;)
The Commentariat -- January 4, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Andy Borowitz: (Satire) "A majority of Oregonians favor building a twenty-foot wall along the border of their state to prevent angry white men from getting in, a poll released on Monday shows."
*****
Gardiner Harris & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Renewing his emphasis on the need for more gun restrictions, President Obama will participate in a live televised town-hall-style meeting on Thursday to discuss gun violence in the United States, according to the White House. The hourlong event, at George Mason University outside Washington, will be televised on CNN at 8 p.m." See related story linked under Presidential Race. ...
... Tim Noah of Politico: "Nearly 4,000 regulations are squirming their way through the federal bureaucracy in the last year of Barack Obama's presidency -- many costing industry more than $100 million -- in a mad dash by the White House to push through government actions affecting everything from furnaces to gun sales to Guantanamo.... Much of this work will be carried out in the coming months by career bureaucrats..., but the cumulative effect adds up to something larger: A final-year sprint by a president intent on using executive power to improve the lives of American workers and consumers -- in many instances over loud objections from the businesses that will have to pay for it. The work must be done swiftly in most cases because any regulation finalized after May 17 or thereabouts risks being blocked by Congress." (Noah explains why.)
"Elections Have Consequences." What Paul Krugman learned from the IRS's newly-released 2013 tax tables: "Mr. Obama's election in 2008 and re-election in 2012 had some real, quantifiable consequences.... One of the important consequences of the 2012 election was that Mr. Obama was able to go through with a significant rise in taxes on high incomes.... If Mitt Romney had won, we can be sure that Republicans would have found a way to prevent these tax hikes.... The bottom line is that presidential elections matter, a lot, even if the people on the ballot aren't as fiery as you might like." ...
... BUT. digby: Republican voters "don't care about taxes for the rich --- or themselves either, at least not in the abstract. They are not motivated by economic arguments unless the argument is that the government is taking their money and giving it to black people or immigrants or spending it on foreigners."
CW: Peter Baker of the New York Times usually finds some hook to annoy me, as he does in today's essay on President Obama's "struggle to stay relevant," but the content is overwise informative.
New Rules, Undefined. Mark Schmitt in a New York Times op-ed: "... in recent years, Republican politicians especially have not only defied the rules, they have also protected themselves from the consequences. Restrictions on voting, along with aggressive redistricting, reduce the influence of the median voter. Campaign war chests (including 'super PACs') scare off opponents, from within their own party as well as the other. By crippling civil-society institutions such as unions and community groups, which organize middle- and lower-income voters, they sometimes avoid being held accountable. They can use ideological media to reach mostly like-minded voters.... Now that congressional leaders, governors and Mr. Trump have shown the rules and customs of American politics to be hollow and unenforceable, we need a new set of tools to understand how democracy works, or doesn't."
American "Justice," Ctd. Madison Pauly of Mother Jones: "When it comes to throwing juveniles in jail with no chance for parole, the main culprits are officials in a handful of counties with a reputation for seeking and imposing harsh sentences on kids. Philadelphia alone is responsible for sentencing about 9 percent of America's current juvenile life-without-parole inmates.... Since 1992, black children arrested for murder are twice as likely to end up sentenced to life without parole as white children arrested for murder.... One strange outcome of the decision to end mandatory sentencing, in Miller v. Alabama, is that even though many fewer juvenile offenders now receive life-without-parole sentences compared with the late 90s, there is actually more opportunity for racial bias because sentences are now discretionary."
American "Justice," Ctd. Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: "The Suffolk County, New York, "law enforcement" apparatus has long been a rat's nest of sleazy power politics. The Justice Department is investigating district attorney Thomas Spota & his long-time pal, the former police chief James Burke, is under federal indictment "on charges of violating a thief's civil rights after a duffel bag -- containing pornography, sex toys and cigars -- was stolen from Mr. Burke's sport utility vehicle in 2012. When the thief was arrested shortly after the break-in, Mr. Burke, 51, barged in on the interrogation and punched him, then persuaded his officers to cover for him by lying about the episode, a federal indictment says." Federal "agents [are seeking] evidence about whether judgeships are for sale in Suffolk County.... In Suffolk County, policing is not a middle-class job.... Detectives and sergeants have been known to earn more than $200,000 a year."
