The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, but Akhilleus found this new one that he says is easy to use.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Friday
Sep092016

The Commentariat -- Sept. 10, 2016

David Sanger of the New York Times: "Russia and the United States reached agreement early Saturday on a new plan to reduce violence in the Syria conflict that, if successful, could lead for the first time to joint military targeting by the two big powers against Islamic jihadists in Syria. The agreement was reached after 10 months of failed cease-fires and suspended efforts for a political settlement in the Syria war, which began more than five years ago, has left nearly a half-million people dead and created the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, announced the agreement in Geneva after weeks of negotiations that were marred, in President Obama's words, by deep 'mistrust' between the Russians and Americans." CW: Please, Nobel committee, give Kerry the peace prize.

David Sanger, et al.: "North Korea's latest test of an atomic weapon leaves the United States with an uncomfortable choice: Stick with a policy of incremental sanctions that has clearly failed to stop the country's nuclear advances, or pick among alternatives that range from the highly risky to the repugnant. A hard embargo, in which Washington and its allies block all shipping into and out of North Korea and seek to paralyze its finances, risks confrontations that allies in Asia fear could quickly escalate into war. But restarting talks on the North's terms would reward the defiance of its young leader, Kim Jong-un, with no guarantee that he will dismantle the nuclear program irrevocably." -- CW

Good News for Democracy. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A U.S. elections agency must remove a proof-of-citizenship requirement from a federal form used by people in Kansas, Alabama and Georgia to register to vote for November's election, a federal appeals court panel in Washington ordered late Friday, reversing a lower court. The 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit came one day after civil rights groups in oral arguments said that the requirement could disenfranchise tens of thousands of U.S. citizens applying to vote in Kansas without required papers. Kansas is the only state enforcing the requirement to show documentation such as a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers instead of accepting signed and sworn affirmation of citizenship." CW: The two judges who decided the case: Judith W. Rogers, is a Clinton appointee, and Stephen F. Williams, a Reagan appointee. Judge Raymond Randolph, the dissenter, is a Bush I appointee. ...

... Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday refused to allow Michigan to ban voters from casting straight-ticket ballots in the coming election after lower courts found the prohibition was likely to discriminate against African Americans and result in long lines at the polls.... Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. said they would have granted the state's request." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Pioneer Press: "Minnesota Democrats have sued to get ... Donald Trump's name removed from the state's general election ballots. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's Thursday lawsuit claims the Minnesota Republican Party failed to nominate its presidential electors ... in accordance with state law. Keith Downey, the chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, said last month that the party called a special meeting to approve alternative electors because it had previously neglected to do so. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AP: "A judge is ordering the state of Utah not to stop funding its Planned Parenthood branch over advocacy for legal abortion or unproven allegations against the national organization. The move comes after an appeals court decided a defunding order from Utah Gov. Gary Herbert was likely an unconstitutional political move designed to punish the group because it provides abortions. The prohibition signed Sunday by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson in Salt Lake City will be in effect as a court battle over the governor's order plays out." -- CW: Benson, who now has senior status, was a Bush I appointee. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Joe Heim & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "A federal judge ruled Friday against the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's request for a preliminary injunction to halt construction on the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline that the tribe says endangers sacred burial grounds and could threaten its water supply from Lake Oahe, a dammed section of the Missouri river. But in a development that stunned even the tribe's lawyers, the decision by District Judge James E. Boasberg was effectively put on hold by a federal order to stop construction near the tribe's reservation until the Army Corps of Engineers can revisit its previous decisions in the disputed portion." CW: Boasberg is an Obama appointee.

Capitalism is Awesome, Ctd. Charles Pierce on the massive Wells Fargo fleece-the-customers scam which the CFPB outted. "... this says something truly awful about the company's upper management and the culture that has developed at all levels of the institution. A den of thieves, with elevators and Christmas bonuses. The truest thing that Bernie Sanders said in his stump speech always was that the basic business plan of this industry is fraud. It also was one of the few examples of understatement he allowed himself.... The Republican Party considers the CFPB to be an example of 'onerous regulation' and has vowed to kill it dead so that Americans can be free to get swindled by these sharpers.... Hey, I've got an idea. Let's let folks take the money that Social Security takes out of their paychecks and invest it in the big ol' casino in lower Manhattan [which is the GOP's excellent plan]. -- CW

