;)
The Commentariat -- May 20, 2015
Internal links removed.
Mitch Folds. Donna Cassata of the AP: "The Senate will vote on legislation that ends the National Security Agency's bulk collection of millions of Americans' phone records as Congress scrambles to renew the Patriot Act before it expires on June 1. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has opposed the House bill to reauthorize the post-Sept. 11 law while significantly changing the NSA's bulk collection, preferring to simply renew the Patriot Act. But he told reporters Tuesday that he will allow a vote on the measure that passed the House overwhelmingly last week and has the backing of the Obama administration.... Congress must deal with the law's fate before lawmakers leave town for the weeklong Memorial Day recess." ...
... Scott Shane of the New York Times on Ed Snowden's virtual "travels" & his successes in altering even Members of Congress's views of NSA bulk collection of phone records.
When Confederate "Values" Are Inconvenient. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Both houses of Congress are moving to guarantee greater access to contraceptives for women in the military, actions that lawmakers say are prompted in part by concern about unplanned pregnancies in the armed forces. The annual defense policy bill, passed on Friday by the House, says military clinics and hospitals must be able to dispense any method of contraception approved by the Food and Drug Administration." CW: Pretty amazing how pliable the old boys' "values" are. Of course they let Democratic women sponsor the bills, then they quietly went along.
Here's some more confederate "values" for you. David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: "Ten minutes after President Barack Obama announced he would be personally tweeting from his new Twitter account, the right began calling him a 'n*gger.'... Of course, the 'n' word wasn't the only ugly slur the right threw at @POTUS. We counted eleven instances of tweets calling @POTUS a 'fag,' five with 'faggot' or 'faggots,' and you can imagine the rest of the tweets from the right." Stupidly, Facebook took down Badash's report on the tweets. CW: Values voters, my ass. Via Jonathan Capehart. ...
... Oh, there's more. Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "A reader points out that if you enter a search for 'N***** king' -- which contains a particularly offensive racial epithet for African Americans — Google Maps will point you to the White House. We tested the claim on Tuesday night and confirmed that, yes, this is a thing. It even zooms the camera in, automatically.... Other reports suggest that you get the same result if you search for 'n***a house.' We've tested this, as well. 'Some inappropriate results are surfacing in Google Maps that should not be, and we apologize for any offense this may have caused,' said a Google spokesperson. 'Our teams are working to fix this issue quickly.' A mounting list of such pranks has led Google to suspend people's ability to submit edits to Google Maps for the time being."
Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Doug Elmendorf, the director of the nonpartisan CBO at the time of the law's drafting and passage, says the idea that the subsidies would be limited to states creating their own exchange was never brought up while his office was estimating the cost of the law. 'It was a common understanding on the Hill, again on both sides of the Hill, on both sides of the aisle, in late 2009 and early 2010, that subsidies would be available through the federal exchange as well as through state exchanges,' Elmendorf said in an interview...." CW: It would have been nice if the DOJ had bothered to interview Elmendorf before King v. Burwell -- the case challenging this aspect of the law -- had its final hearing in the Supreme Court. Of course as Sullivan points out, "... congressional intent is not the entire consideration.... The more conservative justices are more inclined to look at the plain text of the law itself, which the challengers argue clearly limits the subsidies to state exchanges." When it suits them.
Ken Vogel of Politico: "Bill Clinton's huge post-White House paydays loomed over a congressional panel's vote on Tuesday to slash taxpayer-funded benefits to former presidents.... Clinton's post-presidential earnings, which have dogged the presidential campaign of his wife Hillary Clinton, provided the backdrop for consideration of the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act, and seemed to be on the minds of Republican committee members.... Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisc.) [said,] 'The thing I like about this bill is that, if people begin to earn outside income trading on their office, the income that we give them begins to drop and hopefully it will restore some dignity to the office of ex-president.' After the mark-up, Grothman's office acknowledged that he was, in fact, talking about Bill Clinton.... Clinton and his office by Election Day 2016 will have received more than $16 million through the Former Presidents Act, according to a Politico analysis.... Since former George W. Bush left office in 2009, though, he has outpaced Clinton in the value of total benefits received through the program...."
