Gun Ownership. Elizabeth Harris & Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times: "Two people were killed in a shooting at a Manhattan Home Depot on Sunday in what appeared to be a dispute between two employees, the authorities said. Gunfire erupted in the lighting department at the Home Depot store on West 23rd Street in Chelsea about 2:45 p.m., police officials said, sending workers and shoppers streaming out of exits and into the street." ...
... Pervaiz Shallwani & Heather Haddon of the Wall Street Journal: "A former employee of a Fox station in Texas shot and killed himself outside the front doors of the News Corporation building shortly before 9 a.m. Monday, a law-enforcement official said. The building houses 21st Century Fox and News Corporation, which owns The Wall Street Journal. The man, Phillip Perea, 41 years old, of Irving, Texas, shot himself once in the chest outside of 1211 Avenue of the Americas, the official said. Mr. Perea had previously worked for a Fox station in Austin, Texas, police said. Mr. Perea had also been handing out fliers, which criticized his employer for having 'ended my career,' moments before he shot himself...." ...
... CW: It's too late for these unfortunate individuals, but let me suggest that getting fired or hassled by your boss should not end your world or his/hers. A major network once fired me, & I am happy to have lived to tell about it (which I think I've done on Reality Chex at some time in the past). It's hurtful & sometimes confusing to lose your job or have to take crap at work, but this should be a small part of your life, not something that ends it. Take a lesson from Ernie Banks (see Infotainment). I guess he never got fired, but he sure got criticized on the job.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Matt Schiavenza of the Atlantic: "The apparent victory of the far-left Syriza party in Greece ... presents the troika -- a consortium consisting of the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund -- with a series of unappetizing options. If the troika gives in and writes down Greek debt, then other, larger countries -- such as Spain -- will have an incentive to negotiate a similar deal, triggering a major financial headache in Brussels and Frankfurt. If the troika refuses, then Greece is likely to default on its debt obligations this year and be forced to exit the eurozone...." ...
... Paul Krugman: "If anything, the problem with Syriza's plans may be that they're not radical enough. Debt relief and an easing of austerity would reduce the economic pain, but it's doubtful whether they are sufficient to produce a strong recovery. On the other hand, it's not clear what more any Greek government can do unless it's prepared to abandon the euro, and the Greek public isn't ready for that. Still, in calling for a major change, Mr. Tsipras is being far more realistic than ['troika'] officials who want the beatings to continue until morale improves. The rest of Europe should give him a chance to end his country's nightmare."
News Ledes
Politico: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid successfully underwent a lengthy surgery on Monday to repair broken bones in his face suffered in a New Year's Day exercise injury, according to his office. The Nevada Democrat was released from George Washington University Hospital on Monday afternoon following the surgery. Surgeons removed a blood clot and pooled blood in Reid's right eye and mended several bones in Reid's face, injuries that have caused Reid blindness in his right eye."
New York Times: "Marcus J. Borg, a scholar who popularized a liberal intellectual approach to Christianity with his lectures and books about Jesus as a historical figure, died on Wednesday at his home in Powell Butte, Ore. He was 72."
Bloomberg News: "Russia's foreign-currency credit rating was cut to junk by Standard & Poor's, putting it below investment grade for the first time in a decade, as policy makers struggle to boost growth amid international sanctions and a drop in oil prices."
Hill: "The U.S. has closed its embassy in Yemen's capital because of security concerns, the State Department said Monday. The closure comes after the resignation of Yemen's president, pressured by rebel forces."
The New York Times is continually updating its snowfall map for the Northeast. ...
... New York Times: "As millions of residents in the Northeast prepared for a powerful storm bearing down on the region, bringing with it near hurricane-force winds along the coast and as much as three feet of snow, officials from New Jersey to Maine urged people to get off the roads and stay indoors. Even before the worst of the storm hit, thousands of flights were grounded, public transportation was suspended or curtailed and travel bans were put in place in the half dozen states in the path of what was expected to be a blizzard. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced on Monday afternoon that all subway and bus service in New York City would stop at 11 p.m." CW: Sorry to say the forecast pictured above still holds. ...
