;)
The Commentariat -- May 14, 2018
Late Morning Update:
NEW. David Halbfinger, et al., of the New York Times: "A mass attempt by Palestinians to cross the border fence separating Israel from Gaza quickly turned violent, as Israeli soldiers responded with rifle fire. Tens of thousands of Palestinians took part in the Gaza protests, which spread on Monday to the West Bank, in opposition to the [U.S.] embassy move [to Jerusalem]. By 3:30 p.m., 37 Palestinians, including several teenagers, were dead and at least 1,000 were injured in Gaza, the Health Ministry said, making Monday the bloodiest single day since a campaign of demonstrations along the border fence began seven weeks ago. Israeli soldiers and snipers were using barrages of tear gas as well as live gunfire to keep protesters from entering Israeli territory. The Israeli military said some in the crowds were planting or hurling explosives, and many were flying flaming kites into Israel." ...
... Update: "Palestinian officials say at least 41 people have been killed in the latest round of protests. At least 1,700 Palestinian demonstrators were also wounded along the border fence with Gaza, the Health Ministry reported, as the mass protests that began on March 30 and that had already left dozens dead erupted again."
... AND here are Trump's tweets this morning: (2) "Big day for Israel. Congratulations!" This one at 9:36 am ET, after news of the mass killings was public. (1) U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem will be covered live on @FoxNews & @FoxBusiness. Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!", three hours earlier. Mrs. McC: I'm waiting for the pix of smiling Ivanka & Jarad at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a federal law that kept most states from authorizing sports betting, a ruling that is sure to set off a scramble among the states to find a way into a billion-dollar business. The challenge was brought by New Jersey, which had said it could be ready within weeks of a favorable decision to offer sports betting at its racetracks and casinos. Other states are expected to act quickly as well. The court's 6-3 decision struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which Congress passed in the early 1990s to protect the integrity of sports, according to its sponsors. Only Nevada's sports wagering industry was protected, and the measure said it was unlawful for other states to authorize such gambling."
Laura Vozzella & Ted Mellnik of the Washington Post: "Last year's race for state delegate in Newport News went down in Virginia history for its razor-thin margin. Republican David E. Yancey won on Election Day by 10 votes; Democrat Shelly Simonds beat him by a single vote in a recount. Then, a judicial panel declared a tie, so officials picked a name out of a bowl to determine a winner, and it was Yancey. Now, a review of voter registration records and district maps by The Washington Post has found more than two dozen voters -- enough to swing the outcome of that race -- cast ballots in the wrong district, because of errors by local elections officials. The misassigned voters lived in a predominantly African American precinct that heavily favored Democrats in the fall, raising the possibility that they would have delivered the district to Simonds had they voted in the proper race." [Had Simonds won,] it would have upended the balance of power in the House of Delegates, splitting the chamber down the middle -- 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. Yancey's victory allowed the GOP to maintain control by a 51-to-49 margin, even after Democrats picked up 15 seats in a blue wave widely seen as a rebuke to President Trump."
*****
Paul Mozur & Raymond Zhong of the New York Times: "President Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday that he was working with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to prevent the collapse of the Chinese electronics giant ZTE, which shut down major operations after being sanctioned by the United States Department of Commerce last month. 'Too many jobs in China lost,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!'... The department last month banned shipments of American technology to ZTE for seven years, saying the company had failed to reprimand employees who violated American trade controls on Iran and North Korea.... Mr. Trump's tweet on Sunday left many scratching their heads. The president has taken a tough stance on what his administration deems unfair trade practices by the Chinese government. And he has trumpeted his efforts to safeguard American jobs even if it means creating economic strain in other countries.... If Mr. Trump was announcing a huge concession with his tweet, it was without any indication of what he might have gotten in return." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Chas Danner of New York: "In a followup tweet on Sunday afternoon, Trump seemed to be addressing backlash to his announcement...: 'China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!'... There is also some understandable concern that the often impulsive and ill-informed president is -- for reasons unknown -- undermining his own Commerce Department and potentially weakening their ability to punish other companies with legal action in the future[.]" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
... MEANWHILE. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Donald Trump is prepared to impose sanctions on European companies that do business in Iran following his withdrawal of the US from the international nuclear deal, his administration reiterated on Sunday. Trump's most senior foreign policy aides signalled that the US would continue pressuring allies to follow Washington in backing out of the pact, which gave Tehran relief from sanctions in exchange for halting its nuclear programme. John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, predicted that 'the Europeans will see that it's in their interests to come along with us' rather than continue with the 2015 deal, under which major European corporations have signed billions of dollars of contracts in Iran. Asked on CNN's State of the Union whether that meant the Trump administration would impose sanctions against those firms, Bolton said: 'It's possible. It depends on the conduct of other governments.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Okay, then, we're going to punish our friends who are trying to save the world from a nuclear Iran, but we're going to help a major Chinese company which has been cited for, among other things, violating sanctions against Iran. ...