AND now for a brief word from our Dumbest Senator. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Sen. Ron Johnson, the Homeland Security Committee chairman, says when it comes to a nuclear deal with Iran, he's 'not so sure' he trusts President Obama over the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 'Now, a President who was awarded the 2013 Politifact Lie of the Year, if you like your healthcare plan you can keep it, period. If you like your doctor you can keep it, period. They lied boldfaced to the American public repeatedly with Obamacare,' the Wisconsin senator said at a recent town hall in Cerdarburg, Wisconsin." ... CW: I suspect Sen. Dummkopf would be shocked to learn that Bloomberg & the World Health Organization both rated Iran's healthcare system better than the U.S.'s & that basic healthcare is a constitutional right in Iran. To guarantee healthcare to all Iranians, President Hassan Rouhani introduced "RouhaniCare" last year. Obummer. ...
... Nick Gass of Politico: "Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that he would not tolerate 'unreasonable demands' from world powers during nuclear negotiations, making clear that he would not allow inspectors to interview the country's scientists." CW: Which is way okay, because Khamenei is probably more trustworthy than our own President.
Just a reminder that Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) is still kind of a jackass. Marc Caputo of Politico: "Florida Rep. Alan Grayson recently called his estranged wife a 'gold digger,' but a review of the potential Senate candidate's soap-opera divorce case shows he unsuccessfully tried to have her criminally charged for far less: ringing up grocery, gasoline and car-repair expenses on his credit card. Grayson's previously unreported effort to have Lolita Grayson arrested on credit-card fraud charges was revealed in one of her court filings that complained about the wealthy Democrat's tactics to withhold money from her."
Justin McCarthy of Gallup: "Sixty percent of Americans now support same-sex marriage, as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on its constitutionality next month. This is up from 55% last year and is the highest Gallup has found on the question since it was first asked in 1996." See also Ted Cruz's comments, linked under Presidential Race below. CW: Looks as if Gallup -- a traditionally conservative polling outfit -- is now part of the "liberal media" "obsessed with sex," Ted. Also, 60 percent of Americans. ...
... BTW, Ted, it isn't only MSNBC-indoctrinated lefties who are "obsessed with sex." Queerty: "Until 2 p.m. on Monday, the 'Our Church Staff' section of St. John's Lutheran Church and School's website described Reverend Matthew Makela as an associate pastor who enjoys, 'family, music, home improvement, gardening and landscaping, and sports.' Screenshots obtained by Queerty ... shed light on some of the Reverend's other favorite past times -- namely nude make out sessions and sex with other men." ...
... Gabrielle Bluestone of Gawker: "In the meantime, the church is urging its congregation not to read or turn on the television so that they might avoid inadvertently discovering what happened to that nice pastor man." Makela "resigned" his post.
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "A federal grand jury has indicted six Chinese citizens for what authorities say was a long-running conspiracy to steal valuable technology from two U.S. firms for the benefit of the Chinese government."
Hugh Naylor of the Washington Post: "The fall of Ramadi amounts to more than the loss of a major city in Iraq’s largest province, analysts say. It could undermine Sunni support for Iraq's broader effort to drive back the Islamic State, vastly complicating the war effort.... A bloc of Sunni parties in the Iraqi parliament issued a statement Tuesday saying they 'blame the government' for Ramadi's capture by the Islamic State. The bloc, called the National Forces Union, demanded an investigation and called on the government to send arms to Anbar and pay salaries to pro-government fighters in the province." ...
... See also Dexter Filkins' assessment in the New Yorker. Filkins is a highly-knowledgeable, reliable reporter. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link.
Presidential Race
Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "For close to an hour on Tuesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton talked with owners of small businesses [in Cedar Falls, Iowa,] about the issues on their minds, like whether they would enjoy better access to credit if small local banks were given regulatory relief and whether a major trade deal up for debate in Washington could wind up hurting American workers. Then Mrs. Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for president, took a handful of questions from reporters, and the topics were sharply different, and sharper in tone: her personal wealth, her use of a private email while she was secretary of state, her family foundation's acceptance of foreign donations and the 2003 invasion in Iraq. She called her own vote in the Senate to authorize the invasion 'a mistake.'" ...
... Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Hillary Rodham Clinton broke a long drought to take a few questions from the traveling press [in Cedar Falls, Iowa,] Tuesday, distancing herself from President Obama's trade pact and defending the millions of dollars she and her husband have made from giving speeches.... Clinton also said in response to a reporter's question that she favors having the State Department release e-mails from her time as secretary of state as soon as possible: 'I want those e-mails out.'" ...
