;)
Friday
Jan082016
The Commentariat -- January 9, 2016
White House: "In this week's address, the President remarked on the incredible progress that has been made in the American auto industry":
Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "President Obama vetoed legislation Friday that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and stripped all federal funds from Planned Parenthood, writing in his veto message that the measure would 'reverse the significant progress we have made in improving health care in America.'" ...
... Here's President Obama's full veto message. ...
... Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "A new CNN-ORC survey of 1,000 Americans finds that the public supports [President] Obama's plan by a 2-to-1 ratio: 67 percent of respondents favored the executive actions, while 32 percent opposed them. Even more striking, a similar share of people in gun-owning households -- 63 percent -- supported the measures. Even more striking: 51 percent of Republicans support Obama's executive action on guns." ...
... Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator Richard C. Shelby, the veteran Republican from Alabama up for re-election in November [and] chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department, has summoned [Attorney General Loretta] Lynch for a Jan. 28 hearing to 'discuss the president's firearms proposals and any potential infringement on law-abiding Americans' Second Amendment rights,' he said in a letter to the attorney general." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Gail Collins: "If every gun owner had to demonstrate the ability to handle a weapon, it wouldn't necessarily stop anyone from eventually acquiring a gun. But it would take some time and trouble, which would cut down on casual sales.... Even Jeb Bush, in his assault on the president's itsy-bitsy loophole-closing initiative, talked about how 'law-abiding citizens that are trained to be able to protect themselves creates a safer America.'" ...
... CW: We might even get the NRA behind such a law; they & their friends could make a mint running "education ranges." And making money is what the NRA is all about.
Ron Nixon of the New York Times on the Department of Homeland Security's curtailed efforts to track & gather intelligence on anti-government militia groups & other home-grown extremists. As most of you will recall, Republicans objected to the program. CW: Because so many Republicans are anti-government extremists. Really.
Pamela Constable of the Washington Post: "Despite an uproar from liberal Democrats and Latino advocacy groups, administration officials said Friday that they intend to continue the raids [to capture & deport families who fled Central American violence], hoping to send a signal and prevent a repeat of the huge surge in illegal border crossings. Although the numbers dipped last spring, a new spike saw more than 10,000 children reach the border in October and November alone."
Jad Mouawad of the New York Times: "The Department of Homeland Security has given states an extra two years to comply with federal requirements to issue driving licenses with extra safety features, meaning that residents of noncompliant states will have until January 2018 before having to use a passport or other official identification to board a domestic flight. The extension directly concerns six states and territories that are not in compliance with the law, known as the Real ID Act of 2005. Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico and Washington State and the territory of American Samoa have not yet taken steps to satisfy government officials that the driver's licenses they have issued carry enough security features."
Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "House Republicans reached out to GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson in 2014 about replacing John Boehner as Speaker of the House, Carson told The Hill on Thursday. 'They were looking for an alternative, they were looking for someone strong and courageous who might really be able to add some spine and some backbone,' Carson said.... Carson declined to identify the House Republicans who approached him, but Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) told The Hill on Thursday that he was one of a group of three who did so." ...
... MEANWHILE, Not-Speaker Carson was in Iowa Friday shaming an unlucky fifth-grader.
Brandi Grissom of Trail Blazers: Texas "Gov. Greg Abbott ... said Friday that he wants Texas to lead the call for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution and wrest power from a federal government 'run amok.'... Along with the speech, Abbott released a nearly 70-page plan -- part American civics lesson, part anti-Obama diatribe -- detailing nine proposed constitutional amendments that he said would unravel the federal government's decades-long power grab and restore authority over economic regulation and other matters to the states." Grissom lists Abbott's proposed amendments. ...
... Peggy Fikac of the Houston Chronicle: "Gov. Greg Abbott wants to dramatically curtail the U.S. Supreme Court's power and slash federal oversight of states through a national convention to amend the U.S. Constitution. His Friday proposal comes in the wake of Republican outrage over President Obama's actions on issues, including gun control and immigration; Supreme Court decisions on cases involving such matters as gay marriage and health care; and federal agency action on the environment and other issues." ...
