;)
The Commentariat -- June 4, 2021
Late Morning Update:
Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Job creation disappointed again in May, with nonfarm payrolls up what normally would be considered a solid 559,000 but still short of lofty expectations, the Labor Department reported Friday. Payrolls were expected to increase by 671,000, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones." MB: President Biden will speak about the jobs report this morning.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Seung Min Kim & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "President Biden signaled at a private meeting on Wednesday that he would be open to significant revisions on the size of his infrastructure package and how it would be paid for in order win Republican backing, outlining a plan for about $1 trillion in new spending financed through tax changes that do not appear to raise the top corporate rate. While Biden has not abandoned his support for the tax increase generally, believing profitable companies must pay their fair share, the moves still mark a potential new concession in stalled talks over funding to improve the country's roads, bridges, pipes and ports.... In his meeting with the GOP's top negotiator, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Biden raised the possibility he could take the proposed increase off the table in an attempt to broker a compromise.... The president still intends to seek the tax increase, [a] source said, meaning the White House could pursue the policy outside of infrastructure talks -- or in the case that bipartisan negotiations ultimately collapse." A USA Today story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times' story is here.
Hans Nichols of Axios: "President Biden has decided against appointing his own commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection and will instead increase pressure on Congress to establish a committee, White House officials tell Axios.... 'Congress was attacked on that day, and President Biden firmly agrees with Speaker Pelosi that Congress itself has a unique role and ability to carry out that investigation,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki tells Axios."
The Biden Way: Engage the Jackass. Tyler Pager & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "President Biden recently called former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers, a Democrat who has been openly critical of his economic agenda, to acknowledge Summers's concerns and ask him to explain his objections.... Summers has engaged in increasingly bitter disagreements with White House aides.... Summers -- a treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, top economic adviser to President Barack Obama and former president of Harvard University -- is a prominent Democratic voice on economic matters. But he has also become a nemesis of the party's left flank, which sees him as representative of a misguided centrism that Democrats have moved beyond. Summers has been warning that Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package is too big and will overheat the economy...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Another Economist Looks at Biden's Budget Proposal. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... is trying to 'build back better' by taxing only the very affluent feasible? Is it wise? Could it be done more effectively? My answer is yes to the first two questions, if you assume -- as I think we should -- that given the political realities Biden needs to keep his ambitions fairly modest. The answer to the third is, it's complicated.... Biden's proposals are appropriate in their general thrust and probably don't have huge flaws in their details. My biggest concern isn't that he'll botch important issues, it is that Democrats in Congress -- some of whom are still far too deferential to moneyed interests -- will water down the things he's trying to do right."
John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Vice President Harris announced Thursday that the Biden administration is making available $1 billion in grants to improve high-speed Internet on tribal lands and argued that passage of an infrastructure proposal pending in Congress would help many others across the country who lack the benefits of broadband. The event follows President Biden's meeting at the White House on Wednesday with a key Republican negotiator on infrastructure." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jeanne Whalen & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is expanding a Trump-era order that banned U.S. investment in Chinese companies that it said support China's military to include those selling surveillance technology, calling the entities a threat to U.S. interests and values. A new executive order set for release Thursday broadens prohibitions that the Donald Trump administration enacted and moves authority for the ban to the Treasury Department, from the Defense Department, to give it stronger legal grounding, senior administration officials said."
Amanda Macias & Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "The Biden administration is urging corporate executives and business leaders to take immediate steps to prepare for ransomware attacks, warning in a new memo that cybercriminals are shifting from stealing data to disrupting core operations. 'The threats are serious and they are increasing,' wrote Anne Neuberger, President Joe Biden's deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, in a June 2 memo obtained by CNBC from the White House. 'The private sector also has a critical responsibility to protect against these threats. All organizations must recognize that no company is safe from being targeted by ransomware, regardless of size or location,' Neuberger wrote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Brian Fung & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "The Justice Department signaled Thursday it plans to coordinate its anti-ransomware efforts with the same protocols as it does for terrorism, following a slew of cyberattacks that have disrupted key infrastructure sectors ranging from gasoline distribution to meatpacking. On Thursday, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco issued an internal memo directing US prosecutors to report all ransomware investigations they may be working on, in a move designed to better coordinate the US government's tracking of online criminals. The memo cites ransomware -- malicious software that seizes control of a computer until the victim pays a fee -- as an urgent threat to the nation's interests."
