;)
The Commentariat -- March 5, 2016
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a Louisiana law that its opponents say would leave the state with only one abortion clinic. The court gave no reasons, though it did say that its order was 'consistent with' one last June that blocked part of a Texas abortion law.... Only Justice Clarence Thomas noted a dissent from the order Friday, suggesting that the vote had been 7 to 1, but justices do not always disclose their dissenting votes on such orders. In the order blocking the Texas law in June, the court's four most conservative members noted their dissents, making it clear that the vote had been 5 to 4."
Presidential Race
The Louisiana primary for Democrats & Republicans is today. Both parties are holding caucuses in Kansas. Democrats caucus in Nebraska, too, & Republicans also caucus in Kentucky & Maine. ...
... Ed Kilgore has more on the weekend's primaries & caucuses.
Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton will join Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont at a town hall event hosted by Fox News on Monday night in Detroit, the network announced.... Her campaign initially said she would not be able to make the event, citing travel restrictions, but on Friday reversed course."
Dana Milbank: "Hillary Clinton has a knack for turning triumph into tedium.... But there is, in this case, a silver bullet for Clinton: She can make Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) her running mate. Though formal deliberations have yet to begin, the notion of a Clinton-Warren dream team has already been contemplated at Clinton's campaign headquarters in Brooklyn.... Trump will portray Clinton as a status-quo candidate out of touch with the common man. Warren, better than anybody, refutes that charge."
Eliza Collins of Politico: "Former Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb won't be voting for Hillary Clinton, but he hasn't ruled out casting his ballot for Donald Trump." CW: Oh, go home & wave your Confederate flag, Jim.
All the GOP Presidential Candidates Suck. Orlando Sun-Sentinel Editors: "The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board is not going to make an endorsement in Florida's March 15 Republican presidential primary because the kind of person who should be running is not in the race. We cannot endorse businessman Donald Trump, hometown Sen. Marco Rubio or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz because they are unqualified to be president. Ohio Gov. John Kasich is the best of the bunch, but if you measure a candidate by the caliber of his campaign, Kasich's lack of traction and organization make a vote for him count for little."
Kendall Breitman of Bloomberg: "Mitt Romney ... said he would support an effort to deny Donald Trump the nomination at the party's convention in July if Trump doesn't have enough delegates to win on the first ballot." ...
... Michael Barbaro, et al., of the New York Times: "The furious campaign now underway to stop Mr. Trump and the equally forceful rebellion against it captured the essence of the party's breakdown over the past several weeks: Its most prominent guardians, misunderstanding their own voters, antagonize them as they try to reason with them, driving them even more energetically to Mr. Trump's side." ...
... Paul Krugman: "... protectionism was the only reason [Mitt Romney] gave for believing that Trump would cause a recession, which I think is kind of telling: the GOP's supposedly well-informed, responsible adult, trying to save the party, can't get basic economics right at the one place where economics is central to his argument."
The Donald's Latest Gymnastic Feat: Flipflop on a Waterboard. Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Donald Trump acknowledged Friday that he would have to adhere to international laws on torture if he became the next U.S. president. In a statement sent to the Wall Street Journal, Trump said he understands that 'the United States is bound by laws and treaties and I will not order our military or other officials to violate those laws and will seek their advice on such matters. I will not order a military officer to disobey the law.' The GOP frontrunner previously had a much more enthusiastic attitude towards the extrajudicial treatment of terrorism suspects. As recently as Thursday night's Republican debate in Detroit, Trump said, 'Can you imagine these people, these animals over in the Middle East that chop off heads, sitting around talking and seeing that we're having a hard problem with waterboarding? We should go for waterboarding and tougher than waterboarding.' He also said he would 'take out' the families of terrorists in a December interview with Fox News.... Trump said during Thursday's debate that military leaders would not 'refuse' him if he ordered them to commit war crimes...." ...