How Ignorant of History Are Facebook's Censors? Abby Ohlheiser of the Washington Post: "If you were to pick a handful of images that changed how people think about war, Nick Ut's most famous photograph would surely be among them. The image of 9-year-old Kim Phuc running from napalm -- her skin burning, her clothes burned away -- defined the horrors of the Vietnam War. Norwegian author Tom Egeland ... shared the photo to Facebook weeks ago. But Facebook's moderators saw the Pulitzer Prize-winning image [as] a violation of the site's nudity policy.... [They] removed the photograph from Egeland's page, along with its accompanying text. His account was suspended for 24 hours after he shared an interview with Phuc criticizing Facebook's decision to censor this image.... Incredible outrage ... swept across Norway..., becoming the subject of an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from Norway's largest newspaper, and rising all the way up to the country's prime minister." When PM Erna Solberg reposted the photo on her own Facebook page, Facebook deleted that, too. Facebook also threatened to remove the photo from the newspaper's Facebook page. "After initially defending its decision to remove the photograph, Facebook decided to 'reinstate' the image [on Egeland's page] on Friday afternoon." --CW

Presidential Race

... you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic -- you name it. And, unfortunately, there are people like that. -- Hillary Clinton, at a Manhattan fundraiser, Friday

Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Democrats are increasingly worried that Hillary Clinton has not built a formidable lead against Donald Trump despite his historic weaknesses as a national party candidate. Even [Clinton]'s advisers acknowledge that she must make changes, and quickly. Clinton leads Trump by a mere three percentage points, having fallen from her high of nine points in August, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average.... Among Democrats' concerns is the fact that Clinton spent a great deal of time over the summer raising millions of dollars in private fundraisers while Trump was devoting much of his schedule to rallies, speeches and TV appearances...." -- CW

John Wagner of the Washington Post: In Birmingham, Alabama, Tim "Kaine said he found it 'shocking,' 'horrible' and highly disrespectful that ... Mike Pence had on Thursday characterized [Vladimir] Putin as a stronger leader than President Obama, an assessment that echoed that of ... Donald Trump, a day before. 'When Mike Pence said that, I just had to reflect that if you don't know the difference between leadership and dictatorship, then where do I start with you?' said Kaine.... Kaine said ... Pence's comments showed a 'shocking level of disrespect for the president.'... At a rally later Friday in Norfolk, [Virginia,] Kaine took his argument one step further. 'That irrational hostility toward President Obama ... is unpatriotic, and we got to call it out,' Kaine told a crowd at Old Dominion University." CW: We've all had enough of that shit. See also conservative Philip Klein's analysis, linked below.

Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "... after more than a year of uncharacteristic restraint — a notable shift from eight years ago, when his simmering instincts often burdened Hillary Clinton's first presidential run — [former President Bill] Clinton seems to have had enough. 'Did I solve every problem? No,' he told a crowd on Wednesday in Orlando, Fla. 'Did I get caught trying? You bet.'... 'I got tickled the other day when Mr. Trump called my foundation a criminal enterprise,' he said on Tuesday in Durham, N.C., noting that Mr. Trump had paid a fine for making a political donation using funds from his own foundation.... 'So when someone who doesn't know the first thing about philanthropy tries to bring the Clinton Foundation into his political sideshow, [Clinton spokesman Angel] Urena said of Mr. Trump, 'President Clinton is going to stand up for it.'" -- CW ...

... Tim Hains of Real Clear Politics (Sept. 7): "Former President Bill Clinton ... says that Donald Trump's promise to 'Make America Great Again' is a racist codeword. 'If you're a white southerner, you know exactly what it means,' Clinton said." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Clinton Presidential Library has released nearly two dozen photos of Donald Trump socializing with President Bill Clinton -- including one that shows the two men with their arms around Trump's then-girlfriend, Melania, and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kylie Bax -- images from a collection that underscores just how chummy Trump once was with the president and his wife Hillary." CW: According to Bax, "Bill was in another box [at the U.S. Open tennis park at Flushing Meadows] and he came by to say hello to Donald."

