;)
The Commentariat -- October 27, 2017
Afternoon Update:
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: President Trump "is conducting the most dramatic and drawn-out search for a Federal Reserve chairman in the long history of the stolid institution.Mr. Trump is very publicly deliberating between two candidates with strikingly different views about the practice and purpose of monetary policy: Jerome H. Powell, a Fed governor who has voted in favor of every Fed policy decision since 2012, and John B. Taylor, a Stanford economist who is among the Fed's most vocal critics. The president also continues to insist that he could decide to renominate the Fed's chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen, whose four-year term ends in February."
Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "... Donald Trump alleged Friday that Hillary Clinton colluded with Russia.... 'It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump,' the president wrote Friday morning. 'Was collusion with HC!' Republican lawmakers are nearing the end of their probes into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election, though it remains unclear whether they're close to concluding whether Trump associates colluded with Russians. The congressional panels plan to complete their probes by February." ...
... Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "President Trump says Russia's 2010 acquisition of American uranium, approved by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and eight other agency heads, is 'Watergate, modern-age.' 'This is equivalent to what the Rosenbergs did, and those people got the chair,' former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka said on Sean Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night. Hannity has dubbed the uranium deal 'the biggest scandal -- or, at least, one of them -- in American history.' Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said on CNN Friday morning that 'it's exactly what people hate about corruption and politicians and the swamp.'... The argument relies on spectacular oversimplification.... Critics are free to second-guess the [decision], but the fact that every other involved agency made the same determination as Clinton's State Department undercuts the notion that her vote was bought -- unless, of course, everybody was in Russia's pocket. That really would be one of the biggest scandals in U.S. history." ...
... Brian Beutler: "This week, House Republicans launched two joint investigations, spanning three congressional committees, aimed at sowing confusion about the nature of Russian influence over last year's election. This isn't liberal gloss on a series of news developments that muddy a clean scandal ensnaring ... Donald Trump. Rather, it describes a documentable, partisan effort to use the levers of government to confuse the public about a foreign conspiracy -- the subject of a federal criminal investigation -- to bolster ... Donald Trump's campaign and sabotage his rivals.... The purpose of the propaganda has changed from defaming Hillary Clinton to blurring the truth about Russia's subversion of the election, but the underlying content is the same. The facts of the matter are all out in the open, as are the ways and reasons the right manipulated those facts and has now returned to them a year later. But the press, once bitten, hasn't yet learned to be shy." ...
... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post (October 24) has the sordid details -- of the fake accusations against & phony "investigations" of Clinton.
** Jonathan Blitzer of the New Yorker has more on the Trump administration's attempts to deprive women of their Constitutional right to have an abortion.
Raphael Minder & Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "In a major escalation of Spain's territorial conflict, the Spanish Senate on Friday authorized the government to take direct control of the fractious region of Catalonia, just after Catalan lawmakers declared the region's independence. The dueling actions set up a potential showdown over the weekend, as Spain careened into its greatest constitutional crisis since it embraced democracy in 1978. The Senate voted 214 to 47 to invoke Article 155 of Spain's Constitution, granting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy a package of extraordinary powers to suppress Catalonia's independence drive. The measure will go into effect after it is published in the government register, which is expected to happen Friday night."
AND Justice for All. The South Is Still Officially the Confederacy: Radley Balko of the Washington Post reports on a horrifying story of the Mississippi "justice system": a judge took the infant child of a young mother of color from her & ordered that the mother have no visitation rights because she had "abandoned" her child when she was incarcerated for nonpayment of minor fines after a car in which she & the newborn were passengers (the baby was in a carseat) in a car stopped for a traffic violation. The MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi intervened on behalf of the mother. "The good news is that the judge has now resigned and the youth court in Pearl, Miss., has been closed. But this clearly goes beyond a single judge. A police officer detained someone, causing her to be separated from her newborn, over unpaid misdemeanors. The officer then claimed she had abandoned the baby, despite the fact that it was the officer's actions, not hers, that left the child without a parent."