... Nick Gass of Politico: "Donald Trump has pulled out of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, opting to campaign in Kansas and Florida instead.... While Trump had spoken at past CPAC events, his speaking slot this time drew backlash from conservative critics who had accused event organizers of being in the tank for [him].... Politico reported Wednesday that Trump has donated more than $100,000 to the ACU [which sponsors CPAC], including a $50,000 check in 2015.... On Thursday, National Review reported on efforts to stage a walkout during Trump's speech, coming from a tri-corn hat-wearing CPAC attendee from Georgia named William Temple." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Ken Vogel of Politico: "Donald Trump spent five years building a mutually beneficial relationship with the organization that hosts the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, filling its coffers with at least $150,000 in cash and scoring coveted speaking slots that started him on a course towards winning the Republican presidential nomination. But he ended up canceling what would have been his biggest CPAC speech at the last minute amid plans for protest and disruptions.... Trump also bristled at their insistence that he answer questions from a journalist of their choosing onstage after his speech, according to sources familiar with the planning." ...
... Max Ehrenfreud of the Washington Post: "Whatever critics might say about failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney, everyone at least agrees that he has done well for himself as a businessman. There is no such consensus regarding Donald Trump.... A recent analysis suggests the extent of Trump's underperformance is vastly greater than previously recognized. The new results emphasize the degree to which Trump has relied on his family's wealth and connections in order to create his fortune." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "In an interview on NBC's 'Today' show, [Marco Rubio] said he didn't feel bad about introducing penis jokes into the presidential race. 'Oh, no. Please,' Rubio said. 'I mean, Donald Trump has now spent a year doing this on a regular basis. In fact, there was not a speech or debate that Donald Trump does that he doesn't personally offend or try to offend somebody.' Besides, he said, he only made the comment 'one time, to a guy who needs to be stood up to.' And because it was in response to another attack from Trump, it was fair to defend himself." ...
... For one thing, Trump steaks weren't all that tasty; for another, they cost upwards of $50/pound.
Nick Gass: "Ben Carson is suspending his bid for the presidency, the retired neurosurgeon announced Friday, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. 'Even though I might be leaving the campaign trail, you know there's a lot of people who love me, they just won't vote for me. But I will still continue to be heavily involved in trying to save our nation,' he said." CW: Very reassuring. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Eliza Collins: "Ben Carson has a new job. During his Conservative Political Action Conference address today, the retired neurosurgeon will announce he will serve as national chairman of My Faith Votes, a nonpartisan organization focused on getting Christian Americans to the polls, according to a statement...."
... The quality of the GOP presidential debate last night was such that Charles Pierce thought it best to begin the discussion with a photo of some Klansmen on a Ferris wheel. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Margaret Hartmann provides video of some of of the more newsworthy moments of the debate, with commentary. Here Marco shows he can be fast on his feet, riffing off Trump's answers to questions about his flipflopping wherein he extolled the importance of "flexibility." (Also linked yesterday.):
Beyond the Beltway
The Legacy of Bobby Jindal. Chico Harlan of the Washington Post: "Louisiana now stands at the brink of economic disaster. Without sharp and painful tax increases in the coming weeks, the government will cease to offer many of its vital services, including education opportunities and certain programs for the needy.... Many of the state's economic analysts say a structural budget deficit emerged and then grew under former governor Bobby Jindal, who, during his eight years in office, reduced the state's revenue by offering tax breaks to the middle class and wealthy. He also created new subsidies that aim to lure and keep businesses. Those policies, state data shows, didn't deliver their hoped-for economic growth." ...
... Kevin Litten of the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "The Louisiana Senate set the table on Friday (March 4) for the House to raise $147 million in revenue or make more budget cuts after a tumultuous day in the Capitol that exposed fissures of distrust among the two chambers. A communication breakdown between the House and Senate initially caused gridlock over the Legislature's state budget resolution. The Senate only agreed to pass a controversial budget cuts bill after the House made it clear it wouldn't pass any more tax increases until the cuts were approved." ...
... CW: Undaunted by (or trying to deflect attention from) his disgraceful, irresponsible performance as governor & his laughable presidential bid, Jindal wrote an op-ed that appeared in Thursday's Wall Street Journal in which he blamed President Obama is to blame for Donald Trump's dominance in the Republican presidential primary: "After seven years of the cool, weak and endlessly nuanced 'no drama Obama,' voters are looking for a strong leader who speaks in short, declarative sentences.... Without President Obama, there is no Donald Trump." Yep. Everything is Obama's fault, Bobby. Why, you would be our next president if President Obama hadn't ruined it for you. Then you could bankrupt the whole country instead of just one little state. ...