... "The Times is providing free unlimited access to storm coverage on NYTimes.com and its mobile apps." ...
Washington Post: "Blizzard warnings and winter storm warnings blanket the Northeast on Sunday night in anticipation of [a major] storm. Over 29 million people are under a blizzard warning through at least Tuesday afternoon, and 14 million people are under a winter storm warning. 24 to 36 inches of snow is expected from northern New Jersey to southern New England, in addition to the 50 to 60 mph wind gusts that could severely reduce visibility." ...
... USA Today: "Airlines reacted to a major snowstorm that's expected to wallop parts of the Northeast by cancelling more than 5,200 flights through Wednesday. Of those, at least 3,200 were already announced by Sunday -- a day before the storm's first flakes fell along the East Coast." ...
... The Weather Channel story is here. ...
... Boston Globe: "This storm will cripple travel through Tuesday afternoon and it will take until Thursday before things start to get back to normal. These types of storms can shut Logan Airport down for at least a day even after the worst of the storm has ended. Everything will be closed tomorrow and many schools will be closed Wednesday and some the rest of the week, because the sidewalks won't be clear."
... CW Prediction: This potentially historic storm should be the final nail in the coffin of any silly global warming theories. Those GOP senators who admitted climate change was "real"? Just pulling Democrats' chain.
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Reader Comments (41)
So now it is official, the term 'Republican politician' has been diagnosed as a form of mental illness. And let's not forget that our classic example of this disorder could have been the POTUS some day.
(And yes I am playing sarcasm but I really believe that most of these clowns really have a DSM number) . Welcome to America, the land of the free and the home of the crazy.
Marie, it was Charles Blow and not Pierce. Regardless, it's a plague on our nation that will endure long past all of us.
I believe the NRA laws go even farther than CW states above: They give white Americans and police officers justification for shooting people of color because "those people" might have a concealed weapon, courtesy of the same NRA laws. Stand Your Ground laws and the police tactics that are premised on every person in the street carrying a weapon are a direct result of NRA policies.
@Nisky Guy: Couldn't agree more. I've added stand-your-ground to my comment above. Thanks.
Marie
The piece by Charles Blow regarding his son's experience on the Yale campus by a policeman who conducted a most egregious "stop and terrorize" was indeed infuriating. In the past two weeks Yale has had two major rape cases (they have had problems with handling their rape cases in the past) and the campus is on tinder hooks. If Blow's son matched the burglary suspect then the stop was justified, but not the means; if not a match, then a racist stink is in the air. Here we have a well known journalist's son being the target of police mismanagement and Charles gets to write about it (and I imagine scream at Yale) but so many other black kids endure this kind of treatment without the public or their parents ever knowing.
Many years ago I was driving at night through a tony town to meet friends at a nearby restaurant. Suddenly I heard a siren and lights flashing from a police car in back of me. I pulled over––my heart was beating so hard I could hardly breathe. When the policeman came over he said my license plate needed updating. I told him that he had scared me so much I was trembling; he apologized, smiled and sent me on my way. Here I am, a white woman in an affluent area, and my heart was in my throat. I cannot fathom how having a gun in my face, told to drop on the ground, etc. would go down with me––I might just die right there from fear alone.
So the folks at the summit favored Walker and Cruz––well, now isn't that special––and curious. Would love to know why.
". CW: Now let's think about how the Republicans' refusal -- and they will refuse -- to mandate paid maternity and sick leave -- squares with their strict anti-abortion policy." You betcha!!!
Finally––hooray for Obama's trying to protect our pristine wilderness from all those greedy oil grabbers who keep fucking up our environment. Can't he do this without Congress like Teddy Roosevelt did?
@PD Pepe asks, "Can't he do this without Congress like Teddy Roosevelt did?"
