;)
The Commentariat -- May 11, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Andrea Peterson & Jonelle Marte of the Washington Post: "Google announced Wednesday that it will ban all payday loan ads from its site, bowing to concerns by advocates who say the lending practice exploits the poor and vulnerable by offering them immediate cash that must be paid back under sky-high interest rates." ...
... CW: So now we have Google, a for-profit corporation which stands to lose millions by its decision, showing more concern for suckering poor people that does the chairperson of the Democratic National Committee. Fire Debbie Wassterman Schultz! Turns out corporations have souls, my friend; Wasserman Schultz sold hers to the devil with the deep pockets.
Xi Are Not Amused, Either. China Censors Queen Elizabeth's Remarks. Peter Hunt of BBC News: "Coverage of the comments has been censored in China where a report on BBC World News was blanked out. Instead, state media outlets have dedicated their coverage to the Queen's dress sense and notable party attendees. Social media users have been keen to comment, but many appear to have had their posts removed by online censors." -- CW (See related story linked below & video.)
Many Happy Returns? David Graham at The Atlantic on why Donald Trump's tax returns are important: He's far wealthier than any other candidate to run for president, and he has a long history of questionable finances, and faces other allegations. His companies have declared bankruptcy four times. He's been fined by the Federal Trade Commission for improper behavior. He incorrectly received a tax break for people making less than $500,000 per year. All of this means that people might have legitimate questions about what Trump is doing with his supposed vast sums...and further whether the techniques he likely uses to reduce his tax obligations (like many wealthy people) are appropriate, even when they are legal. -- Akhilleus
*****
Presidential Race
Harper Neidig of the Hill: "
The Jackass Mandate. Patrick Healy & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's behavior in recent days -- the political threats to the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan; the name-calling on Twitter; the attacks on Hillary Clinton's marriage -- has deeply puzzled Republicans who expected him to move to unite the party, start acting presidential and begin courting the female voters he will need in the general election. But Mr. Trump ... said he had a 'mandate' from his supporters to run as a fiery populist outsider and to rely on his raucous rallies to build support through 'word of mouth,' rather than to embrace a traditional, mellower and more inclusive approach that congressional Republicans will advocate in meetings with him on Thursday." -- CW
The Miss Universe Version of a Political Convention. Lisa Hagen of the Hill: "Donald Trump's campaign convention manager promised an exciting GOP gathering this summer in Cleveland, calling the Republican National Convention the 'ultimate reality show.' During an MSNBC interview on Tuesday night, Paul Manafort said he's traveling to Cleveland on Thursday and Friday and will convene with the leadership running the event to start discussing ideas." CW: The swimsuit competition may be a bit of a letdown: only white Republicans will be allowed to participate.
Shane Goldmacher of Politico: "Donald Trump's campaign has enlisted influential conservative economists to revise his tax package and make it more politically palatable by slashing the $10 trillion sticker price. Their main targets: Lifting the top tax rate from Trump's original plan and expanding the number of people who would have to pay taxes under it.... the campaign last month contacted at least two prominent conservative economists -- Larry Kudlow, the CNBC television host, and Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation and a longtime Wall Street Journal writer -- to spearhead an effort to update the package." ...
... CW: I'm pretty sure those two doofuses will make Trump's tax plan great again. Here's Jonathan Chait on Kudlow (February 2015): "The interesting thing about Kudlow's continuing influence over conservative thought is that he has elevated flamboyant wrongness to a kind of performance art." And here's Krugman on Moore (February 2015): "... this is a guy who has a troubled relationship with facts. I don't mean that he's a slick dissembler; I mean that he seems more or less unable to publish an article without filling it with howlers...."
