;)
The Commentariat -- July 21, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "Gov. John R. Kasich, a blunt-spoken and unorthodox Republican who bucked his party by expanding Medicaid under President Obama's health care law and says politicians must 'reach out and help those who live in the shadows,' announced Tuesday that he was joining his party's long list of candidates for president. Mr. Kasich, 63, became the 16th prominent Republican to enter the 2016 field."
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama embarks on a trip to Africa this week that includes a controversial stop in Ethiopia, where the authoritarian government has come under sharp international criticism for its handling of political dissent. The Ethipia visit has raised hackles among human rights advocates who question the administration's level of concern about human rights...."
Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has used an unusually emotional interview to reveal he walked away from nuclear talks with Iran on three separate occasions, insisting that the claim that he was too eager to seal a deal was 'one of the dumbest criticisms I've ever heard in my life'"
Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "An anti-abortion group has released a second undercover video of an official at a Planned Parenthood affiliate discussing the costs associated with harvesting fetal tissue for medical research. The edited video ... is the second surreptitious recording to be released by activist group Center for Medical Progress."
American conservative Daniel Larison in the American Conservative: Scott "Walker may think that he is getting the upper hand in the primaries by positioning himself as the most aggressive hard-liner, but in the process he is revealing that he has extraordinarily bad judgment on these issues and confirming that his lack of foreign policy experience is a major liability for him. Why should voters trust him with the presidency when he is eager to boast about his readiness to start an illegal war against a country that just negotiated an agreement with the U.S. and its allies?... A preventive war against Iran would be entirely unjustifiable, unnecessary, and illegal under international law.... There is no difference in practice between a war that is called 'preventive' and what a previous generation condemned as a war of aggression." Thanks to Keith H. for the link.
*****
Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve introduced new restraints on Monday that would apply solely to the nation's eight largest banks, which hold more than $10 trillion in loans and securities.... The regulations stop short of requiring banks to shrink to a particular size, an approach that the Obama administration and Congress deliberately avoided in the Dodd-Frank Act, the signature financial overhaul passed five years ago. Instead, in its new rules, the Fed is setting standards for the amount of capital a bank must have. The new requirements could persuade the firms to get smaller over time -- making them more resilient to economic shocks and less likely to damage the economy should they fail. 'This final rule will confront these firms with a choice: They must either hold substantially more capital, reducing the likelihood that they will fail,' Janet L. Yellen, chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, said in a statement, 'or else they must shrink their systemic footprint, reducing the harm that their failure would do to our financial system.'" ...
... Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "President Obama said Monday that he would nominate Kathryn M. Dominguez, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, to a seat on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors. Ms. Dominguez, an expert on the behavior of currency markets, fits the mold of a modern central banker.... But her confirmation prospects are uncertain. Republicans, who control the Senate, have not set a hearing for Allan R. Landon, a bank executive Mr. Obama nominated to the Fed's board in January."
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is steering the Senate toward a multi-year highway bill that could take the funding issue off the table through the 2016 elections. The bill could be released as early as Tuesday, though the Kentucky Republican is keeping the details close to his chest as conservative groups watch for anything that resembles a tax hike. McConnell has ruled out raising the gas tax and opposes paying for the bill by devising a new tax regime for overseas profits, limiting his options. But the GOP leader is taking a hands-on approach in negotiations with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and on Monday expressed confidence that a deal was imminent." CW: Toll roads, Mitch! With complimentary EZPasses for "jobs-creators" & contributors to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Burgess Everett of Politico: "Influential Republicans called it 'inappropriate' and an 'affront' to Americans that President Barack Obama took his nuclear accord with Iran to the United Nations before a congressional vote.... On Monday morning, the U.N. Security Council unanimously backed the pact to scale back Iran's nuclear ambitions and begin loosening some sanctions, the same day that the 60-day congressional review clock began ticking on Capitol Hill. Though Congress has the ability to block lifting congressional sanctions on Iran that are a key portion of the deal, members of both parties are frustrated that the vote for international economic relief for Iran comes two months before a pivotal congressional vote.... Asked Sunday on 'Meet the Press' if this move jams Congress, [Secretary of State John] Kerry responded: 'Absolutely not. We specifically, to protect the Congress, put in a 90-day period before [the U.N. resolution] takes effect. So nothing will change,' Kerry said." See also Akhilleus's comment in today's thread. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Scott Clement of the Washington Post: "A majority of Americans support the Iran deal despite widespread doubts it will stop the country from developing nuclear weapons, according to new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey finds 56 percent support and 37 percent oppose a deal lifting economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for the nation agreeing not to produce nuclear weapons." ...