** Ira Shapiro, former counsel to Sen. Robert Byrd, Joe Manchin's predecessor, in a New York Times op-ed: "Senators must confront what has proved to be a debilitating obstacle: the legislative filibuster -- more precisely, the minimum 60-vote supermajority requirement for most legislation.... The filibuster should not shape the workings of the Senate, but the other way around. For Mr. Byrd and other senators of his era, the overriding goal was to ensure not that certain rules were respected above all else but that the Senate could deliver for the nation -- even if it meant reforming rules like the filibuster.... When the Senate was at its best -- from the 1960s through the 1980s -- it regularly had intensive debates and passed major legislation without filibusters. The Senate often approved landmark legislation with fewer than 60 votes...." (Emphasis added.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Manchin should be required to read every word of Shapiro's op-ed, chew them up & swallow them, a word at a time. (More seriously, he should meet with & debate Shapiro, who might be able to talk some sense into Filibuster Joe.) ~~~
~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... in red states, Trump's party, motivated by his big lie about his 2020 loss, is systematically changing electoral rules to make it harder for Democratic constituencies to vote and, should Democrats win anyway, easier for Republicans to overturn elections.... Republicans have an excellent chance of gerrymandering their way to control of the House in 2022, whether or not they increase their vote share.... Two Democratic senators, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, could save us by joining their colleagues in breaking the filibuster and passing new voting rights legislation. But they prefer not to.... 'The idea of the filibuster was created by those who came before us in the United States Senate to create comity and to encourage senators to find bipartisanship and work together,' [Sinema] said [Tuesday]. This is nonsense. The filibuster was created by mistake when the Senate, cleaning up its rule book in 1806, failed to include a provision to cut off debate.... The filibuster encouraged extremism, not comity: It was a favorite tool of pro-slavery senators before the Civil War and segregationists after it." Read on.
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "U.S. prosecutors this week put a price tag on damage to the U.S. Capitol from the Jan. 6 breach -- $1.5 million so far -- and for the first time are asking defendants to cover some of the bill in plea offers, prosecutors and defense lawyers said.... Several defense attorneys said prosecutors with the U.S. attorney's office in Washington are seeking to require restitution of $2,000 in each felony case and $500 in each misdemeanor case." A plea agreement signed by Paul Hodgkins, who pleaded guilty to one felony count of obstructing a federal proceeding, said he agreed to pay $2,000 in partial restitution.
After Getting to Carnegie Hall, This Woman Had a Less Impressive Second Act. Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "When Audrey Ann Southard took the stage at Carnegie Hall in 2012, she belted out an opera aria.... When she stormed into the U.S. Capitol in January, the FBI said, her audience was the police officers defending the building.... 'Tell Pelosi we're coming for that b----,' video shows her screaming at officers, according to court documents. 'There's a hundred thousand of us, what's it going to be?' Southard later used a flagpole to shove a sergeant backward until he slammed his head into a statue, the FBI said, all while agitating the crowd behind her to 'push in here' as they sought to disrupt Congress as it certified President Biden's victory. Southard, a 52-year-old who the Tampa Bay Times reported works as a private music instructor in Florida, was charged this week with numerous counts connected to the deadly insurrection, including assaulting a federal employee." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's Audrey at Carnegie Hall. I'm far from being a qualified music critic, but I think her performance was pretty awful there, too.
Jamie Gangel & Donie O'Sullivan of CNN (June 2): "Online conversation among Trump supporters and QAnon followers on new and emerging social media platforms is creating concern on Capitol Hill that ... Donald Trump's continued perpetuation of the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen could soon incite further violence, three congressional sources tell CNN.... Trump's comments to right-wing media outlets in recent weeks have played directly into the false belief among some of his supporters that he will be reinstated as president in the coming months.... In [a] May interview with a right-wing radio host, Trump falsely suggested the controversial Republican-led audit in Arizona and audits elsewhere would show he didn't lose the election. 'It's going to be a very interesting time in our country,' he said. 'How do you govern when you lost?'" (Emphasis added.)