*****
Thomas Gibbons-Neff & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "In the chaotic moments after an Army Special Forces team and 30 Nigerien troops were ambushed by militants in a remote corner of West Africa three weeks ago, four of the Americans were separated from the larger group. Their squad mates immediately alerted commanders that they were under attack -- then called for help nearly an hour later, as a top Pentagon official said this week -- and ground forces from Niger's army and French Mirage jets were both dispatched. About two hours later, the firefight tapering off, French helicopters from nearby Mali swooped in to the rescue on the rolling wooded terrain. But they retrieved only seven of the 11 Americans. The four others were inexplicably left behind, no longer in radio contact and initially considered missing in action by the Pentagon, a status that officials say raises the possibility they were still alive when the helicopters took off without them."
Situation Normal, All Fucked Up
... the knuckleheads are running the show. -- Former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), in an interview...
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Two and a half months ago, President Trump said he was going to declare the opioid crisis a 'national emergency.' Then, for a long time, he didn't. Last week, he again said that he was about to declare it a 'national emergency,' and then he reiterated that was his plan this week. He's still not going to do it -- not really. Trump [has declared] the opioid crisis a 'public health emergency' Thursday, rather than a 'national emergency.'... As the New York Times notes, a 'national emergency' would have 'triggered the rapid allocation of federal funding to address the issue.' A public health emergency does not do that by itself. Several experts on the opioid crisis are bashing the move as a half-measure, NPR reports. In contrast, other public health officials, including some who served in the Obama administration, are arguing that the 'public health emergency' is indeed a better fit. Whatever the motivation for the scaled-back response, though, let's be clear: The president did repeatedly promise to make the crisis a 'national emergency,' using those specific words." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I suppose it's impossible to know whether Trump changed the designation to weasel out of another promise or he got rolled by some staffer & doesn't know the difference between the two designations -- the one he promised & the one he delivered. ...
... "Drugs Are Bad." Lila Thulin of Slate: "Unfortunately, Trump didn't seem to have many ideas for how to deal with the problem's complexity himself (the opioid commission he established months ago is set to present more details next week). The most specific his speech got was when he advocated for spending more money on educating youth to flat-out refuse drugs -- an approach that's been shown to be ineffective.... the most clearly articulated proposal bore a striking resemblance to Nancy Reagan's 'Just Say No' campaign -- Trump promised a 'massive advertising campaign to get people, especially children, not to take drugs in the first place.'... Trump echoed the sort of simplistic approach these programs apply to drug use in his speech, saying, 'There is nothing desirable about drugs; they're bad.'" ...
... Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "In early September..., former Fox News host Eric Bolling ... wrote that his only child, 19-year-old Eric Chase Bolling, had died, with 'details still unclear' but authorities saying there was 'no sign of self harm.' On Thursday, Bolling shared that he had 'just received some tragic news from Coroner in Colorado' -- that his son's death had been ruled an accidental overdose 'that included opioids.'... The official cause of death was mixed drug intoxication, including cocaine and fentanyl, according to the Boulder County Coroner. The death was ruled an accident, the coroner's office said. Bolling's news came on the same day that President Trump called the opioid epidemic the 'worst drug crisis in American history' and said his administration was declaring a public health emergency."
Ben Siegel & Conor Finnegan of ABC News: "The Trump administration broke its silence on new Russia sanctions Thursday, sending to Capitol Hill a list of Russian entities that it will sanction individuals for doing business with, following a four-week delay that infuriated senior members of Congress.... Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ben Cardin, D-Md. -- top Republican and Democratic senators on foreign policy who called out the administration for the delays in a letter earlier this month -- welcomed the move as [a] 'step in the right direction toward holding Russia accountable for its attack on our election.'" ...