... Josh Lederman of the AP: "Ernest Moniz, the eccentric MIT professor-turned-U.S.-Energy-secretary, by all accounts played a pivotal role in reaching the historic nuclear accord. Now with his diplomatic legacy on the line, President Barack Obama is turning to Moniz to help sell the deal to a highly skeptical Congress.... This week, he'll appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where doubts about the nuclear pact run high. In between, aides say, the secretary is squeezing in one-on-one briefings with lawmakers ahead of a likely congressional attempt to scuttle the deal. While juggling his 'day job' running the Energy Department, he's also lobbying foreign energy ministers who are similarly suspicious of the deal." ...
... CW: Not sure what Lederman finds "eccentric" about Moniz, other than his "exacting palate when it came to his martinis."
Dominic Holden of BuzzFeed: "Democrats in Congress plan to introduce broad legislation this week to protect LGBT people from discrimination -- including in housing, workplaces, schools, and public accommodations. In effect, the Equality Act would extend the same raft of rights to LGBT Americans that are currently afforded to other protected groups, including people of color, under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.... The measure's introduction coincides with a committee vote on a Republican-backed bill to protect people and organizations who disagree with same-sex couples marrying." CW: This should work out well.
"American Limbo." Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker on the difficulties undocumented residents face. "If Clinton wins, and Congress remains in Republican hands, the new President will be reduced to attempting the same kind of piecemeal executive actions as Obama -- if the courts even allow those to proceed. If a Republican wins, [undocumented people's] chances of deportation will rise. Either way, the issue will remain on the national agenda, even as the opportunity to come to any solution continues to recede." See also Scott Walker's "Merkel moment" linked under Presidencial Race.
Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley and a host of other well-intentioned liberals want to hike the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. This is a badly misguided idea. And Hillary Clinton has been right to avoid endorsing it, despite strong pressure from the left.... At just $7.25 an hour, today's federal minimum wage is absurdly low.... [It might work in some parts of the country.] In other, lower-cost parts of the country, however, a $15 minimum -- which, remember, is more than double the current federal level -- would likely throw many, many more people out of work." ...
... CW: Rampell does not seem to take into consideration how middle-class taxpayers are currently subsidizing companies that pay low wages -- thru direct benefits like food stamps, thru Medicaid & other ACA subsidies & via the Earned Income Tax Credit, to name a few. At $15/hour, workers still would be eligible to receive some of these benefits, but at lower levels. As Bernie points out, the Walton family owns as much wealth as 90 percent of the rest of us combined, while we pay taxes to support workers WalMart refuse to pay a living wage. I find this outrageous.
Sarah Dutton, et al., of CBS News: "... 58 percent of Americans favor re-establishing diplomatic relations between the [U.S. & Cuba], while just 24 percent oppose. Seventy-two percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents support re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba, while Republicans are divided, with 44 percent in favor."
Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "Sen. Robert Menendez, indicted on corruption charges, accused federal prosecutors Monday of misconduct that included allowing an FBI agent to give false testimony.... The allegation was included in multiple court filings submitted by lawyers for Menendez (D-N.J.) seeking a dismissal of the charges. The senator's legal team also argued that the Justice Department had ignored a law shielding members of Congress from criminal prosecution when they are doing their official jobs as legislators."
Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Former Sen. Saxby Chambliss says he believes Edward Snowden should be publicly hanged as soon the United States can 'get our hands on him.' The Republican from Georgia, who recently retired from the Senate, served previously as the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence."
** Eric Holthaus of Slate: "In what may prove to be a turning point for political action on climate change, a breathtaking new study casts extreme doubt about the near-term stability of global sea levels. The study -- written by James Hansen, NASA's former lead climate scientist, and 16 co-authors, many of whom are considered among the top in their fields -- concludes that glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica will melt 10 times faster than previous consensus estimates, resulting in sea level rise of at least 10 feet in as little as 50 years.... In the study's likely scenario, New York City -- and every other coastal city on the planet -- may only have a few more decades of habitability left. That dire prediction, in Hansen's view, requires 'emergency cooperation among nations.'" ...
Jesse Coburn of the New York Times: Reem Sahwil, a 14-year-old disabled Palestinian who begged Chancellor Angela Merkel to allow her family to stay in Germany, has become a "potent symbol" of the plights of Middle Eastern refugees in Europe. (Merkel told Sahwil, "Tough luck, kid." [CW approximate translation])
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The Nasty Boys' Revolt. Sasha Goldstein of the New York Daily News: "Two of Gawker's top editorial decisionmakers quit Monday following the unanticipated removal last week of a controversial post that was roundly criticized around the Internet. Gawker Media executive editor Tommy Cragg and the site's editor-in-chief, Max Read, both decided to step down as a stand against the decision to remove a story about David Geithner, chief financial officer of Conde Nast and brother of former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The article, posted Thursday evening, allegedly outed David Geithner as a married, closeted gay man who backed out of a scheduled tryst with a gay porn star during a business trip to Chicago." ...