... Steve M.: "This comes two days after Marco Rubio wrote in USA Today that he also advocates a convention of states. The idea has been promoted by Koch-affiliated organizations as ALEC and Citizens for Self-Governance. And when you look at the amendments Abbott is pushing, you can see why this would be a pet idea of the Kochs."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "... California teachers have sued [their] union, saying that they are being forced to pay to support positions with which they disagree, in violation of the First Amendment. Their lawsuit, if it is successful, will be the culmination of a decades-long legal campaign to undermine public unions. And there is good reason to think they will win. The Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in the case on Monday, has twice suggested that the First Amendment bars forcing government workers to make payments to unions."
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Fifteen years almost to the day since former President Bill Clinton left office, a newly released batch of documents from his library offers a fresh look at his later years in the White House.... The release of the transcripts also emphasized the complications for Mrs. Clinton in her second campaign for the White House. Not only does she have her own record as senator and secretary of state to promote or defend, she is also campaigning against the backdrop of her husband's record -- often to her advantage but sometimes not, as in the last few days when Republicans focused attention on Mr. Clinton's sexual misconduct." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Our "Education" Racket. Will Hobson & Stephen Rich of the Washington Post: "As a reward for making an industry fueled by unpaid athletes more lucrative than ever, the men who run these conferences have enjoyed staggering pay hikes doled out by the leaders of many of America's largest universities." CW: Meanwhile, to actually teach students, universities rely more & more heavily on adjunct professors, who don't make a living wage.
Julie Zauzmer & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A man who plotted to kidnap one of the Obama family's pet dogs was arrested in the District on Wednesday with a cache of weapons and ammunition in his car, the Secret Service said."
Presidential Race
Nick Gass of Politico: "Bernie Sanders has soared to a 13-point lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire in a Fox News survey out Friday, nearly a month to the day that primary voters will make their decision at the polls on Feb. 9. Sanders, who in November held a slim 1-point advantage over Clinton in the same poll (45 percent to 44 percent), this time took 50 percent of the vote to 37 percent for Clinton. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley earned 3 percent." ...
... Edward-Isaac Dovere & Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "... White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Friday that [President] Obama would have to review [Bernie] Sanders' record on guns before committing to support the Vermont senator.... Asked about the president's pledge made in a New York Times op-ed Thursday -- that he wouldn't support any candidate who wasn't for common-sense gun control, including the gun manufacturer liability provision that Sanders has voted against -- Earnest said it wasn't intended as 'any sort of secret or subtle signal to demonstrate a preference in the presidential primary.' The Clinton campaign, & Clinton herself, pointed to Sanders' record of voting against gun-control bills. ...
... Hillary Clinton, in a Boston Globe op-ed: "There's a lot at stake in this election. Nowhere is this clearer than in the US Supreme Court.... On Election Day, three of the current justices will be over 80 years old, which is past the court's average retirement age. The next president could easily appoint more than one justice. That makes this a make-or-break moment -- for the court and our country.... Republicans ... see this election as an opportunity to pack the courts with jurists who will turn back the clock.... Those who care about the fairness of elections, the future of unions, racial disparities in universities, the rights of women, or the future of our planet, should care about who appoints the next justices." ...
... Megan Wilson of the Hill: "The State Department has been providing 'inaccurate and incomplete' responses to requests for emails and other documents involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a watchdog says in a new report released Thursday. The 29-page IG report says the leadership of the State Department 'has not played a meaningful role in overseeing or reviewing the quality' of the responses to requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Eliza Collins of Politico: "Charles Koch is 'disappointed' with the line-up of Republican candidates in the 2016 cycle, and is surprised by the lack of influence he and his brother have wielded so far. In an interview with the Financial Times, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist, said he'll eventually support a candidate who he agrees with on some things with, but that it's hard to get excited. He said a list presented to all the candidates about the Kochs' political arm's priorities 'doesn't seem to faze them much. You'd think we could have more influence.'" CW: Yo, Chuck. You've got Marco in your pocket. And the governor of Texas is good, too. (See link to Steve M.'s post above.)