Abby Phillip, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was projected to win the Democratic primary in West Virginia Tuesday, the first of a string of potentially strong showings this month that are nonetheless not expected to cut significantly into front-runner Hillary Clinton's march toward the Democratic nomination. Additionally, Republican Donald Trump won Republican primaries in West Virginia and Nebraska -- virtually foregone conclusions given that he was the only Republican remaining in the race." -- CW
Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont captured the West Virginia primary on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, forcing Hillary Clinton to continue a costly and distracting two-front battle: to lock down the Democratic nomination and to take on Donald J. Trump in the general election." -- CW
Primary Results:
Democrats:
West Virginia. With less than one percent counted, the New York Times reports that the state is leaning Clinton, who has 50.6 percent of the votes to Sanders' 41.3 percent. I have no idea who the other 9 percent of voters might have picked. Update: Here's the answer to who the other candidates are, one of whom is Paul Farrell, a West Virginia attorney, who with 3 percent of the vote counted, has 6 percent. With six percent counted, the vote is leaning Sanders, 47.7 to 43.3 percent for Clinton. According to a USA Today banner at 8:54 pm ET, Bernie Sanders has won the primary. The NYT & WashPo have yet to designate Sanders the winner. With 27 percent counted, the AP has declared Sanders the winner; current percentages: Sanders 49.8, Clinton 39.6.
Nick Gass of Politico: "Hillary Clinton won the Nebraska Democratic primary on Tuesday, but she's not getting any delegates out of it. The Associated Press called the race in favor of Clinton, whose victory amounts to mere expression of preference.... The candidates' delegates to the Democratic National Convention were awarded in the state's March 5 caucus. Bernie Sanders won the caucuses by 15 percentage points, receiving 15 delegates to Clinton's 10." -- CW
Republicans:
West Virginia. With zero percent of the votes counted, the Washington Post projects that Donald Trump has won the primary. Which is not exactly unexpected, since he doesn't have any actual opponents.
Nebraska. Nick Gass: "Donald Trump has won the Nebraska Republican primary, according to three separate news networks."
Alex Seitz-Wald of MSNBC: "Bernie Sanders' decision to stay in the Democratic presidential race until the end has complicated what is typically one of the first orders of business for any new presidential nominee: taking over the party apparatus ahead of the national convention." CW: And there's this: "Party chairs usually stay on -- and there's no sign Clinton wants to replace Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz...." Nice to know.
Steven Myers of the New York Times: "A review of the 30,322 emails from Mrs. Clinton's private server that the State Department has made public under the Freedom of Information Act provides an extensive record of how such sensitive information often looped throughout President Obama's foreign policy apparatus on unclassified systems, from embassies to the United Nations to the White House." CW: Okay, then, there's just enough time to impeach President Obama. Get on it, House Republicans.
Julie Pace & Jill Colvin of the AP: "As part of his general election planning, Trump is moving aggressively to identify potential running mates and says he now has 'a very good list of five or six people,' all with deep political experience. While he would not provide a full list of names, he did not rule out New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the former rival whom he's already tapped to head his transition planning." -- CW ...
... Robert Costa of the Washington Post: Corey "Lewandowski, Trump's traveling confidant and campaign manager, will be in charge of the team that will survey and vet potential vice-presidential candidates for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, two top Republicans said." -- CW ...
... Gideon Resnick of the Daily Beast: So Ben Carson is off Trump's veep-vetting team. "... Carson has stepped away to focus on other things, according to his business manager, Armstrong Williams." CW: Yes, Ole Doc will be overseeing Trump's U.S.-Egypt trade deal -- something about storing Kansas wheat in the pyramids.
For many, many years, when I would say these things, other white people would call me names: 'Oh, you're a hatemonger, you're a Nazi, you're like Hitler. Now they come in and say, 'Oh, you're like Donald Trump.' -- William Johnson, prominent white supremacist & Donald Trump convention delegate ...
... Josh Harkinson of Mother Jones: "On Monday evening, California's secretary of state published a list of delegates chosen by the Trump campaign for the upcoming Republican presidential primary in the state. Trump's slate includes William Johnson, one of the country's most prominent white nationalists. [Update: Responding to this story late Tuesday, the Trump campaign blamed Johnson's selection on a 'database error,' and Johnson told Mother Jones he would resign. Here are documents showing the Trump campaign's personal correspondence with Johnson yesterday.]... Whether or not Johnson was vetted by the Trump campaign, the GOP front-runner would have a hard time claiming ignorance of Johnson's extreme views: Johnson has gained notice during the presidential primary for funding pro-Trump robocalls that convey a white nationalist message. ...
... CW: Yes, accidents will happen. Those darned "databases"! OR, as Popehat tweeted, "A database error in the sense of 'we prefer to ignore the data about who our base is'." At the link, Steve M. has more on William Johnson. ...