A good question. Juliet Eilperin of the WashPo has the answer:
"Wilderness, which is designated by Congress, is the highest level of protection for federal land and prohibits all mechanized activity, including bicycle riding. National monuments can be declared by presidents unilaterally and give varying but significant protection. National parks [-- CW: an example of "national monuments," I take it --] allow a range of activities but aim to keep 'the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife . . . unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.'”
Also, Teddy did have some problems with Congress. This synopsis, which I think is part of the recent PBS/"American Experience" documentary on the Roosevelts, provides a few examples.
Marie
Natural reflex; you ask how persuasive racism is in America? Here's an example. When I read Charles Pierce's son had a gun in his face, I thought, "what was he doing?". Then I read that it was Charles Blow's son that had a gun in his face and I thought, " now, it makes sense."
That is how a sixty-two year old white guy reads between the words, not the lines, mind you, the words. Pierce; white, privileged, sheltered,protected. Blow; brown, privileged, sheltered, guilty.
Back some ten(?) years ago there was a jewelry store holdup in my town. The perps were African-American or black or brown or people of color or negro or "they weren't fuckin' the right color" perps.
At the same time the Los Angeles Lakers had their summer training camp at the university. Three of the pro ball players, all over six five in height, were enjoying some time off downtown. Sure as James Worthy to the hoop, those three were accused and harassed by the local peace officers as suspects in the heist. All of the three would have to duck to enter the store, all would stand head and shoulders above the average. Anybody want to guess the color of their skin?
You'd think the description of the robbers might read," Three really, really, really tall guys" if the Lakers were trying to make a little bling on the side. But apparently black people look big to law enforcement.
The town was embarrassed.
Marie, I love the upside down Carson sign. A perfect match to yesterdays post of his opposition to the ACA. Here we have a 'Dr.' who apparently never heard of the phase 'first, do no harm'.
The political hegemony enjoyed by Iowa, in helping to filter out presidential hopefuls has passed the point of absurdity.
Now we have a complete jackass, Steve King, a racist, ignorant butthead, before whom all the applicants must genuflect and display their doltish bona fides as conservatives, serving as the keeper of the gate for presidential aspirants.
Sidebar: it's time to retire the term "conservative" when talking about these people. Their political sensibility may have had its origin, long ago, in the kind of conservatism David Brooks seems to want us to believe in, the Edmund Burke type, which promoted the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of thought (Brooks has demonstrated time and again that he supports strains of right-wing politics that Burke would find abhorrent). But by far, most of today's bomb-throwing, authoritarian, revolutionary wingnuts are anything but. They have more in common with Roberto D'Aubuisson than Edmund Burke.
But back to Iowa, where we are treated to a political clown show that grows more Grand Guignol every four years. Let's leave aside the fact that Iowa is overwhelmingly white, rural, and fundamentalist, and the fact that, in years like this, the political majordomo, Steve King, insists that candidates take an oath against rationality, common sense, and belief in science, and comport themselves as non-white averse, factually challenged, cretinous dunderheads.
Statistically, here is why Iowa is a terrible bellwether for presidential politics, especially in helping to decide the Republican candidate. In 2012, according to Wikipedia, there was an all-time high in Republican turnout at their caucuses, which ended up being about 5.4% of all eligible voters in Iowa. In national terms, if you use a population figure of about 300 million, that means that fewer 0.0005 of Americans are helping to foist a new idiot on us every four years (and giving life to the candidacies of additional idiots). That's 1/20th of 1%. (And this is the official caucus, I'm not even talking about embarrassing expositions of dimwitted buffoonery such as what we witnessed this weekend, nor the galactically stupid Ames Straw Poll.)
The last winner was the Grand Inquisitor, Rick (Dark Ages, here we come) Santorum.
This year it might be someone yelling about how the only thing we have to worry about from global warming is a sunburn.
We can't afford, let alone abide, the dunces fobbed off on the country at large by Iowa any longer. Notice I didn't have much to say about the Democratic caucuses (even though they have some of the same demographic problems) for a simple reason: They both DON'T do it.