... Eric Bradner of CNN: "Hillary Clinton took aim Tuesday at two core components of a massive free trade pact that President Barack Obama is negotiating — signaling some agreement with the deal's liberal critics. The Democratic front-runner in the 2016 presidential race said she wants to see rules included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would penalize countries for driving down the value of their currencies in order to give their exports a price advantage in the U.S. market. And she said she's concerned about a provision that would give 'corporations more power to overturn health and environmental and labor rules than consumers have.'" ...
... Jack Shafer of Politico is fairly pissed-off at President Hillary: "What the press still fails to appreciate about Hillary Clinton is that she’s not running for president, she's running as president, and all the usual rules about when and how she should speak don't apply to her. In her mind -- and who can blame her? -- she's the incumbent, this is a reelection campaign, and she occupies a place miles above the liquescent bogs of petty politics into which reporters would dunk her." CW: Anyhow, thanks, Jack, for teaching me a new word, which thanks to Merriam-Webster's audio, I can now even pronounce. ...
... AND of course Ron Fournier is in a lather over All Things Hillary. This time it's the e-mails. ...
... Laura Clawson of Daily Kos: "A federal judge said no to the State Department's plan to release Hillary Clinton's work-related emails to the public in January 2016. That's the date by which State said it could have reviewed all of the emails, but U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras said that instead, there should be a 'rolling production' of the emails." CW: Excellent. A horror story a week. And, as Clawson figures, "Look for House Benghazi Czar Trey Gowdy to come up with new demands about 10 minutes after each step of this process." ...
... Justin Fishel of ABC News: "With voracious campaign reporters and now Hillary Clinton herself demanding to know when her emails will finally be made public, deep within the State Department lies a small factory of workers tasked with the laborious task of sorting, reading, redacting and reviewing paper copies of what now amounts to hundreds of thousands of pages of documents."
... Dana Milbank: "... the fact that [Hillary Clinton] was unveiling her Citizens United litmus test [for nominees to the Supreme Court] with party fat cats at an exclusive soiree (four days later, she mentioned it to voters in Iowa) tells you all you need to know about Clinton's awkward -- and often hypocritical -- relationship with campaign-finance reform. Even as she denounces super PACs, she;s counting on two of them, Priorities USA Action and Correct the Record, to support her candidacy -- a necessary evil, her campaign says.... If she really thinks money is corrupting politics, she can take concrete steps right now." ...
... Benghaazi! Mark Hosenball of Reuters: "Congressional investigators have issued a subpoena demanding that former Clinton White House adviser Sidney Blumenthal testify next month before the House of Representatives committee investigating the 2012 attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya." CW: Not sure whom I'm rooting for. It's the Jerks versus the Jackass. ...
... Charles Pierce: "There are two things I can guarantee about this event. 1) Nothing will come of it except for some grandstanding by Gowdy's committee because there's really nothing there.... 2) Blumenthal will say or do something before the hearings or during the hearings that will make matters worse." ...
... Margaret Talev of Bloomberg: "Iowa Democrats are rallying around Hillary Clinton with pragmatic enthusiasm, acknowledging distaste and concern over some of her tactics and ethics while embracing her strengths, experience, and policies heading into the 2016 presidential election. A focus group of 10 Democrats -- five women and five men -- assembled this week in Des Moines by Bloomberg Politics and Washington-based Purple Strategies was mostly willing to look past Clinton's paid speeches, her Wall Street ties, the controversy over her use of private e-mail while secretary of state, and her refusal so far to weigh in as a candidate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that has turned many Democrats against President Barack Obama."
Bernie Sanders has a little chat with Wolf Blitzer about what to do about income inequality. The segment begins about 1:15 min. in. I love Bernie!:
For a Big Guy, Chris Christie Can Do an Amazing Flipflop. Kira Lerner of Think Progress: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Monday that he does not support finding a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, making a complete shift from his previous position ahead of his likely presidential campaign announcement. The governor's comments come less than two years after he won re-election in his immigrant-filled state by reaching out to minorities and promising benefits for undocumented immigrants." Of President Obama's executive action to grant relief to an estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants, Christie said, "I think that's an extreme way to go. And I think that, quite frankly, what Hillary Clinton's doing right now is pandering. That's pandering." CW: Apparently nearly half of Americans, including millions of Republicans, are crazed immigration extremists. Good luck with your pander-free flipflop, Guv.