... Gabriel Sherman of New York has more on "Gawker's existential crisis." ...
... CW: Ironic, of course, that Cragg & Read (that can't be his real name) have walked out in a huff over an issue re: "journalistic integrity" when a reasonable person might conclude that they possessed minimal integrity themselves in deciding to out someone who had a famous brother but was not a public figure in his own right. ...
... Ryan Holliday of the New York Observer: "Hypocrisy is too weak a word when it comes to Gawker. It is instead an indisputable pattern of malice and mendacity almost without parallel in the history of media. It is essentially a twelve-year spree of destruction, pain and waste. The sole purpose of the entire repugnant edifice has been to make a single owner fabulously rich and a revolving door of mediocre writers feel important and powerful." ...
... MEANWHILE, Gawker is doing absolutely nothing. It's last post (as of 8:45 am ET Tuesday) was a shared weather report loaded just after noon ET Monday.
Presidential Race
Dara Lind of Vox on why black progressives & Bernie Sanders don't see eye-to-eye (and apparently never have). ...
... Jamelle Bouie: "Regardless of where you stand on the wisdom of the direct action against Sanders and O'Malley, it showed the limits of Sanders' brand of liberal coalition-building.... For Black Lives Matter activists..., racism is orthogonal to class: They're two different dimensions of disadvantage, and to improve the picture on one isn't always to improve the picture for the other. Jim Crow, for instance, coexisted with strong unions, high wages, and an active welfare state. When that heckler [at Bernie Sanders' Netroots forum] said 'Public college won't stop police from killing us,' that person was right.... If Sanders is too stubborn to abandon the pitch he's used for decades and adopt one more suited to today -- then we may have seen the beginning of the end of Berniemania. (To his credit, it already appears as though Sanders is learning.) ...
... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "A day after being heckled by Black Lives Matter protesters at a progressive conference in Phoenix, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders spoke out against police brutality at a pair of large-scale rallies Sunday in Texas. 'We want a nation where a young black man or woman can walk down the street without worrying about being falsely arrested, beaten or killed,' Sanders ... said during a stop in Dallas that reportedly drew 8,000 people to a hotel ballroom." Later, Sanders made similar comments to a crowd of more than 5,000 people in Houston.
The Doofus Plan. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Jeb Bush ... outlined a wide-ranging plan on Monday to rein in the size of the federal government and curb the influence of lobbyists who live off it. Portraying himself as a political outsider -- despite his family's 12 years in the White House -- Mr. Bush called for a 10 percent reduction in the federal workforce, an immediate hiring freeze, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget and a six-year waiting period before members of Congress can become lobbyists.... Mr. Bush demanded changes to the Civil Service system that would make it far easier to punish and replace employees.... Elements of Mr. Bush's agenda seemed at odds with the campaign he is running. For example, Mr. Bush took direct aim at K Street, Washington's collection of lobbying firms that have long employed former lawmakers to do the bidding of major corporations.... As a candidate, Mr. Bush has harnessed the fund-raising prowess of the K Street crowd, bringing in millions of dollars for his 'super PAC' from Washington lobbyists, political operatives, lawyers and business leaders." Thanks to Victoria D. for the link. ...
... CW: Not sure how Jeb! will get people he's laid off to "work longer hours." The balanced-budget amendment is of course idiotic & further evidence that Jeb! understands nothing about macroeconomics. He may be competent to run a hotdog stand (if the family's usual backers to advance him the seed money), but he is intellectually incapable of administering a national economy. Maybe he's tossing this out now because John Kasich -- No. 1 champion of the balanced-budget amendment -- intends to announce his candidacy today (Tuesday). ...
... Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post on the mess John Kasich has made of public education in Ohio. CW: A record worthy of Bobby Jindal. ...
... Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... tales of angry tantrums have dogged Kasich throughout his long career, from the state Legislature, to the halls of Congress, to the governorship. So much so that even the famously volatile Sen. John McCain once said of Kasich: 'He has a hair-trigger temper.'"
Eli Stokols of Politico: "Suddenly, the gloves are off between Scott Walker and Jeb Bush.... Bush's political ethos -- his stated philosophy of refusing to pander to the right to win the primary only to become unelectable in the general election -- is itself an implicit rebuke of Walker, who has flipped his positions on immigration and Common Core to better align with the primary electorate (the two issues for which Bush remains opposite the prevailing GOP orthodoxy). For his part, Walker views Bush as a scion of a tarnished political dynasty, another establishment moderate who, like Mitt Romney before him, will struggle to excite the conservative base should he become the GOP nominee."
