;)
The Commentariat -- January 22, 2018
Afternoon Update:
New York Times: "The Senate voted 81-18 on Monday to end the three-day old government shutdown, with Democrats joining Republicans to clear the way for the passage of a short-term spending package that would fund the government through February 8 in exchange for a promise from Republican leaders to address the fate of young, undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers." At 4:10 pm ET Monday, the Senate is holding its final vote on the bill; assuming it passes, the bill then goes to the House for a vote; then to the President*. ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "You don't need me to tell you that Democrats just caved when it comes to ending the government shutdown; even some of their leading senators are admitting it.... Most Senate Democrats wound up voting to reopen the government. They did so after a deal was struck in which Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) was assured that the Senate would vote on some kind of immigration deal by Feb. 8 -- and if they didn't have a deal, there would be an up-or-down vote on DACA, the program protecting the children of illegal immigrants from deportation. Just 16 of the 49 members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted no, and it's a group that is full of potential 2020 contenders like [Kamala] Harris [D-Calif.] who have a clear interest in appealing to the base. But that's also the point. Those members have made appealing to the Democratic base their raison d'etre, and they've quickly wagered that this thing isn't going to fly with that same base." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: As some contributors suggested today, I think the Senate Democratic leadership handled this as well as possible. If Republicans in both Houses don't pass some form of DACA that at least allows these educated, productive young people to stay in the U.S., Republicans will pay at the polls this year. I certainly want the Dreamers to receive a clear path to citizenship -- which they've earned -- but as Donna S. wrote in Sunday's thread, "the optics will be ... horrific ... if the Dreamers begin to be deported." We're already beginning to see feature stories about DHS's deporting successful people who are too old to qualify as Dreamers.
... Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Senate appeared poised to break its budget impasse on Monday as Democrats planned to join Republicans in voting for a short-term spending bill that would reopen the government and provide funding through Feb. 8. The upper chamber was expected to quickly approve the bill, and House members were told to await a possible vote Monday afternoon, raising the possibility that the shutdown would end after just three days. 'We will vote today to reopen the government,' Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a speech on the Senate floor." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's see how Trump -- who has had nothing to do with the most recent negotiations. other than muddying them & insulting Democrats -- takes credit for ending the government shutdown. ...
... UPDATE. Ha Ha Ha. New York Times: "Sarah Huckabee Sanders ... insisted that the deal that the Senate voted on was not 'drastically different' than what was discussed on Friday between the president and Mr. Schumer. Despite what was characterized by both parties as Mr. Trump's invisibility this weekend, Ms. Sanders still insisted that he was responsible for making a deal happen. 'What the president did clearly worked,' she said, calling the numbers more in Mr. Trumps favor 'than in Senator Schumer's favor.' 'The president stayed firm, Republicans stayed firm and Democrats I think realized that they had to move past that piece of legislation' in order to discuss immigration going forward, Ms. Sanders said." This part of the report is down the page. Mrs. McC: OR, as Victoria more credibly speculates in today's thread, staff has probably locked Trump in the basement.
... One Night I Saw upon the Throne, a Little Man Who Soon Was Gone. David Graham of the Atlantic: "With leaders in Congress at an impasse, the most logical person to step in and broker an arrangement was the president.... That's usually the case, but it's especially true now, with a president whose name, thanks to his first book, is practically synonymous with deals. And yet, Donald Trump remained strangely absent.... The deal [to end the shutdown] was struck between Schumer and ... McConnell. 'The great dealmaking president sat on the sidelines,' Schumer said on Monday, as he announced the arrangement, accusing Trump of being unwilling to 'take yes for an answer.'... Often fixated on appearing active and virile, Trump has come off as passive and distant in the current crisis. Even worse, this is exactly the approach he accused Barack Obama of using in 2013...." ...