Presidential Race
Trip Gabriel & Amy Chozick of the New York Times: Bernie Sanders' "campaign has quietly assembled an extensive ground game [in Iowa], with 100 paid staff members and with trained volunteer leaders for each of the state's 1,681 caucus precincts." Sanders is relying on enthusiasm, too, "because younger and economically struggling voters [-- his base --] are historically less likely to caucus."
Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg: "... Hillary Clinton will unveil proposals this month that will 'go beyond the Buffett Rule' to raise the effective tax rates paid by the wealthiest Americans, she said Saturday. 'As president, I'll do what it takes to make sure the super-wealthy are truly paying their fair share,' Clinton said in a statement responding to the Internal Revenue Service's release of new data on tax rates paid by the 400 wealthiest U.S. households, which averaged 22.89 percent in 2013."
Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "One day before former president Bill Clinton arrives in New Hampshire to campaign for his wife, Hillary Clinton, she was confronted with questions about allegations involving his sexual history at a town hall meeting in the state on Sunday. State Rep. Katherine Prudhomme-O'Brien (R) repeatedly interrupted Clinton during the meeting, which was held in a middle school gymnasium.... After Prudhomme-O'Brien's third interruption, Clinton responded angrily: 'You are very rude, and I'm not ever going to call on you.'" ...
... CW: Here's a little background on Prudhomme-O'Brien. This is not the first time she's done this sort of thing.
David Cloud of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama's plan to impose new controls on gun sales in an effort to lessen gun violence drew sharp fire Sunday from Republican presidential candidates, who argued he lacked authority to enact the restrictions by executive order.... 'I don't like anything to do with changing our 2nd Amendment,' Donald Trump ... said on CBS' 'Face the Nation.' Obama 'just goes and signs executive orders on everything.' New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, appearing on 'Fox News Sunday,' called Obama 'a petulant child' who sidesteps Congress 'whenever he can't get what he wants.'... 'His first impulse is always to take rights away from law-abiding citizens," [Jeb] Bush said, also on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'And it's wrong. And to use executive powers that he doesn't have is a pattern that's quite dangerous.'" ...
... CW: Kinda funny, because all three of these critics are mighty fond of executive orders. Trump has promised, among other things to personally build a big ole border fence, presumably by executive order. Christie has already changed a New Jersey state gun law by executive order. According to the AP, "Bush was an aggressive chief executive throughout his tenure as Florida governor, pushing the limits of executive authority, bristling at legislative oversight and willing to work around the courts." ...
... BUT There Are Things Too Delicate to Discuss. Katie Zezima & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Republican presidential candidates are staying mum as an armed group has taken over part of a national wildlife refuge in rural Oregon -- even those who supported the father of at least one of its leaders, who had his own standoff with the government in 2014, and have called for limits on federal control over Western land."
Nick Gass of Politico: "Donald Trump on Monday assailed President Barack Obama for his upcoming executive action to tighten gun restrictions, remarking that on the current track, it would soon become impossible for Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights to have firearms. 'Well pretty soon, you won't be able to get guns. I mean, it's another step in the way of not getting guns,' the Republican presidential candidate told CNN's 'New Day.'" ...
... Tom LoBianco & Elizabeth Landers of CNN: "Donald Trump on Saturday said the policies of President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 'created ISIS,' the furthest the GOP front-runner has gone in tying the Obama administration's policies to the rise of the terror group.Trump offered no evidence for his claim...."
... Robert Costa & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The decision to air television ads -- which [Donald] Trump hinted at for months, though the billionaire mogul has been loath to spend more than he deems necessary -- represents a tightly produced new act for a candidate who has fed largely off free media attention. In an interview Sunday with The Post, Trump said that he has six to eight ads in production and that his was a 'major buy and it's going to go on for months.' He said he hopes the spots impress upon undecided voters that the country has become 'a dumping ground. The world is laughing at us, at our stupidity,' he said. 'It's got to stop. We've got to get smart fast -- or else we won't have a country.'" ...
... OR, as Greg Sargent (or a WashPo headline writer) parses it, "Donald Trump’s new TV ad: Make America great by keeping the darkies out." (I won't be surprised if somebody at the WashPo rewrites that headline.)
