;)
The Commentariat -- May 1, 2015
All internal links removed.
Afternoon News:
Lynh Bui & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "Six Baltimore police officers have been charged with several counts, including one who was charged with second-degree murder, in the ... death of Freddie Gray, who died from injuries suffered in police custody, State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said Friday. Mosby said warrants have been issued for the arrest of the officers, including a lieutenant and a sergeant.... The charges against some of the officers include involuntary manslaughter, assault, failure to render aid and other counts." The Post is liveblogging events following the charges. ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "The other prisoner [who rode in the van for a short time with Freddie Gray], 22-year-old Donta Allen, came forward on Thursday and confirmed that he heard banging when he got in the van.... But in an interview with WJZ, Allen said police are misconstruing his words, and he's angry that the report was leaked. 'They trying to make it seem like I told them that, I made it like Freddie Gray did that to hisself [sic],' he said. 'Why the [expletive] would he do that to hisself?'... Allen claims that when they got to the station, he heard police say, 'We got him, we gave him a run for his money.'"
Thomas Zambito of NJ.com: "Former Port Authority executive David Wildstein pleaded guilty Friday to his role in the politically-motivated closure of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Wildstein, 53, admitted in federal court to conspiring with former Port Authority Deputy Director Bill Baroni and Gov. Chris Christie's former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly to 'punish' Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie in his re-election bid." ...
... Kate Zernicke & Marc Santora of the New York Times: "After a 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal, a judge in New Jersey on Friday unsealed indictments of two people close to Gov. Chris Christie, outlining a conspiracy to exact political vengeance against a local mayor for his failure to offer political support to the governor. Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, were charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, including 'knowingly converting and intentionally misapplying property of an organization receiving federal benefits.'"
Jonathan Chait: "Now that he is no longer the chairman of the Federal Reserve and is now a blogger, Ben Bernanke is free to point out certain obvious truths he couldn't say previously, such as the fact that The Wall Street Journal editorial page is run by crazy people. Bernanke is not quite putting it in those terms, alas, but his blogging career is young. In response to a Journal editorial calling for higher interest rates to tame inflation, Bernanke notes that the Journal has been wrongly forecasting higher inflation for nine years now."
*****
NBC Chicago: "President Barack Obama's library will be built in Chicago, NBC News' confirmed Thursday. Both The University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago placed bids. The final selection is expected to be connected to the University of Chicago, but the final site has not been settled upon." ...
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Speaking to a group of schoolchildren at the Anacostia Library in Washington, D.C., [President] Obama said he would like to focus on expanding education and economic opportunity after his presidency. 'I'll be done being president in a couple of years and I'll still be a pretty young man,' he said. 'And so I'll go back to doing the kinds of work I was doing before, just trying to find ways to help people.'... 'Help young people get an education, help people get jobs, bring businesses into neighborhoods that don't have enough businesses,' he said. 'That's the kind of work that I really love to do.' During the event in Southeast Washington, Obama announced a new initiative to provide 10,000 new e-books to low-income youth."
Alexander Bolton & Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Two junior conservatives blindsided Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Thursday by attempting to force a vote on an amendment that could derail the bipartisan Iran nuclear review bill. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is running for president, surprised McConnell by leapfrogging ahead of colleagues waiting for chances to get votes on their amendments. They used a procedural maneuver to force McConnell to schedule a vote on an amendment requiring Iran to recognize Israel's right to exist as part of any nuclear deal."
Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauser of the New York Times: "After more than a decade of wrenching national debate over the intrusiveness of government intelligence agencies, a bipartisan wave of support has gathered to sharply limit the federal government's sweeps of phone and Internet records. On Thursday, a bill that would overhaul the Patriot Act and curtail the so-called metadata surveillance exposed by Edward J. Snowden was overwhelmingly passed by the House Judiciary Committee and was heading to almost certain passage in that chamber this month. An identical bill in the Senate -- introduced with the support of five Republicans -- is gaining support over the objection of Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who is facing the prospect of his first policy defeat since ascending this year to majority leader."
