;)
The Commentariat -- Sept. 12, 2016
Presidential Race
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Eli Stokols & Hadas Gold of Politico: "... news organizations are still struggling to square their approach to covering two candidates who couldn't be more different.... The result, Hillary Clinton's advisers lament and news executives admit, is a wide gap in what the public expects --- and accepts as credible -- from the country's top two presidential candidates. Trump's bar is undeniably far lower than Clinton's." CW: This is a straight news report and, especially for Politico, is surprisingly candid about the media's coverage of the race, even if the subhead misrepresents the thrust of the content.
E.J. Dionne makes the case (which isn't all that difficult) that Hillary Clinton is the "faith-based" candidate in this race. CW: This kind of argument makes me uncomfortable, but Dionne does somewhat explain a major difference between liberal theology (love) & fundamentalist theology (fear & trembling). Another element of fundamentalism that Dionne doesn't touch is the exclusionary nature of fundamentalist belief: people (including children) who don't embrace their specific form of Christianity are all going to hell & these "other" people are scary heathens. ...
... Ed Kilgore: "... like a long-suffering spouse, the Christian Right is sticking with Donald Trump ... because he is convincingly the enemy of its enemies and is willing to make a few key gestures in the direction of the righteous, albeit in a clumsy and offhand way. None of the Christian conservative leaders who have made opposition to Trump (e.g., Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention) a matter of conscience were allowed near the podium of the [Values Voter Summit this weekend in Washington, D.C]." -- CW: And let's be fair -- a pile (no percentage specified) of so-called Christian conservatives are racists, though probably not so often of the overt, supremacist ilk. ...
... Greg Sargent: "Clinton did err to some degree, particularly in making the precise claim that 'half' of Trump's supporters are driven by Islamophobia, sexism, or racism..., which is also the part that she subsequently walked back, while allowing the rest of her comments to stand. But Clinton's underlying case -- that Trump is running a campaign fueled in part by bigoted appeals, and in the process, he is mainstreaming fringe sentiments -- is simply inarguable. And forcing a public discussion of that aspect of her argument in particular isn't necessarily a political loser for her." -- CW
Jonathan Martin & Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton on Sunday abruptly left a ceremony in New York marking the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks before it concluded because she became 'overheated,' according to a campaign spokesman.... Mrs. Clinton had arrived at the commemoration event around 8 a.m. and left at about 9:30. But for over an hour after that, her campaign would not offer any information about why she left early or where she was.... At about 11:40 a.m., Mrs. Clinton, wearing sunglasses, emerged from [her daughter's] apartment in New York's Flatiron district. She waved to onlookers and posed for pictures with a little girl on the sidewalk. 'I'm feeling great,' Mrs. Clinton said. 'It's a beautiful day in New York.'... Video from the event taken by an attendee captured Mrs. Clinton struggling to steady herself and then stumbling as she stepped off a curb. She required assistance from two Secret Service agents to get into her van. The video, which was posted on Twitter, immediately ricocheted across the internet." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... New Lede: "Hillary Clinton on Sunday abruptly left a ceremony in New York marking the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and a video appeared to show her struggling to maintain her balance as a pair of Secret Service agents lifted her into a van. The incident, according to a statement from her physician, was related to pneumonia and dehydration." -- CW ...
Abby Phillip & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Clinton's campaign issued a statement from her doctor later Sunday revealing that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier. 'Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies,' Dr. Lisa R. Bardack said in the statement. 'On Friday, during follow up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely.'A planned trip to California and Nevada wearly this week is now under review." -- CW ...
... Update. Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "At 10:16 p.m., the campaign said that 'Clinton will not be traveling to California tomorrow or Tuesday.' Clinton was scheduled to raise cash in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, and her campaign had previewed that she would also deliver a speech on the economy Tuesday. Clinton's Wednesday trip to Las Vegas is, for now, still on her schedule. Around midnight, however, fundraisers who were planning to attend Clinton's San Francisco event on Monday received an email saying the event is still on, but that Clinton would now appear via teleconference. Frustration with the Clinton campaign's handling of the incident boiled over among political journalists on Twitter." CW: Yo, "journalists": Boo-fucking-hoo.
... Ezra Klein: "Will [Bardack's statement] quiet speculation about Clinton's health, particularly amongst those who were certain the candidate was hiding a serious illness even before she exhibited symptoms? I doubt it.... It's very, very hard for me to believe that anyone keeping [the] kind of schedule [Clinton has kept], for this long, is secretly ill.... Bardack's note fits the evidence we have a lot better than the wild conspiracy theories we've heard." -- CW ...
... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The Mainstream Media? Not So Much. Laurel Raymond of Think Progress: "Pivoting off of conspiracy theories that have been playing out in the media for weeks now..., news networks immediately seized upon Clinton's departure and began speculating about larger questions about her health." CW: Raymond cites some right-wing media like Fox "News" & the New York Pest, as well as CNN & NBC, but the Washington Post (that jerk Chris Cillizza) & Politico (Annie Karni) are just as bad. This is how the nut jobs drive the news. As Raymond points out, "President George W. Bush ... once fainted after choking on a pretzel, while his father fainted at state dinner in Japan (he had the flu). At the time, Bush (I)'s doctor said 'The President is human; he gets sick.'" ...
... CW: So far (Sunday afternoon) Trump is behaving himself on this. We'll see what happens. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "... Donald Trump early Monday weighed in on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's pneumonia diagnosis, saying 'something's going on.' 'I hope she gets well soon. I don't know what's going on,' Trump said on 'Fox & Friends.' 'Like you, I see what I see...Something's going on but I just hope she gets well and gets back on the trail and we'll be seeing her at the debate.'... Trump said Monday he thinks health is an issue now and he plans to release some medical records soon." -- CW ...