In his feud with Jeb! -- who suggested Walker's plan to undo the Iran agreement on Day One of his presidency was not "mature" or "thoughtful" -- Scottie-Boy had an excellent comeback:
I believe they should be prepared to act on the very first day they take office. It's very possible -- God forbid, but it's very possible -- that the next president could be called to take aggressive actions, including military action, on the first day in office. And I don't want a president who is not prepared to act on day one. So, as far as me, as far as my position, I'm going to be prepared to be president on day one.
... CW: I don't think Walker has the vaguest idea of how a transition of power works. He just can't think in real-world detail:
... Maybe all this is unnecessary if the outgoing president has cooties. Meanwhile, let's all hunker down in anticipation of the first-ever Inauguration Day War (with Whomever). ...
... Scott Walker doesn't know much about evolution, or genetics, or climate change, but he knows WAY MORE about gynecology than medical scientists. Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation Monday banning abortions after 20 weeks from fertilization.... Walker said Monday that at this point in a pregnancy a fetus can feel pain, an assertion that the medical establishment says is unproven. 'At five months, that's the time when that unborn child can feel pain,' Walker said. 'When an unborn child can feel pain, we should be protecting that child.'" ...
... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos: "Twenty-week bans have been struck down in Arizona in 2013 and in Idaho in May of this year, both cases heard by the 9th District. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the Arizona case in 2014, meaning a 20-week ban is unconstitutional. Don't expect Walker to be concerned about the consequences of signing this bill, though, including what's likely to be an expensive lawsuit for his state. He's got a presidential primary to think about, and Republican primary voters are who he signed this law for." ...
... Walker has a Merkel moment. Scottie's response: It's all Obama's fault.
** Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: Donald Trump "has exposed and exploited the Republican Party's two great weaknesses: the fact that many of its voters don't agree with Party leaders on immigration and the fact that the Party is powerless to do much about it." Read the whole post.
Dan Balz & Peyton Craighill of the Washington Post: "Businessman Donald Trump surged into the lead for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, with almost twice the support of his closest rival, just as he ignited a new controversy after making disparaging remarks about Sen. John McCain's Vietnam War service, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Support for Trump fell sharply on the one night that voters were surveyed following those comments. Telephone interviewing for the poll began Thursday, and most calls were completed before the news about the remarks was widely reported." ...
... Des Moines Register Editors: "It's time for Donald Trump to drop out of the race for president of the United States.... Trump, by every indication, seems wholly unqualified to sit in the White House. If he had not already disqualified himself through his attempts to demonize immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, he certainly did so by questioning the war record of John McCain.... He has become 'the distraction with traction' -- a feckless blowhard who can generate headlines, name recognition and polling numbers not by provoking thought, but by provoking outrage." ...
... CW: Look for Trump's upcoming tweets: "Des Moines Register editors r losers." "... dummies in Des Moines...," "I'm like really smart," "I made $10BB while Des Moines R eds. scribbled bull 4 pennies," etc. ...
... Steve M. is amused by this aspect of the poll: Trump "does far better among those who are not college graduates than among those who are. Trump is also in the 30s among Republicans with a household income of less than $50,000 a year." Steve: "The conventional wisdom has been that Mitt Romney lost the general election in 2012 because he didn't have the common touch, and therefore Republicans need to nominate someone who's less of an elitist. But then you ask the GOP's working-class voters to pick a candidate -- and Trump's their man. Go figure." ...
... CW: I completely get it. To Trump voters, he is just like them, only he hit the jackpot that keeps alluding them. They're crass, obnoxious bullies whose idea of fun involves loud &/or violent sports; they go to garish casinos in Atlantic City, as a woman once told me, "for the ambiance." There is an underlying presumption that the examined life is for "losers" and conspicuous consumption is evidence of "winners." They boast that their Golden Rule is "Do unto others before they do unto you." Any good fortune they do have they (a) show off, & (b) attribute to their own superiority. This country is full of Donalds.
... Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to apologize to military families Monday during his first public comments since the flamboyant real estate mogul mocked his military record in a campaign event Saturday. 'I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country,' McCain said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Monday, stressing that prisoners of war serve honorably. 'Somehow to denigrate that in any way, their service, I think is offensive to most of our veterans.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: Trump's dismissal of McCain's heroism shows Trump knows nothing about the dangers American pilots faced during the Vietnam War. "The missions were extremely perilous: McCain was in range of North Vietnam's Soviet-provided missiles." ...
... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "... the corollary to Trump's smugness: his open disdain for people who aren't fortunate. Being poor, he suggests, is as much the fault of poor people as being rich is entirely to his own credit. If they are not rich, then they are losers -- and Trump knows what he thinks about losers.... The contempt he has for undocumented immigrants or for a child in a rough neighborhood is of the same species as that he exhibited toward McCain. He likes the people who aren't struggling. The other Republican Presidential candidates ... also need to look at how an unexamined affinity for the wealthy has become part of the G.O.P.'s ethos, too." ...
... Byron York of the Washington Examiner: "... for the actual voters who were in the room when Trump spoke to the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, Saturday, it's possible Trump's greater sin ... [was his] casual and disengaged characterization of religious faith.... 'While there were audible groans in the crowd when Trump questioned whether McCain was a war hero,' [a] senior Republican said via email, 'it was Trump's inability to articulate any coherent relationship with God or demonstrate the role faith plays in his life that really sucked the oxygen out of the room..'" Via Paul Waldman. ...
When I drink my little wine -- which is about the only wine I drink -- and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed. -- Donald Trump, explaining the meaning of holy communion to evangelicals
Get over it, you transubstantiating weirdos; that "body of Christ" is just a little cracker! -- Constant Weader translation
... Ed Kilgore: "Perhaps this is all exactly what Trump needs to take his presidential campaign out of the GOP and into a third-party candidacy. In that case Republicans will rue this weekend far more than Donald Trump."
CW: As long as the Republican party is the Confederate party, it will never mount a presidential candidate who is intellectually, morally & tempermentally fit for the top job. Many former Republican voters have figured that out. Meanwhile, the Democrats have at least three candidates who meet the minimum job requirements, & there are a number of others who have decided not to run but who are likely even better-qualified.
Other Races
Russell Contreras of the AP: "Citing sprawl development and a need for more Mexican-American elected officials, 'Breaking Bad' actor Steven Michael Quezada said he is jumping in a heated race for county commissioner in Albuquerque, New Mexico." Quezada is a Democrat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly notices that Republicans are starting to go after HUD Secretary Julian Castro on the assumption that Hillary Clinton (or some other Democrat!) might tap him as her running mate.
Beyond the Beltway
Brian Ross, et al., of ABC News: "Four days after the [Chattanooga] shooting, the FBI has not found any connection to overseas terrorist groups, but Mohammod Abdulazeez's diary says that as far back as 2013, he wrote about having suicidal thoughts and 'becoming a martyr' after losing his job due to his drug use, both prescription and non-prescription drugs, the family representative said. In a downward spiral, Abdulazeez would abuse sleeping pills, opioids, painkillers and marijuana, along with alcohol, the representative said. Most recently, the 24-year-old was having problems dealing with a 12 hour overnight shift, and had to take sleeping pills, according to the representative. The young man was also thousands of dollars in debt and considering filing for bankruptcy."
David Montgomery of the New York Times: "A Waller County[, Texas,] sheriff's official described a timeline for the jail cell of ... Sandra Bland, that started early in the morning of July 13, when she refused a breakfast tray around 6:30 a.m., until a jailer found her hanging shortly after 9 a.m. For about 90 minutes during that period, there was no movement by jail officials in the hallway leading to her cell, according to a video that the authorities released from a camera inside the jail."
Ellen Fentress of the New York Times: "The Mississippi Highway Patrol on Monday was investigating a car wreck that killed an outspoken advocate of the Confederate flag. Anthony Hervey, 49, author of 'Why I Wave the Confederate Flag, Written by a Black Man,' died Sunday, the state police said, after the Ford Explorer carrying him and Arlene Barnum, 60, of Stuart, Okla., went off the road and flipped over while returning from a pro-Confederate flag event in Birmingham, Ala." ...
... CW: With due respect for the recently departed, this Clarion-Ledger story by Clay Chandler, strongly suggests Hervey was a loudmouthed crank who could be a violent adversary.
William Rashbaum of the New York Times: David "Sweat has revealed ... [details] ... to investigators reviewing his stunning June 6 escape with another inmate from the maximum-security prison in Dannemora, N.Y.... It is also a story of neglect by those who were supposed to keep Mr. Sweat behind bars; of rules and procedures ignored; and of a culture of complacency among some prison guards, employees and their supervisors, whose laziness and apparent inaction -- and, in at least one instance, complicity -- made the escape possible."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Theodore Bikel, the multilingual troubadour, character actor and social activist who created the role of Baron von Trapp in the original Broadway production of 'The Sound of Music' and toured for decades as Tevye in 'Fiddler on the Roof,' died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 91.