... Update. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: The Trump campaign did not remove Johnson from its delegate list before the statutory deadline, according to California's secretary of state, so the white supremacist who would not allow non-whites to be permanent residents of the U.S., is Trump's guy in California. ...
... Update 2. Josh Harkinson: "Although the Trump campaign blamed a 'database error' for including Johnson as a delegate, the campaign corresponded with him personally just over 24 hours ago." -- CW
Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed Republicans who have ruled out being his running mate in an apparent swipe at Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). 'It is only the people that were never asked to be VP that tell the press that they will not take the position,' he tweeted." -- CW
The Race Goes to the Liar. Greg Sargent: "While ... swing voters [attending focus groups] are willing to see Trump as a risky, divisive figure, they are not yet prepared to believe the Dem argument that Trump's policy proposals would benefit the rich, a senior Democratic strategist who has been directly involved in extensive focus groups tells me." CW: These people probably aren't low-info voters; after all, they care enough about the election to take the time to sit through a focus group session. But they just can't belieeeve what we well know: that Trump's off-the-shelf GOP economic "plan" would be a boon to the rich.
Senate Race
Phil Willon of the Los Angeles Times: California's top five U.S. Senate candidates debate Tuesday night. "The 7 p.m. [PT] event is sponsored by KPBS Public Broadcasting and will be aired by public radio and public television stations around the state, including KCET-TV Channel 28 and KPCC-FM (89.3) radio in Los Angeles. The debate will be live-streamed at KPBS.org and the Los Angeles Times will cover it live on the Essential Politics news feed. -- CW
Other News & Views
Julie Davis & Jonathan Soble of the New York Times: "President Obama will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, the White House announced on Tuesday, making a fraught stop this month at the site where the United States dropped an atomic bomb at the end of World War II." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jim Tankersley of the Washington Post: "In a new report out Tuesday..., [U.C.-Berkeley researchers] find that one-third of the families of 'frontline manufacturing production workers' are enrolled in a government safety-net program. The families' benefits cost state and local governments about $10 billion a year on average from 2009 to 2013, the analysis found. Those production workers, roughly 6 million, represent about half of all manufacturing workers.... The findings show ... that 'with manufacturing jobs, production jobs, that's really no longer true. The new production jobs are less likely to be union and more likely to be low wages.'... Eight of the 10 states that top the list of percentage of production workers whose families draw assistance live in the South...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it will not seek the death penalty against Ahmed Abu Khattala, 54, a U.S.-designated terrorist whom prosecutors accuse of leading the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. The announcement, contained in a notice to the federal trial court in Washington, clears the way for a major terrorism trial in the nation's capital, the first in the United States since 2015, barring a plea agreement by Abu Khattala. The decision ended a lengthy review after President Obama aired concerns in October that while he supported capital punishment in theory, he found it 'deeply troubling' in practice." -- CW
He's Baaack!! Burgess Everett of Politico: "Ted Cruz can't even get a protest vote in the Senate anymore. On Monday night, Cruz's colleagues ignored his attempt to disrupt Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's efforts to fund the government without attacking Planned Parenthood. In an unusual rebuke, even fellow Republicans denied him a 'sufficient second' that would have allowed him a roll call vote. Then, his Republican colleagues loudly bellowed 'no' when Cruz sought a voice vote, a second repudiation that showed how little support Cruz has: Just one other GOP senator -- Utah's Mike Lee -- joined with Cruz as he was overruled by McConnell and his deputies." -- CW
... OR, as Paul Waldman summarizes it, "Ted Cruz returned to the Senate and was all like, 'Hey, how about if I do some pointless grandstanding?' and his Republican colleagues were all like, 'Put a sock in it, jerk.'" ...
... Because GOP Senators Would Never Waste Time on Frivolous Matters. Michael Nunez of Gizmodo: "The US Senate Commerce Committee ... has sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg requesting answers to questions it has on its trending topics section. The letter comes after Gizmodo on Monday reported on allegations by one former news curator, who worked for Facebook as a contractor, that the curation team routinely suppressed or blacklisted topics of interest to conservatives. That report also included allegations from several former curators that they used a 'injection tool' to add or bump stories onto the trending module." -- CW ...