... Former Swedish PM Carl Bildt in a Washington Post op-ed: "... Trump's decision to try to blow up the nuclear deal with Iran is, in its execution, nothing less than a massive assault on the sovereignty of others -- most notably that of Europe. The president has now directed maximum economic sanctions to be applied.... The brunt of the sanctions offensive directly affects business in Europe. For instance, in a tweet, the new U.S. ambassador to Germany was quick to give orders to German companies on how they should behave.... Beyond the deep disagreements on policies relating to climate, trade and Iran, it would be most unwise to underestimate the long-term damage to the transatlantic relationship caused by Washington's assault on Europe." ...
... Robin Wright of the New Yorker: "The United States has now violated its obligation [under the Iran nuclear accord]; Iran, according to ten International Atomic Energy Agency reports, has not.... The credibility of the White House, the country's commitment to diplomacy as an alternative to war, the strength of America's alliances, and the mechanisms to limit nuclear proliferation have all been deeply damaged.... The fallout was immediate: Britain, France, and Germany rebuked Trump and vowed to honor the deal. China and Russia -- the other co-sponsors -- will stick to it, too. The European Union is also considering legislation to nullify the effects of Trump's sanctions on E.U. companies for engaging in transactions with Iran. Tensions between Israel and Iran threatened to turn Syria's civil war into a regional conflagration." ...
... David Sanger & William Broad of the New York Times: "For the White House, these have been dramatic days for nuclear disarmament: First President Trump exited the Iran deal, demanding that Tehran sign a new agreement that forever cuts off its path to making a bomb, then the administration announced a first-ever meeting with the leader of North Korea about ridding his nation of nuclear weapons. But for the American arsenal, the initiatives are all going in the opposite direction, with a series of little-noticed announcements to spend billions of dollars building the factories needed to rejuvenate and expand America's nuclear capacity. The contrast has been striking."
Thanks, Trump! Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "In the two months since the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs went into effect, the Commerce Department has been deluged with more than 8,200 exemption requests from companies that import foreign metals. With just a handful of countries temporarily exempted from Mr. Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, companies are scrambling to win exemptions for every screw and spring they import, with each width and length requiring stand-alone filings. One company alone has submitted 1,167 of the filings, according to government officials. The imposition of tariffs was supposed to help protect American companies from foreign competition. But they have also created a chaotic, time-consuming process and provoked deep uncertainty among executives, who are delaying investment, expansion and hiring as a result.... Those affected by the steel and aluminum tariffs say the administration's aggressive approach could backfire on American companies and workers."
The Astounding Lying Presidunce*. Adam Taylor in the Washington Post: "The embassy move is a historic -- and potentially explosive -- act with plenty of regional ramifications. But it also offers an insight into what may be the guiding principle of President Trump's foreign policy: making splashy foreign-policy decisions that deliver for Trump's domestic base but seem to be causing massive diplomatic headaches and long-term problems... In the case of the Jerusalem embassy, Trump has insisted he could build a new embassy on the cheap with his business acumen. For example, at a campaign rally in Elkhart, Ind., a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-decision-to-open-jerusalem-embassy-complicates-promise-to-seek-peace-in-the-region/2018/05/12/86113024-5557-11e8-9c91-7dab596e8252_story.html?">on Thursday he repeated his story about slashing the cost of the move from $1 billion down to about $400,000. That's only true if you look at the short term: ... the $400,000 only accounted for the first phase of moving the embassy to the existing consular building in Jerusalem, but that's likely to be a temporary home. Building a much larger permanent embassy -- and spending as much as a billion dollars to do so -- could take another ten years, by which time Trump's time in office will have ended." ...