... Bill Palmer of the Palmer Report: "Of all the various scandals that have now enveloped Donald Trump, his refusal to implement Russian sanctions has put him the most directly at odds with his own party in Congress. The sanctions bill passed almost unanimously, and Trump only reluctantly signed it because his veto would have been overridden anyway.... After the Russia sanctions bill passed, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson scrapped the office at the State Department that would have been responsible for implementing the sanctions, according to a new Foreign Policy report (link). The move preemptively made it all but impossible for the Trump administration to move forward with the sanctions against Russia -- which of course was the entire point. Based on the timing, it's clear this was purposely done to undermine the sanctions bill. Moreover, it's impossible to envision Tillerson having made this move unless Donald Trump signed off on it. This means Trump has once again gone to extraordinary lengths to try to protect Russia from sanctions." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Time for inquiries from Congress & the special counsel.
Ian Shapira, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump delayed on Thursday evening the release of thousands of pages of classified documents related to the John F. Kennedy assassination, bowing to pressure from the CIA, FBI and other federal agencies still seeking to keep some final secrets about the nearly 54-year-old investigation. The president allowed the immediate release of 2,800 records by the National Archives, following a last-minute scramble to meet a 25-year legal deadline. Following lobbying by national security officials, the remaining documents will be reviewed during a 180-day period.... The government was facing a Thursday deadline for disclosing the records, and Trump had tweeted twice that the documents would be made public.... David L. Boren, the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee who co-sponsored the records release law, said in a statement Thursday to The Post: 'It was my intention that all documents be released in unredacted form except for in the most rare, exceptional circumstances involving current and continuing national security concerns.'" ...
... Michael Miller of the Washington Post: "More than a dozen reporters and editors for The Washington Post combed through the documents on Thursday night. Here are some of the wildest things they found, some of which have been reported about before and some new."
Taking from the U.S.'s Poor to Give to Rich Foreigners. Paul Krugman: "Why is Donald Trump planning to give away $700 billion -- that's billion, with a 'b' -- to foreigners, no strings attached? You probably didn't know that he's planning to do this. In fact, he himself almost surely has no idea that he's planning to do this. But it would be one clearly predictable consequence of the tax 'reform' he and his congressional allies are trying to pass.... The benefits from cutting corporate taxes would overwhelmingly flow into after-tax profits rather than wages, especially in the first few years and probably for a decade or more. And this in turn means that the main beneficiaries would be stockholders, not workers.... Around 35 percent of a tax cut from an administration that proudly uses the slogan 'America first' -- $700 billion over the next decade -- wouldn't even go to Americans. Instead, it would be a windfall to wealthy foreigners...."
Louis du Trump. Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "... Donald Trump's administration is spending $1.75 million on furniture for the White House and offices tied to it, according to government records.... The sum, since the inauguration, is slightly larger than the roughly $1.5 million spent by Barack Obama over a similar period of time in his administration. Obama made a point of paying for some White House furnishings out-of-pocket. It's unclear if Trump has done the same.... Still, some of the expenditures hint at possible use in the residential mansion."
Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta and former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz both privately denied to congressional Russia investigators that they had any knowledge about an arrangement to pay for opposition research on ... Donald Trump, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.... Sitting next to Podesta during the interview: his attorney Marc Elias, who worked for the law firm that hired Fusion GPS to continue research on Trump on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNC, multiple sources said. Elias was only there in his capacity as Podesta's attorney and not as a witness.... On Tuesday, that law firm, Perkins Coie, wrote in a letter that ... suggested its clients -- the Clinton campaign and the DNC -- did not learn about the matter until recently.... The interviews happened before this week's disclosure that the Clinton campaign and DNC paid for the research. Senate investigators may seek to further question the two top Democrats and dig deeper on the origins of the so-called Trump dossier, one of the sources briefed on the matter said. Their remarks to congressional investigators raise the stakes in their assertion that they knew nothing about the funding because it's against the law to make false statements to Congress." ...