... Jeet Heer of the New Republic argues that the past few weeks have showed that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is "the real president." Heer lays out the evidence. Mrs. McC: This is a conclusion I reached last week as I watched Kelly bat back all of President* Dimwit's forays into negotiating with Democrats. Turns out quite a few closer & wiser observers came to the same conclusion. For instance: Dick Durbin: "As soon as the guest leaves the office, Gen. Kelly calls in the right wingers and they bat it down and say you can't do it. We'll never reach an agreement unless there's a more open approach at the White House and the president is more constructive." Heer adds this, tho: "Trump has a proven history of pushing aside staffers who get too powerful, or who are perceived as such.... The open question is whether Trump will continue just grousing privately [at Kelly], or if he has the will to take back the reins of his presidency." So it would be helpful if more mainstream media outlets wrote articles marvelling at Kelly's power. ...
... Along these lines, Steve M. has some useful observations about Trump's ambivalence about DACA. And Maggie Haberman's, too! ...
... ** The Sins of the Father, Visited upon the Sons. Digby, in Salon, also has a great piece on how Trump's right-wing advisors have repeatedly repressed any gossamer angels of his better nature: "His racist id and his desire to get a 'win' are being pulled in opposite directions, depending on whom he listens to at any given time. His lack of understanding of the issue or how laws are actually made makes him a hindrance to deal making. But we know what Trump wants."
Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday that a new United States Embassy to Israel would open in Jerusalem before the end of 2019."
Joseph Ax of Reuters: "Pennsylvania's top court on Monday threw out the state's congressional map, ruling that Republican legislators unlawfully sought partisan advantage, and gave them three weeks to rework it in a decision that could boost Democratic chances of retaking the U.S. House of Representatives. In a 5-2 decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled the electoral map violated the state Constitution by manipulating the district boundaries to minimize the voting power of Democratic voters, a practice called partisan gerrymandering." Thanks to Jeanne for the lead. ...
... Or Maybe It Was a 4-3 Decision. Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "In a 4-to-3 decision, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ordered the Republican-controlled state legislature to redraw the lines by Feb. 9, an extraordinarily quick timeline that will reset the districts in time for the state's May congressional primaries. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf will have veto power over the maps." The opinion itself has not yet been released (at 4:00 pm ET Monday).
*****
Nicholas Fandos & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Senators failed on Sunday to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of federal employees would be furloughed Monday morning even as the outlines of a potential compromise came into focus. For much of the day, feverish work by a bipartisan group of senators offered a reason for cautious optimism that a deal could be reached soon. By Sunday night, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, moved to delay until noon Monday a procedural vote on a temporary spending bill -- a signal that talks were progressing. In a gesture to lawmakers seeking assurances that the Senate will address the fate of hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants, Mr. McConnell said he intended to move ahead with immigration legislation next month if the issue had not been resolved by then." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This was the state of the story at 6 am ET. It's been updated several times. ...
... Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "At the heart of the confrontation that led to a government shutdown lie two weeks of mixed messaging by the president -- and two decades of deep-seated acrimony and suspicion between Democrats and Republicans on immigration. 'The Dems just want illegal immigrants to pour into our nation unchecked,' President Trump tweeted Sunday. Senator Mitch McConnell ... said his Democratic counterpart, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, was 'playing with all of those lives over the issue of illegal immigration.' A Trump campaign official, Michael Glassner, lauded the president for keeping Americans safe from 'evil, illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes against lawful U.S. citizens.' After several fruitless efforts at overhauling the nation's immigration laws, Democrats simply do not trust Republicans ... to follow through on pledges to protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation unless forced to do so." ...
... Sean Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump and Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) pressed the Senate Sunday to end a government shutdown that reached its second day, with Trump lashing out at Democrats and urging Republicans to change the rules if the standoff there isn't resolved.... Trump wrote on Twitter, 'If stalemate continues,' then Republicans should use the 'Nuclear Option' to rewrite Senate rules and try to pass a long-term spending bill with a simple majority." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jacqueline Klimas of Politico: "The Senate's second-ranking Democrat [Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)] said Sunday that ... Donald Trump's suggestion to change Senate rules to reopen the government 'would be the end of the Senate as it was originally devised.' The president tweeted Sunday morning that if the 'stalemate' that closed the government continues, Republicans should invoke the 'nuclear option,' which would allow the Senate to move forward with 51 votes instead of the 60 normally required to break a filibuster. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) slammed the suggestion, saying part of being in the Senate is respecting the party that's in the minority." ...