... "Bobby Jindal: President Obama Caused Trump by Being Too Intellectual and Mature." Jonathan Chait: "This is your fault, Democrats. If you had elected a red-faced, racist bullying lout as president, then Republicans would be reacting today by rallying around somebody who's intellectual, humble, and non-abusive, and we'd all be in fine shape. But nooooooo. You had to nominate a wonkish, emotionally controlled law professor, forcing Republicans to turn to an unhinged racist reality-television star in response." CW: I'm feeling so ashamed.
Charles Pierce: Wisconsin Gov. "Scott Walker ... got together with his pet legislature and blew up the state's non-partisan Government Accountability Board in favor of a terrarium for political cronies. The first inhabitants were installed this week and, boy howdy, one of them is a real pip.... It's a measure of what Scott Walker has wrought in Wisconsin that Martha Mitchell's former minder has a job policing the state's political ethics."
Ian Millhiser: "The Supreme Court of Alabama dismissed a so-called 'Motion for Clarification and Reaffirmation of the Court's Orders Upholding and Enforcing Alabama's Marriage Laws' on Friday, effectively reaching the unremarkable conclusion that they cannot halt the Supreme Court of the United States' decision that marriage equality is the law of the law. It took them 170 pages to explain this conclusion."
Katherine Krueger of TPM: "A Tea Party lawmaker who once demanded Muslim visitors to her Capitol office pledge allegiance to the U.S. and renounce terrorism lost her re-election bid by just over 100 votes this week, The Dallas Morning News reported. Texas state Rep. Molly White wrote on Facebook that 'after prayers and conversations' with supporters, she plans to request a recount of Tuesday's Republican primary race, which she lost by just 118 votes.... As a freshman lawmaker, White was also named the worst Texas House member on LGBT issues, a distinction she bragged about on Facebook."
TMZ: "A construction worker found a knife buried on the perimeter of the former O.J. Simpson estate ... and it's currently being tested by the LAPD in a top secret investigation ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ.... We're told a construction worker found the knife years ago.... The weapon is a folding buck knife. Our law enforcement sources say the construction worker took the knife to the street, where he saw an LAPD cop. He told the officer where he found the knife and the cop took it. Turns out the cop -- who worked in the traffic division -- was off duty at the time, working security for a movie shoot at a house across the street.... Our sources say the officer took the knife home and kept it ... for years." Read on. Via New York. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Richard Winton & Joseph Serna of the Los Angeles Times: "At a news conference at LAPD headquarters Friday morning, Capt. Andy Neiman ... told reporters that it was unclear why the officer waited nearly two decades to hand over the knife. 'I don't know why that didn't happen or if that's entirely accurate or if this whole story is possibly bogus from the get-go,' he said." ...
... The Washington Post story is here. ...
... Never Mind. Andrew Blankstein of NBC News: "A knife found over a dozen years ago on land where O.J. Simpson once lived appears to be inconsistent with the 1994 murders of the former football star's wife and her friend, multiple law enforcement sources told NBC News."
News Lede
New York Times: "Pat Conroy, whose tortured family life and the scenic marshlands of coastal South Carolina served as unending sources of inspiration for his fiction, notably the novels 'The Great Santini,' 'The Lords of Discipline' and 'The Prince of Tides,' died on Friday. He was 70." ...
... CW: Most underappreciated writer in the U.S. Don't see the movies. Read the books.
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Reader Comments (10)
Ah yes, the OJ knife. It was the headline in the local paper. However, everyone forgets that there is already absolute proof of guilt. The DNA evidence presented at the trial was one of the first such cases in the world so defense played it out. If the same evidence were presented today he would found guilty in 10 seconds.
Following up on PD's BEATRICE EX MACHINA comment:
A while ago, one of my nieces and I were looking at airline flight bookings online.
"Tell me DUD," (that's Doting Uncle Dave, as I am known to generations of adoring nieces) "how was it done back in Ancient Times?"