Bobby Blanchard of the Texas Tribune: Sen. Ted Cruz "visiting Beaumont[, Texas,] to meet privately with county officials and others, got in a light sparring round with reporters, mainly working on his attacks on Hillary Clinton and defending his views on same-sex marriage. 'Is there something about the left -- and I am going to put the media in this category '' that is obsessed with sex?' Cruz asked after fielding multiple questions on gay rights. 'ISIS is executing homosexuals -- you want to talk about gay rights?...' 'With respect, I would suggest not drawing your questions from MSNBC. They have very few viewers and they are a radical and extreme partisan outlet,' Cruz told a reporter. He cited the expansion of 'mandatory same-sex marriage' as an assault on religious liberty in the United States." CW: Still waiting for "the government" to make me marry some lucky lady under the "mandatory same-sex marriage" rule. If I don't care for the match, I'm voting for Ted. Meanwhile, Bobby Jindal seems pretty "obsessed with sex." See Beyond the Beltway link below.
Gubernatorial Race
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The bitter Kentucky Republican gubernatorial primary is going into overtime. Businessman Matt Bevin edged state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer by only 83 votes -- less than a tenth of a percentage point of the more than 214,000 votes cast -- with all precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press. Comer quickly declared his intent to request a recanvass, which will give election officials a chance to check their math. If he wants a full recount, Kentucky law requires him to post a bond to support the cost.The expected influx of absentee and military ballots could further complicate the process.... Democrat Jack Conway, the state attorney general ... cruised to his party's nomination on Tuesday.... Establishment Republicans have worried that Bevin is the actually the party's weakest option against Conway, suggesting he escaped serious scrutiny while his opponents focused on each other and never had to answer for the flaws that sank his [2014] Senate [primary] campaign [against Mitch McConnell] -- including revelations he attended a rally for cockfighting supporters."
Beyond the Beltway
Justin Moyer of the Washington Post: "On Tuesday, to the dismay of Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), Louisiana's proposed Marriage and Conscience Act failed in the state's house. The legislation ... would have prohibited 'the state from taking any adverse action against a person on the basis that such person acted in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction about marriage.'" Jindal said he would issue an executive order "that will ... prevent the state from discriminating against persons or entities with deeply held religious beliefs that marriage is between one man and one woman." CW: Maybe this link should go under Presidential Race, but really, Bobby's "deeply held religious beliefs" have knocked him out of the running, if he was ever in it. ...
... The Times-Picayune story, by Emily Lane, is here. An updated story, by Lane, is here: "The order was issued Tuesday afternoon and went into effect immediately, said Jindal at a meeting with reporters in his office that evening." Jindal's order is here.
Peter Jamison & David Zahniser of the Los Angeles Times: "The Los Angeles City Council tentatively agreed Tuesday to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour, joining a trend sweeping cities across the country as elected leaders seek to address stagnating pay for workers on the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder. The ordinance would boost the $9 an hour base wage to $15 by 2020 for as many as 800,000 workers, city officials say, and make L.A. the largest U.S. city to adopt a major minimum-wage increase. Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle already have adopted similar laws."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Nearly 34 million cars and trucks nationwide were declared defective Tuesday because of deadly air bags made by auto-parts giant Takata, in what is expected to be the biggest recall of any consumer product in U.S. history. The expanded recall doubled the number of vehicles believed to have the air bags, which can blast out sharp metal shrapnel when deployed, a flaw that has been linked to six deaths and more than 100 injuries." ...
... The Post has a partial list of the vehicle makes that may have the dangerous air bags. "But neither automakers nor the government has made it easy to find out whether your car is included -- and how it should be fixed.... Consumers reported Tuesday that they got conflicting answers or no answers at all when they called dealerships about the recall. Meanwhile, car manufacturers said people should continue to drive their vehicles -- even those with the deadly defect -- until the parts arrive at their local dealerships." CW: Comforting. You can still get to work, but do watch for flying shapnel.
ABC News: "Vice President Joe Biden's son, Beau Biden, is undergoing treatment at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the Office of the Vice President told ABC News."