... Elana Schor of Politico: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday renewed his criticism of White House aides' handling of immigration, portraying them as having undercut ... Donald Trump's ability to cut a deal as the government shutdown entered its second day. Graham singled out White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, a pugnacious conservative who has a keen focus on restrictive immigration policy. 'As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we are going nowhere. He's been an outlier for years,' Graham told reporters...."
... I'm Rubber, You're Glue.... White House Can't Think up Original Insults. Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "The White House hit back at Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) comments calling White House aide Stephen Miller an 'outlier' on immigration, using the same phrase to describe Graham's stance on the topic. 'As long as Sen. Graham chooses to support legislation that sides with people in this country illegally and unlawfully instead of our own American citizens, we're going nowhere. He's been an outlier for years,' White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement Sunday night, according to several reports. Graham had used nearly identical terms to describe Miller on immigration earlier in the day." ...
... Another White House Dimwit Can't Even Get Past Chuck Todd. Ryan Koronowski of ThinkProgress: "On Saturday, Donald Trump's re-election campaign aired an incendiary, unhinged new ad claiming that Democrats who oppose his demand for a border wall 'will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants.' It was particularly strange timing given the fact that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) offered to fund the wall in exchange for a real solution for ... DREAMers.... NBC's Chuck Todd asked Marc Short, the Trump White House's director of Legislative Affairs, if airing an ad like that was helpful in the effort to reach the compromise needed to reopen the government. 'Well, you know that ad was produced by an outside group...' Short started to respond, before Todd interjected, '"Donald J. Trump for President" is an outside group?' repeating it again in incredulity. The ad concludes with Trump saying 'I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message' and a photo of Trump with two thumbs up."
Defending the Indefensible. Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "... American diplomats across Africa have been made to explain President Trump's vulgar description of their nations. These are disorienting -- and some say depressing -- times for the country's diplomatic corps, which was already wilting after a year of Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson's leadership style and a lackluster department reorganization. Then Mr. Trump derided 'shithole' African countries during an immigration debate last week and questioned whether Haitians should be allowed to move to the United States. The blowback was fierce. On Wednesday, more than 80 former ambassadors to African nations over the last several decades sent a letter of protest to Mr. Trump. They said his description undermined American interests across the continent that has the world's fastest growing population and five of the 10 fastest growing economies.... Nearly a third of the ambassadors in 168 American embassies worldwide are political appointees -- many of whom were big political donors before they were given plush assignments to wealthy countries where they are rarely expected to conduct high-stakes diplomacy. No longer."
It seems to me that Republicans might pause to consider what the optics will be if the Dreamers begin to be deported. If no solution is found it will be horrific. They will fully own it. What am I missing? -- Donna S., in yesterday's Comments thread
Well, three things. Some of our Republican representatives are too stupid to think ahead. Others assume it will please their voter "base" to see innocent young people, many (but not all) of whom aren't quite as white as said representatives, being herded into buses & deported to places they can't remember & won't fit in. And a whole swath of said officials, oddly enough, think anyone whose genes are not 99.44 percent pure white Christian European cannot be Americans, never mind that many a Central American has a much longer American heritage than any of us of mostly European background, including of course Donald Trump, whose mother & grandfather were immigrants. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...
... As Benjamin Wallace-Wells of the New Yorker writes, Trump insists "that America is less an idea than a specific heritage, that a judge of 'Mexican' heritage is less than equal, that Haitian-Americans and African-Americans came from 'shithole nations,' and that more Norwegian-Americans would be preferable."
They Danced with Trump. Craig Timburg, et al., of the Washington Post: At Trump's inaugural events a year ago, "... prominent business leaders and activists from [Russia] attended inaugural festivities, mingling at balls and receptions -- at times in proximity to key U.S. political officials.... FBI officials were concerned at the time because some of the figures had surfaced in the agency's investigation of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, the officials said.... Some Russian guests at Trump's inauguration said they got tickets through U.S. political contacts. One venue for credentials was the Presidential Inaugural Committee, which provided a slew of perks ... to donors who gave at least $25,000. Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are legally permitted to contribute to an inaugural committee. Several U.S. business executives with ties to Russia together donated $2.4 million to the inaugural committee, campaign finance records show." Mrs. McC: Meant to link this earlier. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
AND in more important news, Amanda Arnold of New York reveals that at Mar-a-Lago's restaurant, you get caviar -- "served ... with plastic spoons." Classy. A guest was "traumatized."