... What Is Facebook Anyway? Brian Feldman of New York on Sen. John Thune's (R-S.D.) letter to Zuckerberg: "... the letter ... gets to the heart of Facebook's dilemma here: Is it an (implicitly neutral) platform for the exchange of all ideas? Or a publisher with editorial imperatives and ideas? Taken as the latter, the letter is ridiculous.... Taken as the former, though..., if Facebook is a truly neutral platform (whatever that would mean), at several hundred million American users it's more akin to a utility, or a common carrier, than a private company.... Facebook, of course, would like to have it both ways, and maintain the reach, power, and broad public appeal of a utility, and at the same time the independence of a media company." -- CW
Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "It is truly amazing to watch this Party that constantly extols the virtue of 'freedom' and their love of the Constitution (First Amendment anyone?) feign outrage that social media isn't under their control." -- CW
... MarKos Moulitsas: "Coming from the folks that eliminated the Equal Time Doctrine, this is hilarious." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Bridgegate Co-Conspirators to Be Revealed. Ted Sherman of NJ.com: "A federal judge has ordered the release of the names of individuals who allegedly had knowledge of the scheme to shut down lanes at the George Washington Bridge before the Bridgegate scandal broke. In a ruling sought by a consortium of news organizations, including NJ Advance Media, U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton said the public had a right to know who else may have been involved in the high profile case or subsequent coverup...." -- CW
Letter from a Nevada Jail. Sam Levin of the Guardian: "Jailed Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy filed a lawsuit against Barack Obama, challenging his placement in solitary confinement and seeking to dismiss the federal government's felony charges that could condemn him to die behind bars. The suit from the rancher, who led a high-profile standoff against the government in 2014, also names US judge Gloria Navarro and Nevada senator Harry Reid.... The complaint, filed Tuesday..., slams Obama for 'despicable disrespectful mocking' of Bundy at the 2014 White House Correspondents' Dinner." The amusing complaint is here. -- CW
American "Justice," Ctd. Claudia Lauer of the AP: "An Arkansas judge resigned Monday after new allegations surfaced that he used his authority for the last 30 years to sexually prey on young men charged with crimes who needed financial help or who were afraid of losing their children or jobs. Part-time Cross County District Judge Joe Boeckmann resigned after a state judicial commission presented him with new allegations, including one case when a man said he was taken to a courtroom, told to strip naked and photographed in handcuffs. Allegations were made public last year that Boeckmann had engaged in inappropriate sexual relationships including photographing and paddling defendants in exchange for lighter sentences." -- CW
Alex Zielinski of Think Progress: "A new Utah law that goes into effect on Tuesday will force doctors to shirk their promise to 'do no harm' by dangerously over-anesthetizing women who seek a later abortion. Informed by anti-abortion state lawmakers rather than by medical experts, the 'Protecting Unborn Children Amendment' requires physicians to administer an anesthetic to any women seeking an abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy or later, to 'eliminate or alleviate organic pain to the unborn child.' Like many anti-abortion laws on the state level, Utah's law rests on the unscientific belief that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks of gestation." -- CW
Way Beyond
We Were Not Amused. Tom Phillips of the Guardian: "The 'golden era' of UK-China relations appears to have lost some of its glitter after the Queen [Elizabeth of Britain] accused Chinese officials of being 'very rude' to the British ambassador during president Xi Jinping's first state visit to Britain last year." -- CW ...