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "One of the undersold aspects of the Trump presidency isn't so much what he did while in office, but how much he elevated fringe figures like [Michael] Flynn who would never have set foot inside virtually any other president's orbit. With Trump now out of office, those figures' continued drift toward the fringe and the credibility Trump lent to them is surely one of the lasting impacts of his presidency.... As with Flynn, Trump reserved some of his most controversial pardons for people with ties to fringe elements of the conservative base." Blake asserts that these fringe characters are pulling the GOP even further rightward.
More News from the Most Corrupt Administration Evah: ~~~
~~~ Louie, Louie, Oh No. Matt Zapotosky & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The FBI is investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in connection with campaign fundraising activity involving his former business, according to people familiar with the matter and a spokesman for DeJoy. FBI agents in recent weeks interviewed current and former employees of DeJoy and the business, asking questions about political contributions and company activities, these people said. Prosecutors also issued a subpoena to DeJoy himself for information, one of the people said.... n early September, The Washington Post published an extensive examination of how employees at DeJoy's former company, North Carolina-based New Breed Logistics, alleged they were pressured by DeJoy or his aides to attend political fundraisers or make contributions to Republican candidates, and then were paid back through bonuses. Such reimbursements could run afoul of state or federal laws, which prohibit 'straw-donor' schemes meant to allow wealthy donors to evade individual contribution limits and obscure the source of a candidate's money." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story is here. As Katie Benner makes clear in her lede, DeJoy is being investigated for a crime, not a civil offense. Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Four for Four. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "In April 2017, the Republican National Committee issued a press release introducing the members of its finance team, which was responsible for helping raise money for Donald Trump and his party...: 'Today Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and RNC Finance Chairman Steve Wynn announced additional members of the RNC's Finance leadership team:... "Elliott Broidy, Michael Cohen, and Louis DeJoy will serve as National Deputy Finance Chairmen...."' Steve Wynn ... was forced to resign from his RNC post following sexual misconduct allegations.... The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the Justice Department has also examined Wynn's 2017 efforts in support of Chinese officials.... Elliott Broidy, meanwhile, found himself at the center of multiple controversies, and pled guilty last fall to federal charges related to illegal lobbying. [Trump pardoned him.]... Michael Cohen ... was at the center of multiple Trump-related scandals, and was even sentenced to prison.... And as of this afternoon, Louis DeJoy, whose tenure as postmaster general has been controversial for all sorts of reasons, is also facing an ongoing FBI investigation."
Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Former vice president Mike Pence said Thursday he has spoken with ... Donald Trump 'many times' since they left office in January and admitted that the two still do not 'see eye-to-eye' about the insurrection on Jan. 6, in which a pro-Trump mob overran the U.S. Capitol in a violent siege that resulted in five deaths -- and endangered the lives of Pence and his family. Pence acknowledged Thursday that Jan. 6 was 'a dark day' but also cast it as 'one tragic day' that Democrats were using to divide the GOP, in a speech ... in Manchester, N.H.... [But] he spent nearly 40 minutes Thursday lauding Trump and their administration's accomplishments and criticizing President Biden's first several months in office." Politico's story is here.
Rudy Sits on My Pillows. This is not an SNL spoof; it's really Rudy, it's a real ad, and we presume Rudy needed what My Pillow Guy paid him for this ass-felt endorsement: ~~~
~~~ Speaking of asses and their sleazy money-making endeavors, this Son-of-a-Trump must need the McKinleys, too. ~~~
~~~ Sean Neumann of People, republished in Yahoo! News: "Who wants a personalized video message from Donald Trump Jr.? Donald Trump's eldest son has joined Cameo.... The social media site ... lets users ... purchase videos from an array of ... personalities and influencers. Don Jr. is selling clips for $500 apiece. His bio says 'a portion of proceeds will be donated to Shadow Warriors Project' supporting military contractors, although it's not clear what percentage of the proceeds are being donated.... In video examples so far..., he has sent birthday messages, congratulations on engagements and anniversaries and thanked a veteran over the Memorial Day weekend. The videos also come with some self-promotion. In one clip, Don Jr. encouraged a couple who recently got engaged to celebrate their honeymoon at his family's private resorts and in multiple clips he slipped in false claims about his father's 2020 election loss and attacks President Joe Biden's family."