... Scott Wong of the Hill: "The FBI has pledged to hand over documents related to a controversial dossier linking President Trump to Russia, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Thursday. The House Intelligence Committee has been seeking the documents for months, hoping to learn more about the bureau's relationship to the dossier's author, a former British spy named Christopher Steele, and whether the document was used by federal investigators to bolster their probe into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) in August had issued two subpoenas to compel the FBI and Justice Department to turn over the documents. He set a Friday deadline for them to comply. 'The FBI got in touch with us yesterday afternoon, and they have informed us that they will comply with our document requests, and that they will provide the documents Congress has been asking for by next week,' Ryan said at his weekly news conference." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Nunes won't get the answers he wants -- like, It's all Hillary's fault -- but that's okay, because he'll make up something.
... Robert Litt in LawFare on the "(Ir)relevance of the Trump 'Dossier'": "The dossier itself played absolutely no role in the coordinated intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in our election. That assessment, which was released in unclassified form in January but which contained much more detail in the classified version that has been briefed to Congress, was based entirely on other sources and analysis."
FEMA's Suddenly-Secret Disaster Plan for Puerto Rico. Justin Elliott & Decca Muldowney of ProPublica: "The Federal Emergency Management Agency, citing unspecified 'potentially sensitive information,' is declining to release a document it drafted several years ago that details how it would respond to a major hurricane in Puerto Rico. The plan, known as a hurricane annex, runs more than 100 pages and explains exactly what FEMA and other agencies would do in the event that a large storm struck the island. The document could help experts assess both how well the federal government had prepared for a storm the size of Hurricane Maria and whether FEMA's response matches what was planned. The agency began drafting such advance plans after it was excoriated for poor performance and lack of preparation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.... After FEMA declined to release the Puerto Rico hurricane plan, we found the agency's equivalent plan for Hawaii posted, unredacted, on the internet by the Department of Defense."
All the Best People. Trump Picks Texas Secessionist-y Gal for Top Post. Andrew Kaczynski & Nathan McDermott of CNN: "... Donald Trump's nominee to be White House senior adviser [Kathleen Hartnett White] for environmental policy wrote an essay in 1995 in which she argued that because of federal overreach, including environmental regulations, Texas would be better off as an independent republic.
All the Best People, Ctd. Eleanor Roy & Julian Borger of the Guardian: Scott Brown, the newly-minted U.S. ambassador to New Zealand & official U.S. representative to Samoa, flew with his wife, Gail Huff, in July to attend a party in Apia, Samoa, which was supposed to be a celebration of 50 years of the peace corps in the country. "But something went wrong that night. As one attendee describes it, something was 'off', and the party has been at the centre of a US state department investigation over the ambassador's conduct towards two women [who are Peace Corps volunteers].... the Guardian has, over the past two months, spoken to multiple witnesses who attended the party who claim the behaviour of the ambassador -- the first appointed by ... Donald Trump -- was worse than he has admitted.... In addition to these complaints are others that the ambassador's behaviour was 'shocking', 'culturally insensitive', 'rude' and 'undiplomatic'." According to attendees, Brown ogled the women & repeatedly shouted for everybody to shut up & listen to him. "following the publication of this story the US state department issued a statement, which can be read in full here. It said: 'Senior leadership at the state department has been in contact with Ambassador Brown and he has been counselled on standards of conduct for government employees, which also includes ambassadors.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Our Most Handsome Ambassador, who was Trump's first ambassadorial appointee as well as the inventor of Covfefe (which Scottie spells "Bqhatevwr," behaved in just the way we would expect Trump to act on a visit to Samoa. Scottie is a perfect ambassador for Trump. ...