"Well, dear, one would lift a thing called a Handset on an Electric Telephone and DIAL a sequence of numbers." (pantomime this activity, niece's eyes roll)
"What happened next you are going to find even harder to believe. The call would be answered promptly by, mirabile dictu, a Human Being. Not only that, a Human Being who knew things, and could do things, and possessed excellent communication skills in the English Language." (niece looks dubious)
"The ensuing telephone conversation might go something like this: 'I need to fly from Dulles to Frisco next week.' 'Certainly, Sir. We have the following flights...' I would pick one, give a Credit Card number, and a few days later a piece of paper called a ticket, would arrive in the U.S.Mail."
"Or, if the flight was sooner, I could pick up the ticket at the airport. With this ticket in hand, I could walk on board an airplane and travel to my destination. That was it." (niece's eyes narrow, am I pulling her leg again?)
"Now tell me, beamish girl, where in that scenario did you detect a problem that needed to be solved at the expense of a trillion dollars in new technology?"
We're still working on that one...
@Islander: I'm curious if the Baltic island you referenced yesterday might be my beloved Bornholm, where I spent a year as an exchange student many years ago. Even as a nineteen year old, I recognized how fortunate I was to be living with a loving family on such a beautiful island. I ended up marrying a man whose Danish grandparents immigrated to the US just before WWI. He and our children have Danish blood, but I'm the one who can "snakke dansk". We enjoy traveling "home" to Denmark as often as we can to visit my family.
It is in part because of my Danish experience that I'm a Bernie supporter. No system is perfect, but I'd gladly pay more in taxes so that all Americans could have access to healthcare, paid family leave, and public education through university.
Dear DUD, isn't it fun to regale these youngsters with tales of yore that make their eyes roll and elicit cries of "Oh my god, really"? And by the way––aren't you the lucky one to be so adorned.
After reading Chait on Jindal I read some of the comments. Once again we find commenters blasting one another, some in extremely crude language and soon the topic that was being discussed is dismissed replaced by abuses flung about at each other. I am always, perhaps not shocked, but very troubled by these examples of ignorance and anger. Yet, here we are experiencing GOP candidates flinging poo at one another as though this was the normal way of politicking. The crowd eruptions at all the Trump rallies where people are getting physically hurt is something we should be frightened about. I watched a video last night where Trump is yelling once again, "Get em out! Get em OUT!" and people are pushing, screaming obscenities at a group of black participants, and the crowd goes wild. The word, "eruption" came to mind––and the image of a wasp nest being fooled with and hundreds of wasps come flying out, surrounding you, landing on you and finally stinging you in all the right places. It's as though all this ugliness has laid dormant and suddenly we see it erupting in full flower. And yet we know that's not true. We are just witnessing its revival because a rogue candidate for President has given permission to show its face.
Interestingly, given my comments above, I just received a letter and map from The Southern Poverty Law Center (the nation's leading source for reliable analysis of domestic terror organizations, hate and extremist groups ). Talk about frightening! According to the report we done got 892 active hate groups and 998 antigovernment groups in the U.S. And wonders upon wonders these groups have exploded since Obama was elected. Surprise? Nah, he's been tagged with everything from bad climate to suffering puppies. But we know why this particular uptick sticks––a muslim, a black in the White House––– yowsa! So––big numbers for the Klan––190 to be exact––followed by 184 anti-LGBT/ other, 180 black separatists, 95 racist skin heads, and so forth––see link below for the info and a nifty map that shows where the clusters are prominent. I feel lucky–-here in CT. our only miscreant is the Klan, like Maine, but then they have Le Page and that in the end could be worse. And we––meaning THEY–- worry about Isis and all those other invaders (Got to build a tall Wall) when we gots lots of trouble right in our own backyard.
https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map
Jindal World. A wondrous place, is it not?
And wingnut heaven-sent Clarence Thomas thinks it's perfectly fine and dandy that a state larger than the entire country of Greece (coincidentally the birthplace of democracy just as much as places like Louisiana attempt to sound its death knell), a state bigger than Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland put together, can do with a single women's health clinic that will allow Louisiana women (nearly all poor women, of course, because the rich ones can go to a civilized state) the privilege of choosing how to live their lives without Confederate men deciding for them. One. That's it.