NYT, Republicans Can't Control Themselves. Adam Goldman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A computer specialist who deleted Hillary Clinton's emails despite orders from Congress to preserve them was given immunity by the Justice Department during its investigation into her personal email account.... Republicans have called for the department to investigate the deletions, but the immunity deal with the specialist, Paul Combetta, makes it unlikely that the request will go far.... 'As the F.B.I.'s report notes, [Clinton campaign spokesman Brian] Fallon said, 'neither Hillary Clinton nor her attorneys had knowledge of the Platte River Network employee's actions. It appears he acted on his own and against guidance given by both Clinton's and Platte River's attorneys to retain all data in compliance with a congressional preservation request.'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Matthew Teague of the Guardian: "Donald Trump made a half-hearted attempt to distance himself from ... Vladimir Putin, on Friday night at a rally in [Pensacola,] Florida, but aimed inflammatory comments at Iran and his political opponent Hillary Clinton.... It appears to make little political sense for Trump to campaign in his most devoted quarter, at this point in the race.... But Trump's methods continue to defy political gravity. His poll numbers have steadily risen, and they now show him nearly even with Clinton. One group of supporters did not make a return to Friday's rally: the singing, dancing girl group called Freedom Kids.... The group's manager and one girl's father, Jeff Popick, allege Trump 'played' the girls and didn't pay them." -- CW ...

By Driftglass.She is being so protected, she could walk into this arena right now and shoot somebody with 20,000 people watching, right smack in the middle of the heart, and she wouldn't be prosecuted. O.K.? That's what's happening. -- Donald Trump, speaking of Hillary Clinton, at the Pensacola rally, Friday ...

... Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's comments followed an extended, and at times vicious and unscripted, criticism of Mrs. Clinton..., whom he called 'an unstable person.' He repeatedly criticized the decision not to prosecute her over her email scandal, and also her record as secretary of state." ...

... CW: Here again, we see Trump projecting his own faults onto an opponent. It's uncanny. If there's anyone who is not unstable, it's Hillary Clinton, yet Trump, who is crazy, who demonstrated that lunacy even in his criticism of Clinton, turns his own condition on Clinton. I'm only half-kidding when I say that if Trump is elected, members of the public should band together to bring suit to have him committed to a mental institution for the duration of his term. If unhappy people everywhere can be committed because they "pose a danger to themselves or others," committing Trump is a no-brainer. mike pence is horrible, but he's capable of carrying out the duties of the presidency, no matter how abysmally. I wouldn't be surprised if he agreed to be Trump's running mate on the assumption Trump would have a breakdown "on Day One." ...

... Here's some evidence: pence is running an anti-Trump campaign. Why, just yesterday ...

... Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "Mike Pence on Friday said he couldn't spill the beans on his first confidential national security briefing of the campaign, citing 'great respect' for the classified nature of the information shared. The comments from Donald Trump's running mate came after the Republican nominee got heat from the intelligence community for offering a politicized readout of his own briefings." -- CW ...

... AND Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, on Friday released 10 years' worth of tax returns to the media -- revealing a modest family income, relative to the top of the Republican ticket, and reliable contributions to charity. The document release draws an uncomfortable contrast for the campaign: Trump himself has not released his tax returns...." -- CW

Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch: "Donald Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, and Rudy Giuliani, one of his main campaign surrogates, have both claimed that Trump believes President Obama was born in the U.S. Giuliani, bizarrely, has even claimed that Trump came out and said he believes that Obama was born in the U.S. 'two years ago, three years ago.' That would be remarkable since as recently as earlier this year Trump vowed to write a 'very successful' book outlining his birther conspiracy theory. Indeed, Trump calls himself a 'proud' birther and has regularly promoted the birther conspiracy theory on his Twitter feed, even implying that Obama had a government official killed as part of a cover-up of his supposedly fake birth certificate." Tashman provides the TrumpTweets to make his case. -- CW ...

