;)
The Commentariat -- March 24, 2016
If you are interested in taking over Reality Chex -- that is, owning it to do with as you will -- please contact me. I am looking forward to discontinuing my work on the site but would like to see it continue "under new management." I'll help you get started. Thank you to all who have contributed over the years. If I don't find a suitable "buyer," I'll close down next Friday, April 1. -- Constant Weader
Afternoon Update:
Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "A special House committee empaneled to investigate fetal tissue research is preparing to issue 17 subpoenas to medical supply companies and laboratories, seeking the names of researchers, graduate students, laboratory technicians and administrative personnel. The House investigation into how some of the nation's most prestigious universities acquire fetal tissue has prompted charges of intimidation and coercion, escalating a battle that some researchers fear could shut down studies seeking cures for Parkinson's disease, the Zika virus and a host of other conditions. Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, who opposes most fetal tissue research because of its association with abortion, intends to issue the subpoenas on behalf of the Republicans on the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives." ...
... CW: Blackburn's move here is fascistic enough to impress Donald Trump. She's a successful publicity hound, a climate denier & otherwise standard-issue Tea party grande dame. If Trump picked Blackburn as his running mate, it would mitigate his unpopularity with women, & she'd be just the person to attack Hillary Clinton, if Clinton is the Democratic nominee. And Blackburn is willing: Washington Examiner: "U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn said Friday she'd be open to becoming GOP front-runner Donald Trump's vice president if he wins the nomination." So Marsha Blackburn is my entry in today's GOP Veepstakes.
Republicans Being Sorry for Stuff:
Amanda Marcotte, in Salon, on Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's (R) hypocritical apology for extracurricular sex or sex-words or not-sex or whatever: "This is what Bentley should be apologizing for: Treating everyone else who isn't a straight man like their private, consenting sex lives that harm absolutely no one are some great evil to be snuffed out by denying them medical care and basic rights like marriage.... It's clear that Bentley thinks that being mildly embarrassed is punishment enough for a straight man caught having sexytimes. But the rest of us won't get off so easy. We're denied marriage rights, birth control, abortion access, and told we're a danger to our children."
"Today in Paul Ryan's Shadow Campaign for President." Charles Pierce: "Remember, he's sorry for all those terrible things he's said about the poor, but he might say them again, and he'll feel even more sorry. Biggest. Fake. Ever."
*****
BBC News: "President Barack Obama, who is on a visit to Argentina, has promised to release secret files concerning the US role in the military coup there 40 years ago that installed one of the region's most brutal regimes. He was speaking after talks with Argentine President Mauricio Macri. Mr Obama said US military and intelligence files from the era would be declassified for the first time":
David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Justice Department on Thursday unsealed an indictment against seven Iranian computer specialists who regularly worked for the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, charging that they were behind cyberattacks on dozens of American banks and that they attempted to take over the controls of a small dam in Rye, N.Y. The indictment, while long expected, is the first time that the Obama administration has sought action against Iranians for a wave of computer attacks on the United States that began in 2011.... None of the named Iranians live in the United States and it is doubtful that they will ever make it to an American courtroom."
Alissa Rubin, et al., of the New York Times: "The Brussels suicide bombers included two Belgium-born brothers with a violent criminal past and suspected links to plotters of the Islamic State's Paris attacks last November, the authorities said Wednesday, raising new alarms about Europe's leaky defenses against a militant organization that has terrorized two European capitals with seeming impunity. One of the brothers was deported by Turkey back to Europe less than a year ago, Turkey's president said, suspected of being a terrorist fighter intent on entering Syria, where the Islamic State is based. Despite that statement, Belgian officials said neither brother had been under suspicion for terrorism until recently, an indication of the Islamic State's ability to remain steps ahead of European intelligence and security monitors." ...
... Joby Warrick & Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "As Belgian police delve into the backgrounds of the men behind Tuesday's attacks in Brussels, they are encountering a pattern familiar to investigators in Paris and other European cities targeted by the Islamic State: The shock troops used in the terrorist group's signature attacks are largely men already well known to local law enforcement -- not as religious radicals, but as criminals." ...
... Lori Hinnant & Paisley Dodds of the AP: "The Islamic State group has trained at least 400 fighters to target Europe in deadly waves of attacks, deploying interlocking terror cells like the ones that struck Brussels and Paris with orders to choose the time, place and method for maximum chaos, officials have told The Associated Press." ...