Guardian: "Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has cancelled a pilot scheme banning Palestinian workers from Israeli buses in the occupied territories -- denounced as tantamount to apartheid -- only hours after it was announced. The plan had been approved by Netanyahu's defence minister, Moshe Ya'alon, but was cancelled amid fierce criticism from Israeli opposition figures, human rights groups and a former minister in Netanyahu's own party, who said it was a 'stain on the face of Israel' that would damage its international image."
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Regarding the failed Louisiana legislation that "... would have prohibited 'the state from taking any adverse action against a person on the basis that such person acted in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction about marriage”
The first thing I think of, after reading the above phrase, is "honor killing." After reading the article, I don't see any language that would prohibit the practice. This is frightening.
Seymour Hersh stands by his bin Laden story and his sources. Hersh has a sterling record of unearthing the truth; why would he, in this situation, be wrong? The CIA, on the other hand, has a history of duplicity as have Presidents and their administrations. One then has to weigh the circumstances here and instead of pillorying Hersh as some have been doing, it might be prudent to re-examine.
href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/seymour_hersh_on_bin_laden_story_anonymous_sources_20150518">http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/seymour_hersh_on_bin_laden_story_anonymous_sources_20150518
Dexter Filkins provides a sobering assessment of the state of the conflict in Iraq in light of the recent ISIS gain of Ramedi.
Nisky Guy,
Not to worry. Even though when I first read your comment, I had a momentary start, thinking that you were entirely correct, and that honor killings and other religiously condoned horrors might now be acceptable. Not only acceptable, but protected. But then I came to my senses and realized that such atrocities and disregard for constitutional rights will only be allowed for Christians. Horrible shit stemming from other religions will still be prosecuted (although I'd bet that if Muslim bakers, or Sikhs, or Zoroastrians wanted to tell gay and lesbian customers to take a hike, that'd be okay).
Bobby Jindal is working hard to resurrect his law protecting discriminators from being discriminated against by disallowing their discrimination.
But, I'm guessing that if a gay couple approached six different Christian bakers in their Louisiana town and one agreed to bake them a wedding cake, and the other five bakers descended on the renegade apostate and carried out an honor killing, you know, for Jesus....and FREEEDOM, that would be cool.
Something I have always felt passionately about is "Headstart" and how its opportunities are crucial to low income families. Several nights ago PBS had a segment on this and although its reporting was under the guise of giving the pros and the cons it lacked crucial information. If you read this transcript pay close attention to one Russ Whitehurst, a Senior Fellow at Brookings and his advocation of vouchers. Russ, like others who are reluctant to have government fund this program, come up with the argument that the children who were/are in Headstart" do not show any significant gain once they reach the older grades. I find this preposterous! These children come from homes where books are absent, where their parents may not even be able to read, etc. The gains they make put them at an even keel with the average student of better means. Why would one expect them to excel at a higher level? So, yes, they themselves make significant gains. And no one cited the follow up of the Perry Preschool longitudinal study of Headstarters to age twenty-seven, that found that this group less likely than a control group, to be involved in crime, and over-all had lives that were deemed successful.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/whats-legacy-head-start-50-years/
Unions, Walmart, and backed up toilets.
Okay, which do you want to hear about first?
Let's start with the toilets. No, scratch that. We'll get to that in a minute. First, let's talk about how Walmart just LOVES them their employees. So much so that they're making them all watch a newly produced anti-union video, 'cause unions are the devil and besides, Walmart employees don't need no stinkin' union, right? How do they know? Walmart tells them so. Then they get employees (or actors) to tell other employees:
"The thing I remember most about the union is, that they took dues money out of my paycheck before I ever saw it... just like taxes."
"...just like taxes". Nice touch.
And I love this next one:
"I'll tell ya, every job has its ups and downs...and a union can't change that.”
Because unions were started in order not to do anything.
But here's my favorite:
"I don't think Walmart associates should have to have someone to speak for them. It's just not that kind of place."
Yes! Walmart blathers on about their open door policy where, as an employee, you are encouraged to come in and talk about your problems so Walmart can take immediate action and FIRE YOUR ASS :
"The National Labor Relations Board issued the largest-ever complaint against Walmart today for breaking federal labor law by violating workers’ rights. The complaint alleges Walmart illegally fired and disciplined more than 117 workers, including those who went on strike last June to speak out for better jobs."