Democrats don't recruit numbnuts. Republicans bow before them. The stupider the better.
Thanks Marie for the link. I saw that PBS program and it appears that Teddy ( I recall Doris Kerns G.when she was on a panel discussing Obama's use of executive action and she said, "Well, how do you think Teddy managed to get all that land preserved––by executive action!) had a much easier time designating than Obama will have. I did a little research myself and learned all about the Antiquities Act of 1906 which got watered down by a few drips through the years by Republicans but the biggy came last March when the Republicans in the House passed legislation to curtail the number of land designations a President can make per term and created additional roadblocks to limit executive authority under the act. We'll have to keep an eye and ear out for Murkowski and other Republicans from Alaska who are hell bent on preventing protection of their land. Oil drilling prevails.
@PD Pepe writes, "... the biggy came last March when the Republicans in the House passed legislation to curtail the number of land designations a President can make per term and created additional roadblocks to limit executive authority under the act."
Thanks. Can you find the source on this & pass it along?
Marie
Re; corn-fed in Iowa, @AK, the expression "hogwash" comes to mind. Minus the balls of course.
One more thing before I forget: Paris had one of their fashion run-way shows a couple weeks ago which featured Rick Owen's menswear that had holes cut out in the crotch letting the johnsons dangle freely. I couldn't help thinking what some of our "conservative" dicks that hang out in Congress would think about a fashion statement about dicks hanging out. Just a thought.
Marvin,
The sign, plus the look of obdurate ignorance on the face of its holder: stupid and proud of it, dammit.
The upside down Carson sign takes a place of dishonor amidst the hundreds of other Teabagger signage fails, such as the simpleton shoving a sign toward the camera, with the same fierce sense of righteousness as the Carson lady, that reads "Get a brain, MORANS" and another reading "Respect are country: Speak English!", not to mention "Obama: Half-breed Muslin", "Homescholers for Perry", "5 years to many", "No Pubic Option", "Obama, Lier in chief" and "Make English America's Offical language."
Q....E....D.
@Akhilleus: I think you're right about the conservative designation. Is there a family-friendly term that you would recommend that better fits? Maybe "reactionary." I too am getting sick of referring to people as "conservatives" or "ultra-conservatives" when their aim is to tear down our institutions rather than improve them. Calling them "conservatives" doesn't even make much sense, since they don't want to "conserve" anything -- & like Ron Paul -- would even promote secession or other acts of rebellion.
Marie
@Marie: Here's one of my sources.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/16/3612702/new-congress-no-more-national-parks-bill/
And as RC commenters have noted time and again, it's all--economics, history, science--about what we want to believe and, please the Christian God, never let facts get in the way.
Found this in Ray Raphael's "Founding Myths" this weekend.
"An officer of the Daughters of the Colonial Wars....complained about books that 'give a child an unbiased viewpoint instead of teaching him real Americanism. All the old histories taught my country right or wrong. That's the point of view we want our children to adopt. We can't afford to teach them to be unbiased and let them make up their own minds.' "
Thought it a presciently accurate statement of contemporary conservatism uttered by a Daughter more than fifty years ago. It's the anti-intellectual strain of American conservatism, so well documented by Hofstadter, that has always been with us, and is now deliberately encouraged and employed by the Right's corporate masters.
The same folks that complain that our children are poorly educated now generously fund ignorance because it is in their interest to do so.
Clown cars, vans, buses, whole trains, whatever, it may seem to be getting worse because it really is.
@Akhilleus: Did you make up those signs? They're hilarious.
Marie
@PD Pepe. Thanks again. As far as I can tell HR 1459, which would have curbed the president's ability to declare national monuments, passed in the House & died in the Senate. So the bill never got to the President's desk -- as far as I know. Sounds like something Obama would have vetoed, & he didn't.
Marie
Marie: instead of Progressive Party, how about Regressive Party
or party of regression. Let's all go back to the 1800's.
Also after watching 60 minutes, looked in my dictionary under
pompous asses, and sure enough, there was a picture of a turtle
and an orange.