... Josh Lederman of the AP: "A day after bombs ripped through Brussels, President Barack Obama declared that fighting the Islamic State is his 'No. 1 priority' and pledged that the United States will pursue the jihadist group until it is destroyed. 'I've got a lot of things on my plate, but my top priority is to defeat I ISIL and to eliminate the scourge of this barbaric terrorism that's been taking place around the world,' Obama said Wednesday. '... The issue is, how do we do it in an intelligent way?" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Nicole Perlroth & Katie Benner of "the New York Times: Why are hackers willing to help the FBI unlock Apple's iPhone? Maybe because Apple, unlike other big tech companies, doesn't offer hackers a "bug bounty" when they alert the companies to programming flaws. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "In an address billed as an examination of the future of politics, Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin on Wednesday admonished politicians in both parties for debasing political discourse.... It was a familiar role for the speaker: He has become something of a Washington scold.... In the most striking part of his speech, Mr. Ryan faulted himself for having referred to the 'makers and takers' in society when he was the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 2012.... But what Mr. Ryan did not address in his speech has been the inability of Congress to turn those ideas into laws, even with Republican majorities in both houses, or to maintain much decorum in its own chambers." ...
... Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "Yes, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) addressed the nation on Wednesday to once again rebuke GOP front-runner Donald Trump in all but name. But as Ryan waxed wishfully about what the Republican Party and our political dialogue should be, it almost sounded like he had given up trying to shift its inevitable march to disaster this presidential election -- and was laying the groundwork for the next. Possibly even his own.... Ryan has slowly, carefully been pitching himself as the Republican Party's anti-Trump, and Wednesday's speech sounded like he hoped to emerge as an alternative to a party burned by Trump for 2020." ...
... Driftglass puts it more simply: "There can be no end to political madness in this country until this kind of speech is laughed at every time anyone tries it."
... The Cowardly Ryan. Dana Milbank: Ryan "clearly would, despite his demurrals, like to be the consensus nominee. But to preserve his neutrality, and his presidential prospects, Ryan is making a corrupt bargain. There is no neutrality between good and evil."
... CW: 2020? I'm with Milbank. Ryan is thinking 2016. Just as he became the Reluctant Speaker, so he would like to become the Reluctant President. ...
The Vagina Dialog. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court weighed moral theology and parsed insurance terminology on Wednesday in an extended and animated argument that seemed to leave the justices sharply divided over what the government may do to require employers to provide free insurance coverage for contraception to female workers. A 4-to-4 tie appeared to be a real possibility, which would automatically affirm the four appeals court decisions under review. All four ruled that religious groups seeking to opt out of the requirement that they pay for the coverage must sign forms and provide information that would shift the cost to insurance companies and the government." ...
... Today's Word: "Hijack." Lyle Denniston of ScotusBlog: "'Hijacking' is what a long list of religious institutions that object for reasons of faithto contraceptive methods have used to describe what they say the federal government will do to their health-care plans as it moves toward providing free birth control to those institutions' female employees and college students. And, if there was a startling moment during the ninety-four-minute hearing on Zubik v. Burwell, it came when Justice Anthony M. Kennedy deployed that word in obvious sympathy to those institutions." ...
... Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "In case you believed Wednesday's big contraception/religious liberty case at the Supreme Court was about contraception, or about religious liberty, you would be wrong. It's about Obamacare. Again. For the fourth time in four years. And in case you believed the court's conservatives have maybe come around on Obamacare -- well, no. They still hate it. But now they hate it in sound bites.... Specifically, the idea that Obamacare has 'hijacked' the nonprofit religious charity Little Sisters of the Poor (and others like it) and their insurance apparatus to force the horror that is Obamacare onto them." ...
... Clueless Geezers Want You Ladies to Get an Imaginary Healthcare Policy. Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Judging by the questions from conservatives on the court -- all men -- they're still not fully aware of how every day people -- particularly women -- receive health care in the United States, or how health insurance actually works." ...
... Judicial Malpractice. Kevin Drum: "These justices have already heard two major cases on Obamacare, and they've presumably read the briefs for this one. But they still seem unable to grasp the concept that you can't just go out to the exchange and buy a 'contraceptive policy.' Nor do they seem to care that even if you could, it would mean not being able to get contraceptives from your regular doctor, which for some women would cause real problems with continuity of care." ...
... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "It all reminds me of the three qualities President Obama outlined that he'd be looking for in a Supreme Court nominee....
There will be cases in which a judge's analysis necessarily will be shaped by his or her own perspective, ethics, and judgment. That's why the third quality I seek in a judge is a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook. It's the kind of life experience earned outside the classroom and the courtroom; experience that suggests he or she views the law not only as an intellectual exercise, but also grasps the way it affects the daily reality of people's lives in a big, complicated democracy, and in rapidly changing times.