... All the Best People, Ctd. Rachel Siegel: "Long before he became the head of a federal office for resettling refugees, E. Scott Lloyd built a career as a champion of religious values, holding strong antiabortion views that have now thrust him into the center of a national controversy.... [In his official capacity,] Lloyd has personally intervened to try to persuade unaccompanied minor girls not to have abortions, according to an HHS official. Recently, the Trump appointee played a prominent role in impeding a detained undocumented teenager from obtaining an abortion, prompting a lawsuit in federal court. Last week, HHS -- which is responsible for caring for detained unaccompanied minors -- said 'there is no constitutional right' for an immigrant minor to have an elective abortion while in federal custody.... Early Wednesday, the teenager identified as 'Jane Doe' terminated her pregnancy after an appeals court ruling in her favor. The abortion ended the girl's individual court challenge in a case that drew widespread attention and evoked the incendiary issues of abortion rights and illegal immigration. But the broader legal battle over whether the federal government may continue to dissuade, and even block, undocumented teens in its custody from having abortions is still pending in U.S. District Court in Washington."
** A Law unto Themselves. Michelle Lee & Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Congress makes its own rules about the handling of sexual complaints against members and staff, passing laws exempting it from practices that apply to other employers. The result is a culture in which some lawmakers suspect harassment is rampant. Yet victims are unlikely to come forward, according to attorneys who represent them.... [A] complaint [from an intern] likely would [be] thrown out because interns have limited harassment protections under the unique employment law that Congress applies to itself. Under a law in place since 1995, accusers may file lawsuits only if they first agree to go through months of counseling and mediation. A special congressional office is charged with trying to resolve the cases out of court. When settlements do occur, members do not pay them from their own office funds, a requirement in other federal agencies. Instead, the confidential payments come out of a special U.S. Treasury fund. Congressional employees have received small settlements compared to the amounts some public figures pay out."
Andrew Kirell & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "The morning after five women accused veteran journalist Mark Halperin of sexual harassment while he was in a powerful position at ABC News, two more women came forward with their own allegations.... According to numerous sources at NBC, MSNBC, ABC, and Bloomberg -- who previously spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity ... -- the private allegations of Halperin's sexual misconduct were an open secret, particularly in New York City and D.C. political media, for many years.... The allegations have already taken a heavy toll on Halperin's career, as he was forced to leave his job as a senior political analyst at NBC News and MSNBC for the time being at least.... Furthermore, HBO decided on Thursday not to collaborate with Halperin on a planned miniseries based on his upcoming Game Change sequel about the 2016 presidential election."
It's in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present. -- Charles Dickens in David Copperfield ...
I hope all these stories that women are finally sharing about their experiences will begin to effect change. -- Christina Kline, on why she is sharing her story ...
... Ass-Grabber-in-Chief. Christina Kline, in Slate, is the third woman to accuse former President George H.W. Bush of a "hard" "butt-grab" during a photo op. He simultaneously told Kline, a writer, that his own favorite book was "David Cop-a-feel." "After the photo op..., a woman who introduced herself as a friend of the Bush family was waiting to drive [my husband and me] back to the hotel. Once we were on our way, I told David [the husband] what had happened. I was still so surprised that it didn't occur to me to keep it secret. His mouth fell open.... Our driver [said]..., 'I do trust you will be ... discreet.'..." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The press has showed little interest in ole Poppy's literary interpretations. Now imagine if the ex-Prez who was doing the Dickensian ass-grabbing were named Barack Obama.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. A Tale of Two Sex Abusers, One Largely Untold. David Bauder of the AP: "Fox has devoted more than 12½ hours of airtime to [liberal-causes donor Harvey] Weinstein since Oct. 5, when The New York Times broke the story about his misconduct, according to the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America. By contrast, Fox has spent 20 minutes, 46 seconds, on the accusations against [former Fox star Bill] O'Reilly since the Times revealed many of them in April, the group said."