Simon Romero of the New York Times: " In a stunning twist in the effort to impeach President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, the new speaker of the lower house of Congress has changed his mind -- less than 24 hours after announcing that he would try to annul his chamber's decision to impeach her.... Waldir Maranhão ... said on Monday that he would to try to annul the April 17 impeachment vote against the president, citing concerns about procedural irregularities. But in a decision made around midnight here, and widely circulated in the early morning on Tuesday, Mr. Maranhão told Renan Calheiros, the head of the Senate, that he was revoking his earlier decision." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Simon Denyer & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the Washington Post: "A U.S. warship sailed within 12 miles of one China's largest artificial islands Tuesday, part of a continuing effort by the Pentagon to demonstrate that the United States remains undeterred by the rapid Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea. The presence of the USS William P. Lawrence, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, prompted the Chinese military to scramble three fighter jets that monitored the destroyer, along with three Chinese ships, until the American vessel left the area." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way, Way Beyond
Amina Khan of the Los Angeles Times: "Sifting through data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, scientists said Tuesday they've confirmed the existence of 1,284 planets orbiting other stars. The announcement more than doubles the number of validated planets discovered by the planet-hunting spacecraft, bringing the total number to about 2,325.... Perhaps most striking, the new census includes nine worlds that could be rocky and Earth-like and orbit their host stars in the so-called habitable zone, where temperatures would allow water to be stable in liquid form." -- CW
News Lede
New York Times: "In a burst of attacks recalling Iraq's sectarian civil war, three bombings in three different neighborhoods of Baghdad killed more than 90 people on Wednesday and wounded scores more, the Iraqi authorities said. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the biggest attack, in a crowded food market in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in northern Baghdad. Explosives hidden in a parked pickup truck loaded with fruit and vegetables detonated around 10 a.m., killing at least 66 people and wounding 87 others." -- CW
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Reader Comments (22)
QEII (the woman, not the boat) thinks the Chinese are rude? Wait'll she gets a load of President Trumpy.
"We will not allow the Chinese to be ruder than us" said President Trump when reminded of the queen's complaint. "When those Limeys come to DC I will rude the pants off them. No one beats Americans for rudeness, and as I have said many times, my administration works day and night to make America rude again."
As a demonstration, the president pulled the microphone off the podium, stuck it down the back of his pants and farted. "How d'ya think the queen'll like that, eh?" shouted President Trump. It appeared he was getting ready to take off his shirt to do one of his patented armpit farts before being stopped by staff members. "And by the way" he continued, "Have you ever seen that queen? Man, she's old. And what a puss. She oughta lay off those lemon juice cocktails. I mean, whoooo."
Queen Elizabeth has yet to comment.
And while wingers continue to hammer on the poor who need government assistance (even though, as the WaPo article, linked above points out, 8 out of the top 10 states whose residents require such help are in the blood red south), they seem to have no appetite for attacking the giant corporations who are given enormous handouts by the American taxpayer. Manufacturing plants, McDonald's, Walmart, and plenty of of others can pay their employees slave wages because their needs are met by taxpayers.
No complaints about that?
Didn't think so.
Guess those CEOs are all white.
So Trump's leg breaker, the thuggish Lewandowski is going to be checking the qualifications of potential vice presidential candidates? What the hell are his qualifications?
I can see it now, Trump will engage in delicate trade negotiations with China and call his buddy Ted Nugent to read over the documents before taking any action.
Oh wait a minute....just got a new e-mail.
Whoa...hey kids, check this out.... secret footage of Trump (seated) and Lewandowski (big galoot with the whip) checking out possible vices (and I do mean vices).
This is hot! Glad I got it before TMZ.
Maybe it would be worth a shot if the GOP told Trump all presidential nominees have to pass a civil service exam in order to complete the election process. If he refuses, he cannot be president. If he fails, he cannot be president.
I've never heard him say the word constitution and I doubt he could pass a 6th grade civics class.
Seems a little suicidal to just hand over the presidency to someone so ignorant.
Okay, just one more for the nonce.
I see in this Times piece linked up the way a bit that "...the political threats to the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan; the name-calling on Twitter; the attacks on Hillary Clinton’s marriage — has deeply puzzled Republicans who expected him to move to unite the party, start acting presidential and begin courting the female voters..."
Puzzled? Are they retarded? Trump, showing his ass and acting a fool has puzzled Confederates? Where have they been? Did they sleep through the Sarah Palin debacle? Were they trying out their new supply of medical marijuana when dark-money funded teabaggers stormed the capitol and proceeded to start a food fight with other Republicans? Have they not heard about "legitimate rape" and "cantaloupe-sized calves"?
The only truly puzzling thing is why it's taken so long for Republicans to coalesce around a candidate who epitomizes this sort of sordid, hateful, fact-free, ignorant, churlish aspirant for high office.
Puzzled....sheesh.
Nancy,
Donaldo, Il Duce, doesn't know from the Constitution. He thinks Hillary Clinton will "abolish" the second amendment. I'm not even kidding. He said that. He believes she can do that.