The Best Presidency Ever. Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "... on the anniversary of the inauguration; with a government shutdown consuming the capital; with cities across the country, including this one, hosting women's rallies condemning President Trump as an emblem of misogyny" -- former Trump squeeze Stormy Daniels debuted her "Make America Horny Again" striptease tour at an airport strip club in Greenville, South Carolina. Mrs. McC: I wonder why Donald didn't ask Stormy to stand in for him when he couldn't attend his Mar-a-Lago party.
Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "The White House -- and the politerati diaspora -- has just barely stopped reeling from author Michael Wolff's account of life in Trump’s West Wing..., and now another life-in-the-White-House book is about to drop, this one from [Howard] Kurtz [of Fox 'News']. Like the books that came before it, and almost certainly like the ones still to come, Kurtz's book, 'Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press, And The War Over The Truth,' offers a portrait of a White House riven by chaos, with aides scrambling to respond to the president's impulses and writing policy to fit his tweets, according to excerpts obtained by The Washington Post. Kurtz ...> writes that Trump's aides even privately coined a term for Trump's behavior -- 'Defiance Disorder.' The phrase refers to Trump's seeming compulsion to do whatever it is his advisers are most strongly urging against, leaving his team to handle the fallout."
It's Other World Economies, Stupid. Larry Summers, in a Washington Post op-ed, explains why Trump doesn't deserve credit for an improving U.S. economy.
Rana Sweis of the New York Times: "Vice President Mike Pence met with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Sunday, telling reporters afterward that they had 'agreed to disagree' on the American recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The meeting in Amman, on the second day of Mr. Pence's visit to the Middle East, came as tension has increased between the two allies over President Trump's decision on Jerusalem last month and his decision last week to withhold aid to the United Nations agency that serves Palestinian refugees.... Mr. Pence had delayed his trip to the region amid the furor over Mr. Trump's decisions, which were seen here as pro-Israel and a slap in the face to Palestinians. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, canceled a meeting with Mr. Pence planned for this trip. The Trump administration said the delay was unrelated to the rising anti-American sentiment in the Middle East."
All the Best People, Ctd.
Jonathan Swan of Axios: "... Donald Trump has put Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross out to pasture.... Ross's efforts to wheel and deal with the Chinese have left the president unimpressed. Another problem: He keeps falling asleep in meetings. Early in Trump's presidency, Ross was his go-to negotiator, helming the administration's trade talks with the Chinese. After a few months, though, Trump concluded he was doing a terrible job. In a series of Oval Office meetings about six months into his presidency, Trump eviscerated Ross, telling him he'd screwed up, and badly.... The recent Forbes article -- revealing that Ross vastly exaggerated his net worth -- did not help his internal standing."
Adam Entous & Evan Osnos of the New Yorker have a long report on Jared Kushner's dealings with China. Mrs. McC: I've been trying to read it since Friday. For an abridged version, Benjamin Hart of New York obliges.
Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: "A former Trump campaign worker appointed at age 23 to a top position in the White House's drug policy office had been let go from a job at a law firm because he repeatedly missed work, a partner at the firm said. While in college, late in 2014 or early in 2015, Taylor Weyeneth began working as a legal assistant at the New York firm O'Dwyer & Bernstien. He was 'discharged' in August 2015, partner Brian O'Dwyer said in an interview. 'We were very disappointed in what happened,' O'Dwyer said. He said that he hired Weyeneth in part because both men were involved in the same fraternity, and that the firm invested time training him for what was expected to be a longer relationship. Instead, he said, Weyeneth 'just didn't show.' In a résumé initially submitted to the government, Weyeneth said he worked at the firm until April 2016." Mrs. McC: What's the big deal? Trump "just doesn't show" for the better part of every day. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond the Beltway
Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "Turkish troops crossed the Syrian border into the Kurdish enclave of Afrin on Sunday morning, beginning a ground assault against American-allied militias there, as the first accounts of casualties emerged amid rising international criticism of Turkey's military action.Turkish fighter jets were again in the skies Sunday bombing Kurdish militia targets in the border region."
