The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, but Akhilleus found this new one that he says is easy to use.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Friday
Jul222016

The Commentariat -- July 23, 2016

One-day Special! Tomorrow Only! Reality Chex will be a Trump-free Zone. -- Constant Weader 

Presidential Race

** Ho-hum. Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton named Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia to be her running mate Friday, selecting a battleground state politician with working-class roots and a fluency in Spanish, traits that she believes can bolster her chances to defeat Donald J. Trump in November. Mrs. Clinton's choice, which she announced via text message to supporters, came after her advisers spent months poring over potential vice-presidential candidates who could lift the Democratic ticket in an unpredictable race against Mr. Trump. In the end, Mrs. Clinton decided Mr. Kaine, 58, a former governor of Virginia who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and speaks fluent Spanish, had the qualifications and background and the personal chemistry with her to make the ticket a success." -- CW ...

... In her profile of Kaine, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times claims, "At heart, Mr. Kaine is an old-fashioned liberal, dyed in the wool." -- CW ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Several organizations, including some with ties to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)..., sharply questioned Kaine's liberal bona fides, pointing to Kaine's support of trade deals and regulations favorable to big banks.... Kaine's selection was touted by other traditional boosters of the Democratic Party, including several labor union leaders." -- CW ...

... Nora Caplan-Bricker of Slate on the history of Tim Kaine's positions on reproductive rights. -- CW ...

... Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "In selecting Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate, Hillary Clinton is sending the clearest signal yet that she is confident she will win the presidential election. If she were worried, she would have chosen Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who could have helped her win that critical Midwestern state.... And Mr. Brown could have energized progressives nationally.... Other picks could have helped her more on Election Day. Former Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, for instance, would have turned out Democrats and independents in his swing state. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey would have galvanized fellow African-Americans in key cities.... Tom Perez, labor secretary, and Julian Castro, housing secretary, might have boosted Hispanic voting in Florida and the West. Mr. Kaine, by contrast, doesn't bring obvious political rewards."

Mrs. Clinton also wants a vice president who would have a good relationship with Mr. Clinton, especially since the two-term president would likely have some sort of policy role and be an outside presence in the White House.... Mr. Kaine is also a relatively low-key person who understands the importance of ceding the spotlight to the Clintons, according to Democrats close to him. CW: In other words, exactly the scenario I dreaded -- Bull Clinton causing mischief again in the White House. Hillary not only expects it; she's encouraging it. ...

... Zaid Jilani of the Intercept: Shortly before Hillary Clinton announced she had chosen Kaine as her running mate, Kaine "praised the [Trans-Pacific Partnership] as an improvement of the status quo, but maintained that he had not yet decided how to vote on final approval of the agreement." -- CW ...

... Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Republicans have signaled in recent days that they will use Kaine's acceptance of [gifts from deep-pockets donors] as a line of attack against the newly selected vice presidential candidate, looking to stoke concern among Democrats that Kaine is not the progressive candidate they had hoped for. 'He followed the rules, but it's a question of whether the Democrat Party can stomach that coziness with donors,' said former attorney general Jerry Kilgore, the Republican who Kaine defeated in 2005.... There are stark differences between Kaine's gifts and [those of Gov. Bob] McDonnell's. For one, Kaine's gifts were properly disclosed; McDonnell failed to disclose some of what he received. For another, Kaine has never faced accusations of promising state action in exchange for any of his gifts." -- CW

** Fire Debbie! Michael Shear & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Top officials at the Democratic National Committee criticized and mocked Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont during the primary campaign, even though the organization publicly insisted that it was neutral in the race, according to committee emails made public on Friday by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks posted almost 20,000 emails sent or received by a handful of top committee officials and provided an online tool to search through them. While WikiLeaks did not reveal the source of the leak, the committee said last month that Russian hackers had penetrated its computer system. Among the emails released on Friday were several embarrassing messages that suggest the committee's chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, and other officials favored Hillary Clinton over Mr. Sanders -- a claim the senator made repeatedly during the primaries." -- CW ...