... Obama Is Mean to Nuns. Charles Pierce: "The plaintiff's entire case is based on the sub rosa notion that a small order of nuns is being bullied by the big, bad government. (It's also based, on a deeper level, on a distrust and fear of female sexuality.)... In any event, Zubik is yet another example of what a dog in the manger is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Yet another blessing on the nation signed by Bill Clinton in his attempt to get re-elected, RFRA ... is the only reason Zubik (and, earlier, Hobby Lobby) even got this far. It is the reason that the preposterous argument that filling out a form is a 'near occasion of sin,' as the Sisters of St. Joseph used to call them, ever made it to the eight wise souls herein sitting in judgment. It's the reason why employees of all faiths may now have to submit to the anti-human dictates, and the bullshit theology, of an encyclical that American Catholics have been lubriciously ignoring for going on half-a-century."
Richard Painter, a Bush II lawyer, in a New York Times op-ed: "Judge [Merrick] Garland is just the kind of candidate we would have advised President Bush to nominate if he had been in this situation. A proven moderate, he has enjoyed widespread Republican support in the past.... It is time for the Senate to consider the Garland nomination. Judge Garland should get exactly what Justice Alito got in 2006: a hearing, perhaps with some bluster along the way, but a vote in the end, and confirmation.... If the Senate does not move forward with the Garland nomination now, a lot of senators could find themselves voting on a Supreme Court nominee in December while packing up their offices."
Max Ehrenfreund of the Washington Post: "In recent decades, rich black kids have been more likely to go to prison than poor white kids.... Hispanic participants who were less affluent in 1985 were more likely to be eventually incarcerated than their white peers with similar wealth, but less likely than black participants."
Alan Schwartz, et al., of the New York Times: "... an investigation by The New York Times has found that the N.F.L.'s concussion research was far more flawed than previously known. For the last 13 years, the N.F.L. has stood by the research, which, the papers stated, was based on a full accounting of all concussions diagnosed by team physicians from 1996 through 2001. But confidential data obtained by The Times shows that more than 100 diagnosed concussions were omitted from the studies.... The committee then calculated the rates of concussions using the incomplete data, making them appear less frequent than they actually were."
This really upset the scolds on "Morning Joe," who, as we know, are Very Serious People:
... That's kinda funny, because they weren't all upset when Mika & Jonathan Capehart danced through "the most serious election coverage in all of teevee" the day after 31 Americans were murdered by guns & 151 people went to the emergency room after a gun assault. (No, I don't know the exact date of Mika & Jonathan's routine, but those are the averages. They don't include the 55 people who commit suicide by gun daily or the 46 who die in accidentaly shootings daily.)
The NRA's version of "Hansel & Gretel."... Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: "Hansel with a hunting rifle. Or Little Red Riding Hood's granny with a shotgun.... [These stories are featured] on the National Rifle Association's NRA Family website, which partnered with author Amelia Hamilton 'to present her twist on those classic tales' -- a series that has infuriated gun-control advocates, some of whom called it 'absolutely sick.' Gun-rights supporters say the stories -- which started with 'Little Red Riding Hood (Has a Gun)' and continued with 'Hansel and Gretel (Have Guns)' -- are a more peaceful alternative to the often disturbing fairy tales from childhood."
Presidential Race
Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "In her most vigorous assault yet on her Republican rivals, Hillary Clinton on Wednesday ridiculed the foreign policy prescriptions of [link fixed] Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz, calling them 'reckless actions' that would alienate America's closest allies, demonize Muslims and empower Russia.... Yet in her own policy prescriptions -- which included an 'intelligence surge' to collect more data on the Islamic State, partnerships with Silicon Valley firms that have been suspicious of Washington, and beefing up security on soft targets like airport check-in areas -- Mrs. Clinton resisted calls to distance herself from the Obama administration's actions, and instead called for an acceleration of the approaches already underway."
Charles Pierce: "You want to know what it's like to be president of the United damn States, and there's nothing anybody can do about it, and you no longer have any fcks left in that big old bag to give?":
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Obama on Wednesday delivered a sharply personal rebuke of GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz for his call to institute surveillance on Muslim communities in response to the Brussels terrorist attacks. During a press conference in Argentina, Obama called such a proposal 'wrong and un-American' and said it would undermine the U.S. campaign against Islamic extremists.... 'I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance, which, by the way, the father of Sen. Cruz escaped for America,' the president said. '... The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense.'” ...
... Simon Maloy of Salon: "... Ted Cruz really isn't the guy to make the case that Obama is not acting presidential, given that his own response to the Brussels attack has been hysteria, demagoguery, and a foul sop to anti-Muslim sentiment.... He's proposed denying American citizens their civil liberties and using the heavy hand of the state to treat them as potential criminals for no other reason than their faith.... He sees a terrorist attack unfold overseas and his immediate instinct is to bomb things, violate religious freedom, and curtail civil liberties at home.... I'll happily take a 'cool' and 'detached' president over one who freaks out and proposes creating a discriminatory police state." ...
... Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "... Donald Trump accused Muslims of intentionally declining to report suspected terrorist activity in a Wednesday interview on ITV's 'Good Morning Britain.' 'When they see trouble, they have to report it. They are not reporting it; they are absolutely not reporting it, and that's a big problem,' Trump told host Piers Morgan.... British officials were quick to condemn Trump's comments as false and potentially dangerous." ...
... Ana Swanson of the Washington Post on the "Trump Network," a sleazy pyramid scheme (I mean "multi-level marketing model") that sold multivitamins supposedly engineered to the individual based on a costly fakey test. "Trump says he was not involved in the company's operations. But statements by him and other company representatives -- as well as a plethora of marketing materials circulating online -- often gave the impression of a partnership that was certain to lift thousands of people into prosperity. In fact, within a few years, the company fell on hard times, leaving some salespeople in tough financial straits." CW: In case you didn't notice, everything about Trump Network is a scam. Yes, that's your future Republican presidential nominee. See more below on the guy who imagines he will be Vice President Doctor Carson.
... E. J. Dionne: "The terrorist attacks in Belgium brought out the worst in Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Cruz demonstrated that his only focus right now is to find ways of out-Trumping Trump. He seeks words that sound at least as intolerant and as dangerous to civil liberties as the formulations that regularly burst forth from the Republican front-runner.... With large parts of the Republican establishment giving up on Kasich and embracing Cruz as the last anti-Trump hope, we can now look forward to a GOP race to the bottom in which fear itself is the only thing its leading candidates have to offer." ...
... Gail Collins: "How can things get worse for Republicans? Jeb Bush turned out to be a terrible candidate. Marco Rubio turned out to be an annoying twit. Donald Trump is a nightmare. Something had to be done, and so the solid, steady moderate elite decided the best strategy was to rally around ... Ted Cruz. Welcome to worse.... Maybe they think if Cruz is the spoiler at the convention, it'll be easier to shove him away to make room for a brand new superhero? (Looking at you, Mitt.)"
... Greg Sargent: "Large percentages of GOP voters reject the GOP elite argument for giving the nomination to someone other than Trump at a contested convention, to spare the GOP a disastrous election, even as polls (and other evidence) also suggest GOP elite fears of a Trump disaster may be well founded." That is, Republican "leaders" plan to solve a problem by creating another, perhaps worse, problem. ...
... Betty Cracker of Balloon Juice: "Why on earth wouldn't [Republican voters] unite behind Trump? It's not the open bigotry they're unable to countenance after decades of trafficking in covert racism to gin up votes.Sure, Trump is embarrassing. But if the party grandees can just convert Trump to the Church of Austerity, he could continue to peddle the same old shit in a brand new package. No reason to think that couldn't be done fairly easily. Just prescribe some scripture -- Two Rand, perhaps." ...
... Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Republicans desperate to stop Donald J. Trump from capturing the presidential nomination increased the pressure Wednesday on Gov. John Kasich of Ohio to quit the race, with Jeb Bush joining the growing number of party figures throwing their weight behind Senator Ted Cruz. Mr. Kasich refused, saying that he ... was the best option to stop Mr. Trump. But his argument was undercut by his dismal showings Tuesday in Utah and Arizona, where he won no delegates -- as well as by the surprise endorsement Wednesday morning by Mr. Bush of Mr. Cruz." ...
... Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "There are no more states like Utah [where Ted Cruz won all of the delegates] on the primary calendar. The stop-Trump forces have only been given a brief respite. But it was a significant one. If Trump had swept [Tuesday] night's contests, the race would effectively be over. It's no coincidence that Jeb Bush endorsed Cruz [Wednesday] morning, after Cruz proved that his efforts to deny Trump a majority of delegates were not entirely futile."
You may think that this is the end, Well, it's not. (Music by John Phillip Sousa, lyrics attributed to Fred Allen):
... If It Looks Like a Crook & Quacks Like a Crook.... Bonnie Kristian of the Week: "A super PAC called the 2016 Committee is still raising money for Ben Carson -- even though he ended his campaign weeks ago. 'The 2016 Committee will now kind of morph itself into the objective of having Dr. Carson be Donald Trump's running mate,' the founder of the fundraising group, John Philip Sousa IV..., told supporters last week.... [Sousa's superPAC] collects mainly small donations. And according to analysis ... by the Daily Caller, nearly half of the 2016 Committee's listed donors are retirees who may be on a fixed income. Though Sousa promises supporters that 'Whatever you send will be used carefully to put Ben Carson on the Republican presidential ticket in 2016,' in practice the committee has spent money on things like buying 450,000 copies of Sousa's own book and taking paychecks for hundreds of thousands of dollars."