Marie,
Yes, "ultra-conservative" like "extremist" seems to lack the necessary connection to the sort of political provenance that propels these people. "Extremist" and "Ultra" just indicate a lot more of the same, and we're talking about a phenomenon very much disconnected from "the same". And the expression "these people" also tends toward the problematic because there are different strands of political philosophies gathered under that leaky right-wing umbrella.
But here's the crux: even those such as Rovian Republicans who seem to have more of a connection with traditional or "establishment" Republicanism, have very little to do with the Bob Dole type of Republicans. Christ, even Reagan would be considered too liberal by most Republicans today, not to mention Nixon, who would be pilloried as a dirty commie.
Other strains involve various levels of religious fundamentalism, but a sizable proportion of those are as anti-government, anti-American--and in many instances are the same people --as teabaggers.
The Rovians, who are connected to the big money side of the game, are also largely neo-cons who believe in their own infallibility and the innate fallibility of any government which they do not control, so they can be just as destructive as the wild-eyed 'baggers, in some cases, more so because of their EZ access to great caches of untraceable money (thanks, Johnny and the Dwarfs!).
We can forget about the mythical "moderate" Republicans. You'll have better luck meeting Bigfoot riding the Loch Ness Monster in a lake in Shangri-La than you will of running into one of these creatures. Any who do exist have been banished to the hinterlands. In fact, they're the ones selling the tickets to anyone who wants to see Bigfoot riding the Loch Ness Monster in a lake in Shangri-La.
So what does that leave us, besides a noxious collection of crapulous zombies? Well, it does leave us plenty of those, but what do we call them?
Barbarians? Nah...despite what Romans used to think, Barbarians could be just as civilized as they. Besides, Barbarians weren't inherently destructive nor necessarily anti-government. They tended toward tribalism which sports its own brand of governance.
Cavemen? No. That would be slight against some of our earlier ancestors, who, even if they lived in caves, still valued things like art and creativity.
Idiots? Too general. Plus there are way too many species of idiocy for a reasonable adumbration.
So let's look at the connecting traits. A desire to tear down. Hatred of government. Stated interest in allowing personal freedom no matter what. Hatred of taxes, even for things like education and infrastructure. A hankering for self-governance, in as minimal a form as possible, and a dislike of regulation, plus an addiction to electoral shenanigans, from election rigging to voter suppression displaying their antipathy to basic democracy.
Sounds like anarchy to me.
I'd say Ignorance Loving Anti-Democratic Anarchists is as a good a term as I can think of. It ain't snappy, but you asked for family friendly, so Dumb as Shit Asshole Douchebags is probably out.
I dunno, the ILADA's is the best I can come up with on short notice.
Anyone else wanna take a crack at it? Anything but "Conservative", 'cause as Marie says, these people don't conserve nothin'.
So if you need a word to replace "conservative", how about a good old one (copied from part of Wikipedia definition): idiot.
"An idiot in Athenian democracy was someone who was characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private—as opposed to public—affairs.[6] Idiocy was the natural state of ignorance into which all persons were born and its opposite, citizenship, was effected through formalized education.[6] In Athenian democracy, idiots were born and citizens were made through education (although citizenship was also largely hereditary). "Idiot" originally referred to "layman, person lacking professional skill", "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning". Declining to take part in public life, such as democratic government of the polis (city state), was considered dishonorable. "Idiots" were seen as having bad judgment in public and political matters. Over time, the term "idiot" shifted away from its original connotation of selfishness and came to refer to individuals with overall bad judgment–individuals who are "stupid".
This may be a bit counterproductive, given the current usage of the word. But the idea of caring most about "private" rather than "civic" good does reflect the current "conservative" obsession with self and "freedom" (irony quotes).
A University of California professor, Paul Piff, has published the results of studies showing that rich people are more likely to behave unethically and have less empathy for others than the rest of us. The link is here: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Psychology-studies-suggest-rising-wealth-means-6039481.php
Marie,
I cannot take credit for such non compos mentis in extremis.