... Elliot Smilowitz & Joe Uchill of the Hill: "Top officials at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) privately planned how to undermine Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign, according to a trove of emails released by WikiLeaks on Friday." -- CW ...

... Daniel Strauss & Bianca Ocasio of Politico: DNC chair "... Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz once referred to Bernie Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver as a 'damn liar' in an internal email to an aide." In other internal correspondence she called Weaver "particularly scummy" and "an ASS." -- CW ...

... Sam Biddle of the Intercept: "Among the nearly 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee, released Friday by Wikileaks and presumably provided by the hacker 'Guccifer 2.0,' [who later claimed to be the hacker] is a May 2016 message from DNC CFO Brad Marshall. In it, he suggested that the party should 'get someone to ask' ... Bernie Sanders about his religious beliefs.... It is also unclear why the Democratic National Committee, which isn't supposed to favor one Democratic candidate over another..., would have attempted to subvert the Sanders campaign on the grounds that 'he is an atheist.'" CW: Unbelievably. Marshall denied to Biddle that he was writing about Sanders; he claimed the e-mail must have referred to some other Jewish atheist, a claim for which Marshall should be awarded the Paul Manafort Prize for Today's Biggest Whopper by a Political Operative. ...

... Tom Hamburger & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The cache of emails also includes communications with journalists and discussions of news organizations, and the emails provide a new perspective on the deference shown to major donors -- and the efforts to carefully calibrate rewards based on a contributor's financial generosity." -- CW ...

... Muzzle Mika! Ben Norton of Salon: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz ... was furious when she was criticized by MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski. Wasserman Schultz called for Brzezinski to 'apologize' and told her co-worker Chuck Todd 'this must stop.' The DNC chair even complained to MSNBC's president. In May, Brzezinski held a segment on the program 'Morning Joe' in which she condemned Wasserman Schultz's 'unfair' treatment of Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. 'This has been very poorly handled from the start. It has been unfair, and they haven't taken him seriously, and it starts, quite frankly, with the person that we just heard speaking,' Brzezinski said, referring to Wasserman Schultz. 'She should step down,' Brzezinski added." ...

     ... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. CW: "Chuck, this must stop"? Debbie is just as dismissive of a free & independent press as is Donnie the Dictator. And, Chuck Todd, who is, theoretically at least, a member of the free & independent press, seems happy to discuss "stopping" Brzezinski. [The Intercept's reproduction of the e-mail exchange shows Chuck asking a DNC staffer if an MSNBC-DNC joint call is "a good idea." So Chuck was maybe kinda wondering about journalistic ethics & all, even if he did think a political operative was the person to consult on such matters.] They're all good pals: Debbie mentions "our breakfast"; it's not clear who was breakfasting with whom, but the suggestion is that at least Debbie and MSNBC president Phil Griffin were having pancakes in their PJs. Very Fox "Newsy." Phil & Chuck should explain themselves.


Politico: "Donald Trump was up early on Saturday morning, and he had some thoughts to share about Hillary Clinton's choice of running mate.... On Friday, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell all attacked Kaine with similar messages, casting him as a continuation of the 'status quo' embodied by President Barack Obama." CW: Yeah, but Mitch didn't call Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas" as Chief Tweets-in-the-Night did.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "After bragging that he had unified the party in one of the most 'love-filled' conventions in political history [Friday morning], Mr. Trump went on an extended diatribe against Mr. Cruz, who declined to endorse him during his own convention speech on Wednesday night and urged people to vote with their conscience. The speech embarrassed Mr. Trump and cast a shadow of discord over the convention." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Dan Spinelli of Politico: "A day after accepting the Republican Party's nomination for president, Donald Trump rehashed a conspiracy theory that claims the man who killed President John F. Kennedy once cavorted with Ted Cruz's father. -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Nick Gass has more on Trump's remarks about Cruz. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post: "Trump's acolytes can spin this however they want, but this was a factually incorrect and morally abhorrent speech." ...

... The Marshall Project "truth-tests" Trump on his law-and-order claims. Maybe if they grade on a curve, he could get a D-. Via Paul Waldman, linked below.