Bernie Becker of the Hill: "The House on Thursday passed a Republican budget that would boost defense spending, slash social welfare programs and target ObamaCare, in what GOP leaders cast as a victory for fiscal sanity. The joint House-Senate budget, which was unveiled on Wednesday, passed by a 226-197 margin, with 14 Republicans joining every Democrat in opposition.... And even as the House passed the first joint GOP budget in nearly a decade, Republicans were already seeing signs that they would face difficulties -- including a divide between defense and fiscal hawks -- as they seek to turn the top-line budget numbers into fleshed-out spending bills."
Josh Hicks & Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "Baltimore police said Thursday that they have turned over [to the State's Attorney's office] a much-anticipated report of their investigation into the death of Freddie Gray to prosecutors.... The Baltimore State's Attorney's Office will now have to decide whether to file criminal charges. The U.S. Department of Justice is also conducting its own investigation into Gray's death.... Officials have had said the police report to the prosecutors will not be made public." ...
... Brad Bell of WJLA Washington: "An investigation into the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray has found no evidence that his fatal injuries were caused during his videotaped arrest and interaction with police officers, according to multiple law enforcement sources. The sources spoke to ABC7 News after being briefed on the findings of a police report turned over to prosecutors on Thursday. Sources said the medical examiner found Gray's catastrophic injury was caused when he slammed into the back of the police transport van, apparently breaking his neck; a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van." ...
... The Washington Post story, by Lynh Bui & others, is here.
... Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "In Baltimore, they call it a rough ride.... Other cities called them joy rides. The slang terms mask a dark tradition of police misconduct in which suspects, seated or lying face down and in handcuffs in the back of a police wagon, are jolted and battered by an intentionally rough and bumpy ride that can do as much damage as a police baton without an officer having to administer a blow." ...
... Blame the Victim, Ctd. CW: I thought I'd check in with David Brooks to see what he thought about the killing of Freddie Gray. Suffice it to say that Brooks has found a better, gentler way to blame the victim -- and liberals! Incredibly, Brooks mentions Gray's lead-paint contamination & frames it not as an explanation for Gray's disabilities but, in as an oh-so-subtle way to suggest Gray got an even bigger handout than most poor people get & -- as is his "nature" -- he didn't use it to become a tax-paying nuclear-scientist & family man. See, throwing money at the poor doesn't work. I haven't time to debunk Brooks' theory on "the nature of poverty," but I'll look around later to see if anyone else takes on his load of crap. There are so many ways to do it.
James Risen of the New York Times: "The American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror, according to a new report by a group of dissident health professionals and human rights activists. The report is the first to examine the association's role in the interrogation program. It contends, using newly disclosed emails, that the group's actions to keep psychologists involved in the interrogation program coincided closely with efforts by senior Bush administration officials to salvage the program after the public disclosure in 2004 of graphic photos of prisoner abuse by American military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.... Rhea Farberman, a spokeswoman for the American Psychological Association, denied that the group had coordinated its actions with the government." ...
... Here's the report, titled "All the President's Psychologists."
Hypocrites Son Nosotros. Mary Jordan & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "By providing tax prep and driving classes [for Latinos, the Koch brothers, through an organization they fund called LIBRE], are building good will in the Latino community and what they call a 'platform for civic engagement.' LIBRE officials take pains to say they are advocating policies, not specific candidates.... The Latino Victory Fund, which is backed by Democratic activists including actress Eva Longoria, is so concerned about LIBRE that it is gathering Latino leaders in Washington next week to discuss how to counter the efforts, which they see as disingenuous."
Jonathan Chait: Karl Rove "is also the victim of a severe psychological trauma that has rendered him unable to recollect anything that transpired between January 2001 and 2009, when he masterminded one of the most disastrous presidencies in American history, an ordeal that is the possible source of his trauma." ...
... AND a lovely piece by Paul Waldman on "indulging the lunatics on the right," featuring Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. "So in response to the fact that some of Texas's dumbest citizens emerged from their doomsday prepper shelters long enough to harangue a colonel about their belief that martial law is coming to their state, Governor Abbott issued an order to the National Guard to monitor the movements of the U.S. military just to make sure they aren't herding citizens into re-education camps or dropping Islamic State infiltrators into Galveston.... But what's remarkable about this is that we aren't talking about an offhand remark Abbott made.... He's mobilizing state resources, at taxpayer expense, because of a bizarre conspiracy theory that has some of Texas's more colorful citizens in its grip." ...