NAME THAT VICE PRESIDENT. All of us, including Sousa (but maybe not Ole Doc himself), know that Stubby Fingers will not make Ben Carson his veep. But that raises the question, Who will the Mophaired Menace choose as his running mate? Let's have your best guess or a helpful suggestion we can pass along to @realDonaldTrump. Ridiculous recommendations accepted/unavoidable. Contest ends April 1.
Beyond the Beltway
Paul Egan & Matthew Dolan of the Detroit Free Press: "A task force appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder issued a hard-hitting report on the Flint drinking water public health crisis, slamming the catastrophe as a story of 'government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction and environmental injustice.' The 116-page report said the state's controversial emergency manager law contributed to the lead contamination crisis by removing governmental checks and balances. It called for a review of the law and said Snyder should look for alternatives to the current approach so that locally elected officials can be kept more engaged." ...
... Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The independent group faulted Snyder and his administration for failing to act even after 'suggestions to do so by senior staff members in the Governor's office.' The group said the state Department of Health and Human Services failed to quickly recognize the crisis and protect public health. It said the Flint Water Department 'rushed unprepared' into switching to a new water source in spring 2014 -- the Flint River -- without proper use of corrosion controls. Finally, the task force blamed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's delayed enforcement of federal drinking-water standards for 'prolonging the calamity.'" ...
... The report is here (pdf).
David Philipps of the New York Times: "North Carolina legislators, in a whirlwind special session on Wednesday, passed a wide-ranging bill barring transgender people from bathrooms and locker rooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificates. Republicans unanimously supported the bill, while in the Senate, Democrats walked out in protest." CW: I hope all North Carolinians realize that they may now be required to show their birth certificates before entering any public restroom. Kinda beats voter ID, doesn't it? Oh, and just like those anti-abortion & anti-contraception laws, we learn that this law was designed to "protect women." Thanks, guys! ...
... This weird GOP obsession with other people's sexual identity & bathroom habits leads us to ...
... Today in GOP Sex News
Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Gov. Robert Bentley of Alabama [R] acknowledged Wednesday that he had made inappropriate and sexually charged remarks to one of his closest aides, but he denied an accusation that he and the woman had pursued a physical relationship.... Mr. Bentley's public demonstration of remorse came nearly seven months after Dianne Bentley, to whom the Republican governor was married for 50 years, sought a divorce, and just hours after [Spencer] Collier, the recently ousted leader of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, described what he saw as a history of improper conduct between the governor and [top aide Rebekah] Mason. Mr. Collier said that Mr. Bentley had, in 2014, effectively acknowledged an affair, and that it appeared to be continuing as recently as last month." ...
... It Depends on What the Meaning of "Sexual" Is. John Archibald of AL.com: "The tapes for which [Bentley] apologized were purportedly created by members of the Bentley family in 2014 as they tried to ascertain whether he was involved in a relationship. People close to the Bentley family allowed AL.com to hear portions of the tapes.... 'You know I just I worry about sometimes I love so you much,' Bentley is heard saying in a phone conversation with a woman he calls Rebekah. 'I worry about loving you so much.... You know what?' he goes on. 'When I stand behind you, and I put my arms around you, and I put my hands on your breasts, and I put my hands (unintelligible) and just pull you real close. I love that, too.' After being asked about that, Bentley reiterated that the relationship was not sexual." Includes audio....
... CW: So, hands on breasts, not sexual. Hands on (unintelligible), not sexual either. Also (from the audio), putting hands "under you," not sexual. "Doing what we did the other night, Baby," which requires "locking the door" also not sexual.
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A previously unidentified victim of alleged sexual abuse by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has come forward to federal prosecutors and may seek to testify next month when Hastert faces sentencing in federal court in Chicago. The new accuser, labeled as 'Individual D' in court papers, is not the 'Individual A' to whom Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million, setting off a series of events that led to the former speaker pleading guilty to illegally structuring $900,000 used in payments to the man.... Hastert defense attorney John Gallo said Tuesday that the former speaker doesn't plan to contest 'Individual D''s claims."
Way Beyond
Brian Murphy of the Washington Post: "A former Bosnian Serb leader was found guilty of genocide and other charges Thursday for his roles in deadly campaigns during the country's war in the 1990s, including the massacres in Srebrenica, as an international tribunal announced a long-awaited reckoning for Europe's bloodiest chapter since World War II. Radovan Karadzic was found guilty of charges including genocide in connection with the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Srebrenica enclave."