Midnight in America. Dana Milbank: "For more than an hour, [Donald Trump] shook his fists, chopped the air, stuck out his chin, bared his bottom teeth, paced behind the lectern, tugged on his lapels -- and delivered the darkest piece of rhetoric spoken by a major political figure in modern American history.... Trump's warnings of imminent catastrophe serve a purpose: In times of panic, the appeal of an authoritarian is greater. And Trump presented himself as the classic strongman." -- CW ...

... Paul Waldman: "Republicans are exploring an election day plan to post someone at every polling place who will shout 'Oh my god look behind you there's a terrorist!!!' at every voter on their way in." CW: Don't worry; Waldman is kidding. But maybe he shouldn't give the Trumpsters any ideas. ...

... CW: On that note, I don't think Apocalypse Now! will work as a campaign strategy. Americans are generally optimists, & most will quickly tire of Trump's "vision" of the U.S. as a third-world country that must turn inward & pledge allegiance to an insane despot to save itself from the savage hordes. ...

... Andrew O'Hehir of Salon, who was in the room, on the contrary thought the dark message resonated well enough to give Trump a victory in November. CW: O'Hehir is an astute observer, so it's worth reading his analysis. ...

... Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland, in the New Republic, compares Donald Trump's acceptance speech with the one he claims it was modeled on: Richard Nixon's 1968 convention speech: "... last night I sat in person through the whole damned 77-minute hot mess, and I'm here to say: Mr. Trump, I've studied Richard Nixon. And you're no Richard Nixon." -- CW ...

... Philip Bump: "Faced with a real threat, [George W.] Bush appealed to America's strengths. After building a Potemkin crisis, Trump told Americans that only he was good enough to deal with it. The question that lingers for those skeptical of Trump's view of the world is this: What would he have done if he were in Bush's place on September 11?" -- CW ...

Philip Bump of the Washington Post can't figure out who Ivanka Trump was endorsing in her convention speech inasmuch as her claims about her father's support for equal opportunity for women is pretty much nonexistent beyond his claim to be "the best for women" & a promise to "look into [equal pay] very strongly." (CW: whatever that means). (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** Washington Post Editors, in a rare full-page editorial: "DONALD J. TRUMP, until now a Republican problem, this week became a challenge the nation must confront and overcome. The real estate tycoon is uniquely unqualified to serve as president, in experience and temperament. He is mounting a campaign of snarl and sneer, not substance. To the extent he has views, they are wrong in their diagnosis of America's problems and dangerous in their proposed solutions. Mr. Trump's politics of denigration and division could strain the bonds that have held a diverse nation together. His contempt for constitutional norms might reveal the nation's two-century-old experiment in checks and balances to be more fragile than we knew." -- CW

Frank Rich on the Republican convention, the Roger Ailes scandal & the future of the Republican party: "... the only defense we have against Trump is his opponent. She must make sure that the other America, the America that is appalled, victimized, and scandalized by Trump and what he represents, goes to the polls to vote "no." Is Hillary Clinton up to it? I don't know." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Other News & Views

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Obama on Friday rejected what he described as Donald J. Trump's vision of America as a nation 'on the verge of collapse.'... During a White House news conference, Mr. Obama said that any 'vision of violence and chaos everywhere doesn't really jibe with the experience of most people.' Countering Mr. Trump's assertion of a crime wave in the country, offered during an acceptance speech..., Mr. Obama said the rate of violent crime had fallen to the lowest levels 'in the last three or four decades.'... Turning to Mr. Trump's assertion that the United States was being inundated with illegal immigrants, Mr. Obama said that 'we have far fewer undocumented workers crossing the border than we did in the '80s, the '90s, or when George Bush was president. That is fact.'" -- CW ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "President Barack Obama wasted no time Friday delivering another implicit rebuke of Donald Trump on Mexico and immigration, hours after the Republican nominee officially claimed the party mantle to take on ... Hillary Clinton in November. 'Let me start by saying something that is too often overlooked, but bears repeating -- especially given some of the heated rhetoric that we sometimes hear. The United States values tremendously our enduring partnership with Mexico and our extraordinary ties of family and friendship with the Mexican people,' Obama said at the start of a joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Manuel Roig-Franzia, et al., of the Washington Post: "News of [Gretchen] Carlson's firing [from Fox 'News'], and the lawsuit she filed shortly thereafter, have now prompted 25 women to come forward with what they describe as similar harassment claims against [Fox 'News' chief Roger] Ailes that stretch across five decades..., according to Carlson's attorney, Nancy Erika Smith.... Many of the allegations that have become public ... are clustered in the decades long before Ailes became" CEO of Fox "News" in 1996. BUT, "'It became common knowledge that women did not want to be alone with him,' [a] former [Fox 'News'] staffer said. '... It became a locker room, towel-snapping environment. He would say things like, "She's really got the goods" and "look at the t--s on that one.'" Sometimes, the former staffer said, Ailes made 'jokes that he liked having women on their knees. The tone he set went through the organization.'" ...