UFOs Are Still UFOs. Julian Barnes & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "American intelligence officials have found no evidence that aerial phenomena witnessed by Navy pilots in recent years are alien spacecraft, but they still cannot explain the unusual movements that have mystified scientists and the military, according to senior administration officials briefed on the findings of a highly anticipated government report. The report determines that a vast majority of more than 120 incidents over the past two decades did not originate from any American military or other advanced U.S. government technology, the officials said. That determination would appear to eliminate the possibility that Navy pilots who reported seeing unexplained aircraft might have encountered programs the government meant to keep secret. But that is about the only conclusive finding in the classified intelligence report...."
Eric Geller & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Supreme Court has sharply curtailed the scope of the nation's main cybercrime law, limiting a tool that civil liberties advocates say federal prosecutors have abused by seeking prison time for minor computer misdeeds. The 6-3 decision handed down Thursday means federal prosecutors can no longer use the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to charge people who misused databases they are otherwise entitled to access. The ruling comes six months after justices expressed concern that the government's sweeping interpretation of the law could place people in jeopardy for activities as mundane as checking social media on their work computers, with Justice Neil Gorsuch saying prosecutors' view risked 'making a federal criminal of us all.' In an unusual lineup, the court's three Trump appointees ... joined the court's three liberals to reject the Justice Department's interpretation of the statute." Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion.
Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: "The military judge presiding in the death penalty case of a man accused of orchestrating the U.S.S. Cole bombing has agreed to consider information obtained during the man's torture by C.I.A. interrogators to support an argument in pretrial proceedings at Guantánamo Bay. Defense lawyers cast the decision as the first time that a military judge at the war court is publicly known to have agreed to consider information obtained through the C.I.A. torture of a prisoner, and on Thursday they asked a higher court to reverse it.... 'No court has ever sanctioned the use of torture in this way,' the defense lawyers wrote in their 20-page filing that asked a Pentagon panel, the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review, to intervene in the case against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi prisoner awaiting trial at Guantánamo Bay. 'No court has ever approved the government's use of torture as a tool in discovery litigation' or as 'a legitimate means of facilitating a court's interlocutory fact-finding.'"
David Mack of BuzzFeed News: "A former Treasury Department official was sentenced to six months in prison on Thursday after she admitted to providing highly confidential banking documents to a BuzzFeed News reporter. Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards pleaded guilty in January 2020 to one count of conspiracy to make unauthorized disclosures of suspicious activity reports. These documents, known as SARs, are filed by banks to the federal government to alert authorities of potential criminal activity.... Speaking in court ahead of her sentence being handed down, Edwards said she had taken an oath to protect the American people and 'could not stand by aimlessly' when she saw corruption. But, she added, 'I do apologize for the disclosure of that information.'"
Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "Facebook plans to announce Friday that it will no longer automatically give politicians a pass when they break the company's hate speech rules, a major reversal after years of criticism that it was too deferential to powerful figures during the Trump presidency. Since the 2016 election, the company has applied a test to political speech that weighs the newsworthiness of the content against its propensity to cause harm. Now the company will throw out the first part of the test and will no longer consider newsworthiness as a factor.... But Facebook doesn't plan to end the newsworthiness exception entirely. In the cases where an exception is made, the company will now disclose it publicly...." The Verge's story is here.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.
Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden announced Thursday the U.S. will donate 75% of its unused COVID-19 vaccines to the U.N.-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing program, acting as more Americans have been vaccinated and global inequities have become more glaring. Of the first tranche of 25 million doses, the White House said about 19 million will go to COVAX, with approximately 6 million for South and Central America, 7 million for Asia and 5 million for Africa. The doses mark a substantial -- and immediate -- boost to the lagging COVAX effort, which to date has shared just 76 million doses with needy countries. Overall, the White House aims to share 80 million doses globally by the end of June, most through COVAX. But 25% of the nation's excess will be kept in reserve for emergencies and for the U.S. to share directly with allies and partners." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Minnesota. Deena Winter, et al., of the New York Times: "The bulldozers arrived before dawn on Thursday at the South Minneapolis intersection where the police killed George Floyd. Moving quickly, city workers in neon vests hauled away flowers, artwork and large cement barricades that have allowed the corner to serve as an ever-growing memorial to Mr. Floyd.... By the time hundreds of people began flocking to the scene in protest, many of the tributes at the intersection known as George Floyd Square were gone.... The city had put most of the items honoring Mr. Floyd into storage. The mayor and other city officials hoped that the effort would let traffic flow through the intersection again, allowing businesses to prosper and cutting down on the violence in the neighborhood. But demonstrators said that the unannounced action was disrespectful to Mr. Floyd's memory and that the city was trying to force people to move on from his killing." The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Seems to me if you are looking for a stupid, insensitive way to dismantle a memorial, you should turn to Minneapolis' mayor & cohort.