CW: I skipped that weekend New York Times story by Jason Horowitz about Donald Trump's troubled brother Freddy, but here's an illuminating tidbit: "Then came the unveiling of Fred Sr.'s will, which Donald had helped draft. It divided the bulk of the inheritance, at least $20 million, among his children and their descendants, 'other than my son Fred C. Trump Jr.' Freddy's children sued, claiming that an earlier version of the will had entitled them to their father's share of the estate, but that Donald and his siblings had used 'undue influence' over their grandfather, who had dementia, to cut them out. A week later, [Donald] Trump retaliated by withdrawing the medical benefits critical to his nephew's infant child." I guess we know what the Donald would do to CHIP in order to accommodate tax cuts for millionaires & billionaires.
Beyond the Beltway
Les Zaitz of the Oregonian: "Law enforcement agencies are remaining mum about plans to end militiamen's occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters.... Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said in a statement late Saturday that 'a collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution.'... Accounts of how many militia are at the refuge range from their own claims of up to 150 to accounts from reporters at the scene that there may be no more than 15.... Law enforcement will be under great pressure to act because of the Bundys' confrontation in Nevada. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management retreated from that confrontation and has yet to publicly act against the Bundys to collect $1 million in unpaid grazing fees. That retreat has emboldened militia members as they now face the prospect of another standoff." ...
... CW: If this were an unarmed Occupy group of mostly young people, "law enforcement" would just pepper-spray their faces & throw 'em in jail. But these people occupying a migratory bird sanctuary are gun-totin' Constitutional scholars who say the federal government has no right to own land, so by all means, cave. Also, too, while the boyz are otherwise occupied (or occupying), this would be an opportune time for the BLM to round up those Bundy cattle. ...
... Carissa Wolf, et al., of the Washington Post: "'These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers,' [Sheriff Dave] Ward said in a statement Sunday. 'When in reality these men had alternative motives, to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States.'... Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center ... said that Bundy's success has fueled a renewed rise in the number of anti-government activist groups and self-described militias. 'When you have a big win like they did at the Bundy Ranch, it emboldens people.... It is definitely a recipe for disaster.'" ...
... Contributor Julie passes along the statement of the Portland Audubon Society, which reads, in part, "The occupation of Malheur by armed, out of state militia groups puts one of America's most important wildlife refuges at risk. It violates the most basic principles of the Public Trust Doctrine and holds hostage public lands and public resources to serve the very narrow political agenda of the occupiers. The occupiers have used the flimsiest of pretexts to justify their actions -- the conviction of two local ranchers in a case involving arson and poaching on public lands. Notably, neither the local community or the individuals convicted have requested or endorsed the occupation or the assistance of militia groups."
... CW: Oh yeah? So what? According to the Society's own statement, Teddy Roosevelt created the Malheur refuge in 1908, in what sounds to me very much like an executive action. So no doubt unconstitooshunal. BTW, these federal lands belong to all of us, not to a few ranchers, miners & sundry armed squatters. There is nothing more populist than lands owned in common. ...
... Janell Ross of the Washington Post: "The sometimes-coded but increasingly overt ways that some Americans are presumed guilty and violence-prone [-- say, black ones! --] while others [-- say, white ones --] are assumed to be principled and peaceable unless and until provoked -- even when actually armed -- is remarkable.... When a group of unknown size and unknown firepower has taken over any federal building with plans and possibly some equipment to aid a years-long occupation -- and when its representative tells reporters that they would prefer to avoid violence but are prepared to die -- the kind of almost-uniform delicacy and the limits on the language [the press] used to describe the people involved becomes noteworthy itself." Read her whole post.
... David Atkins of the Washington Monthly: "Undereducated, armed angry men are often upset at Western governments for upsetting their private power apple carts because in their small, solipsistic worlds they're very used to being lords of their manors and local enforcers of bigoted frontier justice. That's as true of Afghan militants in the Taliban as it is of rural Montana militiamen.... If Bundy's little crew wants to occupy a federal building and assert that they'll use deadly violence against any police who try to extract them, then they should get what they're asking for just as surely Islamist terrorists would if they did likewise." ...
... Mark Kleiman of the Reality Base Community: "Of course it's crucial to avoid a shoot-out, but it's equally crucial to assert the rule of law. There's no need here to repeat the back-down in Nevada, and the ringleaders need to go away for long, long time. It's also crucial that Republican politicians -- most importantly, the Presidential candidates -- be forced to take a stand for or against acts of lawless violence." ...
... Kevin Drum: "These guys aren't terrorists, anyway. They're just as misguided as real terrorists, but they haven't taken anyone hostage or threatened to blow up an airplane. They're just morons with guns.... Just let them rot quietly away for a while until they finally come slinking out of their hole into the hands of federal officials. Then they can be put on trial. By that time, they'll just seem like a bunch of pitiful loons, and their 'movement' will be dead." ...