... CW: A week or so I ago, I wondered what would happen if people attended Trump rallies in traditional Muslim dress but did nothing to disrupt the rallies. Well, now we know:
Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "Rose Hamid, a 56-year-old flight attendant ... wearing a hijab [and] ... sitting in the stands directly behind Trump, stood up Friday during Trump's speech when the Republican front-runner suggested that Syrian refugees fleeing war in Syria were affiliated with ISIS.... Despite her silence, Trump supporters around her began chanting Trump's name -- as instructed by Trump campaign staff before the event in case of protests -- and pointed at Hamid and Marty Rosenbluth, the man alongside her who stood up as well. As they were escorted out, Trump supporters roared -- booing the pair and shouting at them to 'get out.'... After Hamid and three others, all wearing stars reminiscent of those worn by Jews during the Holocaust, were escorted out by police and Trump campaign officials, Trump [said]... 'There is hatred against us that is unbelievable... It's their hatred, it's not our hatred.'" Hamid said some people sitting around her, to whom she had spoken earlier, were kindly & said "sorry" when Trump ejected her. Includes video of Don Lemon's interview of Hamid. ...
... Judd Legum of TPM has CNN video of Hamid's ejection as it happened.
Dana Milbank: "Ted Cruz this week made his latest appeal to America's nativist fringe by naming Rep. Steve King of Iowa as a national co-chairman of his presidential campaign.... King raised questions about President Obama's birth certificate, voiced doubts that Obama had been born in America, floated the idea that Obama's birth announcement in Hawaiian newspapers may have been placed 'by telegram from Kenya,' and alleged that Obama 'was not raised with an American experience.' So we're entitled to savor some schadenfreude now as Cruz himself gets caught in the birther web.... Cruz, like Trump, has stoked the fires of resentment and xenophobia, so it's entirely fitting that he gets burned. But however tempting it is, I'm not joining in the Cruz birtherism; it was wrong when done to Obama, and it's wrong now done to Cruz." ...
... Catherine Thompson of TPM: "Cruz's mother's name appears on a Canadian government document, obtained by TPM in 2013, that lists Canadian citizens eligible to vote in 1974.... In 2013, a Canadian elections official told TPM that in the process of compiling the list, enumerators asked people to affirm that they were Canadian citizens." ...
... Nick Gass: "In another attempt to quash Trump-fueled speculation that he is not eligible for the presidency based on his Canadian birth, Ted Cruz's campaign released his mother's birth certificate to Breitbart News on Friday, showing that Eleanor Darragh was born Nov. 23, 1934, in Wilmington, Delaware." ...
... Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "At a stop [in Charles City, Iowa]..., Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) told a crowd in a coffee house that when his 5-year-old daughter Catherine tells a lie, 'she gets a spanking.' He went on to suggest that voters should spank Hillary Clinton for lying about Benghaaazi! CW: But there's nothing sexist about that. ...
... David Graham, in the Atlantic's "Gaffe Track": "The moral: Spare the Rodham, spoil the child."
Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "... Jeb Bush is calling for an end to the federal food stamp program as part of a proposed revamp of the nation's welfare system. Bush would end the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, generally known as food stamps, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Instead, state governments would be able to apply for new federal 'Right to Rise' grants to pay for programs launched to assist lower-income residents." CW: And if voters in your state isn't very, very nice to the administration, the kids will starve. The aristocrats are getting bolder. ...
... Right to Tank. Frank Newport of Gallup: "... Jeb Bush's image among Republicans has steadily worsened over the past 5 ½ months. His current net favorable rating of -1 (44% favorable, 45% unfavorable) among Republicans is significantly lower than his +27 (54% favorable, 27% unfavorable) rating in mid-July." Sometimes having a lot of money doesn't make you popular. Give Charles Koch a call, Jeb! He's lonely & he knows how you feel. Although he too thinks you're a Doofus. (See Eliza Collins' story, linked above.)
Beyond the Beltway
... isn't this the strangest thing that those that are the most fervent fetal protectors seem to be the same ones that besmirch these children once they arrive, whether it be the abuses of the Church, lead poisoning in the water, taking away food stamps---the list goes on. -- P. D. Pepe, in today's commentary
** Charles Pierce: "It's time for Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, and Rick Snyder, the governor of Michigan, to decide to spend more time with their respective families. By their misuse of their offices, they have forfeited the right to hold them anymore. They have left us with a Hobson's Choice of which is the worse malfeasance under the color of law: covering up the riddling of a young man by your rogue police force, or covering up the fact that your policies have sentenced hundreds of young people in Flint to the lives of mental and emotional damage and upheaval to which lead poisoning inevitably leads."
Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "An Iraqi-born refugee charged with attempting to aid Islamic militants made his first court appearance on Friday, telling a judge that he needed a court-appointed lawyer because he could not afford one as federal prosecutors pushed to keep him detained without bond. The refugee, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, a Palestinian who has been living in a Houston apartment with his wife and child, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State, designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. He was also accused of procuring citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and making false statements during an interview with a federal agent."
Texas, Making Sure Guns Get into the Hands of Those Who May Harm Themselves & Others. Rick Jervis of USA Today: "Visitors to one of Texas' 10 state mental health hospitals will be allowed to openly carry weapons into the facilities, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Employees and patients will still be barred from bringing in weapons. The hospitals this week pulled down signs banning guns at its facilities and posted new ones asking people to leave their firearms in their cars or conceal them from patients, said Carrie Williams, a state health department spokeswoman.... A pair of new laws, enacted this year ... allows Texans with a gun license to legally carry a holstered firearm without concealing it and bans state agencies from posting signs telling people they cannot carry guns on property." CW: It ain't just the inmates who are insane. Shouldn't the state legislature be committed en masse?
Luke Hammill of the Oregonian: "Members of a group from outside Oregon arrived on Friday at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to 'secure a perimeter' around the compound and prevent 'a Waco-style situation.'... The group's website says it stands for 'freedom, liberty and the Constitution. We will combat all those who are corrupt.' The website displays the motto, 'When Tyranny Becomes Law, Rebellion Becomes Duty!'... The group's arrival came a few hours after [Ammon] Bundy informed reporters that the militants would not immediately accept Sheriff Dave Ward's offer to peacefully escort the occupiers out of town." ...
... Betsy Hammond of the Oregonian: Why does the federal government own so much land? Because that was the founders' intention: "A 1787 agreement among all 13 founding states -- that every bit of land added to the United States would be owned and controlled by a strong federal government -- was the linchpin needed before delegates went on to write the Constitution. That deal was known as the Northwest Ordinance.... Their determination that the federal government would own every shred of land brought into the new nation and dispose of or manage it as it wished was enshrined in the Constitution, in a short half-sentence in Article IV: 'The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Paul Krugman: "We have people engaging in armed insurrection over the vast oppression of being asked to pay a small fee when grazing their animals on public land; surely an important part of the story is the fact that the perpetrators know that they won't face the consequences that would follow if, you know, some nonwhite group pulled a similar stunt.... Something that strikes me, however -- and which I don't fully understand -- is that when people like this turn to angry rhetoric, with at least a hint of violence, the trigger events tend to be trivial." ...
... Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Joe Oshaugnessy, an Arizona militiaman, has been actively seeking volunteers through social media to join the occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. But his friends tearfully announced that Oshaugnessy, who is known as 'Capt. O,' had left the refuge Wednesday and was instead staying at a motel nearby.... Oshaugnessy had kept the money he had raised through social media for himself and had spent at least some of it on a drinking binge." Emphasis added. CW: And you can bet that drunken "soldier" had plenty of guns & ammo at the ready. Luckily, the big tear-jerking "tragedy" here so far is that some militant yahoos wasted their money funding another militant yahoo's binge. ...
... MEANWHILE, if you were planning to go cross-country skiing in the Malheur Refuge this weekend, as is your right, I'd suggest another venue. ...
Philadelphia Inquirer: "While not classifying the shooting as a terrorist attack, police said Friday that the man arrested after shooting and wounding a police officer in an ambush in West Philadelphia Thursday night confessed he acted 'in the name of Islam.'" ...
... CBS Philadelphia: "During a police press conference Friday afternoon, [Philadelphia] Mayor Jim Kenney stated that he believes the shooting of a Philadelphia police officer has 'nothing to do with being a Muslim,' despite the suspect claiming he did it in the name of Islam. Mayor Kenney said, 'In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with what you've seen on the screen.'"
Samuel Lieberman of New York: "Sergeant Kizzy Adonis, of Staten Island's 120th Precinct, who was present when Eric Garner died after being put in an illegal chokehold by an officer, was put on modified duty on Friday as part of an NYPD internal review of the July 2014 incident. Adonis has been removed from street enforcement and was required to turn in her gun and badge."
Steve Mistler of the Portland Press Herald: "Gov. Paul LePage responded Friday to the firestorm that erupted after he said drug dealers coming to Maine were impregnating young white girls, admitting to making 'one slip' in the comment before going on to blame the media for implying that the remark was racist.... LePage's comment has once again catapulted the Republican governor into the national spotlight, commanding attention from The New York Times and The Washington Post -- as well as from obscure white supremacist websites. LePage also said his comment about white women couldn't have been racist because Maine's population is predominantly white." ...