     ... CW: My prediction: Ailes will help Trump "News" get up and running in 2017.

Beyond the Beltway

Fenit Nirappil & Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: Virginia "Gov. Terry McAuliffe's decision to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 felons violates Virginia's constitution, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday, dealing a major blow to the Democratic governor with implications for the November presidential race in the crucial swing state. In a 4-to-3 decision, the court ruled that McAuliffe overstepped his clemency powers by issuing a sweeping order in April restoring rights to all ex-offenders who are no longer incarcerated or on probation or parole.... A defiant McAuliffe released a statement late Friday saying that he would pick up his executive pen and restore the rights of those felons on an individual basis, even if it means signing more than 200,000 orders." -- CW

Mark Berman & Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post: "Authorities in North Miami, Fla., said Friday that they had placed a second police officer on leave as part of the investigation into a police shooting there earlier this week in which an officer shot and wounded an unarmed man. The second officer was placed on unpaid administrative leave because of 'conflicting statements given to the investigators' looking into the shooting,Larry M. Spring Jr., the North Miami city manager, said at a news conference." -- CW

Way Beyond

Rukmini Callimachi, et al., of the New York Times: "A shooting rampage outside a shopping mall in Munich on Friday evening left 10 people dead and at least 21 wounded and sent Germany's third-largest city into lockdown as the police scrambled to find what they initially said were as many as three assailants. By early Saturday, the police said the attack was probably the work of single gunman whose body was found less than a mile from the mall. Officials said he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The officials also said the police were using a robot to examine the contents of a backpack belonging to the suspect, who was not identified." -- CW ...

... The Guardian has live updates here. The "gunman was [an] 18-year-old German of Iranian descent." -- CW ...

... Souad Mekhennet, et al., of the Washington Post: "Munich authorities said Saturday that the gunman who went on a rampage at a shopping center Friday, leaving nine people dead, had no ties to the Islamic State or other extremist groups. Instead, police believe he was obsessed with mass killings and may have been mentally ill." -- CW

Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson appeared to distance Britain from Donald Trump on Friday, saying that the country's decision to leave the European Union should not be likened to the Republican presidential candidate's 'America first' isolationist foreign policy. The foreign secretary also claimed European countries had shown a willingness to move quickly to reach a settlement on the terms of Britain's exit from the trade block and insisted that a 'balance can be struck' between free trade and the free movement of workers." -- CW

Comments Off

Reader Comments (8)

Today's local paper: Page one, 9 dead, 16 wounded in a once in a lifetime event in Munich. Page three, 2 dead, 4 wounded in Newark in a 40 times in a day event in America.

July 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

After all of the noise about the choices for VP, keep in mind the fact that as a practical matter the VP 'job' is the ability to express opinions on the inside. Opinions that can be ignored. However there is talk that on the Republican side history might change. Since the candidate for POTUS can't spell government, there is talk that the VP might actually be POTUS, except, of course, at big public displays.

July 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

Marvin,

Yes, and yes again to context.

My daughter-in-law sent this corrective to our warped perspective on violence.

The absolute number of police deaths from violence has steadily declined from 101 per year during Reagan's reign to a low of 62 during the first seven Obama years. (Washington Post Wonkblog)

And think that VEEP business has already happened, as recently as Darth Vader and his feckless boss.