... Upside-Down World. In case you were viewing Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway as "the sane one," Greg Sargent details how this morning Conway turned a remark by Trump -- "I guess so." -- when asked in 2002 if he favored the Iraq War -- into meaning he was against it. She went on to complain that, "Senator Obama said he would have done that [-- voted against authorization of the war --] in 2008, and everybody just took him at his word. As Sargent points out, & Conway certainly knew, "Obama did give a big speech in 2002 against the war just before the Senate vote giving George W. Bush authority to invade.... It has been widely discussed for years as one of the reasons he went on to defeat Clinton in the 2008 primaries (which Conway referenced).... So we aren't taking Obama's opposition to the war at the time 'at his word.' There is a record of it." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Conway: "We on the Trump Campaign Have No Fucking Idea What We're Doing." (paraphrase) Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "Donald Trump's campaign manager on Friday denied that [Trump] ... willingly appeared on a Russian government-sponsored television network. 'As you know, former CNN superstar Larry King has a podcast and Mr. Trump went on his podcast. Nobody said it was going to be on Russian TV,' Kellyanne Conway said on CNN's 'New Day.'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Philip Klein of the (right-wing) Washington Examiner excerpts the exchange between Matt Lauer & Donald Trump in which Trump compares Vladimir Putin to President Obama: "Donald Trump's decision to praise Russian President Vladimir Putin's leadership skills relative to President Obama's is getting a lot of attention, but what Trump actually said is much worse.... Trump not only said Obama was a weaker leader, but he implied that Obama was just as morally bad as Putin, if not worse.... Trump is dismissing actions Putin took threatening neighbors and working against U.S. interests by essentially saying, well, Obama has done a lot of things that were just as bad.... Trump is ... saying that none of the evil actions [Putin is] taking have been any worse than Obama. And that is reprehensible and indefensible." Via Greg Sargent. -- CW

Gail Collins was wondering if Donald Trump & his surrogates were sexists who used gender-specific attacks against Hillary Clinton. So she studied up on it. You won't be surprised to learn what she found. But then again, she's a girl, so her finding is so unfaaair. ...

She doesn't shave her arms and legs, and she's sick. She's going to die. She's having seizures on TV. -- Dom Howard, at Trump's rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Hillary Clinton's health & grooming

First I wondering how Dom there happened to catch a glimpse of Hillary's hairy armpits and legs. Then I was wondering if Donald Trump shaves his (under)arms & legs. This could be the first time in history an imagined failure to shave one's pits was cited as a disqualifier for the presidency. Did George Washington shave his legs? What about Ronald Reagan? Why, Abe Lincoln quit shaving his face when an 11-year-old girl suggested he would look more presidential with a beard. -- Constant Weader

Comments Off

Reader Comments (15)

I agree CW, Kerry for the Nobel Peace Prize. He's been amazing. Even Kofi Annan gave up!

September 9, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterGloria

A plethora of hands (mine included) have been wrung over the preposterous situation in which we find ourselves, that of a dangerous ignoramus running neck and neck with a rational, experienced, eminently qualified candidate. But there are three candidates in this race and I'm not referring to either National Geographic Johnson or Wrong Way Jill. One candidate, the qualified one, is, of course Hillary Clinton, who by all rights should have a triple digit lead over one of the other two, one of whom, Donald Trump, is the kind of candidate who historically would have--and should have--been lucky to get one whole percent of the vote. Think Ron Paul or one of those weirdos who run on the L Ron Hubbard "Aliens Control Our Kidney Functions" tickets.

The third candidate is the one whose frighteningly anemic polling numbers are the primary reason, among serious and sober citizens, and frankly the true "real Americans", for all that hand wringing. This is the invented Hillary Clinton, the scary, hateful monster who has people murdered just to stay in shape. Who sits up late nights dreaming of how she can more effectively put Anericans in mortal danger, weaken our military, confiscate all weapons, outlaw Christianity, and rewrite the Constitution to support the commie, feminist, America hating, transsexual bathroom attackers' agenda. The one who sharpens her pointed teeth before dining on infant body parts served up by Planned Parenthood Catering.

In other words, someone who does not exist. A fantastical creation who makes the Satan character in the Exorcist look like the Jamaican bobsled team going up against PED powered Russians in the Evil Olympics.

Like the ignoramus with whom she is running so closely, this candidate is the product of two forces: Confederate hate-fueled propaganda, and media incompetence and apathy, or even worse, a media willing to go along with vicious and dangerous fabrications for a few extra bucks.

The Confederate Clinton has become such a powerful, talismanic lightening rod for fear and misogyny that she has made this three person race one which could, with the inestimable aid of the Republican Party and an equally foul media--being about the lowest moment in American history,--one from which we might never sufficiently recover, which might make us no better than any other banana republic run by a strutting, ego driven, epaulette wearing authoritarian garbage man.

The real Hillary Clinton has issues, no question. But in no possible universe does she resemble the monster invented by rightwing schemers and their media allies, supported by the accommodating indolence and cowardice of the mainstream media.

This race should have been over three seconds after Bernie Sanders threw in the towel. The fact that it's not, and the mortal danger in which this nation finds itself is the direct responsibility of the right wing. The two worst candidates in American history are their creation, made in the image and likeness of their hatred, paranoia, and admiration of the electoral value of blind ignorance.