Mujib Mashal & Fatima Faizi of the New York Times: "The Taliban's bloody, 14-hour siege on a major hotel in Kabul finally ended on Sunday, after six assailants terrorized much of the city with explosions and gunfire. The exact number of casualties remained unclear, and the authorities said it might take days to determine the extent of the material damage. Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said that 14 foreigners and four Afghans had been killed in the attack, and that 10 others including six members of the security forces, had been wounded. Local news outlets put the number of dead at 43. The siege capped a violent 24 hours across Afghanistan, where about 50 people were killed in four provinces as the 16-year war continues to spiral more violently, with no tangible signs of a resolution. The attack was the second in eight years at the 200-room Intercontinental Hotel, located on top of a hill. The Afghan carrier Kam Air said that six of its employees from Ukraine were killed, along with two from Venezuela."
News Lede
New York Times: "Unsung for seven decades, the real Rosie the Riveter was a California waitress named Naomi Parker Fraley. Over the years, a welter of American women have been identified as the model for Rosie, the war worker of 1940s popular culture who became a feminist touchstone in the late 20th century. Mrs. Fraley, who died on Saturday, at 96, in Longview, Wash., staked the most legitimate claim of all. But because her claim was eclipsed by another woman's, she went unrecognized for more than 70 years."
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Reader Comments (19)
Reading the tea leaves:
Saw shutdown poll numbers flash on the tv screen few minutes ago. More blamed Democrats than blamed Republicans in Congress, 30 plus percent to 20 plus. And more than 20 percent blamed the Pretender alone.
My optimistic take. Those blaming the D's are immovable trumbots. The rest, that is the majority, are Democrats or so-called independents (the more malleable center).
In the mix, most polled in the last week oppose the wall; most support a DACA fix.
In aggregate, not that bad. Yet.
But the real shutdown starts tomorrow.
Will look for new numbers. They're sure to change.
My take is the D's won't be able to hold out too long or it will hurt them (us) in Nov. particularly because I don't think they're winning the message war.
Ken,
Democrats rarely seem to win the message war. This is largely because positions that the require the tiniest appreciation of history, precedence, honor and (horrors!), nuance don’t play nearly as well as Yew Ess Ay!! With Us or Against Us! Or the ever popular “Fuck Anyone Who Isn’t Us!”
What? David Leonhardt' on NYT sez The Democrats Are Right — and Should Settle "and Should Settle" and starts by saying ", The government shutdown is overwhelmingly the fault of Republican leaders. They, not Democrats, are the ones trying to make sharp changes in federal policy, like reduced legal immigration and a border wall. "
...his BECAUSE is:
"The smart move now for Democrats is to accept a short-term funding bill that ends the shutdown and diffuses the tension. Republican leaders are open to that solution, because they have their own vulnerabilities. Their party is the majority party, which is often blamed for dysfunction.
That solution feels a bit unsatisfying, I know. But tactical retreats can lead to big victories in the future."
Dave's got a point.
Then we move further on the NYT page to more clarification from Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Maggie Haberman's "and the hold up is..."
President Unsure of What He Wants Complicates Impasse
Can't wait for Trump's follow up book, "The Art of No Deal and How to
WinWhine"IN GOD WE TRUST: this nation's motto has been a burr in my skin for decades and I kept hoping we would change it to "In Truth We Trust" but of course that won't happen in my lifetime. But now more than ever truth is paramount in our scummy world of lies uttered daily by a president* who tells the people of this country that our fourth estate is "fake", that the media is fake, that the justice system is crooked, that all the women accusing him of sexual harassment are lying, that his steaks were great, his vodka the best, and a school that turned out to be a scam was the greatest ever and the list goes on and we need not wonder why this is the first time that a massive drop in trust has not been linked to a pressing economic issue or catastrophe.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/trust-trump-america-world/550964/
That little mention–-see above–-of caviar being served with plastic spoons at Mar-A-Lago ––-oh, clutch my pearls––is really very funny. All gold and shiny displays, all richy riches promenading, dancing perhaps, and horror upon horrors, plastic spoons?? It's back to Christian Anderson's marvelous reveal–-The Emperor has no clothes––and all that glitters is not gold and when caviar is served with plastic spoons it's "Showtime is over , Folks!"––-it's got to be a new reality–-the Potemkin village is kaput once and for all. Now we wait for the FALL.