... Steve M. looks at the bigger picture: "... it's safe to assume that the effort to end federal control of these lands is not about manly constitutionalism -- it's about well-connected fat cats wanting the land under local control because local bureaucrats are more likely to be pushovers. NPR's [Kirk] Siegler says, 'States like Utah want to see more oil and gas drilling and other types of development on all that federal land' because 'they'd get more money to pay for things like schools.' The second part of that is just a smokescreen.... The local authorities just want to do whatever oil and gas moguls want them to do.... Fox watchers cheer on the militias, then vote for seemingly like-minded 'constitutionalists' who proceed to hand over the land to the greediest exploiters. Freedom!" ...
... CW: AND this goes a long way to explain why "Republican presidential candidates are staying mum."
Zahira Torres & Frank Shyong of the Los Angeles Times: "A leaking natural gas well that has displaced thousands of residents in Porter Ranch lacked a working safety valve, sparking new questions about how the facility was maintained. Attorneys for residents suing Southern California Gas Co. said the company failed to replace the safety valve when it was removed in 1979. The safety valve may not have prevented the leak, but it would have stopped the continued release of fumes pouring into the community, attorney Brian Panish said in an interview Sunday. SoCal Gas spokeswoman Melissa Bailey confirmed in an email to The Times that the well did not have 'a deep subsurface valve.' She said such a valve was not required by law."
American Hero. Justin Moyer of the Washington Post: Larry Wright, a Fayetteville, North Carolina, pastor, peacefully disarmed a man who walked into his church carrying a semi-automatic assault rifle during New Year's Eve services. The man "said he had recently been released from prison and 'intended to do something terrible,' as CNN put it. Wright told NBC that the man was a military veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome."
Way Beyond
Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday and gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, marking a swift escalation in a strategic and sectarian rivalry that underpins conflicts across the Middle East." ...
... Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "Bahrain joined Saudi Arabia in severing diplomatic relations with Iran on Monday as the worst crisis in three decades between the region's rival Sunni and Shiite powers drew worldwide expressions of alarm. Russia offered to mediate in the feud and China was among the nations expressing concern at the implications of the rupture...." ...
... Update. Thomas Erdbrink of the New York Times: "Three Sunni-led countries joined Saudi Arabia on Monday in severing or downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran, worsening a geopolitical conflict with sectarian dimensions in one of the world's most volatile regions."
Martin Evans of the (U.K.) Telegraph: "Intelligence agencies were hunting a new 'Jihadi John' after an Islamic extremist with a British accent murdered five men accused of spying for the UK."
Christopher Sherman & Maria Verza of the AP: "Three people, including a minor, were being held Sunday in the slaying of a newly inaugurated mayor just hours into her term in a gang-troubled central Mexican city. Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez ordered flags on state buildings flown at half-staff and called for three days of mourning following the killing of Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota."
Dan Bilefsky introduced new identity checks on Monday on travelers arriving from Denmark, and Denmark swiftly followed suit along its border with Germany. The steps by the two Scandinavian countries represented another step in the erosion of the ideal of borderless travel across most of the European Union, amid rising concerns about the economic and security risks posed by the tide of migration."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "The body of Craig Strickland has been found more than a week after the country singer went missing during a severe storm. Strickland, the 29-year-old frontman for Backroad Anthem, had gone duck hunting with his friend Chase Morland on Dec. 27 when a severe, spring-like weather system hit the Kaw Lake area in Oklahoma. A search party began looking for them that night, and Morland's body was found the following day. A capsized boat the two had used was also recovered."
New York Times: "Stocks worldwide tumbled in the first trading day of 2016, as fresh fears about a slowdown in China's economy ignited concerns about global growth." ...
... Bloomberg: "Financial markets are starting 2016 on a bleak note and China is at the center of it. Stocks crumbled around the world, with emerging markets falling the most since August and European equities heading for the worst first day of trading ever, as slowing manufacturing triggered a selloff that halted equity trading in Shanghai."
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Reader Comments (31)
Statement from Portland Audubon Society regarding take over by militia of Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge:
http://audubonportland.org/news/audubon-society-of-portland-statement-on-the-occupation-of-malheur-national-wildlife-refuge
These people are nuts!
