;)
The Commentariat -- October 12, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Towers of Jello. James Hohmann of the Washington Post. "Republican elected officials are personally outraged and ashamed by something their party's nominee says or does. So they distance themselves. But as soon as they face a whiff of blowback from some in the party, they cave and fall back in line. Then they offer up excuses and rationalizations, twisting themselves into pretzels to justify voting for a guy who some will tell you privately is a danger to the Republic. It's happened over and over again now, and it validates what Trump himself said during the primaries: Many politicians are indeed craven and interested mainly in maintaining power for themselves, principles be damned." Akhilleus: I think I'm being unkind to weasels. Even calling these pusillanimous frauds cowardly would be unfair to most cowards. They are a special brand of spineless poltroon.
Buyer's Remorse. Trump donors want their money back, dammit! Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News. "Two big-money donors who have given or raised tens of thousands of dollars for Donald Trump are livid at the Republican presidential nominee and are asking for their money back, according to a bundler who raised money for Trump.... 'I regret coming to the Trump support event, and in particular allowing my son to be a part of it,' [a] donor, who had given to and raised money for Trump, said. 'I respectfully request that my money be refunded.' Senior Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the campaign is 'unaware of any donors making such a request.'"Akhilleus: Anyone think Trump will actually return the money? Soitanly not! I mean the guy doesn't pay anyone. Why would he give money back to schmoes he's already conned? Besides, Trump has already spent that money on a rack full of those pussy bow blouses Melania wore to the debate. The ones Maureen Dowd wasted an entire column considering.
Scott Suppression Scheme Scotched. Gary Rohrer of the LA Times. "Floridians will get one more week, through Tuesday, Oct. 18, to register to vote, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The move could tip the balance of a pivotal swing state as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump make their pitch to voters in the final month of the campaign. After a one hour hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker ruled the right to vote was fundamental and shouldn't be jeopardized because of a natural disaster like Hurricane Matthew.... The suit was filed Sunday by the Florida Democratic Party after Gov. Rick Scott refused to extend the deadline due to disruptions caused by Hurricane Matthew...Akhilleus
Message from Russia: Elect Trump or else. Andrew Osborn of Reuters. "Americans should vote for Donald Trump as president next month or risk being dragged into a nuclear war, according to a Russian ultra-nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin who likes to compare himself to the U.S. Republican candidate. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker known for his fiery rhetoric, told Reuters in an interview that Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington." Akhilleus: Yes, and I am Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Zhirinovsky goes so far as to award Trumpy a pre-wrapped Nobel Peace Prize, which he can gaze at while Putin goes on a rampage across Eastern Europe.
*****
Presidential Race
Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: "The stark choice that Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump pose for voters goes as well for their revised tax plans: Mr. Trump would simplify the tax code but cut taxes mainly for the rich and add trillions of dollars to the federal debt, while Mrs. Clinton would do the opposite, an independent analysis released Tuesday concluded." Clinton's plan would not add to the national debt. "Her plan would increase federal revenue $1.4 trillion over the first decade. Rather than lower the federal debt, however, Mrs. Clinton would use the money to pay for education and other initiatives." -- CW
Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "In a rare return to presidential politics, [Al] Gore, who was Bill Clinton's vice president, joined Hillary Clinton [at Miami Dade College] for a 45-minute Democratic call to arms.... 'Your vote really, really, really counts,' he said, in the state synonymous with his excruciating 2000 election loss. 'You can consider me as an Exhibit A.'... Introducing Mr. Gore, Mrs. Clinton spoke of clean energy, curbside gardens, the Paris climate agreement and Donald J. Trump's suggestion that climate change is a hoax. She commended Mr. Gore's Nobel Peace Prize and his documentary, 'An Inconvenient Truth,'...." -- CW ...
... Russell Berman of the Atlantic has more.
Nolan McCaskill & Sarah Wheaton of Politico: "President Barack Obama ... openly mocking Republicans who are refusing to rescind their endorsements even as they condemn the nominee for talking cavalierly about sexual assault. 'The fact that now you've got people saying: "Well, we strongly disapprove. We really disagree. We find those comments disgusting, but we're still endorsing him. We still think he should be president." That doesn't make sense to me,' Obama said Tuesday during a Hillary Clinton rally in Greensboro, North Carolina.... The president slammed Trump on myriad issues, including taxes, his threat to jail Clinton ('no trial, no indictment, no lawyers') and the rhetoric from his supporters -- specifically conservative radio host Alex Jones, who suggested that Obama and Clinton are demons." CW: The full speech is here.