I know the Democrats are getting blamed for the shutdown, but I don't really know how Chuck Schumer can go along with any "promises" from Mitch McConnell. He promises to take up immigration if the Democrats go along with their latest schemes? Sure. He promises to take it up and drop it off the nearest pier.
MAG, the reason Trump is unsure of what he wants is because he created a problem in his brain. Before election, he always knew what he wanted-TRUMP. Now it's complicated because he doesn't have total control and his brain has a problem piecing together complex issues. Now we have a POTUS who no one wants to negotiate with. And congress has no idea who to talk to in the WH.
P.S. I worry about Marie's safety–-see yesterday's comments–- no Triple A?
Strikeout Kings.
Back in high school, there was a guy on our baseball team, guy named Neal, who was constantly bragging, before the season, about what a great hitter he was. Oh, he batted .400 in Little League and Legion ball and was a reg'lar Willie Mays in the outfield.
Once the season started he whiffed on a regular basis, his nickname became Neal the K (K being the symbol in baseball scoring for a strikeout). And after each failed trip to the plate, he'd hold the bat out and stare at it with a look of horrified disbelief, as if the bat had purposefully screwed him. He had all kinds of excuses for his anemic performance, the pitchers threw illegal pitches, the ball was doctored, the coach didn't prepare him for the cheating pitchers he was always facing, he had a thing in his eye, his teammates (me included) didn't help either, by supporting him. He might have had a point about that last one. The K's got to be such a routine that the guys on the bench would all be elbowing each other getting ready for the "bat look" as Neal would trudge back to the bench, the treasonous lumber dragging behind him, his dream of superstardom short-circuited by evil forces arrayed against him. Of course it had nothing to do with the fact that he couldn't hit a ball out of the infield off a little kid's tee.
This is Donald Trump. The difference is that sports is the ultimate meritocracy (unless you're a racist pig of a Confederate commentator like Rushbo Limbaugh who claims that black athletes are given special consideration). You produce or you join the Pine Brothers (or sisters, as the case may be) on the bench. You suck bad enough, and you're not so gently prodded to find some better use for your time, like checkers, maybe.
Not so with politics, especially the kind practiced by Confederates. Our team didn't get much ink except for box scores and the occasional two paragraph story, but I know for a fact that there were no local sports reporters racing back to their desks to write that, once again, Neal So and So, a truly great hitter whom a few begrudgers refuse to recognize as such, was battling mightily against great odds and still managing to be heroic in his demeanor, standing head and shoulders above all around him.
But this is what Confederates--and Trump especially--get no matter how often they strike out and stare disbelievingly at the offending bat. Incompetent, inept fools like Trump and Tom Cotton and Paul Ryan are lauded as Giants of the Sport when in fact, the guys on the bench, who actually do their job at the plate and in the field, are poking each other in the side each time they strike out looking.
Politics, as practiced by Confederates, is no meritocracy. It's a lifetime sinecure, the dominion of losers, fakers, liars, frauds, and strikeout artists. You fail miserably? You get "voted" in for another term. Repeat as often as you want.
If there were any justice, the bats would be permanently banned from their grasp and their uniforms burned.
Instead, they get "Strike 248. Great job, son!"
@Akhilleus
Chuck S. hasn't called me for advice and he's probably too busy to be reading RC, but here's my morning take on the shutdown and the best way forward.