I read in one of the articles about Malheur that the nighttime temperature there is minus 10 degrees F. I suspect that the feds won't have to do much to remove these militia Napoleons, they can let General Winter (as the Russians would say) take care of them.
And ... the place is a bird sanctuary. Unless they go duck hunting, the birds probably won't care that these loons are in the area. Most of the migratory birds are already down south, I'd guess.
@Patrick: Good points. Cutting off electric power to those "occupied" facilities might be all it takes to smoke 'em out, so to speak.
Marie
"Vanilla ISIS"
(sorry I can't take credit; cribbed from a comment in NY Mag)
In addition to cutting off the power, they should also curtail water service. No water, no power, no heat. They're already so full of shit with all that self-righteous claptrap about standing up for guys who have been fairly tried and convicted that a few days without water should bring them to the point of explosion. I'm sure they all pride themselves on being tough-as-nails Navy Seals style survivalists but it's more likely that the closest they've ever gotten to Navy Seals training is a subscription to Soldier of Fortune.
This isn't to say that we should not take this illegal and entirely treasonous action lightly. The problem is we have all these pretend tough guys running around, thanks to congress and the NRA, heavily armed and, thanks to Fox, stupid. Pretend tough guys like Bush and Cheney have demonstrated the problems ignorance and faux bravado can create when directed against an invented a straw man of sufficient size and scariness. The Bundy Boobs have their own straw man, the hated guv'mint, which has the temerity to protect public lands and ask people like Cliven Bundy to pay for stealing from American taxpayers. They view themselves as put upon rather than those doing the putting.
Even worse, there are so-called "leaders" in Congress aiding and abetting, even fomenting this kind of radical action and violence, screaming about how the guv'mint--and that horrible nee-groe--is taking everything they have, behaving in a "tyrannical manner". Republican "leaders" have pushed hard for "'Second Amendment remedies' to protect against an out-of-control government" and Ted Cruz touts his support for insurrection against "government tyranny" on a regular basis, claiming that he fights "tooth and nail" (Really? As if there is any chance of the NRA stranglehold being broken; it's like saying he's fighting for it to get dark at night) for people like the Bundy Boobs to be armed to the teeth. Another presidential candidate, Ben Carson, advocates using guns if the nuts think they have the "wrong people in office". In other words, you don't like what's going on? Time to start shooting people.
In the 60's when students were taking over buildings on college campuses in response to a real concern (not some made up bullshit pushed by wealthy men like Murdoch and Ailes and their congressional allies), tactical police stormed those buildings with weapons, billy clubs, tear gas, and dogs. Today, in Oregon, it's likely authorities will be asking the Bundy Boobs if they want secret sauce with their orders of McDonald's chicken nuggets.
And, as Marie makes clear, were these guys Islamist extremists rather than Confederate extremists, or Black Panthers, or Black Lives Matters members, they'd all be in body bags, hospital emergency rooms, or prison cells. This minute.
My favorite part of this ridiculous display of Confederate privilege and hubris came when Bundy (Boob Number One), announced that no one should even think of using violence against them. Otherwise, they'd be killed.
When you have presidential candidates, an entire party, giant media outlets and score upon score of far-right media outlets calling for violence against the government, it's a wonder we don't have more of this sort of treasonous action. Action which so far has not resulted in so much as a "Please, can you give us back our building now? Pretty please with a hollow point on top?"
It really is a white (Confederate) man's world.
Regarding the leaking natural gas well in Southern California: Nowhere do they mention cost. A very cursory search of hydrogen sulfide, which is a large constituent in NG, is that it is corrosive to metal. They saved short term money at the expense of long term cost and public health. One reason you read so little about the Alaska pipeline is that environmentalists made oilmen build it better. Keystone is the same way: oilmen propose the cheapest, fastest to build pipeline first, then negotiate from there. How much of the stupidity of the oil patch is a consequence of drinking water from a aquifer poisoned by numerous leaks by pipelines into local water sources. I bet there is not too much research funding to pursue that idea. You gotta go up north where those pesky northerners aren't so bought and paid for by the oil biz: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/science/earth/fracking-chemicals-detected-in-pennsylvania-drinking-water.html.
One other thing about the Bundy hard guy "soldiers" of fortune.
To demonstrate the seriousness of their "mission" and how well trained, ruthless and tough they are, do they storm a military installation, emblematic of the power of the government? Do they attack a police station? Do they takeover a National Guard barracks?
Nope.
They jump a bird sanctuary.