He's an idiot. But he's in good company. There are Republicans who think there are ten Supreme Court justices and others who advise state officials that they can ignore federal laws if they don't like them.
Trump's cavalier approach may be particular to his personality, but it's all of a piece with Confederate disdain for process, for law, and for reality.
A 6th grade civics test? Why not just ask them to explain the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. They'd have just as good a chance of passing.
Appreciated PD's smell the roses comment yesterday. Thanks, PD; it did help.
Perspective is so hard to come by these days. It is difficult to ignore a political scene which is not nearly so rosy.
The New York Review that arrived yesterday had a Mark Danner feature on Trump's success, with snippets from Boorstin's "The Image" and a quotation from Max Weber that have been referenced here before. So not much new for RC'ers but Danner does tie up the Trump phenomena in a neat package and connected it to his reality TV (what an oxymoron!) history that I knew nothing about.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/05/26/the-magic-of-donald-trump/
There is a frightening inevitability to Trumpism, a horror no longer confined to the basement or attic. My (and Voltaire's) summary: If Donald Trump had not existed, the Republican Party would have invented him....and they did.
Another beautiful Spring day here in the Northwest. The wild roses along the country roads are in full bloom.
As I noted to someone earlier today, who cares that the snowpack is fast disappearing and we may face another summer of drought?
"Seems a little suicidal to just hand over the presidency to someone so ignorant." so says Nancy and obviously many others. Check out the link I gave yesterday to a Wall Street Journal piece that is arguing for dumping Donald and voting for Hillary–– the lesser of two evils–-and make sure she serves only four years––in the meantime we Reublicans better get our shit together.
Heisenberg? Heisenberg? Why does that ring a bell?
Ah, a recent binge watcher awakens... " to paraphrase: " from Quora online. (Walt) Trump can therefore be viewed as a human manifestation of the "uncertainty principle" -- as he gains momentum as a (murderous drug lord), / presumptous/presumptive nominee he loses sight of his original position as a family man with a strong moral code HUH!!!. The exact moment when (Walt) / Trump truly (becomes) / became evil is (debatable) / not debatable or "uncertain" -- one of the things that makes (Breaking Bad such a great show) and the Presidential Apprentice such a sham show.
(My code: Walt in italics, Trump in boldface. Sorry, couldn't figure how to 24-karat gilt it also!)
@PD - Regarding Republicans getting their shit together, Rachel Maddow's first piece on the web site this morning asks where the "sane" opposition to Trump is hiding:
http://on.msnbc.com/1OmNq4X
In addition to pointing out that Trump is on track to get the most primary votes ever, she also has Marco Rubio saying that he stands by his statements that it is dangerous to give Trump "...an erratic con man..." the nuclear launch codes and yet he will support him.
She points out that in addition to naming (and then removing) the white-supremacist, William Johnson, as a delegate from California, Trump's campaign has named House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy as a delegate.
I'm not sure there is enough Pepto Bismol in the world to hold their shit together at this point.
PD,
I read somewhere recently that several pollsters have noticed that many voters are indicating a preference for sitting out this election entirely, due in some cases, no doubt, to some haughty sense of personal distaste for the options, a sort of "pox on both their houses" sort of thing.
What can people be thinking? We really do need to start teaching basic logic starting in kindergarten. If you sit it out, you have no say. "Oh, I'm lodging a protest by not voting for either Trump or Clinton." Really? Well isn't that nice. But surely you must feel that one is worse than the other, right? Meaning one is better than the other, if only marginally. But by declining to vote, you increase the possibility that the candidate you least desire to spend the next four (or eight) years in the White House will win.
I'm sure there are still zealots hoping to cast another "protest" vote for Ralph Nader this year (which effectively means you are not voting, because your vote, which is not a vote for the candidate who has a realistic chance of winning, now has fewer votes in their favor, meaning a better chance for the worse--in this case "worst"--candidate). And how did that work out before? This is also meant for supporters of Sanders who are saying that they'll never vote for Hillary. Fine, then. Say hello to President Trump.