... Mrs. McC: It turns out this isn't the first time Trump has made such a preposterous claim. Robert Farley of Factcheck.org checks the claim Trump made March 5: "'Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars versus a billion dollars. Is that good?' Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It would be if it were true. But Trump is comparing the cost of renovating and adding to an existing facility in Jerusalem to use temporarily as an interim embassy with the cost of building a new, permanent home for the embassy in Jerusalem. Moreover, it's unclear where Trump is getting that $1 billion estimate for the cost of the permanent facility." That's like my saying I flew to California & rented a nice car for a couple of days, and it saved me the $30,000 cost of buying a new car. This makes me think that the "Jerusalem embassy" is just another Trumpian con; Trump does not intend to permanently move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. After all, any permanent, spy-proof building likely would not be completed during a Trump presidency. ...
... More on the Jerusalem embassy opening below.
Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "Members of the Trump transition team appear to have met on December 12, 2016 with a group from Qatar that included Ahmed al-Rumaihi, the former Qatari diplomat and current head of a division of Qatar's massive sovereign wealth fund who is accused in a recent lawsuit of scheming to bribe Trump administration officials. Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for adult film actress Stormy Daniel, on Sunday shared an ambiguous tweet showing a group of unidentified men in a Trump Tower elevator with Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney. The photos include a person who appears to be al-Rumaihi, who in late 2016 and 2017 was part of an aggressive Qatari effort to forge ties with members of the Trump administration. It has not previously been reported that Qataris, including al-Rumaihi, met with Cohen in December 2016. Avenatti later followed up with another tweet asking why Cohen was meeting with Al-Rumaihi and Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security advisor." Mrs. McC: Not sure if this is going to mean much or is just a sideshow. But of course it seems shady.
Bedtime for Donzo. Olivia Nuzzi of New York: "Donald Trump & Sean Hannity like to talk before bedtime." Everything you ever wanted to know about Trump & his obnoxious "Trumplegänger."
"White House Leakers Leak about Leaking." Jonathan Swan of Axios interviews the most prolific White House leakers on why they leak, then invites other White House staff to leak. ...
... ** Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "A former National Security Council official now working for Attorney General Jeff Sessions explored ways to surreptitiously monitor the communications of White House staff for leaks or perceived political disloyalty to Donald Trump, according to three former Trump NSC officials.... Ezra Cohen-Watnick, whom former national security adviser Michael Flynn brought onto the NSC as senior director for intelligence, sought technical solutions in early 2017 for collecting and analyzing phone and other data on White House colleagues for interactions with reporters.... It is unknown whether Cohen-Watnick]s efforts actually resulted in any monitoring program.... Some staffers considered Cohen-Watnick's insider-threat focus ironic, considering that Cohen-Watnick himself reportedly played a role in a Trump White House effort to leak intelligence reports to Devin Nunes.... Nunes then subsequently used the reports in a failed attempt to reinforce Trumps baseless accusation that Barack Obama had placed his camp under surveillance.... Cohen-Watnick's former colleagues ... [suspect] that his new role is to be a political commissar, ensuring Sessions toes the party line desired by a president who distrusts his attorney general." Mrs. McC: An amusing read. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Chris Strohm & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg reported April 11, "... Donald Trump personally ordered the Department of Justice to hire ... Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who was forced out of the National Security Council last year...."
Secretary DeVos has filled the department with for-profit college hacks who only care about making sham schools rich and shutting down investigations into fraud. -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ...