Ohio. Local American Legion Cuts Mic so Colonel Couldn't Give Credit to Black Americans for Celebrating the First Memorial Day. Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: "Retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter was midway through his speech at a Memorial Day ceremony in an Ohio cemetery when he started discussing the role that freed Black enslaved people played in an early event honoring Civil War dead.... The disruption was no glitch. One of the event's organizers later admitted the audio had been deliberately turned down, telling the Akron Beacon Journal that Kemter's discussion of Black history 'was not relevant to our program for the day. We asked him to modify his speech, and he chose not to do that,' Cindy Suchan, president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary, told the Beacon Journal.... The Ohio American Legion said it is investigating the incident." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Kemter is 77 years old, served as a medic, and looks white to me. Not the picture of a "radical" BLM "rioter" his censors probably envision. But the very idea that lovely white people had gathered to celebrate a holiday started by Black people was just too much for them to handle. This is racism in its most petty form. I'm sure Cindy there thinks she's the paragon of civic engagement & a great credit to her community. With all due respect, she's an embarrassing pile of crap. ~~~
~~~ "White Fragility." Paul Campos in LG&$: "Just as was the case with the original complaints about PC culture, this is all a massive case of projection by the proponents of the original and still by far most dominant form of political correctness in this country, which is simply white supremacy in all its guises, overt and covert. That form of PC/Cancel Culture is based on the fundamental axiom that making a white person feel bad about being white is the very worst form of racism there is --in fact it's pretty much the only real form of racism that still exists...." Campos republishes much of the WashPo story. (Also linked yesterday.)
Washington State. Johnny Diaz of the New York Times: "Fifteen men were charged in connection with the alcohol-poisoning death of a Washington State University student, prosecutors said on Wednesday, after a yearlong police investigation into a fraternity pledging case from 2019. The men were members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity when the student, a freshman named Samuel Martinez, died in 2019, according to Denis Tracy, the prosecutor for Whitman County. The men, now ages 20 to 23, were each charged with supplying liquor to minors, Mr. Tracy said in a statement.... The family of Mr. Martinez said in a statement ... it was 'deeply disappointed' that hazing charges were not filed. 'The Pullman Police Department allowed the statute of limitations for that charge to expire,' the family's statement said. 'That's despite the fact that Pullman police found substantial evidence of hazing that would have supported hazing charges.'"
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Reader Comments (18)
Does Rudy tell potential My Pillow suckers that those pillows are EZ to clean when stained by cheap-ass black hair dye? Spanish Inquisitioning minds want to know.
Sure, let’s eradicate all traces of memorials to a black man murdered by a Minneapolis employee, but let’s not touch any statues dedicated to Confederate traitors who killed soldiers of the United States Army in order to ensure the continuation of the enslavement of millions.
Free speech is only for them...
“Shut that man up! He said ‘black’. We can’t allow whatever he’s saying to go any further!”
Interesting, in’it? The ones screaming “cancel culture” the live long day are the cancelingest bastards around. I must have missed that part of the constitution where it sez “Free speech for white supremacists only”.
Personalized messages from Junior? Jeeez. These people must wake up at night thinking of newer and sleazier grifts. But this one is especially weird and creepy. And it comes with a grift within the grift! “Happy birthday, whatever yer name is, and by the way, send money to my dad and then rent a room at one our Bates Motels. Bedbugs at no extra charge!”
Imagine clicking on a link and suddenly your phone is taken over by that dodgy bastard. I hope the $500 pays for a quickie therapy session after you decontaminate your phone.
@Akhilleus: Frankly, my dear, it isn't hair-dye stains on his pillow Rudy worries about. He sits on the damned things. Eew!
The best way to help a needy family climb out of poverty is to convince poor pregnant women to carry their fetus to term--in some states.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/04/states-divert-federal-welfare-funding-anti-abortion-clinics
Another fine idea, funded by my tax dollars...