... Steve M. has much more on the conspiracy theories, which would be more of a fun read if it weren't for the fact that, "your Fox-watching uncle probably believes a great deal of this. And one of our two major parties is so afraid of conspiratorialists like this that it takes them seriously. That's what's frightening."
Strange News. Aaron Schock Has Disappeared. Jon Seidel of the Chicago Sun-Times: "... two weeks after a campaign donor filed a federal lawsuit against the former congressman, [Daniel Kurowski] an attorney for the donor, said Wednesday he can't track the Peoria Republican down.... Kurowski said his firm tried to serve Schock at a Peoria address that Schock previously listed on forms with the Federal Election Commission. But Kurowski said the property is now vacant. He also said attorneys who appear to have represented Schock in the past have not responded to his firm's inquiries."
Presidential Race
Paul Krugman: "... this election should turn almost entirely on the issues. But if we must talk about character, let's talk about what matters, namely intellectual integrity." CW: As far as I can tell, the only presidential candidate who meets Krugman's criterion is ...
Bernie! Paul Kane & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "... Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday launch[ed] his campaign for the White House -- and representing a real challenge to the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as she fights to win over the kind of left-leaning Democrats inclined to heed Sanders's fiery call to action. Sanders lifted off his long-shot bid with a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday by declaring war on corporate America and billionaire campaign donors. He also landed subtle jabs at Clinton, whose political ties to Wall Street and hawkish worldview have left some liberals yearning for an alternative":
... Paul Waldman: "... Sanders could actually cause more headaches for the Republicans running for president [than for Clinton] -- if he succeeds on focusing the campaign on his area of interest.... Sanders' candidacy will be almost entirely about economic issues.... The more attention Bernie Sanders gets, the more attention economic inequality gets, which is something Republicans would rather avoid." ...
... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: Sanders is "a genuine economic populist, and many of his policy proposals -- such as spending a trillion dollars on infrastructure investment, introducing a carbon tax, and replacing private health insurance with Medicare for all -- are eminently defensible, if politically unrealistic." ...
... Arlette Saenz of ABC News: "Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, said he is concerned by the millions of dollars flowing into the Clinton Foundation at a time when he thinks money plays too strong a role in politics. 'It tells me what is a very serious problem,' Sanders said in an interview with ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl. 'It's not just about Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton. It is about a political system today that is dominated by big money. It's about the Koch brothers being prepared to spend $900 million dollars in the coming election." ...
... Andrew Prokop of Vox summarizes Sanders' policy positions. ...
... Andy Borowitz (satire): "Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is on pace to adopt rival Bernie Sanders's positions on all major issues by noon on Thursday, Clinton campaign officials have confirmed." ...
... CW: Also, seems Borowitz would agree with me on the integrity thing: "The Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders's potential bid for the 2016 Presidency was declared over, on Monday, before it even began, because of a key feature of the American political system that makes a person with integrity ineligible for the White House." ...
... Annie Linskey of the Boston Globe: "An unprecedented ethics promise that played a pivotal role in helping Hillary Rodham Clinton win confirmation as secretary of state, soothing senators' concerns about conflicts of interests with Clinton family charities, was uniformly bypassed by the biggest of the philanthropies involved. The Clinton Health Access Initiative never submitted information on any foreign donations to State Department lawyers for review during Clinton's tenure from 2009 to 2013, Maura Daley, the organization's spokeswoman, acknowledged to the Globe this week. She said the charity deemed it unnecessary, except in one case that she described as an 'oversight.'" ...
... Ken Vogel of Politico: "A handful of deep-pocketed donors are reconsidering their gifts to the $2 billion Clinton Foundation amid mounting questions about how it's spending their money and suggestions of influence peddling, according to donors and others familiar with the foundation's fundraising. One major donor who contributed at least $500,000 to the foundation last year said a 2015 donation is less likely because of revelations about sloppy record-keeping and huge payments for travel and administrative costs."
Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "Two days after riots in Baltimore [[ at a time when most of the presidential field is either silent or contemptuous -- [Hillary] Clinton has stepped out front with a forward-looking agenda on bringing people out of prison, a definitive rebuke to the 'law and order' politics used by her husband throughout his career. Not only did Clinton call for an end to 'the era of mass incarceration,' but she also connected our prison population to broader patterns of inequality.... This speech is a political gamble as much as it is a policy commitment.... Suddenly, police reform is a Democratic agenda item, something a Democratic Congress and a Democratic White House may act on. For police reform activists, this is vindication. This is what winning looks like." ...