Kathleen Hennessey & Julie Pace of the AP: "Hillary Clinton's top adviser said the FBI is investigating Russia's possible role in hacking thousands of his personal emails, an intrusion he said Donald Trump's campaign may have been aware of in advance. If true, the assertion from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta would amount to an extraordinary link between Russia and an American presidential campaign. Podesta said the alleged ties could be driven either by Trump's policy positions, which at times echo the Kremlin, or the Republican's 'deep engagement and ties with Russian interests in his business affairs.'" -- CW
Mark Leibovich, in the New York Times Magazine, has a long piece -- likely the cover -- on Hillary Clinton & the dynamics of this year's election. Leibovich interviewed Clinton in Ohio in early October. -- CW
Hold On, America, He's Been Holding Back Until Now! Stephen Collinson, et al., of CNN: "Donald Trump is launching a kamikaze mission -- fracturing his own party four weeks before Election Day. The GOP nominee is lashing out in a stream of tweets boiling with rage and resentment, slamming House Speaker Paul Ryan for effectively cutting him loose and accusing the party leadership of dooming his campaign. It's a meltdown unprecedented by a presidential nominee this late in the year. 'It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to,' Trump said in a tweet that raised the prospect of a full on civil war in the Republican Party. Akhilleus: Poor Donaldo, he's been laboring in slavery so far, but now he'll eally show everyone a thing or two. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)...
Nikita Vladimirov of the Hill: "Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted Speaker Paul Ryan in an interview with 'The O'Reilly Factor,' stating that he no longer wants the Wisconsin Republican's support. When asked if he thinks establishment Republicans, including Ryan, will support him as president if he's elected, Trump said yes while speculating about the speaker's future. 'They'll be there. I would think that Ryan maybe wouldn't be there, maybe he'll be in a different position. The fact is, I think we should get support and we don't get the support from guys like Paul Ryan,' [Trump] ... said...." -- CW ...
... Jonathan Swan of the Hill: "Steve Bannon, the chairman of the right-wing news outlet Breitbart who became CEO of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, gave explicit orders to his staff to destroy Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). On editorial conference calls, the Breitbart chairman would often say 'Paul Ryan is the enemy,' according to a source who worked with Bannon at the news organization. In December 2015, weeks after Ryan became Speaker, Bannon wrote in an internal Breitbart email obtained by The Hill that the 'long game' for his news site was for Ryan to be 'gone' by the spring." -- CW
Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support! -- -- Donald Trump, Oct. 11 tweet
In reality, not a single quality poll shows he won the debate, though one indicated a near-tie. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
...Josh Marshall of TPM: "Remember, Trump is a bully. Bullies seek out people they can hurt. Trump has done everything he possibly can to hurt Hillary Clinton. But he doesn't seem to be able to do so.... But there is someone else he can hurt profoundly, even as he falls behind in the general election: the Republican party. All the better since they are his best argument to justify his defeat as a betrayal rather than a personal failure.... Like an abuser who takes out his personal failures and frustrations and rages on his wife and his children, Paul Ryan and the GOP are now alone in the house with Donald Trump. He is angry and the prospect of defeat will no doubt make him angrier. In Trump's world of displacement, abuse and vengeance turning against the GOP is the most logical thing in the world." --safari
Trump's Debate Real Estate
Nikita Vladimirov of the Hill: "Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted the claim that he was lurking behind Hillary Clinton during the presidential debate on Sunday. 'One thing I will say, you know, right after the debate they left and said, "Oh, Donald was right in her space." I never walked near her. I was at my lectern and all of a sudden she walks over to me, stands right in front of me and the next day I read that I was in her space,' he said in an interview with Bill O'Reilly. 'I was standing at my lectern and all of a sudden from nowhere she walks right in front of me. I never walked near her. She stands right in front of me. The next day it was I was in her space. I was standing at my chair, my lectern,' Trump reiterated on 'The O'Reilly Factor' Tuesday." -- CW
Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Don't call Donald Trump a 'lurker.'... On Tuesday night [he] lashed out at critics who said he had invaded Hillary Clinton's personal space during Sunday's second presidential debate in St. Louis. Instead, he insisted during a campaign event ... in Florida that it was in fact Clinton who had gotten too close." Read on and/or watch the video of Trump's remarks.