New York Times: "E. L. Doctorow, a leading figure in contemporary American letters whose popular, critically admired and award-winning novels -- including 'Ragtime,' 'Billy Bathgate' and 'The March' -- situated fictional characters in recognizable historical contexts, among identifiable historical figures and often within unconventional narrative forms, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 84 and lived in Manhattan and Sag Harbor, N.Y."
New York Times: "A military drone strike this month killed the leader of a shadowy Qaeda cell in Syria that American officials say has been plotting attacks against the United States and Europe, Pentagon officials said on Tuesday. The leader, Muhsin al-Fadhli, was killed on July 8 while traveling in a vehicle near Sarmada, in northwestern Syria, a Defense Department spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis, said in a statement."
New York Times: "Eight senior executives at Toshiba, the Japanese industrial conglomerate, including the chief executive, resigned on Tuesday, as they took responsibility for a $1.2 billion accounting scandal, one of the country's largest."
Washington Post: "Defense Sec. Ashton B. Carter met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday in the first high-level U.S. encounter with the Israeli leader since world powers struck a nuclear agreement with Iran, which Israel warns is a dangerous mistake."
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Reader Comments (18)
Jeb! is recommending reducing the Federal workforce by 10% as a means to a balanced budget. He is also proposing a Constitutional amendment to require balancing. Can't wait to see Krugman's take on this nonsense.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/us/politics/jeb-bush-promises-to-curb-lobbying-and-cut-size-of-government.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad
The smear campaign against Planned Parenthood is apparently deepening as there are reportedly other videos that may surface. The doctor caught in the tape that surfaced last week has been subpoenaed to testify before a Congressional committee and I hope she doesn't take the Fifth. I have faith Planned Parenthood never sold fetal parts or committed any other illegal acts. It is a fine organization, one that I have been associated with for many years as a board member and volunteer. In my experience the employees are sincere and hard working, committed to the health of their patients. I believe the attacks stem in large part from misogyny. What is tragic is the number of willing collaborators in Congress. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/us/planned-parenthood-tells-congress-more-videos-of-clinics-might-surface.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad
@ Marie
On the subject of bank regulation, Gretchen Morgenson has written an instructive summary of the experience of a small bank that seems to have cooperated with regulators as soon as it discovered fraudulent activity by one of its employees. "A Tiny Bank’s Surreal Trip Through a Fraud Prosecution" in the Sunday July 19 edition of the New York Times. (I regret that I could not figure out how to add an electronic link to this post.)
@Islander, et al.: Morgenson's column is here.
Most commenters just copy the URL & paste the link into their comments. This works. If you want to go the fancy way, as frequent commenters sometimes do, it's more complicated, at least until you get used to doing it. My instructions are here. The instructions work in many other -- but not all -- sites' comment sections.
Marie
And Now There Are 152.
By now we have a pretty good idea of what to expect should one of the ever swelling multitude of Confederate candidates "take back" the White House. Most of them are for all or some of the following promises, presented in no particular order.
Illegal immigrants will be hunted down, locked up, and deported.
Forget about healthcare. If you just got health insurance for the first time in your life under the ACA, kiss it goodbye.
The rich need relief from the lowest tax rates in US history.
The work week will now officially be 60 hours and there will be no weekends.
Unionization and collective bargaining will be extraordinarily rare.
Historic agreements with Cuba and Iran will be scrapped before 'baggers can get over their hangover the day after the inauguration.
One guy is looking forward to starting a war on Inauguration Day. Bet he won't miss the balls though (he's never missed his balls).
Balanced budget amendments for everyone! Tighten those belts. Again.
Plenty of corporate welfare and Jamie Dimon won't have to pee in a cup.
But if you're poor looking for enough to keep your family from starving, you will have to pee in a cup.
The poor deserve to be poor so safety net programs--those left--will be cut.
Abortions, if you can find a clinic to perform one, will only be legal before the first three hours of pregnancy.
Another balanced budget amendment. Because austerity.
Several candidates promise theocracy.
Confederate scofflaws will be praised, not prosecuted, as long as they're stealing from the guv'mint.
So, in the first week or so, here are some of the wonderful things those in the Confederate Clown Train are promising:
No unions
No taxes for the wealthy
No health insurance (or medical care) for the takers
No deficit spending
No assistance without drug testing
No opening up relations with Iran, Cuba, or anyone else Confederates don't like
No immigration reform.
No infrastructure spending
No protection from the spread of deadly weapons
No freedom of religion
No choice for women
No weekends
No rational thought.
And no more America.
In light of the emerging picture of Donald Trump's personality, I found this paragraph from his Wiki page interesting:
"While living in Jamaica Estates, Trump attended the Kew-Forest School in Forest Hills, Queens, where Fred Trump, Donald's father, was a member of the Board of Trustees. Some of his siblings also attended Kew-Forest. At age 13, after behavior problems led to his dismissal, his parents sent him to the New York Military Academy (NYMA), hoping to direct his energy and assertiveness in a positive manner."