Beyond the Beltway
Christine Mai-Duc & Sarah Wire of the Los Angeles Times: "A vehicle drove into a group of protesters outside of GOP Rep. Ed Royce's office in Brea on Thursday afternoon, but no injuries have been reported to police so far. The alleged driver, 56-year-old Daniel Wenzek of Brea, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He was booked and released pending further investigation, according to Lt. Kelly Carpenter of the Brea Police Department."
**Frank Bajak of the AP: "A computer server crucial to a lawsuit against Georgia election officials was quietly wiped clean by its custodians just after the suit was filed.... The server in question, which served as a statewide staging location for key election-related data, made national headlines in June after a security expert disclosed a gaping security hole that wasn't fixed six months after he reported it to election authorities.... The Kennesaw elections center answers to Georgia's secretary of state, Brian Kemp, a Republican running for governor in 2018 and the suit's main defendant.... The server data could have revealed whether Georgia's most recent elections were compromised by hackers. The plaintiffs contend results of both last November's election and a special June 20 congressional runoff -- won by Kemp's predecessor, Karen Handel -- cannot be trusted." Read on. --safari: The fact that these kind of actions will go overlooked and forgotten points to a serious rot at the core of our democracy.
News Lede
New York Times: "... the American economy grew at a solid pace in the latest quarter despite the impact of the hurricanes in Texas and Florida. The nation's gross domestic product, a key indicator of economic strength, expanded at an annual rate of 3 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. Economists initially expected that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma would deal a blow to the country's steady growth, but became more optimistic in recent weeks."
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Reader Comments (16)
Just reading about Mark Halperin's ongoing comeuppance(s). Whadda a dick!
See also his 2011 remarks on Obama: "Whadda a dick!"
MEN BEHAVING BADLY:
Good grief! It's like a tsunami ––-overflowing record of men in high places grabbing women in low places and yet we know this is nothing new. Reading this morning about the newest male, Scott Brown, to enter the list of men behaving badly is the least surprising. When you pose nude for Cosmopolitan you set yourself up for future downfalls. You continue on a path of recognizing yourself as a hot ticket–-always a big mistake for those with small brain capabilities. The fact that Mr. Brown was given the job as an ambassador is by itself laughable. He proved early on, especially in his exchanges with Warren, that he was one ignorant dumbo.
I'm wondering whether all this "outing" of sexual proclivities will change our cultural scenario in where women will be respected and treated with dignity ––something baby sitter Kelly said in his speech last week had been lost––as though we women had once had it. In the end it all comes to power–-and privilege–- and I think a fear that females are stronger in all sorts of ways.
Anita Hill was dismissed years ago. WE still have a long way to go.
Molesters Daily
Regarding the Halperin comeuppance, I couldn't be happier. At least the political airwaves will be delivered from the hackneyed, and far too often inaccurate, reveries of a pompous hack. If it's only for a month or so, that's one good month more than we'd have had otherwise.
As for Poppy's predilections, I have a hard time seeing his ass grabbing as a recent development. Dirty old men usually start as dirty young men. Or dirty presidents. And "David-cop-a-feel?" Jesus. Not exactly Oscar Wilde, is he? That should make for an uplifting chapter heading in the bio. It's not quite the same as his involvement in fomenting war and destruction around the world through his money making schemes with the Carlyle Group, but as wingers used to say about liberals they found wanting, "It's all about character!"
In the Age of Trump pussy grabbing and Poppy ass grabbing, you don't hear that so much anymore.
On a more personal note, I must not get around much. It seems every other guy on the planet is an asshole. Maybe my social circles are just not quite as douchey. Or rich and powerful. Is it the money and power that makes these scumbags think they can do whatever they want, or have they always been that way? Maybe a little of both. I'll bet my autographed Ted Williams baseball that Mark Halperin was a douchebag in college. Poppy too.
P.S. Love the new picture of our Editor-in Chief ––our feisty female who ain't gonna take anything lying down. You betcha!
The Return of JUST SAY NO!
Okay. I will. "No", to that bullshit.