The HuffPost has a more extensive video of Trump's dominance moves at the debate. It's a slow loader, which will eventually appear near the top of the page.
New York Times Editors: "Andrei Kozyrev, a former Russian foreign minister, told The Times: 'I'm sure Putin is trying -- and more successfully than many think -- to manipulate both the process and one of the candidates. He realizes that Trump will trample American democracy and damage if not destroy America as a pillar of stability and major force able to contain him.' In the end, it may not matter whether Mr. Trump is being manipulated by Mr. Putin or naïvely accepting Mr. Putin's twisted views. What does matter is that with each new bizarre utterance he provides further proof of his inability to evaluate credible information and, more broadly, his lack of fitness to further his country's best interests." -- CW
Steve M. embeds Trump's new ad where Trump focuses on Hillary Clinton's illnesses to demonstrate that she doesn't have the stamina to run the country. "... this ad suggests to me that Trump genuinely connects physical imperfection and imperfection of character.... He's repulsed by blacks on the floors of his casinos, and a Mexican-American judge, and Mexicans and Muslims in general; he's spent years in a blind rage at a beauty queen (Hispanic, of course) who gained a few pounds; he regularly touts the physical superiority of his daughter Ivanka (her breast size, her height).... Trump believes in a white, fit master race. Those who stumble and cough are not among the fittest, in his worldview." ...
... CW: ... which is kinda odd because Trump himself is a flabby old guy, near-clinically obese, with a paunch, a fat butt, a disappeared chin, a mystery hairline, & a suspicious snort-sniffle-wheeze. Not to mention a recovering bone-spur victim! Seen here at the GOP convention, grabbing his ultra-fit daughter Ivanka:
I'm telling you Donald Trump owned the pageant for the reasons to utilize his power to get around beautiful women. Who do you complain to? He owns the pageant. There's no one to complain to. Everyone there works for him. -- Tasha Dixon, a former Miss Universe contestant
I would never let my daughter run for a pageant that he owns. -- Mariah Billado, a former Miss Teen USA ...
... Fred Barbash of the Washington Post: "On an April, 11, 2005, Howard Stern show, Donald Trump bragged about some of the special perks he enjoyed while owner of the Miss USA pageant. They came not in a locker room but a dressing room.... CBS 2 Los Angeles did a little fact checking and, guess what, this time, no Pinocchios. Tasha Dixon, Miss Arizona of 2001, told the station that Trump just came 'waltzing in' while contestants were nude or half-nude as they changed into bikinis. Separately, BuzzFeed reported early Wednesday that four women in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said he walked into their dressing room while they were changing. Some were as young as 15, BuzzFeed said." -- CW
James Keaten of the AP: "U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would be 'dangerous from an international point of view' if he is elected, the U.N. human rights chief said Wednesday, defiantly doubling down on his recent expression of concerns about 'populist demagogues' that prompted a rebuke from Russia's ambassador to the United Nations. In a broad-ranging news conference touching on issues like violence in Yemen, Syria and sub-Saharan Africa, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said some remarks by Trump are 'deeply unsettling and disturbing to me,' particularly on torture and about 'vulnerable communities.'" -- CW
The Great Embarrassment. Jill Lepore of the New Yorker: "[American writer] Joe McGinniss once observed that the American voter 'defends passionately the illusion that the men he chooses to lead him are of a finer nature than he' and that 'it has been traditional that the successful politician honor this illusion.' That tradition has ended. No one in the Republican Party can possibly believe that [Donald] Trump is a better person, a man of finer nature, than the ordinary American voter. The problem for the Party is that no one, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, can even pretend to believe that anymore. No one can believe that in daylight, or in the darkest hour of night, while Trump, restless, tweets about the conspiracies that he believes are being hatched by his enemies men and, especially, women -- to fell him."...Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Garrison Keillor goes to London where it occurs to him that "Mr. Trump would have enjoyed the 17th century, the tumult, the divine right of kings, the suppression of Parliament. Vituperation was normal discourse, the idea of privileged sexual aggression was common in high places, money flowed freely, rich men commissioned great monuments to themselves.... If you put him on Grub Street in 1650, he'd be magnificent in his great swirling robes, surrounded by courtiers and sycophants, ranting against the Puritans, supporting the monarchy, smiting his enemies." -- CW
"Trump's Strategy for Minority Americans? Don't Let Them Vote. Washington Post Editors: "WITH DONALD Trump's polling numbers in a tailspin, he has doubled down in calling on Republican vigilantes to take matters into their own hands to thwart what many of them are primed to regard, without proof, as a rigged election. The Republican nominee's rhetoric, inciting white rural and suburban voters who fear the voting clout of black urban Democrats, is a recipe for voter intimidation and even violence on Election Day. It also lays the groundwork for his followers to believe, if he loses,that his defeat was a historic swindle.... Mr. Trump's odious gambit is ... in keeping with long-standing voter-suppression schemes in state legislatures...." -- CW ...
... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Republicans have started warning their increasingly ostracized nominee to stop stoking his supporters with claims that the 2016 election will be stolen, daring him to show proof or put a lid on it.... 'I don't think leading candidates for the presidency should undercut the process unless you have a really good reason,' Sen. Lindsey Graham ... told Politico." Thanks to Gloria for the link. -- CW ...
Now That Those Shackles Are Off, Trump Can Really Show Those Namby-Pambies How Real Authoritarians Do It: Arthur Delaney of Huffington Post. "Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) would apparently like for ... Donald Trump to rule with absolute power and squelch personal freedom. At least that's what he seemed to be saying in a radio interview Tuesday when he called for Trump to embrace authoritarianism. 'Sometimes I wondered that our Constitution is not only broken, but we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country and bring back the rule of law,' LePage said on a conservative radio station in Maine. 'Because we've had eight years of a president, he's an autocrat, he just does it on his own, he ignores Congress and every single day, we're slipping into anarchy.'" Akhilleus: Hmmm...so we've had eight years of authoritarian rule and what we need now is more of that, only better, because white, of course. Well, thanks for clearing that up, Guv! (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Meet Your Trump Supporters. Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), one of the dimmest bulbs in a House full of them, said he would consider still backing Donald Trump if Trump said he liked raping women. Apparently someone told Pajama Boy that rape didn't poll well, as he later apologized. -- CW ...
... Update: See also comments by Akhilleus & Gloria in today's thread.
... ** Anita Hill in a Boston Globe op-ed: "Twenty-five years ago Tuesday..., I testified before Senate Judiciary Committee about the sexually harassing behavior of the nominee, Clarence Thomas. As being a target of harassment wasn't bad enough, I was then victimized a second time by a smear campaign meant to protect the nomination. Stunningly, people wondered aloud why his behavior mattered in a hearing about his character and fitness.... We must understand the harm that sexual harassment and sexual violence causes. Missing from the conversation this weekend, which focused almost exclusively on the character of the offender, was concern about the victims of sexual violence.... Trump's language, which he and others have tried to minimize as 'locker room banter,' is predatory and hostile. To excuse it as that or as youthful indiscretion or overzealous romantic interest normalizes male sexual violence." -- CW ...
... CW: In case it escaped your notice, one of the main things Trump means when he inveighs against "political correctness" is the crimp sexual harassment laws have put in his style. (And, yeah, that's what Bill Maher means, too.) ...
... ** Rebecca Traister of New York: "Republicans are not shocked; they're scared. Donald Trump is losing and they are beginning to understand that his loss is going to expose them, not simply to partisan defeat, but as a party that has been covert in its cohesion around the very biases that he makes coarse and plain. Trump's attitudes about women are not different from the attitudes that have been supported by the contemporary Republican Party via their legislative agenda.... The view of women as yours to control via political power, star power, or simply patriarchal power, is what Republicans -- not just Trump, but lots of Republicans -- have been doing for years as they work to reduce reproductive-rights access and reinstall women in early marriage and traditional hetero homes where their competitive, independent, threatening power might be better contained." ...
... CW: Traister is giving Republicans too much credit: they still think their repression of women is chivalric; they[re too misogynistic to feel "exposed," as Traister herself demonstrates by their responses to the Trump-Bush tape. Nonetheless, her column is a must-read.