Two counters to Summers pretending to be a liberal economist.
Dean Baker in the NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/opinion/may-jobs-report-biden-economy.html?
And Ken:
" Reports that Biden has been consulting Larry Summers give me pause.
At base. and tho' he travels in the liberal economic camp, Summers has always been a shill for entrenched wealth. His frequently voiced concern about inflation is a handy, go-to neo-liberal disguise, and we all know what neoliberalism hath wrought.
Our broken present."
Paxton Smith, a Dallas high school valedictorian, scrapped a speech previously approved and instead delivered a scathing abortion rights call to action. Plucky lass ! And no one cut the mike! and the applause was significant!
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-valedictorian-goes-script-address-abortion-rights-n1269464
It's hard, extremely hard to understand, how a man who served as Vice to a crazed looney but never wavered in his fealty found himself in the cross hairs on the day of the insurrection ––a noose waiting for him outside––while inside he had to hide in order to survive. The man who he served for four years was busy egging the process on. Now finally we hear from the half=Pence and one half of hisself says "we don't see eye to eye" and the other half leaps into action mode once again, bows down, kisses the ring and is back in the business of lapdog status.
Last night I was thinking of our country's Civil War–--which was a dispute between the North and the South; what we see happening now is another kind of civil war whose divisions are all over the map. I hear rumblings that sound like structures crumbling and I hear voices loud and angry and no Pillow can snuff it out.
Larry Summers is who gets called for the empty Rolodex crowd; sort of like Chuck Todd acting as a newsman. They both have jobs to do but they neither do them well nor pursuasively. You gotta wanna believe before engaging with either guy. I'd rather hear from Janet Yellen or Emily Wilder. https://www.salon.com/2021/05/22/how-standford-college-republicans-worked-with-right-wing-media-to-get-an-ap-reporter-fired/. The fact that Wilder is Jewish is only coincidence, wink wink nod nod.
P.S. Sheldon Adelson was a "naked mole rat" too.
Bob Burnett provides a good breakdown of the nation's political differences, using CA as a template:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/6/4/2033581/-Polarization-in-California?
Mike "Lord of the Flies" Pence is only trying to save his political
ass. He finds it difficult to see eye to eye and that's hard to do
when he's kissing ass.
And he's proud of what they accomplished for the people in 4 years.
What, Mike, were those accomplishments for anyone other than
the 1% or your big donors?
I'm wracking my brain and can't come up with anything that
helped the other 300+ million citizens.
All I can recall of that time is 4 years of lies and chaos and every
week is infrastructure week, which became the joke of the day,
By the way, Ken––-from yesterday: Your "But politics does remain front and center." That goes without saying, didn't mean to imply otherwise. Was just glad to hear some higher notes in our day to day operations.
"The most recent Public Policy Institute of California poll illustrates the extent of polarization in the Golden State and helps us understand it. California Republicans don't approve of Biden and don't like how he handled the pandemic. (They don't like masks and many of them will not get vaccinated.) These Republicans are predominantly rural white men...
Resentful redneck Republicans. As columnist Leonard Pitts recently wrote: "“The decisive reason that white, male, older and less educated voters were disproportionately pro-Trump is that they shared his prejudices and wanted domineering, aggressive leaders …”
From Ken's link above.
PD,
Thanks. Thought your possible followup to my remark might have been more along the lines of "politics do..."
Always have trouble with that one, where the ear and the thought collide.
And you provoke a further thought.
What do the aging have to think about?
The past? Like most of us, I do plenty of that.
But the future is still out there, for others if not that much of it for ourselves, and to the degree we care about anyone but ourselves starting but not necessarily ending with our own kith and kin, thoughts of their future must include thinking about our present politics.
For those of us here, thoughts often front and center.
Forrest,
Now, now, leave us not be so unkind to little mikey. One of his signal accomplishments was making the country feel roomier. Aiding and abetting an ignorant tyrant bump off over half a million people certainly gave their family members a little more space in which to enjoy a blissful life of idiocy under a racist pig and his theocratic hate mongering sidekick.
Family Values Party
Briana Keilar shows that "blood may be thicker than water, but apparently it's not thicker than Kool-Aid."
Here's the way you do it!!!! Check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-7sitFoetY
I really wonder what we're being diverted from by these hokey stories about blurry images on radar and night vision screens.