Not "no" to a realistic way of dealing with crippling addiction, just "no" to a simplistic and stupid way.
It's another example of Trump's inability to process concepts deeper than a puddle or more complex than a straight line. The idea that Drugs=Bad will work is about as stupid as you can get.
Back in the 90's, a Scots writer, Irvine Welsh, came out with a groundbreaking novel about heroin addicts in Edinburgh, "Trainspotting". It was also made into a wildly successful film. Throughout the book there are long passages that are essentially paeans to drug use. Of course these are coming from addicts. But at one point, one of the characters (I forget which now) says, essentially, when telling someone else what it's like on heroin, that not only is it not bad, it's absolutely, terrifyingly wonderful.
People don't take drugs (or drink) because they're awful and disgusting. They take drugs because, for a short period, they make them feel better than they normally do. Of course, as casual use becomes addiction, it's a different story, but for many people, that shot of intense feeling is pretty compelling. Just saying no isn't really a reasonable plan. And here's what it does to kids. Tell a kid "Don't do that! It's terrible" and plenty of kids can't wait to try it. It's like that movement in Christianist churches to insist that kids have nothing to do with sex. "It's TERRIBLE! It's SATAN!" Well, gee, okay, which way did he go? I'm there. Trump saying there's nothing desirable about drugs shows he hasn't the dimmest idea of what he's talking about.
What is it about the Confederate mindset that gravitates to easy solutions to everything? Crime? Build more prisons, lock 'em up for life. Sex? Drugs? Just say no. Immigration problem? Build a wall, send 'em all back. Someone isn't nice to us? Bomb the shit out of 'em. Terrorism? Profiling.
The world is a complicated place. Yes, sometimes there are simple answers, but responses to a hard world shouldn't include voting for a moron who claims he has all the answers then hoping it all turns out okay. His answer to addiction? Don't start.
Great answer, Donald. Can we make you emperor of the world now?
They expect advertising to be completely effective for opioids, but they have declared it completely ineffective for the ACA and have cut that advertising budget by 90%. Assholes.
@AK: Re: your last paragraph. I think many men have always had the problem with the virgin and the whore dichotomy in which these men want mothers–-need women to care for them, feed them, bare their children, etc. but sexually need "something on the side." Then we have the power brokers who use women because they can. If we could go back to how they were raised–-childhood revealings–-it might shed many lights on these mindsets. I do think, however, that "assholes" as you call them, come in all social circles–-we just hear about the famous ones, unless of course you had an uncle that felt you up when he kissed you at Thanksgiving.
Just a thought.
Look for some serious return fire from misogynistic assholes on the right as they sense that uppity women are somehow feeling as if they can do and say whatever they please, without prior permission. This feeling seems so deeply ingrained, a habitual offender like Loofah Boy cannot see any personal culpability, instead blaming god for his troubles. And women, of course.
You can see it in the attacks by the Trumpists on that girl who wanted to end a pregnancy, and that other little girl with cerebral palsy who had the temerity to go to the hospital for an emergency gall bladder operation. She's here illegally, so, naturally, rather than be cared for properly, she's locked in a room with no connection to her family and sees only border guards and Trump brownshirts:
"It’s unusual for federal agents to detain a child already living in the United States, especially one with a medical condition, experts say. Under President Barack Obama, immigration agents were ordered to target high-priority immigrants such as violent criminals, and, for the most part, left everyone else alone. But President Trump has ordered federal agents to move more aggressively to deport people living in the country illegally — including those without criminal records."
The rightwing War on Women is going to be ramped up significantly now that women are no longer afraid of coming forward. This shit has to be snuffed out! Back in the kitchen! And git them shoes off.
Is it the absolute height of irony that the leader of the right is himself an alleged molester? I suppose it wouldn't help to ask these holier than thou haters what would Jesus do? They'd probably want to shoot you.
Such nice people.