... Dara Lind of Vox: "Whenever a politician suddenly flip-flops on an issue, especially after decades spent on the other side, it makes sense to wonder whether the conversion is genuine. But even if Clinton doesn't believe a word she said at Columbia, the fact that she gave the speech is incredibly significant.... Research shows that campaign promises are actually a lot more important than you might think.... Clinton just handed criminal justice advocates something they can use, if she's elected president, to prove that she told them reform was a priority." ...
... Ed Kilgore notes that it wasn't President Bill Clinton, but Republicans, who inserted harsh drug sentencing into the 1994 Omnibus Crime Law. So Rand Paul should STFU. CW: One thing that one must remember about Li'l Randy: he never, never, ever is right about history. He's probably the guy who told Michele Bachmann that "the shot heard 'round the world" rang out from New Hampshire & told Sarah Palin that Paul Revere warned the British that Bostonians would shoot them (or whatever she said).
Jessie Byrnes of the Hill: "Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a likely 2016 presidential contender, said the Baltimore rioting that has gripped national attention this week was a major blow to the city and its ambitions.... O'Malley was heckled on Tuesday when walking the streets of Baltimore, where he served as mayor from 1999 to 2007, over the tough-on-crime policing policies pushed during his term." ...
... James Hohmann of Politico: "Martin O'Malley's political career, which started on the streets of Baltimore, may also end there: Half of Democratic insiders in the early states believe this week's riots have hurt the former mayor's already long-shot presidential hopes."
Kate Zernicke & Marc Santora of the New York Times: David Wildstein, "a former Port Authority official and ally of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, is expected to plead guilty on Friday to the first charges stemming from the 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal. The United States attorney for New Jersey, Paul J. Fishman, announced early on Friday that there would be a 'proceeding of interest in a criminal matter' related to the closings at 11 a.m. in front of Judge Susan D. Wigenton in United States District Court in Newark. Mr. Fishman will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. to discuss the investigation, breaking his long silence over the inquiry.... Mr. Fishman is expected to announce other indictments in the case, but it was not clear who would be among those indictments." ...
... Not to worry, Chris. We realize you hardly knew Wildstein. Ken Kurson of NJ Politicker (March 15, 2015): "'We were not even acquaintances in high school.... We didn't travel in the same circles in high school. I was class president and an athlete, I don't know what David was doing.' A tough editorial in yesterday's Star-Ledger called that line 'cringe-worthy' and pointed out that a $150,000 executive position at the Port Authority was a pretty sweet reward for some 'anonymous nerd occupying another lunch table at Livingston High.'"
When I don't show up for work because I'm out hustling fatcats, it's like I'm really there & voting 'no.' -- Ted Cruz (paraphrase), explaining why he was the only senator who didn't vote on Loretta Lynch's confirmation
Eli Stokols of Politico: For the second time this month, Rand Paul blew an opportunity to distinguish himself as a Republican with a more sympathetic view of the oppression & resulting problems of urban black Americans.
Jeb Bush thinks his horrible educational policies would help Baltimore just as the helped Florida. CW: Which is debatable.
I respect the courts, but the Supreme Court is only that -- the supreme of the courts. It is not the supreme being. It cannot overrule God...When it comes to prayer, when it comes to life, and when it comes to the sanctity of marriage, the court cannot change what God has created. -- Mike Huckabee
One of things God has created is people who who want to enjoy the sanctity of marriage with people of the same sex. And, no, the Court cannot change that. Which is as it should be. Amen, Brother Mike. -- Constant Weader
Gubernatorial Race
Tom LoBianco of the Indy Star: "Democrats are lining up to potentially challenge a likely re-election bid by Republican Gov. Mike Pence, whom some see as vulnerable. Pence's chief opponent from the 2012 campaign, Democrat John Gregg, announced Thursday he would run for governor again. Meanwhile, Pence's continuing critic since taking office in 2013, Democratic State Schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz, announced she is considering a gubernatorial challenge, too."