... The Grifters, Ctd. Danielle Ivory, et al., of the New York Times: "Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees. The unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where top hires of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, had previously worked. During the final months of the Obama administration, the team had expanded to include a dozen or so lawyers and investigators who were looking into advertising, recruitment practices and job placement claims at several institutions, including DeVry Education Group. The investigation into DeVry ground to a halt early last year. Later, in the summer, Ms. DeVos named Julian Schmoke, a former dean at DeVry, as the team's new supervisor.... Ms. DeVos has taken a number of actions to roll back or delay regulations that sought to rein in abuses and predatory practices among for-profit colleges...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
L.M. Sixel of the Houston Chronicle: "Michael R. Bloomberg, media mogul, philanthropist and former mayor of New York City, asked the 2018 graduating class of Rice University to reject the divisive rhetoric and growing incivility on display in Washington and around the country as they leave to launch their own careers. The country is more divided now than it has been since the Civil War, Bloomberg told the graduates and their families. Bloomberg lamented an era during which 'alternative facts' and 'post-truth' have entered the nation's vocabulary, and like-minded groups huddle together, drowning out the opinions of others and rejecting scientific and other evidence that contradicts their world views. 'How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie,' Bloomberg said, referring to George Washington, 'to politicians who can not tell the truth?'... Some federal agencies have banned workers from using the words 'climate change,' showing that officials at the highest levels of power see the plain truth as a threat, he said.... 'And so here we are, in the midst of an epidemic of dishonesty, and an endless barrage of lies.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
When the "Communications" Office Is the "Stonewall Office." Avery Anapol of the Hill: "After dozens of calls for an official apology, the White House is still dodging questions over a comment made by one of its staffers. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley on Sunday refused to comment directly on special assistant Kelly Sadler mocking Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) brain cancer. Gidley, who was confronted about the comment on 'Fox & Friends,' said he was not present at the meeting, and therefore he does not know 'if the comment was even made.' 'Look, I wasn't in the meeting, I didn't hear the comment,' he said when asked if he thought the comment was 'kind.' Host Ed Henry shot back, 'You've heard the comment now, was it kind?' 'I don't know if the comment was even made or not,' Gidley responded. 'I wasn't in the meeting.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
A Meeting of Young American Heroes. Alex Horton of the Washington Post: Waffle House hero James Shaw, Jr., meets the Parkland activists.
The E-Mails! David Z. Seide, in a New York Times op-ed, explains why Jim Comey made a huge mistake in revealing, shortly before the 2016 election, that it was studying a new cache of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. It turns out that it would have been obvious to investigators that only a few thousand e-mails on Anthony Weiner's laptop were newly-found & that the great bulk of e-mails on his computer were duplicates which both the FBI & State Department had previously examined. The likelihood of finding a "smoking gun" in the small cache of newly-found e-mails was minimal, and, in any event, would have taken investigators only a few days to review. "If he had waited a few days, Mr. Comey would have made a better-informed decision." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Rod Rosenstein was right. Comey should have been fired over his handling of Clinton's e-mails. President Obama should have fired him.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "As months go, this has been a terrible one for NBC News.... 'Props to NBC for being so consistent in its terrible handling of everything from Brian Williams to Matt Lauer to Joy Reid to Hugh Hewitt to Tom Brokaw,' wrote Andrew Kirell, senior editor at the Daily Beast. (Anchor Brian Williams is back on the air, though in a diminished role, after glorifying his reporting history. MSNBC host Joy Reid suffered not a single disciplinary consequence after her dubious claims that some of her anti-gay statements from years ago were the result of her being hacked. And NBC brass gave only a tap on the wrist to a serious conflict of interest by Hewitt, and seemed to shrug off accusations of misconduct by network icon Tom Brokaw.) They point ... to a leadership problem."
On Today's Religious Intolerance
Two Bigots in a Pod. David Badash in RawStory: "Pastor Robert Jeffress, a Fox News contributor, megachurch Baptist preacher from Dallas, and close Trump ally and surrogate, has been chosen by the Trump administration to lead a prayer at Monday's opening dedication celebration of the new -- and highly controversial -- U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.... Jeffress ... has a long history of delivering incendiary and bigoted remarks.... In short, Jeffress says that if you're not a Christian -- and a certain type of Christian - you-re going to hell.... He has said Islam promotes pedophilia, and is 'evil,' 'violent,' and a 'false' religion.... [In an interview on Fox, he said] 'Islam is wrong, it is a heresy from the pit of Hell; Mormonism is wrong, it is a heresy from the pit of Hell, and, 'Judaism, you can't be saved being a Jew.'" --safari: You paying any attention, Bibi? (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... NEW. Mitt Gets It. Louis Nelson of Politico: "The evangelical pastor delivering a blessing at Monday's opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is a 'religious bigot' who is unworthy of such an honorary role, Utah Senate hopeful Mitt Romney wrote on Twitter Sunday night. 'Robert Jeffress says "you can't be saved by being a Jew," and "Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell,"' Romney, who is Mormon, wrote on Twitter Sunday night. 'He's said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.'" ...