News Lede
Los Angeles Times: "Larry Shandling, the pioneering cable TV star and writer whose turn as a self-doubting talk show host on HBO's 'The Larry Sanders Show' during the 1990s helped redefine the television sitcom, has died. He was 66. The Chicago-born Shandling died of a heart attack, said his spokesman Alan Nierob."
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Early chores and Pacific Daylight Time put me into the forum too late for yesterday's comments, but here comes another voice to thank Marie for 1. The best, by a long shot, aggregation of news, op-ed, articles, blogs and all the other wonders of the internet, and 2. Attracting a commentariat that others as well as I have come to regard as family; except whose family has such undiluted richness of intellect, kindness (even when curmudgeonly) and humor? Like most of this precious family, I am old enough to appreciate Chaucer's wisdom, but will miss you all.
I join the many others who have thanked you for the splendid work you have done over the years in aggregating all the news that's worth reading. You're my first stop in the morning, and one of the last in the evening. I'm working on a plan to cover all this, or some of it, on my own, but it certainly won't be the same without your well-placed observations and humor. Fair winds and following seas, for wherever your activities take you from here.
Ohhhhhh Noooooo! I am just crushed to hear this, Marie. I know you have very good reasons--like your life. However, I feel somehow that we have "been together" forever--and I will have to find a good therapist to help me with this ending!
I really do hope all is well with you and that you have just reached the end of the time when it makes sense for you to work this hard! I do hope you know that you have earned, deservedly so, the unending respect and affection of your readers and commenters. There will never, ever be another CW!
Please add my voice the those of your many fans. I do hope you are well and will resume your comments on NY Times Op-Ed pieces. In the past I never felt I'd read the complete column until I got your take on it. Finding a comment from you on a recent column raised my hopes. In any case, good luck and thanks.
You would think after the horrific Belgium terrorist attacks there would be a lull in other news for a bit––but not for long. In Alabama, for instance, its citizens discover their governor has been holding court (and breasts) of a whole other nature. Here is a man who in 2011, newly elected, gave a speech that included the following:
""If you have been adopted in God's family like I have, and like you have if you're a Christian and if you're saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers."
''Now I will have to say that, if we don't have the same daddy, we're not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother."
Now, I don't know how many non-Christians there are living in Alabama but I bet a bunch. And I have a hunch that little speech did not go down well among those "others." The person standing by Bentley's side was Rebekah Mason, his communicator director, who quickly put out a statement saying something something, the governor mis-spoke something something. This sealed the deal I suppose and Bentley has been "behind" her ever since.
Now this could just be another sleazy story about sex, lies and video tapes but because it's one more Republican governor that has been shown to have not only clay feet, but full fledged hypocrisy, it's important we take notice. We lost a slew of governor's seats to Republicans and Democrats after 2012––we need to remind the good people of this nation how many of them soiled their states.
And speaking of soilers: Ted Cruz has done got hisself in another quagmire. The head of the NYC police even weighed in saying, "He doesn't know what the hell he's talking about." We even had Obama mention this weasel in a speech in Argentina. Yet––there he is––a winner by default–– (because the conserves don't want Trump to serve)even Lindsey Graham says he's endorsing ("pick your poison") Cruz while holding his nose. It's actually very amusing to watch.
There are Congressional hearings going on re: the closing of Guantanamo. Some grumpy old Republicans are crying havoc––we'll all be murdered in our sleep if we release some of these prisoners to a prison in the U.S. My guess is that we are going to stall once more and nothing will be done ––more billions down the drain just to retain a place that should have been closed a decade ago.
Meanwhile we here on R.C. are gearing ourselves up for the loss.
Okay, I'm picking up Marie's "Name that Vice" gauntlet.
Drumpf is many things but he's not so up on the church-a-rama stuff. You remember him dropping money into a communion plate? This would be akin to slipping a straw into the holy water font and sucking it dry. Not cool and not very churchy. So...
Kim Davis. Saint Kim of Redneckia offers Drumpf the sort of evangelical celebrity oomph he lacks. She brings along Bigoted Jesus and all his followers, and where would Drumpf be without bigots? Palookaville, that's where. Like Drumpf, she's been married a bunch of times despite claiming the mantle of holier than thou Christianity, and also like him she has no idea of how government is supposed to work, if a rule doesn't suit her, she ignores it until one of her church buddies gets it changed for her. She is, however, somewhat lacking in the flashy bimbo department that so appeals to Drumpfy, so....