Beyond the Beltway
CW: Yesterday in a comment, I jokingly suggested President Obama should declare martial law & take over Florida. Maybe the joke isn't such a bad idea, after all. As Steve Benen lays out, "Rick Scott believes Florida should say no to Obamacare because it might interfere with Obamacare." Since we already have two Floridians in the presidential beauty contest, I think Rick Scott should join them; he's as good at farcical doublespeak as is Marco Rubio & he's richer than Jeb Bush.
News Ledes
Los Angeles Times: "The stepchildren of a woman killed in a car crash involving Bruce Jenner filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Friday against the Olympian, accusing him of being negligent."
Guardian: "Ben E King, the R&B and soul singer best known for Stand By Me, whose honeyed vocal tones helped first popularise the genres with mass pop audiences, has died aged 76."
Los Angeles Times: "Blues musician B.B. King is in home hospice care in Las Vegas, according to his official website."
New York: "A week after the last string of sexual-assault allegations against Bill Cosby, two more women have come forward with claims that the comedian drugged and sexually assaulted them.... More than 40 women in all have accused Cosby of sexual assault."
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Reader Comments (12)
Personally I'm a fan of David Simon's critiques of our culture and society. In the Guardian he gives a pretty good take down of the rise of Greed and the sanctity of Markets as God in our country, slowly degrading and erasing the meaning and sense of "society". Growing up in Baltimore he's got a good sense of the Great Divide growing in America.
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/david-simon-my-country-horror-show
While I agree with most of his thoughts, the apocalyptic scenario he draws out is (hopefully) exaggerated. Through the American characteristic of resilience I believe that most of the boiling points spewing up across our nation will remain that, boiling, but not boiling over. The vast majority of citizens prefer to bitch and moan to colleagues and over cheap beer with friends and families, but I don't see going out and throwing bricks and breaking the laws as a common practice in the near future. That said, as we've seen in almost all riots, recent and old, it takes only a small group of very determined people to overturn social norms, breaking the social codes to the point a national discourse kicks off. That said, the heavy and almost knee-jerk response of sending in the armored police and imposing strict curfews curtail and dissuade most participants from joining, or sticking 'til the end.
So a rainfall of bricks showering down from hot spots across the nation seems very unlikely to me, but what is getting more and more obvious is the glaring need for social reforms to attempt to rein in this great Great Divide as Simon attests to. Yet, as he mentions, with capitalism going for the final KO over the citizenry and disenfranchising the public from their last, largely symbolic channel of influence over the government, meaningful reforms seem less and less likely if they don't serve someone's bottom line.
Something has to give.
Well, safari, here's something that is finally giving us what we have been waiting for forever:
"Christie Ally Expected to Plead Guilty in George Washington Bridge Lane-Closing Case"
When I first saw the headline I was puzzled––who is this Christie Ally? Never heard of him. Suddenly it was clear that the ally is David Weinstein––who is claiming Christie knew about the bridge closing (plan)before it even took place. Weinstein is the first, and as promised there will be others. Justice takes such a loooong time to do its justice.
The quote above in the little yellow box by that little man whose god resides comfortably inside him, nestled cozily near his pancreas ––no, not Cruz, although we can only guess where his god resides––is, even for Huckabee, completely asinine. It is mind-blowing to realize we have so many dipwads that think they can actually be President–––and actually it's more than that––it's frightening.
@PD Pepe: You were probably thinking of actor Kirstie Alley.
Marie
David and his brother Charles ( "just call me Chuck") Koch are spreading their "good will" and love across this great nation showing us what great guys they really are. Not only are they going to pander to the Latino community with their "LIBRE" organization, but they have have teamed up with the Center for American Progress in order to overhaul this country's Criminal Justice system. Mark Holden, senior VP and general council of Koch industries has teamed up with Neera Tanden, president of the above Center for A.P. The tentacles of D. and C. are long and forgive my skepticism but I hear loud sucking noises when Koch wraps their "good will" around anything.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/criminal-justice-broken-democrats-republicans-working-together-fix/
@PD Pepe: What this really means is that the Kochs are not invested in private prisons.
Marie
Perhaps it should read: Schocking News.
And yet, we are not surprised.
A rhetorical question: When will Sean Hannity walk back his triumphalist claims that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord, based on what now appears to be a "modified" reading of a report from another man who now rejects any possibility that he ever suggested that Gray tried to hurt himself? "Why the fuck would he do that to hisself?"
Indeed.