They are all actual 'bagger signs, or should I say ILADA signs.
You can check out this link or just google "teaparty signs" and select "images". There are some beauts I left out, such as the ones promising "guns next time" and threatening to murder the president. Such a blessing to civilized public discourse are these people, wouldn't you say?
AND, if you go to the link provided, you'll also see a picture of Glenn McConnell, former Lieutant Governor of SC under wingnut Nikki Haley, now president of Charleston College (!) posing as a Confederate officer with two happy "slaves". How very.....er....historical of him. (Seriously, folks, I get the whole Civil War reenactment, but if you're gonna go so far as to include slaves, how about some dogs and chains and whips as well?).
But those are the wingnut idea of slaves. Happy, smiling, plenty of watermelon on hand, no doubt. Can't you just hear the happy field hollers and the melliflous airs of Stephen Foster melodies in the background?
"Tis summer, the darkies are gay".
Oh, Christ, I hope not, for their sake.
@Akhilleus & @Patrick & @Forrest Morris. Thanks for the tips. The Athenian meaning of "idiot" is something of which I was unaware & find pretty fascinating, especially given the word's evolution.
What I'm looking for a a non-pejorative term that I can use politely. The best thing I can come up with is "reactionary" or "rightist," neither of which is quite satisfactory. There are many words, as Akhilleus & Forrest Morris suggest, that describe the right: anarchists, nihilists, regressive, etc., but none of those seems to work as a catch-all, either, for one reason or another. "Regressive" isn't bad.
I'll try "reactionary" for awhile, & if I find something better, I'll switch. I agree with Akhilleus that describing that lady with the upside-down Ben Carson sign as "conservative" is just plain inaccurate. It's also quite unfair to the half-dozen moderate Republicans hiding out in Northern New Hampshire or Maine or wherever, all of whom would find that lady as wacky as I do.
Marie
JJG,
Yeah, especially if Joni Ernst was traipsing about with her snippers.
But I'd suggest that the Republican men who decide to wear the "let it all hang out" undies mentioned in one of PD's comments, give Ernst a wide berth lest she start snipping anything dangling before her.
Then again, there's probably not much to dangle, and she probably doesn't travel with a magnifying glass.
Wingnut males, go to town with your new air conditioned French undies. It's all good.
Palin's off the chain (when is she ever on it?) "speech" to the numbingly ignorant Iowa crazies was apparently the result of two things.
First, she's an idiot.
Second, for someone who makes endless jokes, like all other Republicans, about the president using a teleprompter (which I've never seen as the least bit funny; what's the gag? I just don't get it. It's like a made-up laugh line for the wingnuts. It could be anything and they'd howl: "Hey, did y'all see that wabbledabble last week?" "HAAAA--ha-ha-ha" Really, it's just stupid) she sure uses them a lot. And with good reason. Palin without her cheat sheet is a terrible thing to behold.
Apparently her teleprompter went dead during her red-meat vomit performance art at the Steve King One Ring Circus. When it did, she went blank and resorted to stream of unconsciousness verbal diarrhea. I guess you could say she was forced to wing (nut) it. Ba-dum-bum.
But she's ready for a run for the White House. "The man won't ride your back if your back is against the wall, unless it's bent and you don't have a loaded weapon and Hollywood sucks and god bless America 'cuz Todd has the gun and I have the rack. And my kid stands on the family dog to show his love for that animal. And Hillary wears pants, so put that in your pipe and give it to Bristol to smoke 'cuz she's a badass who can kick liberal butt all the way to Putin's front porch which I can see from my house. Look there he is, flexing his pecs at me! I LOVE IT."
Oh yeah, baby. Sign me up to vote for someone like that.
Are you fucking kidding?
Can you imagine what goes on inside that echo chamber in her head? Holy shit. Ambrose Bierce would give it all up and go back to whatever he did before writing, because he could never adequately describe the horrors rattling around in that noggin.