Sitting out a monumental election like this (because make no mistake, should Hillary lose, the United States can no longer, under any circumstance, make the slightest case for American Exceptionalism. We'll be no better than other countries who put crooks in charge--oh wait. 2000 and 2004. We've already done that...) is the nadir of responsible citizenship. Or should that be the Nader of responsible citizenship?
Because think about it: those who cast a vote for Ralph Nader in 2000 are partially responsible for...
Wars that have gone on now for 13 years costing the US thousands of lives (and Iraqis hundreds of thousands) and trillions of dollars.
A world wide economic catastrophe.
The rise of ISIS and a rejuvenation of terror attacks across the globe.
Diminishment of US reputation and effectiveness everywhere.
The erosion of civil liberty.
The hard push towards turning the US into a proto-theocracy.
The US descent into the use of torture, black sites, and illegal rendition of United States citizens.
The deployment of hundreds of far right extremist judges into the US judiciary whose job has involved the weakening of civil and voting rights.
A far right Supreme Court whose decisions, including Citizens United, have severely warped the country.
So thank you all very much, assholes. "Elections matter" is not just a cute tag line.
MAG,
But at least at the end, Walter White (Heisenberg), sacrifices himself for a better cause than his own self-aggrandizement.
Trump would never do that. He have tried to make a deal with the white supremacists and let Jesse die.
Plus, Walter has better hair than Trump.
From WaPo, Milbank on the Right to Life Caucus not seeming to care about Zika babies:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/for-republicans-in-congress-does-pro-life-extend-to-fighting-zika/2016/05/10/43b4bfac-16ed-11e6-9e16-2e5a123aac62_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-d%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
I mentioned earlier that the DNC should make a big deal out of this as an election issue. The GOP House and Senate are not taking care, because they do not believe that government should provide for the common welfare. This is not just an isolated issue, it is their way of life.
Of course when a few GOPers' nubile daughters get Zika, they'll see the light. That's also their way of life. Too late.
Poor Teddy Cruz, forced to go back to the senate, devil's tail between his legs, forked tongue thoroughly exercised after a year of lying on the presidential campaign trail and ready to get back to business.
But hubris never wanes.
After yakking for an hour, Cruz demanded an exception (he always does), but his allotted time was up (same as all other senators get) and no one wanted to hear him drone on a second longer.
His response (per the Politico piece linked above)?
"The Democrats are objecting to my speaking further. And both the Democrats and Republican leadership are objecting to the American people speaking further. I yield the floor."
In other words, Ted Cruz's voice is synonymous with the voice of the American people, and both are, sadly, being told to STFU. Chutzpah doesn't come close.
With any luck, by 2020, the deplorable teabagger era of ignorance and scorched earth hatred will be over, or at least seriously atrophied, along with its primary exponents like Teddy, at which point he can take his place alongside do-nothing frauds like Jim Demint and run some meaningless wingnut stink tank, and will be remembered only as a blip on the national radar, appearing after that only in those trivial bathroom books of oddball congressional anecdotes, under the heading "Self-important Creeps".
Democrats better get their crap together in the coming years to work on the down ballot races. Otherwise come the 2020 census we're going to see intense republican gerrymandering to cement control and expand it wherever possible. They didn't get get control of all those state legislatures or House seats by fair districts.
My response to those that say they're not going to vote - "OK, then you forego any and all rights to bitch after the election regardless of who won and lost. Put up or shut up."
BobbyLee,
Damn straight.
And I know (or at least surmise) that you aren't suggesting that Democrats cheat the way Confederates have been cheating.
I think what we need is to adopt a blanket approach, a more universal strategy, the same way software programmers create global rules within a domain.
One of the strengths (and weaknesses) of the Democratic Party, for years, has been its predisposition for accepting and accommodating a multiplicity of positions, even if that accommodation guarantees that the outcomes of some positions (and sometimes all) will be less than desirable. We have been spinning our wheels, for many years, at electoral crossroads, in Model T's while rat bastard lying Confederates blast through all stop signs and deer crossings in nuclear powered locomotives. I'm not suggesting that Democrats climb aboard their own nukes because right now we're watching those Republican engines pull the entire party over a precipice into an icy, hateful abyss (at least I fucking hope so).
But we do need to come up with some kind of global .ini file that will help all of our constituent groups to move forward.