Certainly not a question that Sean Hannity would be likely to ask.
And another thing, I'm getting pretty fed up with all the "they had no right to react that way" about the Baltimore crowds. When you've been trying the non-violent route for decades and nothing changes, when you've backed off and they're still kicking in your door and beating you up for walking down the street, then, as Safari indicates, something has to give. I think it already has.
The president is right about this being a slow-rolling crisis. Disaster is more like it. Militarized police with the barest minimum of any real oversight or possibility of any consequences have only made things worse, not better. How much can people take before they rebel?
Yesterday I commented that in the years leading up to revolution in this country, citizens took just about all they could take. The Boston Massacre was one such event in which colonists took it straight to the "police", the British overlords who had been making their lives miserable (and not for 30 or 40 years either, more like 10 years). We don't think of these people as animals or thugs or criminals. Many of the riotous actions were set in motion by some from America's pantheon of heroes, Sam Adams, Paul Revere, etc.
Things did boil over. Into rebellion then revolution.
I think what we've been seeing in this country is not a series of riots. This is rebellion. This is a revolt against authoritarian dominance and unchecked violence and control.
Few rebellions are nonviolent. You need a special figure for that. A Gandhi or a Martin Luther King. But even at that, there was violence aplenty in both India and 60's inner cities in America.
The fact that a few opportunistic assholes decide to take advantage of a situation to indulge in looting and gratuitous violence does not mean the root activity is not rebellion.
If we, as a country, don't get a handle on this, we're looking at some very bad shit in the not too distant future.
But worry not. Sean Hannity will be there to remind everyone that his thesaurus has plenty of synonyms for "thug".
And another thing....
(I'm gettin' wound up now...)
Speaking of rebellion, isn't it interesting how all the sanctimonious pundits have been tut-tutting about what's happening in Baltimore and declaring that what's needed are National Guard troops to put these people in their place. (The NRA is making good use of the Baltimore rebellion to drum up their "Stand Your Ground" canard and suggesting that militia types head for Baltimore so they can kill them some darkies on just that basis.)
Maybe I was having hearing problems a while back, but I don't think I've ever heard any calls for the National Guard or anyone else to put Cliven Bundy and his whacko NRA militia types in their place. And those people WERE calling for rebellion. They were threatening government agents with death. Except that they were doing it over a fantasy that the guv'mint was coming to take their guns or some crazy bullshit. And the fact is, Bundy IS a criminal. He has been stealing from the American taxpayers for decades and then threatened to kill anyone who came to try to "put him in his place".
And now that I think of it, Sean Hannity was one of his biggest supporters.
Wingers routinely talk about rebellion, revolution, secession. But they are never treated like criminals or the crazy people they really are.
Can you imagine what these assholes would be planning if they were the ones being beat on every day by out of control police forces? They pretend that's what they have to put up with, but I doubt Cliven Bundy could last a day in East Baltimore being treated like those people are treated. The first time he tried his Marlboro Man routine, he'd be tased by six cops for half an hour. Then they'd really go to work on him.
Looks like the Bridge of Damocles might collapse on Chris Christie after all. The dominoes they be fallin'.
@AK: Love it when you get "wound up," and of course you are spot on about rebellions, etc. Which brings me to Marie's challenge re: David Brooks' NON-spot on piece. I'm too tired to parse his philosophical meanderings; suffice it to say he is not the one to conjure up reasons for the madding crowd in Baltimore nor is he the person to understand someone like Freddie. His new book is, according to David, about finding his soul. So be it. Then stick to finding it, Mr. Brooks, don't muck around in areas you can't possibly understand.
PD,
I have stifled all inclinations to properly filet Our Miss Brooks for some time, given the predictable sophistry of his deviant dialectics but his most recent eruption needs be beaten soundly about the gills. So I may pick up Marie's gauntlet on this score .
I'll need a store of ipecac and antibiotics before I start , but we shall see.
Christ! These fucking people.
Who thinks that six cops would be indicted if there had not been days of protest and some violence and an indication this violence was not going away. Cities will cull the sociopaths in the ranks of police departments when the price of tolerating them becomes very high. We are some distance from a major change in public attitudes and more burning will be needed. Probably the failure to convict any of the six nasty cops and the police union blaming a bad fairy for the death of Freddie will start step two.