And even if one of those Hillary Ckintons wins, it will be the evil one who takes office and against whom those valiant patriots on the right take up arms.

What they will fight against--what they have always fought against--is an open, inclusive, educated, forward looking America, a nation guided by the better angels of our nature. In other words, they fight against the very idea of America .

Always have.

And now, they have two candidates running for president. One of them is sure to win.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

On that Well Fargo scam: I have a small checking account at Wells Fargo (or I may have several small WF accounts, unbeknownst to me). I never use the account, except as a repository for small earnings I get from a few investments I have through a Well Fargo broker.

I also have an active checking account at the Bank of America. It's an account my husband I have had since 2000. I've been keeping a pile of money in it for convenience because I have had some large expenditures over the past couple of years & I see more coming up, and I can't predict exactly when I'll need to fork over the cash.

So when I needed a short-term mortgage, I thought BofA would be a good place to get it because they knew my credit history & knew they have been using my money for some years. Ha ha ha. Besides harassing me daily for more-and-more documentation, & after suggesting I was committing some kind of unspecified (and mysterious to me) fraud, they raised my interest rate right before closing, effectively forcing me to accept the higher rate or lose my deposit on the property (as well as losing the property, of course). I filed a complaint with the CFPB, which did no good. Since I'm planning to pay off the mortgage in a year or two, it isn't worth fighting further.

But given my experience with those serial abusers, I did think it would be a good idea to take my money out of the BofA checking account, and I thought (and said to a friend who also severed her ties with BofA), "Hey, I could just move my money over to Well Fargo. I already have an account there!" So ha ha ha again.

And I don't think there's a better alternative. An acquaintance of mine said a local bank pulled a very similar stunt on him a couple of months ago: once again, at the last minute and well after they had received his financial info, the bank told him it would up the interest rate they promised him unless he put up a larger down payment.

So I'm guessing this up-the-interest-rate-at-the-last-minute scheme is an industry-wide response to CFPB's "onerous regulations." If they can no longer fool the customer going in, they'll threaten him with disaster at the last minute. In their answer to the CFPB, BofA pointed out that I had signed the CFPB-approved mortgage agreement -- which is true, of course; BofA just failed to mention I did so with a $10,000 bank-certified gun to my head.

Bernie is right.

Marie

September 10, 2016 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Akhilleus, the reason Clinton does not have a triple digit lead is the fact that her name is Hillary, not Henry.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

And speaking of polls: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/polls.html

Notice how different things look when you do it state by state.
Again, a national poll using a small number is not the same as state by state.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

Marie, do your financial business with a credit union & quit the banks as soon as can. My experience with a credit union has been positive. Banks? No, thanks.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterJackalizer

And lastly, again it is all about the electoral college. Here is an analysis from a few days ago.

http://www.270towin.com/maps/clinton-trump-electoral-map

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

Thanks for posting the polling link, Marvin. It is nice to know that when I raise my head out of genetics and chemistry books that Pennsylvania isn't lost and our fellow Americans aren't all supporting a carnival barker to put his thumb next to the nuclear button.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625

Yes! Kerry should get the peace prize. This is quite a feat and we'll see how well it holds up.

After reading Achilleus' comment this morning––the two Clintons scenario––-I wonder whether we would be wise to take a whole different tactic. Instead of constantly showing the madman antics of Trump which isn't doing much to dissuade his followers, zero in on the followers themselves. Are they the kind of Americans who cotton to––name the long list of negatives–––however you do it the goal is to paint the Trumpeters in a shameful negative light––Not patriotic, Not caring for their fellow man, etc. (maybe even looney––oh, noes, we couldn't do that!)

The vitriol being spewed at Hillary makes my skin crawl and it's just beginning as I mentioned the other day after receiving that ugly email. And we wonder why Hillary is "supposed" to be so private. She is used to this kind of thing after years of mud slinging being thrown her way. But it is one thing to make fun of candidate's foibles and another whole ball of wax to get into shaving legs and underarms ––how far will they go–-how deplorable, how disgusting?

One thing Trump is very skilled at is his tenacious hold on something like the Birther issue which of course catapulted him to stardom. The media and Hillary need to do the same: Where are those tax returns? Show more ads of those that got scammed at Trump U; Stay with him during all the lies––keep hammering–-since he has a short attention span he'll want to verve off on other directions––don't allow him to do that–-bring him back––he may just crack.