... Aiden Pink of Forward: "Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump reportedly received a blessing in Jerusalem on Sunday from Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef -- who was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League earlier this year for comparing black people to monkeys.... Yosef had also attracted criticism for other comments in the past few years, such as implying in 2017 that secular women behave like animals because of their immodest dress and claiming in 2016 that according to Jewish law, non-Jews are forbidden from living in Israel." --safari ...
... Nothing New, But Worth the Reminder. AFP: "Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has said America's decision to shift its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem was evidence that negotiations and 'appeasement' have failed Palestinians as he urged Muslims carry out jihad against the United States.... The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or 'catastrophe', commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Top US officials have meanwhile insisted they could still push forward the troubled peace process despite outrage across the Arab world." --safari
... Juan Cole lays out the history of Jersualem: "[I]t isn't true that Jerusalem has throughout history been 'Jewish.' For hundreds of years under the Romans, whether pagan or Christian, the city was made completely devoid of Jews, at least by law. Ironically, it was Iran and the Muslims who rescued the Jews from that exile from Jerusalem." --safari
Way Beyond the Beltway
Hannah Ellis-Peterson & Kate Lamb of the Guardian: "A family of five, including an eight-year-old child, has carried out a bomb attack on a police headquarters in Surabaya, killing at least four people and injuring 10, an Indonesian police official has said. The suicide bombing comes just one day after 13 people were killed in the city during coordinated suicide bombings targeting three churches.... Monday's blast comes after a bomb explosion in an apartment building in East Java killed three people on Sunday evening.... [T]he explosion killed three people: a father, mother and their child. Two other children, a son and daughter from the same family, were rushed to Siti Khodijah hospital for treatment. However, according to East Java police, the parents and children were the ones who carried out the attack. [Reasons for the attacks are so far unknown, although ISIS-affiliated groups are suspected]" --safari
Hannah Summers of the Guardian: "With [Burundi] gripped by violence in the prelude to a controversial referendum vote on 17 May, the conflict ... is this time drawn along political rather than ethnic lines. The vote could allow the extension of Pierre Nkurunziza's term from five to seven years, paving the way for him to stay in power until 2034, as the proposed changes would allow him to stand for re-election despite having already served three terms. The campaign been marked by allegations of widespread intimidation and violence against opposition supporters.... The UN has condemned what it has described as a 'campaign of terror' by government-backed militia in Burundi calling for the rape and murder of those with perceived links to the opposition." --safari
AFP: "Teaching manuals in Gulf Arab-financed mosques in Belgium promote anti-semitic stereotypes of Jews and call for the persecution of homosexuals, according to a leaked Belgian intelligence report. The texts used in mosques including the Brussels Grand Mosque call for gays to be stoned to death or thrown off buildings and describe Jews as 'evil', the report by the OCAM national terrorism monitoring centre said. The writings, which are used to train preachers and theology professors.... The report singled out Arabic-language religious training manuals in the Grand Mosque, which is near EU headquarters in Brussels. The Belgian government said in March that it would terminate Saudi Arabia's half-century old lease of the Grand Mosque over concerns it was promoting radicalism." --safari
Reuters: "An Iraqi nationalist cleric who led two uprisings against US troops has taken a surprise lead in parliamentary elections, fending off Iran-backed rivals and the country's incumbent prime minister, the electoral commission has said. With 95% of the votes counted in 10 of Iraq's 18 provinces, Moqtadr al-Sadr, a rare enemy of both the US and Iran, is ahead with Tehran-backed Shia militia chief Hadi al-Amiri's bloc in second place and the prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, trailing in third.... He will not become prime minister as he did not run in the election but his apparent victory puts him in a position to pick someone for the job. Winning the largest number of seats does not automatically guarantee that, however. The other winning blocs would have to agree on the nomination." --safari
Share Article
Reader Comments (15)
So the Liar in Chief proclaims that he will construct an embassy in Jerusalem for far less than 1/10th of one percent of what the pearl clutchers (Mike Pence, eg) say it should cost.
Great idea little Donnie, because what we really need is to cheap out on a United States embassy in the most dangerous region on the planet. I’m sure for the price of a high end sports car ($250K) you can get all the security of a Motel 6. A really nice Motel 6.