... The New York Times story, by Katharine Seelye, is here. ...
... CW: If LePage weren't in a position of power, his denial/blame-the-media/"apology" would be comical. As it is, it further demonstrates what an unreconstructed racist he is. The LePage era is a tragic episode in Maine's history.
Sarah Larimer & Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: Tonya Couch, "the mother of 'affluenza' teen Ethan Couch, was arraigned on felony charges and ordered to surrender her passport in a Texas courtroom on Friday...." ...
... Emily Schmall of the AP: Tonya Couch "has complained about the conditions of her Texas jail cell, a sheriff said Friday. 'She expressed a slight displeasure about her accommodations, and I told her this was a jail and not a resort,' Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said at a news conference."
Way Beyond
Richard Orange of the (U.K.) Telegraph: "Asylum seekers who met in central Helsinki to celebrate New Years's Eve 'had similar plans' to commit sexual assault and other crimes as those who targeted women in the Germany city of Cologne, Finnish Police have reported. Three Iraqi asylum seekers have been arrested for committing sexual assaults during the celebrations in the city's Senate Square, where some 20,000 had gathered. Security personnel reported 'widespread sexual harassment' during the celebrations, police added, with women complaining that asylum seekers had groped their breasts and kissed them without permission." ...
... Alison Smale of the New York Times: "At least 18 asylum seekers are among 31 people who have been identified so far by the federal police as having played a role in assaults on young women in Cologne on New Year's Eve, the Interior Ministry said on Friday. The police chief in Cologne was forced out of his job on Friday amid the growing uproar over the episode, which has ignited calls across the political spectrum for expelling convicted criminals, even if they are seeking asylum from war and persecution at home." CW: Well, yeah.
Alison Smale: "At least 231 children who sang in a boys' choir led for 30 years by the brother of former Pope Benedict XVI were abused over a period of almost four decades, a lawyer investigating reports of wrongdoing said Friday. The lawyer, Ulrich Weber, who was commissioned by the choir to look into accusations of beatings, torture or sexual abuse, said he thought that the actual abuse was even more widespread. At a news conference in Regensburg, Bavaria, where the choir traces its roots to the year 975, Mr. Weber estimated that from 1953 to 1992, every third member of the choir and an attached school suffered some kind of physical abuse.... Asked whether Benedict's brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, who conducted the Regensburg choir from 1964 to 1994, had known of the abuse, Mr. Weber said, 'After my research, I must assume so.'" CW: I'll bet Brother Benedict knew, too. This does help explain why Benedict didn't give a Rat's ass about priests' abusing children.
News Lede
New York Times: "One of the last survivors of the inner sanctums of the White House during and immediately after World War II, [George] Elsey died on Dec. 30 in Tustin, Calif. He was 97."
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Reader Comments (9)
Think I have a simple solution for those who don't want to pay union dues if they disagree with a political or social position the union takes.
Let them negotiate their salary, working conditions, contract- guaranteed due process rights, and all benefits for themselves, one by one.
That would make them "free," wouldn't it? And freedom is what they say they want.
Of course, if the Supremes decide to eviscerate collective action because it imperils individual rights, I'd want a refund of the taxes I paid and continue to pay to finance the Iraq debacle, or if not a refund, be allowed to designate where I think the dollars in question should go.
Maybe to the underfunded IRS, I'm thinking. Then those beleaguered government workers would be in a better position assure the collection of appropriate income taxes on the extortionate salaries these teachers tell themselves they'd be able to negotiate for themselves.
What's happening to this country? There are freeloaders everywhere, just not those that exist only in the Reagan Right's fevered imagination.
This is part of a letter from Michael Moore's Facebook page. I have signed his petition, and hope many of you will as well.
January 6
Today, I'm calling on U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to investigate Michigan Governor Rick Snyder for poisoning the children of Flint. I wrote a letter to the Governor below and you can sign my petition here: http://michaelmoore.com/ArrestGovSnyder #ArrestGovSnyder
Dear Governor Snyder:
"...Thanks to you, sir, and the premeditated actions of your administrators, you have effectively poisoned, not just some, but apparently ALL of the children in my hometown of Flint, Michigan.