DACA is dead, dead, dead. There's nothing the Dems can do about it other than make sure the country (which does support it, remember?) knows who's to blame: the racist Republicans and their Pretend president. Dems have already made that point and it will be made again when McConnell either breaks another promise to bring immigration up in the Senate and does not, or does bring it up and the racist senators and congress critters kill DACA once again--as they will--providing another perfect time for finger-pointing from us to them.
"See, we trusted the bastards once again, but they clearly have no interest in the Dreamers. They want them out of the country, young men and women brought here as children so their parents could work in our communities, in our homes, yards, fields and food processing plants. We closed our eyes to their arrival, actually invited millions of undocumented workers into the country so we could make use of them. We did it ourselves and now the R's are kicking the children they brought with them out. Were they supposed to leave the children to fend for themselves as they made a new life in another country? It's the very definition of heartless."
It would work in November because it's right and, more to the messaging point, because t sounds right. And acceding to the wall that few want will only underscore the point that the R's and their leader are nuts.
But the shutdown can't last long or the message will be chewed up in the chaos.
A strategic retreat is in order.
PD,
You're right. Marie, get AAA. Basic membership costs less than $70. Especially if you're driving around by yourself, it's a nice thing to have in your pocket. It was nice of those Trumpbots (you're probably right about that), but there might be a time when no one is around. When I was (a lot) younger, I once got a flat on a main highway on a Sunday at 5:00 in the morning. No one around, no spare. I pulled the tire off and carried it five miles back to a station across the other side of the highway, hopped the fence in the median strip with the tire on my shoulder, got it fixed and humped back to the car. No way I'd do that now. Woof! I might think about it, but I'd much rather pull out the Triple A card and call those guys. They can hop the fence now.
Ken,
I think you're right. They're not going to win on DACA with the racists in charge. Confederates are all in on soul-killing bigotry. And the longer Democrats hold out, the more they'll be blamed. Saying that the shutdown is a result of inept governance and incompetence is still a fairly amorphous concept for too many voters. But make it a point, make sure everyone knows that Confederates are racist bastards who hate these kids, then end the shutdown. I was all for holding out til doomsday, but not so much now. There's a lot to lose and the way it will be painted, to the knuckledraggers and that weird species, the Undecideds, is "Democrats shut down the guv'mint for illegals here to take your jobs!"
I'd make sure an economic impact statement went out, laying out the effect of losing the Dreamers, and then hit the hustings with the Republicans Are Racists and They Hate You message to GET OUT THE VOTE!
Live to fight another day.
@AK & PD: Did have a bit of an offline tête-à-tête with Marie, because I, myself who lives in a cold weather clime have tended to stock up on food supplies & stuff to hunker down through bad spells so that I didn't have to be on nasty roadways in crummy weather.
But, now and then in the past the car conked out. Help!
It took me time to get the message of what my car's electronic warnings were trying tell me, e.g. : 'something something chargers were low'. Car continued to function, until it didn't —and Roadside Assistance was required on a few occasions.
The awakening came when I realized that cars today have so many computerized apps that keep drawing juice behind the scene and no matter if your car is just standing still outside or inside a garage...the battery tends to go down. Now I make it a point to rev up the engine and extend my travel times. (I do have Triple A, but haven't needed them to come to the rescue in years). Et voila: Usage builds up the battery.
While not RC's fault, at times I couldn't so readily abuse our local newspaper readers without its help. RC provided the two links at the heart of what follows. Thanks, Bea.
"My record is not perfect, but I was taught to be polite. Don’t call people stupid, I was told, because what seems like stupidity is often just ignorance, a condition a little education can cure.
Good advice to follow, but it's not easy when the ignorance seems as purposefully cynical as the Trump administration displays.
Two recent claims, one by a Republican Senator, the other by the Department of Justice, call to mind a consciously boneheaded statistical “proof” I read in high school. Illustrative of that old saying, “figures lie and liars figure,” it went something like this. Because more people die of tuberculosis in Nevada than in any other state, those infected with the disease should avoid Nevada. That Nevada with its dry climate was home to many tuberculosis sanitariums at the time was ignored. Nevada didn’t kill the patients. Their tuberculosis did.