Just a thought

@Marie–-so sorry you had to go through that lousy bank business. The Wells-Fargo story is another example of how much we need federal oversight. We are a greedy species––it devours one in the end.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

DANCING WITH (THE REAL) STARS SANS RICK PERRY

This is terrific!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1F0lBnsnkE&sns=em

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Permit me to gnaw the Brooks' bone a little more.

Mentioned his NYTimes "Time for a Realignment" column yesterday, saying that while I thought his crystal ball seriously befogged the topic of party realignment worth thinking about.

Brooks sees the R and D parties as coalitions, described this way: The R's a party of big, global-spanning business and the uneducated and white dispossessed; the D's combining what he calls coastal elites and minorities. So far, mostly so good.

But when he suggests the glue (the mutual interests) that has held those alliances together is failing he begins to veer of the track. There will be a realignment, but it will not take the shape he suggests.

Brooks' vision of that realigned future mistakenly posits that sanity will return to R world after an absence of forty years. Post-Trump he suggests the R's might bring forth a Presidential candidate without bigotry or the culture war tropes the party has relied on since the late 1960's. It's a big IF, he later admits.

Yes, it is. The bigotry that Trump has tapped and made public is now baked into Republican genes. It will not go away. What will continue to fray is the uneasy alliance of the bigoted and dispossessed with the business elite that has been using them as patsies for decades.

Sheer numbers, however, will prevail. Outside its leadership, the R's have long been the Party of Stupid and it will remains exactly that, even more explicitly as time goes on. People who don't or don't wish to understand the world's complexity will continue to be drawn to it. It will be the Simple Party, a home for all who don't "get" science or math, who don't see complexity or ambiguity in any- or everything from international relations to sexuality. The party of simple solutions to all difficulties, real and imagined, eager to attach themselves to a leader (god or politician) who promises to lead them out of the psychological wilderness in which they struggle to survive.

In short, Brooks' big IF will not happen. Big as it is, it's not enough lipstick to cover his party's pig. It's a glaringly empty fantasy.

The Trump phenomenon will not pass. Brooks cannot wish it away. There are more, not fewer, Trumps in the R's future. The realigned R's will not shun them; it will need and welcome them.

What the business elite will do about that remains to be seen. My guess is now that their base has begun to turn on them, they will desert the party in greater numbers over time, some finding refuge in the other party of Greed, the Libertarians, some slipping into the D's unfortunate alliance with Big Money. Some of that is already happening.

What all that means for the D's and for the country bears more thought than I can give it this morning. Maybe later.

I suspect not all of it is good.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Edsall cobbles together a succession of quotations from others supporting his apparent discovery of what has been obvious for a long time.

Richard Hofstadter's observation that paranoia animates much of our politics has always been true, and has been deliberately provided a comfortable home in R-land for a long time. Apparently Edsall tripped over it only recently.

That said, he does include some fine quotes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/opinion/campaign-stops/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics-is-back.html?

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Following AK's lead, I suggest that Hillary get on stage with a cardboard cutout of the Invented Hillary Clinton, run down the list of awful things she is accused of, and say "I don't like her, either!"

Part two needs to be a reprise of the "basket of deplorables" line, but continue with: "And as President, I will still fight for their right to express themselves, and for their job opportunities, and for their health care, because that's what a president does for ALL Americans!" Look no farther than the article yesterday about Hillary after 9/11. Unions and union members that actively campaigned against her saw her come to their support and aid, and they are grateful.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

Marie, I pulled out of a refinance with WFB when they tried to force me to pay my property taxes, not due for another 6 weeks, through the closing escrow. They said that any time the taxes were due within 60 days of closing it was required. I argued that the only reason that we were within 60 days was because they took so long to do the refinance which was not my fault. When they refused to relent I told them FU (in so many words). The representative I had the final conversation with was clearly dumbfounded and more than a little peeved that I was going to walk away after all the work.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered Commentercakers

PD Pepe -
Thank you for linking that superlative dance mash-up . . . So many of my crushes, fantasies & professional idols (who still are).
Grazie Mille!

Re:
"Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Saturday said she regretted saying "half" of Republican rival Donald Trump's supporters belonged in a "basket of deplorables . . . "

I, too, regret: She omitted the other half.

September 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterOphelia M.
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.