And for that, you have to go to jail......"
Perhaps Marie has already noted this - my apologies if that is the case. Michael Grunwald has written a terrific recap of Obama's accomplishments. It's the first thing I've read in many a moon that doesn't cause me to seek my bed, pull up the covers, and take a long winter's nap. Instead, I want to commit it to memory so I can easily rebut the arguments that 'he is the worst president ever'. That would seem impossible if Grunwald is correct.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/obama-biggest-achievements-213487?o=0
Donald Trump = the blond Paul LePage.
@Haley Simon: I think Marie did link to the Grunwald piece earlier in the week, but I wasn't able to read it at the time. Your comment reminded me of it and I am thankful I read it. Obama is a very consequential president indeed - even though his significant accomplishments are often overlooked. Maybe that's why Republicans hate him so much - he has been effective. Anyway, I think history will judge him quite well.
On another matter, there has been much written recently that some of the appeal of Trump and others of his ilk results from the fact that we live in troubled times, with the middle and working classes losing ground and the various threats on the world stage. It makes me think back to the early 1930s: now that was a REALLY troubled time. Thank God Americans had the good sense to elect FDR (many times!) and not some charlatan with a slick but empty appeal who could have destroyed the country.
ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A FIFTH GRADER?
On his next meet and greet with these small children, all eager to learn more from the great Dr. Ben Carson, I envision no more who is the dumbest kid in the class, but who is the ugliest:
"I, ah, (always long pauses) was considered the ugliest kid not only in my class, but in the whole school! I was fat, wore glasses, had braces, was clumsy, stuttered––well.... you....get..the picture. BUT––look at me now! Am I not the most handsome fella you'll ever see? How did I transform myself, you ask? Listen up, little dudes, look at my hands...the most skillful hands ever––I used those hands to my advantage– these, my little friends, are magic hands–– and you, too, can find something magic on your person that will help you on your way. It might just be something like your nose. Now–––who's the ugliest kid in your class?"
The Ted Cruz admission that he spanks his daughters when they lie made me want to whip lash the guy. Hitting children––and don't tell me spanking is not hitting––is so counter productive. It sends so many wrong messages. I was hit on the bare bottom by my mother with a wooden spoon. I still recall the fury that I felt (and it made me even more sneaky). My husband was whipped by his father with a leather belt. Thankfully we broke the pattern with our children. But hey––Cruz's evangelic leanings perhaps teaches him to praise Jesus while not sparing the rod in order to not spoil his children. Sigh~~~~~
And all those children in that Bavarian choir singing praises to all those on high while down in the real world there were abuses going on for years. I know this might be a leap, but isn't this the strangest thing that those that are the most fervent fetal protectors seem to be the same ones that besmirch these children once they arrive, whether it be the abuses of the Church, lead poisoning in the water, taking away food stamps---the list goes on.
@Haley––always good to repeat and remind ourselves of something good happening––the many accomplishments of our President.
<< At a stop here on his six-day bus trip through Iowa, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) told a crowd in a coffee house that when his 5-year-old daughter Catherine tells a lie, "she gets a spanking." >>
For me, this says so much about Cruz. And, that he has no qualms (rather, I suspect, he feels great pride) revealing his primitive & abusive parenting "skills", all the more so:
Spanking a 5-year-old - or *any* child - is wrong, Wrong, WRONG! (I wonder if she earns an additional thrashing if she should "lie" that it didn't really hurt?)
This is the same protective Daddy who positioned his young girls in front of self-serving cameras, and then cried exploitation by The Media.
I pity those children.
@ PD Pepe -
<< I know this might be a leap, but isn't this the strangest thing that those that are the most fervent fetal protectors seem to be the same ones that besmirch these children once they arrive, whether it be the abuses of the Church, lead poisoning in the water, taking away food stamps---the list goes on. >>
Well said. And not a "leap" at all.
I am saddened by your - and your husband's - childhood punishments. Yet applaud your having broken the cycle of abuse: So often (and understandably) this not the case. Bravi!
PD: what was left out about Cruz spanking his girls for lying was that by that standard never a day would pass without Cruz himself being wooped daily for his omnipresent lies.
As for Ratzinger, the former Nazi pope? Does his shit seem surprising? The irony is in his replacement by Francis who seems to have his head screwed on correctly.