The NLRB named 63 managers in 34 stores in 14 states as engaging in illegal retaliation against employees speaking out about working conditions or pay, a plan that must stem from the upper echelons of Walmart executives. And talk of Walmart executives brings us around once more to backed up toilets.
The above action took place about a year ago. Since then, Walmart has upped the ante on anti-union activities, including the above mentioned video, which, try as I might, I have not been able to find. As soon as the video was leaked, it went viral but by this morning, you can't find more than a screen shot and part of the script.. But never mind all that, says Walmart. We have "plumbing problems" and we have to shut down five stores. Right now, today, with two hours notice to the 2,200 employees let go. Why?
Employees at at these stores have been saying bad words like "Union" and "wage inequality" and other uncouth commie stuff like that. Sooooo....Daddy Walmart is sending all those naughty children to bed without supper. No supper, that is, for the foreseeable future. Or breakfast or lunch. Or rent. And not only that, when and if the stores reopen, the fired employees will not be hired back immediately. They have to reapply along with anyone else who wants their shitty jobs.
Over the past few years, a number of Walmart schemes to fuck employees' attempts to wring a decent living out of the crumbs that might accidentally tumble off the Waltons' groaning board have been leaked. A management anti-union Powerpoint made the rounds last year. One of the highlights is the production of "early warning signs" for managers to help them recognize the possible incursion of union talk among their employees ("Is someone talking about having a better life?") with recommendations on rooting out the bastards.
So don't be fooled by Walmart's recent announcement that they had decided to increase their largesse toward employees by giving them not one, but TWO bathroom breaks a day. They are still the epitome of what the GOP promotes as Ayn Randian capitalism at work (lookin' at you Paul Ryan and Rand Paul), which translates as Hurray for Me and Fuck You. And you, and you, and you, and you too, that elderly employee who just keeled over from hunger in the ammo aisle. Get back to work, you lazy moocher!
The Angel of History is Back.
And is he pissed.
The Angel of History, in the imagination of the great Walter Benjamin, is propelled violently into the future even as he looks back on the rubble of the past:
"His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet...The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress."
I've been reading Benjamin's massive but unfinished (not sure how he would have finished it anyway) "Arcades Project", a panoramic exhumation of the Passages couverts de Paris, 19th century iron and glass structures through which Benjamin, as the ultimate historical flâneur, explored the history of Paris. I bring this up because of Benjamin's own tragic history (chased by the Nazis while trying to escape to neutral Spain only to be stopped at the border, ending his own life rather than being dragged away by the Gestapo) and because history itself is so tenuous and malleable once historical landmarks of documented facts are swallowed in the fog and lost from sight. Benjamin was always aware of this problem and aware, as well, of "chains of events" that comprise historical catastrophes (his own included).
Confederates, now forced to confront their recent past support for the historical debacle that is Iraq, are working feverishly to chloroform the Angel of History, but he isn't easily overcome. They have several favorite ways to try to put him down.
One is to simply deny the facts, make up less inconvenient ones, another is to deny and simplify, the preferred method of such as Bill (Always Wrong) Kristol, who tried to convince readers that Iraq was peaceful and content and on the verge of elevated democracy when George W. Bush left office, a ridiculous lie, but the fact that it was so easily rebutted never phases Confederates. Like certain species of birds, they are wedded for life to their lies.
Yet another technique is that employed the other day by David (Perennial Douchebag) Brooks, the Counterfactual History Ploy. Brooks opens his insultingly ignorant piece by wondering, nose in the air, faux air of seriousness surrounding him like a gas cloud of flatulence, whether, if we had a chance to strangle Baby Hitler, would we do it? Knowing what we know now, of course. Then he goes on to suggest all the benefits to the world that have come from Hitler's not being strangled as a baby, such as the economic and social changes erupting from WWII. So the point is....? Hitler was not so bad??
This doesn't even count as intellectual wanking. It's just pure wanking. Self abuse, as they say. Brooks jerking off while tearing out unwanted pages of recent history books about Iraq. "What if..." and "mistakes were made, but not so bad..."
Counterfactual history makes for entertaining bedtime reading or bullshit sessions over a couple of beers (what if Ted Williams played for the Yankees and Joe DiMaggio played for the Red Sox? What if the North lost the Civil War?). But a road to serious historical interrogation and analysis it ain't.