PD,
If an uncle either kissed me or felt me up at Thanksgiving, it would have surprised me.
I'm sure assholes come in all shapes, varieties, and social settings, I just seem to have avoided them, or perhaps just haven't heard much about them.
But luckily for all of us, more are being outed by the day.
One more quick thought.
What happened to that Opioid National Emergency the little king promised? So, what, rampant opioid addiction and deaths from overdoses are a "public health" thingy now?
The biggest public health emergency in the country is Trump himself.
His attacks on healthcare and insistence on stupidity as the basis for public health policy is sure to kill many and hurt many more. He's a pathogen. The CDC should quarantine him in one of those safe rooms where they store deadly viruses. Melania can don one of those pressure suits to visit him once every few years or so. Or not.
Some people...
Speaking of drugs, one drug I'd avoid at all costs would be anything that gave me an idea of what it must be like to be Donald Trump. Because then I might be prone to saying all kinds of really, really, extra stupid shit, like calling Xi Jinping the "king of China".
Oh, well, according to Trump, that's what "some people" call him.
Really? Who?
They must the ones he's always calling upon to support the most outrageous, ignorant, bigoted, and mendacious claims, the "a lot of people are saying" types.
One can only imagine what a smart, cagey guy like Xi Jinping must think of our president*. I'm guessing it goes along the lines of "See, western capitalists really ARE morons."
Another day and the stupid continues to pile up.
Who's fp^6 going to chose as the Fed chair?
That's a no-brainer. Which
candidateguy can do the most damage?I'm a long time follower and first time poster.
I want to thank everyone here in this forum for fighting the good fight in these troubling times under the current administration.
Thanks Marie for your website. I found you a few years ago from your astute NYT posts in the comments section in the opinion columns.
While the content here gets a reasonable person's blood to boil I think it is necessary to be informed of what is happening to our beloved country. Thank you.
charles
All Those Slutty Broads I Molested Are Liars!
signed,
The little king, donnie.
So, once again, everyone lies except for Donaldo, the Truth Teller Extraordinaire. The guy who claimed he could do anything he wanted to any woman he met, who claimed his very own Vietnam was bed hopping, the guy who went on the radio and called his own daughter a nice piece of ass, who insulted the wives of other candidates and called other women dogs, fat, and ugly, who bragged that he could have "nailed" Princess Diana, who claimed to be irresistible to women, who once said that a woman's place in a boardroom is on her knees, who tweeted that sexual assault in the military was a natural thing because, what can you expect?
But THIS guy is the decent, respectful, honorable, truthful person, and all those women who braved public scorn to come forward, are liars. It's like listening to a mafia thug complain that all those guys with broken arms and legs and busted heads pointing fingers at him as their attacker just fell down the stairs and were lying about everything.
One more thing. Have any of these women asked for money? Any one of them? Not that I've heard. What then, is their goal?
When three or four women accused Bill Clinton of inappropriate behavior, wingers spent tens of millions of dollars to prove it, and tried to impeach him. But many more of the same sort of complaints are leveled against their little king, and what do they do? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
And worse? His sycophantic, opprobrious, lying enabler, SHS, who claims to be an amazing, wonderful Christian, abets the little king's claims of innocence. If she had any shame, I'd suggest she hide her face.
But she doesn't. And neither does her evil boss.
I agree with dotard, just say "no". To any privileged males out there, next time you have the urge to grab some unsuspecting woman by a body part, just say "no". To those entitled narcissists, next time you feel the need to undress in front of a vulnerable young woman, just say "no". To those arrogant MCP's, next time you feel like whispering foul musings in a hapless woman's shell like ear, just say "no". To those arrogant throwbacks, next time you want to insert some part of yourself into a frightened woman's space, just say "no". There, who knew it could be so easy?
I remember this guy's hot mike moment when he referred to President Obama as a 'Dick'. Oh, the irony. Y'a know, the way he employed his dick in the ensuing years.