Guess the military school idea didn't work!
What Hawking and Milner are not telling you is they have already discovered extraterrestrial life, albeit not intelligent, on some far away planet they don't disclose. What they found were hundreds of duck billed humanoids with tufts of yellow hair who spoke only snarky sass while consuming a diet of soda crackers and red wine. Since they all looked alike, (Hawking thought they were spawned by one huge mother goddess) all were named Donald. This mission was scrapped because spending millions of bucks to discover a bunch of Donalds would not go down well. Interesting that someone named CW had said "This country is full of Donalds," when it was Milner who murmured in disgust, "This planet is full of Donalds."
Trumpio ad Absurdum
Trumpy the Trumpet is not going to step away. He's not going anywhere. Anyone who thinks so hasn't been paying attention. This guy simply cannot be shamed. His goal is self promotion, and he's using the campaign platform, which is being covered and commented upon as never before, to spout his particular brand of noxious poison.
Every dirty little thing he's ever thought of over the years, his id is now compelling him to shout from the rooftops, like a wicked, recalcitrant child who learns that he can irritate the hell out of his parents by blurting out curse words and blabbing embarrassing family secrets whenever company is over.
I, for one, hope Trumpy stays in the race until election day. I hope he starts a third party and Ralph Naders the ever loving shit out of whomever the Confederates choose in their effort to help the South Rise Again.
What I don't get, exactly, is how Trump expects to capitalize on this new found, er, publicity. Yes, they say no publicity is bad, but does he really think these wild-ass proclamations are going to improve the Trump brand to the point where corporations and individuals will be lining up to do business with him? Who would risk partnering with someone who could walk up to a microphone, if you looked at him crosseyed, and announce that you had been having sex with animals or that you secretly hated America and wanted everyone who voted Republican to die?
I suppose the id doesn't bother about such details. He's on a roll and he's having too much fun to stop.
Go Trumpy, Go. Go Trumpy, Go.
The Trump Encyclical
"When I drink my little wine — which is about the only wine I drink — and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed."
Wow. I read this a few days ago and had to laugh out loud. Then I wondered what the hell (literally) religion this guy was brought up in. "Little cracker?" Crackpot theology combined with obnoxious half-assed moralizing ("ABOUT the only wine I drink...".) Perfect!
I was brought up Catholic and I don't know of any practicing or lapsed Catholic who would refer to the host as a "little cracker". Or think that it has something to do with forgiveness and cleansing. So I found out that Trumpy was brought up Presbyterian. As far as I know, Presbyterians don't go in for the transubstantiation business, but they look at communion as a reenactment of the Last Supper, not some forgiveness and cleansing hippity-hop at the barber shop.
Clearly, Trump, in many ways, is a solipsistic fool. But his disconnected, self-absorbed absurdity is all of a piece with the Republican Way. In his mind, if he says it, it must be true. They all seem to think this. Just saying or wishing will make it so.
But the image of Trump eating little crackers will now color every speech he makes to working class southerners for the duration of his ride on the Trumpy-Coaster. "Gonna eat me some crackers."
Ha!
@Ak: My bride of 52 years today agrees with you. The better The Donald does, the better for Hillary, although I think she gives The Donald too much credit for intelligence. So far, Trump hasn't said he'd go to war on day one. I'll give him that.
I don't think Walker & company realize how limited Presidential power is.
Re: Walker the Idiot. I recommend this post linked today at Naked Capitalism:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/walker-and-the-evils-of-preventive-war/
The comment thread is also congenial to read.
Keith Howard
On Le Donald damaging his brand and alienating prospective investors:
"What do I care about those schmucks? I'm a millionaire."
~ 'psychic' Uri Geller re his skeptical critics
Anyone who feels that his excesses will backfire and his popularity among his fan base decline, don't know Donald or his fans. We have scarcely begun to plumb the depths of their lunacy.
On reducing the Federal workforce:
During the Great Gingrich Government Shutdowns of '95, I was working on the Second Hubble Servicing Project. One of my colleagues had tee shirts made that read: "Will Upgrade Space Telescope for Food." I've still got mine, you never know...
Barbarossa,
Are we surprised that Scottie Walker is shaky on many basic facts of governance? Noooooo.