Republicans have a tough time with history. Michelle Bachmann's fantasies about founders fighting slavery for Jesus was a doozy. How about Haley Barbour remembering that blacks were always happy and singing about watermelons when he was a boy in the deep south? Fox host Eric Bolling and Rudy Giuliani both declared that there was no terrorist attack in the US while Bush was president. Reagan never raised taxes. Paul Revere warned the British. Joe McCarthy was a hero. States have a right to secede (Rick Perry STILL believes this). And now Jeb Bush is trying to rewrite history as well. His brother was hoodwinked into invading Iraq. Of course he was.
Which brings us back to the Angel of History's scenic overlook of historical catastrophes. An excellent, well sourced piece on Daily Kos makes the case for the continuing damage done by Bush's War of Choice, by way of demonstrating how Bush created ISIS and should be required reading for all Americans, even those who think history is whatever Sean Hannity says it is. According to the historical revisionists on the right, Obama not only created ISIS, but he is funding it and at times controlling it (google "Obama created ISIS" and you get over 5 million hits). The right not only creates their own reality, they make up their own historical narratives, custom made to ignore facts and fit their desires. And don't miss the primary subtext of nearly all their historical fantasies. They cannot be blamed for anything. Nothing.
History, like Benjamin's arcades, is dense; reflected images, bright lights, and dazzling window displays call out to us, siren-like, to pay no attention to those homeless people sleeping in the doorways of shops selling exquisite goods to wealthy clients. Benjamin wasn't distracted and neither should we be.
The Bush family and the Republican Party turn their backs on history, but the Angel is always there, watching the wreckage pile up, he flies into the future, eyes on the carnage of the past. Allowing these assholes to rewrite history means we too miss its lessons and the Angel will shake his head at us as well as he flies by.
PD,
Good pick on how the Brookings Institute guy tries to move the goalposts on Headstart efforts.
Complaining that kids who started out with huge disadvantages have not done significantly better than kids for whom advantages are a way of life is like criticizing an amputee who learned to run with a prosthetic leg for chalking up only an average time in the Boston Marathon.
Rather, I would pay attention to Darren Walker who says that Headstart changed his life. I guess so. From a shotgun shack in Texas to president of the Ford Foundation. Not too shabby.
Don't you just love the pre-emptive excuse Chris Christie is making up for why he probably won't be running for president (besides NJ sinking into the Atlantic Ocean, Bridgegate, approval rating below that of Bubonic Plague, money guys deserting him, fuckups everywhere he looks, polling in negative numbers)?
"Well, it looks like I may not be running for president 'cause my constituents love me so much, they want me to stay"
Sounds a little like the kid who's trying to get out of being beaten up by other kids by saying "Oh, hey, I think I hear my mom calling. I have to go home for supper now, otherwise she'll come looking for me."
Sure Chris. Have enjoy that fried chicken. Say hi to your mom for us.
Akhilleus,
A few weeks back when I was at a local meeting of rabble rousers, I suggested to the OurWalmart representative that in the areas where Walmart abruptly closed its stores and threw hundreds out of work unionized plumbing workers volunteer to fix the plumbing "problems" posthaste. Reports are that the plumbing problems are either minimal or non-existent, so it shouldn't take much time; it would put Walmart in the spotlight (and on the spot); and of course, that gesture would make a nice press release and likely garner plenty of attention on the local (and maybe national) news.
I was told my notion would be passed on but haven't heard anything since. Maybe I'll check with my contacts and find out what I can about the current OurWalmart strategy.
ENDANGERED SPECIES
To be an American reporter in Iraq,any kind of American, is not just to be a target yourself, but it is to make a target of others, too.
––––Dexter Filkins
This day—a spectacular autumn day—a Sunday
with coffee, rolls, the New York Times
spread upon this large oak table
facing south to get the sun
not now shining in Iraq
where Dexter Filkins under fire in Baghdad
is unable to report
to us the way he wants
for fear of his life
being taken suddenly—perhaps
on this beautiful Sunday
if he ventures too far
And wide is the terror
of this unmitigated war
taking with it so many lost lives
that used to spend
Sundays like this.
2004
@AK: good stuff on the history of angels and black holes.
By the way, I left a message for you on yesterday's comments re: your dolls and "fritz" business.