Senator Johnson (R. Wisconsin) just made a similar case for Medicaid causing the opioid epidemic. Opioids kill a higher proportion of people on Medicaid than those who have private health insurance….so, he concluded, Medicaid kills people. A liar figuring, Johnson stood there with a chart that proved it. But the senators’ “proof” omitted any mention of the victims’ Medicaid-qualifying poverty and poverty’s proven link to elevated death rates. (ThinkProgress.com)
And how about a recent report from the Department of Justice, which claimed that three of four “convicted in recent years of international terrorism….were ‘immigrants?’” Since the report’s definition of “immigrant” included those brought to United States for trial, and the “terrorism” cited was often planned or occurred in other countries, the “three of four” figure was fear-inspiring nonsense. (ThinkProgress.com)
Are Republican senators and officials really so ignorant of elementary logic?
Or are they just dressing up their lies in studies and charts?
You make the call."
MAG,
Good point. And good idea about stocking up against the vicissitudes of northern winters. But batteries do have a life expectancy and at some point they won't take a charge anymore. I jumped a co-worker's car last week in the middle of that deep freeze cold snap that gripped much of the eastern part of the country. I asked her a few questions and told her to go right away and get a new battery. Once the car is running, you don't need the battery, but if you shut it off and it hasn't been taking the charge, it's about as useless as a Trump in a library. Still, keeping a good battery charged up is always a good thing.
And you're right about newer computerized cars. I used to be able to do almost all my own work on cars (except for brakes--it's one thing if you mess up a tune up; the car won't start. If you mess up the brake job, it won't stop), but not anymore. Now you need to be able to do a Vulcan mind meld with the processing units in your car. If you're lucky, you have a car that will allow you to take a read out that purports to tell you the problem, that is, if you have the right manuals to let you know what Error 13#34L means. If not, you're like Groucho buying a slew of code books to figure out which horse to bet on in "Day at the Races".
Love the story about caviar served at Marred a Lago with plastic spoons. You can make fun of the lady who exposed this horrible faux pas if you like (I must confess to having eaten caviar without mother of pearl spoons and dishes, mea maxima culpa--I think the spoon was wood), but maybe Trump's minions thought that rather than use metal spoons (an even bigger faux pas), they'd break out the plastic stuff they had lying around from the dishwasher's trip to Hardees.
It's a perfect metonymic representation of the Trump aesthetic. Gaudy, showy stuff on top but cheap, bargain basement stuff underneath, all fake glitz. He's a vulgar Philistine who wants everyone to picture him as elegant and refined; the guy who sees himself as an urbane foodie, but who believes haute cuisine is Cheez Whiz on the broccoli.
Maybe Marie didn't miss this, but I did. This is good.
The little king, trying to seem relevant during the TrumpDown, yelled about Democrats dissing the military (the military was not shut down, contrary to his belief). He was taken to school by Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill). Duckworth, who lost both legs in combat, responding to the Glorious Leader's ignorance and insults, had this to say:
"'...I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger.'
Duckworth did not stop there, delivering a final blow that took a jab at one of Trump's reasons for avoiding military service.
Trump received five deferments from service in Vietnam, with four citing academic reasons and another citing bone spurs, which typically manifest as small pointed outgrowths of bone, in his heels. The growths can be associated with pain and numbness, but also may not cause any symptoms at all.
'I have a message for ‘Cadet Bone Spurs,' she said. 'If you cared about our military, you’d stop baiting Kim Jong Un into a war that could put 85,000 American troops, and millions of innocent civilians, in danger.'"
Cadet Bone Spurs. Good one.
Digby has it figured out, too.
https://www.salon.com/2018/01/22/do-trump-and-the-gop-really-want-a-daca-deal-we-already-know-the-answer/
So excited: it seems the PA Supremes just threw out our gerrymandered election map. Maybe we can add that and Meehan's black side and end up with fewer Trumpies in office. Well, a girl can dream, can't she??
I think that everybody who is wondering why Trump has been invisible today is still assuming that he is sane. I believe that his minders have locked him in the WH basement and have disabled his phone because Trump has gone bonkers. He's down there, screaming epithets and eating cheeseburgers. He may be better in the morning.