Will overnight visitors get a mint on their pillow? I’m sure they’ll be happy for their fresh breath when they’re being carried out on a stretcher after the first bombing. And who knows who the perpetrators will be. We’re making enemies all over the world faster than ICE agents in the barrio.
Oh, except for Russia and China. They’re our besties.
Our we great again yet?
The Commerce Dept.'s actions against ZTE bring seeming Pretender reversal on his tough China trade policy. Oops. Who knew trade could be.......?
Reuters reports NAFTA negotiations are not likely to "save" many American auto jobs. Oops, again.
The steel and aluminum tariff waiver process, which has already prompted thousands of requests from businesses across the country, is bogged down in paperwork. More oops.
And as Bea pointed out, now we're going to help China while threatening to sanction European allies that don't hop to get in line with our new Iran insanity (but in our Sunday TV threats no mention of Russia, the other treat guarantor).
America, (Russia, and now China and maybe soon N. Korea) First?
Hard to make any sense of all this, unless...
It's just the The Pretender First.
We consider DiJiT's foreign (activity? it sure isn't "policy") to be chaotic, and it is, but at some level it is fairly clear that he lives by Sun Tzu's aphorism that "in confusion there is opportunity."
He doesn't need to know who Sun Tzu is to use the principle. And now that he commands the resources of the U.S. (immense) he thinks that he can upset apple carts all the time and others will fix the damages while he cashes in the opportunities.
This is the way he lived his prior life, and now we have to live with that on a large scale. This is now getting dangerous, not just stupid.
So let me see if I have this straight.
We move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which pisses off pretty much everyone except Bibi, Likud, and far-right nationalists. Riots ensue. Palestinians are shot and killed. Fire in the streets.
To make Trump's fans happy.
And to celebrate this move to the historic center of Judaism, the place where Solomon built his temple, the little king invites a Texas Baptist bigot who preaches that Jews are going to hell. Praise Jesus!
And to top off the Trumpy All-Bigots Bonanza, Javanka gets the blessing of a rabbi who teaches that non-Jews should not be allowed to live in Israel, that secular women are animals, and black people are monkeys.
Finally, because the Trumps aren't the only assholes in the Asshole Party, does anyone believe that the Rat would have opened his gnawing little rodent pie hole to complain about Preacher Bigot from Texas (Jeffers) if the guy wasn't also sending Mormons to hell along with Jews and Muslims? If Jeffers had stopped at Jews and Muslims, would Romney care?
Riots, killings, hatred, the blessings of bigots. Just another day in Trump World. And all so a bunch of mouthbreathers in this country who couldn't find Jerusalem on a map with a circle around it, can say "Yeah, baby, Trump kicks ass?"
Astounding article in the New Yorker by Evan Osnos on the tsunami of incompetence, paranoia, lies, and subterfuge as the Trump Debacle sweeps out experience and ability across all lines of Civil Service. Anyone deemed insufficiently loyal to the Great Leader is reassigned to "turkey farms" (banished to off site nothing jobs), forced into retirement, or badgered so much that they simply quit. And we're talking senior personnel with decades of experience and admirable duty to their departments and country.
These public servants are replaced by, in some cases, the manager of a muffler shop who worked for Trump or other losers who have never worked in the public sector or in managerial positions. Other positions demanding years of experience have been filled by jamokes who had published a few papers for Heritage or AEI complimentary to Trump, or by drones from the Koch enterprises sent in to detonate vital government controls and regulations deemed inconvenient to the brothers.
While reading this I was thinking of the Bush Debacle (each new Confederate administration is its own disaster) and how Bush and Cheney populated the infamous Green Zone in Baghdad with campaign workers who praised Jesus in place of smart, competent managers who could help restore some semblance of order in a broken country.
Sure enough Osnos, toward the end, gets there as well. His most salient point in this comparison is to recognize how the seeds of much of the subsequent disastrous fallout in Iraq and the region stemmed directly from the inexperience, mismanagement, cronyism, and fetid nepotism that marked this period.
The last bunch from the Party of Traitors royally fucked up Iraq and much of the Middle East. The current bunch is doing the same here at home.
A long piece, worth a read.