@Akhilleus: Someplace I read that Palin's "people" often use the teleprompter excuse. I do think it's possible she is unable to read the teleprompter, & I mean no disrespect to her here; I think she may be such a poor reader, perhaps because of some physical or mental problem, that she really can't follow it. I'd probably have trouble myself.
I once heard Bill Clinton speak -- early in his presidency -- and apparently his novice crew totally lost his speech. So he got up & gave one impromptu, and no one knew he had no speech & no teleprompter till it was reported on the evening news.
Having to give a speech without notes is one of my recurring nightmares -- really, I dream about it. Now that I'm old & experienced, I know what I'd actually do -- I'd improvise a Q&A or some such thing, since unlike Clinton, I'm incapable of standing up & giving a speech without help. So, obviously, is Palin, but she couldn't handle questions, either. That's a problem.
Marie
"Redeemer." This term to replace "conservative" may be a bit arcane, but it was used in the 19th and early 20th centuries to describe some who wanted to nullify the results of the Civil War. Many Redeemers were KKK members, many members of which at the time thought that they were defending "the way things should be":
"In United States history, "Redeemers" and "Redemption" were terms used by white Southerners to describe a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era which followed the American Civil War. Redeemers were the southern wing of the Bourbon Democrats—the conservative, pro-business faction of the Democratic Party who sought to oust the Republican coalition of freedmen, carpetbaggers, and scalawags."
Source: Boundless. “The Bourbons and the Redeemers.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014. Retrieved 26 Jan. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-gilded-age-1870-1900-20/the-transformation-of-the-south-151/the-bourbons-and-the-redeemers-805-2255/
Marie,
At last a possibly accurate answer to Katie Couric's question to Palin "Which publications do you read?"
Answer: none.
And that may in fact be true.
I did a quick search, because the possibility that Palin has some sort of reading disorder does answer a lot of questions. Then I did a search to see if, perhaps, there was speculation or confirmation that Palin was dyslexic. Juan Cole apparently wondered the same thing a few years ago. He recalls that Steve Schmidt, in the book "Game Change" was taken aback at how abysmally ignorant she was:
"She knew nothing. She had to be taken through World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and Palin was not aware there was a difference between North and South Korea. She continued to insist that Iraq was behind 9/11; and when her son was being sent off to Iraq, she couldn’t describe who we were fighting."
Which, of course, raises the question of why McCain chose her in the first place. So once again, "Thanks, John!"
From what I know it would seem that dyslexia could keep someone from even trying to read, which would make anything contained in books or articles difficult to remember, never mind master. And from her numerous gaffes on factual information (Paul Revere warned the British, eg) we can assume that might be the case. Still and all, not knowing the difference between North and South Korea and suggesting that dikes could take care of the BP oil spill don't, I believe, come under the category of poor reading skills. That stuff is pure idiocy.
Nonetheless, whatever has caused--and continues to cause--her lapses in rationality and disrupts her connection with the real world, the fact that so many right-wingers love and revere her does not bode well for the future of this country.
As if you didn't know that already.
And did I already say "Thanks, again" to John McCain?
P.S. the really sad thing is that if she really were dyslexic, coming out to talk about that would be a great thing. But wingers are perfect and never make mistakes. But dyslexia can be treated. Idiocy cannot.
@Patrick, I like "redeemers" although it sounds a little positive with out the background you provided. My entry is "deniers" because I believe most of the people we are talking about are in denial of the postmodern world we live in. I'm
Here is my view of what the 'ultra-whatevers' are really all about. It is all the fault of Wright brothers and the internet. Over the last 100 years and in particular the last 20 or so America has become part of the entire world. Anyone can fly anywhere, you can change countries in a few hours. And now all of this information is readily available.
Before I retired I worked in an environment where I would sometimes get on a crowded elevator and be the only white person. Black, Hispanic, Muslim, Hindu, and more. At one point my boss was black (dept. chair), his boss was black (dean) and his boss was black (president) (and two were replaced by white guys who are nightmares, but that's another story). Try getting Iowa to live in this world. No, they want 1900.