Kim Kardashian. Like Drumpf, she's rich, she craves the spotlight, she lives on Twitter, and routinely shows her ass. It's unclear what, if anything, she knows about government, but so what? You can say the same thing about Trump. Plus, she's married to Kanye West, a guy with an ego even bigger than Drumpf, if you can believe it. Maybe Kanye will get Drumpf to start making comments like "I am the most important person in the freakin' history of the world. Ever. Like amazingly great." Oh wait. He already says that shit. Okay then...
Cliven Bundy, if he's not in prison by the time of the election. Another star of the government-is-the-problem bigots crowd. Plus, GUNS. To shoot people with. So you pick up the hater-shooter-violent thug vote. He could ride around the stage on a horse (fed at taxpayer expense, natch) at the convention carrying a gigantic American flag with Trump's picture in place of the canton. States will be abolished under Drumpf which will make his reelection campaign much easier, so those stars are not necessary. He'll have to learn to keep his mouth shut about that slavery stuff because, as Drumpf is always saying "The blacks love me" which might not continue to be the case if his vice is talking about putting them all back in chains. Still the David Dukes will love it, dahling, just mahvelous.
But we're not taking into account an important--if somewhat sub rosa--rule in place as a primary qualification for the job of Herr Drumpf's vice president: no one with fingers longer than Drumpf will make the cut, which restricts the choice to a very small (so to speak) population group.
In which case, I'd say, maybe the guy from the old "Fantasy Island" TV show who used to run out, point up to the sky and yell, "Boss, de plane" a handy person to have around to remind the boss, during photo ops that Trump Force One is about to land, but I think that guy's dead. No matter. Drumpf can dig him up. He's done worse things. Besides, then he wouldn't have to worry about his vice saying anything stupid. Or at least stupider than Drumpf.
So many choices...so many vices.
@PD,
Having worked in Alabama for a few years I can personally attest that non-Christians do live there. There are Jews and Muslims, and members of the LGBT community as well. The bible thumpers are just more prevalent and vocal.
Gov. Bentley is another example of one of those evangenital christians. In other words a hypocrite.
How this dermatologist thought he would make a good governor is beyond my comprehension. Calling yourself a republican with god on your side must be all it takes.
'Twas an ill wind....
....that blew us into Rawlins, Wyoming, the other night and the blizzard that accompanied it that marooned us here for two. The good? The unanticipated internet.
The bad? The announcement that internet brought of RC's impending demise and the outpouring of heartfelt obits preceding its death, which I hope were gratifying to Marie but have to say hard for this RC loyalist to take.
Woke this morning determined not to whine, but simply express my gratitude for all the information and entertainment Marie, her CW alter ego, and the bevy of RC commenters have provided me for as long as I've been clicking. I, too, will experience the Great Void in RC's absence.
Was wondering, though, if no one takes RC on (but who would want to follow in such footsteps?) if Marie might be willing to act as a temporary address exchange site for those commenters who would like to stay in tenuous touch with one another, if for nothing else than to act as a mutual support group as we all go through the inevitable stages of grief (and somehow get through this very difficult--and as I've said before--perpetual--election season).
As I said, just wondering.
If I don't get back to the net before April 1, let me say it now: a sincere thanks to all for everything.
@AK: I heard that Sarah Palin, our gal Sunday (name of an of an old radio soap), crept into Trump's tower in the dead of night disguised as a bag lady and offered herself to Donald as his Vice. She, according to a body guard listening outside the door of Donald's golden suite, told Trump that she would add just the right female felicitousness to his male magniloquently ways, doncha know? But Donald told her she had been a loser and as much as he appreciated her support, he hates losers. Sarah, having much experience in rounding up wolves and shooting them from planes, dumped her glass of wine over Donald's precious head of hair and kicked him in the nuts. By this time the body guard, name withheld, intervened and pushed Palin out the door. This incident has been kept from the press and has only come to light this morning when aforementioned "name withheld" needed some quick cash so spilled the beans. I have this on the worst authority so take it with a grain of salt.
Regarding the latest in a looong line of hypocritical Republicans mired in sex scandals, I'm aghast that no one has seemed to pick up on Gov. Bentley's boinking of his sister, Rebekah Mason. Isn't that, like, incest?
Oh well, it's just another Republican sexcapade. Pay no attention. 'nother be 'long in a couple 'a hours. Prob'ly Obama's fault anyway. There have been plenty of hijinks on the Democratic side, but most of those situations don't involve finger-wagging moral scolds who are always lecturing the rest of us about how we're all going to hell for our misbegotten ways.
Oh, and did you know that Gov. Fondler got his divorce records sealed? Yes, a nice judge, whom he appointed, did him a favor lest any Nosy Parkers come snooping around. After all, he's not one of the little people. He's a big important Jesus Guy.