Astounding article in the New Yorker by Evan Osnos on the tsunami of incompetence, paranoia, lies, and subterfuge as the Trump Debacle sweeps out experience and ability across all lines of Civil Service. Anyone deemed insufficiently loyal to the Great Leader is reassigned to "turkey farms" (banished to off site nothing jobs), forced into retirement, or badgered so much that they simply quit. And we're talking senior personnel with decades of experience and admirable duty to their departments and country.
These public servants are replaced by, in some cases, the manager of a muffler shop who worked for Trump or other losers who have never worked in the public sector or in managerial positions. Other positions demanding years of experience have been filled by jamokes who had published a few papers for Heritage or AEI complimentary to Trump, or by drones from the Koch enterprises sent in to detonate vital government controls and regulations deemed inconvenient to the brothers.
While reading this I was thinking of the Bush Debacle (each new Confederate administration is its own disaster) and how Bush and Cheney populated the infamous Green Zone in Baghdad with campaign workers who praised Jesus in place of smart, competent managers who could help restore some semblance of order in a broken country.
Sure enough Osnos, toward the end, gets there as well. His most salient point in this comparison is to recognize how the seeds of much of the subsequent disastrous fallout in Iraq and the region stemmed directly from the inexperience, mismanagement, cronyism, and fetid nepotism that marked this period.
The last bunch from the Party of Traitors royally fucked up Iraq and much of the Middle East. The current bunch is doing the same here at home.
A long piece, worth a read.
Interesting Mother's Day story from Sao Paulo.
A Mother's Day party at a school was interrupted by a gunman who tried to rob the families. One mom, an off-duty Sao Paulo cop, confronted the man, shooting him. He later died.
The WaPo story points out that this sort of thing was much more common in the past.
"Sao Paulo was once one of the most violent cities in the world. But the area has seen a dramatic drop in crime over the past decade. The homicide rate has declined from a high of 52.5 per 100,000 in 1999 to 6.1 per 100,000 today, about five times lower than the national average, according to the World Economic Forum."
What changed? And before the gun knobbers scream "MORE GUNS!", here's what really made a difference.
Primarily, "Experts attribute that decline to the drop in unemployment of young men and tight control over who has access to guns and alcohol."
More jobs, fewer guns.
When I hear NRA lackeys and stooges scream that restrictions on guns don't work, and demanding evidence, I simply want to say, look at the rest of the world, assholes. Gun controls work.
Period.
(I'm guessing when new NRA hire Untrue North thinks of South America and guns, he has wet dreams of right-wing death squads roaming about with weapons he sent them illegally.)
Trying to find a tiny piece of rationality is beyond frustrating. Where to put the embassy, how to do business with China, signing out of Paris and Iran and on and on. These pieces are not related to foreign policy. That term no longer exists. All decisions have only one purpose, make the Trump feel important. Our purpose is to prove that Trump is not only important, but is the smartest person on earth. Nothing else matters.
Trying to accept such behavior is beyond frustrating. But again, the issue is mental illness. No different level then the guy who truly believes that God stopped by to have a chat this morning.
Speaking of foreign policy, the Jerusalem move to temporary housing officially ends any debate on whether we can be viewed as equal brokers in the "peace" process. See Javanka partying it up in Israel and smiling for the photographers like it's an event for Vogue as Palestinians get shot down like dogs a few kilometers away. So far I've heard one Israeli soldier was lightly wounded by "shrapnel" and 100s of Palestinians have gunshot wounds. That sounds proportional. "GREAT day for Israel" though!
The Palestinians are so royally fucked. Unless the EU finds their voice and chooses this issue to champion their diplomatic weight in the world (They won't, just flat platitudes about "two states" as per usual), the Palestinians have literally zero cards to play in negotiations with Israel. The Arab countries are too easily corrupted to be a true backer, the Gulf Cooperation Council is in complete disarray and holds no weight in the world anyway. Russia can't give two fucks. China less.
It seems amazing to admit, especially after the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa only a few decades old, but I think the Israelis are going to get away with boxing the Palestinians into giant open air zoos, throwing US financed security forces at every corner of their border, and slowly forcing their way into the remaining territories that are economically viable. The two-state solution is dead, Bibi said so himself. But the rightwingers fear more than anything losing their "Jewish" character, so slowly integrating the Palestinians living on the territories is out of the question.