I've been meaning to jet out a rant about the lawlessness of Confederates, their complete disinterest in the rule of law if it contradicts their religio-sociopathic urges, and will probably get to it shortly, but the fact that the media has no problem with states curtailing the ability of women to access a perfectly legal medical procedure is almost as reprehensible as the Confederates who scheme to deprive women of their rights to do the same. We've all heard the howls of indignation from gun knobbers having to simply undergo a background check before purchasing tools to kill human beings. No one is saying they CAN'T purchase them, only that they have to sign a paper and wait a couple of days. What if a state passed a law saying there was only one place in the state of Texas or Louisiana where the knobbers could buy a gun? And only after they sat with a doctor who would show them videos of small children being killed by guns. What do you think would be the response?
The sort of response you envision would obtain in all Confederate states and then some.
I requiem meam doleat.
Thank you PD,
There is, however, something I wish clearly understood about my relationship with my nieces. Contrary to numerous accusations, I do NOT worship the ground they walk on. I merely happen to be fond, of some real estate, more or less in the vicinity... And that they are, in fact, the most brilliant, beautiful, altogether wonderful and marvelous nieces in the entire world history of nieces is simply a coincidence. Just happens to be the case... That's all...
Sigh...
It's quite amazing, truly amazing when you think about it, that Bobby Jindal is taken seriously at all by anyone. Anyone outside of winger imbeciles, that is.
So the rise of Trump is the fault of Barack Obama?
?????
On its face, this assertion is so incredibly, staggeringly, blindingly, brain-deadeningly stupid as to beggar rationality, but the reasons given (he's too mature and too smart) surpass even that idiocy as surely as an Indy race car dusts a flivver.
It's as if you tried to argue that abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was responsible for slavery because, by taking a deeply moral and unassailable intellectual position on the problems of a frighteningly inhuman system that allows human beings to be bought and sold, to be separated from their children and spouses, and allows them to be beaten to death at a whim, he causes slave owners to double down on purchasing and beating human beings rather than freeing them all from immoral bondage, which they were all prepared to do until Garrison opened his yap.
It's not a lot different than saying that The Decider was ready to inject morality, intellectual perspicacity and the rule of law into his nefarious and shameful Iraq scheme except for that asshole Joe Wilson and that bitch Valerie Plame. Then he had no choice but to shock and awe the shit out of the country.
The bottom line is that the Party of Responsibility is anything but.
It is the Party of Raging Racists, Backstabbing Douchebags, Un-American Traitors, Lying Cocksuckers, Ignorant Malcontents, Moral Retards, and room temperature IQ's.
I could go on, but why bother?
So the OJ trial is back on the front pages. Another wonderful trip down Memory Lane. My main recollections:
The 'Dream Team' of world class narcissists comprising the Defense, repeatedly, publicly, boasted that their only strategy was "Baffle 'Em With Bullshit". Bombard the Jury with so many objections, red herrings arcane points of law, irrelevancies and pointless arguments, they'd find it impossible to reach a verdict on what day of the week it was.
In addition, they regularly and patronizingly lectured trial judge Ito on the gravity of the charges and his obligation to abet their bullshitting. To which Ito acquiesced with embarrassing obsequiousness, when he should have found the damn lot of them in contempt, and thrown out of court. The verdict should have been vacated, Ito and the 'dream team' should all have been disbarred.
Don't even let me get started on the staggering incompetence of the police and prosecutors.
We've not seen a more depressing clown show until, well, you know.
I also remember the best gag line to come out of it: I'm pretty sure it was Mark Russell who observed the arrival of a new Harbinger of Spring -- that OJ had extended his search for the 'real killers' to include Canadian golf courses.
The OJ Knife. “The verdict should have been vacated…Don't even let me get started on the staggering incompetence of the police and prosecutors.” So true DUD.
I lived in LA during the trial & knew an older black man who went to elementary & high school with Johnnie Cochran. During the trial I asked his take on the ‘Trial of the Century’, his response: “That nigger never shoulda cut those white folks.” Everyone I knew thought he was guilty. Black, white and latino.
Judge Lance Ito was bamboozled, flummoxed and unduly influenced by the defense. After the acquittal, OJ showed up at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, home of the LA Open, where for years he had enjoyed a complimentary membership. The gatekeeper denied him access. He asked to speak to the Club Manager, who told him, “I have two words for you Mr. Simpson; hair and fiber.”
At least he was found guilty in the civil trial. And then there’s the Las Vegas imbroglio…