You know, like David ("Change my diaper...waaah") Vitter and Newt (serial adulterer) Gingrich, and Mark ("Just going hiking, honey...in Argentina!") Sanford and Larry ("Yoo-hoo...you in the next stall...") Craig, and hey, let's not forget Clarence ("What's on this Coke can?") Thomas.
All BFF's of Jesus.
From the Coffee Shooting Out Your Nose as You Laugh Hysterically Department:
Little Pauly (lyin') Ryan, former do-nothing moocher congressman who has become a do-nothing moocher Speaker, and hopes, apparently, to become a do-nothing moocher president, delivered a "Both Sides" finger-wagger about how Democrats and Republicans are equally to blame for the debased state of political discourse and they better cut it out, or else!
Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Seriously?
This is like claiming that Hindenburg and Hitler were equally to blame for the loss of civility during the fall of the Weimar Republic.
Go back to doing your P-WXYz-double Q-dash-09 top secret workout, or whatever the fuck you do in the congressional gym with your baseball cap turned around. Loser.
How is it that the en-tire phalanx of Confederate congress things are complete frauds, without a single original or decent idea among the lot of them? Incompetence and ignorance are the only things they're any good at. Oh, and debased political discourse.
They're just grand at that.
@Ak: Could Melanie be in the running for the Vice-President's spot? Afterall, Drumpf might take a look at this season's House of Cards...and think, "Yeah, Claire Underwood; my wife, why not?" And, with the cultural & intellectual cluelessness of his supporters...they'd certainly be big on a "centerfold" or GQ cover model as vp.
I have been reading Marie Burns's blogs in the NY Times and her website here for several years, and am glad to attest to her insights, intellect and great wit in handling current affairs. Occasionally I disagree, but it is always an education and an honor to read her. "Gra agus siochain a chara!"
Michael P. Toner
Greetings, One & All!
While it would easily - and understandably - appear disingenuous for a newcomer - comme moi - to express a sense of genuine loss, I wish to offer that this is not the case.
I am guessing that I came "on-board" - both as an avid reader & a some-time contributor - by November of 2015: I can recall a few email exchanges with Marie at that time (sending her a few pieces for RC consideration, as well as comparing eye surgery recoveries, during which time I made certain to reassure Marie that I was not SHOUTING at her but, rather, only able to SEE what the heck I was typing via Upper Case).
Marie - I have admired your smarts, your stamina, your sly humor and your expression of what is true to you.
Not surprisingly, you have attracted an extraordinary "Cast of Characters" as your readership. And so, I have been doubly enriched by both your exhaustive, vital news postings (along with personal - often hilarious and biting - "CW" add-ons) *as well as* the intelligent, insightful and creative offerings of your Commentariat Family.
I am, truly, sad to see you go . . . and so can only imagine what your years' long followers must be experiencing.
I can understand one's need to "Let Go" (rarely an easy action for me: leaving behind something integral to one's heartbeat and daily activities, if not one's sense of self *or* some reflected-ly defined identity to others) in order to "Move Forward".
I wish you Good Fortune, Good Health and . . . Should occasion return you to the Lenape Tribe's island of "Manna-hatta" (Manhattan), feel free to drop me a line: I'd be delighted meet - and feed - you. :)
My birthday dinner (Shit, but Time excellerates with time!) will be next Monday: I will toast you & your Reality Chex Family.
Happy Trails!
Ophelia
Dear Marie,
Thank you so much for providing this wonderful site, which I'll miss. I admire you and your work a great deal, and wish you all the best.
I think the perfect vice running mate for the Drumpf would be
Mitch McConnell. Put your coffee cups down!
It would be called "The Tortoise and The Hare". With apologies
to Aesop.
😪
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nul_aBh3gyk
Sincerely
RE 😪
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nul_aBh3gyk
Gorgeous, Dan.
Thank you -
One of the great anthems to regrets of the heart. Here's a much earlier rendition.
Marie
Well then, if we're goin' down that road, might as well go a little farther.
Forrest,
Tortoise and the Hare? Oh god....
Oh, Marie. Have you no heart? I've such regret that you have decided to close down, but I never expected to cry, but then you guys started posting that superb Tom Paxton song that I had never heard before. Lord almighty. I'm done for. If the closure of Reality Chex is this hard, how in the world will I cope when Trump is president?
Fare thee well to the Algonquin Round Table of politics.
Well, should RC'ers be in mind of dire action, ere the demise of our beloved demesne, I would, in line with Mr. Lowery's West Side inspired valediction, suggest the following remedy courtesy of Ms. Parker:
Razors pain you,
Rivers are damp,
Acids stain you,
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful,
Nooses give,
Gas smells awful.
You might as well live.
And leave us not obliviate the following:
"Time doth flit; oh shit."
Ain't it da trute.