John Koblin of the New York Times: "Four days after the explosive Donald J. Trump 'Access Hollywood' tape was made public, Billy Bushis negotiating his exit from NBC. Mr. Bush and NBC are working out the terms of his departure from 'Today,' which may come in the next few days, according to two people briefed on the plans. It would be a swift fall for Mr. Bush after a brief tenure as a host in the 9 a.m. hour of the show. He joined 'Today' this summer." CW: Still, thanks again, Billy. Maybe there will be an opening for you at Trump TV. You'd be a great host for "Miss Politics USA" or "Hot Babes in Politics," both in the planning stages.
AND Maureen Dowd -- the Pulitzer Prize winner & esteemed owner of the most influential piece of newspaper real estate in the USA -- in her usual manner, jabs right at the heart of the presidential race: what about that pussy bow? And the shoes! If Donald Trump is the paradigm of American exceptionalism, nonpareil in reality or fiction, then Dowd is aspiring to take that prize for U.S. journalism.
Other News & Views
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to decide whether high-ranking George W. Bush administration officials -- including John Ashcroft, the former attorney general, and Robert S. Mueller III, the former F.B.I. director -- may be held liable for policies adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks. The case began as a class action in 2002 filed by immigrants, most of them Muslim, over policies and practices that swept hundreds of people into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on immigration violations in the weeks after the attacks. The plaintiffs said they had been subjected to beatings, humiliating searches and other abuses." -- CW
Adam Liptak: "In an argument marked by testy exchanges, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struggled to decide whether it should make an exception to the usual rule that jury deliberations are secret when evidence emerges that those discussions were marred by racial or ethnic bias." CW: Chief Justice John Roberts was skeptical, because, as you know, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." Putz.
Jonelle Marte of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found that the setup of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is led by a single director, is not in line with other independent agencies, which are typically run by a group of commissioners.... But the court decided against shutting down the CFPB, instead ordering that the agency be restructured so that the director could be removed by the president at will. Currently, the director can only be removed with cause -- a system that Judge Brett Kavanaugh said lacked checks and balances.... The ruling comes as Republican lawmakers and financial groups are upping their efforts to weaken or dismantle the agency.... The CFPB said Tuesday that it is reviewing its options for challenging the ruling." CW: Kavanaugh is -- surprise! -- a Bush II appointee. Also, too, he's a protege' of Ken Starr & an all-around ass.
Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "Comcast is paying one of the biggest fines ever levied on a cable company after regulators said it illegally billed customers for unwanted equipment and services. In a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, Comcast is agreeing to pay $2.3 million. It's also agreeing to give consumers a chance to block the addition of new services and equipment if they don't want it. Some subscribers who complained to the FCC said they'd been charged for premium channels, set-top boxes or video recording devices despite telling the company they weren't looking for upgrades, the agency said Tuesday." CW: Note to FCC: DirectTV does it, too. There is no way in hell I wanted that NFL package they foisted on me. And they made me pay for it for a full season, even after I complained. Capitalism is awesome, all right.
Beyond the Beltway
Ted Sherman & Matt Arco of NJ.com: "The defense attorney for a former Gov. Chris Christie aide charged in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal suggested on Tuesday his client told the governor about the lane shutdowns before they occurred and while they were happening." [Emphasis added.] -- CW
More from the Trump-Loving Authoritarian Right. This time, hopefully, from prison. Jacques Billeaud of the AP: "Prosecutors said Tuesday they will charge Sheriff Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt-of-court for defying a judge's orders to end his signature immigration patrols in Arizona, exposing the 84-year-old lawman to the possibility of jail time. The announcement in federal court sets in motion criminal proceedings against the sheriff less than a month before Election Day as he seeks a seventh term as Maricopa County sheriff. The 2016 election cycle has also seen Arpaio ... appearing alongside Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on several occasions. A judge previously recommended criminal contempt charges against Arpaio but left it up to federal prosecutors to actually bring the case. Prosecutor John Keller said in court that the government will bring charges. Arpaio could face up to six months in jail if convicted of misdemeanor contempt." Akhilleus: Poor Joe, persecuted for his belief in rule by billy club and racial hatred.