Boy oh boy, those Bundy Boobs will really show those yellow-bellied sapsuckers a thing or two.
And speaking of yellow-bellied...Can't wait for the Sean Hannity special. Think Bundy fils will fill him in on his take on "your basic nee-groe" after expounding on the importance of the imagery of taking a flock of summer tanagers hostage? "Git them wings up, bird. We're in charge now, see?"
MAG,
Vanilla ISIS is just one of the derisive names hitting the Twittersphere. There's also #YallQaeda, #YokelHaram, #al-Shabubba waging #YeeHawd against the guvmint.
My questions are:
How did these idiots get to that place in Oregon? Did they ask for permission to traverse only privately-owned property, bushwacking through with all their provisions strapped on their backs? My bet is that they drove their pickup trucks on PUBLIC federal and state highways.
How did they communicate to develop their plans - use two tin cans connected by a string. Again, most likely they used their phones using the PUBLIC airwaves and the internet developed by publicly-funded DARPA.
Naturally, they want to have their cake and eat it too.
My link messed up. Here it is.
As commenters on other sites have pointed out, there is a good chance that the remote bird sanctuary visitor center is probably on a well and septic system. They may also probably have a propane tank, but electricity should be easy to cut off. Let'em all come out cold and hungry and sorry for themselves.
As Charlie Pierce writes: "And, in related news, of course, Tamir Rice is still dead."
Every day, I am so happy I cut the cable years ago...as I don't have to see idiocy on a regular daily basis such as the Trump TV ad re ISIS and all his other rants. What a horror!
Ignoring the 'typo' in Greg Sargent's WaPo article: "Now compare that to one of the ads Wilson ran as part of his (1994) gubernatorial campaign, which served up similarly grainy footage of similar dark hordes invading the country." there is much to liken to Trump's antics.
Over the weekend catching up on a new "Foyle's War" release on Netflix, there's a sleazy xenophobic Brit character named Lucas in the second episode...his motto is (drum roll here) "Make Britain Great Again*" and his diatribes wanting Jews, Palestinians, gypsies, et al OUT OF THE COUNTRY (because they are creating all the economic hardships) is exactly the bullcrap we hear here. Art imitates life?
*one difference, no embroidered motto on the 'brimmed felt fedoras' worn by Lucas's supporters.
As for what is happening in Oregon, MAY THE LIGHTS GO OUT. INDEED.
Also making headlines from the stupid, the Lt. Gov. in Texas speaks out on open carry safety giving us LESS CRIME. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jan/03/dan-patrick/texas-lt-gov-dan-patrick-claims-states-where-peopl/
Borowitz nails it again:
http://links.newyorker.mkt4334.com/ctt?kn=1&ms=ODM5NzI1NAS2&r=MjczNzc0ODkyMDQS1&b=0&j=ODQwMzMzNjA1S0&mt=1&rt=0
I have a hard time typing on my laptop (the cursor jumps around), so this comment took 3 tries and is pre-Borowitz's piece. Great minds...
Since this is government land (owned by the people), I say we direct the BLM to build a wall around the compound, with that nasty barbed wire at the top like, you know -- a prison.
The wall would have to be made of brick or stone so the freedom lovers inside cannot see what's happening on the other side. All this assumes cell phone or other device reception would be cut off so no pictures of the outside could be sent to their phones or iPads.
These are really stupid men, so you know one of them, probably Ammon, would have the bright idea of picking off the unarmed construction workers in the heavy equipment hoisting the wall sections into place. In that case, the BLM could use bullet proof construction equipment, or better yet, robots. If live workers are used, they should receive hazardous duty compensation. (Thought: Could we use the Army Corps of Engineers for this or the military or would that muddy the legal waters in the trials later on?)
Then, wait 'em out. The employees who work at that building can go home on paid leave.
If the freedom lovers don't die of the cold, or the generator goes out, or the food supply disappears, you know eventually two or more of these brave freedom fighters are going to get into a disagreement -- probably Ammon and someone else over who ate all the food.
With guns being present and all that don't tread on me testosterone coursing in their veins, a good bet is they'll all kill each other. The ones that do try to run will run outside and right into the wall. Trapped.
Voila.
A commenter on another site also suggested parking an unlocked bourbon delivery truck outside the visitors' center and letting nature take its course. I will admit that the thought brings a (w)rye smile, but only in a non-serious way.