Confederates realized long ago, because changing demographics were against them, and because they were unwilling themselves to change, that their best--and perhaps only--chance was to stonewall, to lie, and to cheat.
We don't have to do that. We've got the demographics on our side. But we need to be able to help them to vote. Confederates expend enormous legislative energy on making sure they cannot.
This is why the Confederate controlled Supreme Court was (and is) so vital for the fucking American Nazis. They desperately need to control everything.
We need to be aware that the media will NOT help us. Just watch upchuck Todd on Sunday morning. Do you think, in your wildest imagination, that he will comport to ethical journalistic standards if it means he won't get that mansion in the Hamptons? Fuck no!
And we need to come up with a plan that addresses both necessity and sufficiency, as philosophers might term it.
If we do that, if we can institute some form of party discipline, we have every reason to believe in hope for the future.
There have been reams of articles about the 400th anniversary of the death of the Stratford Man. Few (except, perhaps, for lit'ry minded folk like us) have been jumping up and down about another 400 year anniversary, that of the death (within days of Shakespeare) of the greatest creator of the modern novel, Miguel de Cervantes. His Quixote is as vital a character to world literature as any of Shakespeare's foundational figures. But he is something else.
He is the avatar of hope. The archetype for a way of being in the world. No amount of paradigmatic perversion could turn the Don into a Republican and not even smirking casuistic dissemblers like Ted Cruz could make it so.
There is hope for us. We need to make it so.
Unwashed's response to those who claim they won't vote because their conscience is too pure, and the world would be perfect if everyone went along with them:
"OK, then you forego any and all rights to bitch after the election regardless of who won and lost. Put up or shut up.'"
........
What he said.
Little Debbies and Devil Dogs were packed in children's lunch boxes in the "good ole days" and maybe still are, but I remember my father railing against these products as "junk food" –––my sweets were fruit or homemade cookies, but oh, how I yearned for one of those cuppy cakes until one day a friend shared hers with me and I had to agree with my father. Having just read about Debbie Wasserman Schultz the taste of those Little Debbies come back to me and I think she, too, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I never was a fan––especially her stance with Israel left me fuming. But now, with this pay day loan business––could we say, she appears to be the devil in the details?
First of all, I see the effects of "compulsory voting" and love it. There is nothing that can be said against it. I don't care how stupid, smart, black, orange, green, left, right, wrong, illiterate, educated or plain crazy you are, in the twenty first century, you should have access to vote. I'm not adamant and closed minded about much, but this I am. Now you can place an unmarked ballot in the box if you want, or write "They're all Bums" but every adult should place a ballot paper in the real or virtual box.
Dems have more than demography - we have a moral code. Polls show Americans are left leaning in their public policy views, whether they know it of not, and regardless for whom they vote. As with tighter gun regulations, Congress can happily ignore the will of the people, but that will definitely favours more compassionate, public welfare social policy than is represented by Confederates. This is what we really have on our side. Despite a lurch to nationalism, I don't see people anywhere returning to nineteenth century public policies. Fear of terrorism and migrants, rational and irrational, is not the same as wanting to scrap healthcare, labour laws, public pensions, etc.. The world is moving toward better public policy, albeit with hiccups.
One thing we don't have on our side is the DNC - sack DWS!
The Cons' daughters will do what they have always done and have a D&C or holiday where abortion is available. Zika won't affect them, they won't care.
I used to be a fan of that charming progressive Rep. Alan Grayson, who is in the FL primary to take Bubble Boy's senate seat--running against Patrick Murphy--who is no progressive. I always thought Alan Baby was the Pluckiest Progressive in town! Remember him telling Congress that the Republican health plan was to "get sick and die quickly?" What a pair he had on him. Yep, that part was right. But he used his considerable energy, so the story goes, to set up two hedge funds under his own name in the Cayman Islands. He, of course, denies this was for personal gain, but you could never tell that by looking at his net worth!
Anyway, I have decided sadly that Alan Grayson is just another charming, bright, lying sociopath who does a great imitation of the Progressive fox trot! There seem to be so many of 'em! Harry Reid certainly agrees! Sigh...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harry-reid-alan-grayson_us_57338862e4b012a8b93411ea?
Kate, I loved the HuffPo headline "Donald Ducks"!