I foresee more of the same herding technique where the Palestinians get pushed further and further back into specific areas, similar to how we formed the Native American reservations, except Palestinians won't have any rights and will remain de facto stateless and wholly dependent on the Israeli state.
Who is going to protest this reality? The boycott movement has been attacked from all sides and doesn't seem to be having much if any impact. Which countries are going to step up and change this inevitable status quo? Crucially, the Palestinians have lost the interest of the "international community", and with it the prospect of governments willing to step into the fire and spend political capital by brokering negotiations. There is too much shit going in the world that's relayed across the globe at every hour to actually focus global energy on a slow-burning international debacle like this one. And zero leaders to deal with it beyond Trump on the sidelines throwing gasoline on the fire and patting himself on the back for his big brain.
Hard to squeeze the whole story into one letter to the editor. Likely couldn't have even had I known seen the latest.
Had no sooner sent to our local paper a revised version of the "Sting" draft that appeared here, which among other things highlighted the Repug food stamp scam, than I came across this from "Talking Point Memo."
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-admin-poised-to-give-rural-whites-a-carve-out-on-medicaid-work-rules
What bastards! Their meanness has no bounds.
We've all been looking for sense in foreign policy and in trade.
In domestic policy all we have to look for is mean.
"Blood" she said. "It's blood."
52 Palestinians dead in a riot over Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, thereby giving the royal finger to Palestinian hopes for a two state solution. That many dead is terrible, but over 2,300 others were injured and wounded by Israeli gunfire and the ensuing chaos.
Bibi blames Hamas. It's always their fault, right Bibi? Israel has no agency at all.
Fifty miles down the road, Javanka was smiling, Bibi was happy and waving, and Donaldo appeared on the big screen, like Big Brother in that Apple commercial, announcing that keeping the embassy in Tel Aviv was a barrier to peace. He really said that. "After more than two decades of [waiving the decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem], we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians."
Because "peace" is the Trumpy goal.
So while Trumpy and Bibi and Javanka and the rest of the nationalists danced and smiled and waved and cheered, Israeli forces were unleashing death on Palestinians.
Nobel Peace Prize, here we come!
Safari is exactly correct. Palestinians are screwed. Trump is shitting on them. Bibi is shooting them. Most of the rest of the West will probably shake their heads sadly and few have the sand to make a difference.
But there are entities out there who are watching this clown show carefully. And they don't know from peace, but they do know one thing very well.
Those are the guys who know how to make bombs. Because what the hell else do they have to look forward to now? There have always been whackos. But when the situation becomes as bleak as the current one orchestrated by Bibi and Trumpy, when average Joes on the street say "Well, screw it", then you're in for it, because I guaran-fucking-tee it. With so many people now in a completely hopeless situation, with no upside to anything, why would they sit there and take it? In this country (the US), when a controlling power was telling us to sit down and shut up and not complain when we were being shot, we revolted and shot back.
The most insulting bullshit is to listen to Young Jared (he who has been tasked with bringing peace to the Middle East, all while trying to stay out of prison here in the states) and the little king wheedle on about how peace is just around the corner (after the blood is cleaned off the street).
I listened this afternoon to a reporter at the Gaza border relate a story about an NPR producer at a hospital that had already run out of medications and an ability to treat the hundreds being brought in, asking an attending physician the source of the terrible, overpowering smell filtering through the entire facility.
"Blood" she said. "It's blood".
Peace Prize on the way, Donaldo. All to make Duck Dynasty dimwits happy.
This is beyond terrible. This shit is evil.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/world/middleeast/gaza-protests-palestinians-us-embassy.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=nytmm_FadingSlideShow_item&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
I keep thinking this is some kind of bad dream but, it ain't.
Melania Trump had kidney surgery today and Harry Reid has also undergone surgery for a removal of a tumor from his pancreas.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/melania-trump-recovering-from-kidney-surgery_us_5af9e0eee4b044dfffb4ed69
Farewell Tom Wolfe. Your first book title, "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" could be recycled were you to
writeerr-rr skewer the current inhabitant of the White House. Perhaps you left just such an unfinished manuscript behind.Tho' you might drop Streamline from the title.
Farewell Tom Wolfe. Your first book title, "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" could be recycled were you to
writeerr-rr skewer the current inhabitant of the White House. Perhaps you left just such an unfinished manuscript behind.Tho' you might drop Streamline from the title.