Way Beyond
Weston Phippen of the Atlantic: "For two days over the weekend, German police searched for suspected Syrian terrorist Jaber al-Bakr, a refugee who had come to Germany last year, and whom they believed was plotting to bomb a train station or airport.... Police asked the public for help.... The refugees [Chancellor Angela] Merkel's opponents are set on keeping out were the ones who led the police to al-Bakr: On Monday, three Syrian refugees turned the suspect terrorist into police when they realized he was on the run." -- CW
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Reader Comments (19)
"Miss Oginy? Oh yeah, I picked her up at a slumber party once."
So you're wondering, as a sentient person with a reasonable sense of right and wrong, how anyone would still want a crotch grabber for president. Good question. What you probably don't know is that some from that group would be okay if Trump was a proven rapist. And not only that, but someone who LIKES raping women.
The idiot in question? Blake Farenthold, whose leering mug you may recall from that picture of him wearing little boy jammies posing with skimpily clad babes, neither of whom was his wife.
The fact that he backtracked after admitting that he'd still support Trump after learning of his love of raping women does little to hide the startling ugliness of his original assertion.
Oh yeah, his excuse (all of these fuckers have excuses)? The interviewer (Chris Hayes) "caught him off guard". Oh. Well that explains it. Maybe if that evil Chris Hayes had given him a couple of hours to think about it...
More proof that Trump did not pop fully formed out of thin air. He is the Confederates' very own offspring. Perfect in every way. UnAmerican, authoritarian, racist, pro-violence against anyone who doesn't goose step along with him, greedy, malevolent, and a true woman hater.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/11/gop-congressman-suggests-he-might-back-trump-even-if-trump-said-he-liked-rape/
Birds of a feather
Marie, here is some useful reading that again reminds the reader of the importance of a president's federal judicial appointments, at all three court levels. In response to a suit by Florida Democrats, the federal district court for Florida's Northern District has extended the state's registration deadline until Wednesday evening. The deadline may be further extended at a hearing scheduled for today. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/florida-voter-registration_us_ The judge, Mark E. Walker, who was rated "unanimously well qualified" by the American Bar Association, was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate in 2012 by a vote of 94-0.
In an instructive op-ed yesterday on the not always consistent reasoning of the Supreme Court, the author notes opinion language which recognizes the need to safeguard public confidence in the fairness and integrity of the nation's judges. "In 2015, for example, the court ruled that the Florida Bar was within its rights to discipline a judge for personally soliciting campaign contributions. The majority opinion, delivered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., held that there was a “vital state interest in safeguarding public confidence in the fairness and integrity” of the nation’s judges." http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/opinion/the-supreme-court-is-being-hypocritical
Surprisingly the editorial does not mention the Citizens United decision which surely has had an adverse interest on the public's confidence in the 'fairness and integrity of the selection of the nation's judges. And I am puzzled by the Chief Justice's silence on the Senate's failure to consider President Obama's nominee to replace the late Justice Scalia.
Re Farenthold from the WAPost comments:
"This guy (Farenthold) gets confused and "tripped up" figuring out which shoe goes on which foot." BoilerTaker. These people are disgusting because they get off on the coercion of women. And people. Sick, sick sick. They'd rather use power and coercion than hire a hooker. It's a big difference between Trdump/Pajama Boy and Eliot Spitzer.
Here we go again. Trump visits naked women and 15 year olds.
Trump admits to sexually assaulting women.
Trump bribes an AG.
Trump 'university' is a fraud.
Trump uses a tax deduction based 'charity' for personal expenses.
Where is the investigation in criminal behavior?
My guess, in part, we are going to see a lot more in the next few weeks. Trump supporters won't care. They are not supporting Trump. They are hating and blaming the goberment for their lives.
From the Coals to Newcastle Dept.
"She's in my space, she's in my space! Waaaahhhh!"
For a presidential candidate, weeks away from the biggest day of his public life*, to spend so much time and effort trying "set the record straight" about who invaded whose space at the last debate points up, yet again, how abysmally unfit this person is for any kind of elected office. Trump is so easy to manipulate, a fact that obviously has not been lost on Vladimir Putin who has been pulling Donaldo's strings for months. He spent weeks fuming about things he said 20 years ago about a Miss Universe contestant, attempting to justify his stupid and insulting remarks. Now he's spending ungodly amounts of effort tearing into the husband of his opponent for things Trump himself has done. Push a button, he jumps. Pull a string, he does a back flip.