In other words they are scared shit of the new life. And democracy just makes it so much worse.
On word choice other than conservatives: I like "regressives" –––how about Palavers ( since palaver means shoot the shit) or for a less crude label here's "gallimaufrys"––the word minus the s means a confused jumble or medley of things. We could shorten it and call the group. Gallifrys which those not in the know might think we are talking about a new kind of McDonalds' delights. Or we could borrow from the Germans––"geworden" which means crazy. "Hey, did you all listen to them gewordens on Fox last night?" Might work.
Re: substitute for the Republican use of the word "conservative". How about (reactionary) authoritarian. They want authority concentrated in the fewest hands possible starting with their own. Would they be anti-democracy Republicans? Do you believe Ted Cruz would remove all non-property owners from the voter rolls if he could? Do you believe Mr. Frothy Lube Santorum would remove women from the voter rolls if he could? The inert marketing machine called the Democratic party really needs to find a name that sticks to the politicians of the Republican party. Steve King and his Republicans are anti-democracy, authoritarians; Dan Savage of "frothy lube" fame can't be alone as a good name meister.
OR––it's snowing here in the North east––lots of time to ponder the possibilities: My mister says his grandfather, Pasquale had a phrase that might work for that word we are searching for––"Duzzy-pazzts–-which meant, in Neapolitan dialect, "crazy" and when you said it you raised your thumb and your first digit and circle it around your head.
@All: I can see you people are just not taking my serious dilemma seriously. But I do appreciate the suggestions, every one of the apt, if not all precisely polite.
Marie
I'll vote for reactionary, if only because there can be no doubt about what it means and how snugly it fits the regressive idiots.
Ak says: "Tis summer, the darkies are gay". I hope they aren't in
Alabama and want to get married. Same sex or opposite sex. The
attorney general says that if they have to perform same sex marriages
then the court houses will not issue any marriage licenses. Gonna
be tons of illegitimate births in Al.
A clear demonstration of the parlous and deadly affect of the NRA's "A Glock in Every Pot" campaign, coupled with its secondary (or perhaps primary) offensive, "Kill Anyone Who Pisses You Off" initiative, is the shooting death of an employee by another employee in a Home Depot, story linked above, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
Having lived in Manhattan for years, (just blocks from that location) back in the bad old days of the late 70's early 80's when the murder rate was pretty high, I never felt the least bit concerned when walking into a Sloans or other store, that I might be killed. It's only now that the NRA has insisted that everyone go out in the morning carrying a concealed weapon that everyone from small Texas towns to a Manhattan neighborhood need fear the ire of some loony gun nut.
And Every....Single....Candidate for president on the NUT side of the aisle will cheer for that.
Fucking murderous assholes. Every....Single.....One....of....Them.
OK, last word offering of my day: "subjunctivist"
The subjunctive mood in language expresses non-real ideas -- things that you wish shouldwouldacoulda. Subjunctivists (not a real word, but I wish it were, if Marie would use it) live in a world that does not (yet) exist, but hope to make it so. Note the favorite subjunctive companion verbs below:
"The Subjunctive Mood
A verb is in the subjunctive mood when it expresses a condition which is doubtful or not factual. It is most often found in a clause beginning with the word if. It is also found in clauses following a verb that expresses a doubt, a wish, regret, request, demand, or proposal.
These are verbs typically followed by clauses that take the subjunctive: ask, demand, determine, insist, move, order, pray, prefer, recommend, regret, request, require, suggest, and wish."
from http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000031.htm
Made up word, okay?
Might I offer: Damn-a-gop.*
Definition: 1. An underdeveloped being; one who frequently thinks of god or thinks he's god,
2. One who is partly human and partly asshole,
3. A reactionary regressive jerk who wants everything done his/her narrow-minded controlling way.
Antonym: Demi-god.
Archaic antonym: Demi-crat, one who sometimes remembers the values that his/her party stands for.
*word not found in any recognized dictionary.