We've seen that Republicans are often woefully ignorant of the most elementary aspects of American civics. They don't know how many justices sit on the Supreme Court, they can't name the three branches of government. Scott Walker thinks he can, on his first day in office, unilaterally tear up an international nuclear agreement the signatories of which include China and Russia. During the Republican shutdown of the government, 'baggers in the House believed that that chamber, on its own, without input or approval from the Senate, could make laws. Confederate sweetheart and star Michele Bachmann routinely demonstrated an incomplete grasp of the Constitution, stating, recently, that allowing gays, under protection of the Constitution, to enjoy the same rights as all other Americans was unconstitutional because it deprived her of her freedom of religion.
What?
Some ignorance of civic rules and constitutional law is willful but a great deal is pure stupidity. Pure stupidity.
Republican misprision in so many instances is the direct result of an ignorant reading and willful misinterpretation of actual law and rules of government. Other faulty thinking involves the idea of a balanced budget amendment; pure lunacy.
So it's no surprise that Scott Walker dreams of pushing the red button from the Inauguration dais, having gotten most of his understanding of American law from watching Tom Clancy movies and listening to Rush Limbaugh.
Their ignorance is appalling but the ignorance of those who line up to vote for them is even more so.
Keith,
A good link, thanks. Unfortunately, as is the case with Trump's fans and those champing at the bit to pull the lever for one of the many dangerous demagogues riding the GOP Clown Train, those who swoon over Scott Walker are likely to be thrilled with the ill informed braggadocio of an irresponsible wanker and probably have even less acquaintance with the requirements of a mature and authoritative approach to foreign policy than he does.
Cowardly bullies always seem to acquire--and need--meat-headed minions who sidle up to their "hero"--a sort of sycophantic symbiosis--as he's about to embark on yet another adventure in booger-eating boorishness.
Good thing tough talking Scottie, like so many of his bellicose Republican brethren, never saw fit to put on the uniform himself. That might (I say might--vide Tom Cotton) give him PERSPECTIVE about the real world, and we can't have that, now, can we? Christ, no.
Meanwhile...(afternoon rant alert)
Have you been wishin' and hopin' and plannin' and dreamin', like Dusty Springfield in that old song, about an answer to the seemingly intractable problem of who is the bigger hero to Confederates, Donald (I'm for uncaptured guys) Trump or John (the Crazies are coming!) McCain?
Well, just in time to keep you off the roofs of tall buildings, here's your answer, from an impeccable source of Confederate superfluity, Half Term Gov and Almost VP, Sarah Palin, who says in an e-mail, why of course sillies, they're BOTH heroes.
"Sen. McCain dedicated his life to serving our country, and in my humble opinion the sacrifices made by all ethical service members are heroic -- putting it all on the line to defend freedom IS heroic -- and Donald Trump is a hero in another arena."
I know it's fish in a barrel time when reviewing anything Palin writes, but she just cries out to be pilloried for being such an idiot! First, "ethical service members"? Who are they again, and who are the unethical service members? People like George ("Hey, I deserted!") Bush, perhaps?
Palin goes on to describe Trumpy as a hero in giving voice to all those lonely wingnuts who are worried about politicians "ripping open our porous borders". And....who's doing that? She describes herself as a non-politician. Yeahhhh......okay. Palin also seems to think it's great those lonely wingnuts think, like Trumpy, that immigrants are murderin' rapists. Because why not? They have to have someone to hate, right? Look at all the people Palin hates.
Then there's this:
"We can keep the debate focused on significant issues at hand. I leave politics of personal destruction to those on the Left and lazy media lapdogs who's [sic] only take away from any debate is any salacious slip-up, as if they've never wanted to restate something they've publicly uttered."
Jesus, god! Someone get this woman a book on elementary English composition and a fucking dictionary, otherwise I might want to restate something I've publicly uttered. Especially the salacious stuff. And not for nothin' but Trump had no intention of restating anything he said. He doubled down on it, fercrissakes!
She reminds me of the dim actress Lina Lamont in "Singin' in the Rain" who declares that she makes more money than Calvin Coolidge....put together!
And it's a good thing that neither Trump, nor McCain, nor Palin ever indulge in the politics of personal destruction. Only lapdogs and something, something, something lefties do that.
Just the fact that this brainless illiterate is given space to expectorate at will makes me seriously wonder about the future of this country.
Christ! These people!
Okay, rant over. You are now free to move about the blog.
Since it appears it's the day of the Donald, here is a tweet he fashioned on April 23, 2014:
"The way President Obama runs down the stairs of Air Force 1, hoping [hopping] , bobing [bobbing] and jumping all the way, is so inelegant and so unpresidential [not in the dictionary]. "
Compare the Guardian piece (linked above) on the second Planned Parenthood tape to the slanderous version presented by Faux News.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/07/21/new-planned-parenthood-video-shows-top-doc-haggling-over-price-fetal-body-parts/
A good example of why Fox is completely untrustworthy.