And this is the guy who is going to get things done? All anyone needs to do to get Trump to completely draw a blank about why he showed up at your house in the first place is to marvel at the size of those tiny hands and he'd forget what year it was and go off on a four day rant-bender.
The guy is a joke.
But Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell (and Blake Farenthold) are still voting for him. Guess the joke's on us.
Since Trump is pretty much toast, I've gone back to laughing at him. Here's another 'lil crumb left on the plate.
p.s. And he's best speller.
I was thinking this morning how all of us at one time or another have done or said things that we regret. Perhaps they affected our lives in big ways, but usually we managed to deal with our mistakes in a manner that did not cause us to lose our jobs or land us in jail. Billy Bush apparently has been canned for saying some stupid things years ago. Donald Trump has been saying outrageous and dangerous things for months(years) and is running for President. Someone said to me the other day that this all seemed like a topsy turfy world and she felt she was in an alternative universe. I had to give her a cup of tea to calm her down. We both wondered why Trump's comment about John McCain, early in the game, wasn't enough to dismiss him. I look at all this media attention now as a last gasp of trying like hell to get the cork back on the bottle.
And to Russia with love–––James Bond would have loved to have tackled with Putin's minions who apparently have been fingering our systems because they figure their Goldfinger here might just help them over there. And wasn't that protest Russian singing group called "Pussy Riot."?
Thanks, Marie, for highlighting Rebecca Traister's article in NY Mag. Also linked above.
Well worth it.
Oops. I asterisked (is that a word?) a line in my last post but forgot to revisit the intended aside.
So I was saying that Donaldo is a few weeks away from the biggest day of his public life but after thinking about it, it's probably the biggest day of his entire life, not just the public part, because it holds the possibility of vindication and affirmation of his overly developed sense of personal superiority. See, for most people, the biggest days of their lives are the day they met their life partner or the day they got married or the days their children were born.
Not for Trump. I don't know this for a fact, but I'd be stunned to find out that he was even present when his kids were born. Probably out banging a 15 year old.
The guy is such a narcissistic lout it's difficult to believe that the birth of a child means more to him than whatever he sees in the mirror.
Just the guy you want for president.
A federal judge has ordered the state of Florida to extend voter registration through 18 October in a rebuke to governor Scott. The previous deadline was 11 October but the judge ordered the extension due to the disruption caused by hurricane Matthew. Scott had refused to extend the registration saying there had been enough time for everyone to register.
According to Nate Silver @ 538, it appears that women are "defeating Trump."
Everything looks grand when you look at the map as to how women will vote, however compare it to how men will vote in these very same states. Ugh!
Perhaps to paraphrase Bridget Kelly of Bridgegate notoriety, maybe "...it's time for some voting rights problems for guys." Kind of, here's how it felt, fellows when women weren't allowed to vote. A little experiment for 2016!
MAG,
It's funny but I've never wondered--never--what it would be like if a certain group (women, men, gays, blacks, Hispanics) weren't allowed to vote. But when you think about it, that's an idea that has consumed Confederates for decades. It keeps them awake at night: how to keep certain groups from voting. And their current Glorious Leader has taken it upon himself to delegate the job of making sure "those people" don't vote to gun carrying loonies.
I guess you could say there's a slight difference in how we understand democracy in America.
We finally know why Trump's black outreach was so successful. He understands what it is to be held down by The Man. #unshackled
RAS,
Oh yeah, baby. And Trumpy, former slave that he is, will be helping all the currently enslaved billionaires and bigots. He'll start a 21st century underground railroad for his friends and followers, but his will feature Gulfwings, converted 747's, and plenty of models from the Trump modeling agency to provide, er, entertainment.
It'll be just like it was in 1860. No wonder "the blacks" love him.
I know people who are voting frump.
I say nothing. I smile bigly.
Their pain is exquisite.
I keep hearing about Trump's new stategy to depress the democratic vote by going even nastier after Hillary. Though I wonder how many republicans will stay home because of his strategy (or just him)?
RAS, according to the WaPo, the "strategy" is revving up the Dem base.
Trump’s tactics have just created more enthusiasm and mobilization among Democrats, Palmieri said. WaPo