July 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

A WHITER SHADE OF PALE:

In working class America an elite-resenting identity politics has emerged in which whiteness spells dispossession. This article from the New Yorker is a fascinating read.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/the-new-meaning-of-whiteness

July 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

<< ... In her profile of Kaine, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times claims, "At heart, Mr. Kaine is an old-fashioned liberal ... -- CW >>

'liberal' - Really?
'old-fashioned' - Indeed:
Anti-Choice & Pro-Death Penalty.

Enticements for coaxing the Sanders-Folk on board?

July 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterOphelia M.

@OpheliaM: This excerpt from BuzzFeed, but easy enought to find more on Google about Kaine's position(s): "Although Kaine carried out 11 executions, his stance on the death penalty is much more complicated than that. Before he became governor in 2006, Kaine served as a civil rights lawyer, and represented several capital defendants.

In 1987, he told the Washington Post that “[m]urder is wrong in the gulag, in Afghanistan, in Soweto, in the mountains of Guatemala, in Fairfax County … and even the Spring Street Penitentiary.”

July 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

MAG (thanks) provided some of my intended response to Ophelia (glad to see your name again) re: my respectful disagreement about Kaine.

Maybe an "old fashioned" liberal is one who maintains sufficient intellectual distance and enough reverence for the messiness of democracy to separate one's personal beliefs from the manner in which one governs. As I understand it, Kaine is personally pro-life and against capital punishment, but believes his own beliefs on these difficult issues should not trump (perhaps need a new word here) those of others and certainly not the democratically determined law of the land.

Whether Kaine turns out to be the right pick or not, and whether or not I share his personal beliefs, I support his right to have them--as long as he does not use his position to foist them on me. That's where I would draw the line.

Guess that makes me an old-fashioned liberal, too. If so, fearing I know the answer, I wonder what a new-fashioned one is.

So...a Trumpless day, calloh callay, I chortle in my joy.....and am already fashioning a Sunday sermon to take its place.

July 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Thank you, MAG, for the BuzzFeed piece. I welcomed the second read at your suggestion in case I missed something & would be moved toward a change of heart. (BTW: I respect & applaud the legal representation Kaine has provided.)

And . . .

Greetings, Ken, and thank you for your eloquent POV's. Like yourself, I have given consideration to the integrity of << one who maintains sufficient intellectual distance and enough reverence for the messiness of democracy to separate one's personal beliefs from the manner in which one governs. >> And yet . . .

I still cannot align myself with - or respect - Kaine's rationales: How such strong, moral (faith-based) belief in the sanctity of life would, nonetheless, uphold an opposing State law. Yes - Of course - 'oath of office'. But if his fundamental convictions (unexpected puns) opposed Death Row, why not leave office? Or (this, from one sadly uninformed of a governor's capabilities) lobby to change 'the law'? For me, I see these inconsistencies as hypocritical and false. And those impressions dovetail with my other Thumbs Down . . .

While Kaine presents himself as Pro-Choice, he does so with underlying restrictions: He is also Pro-Parental Approval & Pro-Informed Consent. (I won't address his "Partial Birth" position now.)

Both are strategies (one need only glance the Pro-Life "literature") designed to prolong a termination date (Oops! Too late for you, Dearie), subject patients to vaginal sonography (Ouch!) & color pix of aborted fetuses, along with other humiliating, brain-washing, threatening & painful tactics. Basically, they're efforts to terminate termination.

As for instances mandating Parental Approval: These (some? many?) have resulted in forcing underage females to carry (and deliver, *if* their bodies & pregnancies have endured) full-term: Medically ravaging. Psychologically damaging. Not to mention - 'though i will ;) . . .

When the newborn is to be placed for adoption, even though the pregnancy was originally intended/wanted to be stopped (by the young girl or teen), the physiological & emotional trauma of experiencing childbirth, and then seeing/feeling one's newborn ushered away - -

Kaine is against the Death Penalty, but . . .
Kaine is Pro-Choice, but . . .

These are some of the bits that give me pause.

Cheers -

July 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterOphelia M.
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.