These people need to be dealt with in a serious way. Bundy Adventure the First empowered them to do whatever the hell they want. Here we are at #2. This has got to stop.
@Nisky Guy: As someone whose house is on a well & septic system, I can tell you that when the power goes off, the water don't run & the toilet flushes once. See also Akhilleus's comment re: shit quotient of the Bundy brigade.
It's true there may be propane heat that works unless the system has an electric starter/control.
Marie
Nisky Guy:
I like that idea, too. Better than mine, actually. Cheap and easy.
Yes, you're right, this is a deadly serious matter over which, unfortunately, we (you and me and every other citizen) have no control short of storming that compound ourselves or the old standby, calling our representatives, which in my case would no do good at all. It would be like asking a crazy person to think sanely.
We just have to trust the government (wha??) that cooler heads prevail, and a smart solution will be found. Until then, a little humor is welcome. I'd like to hear other "ideas."
And I liked your (w)rye pun!
@Unwashed wrote, "Vanilla ISIS is just one of the derisive names hitting the Twittersphere. There's also #YallQaeda, #YokelHaram, #al-Shabubba waging #YeeHawd against the guvmint."
These are pretty excellent. Too bad the YokelHaram is too stupid to be shamed into giving up & saying they're very sorry for their YeeHawd.
Marie
Nancy,
Maybe they should be sent 72 voluntary virgins (in drag) to assist with their martyrdom.
@Nancy & Nisky Guy: I'm pretty sure the entire al-Shabubba cell could be lured out of occupied territory with the promise of seven (or seventy of 72) virgins.
Marie
@Unwashed: Oops! Silly minds think alike.
Marie
Funny people on this site. I like it!
@Unwashed: Peut-être qu'il est dit en Français: L'etat et moi, but...
NY mag is NOT moi, MAG! I know, we get confused all the time! However, I've enjoyed the name game!
My apologies to Rockygirl and MAG for my misattribution. Small screens and fat fingers do not go well together.
Since this is a wildlife refuge and bird sanctuary, maybe a flock
(get it?) of drones with a Ted Cruz mask and a Trump combover
would scare the bee-jeezus out of these yahoos.
Sen. Richard Shelby (Asshole-AL) must be running skeered after 30 years in the Senate.
I saw this ad last night while having a late dinner and drink with my nose buried in Umberto Eco's latest book and the Viking-Packer game on the TV in the background. His selling points for re-election are that he isn't a creature of Washington because he fights back against Obama, he travels to all the counties in the state to meet with like-minded idiots to fight Obama's disastrous policies of military cutbacks, he fights FOR veterans, and he pushes back against Obama Every Single Day.
No real accomplishments of any kind, only successful efforts at being a dick.
Marie,
Like you, I'm on well and septic, dependent on electricity. Here's a tip you may not have thought of: nearly everyone has around 50 gallons of fresh water stored in their house. It's the contents of your hot water heater. Just attach a short length of garden hose to drain as needed. Fill buckets to refill the toilet tank. With care, one can get along for several days in this way.
A fly in the ointment: I just heard on NPR that they yahoos in Oregon are quoting Mormon phrases. Maybe the bourbon truck won't work. Virgins, on the other hand...
Andy Borowitz: "A majority of Oregonians favor building a twenty-foot wall along the border of their state to prevent angry white men from getting in, a poll released on Monday shows."
TODAY I LEARNED THREE THINGS:
1. The plural of armed Black people is THUGS.
2. The plural of armed Brown people is TERRORISTS.
3. The plural of armed White people is MILITIA.
About the wall. I am for it, as long as it blocks just the people and not the magnificent scenery in Eastern Oregon. That could get tricky!
One more thing. Ya know that new racist ad that Trumpster came out with today about getting rid of ISIS and preventing illegals from crossing into our country. At least) one problem.
From Politifact:
..."Aside from nativist overtones, Donald Trump's first campaign TV ad has one big problem: the border footage they use to portray the ills of "illegal immigration" in the United States in fact shows people rushing over a border in Morocco, according to Politifact. The footage, which shows people streaming over a fence, is from the Italian television network RepubblicaTV."
Trump said Morocco, Mexico, Maldives, WTF they all start with
M so walls everywhere, Michigan Massachusetts Maryland.
What a retard.
@Mag. Foyle's War, the best! Just a heads up. I saw series 9 about a year ago on Acorn TV. A British Netflix. Cheap, 30 days free and then $5 a month after. Other good stuff too.