... CW: Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. If you think New York Times coverage is "fair and balanced," read Savransky's report in the Hill, then look at how the Times covered that same Trump call-in interview on Fox "News": Alan Rappeport: "Donald J. Trump tried to strike a magnanimous tone about the illness that overtook Hillary Clinton this weekend, saying on Monday that he hopes his rival for the presidency recovers soon from a bout of pneumonia and promising to release his own detailed health report this week. 'I just hope she gets well and gets back on the trail and we'll be seeing her at the debate,' Mr. Trump said on Fox News." That's it for the Fox "News" report. Several grafs down, Rappeport does note a refrain from the "Something's Going On" theme song when Trump spoke to CNBC later this morning. See also the discussion in today's Comments. Those by Akhilleus, Marvin S. & me were all written before the Times published Rappeport's "report" about Trump's "try[ing] to strike a magnanimous tone." ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Surprise! Donald Trump suggests he still has doubts about Clinton's health explanation.... Appearing on CNBC, Trump ... suggested quite strongly that a pneumonia diagnosis, which the Clinton campaign announced Sunday, two days after it was diagnosed, might not be the whole story. 'You know, it was interesting because they say pneumonia on Friday, but she was coughing very, very badly a week ago, and even before that, if you remember. This wasn't the first time,' Trump said. 'So it's very interesting to see what is going on.'... And he seemed to hint, while saying that campaigning is 'grueling work,' that Clinton's campaigning wasn't nearly as demanding as his. 'If you look at my scheduling and compare to anybody else's scheduling, there's not a contest.' These comments were tossed into a bunch of boilerplate about Trump wanting Clinton to feel better and return to the campaign trail. But it's classic Trump: He's suggesting something is amiss without saying it directly." -- CW ...
... Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "A day after Hillary Clinton fell ill at a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York, Donald Trump announced on Monday that he underwent a physical last week and will release 'very, very specific' results this week. 'Hopefully they're going to be good. I think they're going to be good,' Trump said on Fox News on Monday morning." CW: Wait! Wait! Why didn't we hear about this sooner? Trump had a physical way last week and we didn't hear about it till Monday??? Something's going on. ...
... CW: Republicans should have nominated Marco Rubio. He has a real case against Clinton: he knows how to hydrate in all situations:
... AND There's This. Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "Embattled ex-pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli showed up outside of Chelsea Clinton's New York City apartment Sunday to taunt Hillary Clinton.... After resting at her daughter's apartment, she emerged, telling reporters she felt great. Shkreli stood outside yelling and telling her to drop out of the presidential race. 'Do you need pharma bro's help?' Shkreli yelled at Clinton, according to a video he posted on YouTube." -- CW
Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "At 58 percent, [President] Obama's approval is 15 points higher than it was on the eve of the 2014 elections, where his party got blown out. Hillary Clinton's hope is that the reversal of opinions on Obama two years later will also lead to a reversal of fortunes for other Democrats -- and there's reason to think that it will." -- CW
There is no failed policy more in need of urgent change than our government-run education monopoly. -- Donald Trump in an "education" speech, Thursday ...
... Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post: "With that line..., Donald Trump placed himself firmly in the camp of school 'reformers' who want to break up the public education system in America. Trump declared his intent to use public funds for students to attend private schools and to promote the growth of charter schools, employing the language of Republicans who refuse to call public schools public schools and instead refer to them as 'government-run education monopolies.' (Former Florida governor Jeb Bush is a leader in this, often calling public schools 'government-run monopolies run by unions.'" What's more, Trump made his speech at a scandal-plagued Cleveland, Ohio, charter school that also has done a worse job at educating students than the local public schools. -- CW
Former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell & former Undersecretary of Defense Mike Vickers, in a Washington Post "open letter," try to explain Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump. Somehow, I don't think Donaldovich will heed the message. ...
... ** Paul Krugman does quite a nice job of explaining what a lousy leader Vladimir Putin is: "When Mr. Trump and others praise Mr. Putin as a 'strong leader,' they don't mean that he has made Russia great again, because he hasn't. He has accomplished little on the economic front, and his conquests, such as they are, are fairly pitiful. What he has done, however, is crush his domestic rivals: Oppose the Putin regime, and you're likely to end up imprisoned or dead. Strong!" -- CW
Theodoric Meyer of Politico: "CIA Director John Brennan pushed back against Donald Trump's claim that he could read disapproval of President Barack Obama's policies in the body language of the intelligence officers who gave him a confidential national security briefing.... Brennan said..., '"I know the briefers that have been briefing the candidates.'... Brennan said he was "fully confident" they [had not telegraphed a negative view of the President's policies]...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Philip Bump checks on how Donald Trump's "outreach" to minority voters went: "The new Washington Post-ABC News poll allows us to see. And it went about as well as expected. The margin between Trump and Hillary Clinton in polling that included the four major candidates shows that white voters did indeed shift a bit back toward Trump -- but nonwhite voters moved further away.... Trump spent a month putting a focus on black voters and dallying briefly with softening his position on immigration in an apparent attempt to build a strong relationship with Hispanics. It didn't work." -- CW
Proud to Be Standing with White Supremacists & Nut Jobs. Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump Jr., an adviser and surrogate for his father's presidential campaign, told followers on Instagram this weekend that he'd 'made the cut' as one of the 'deplorables' denounced by Hillary Clinton -- and shared an image that portrayed Donald Trump and his running mate alongside fringe radio host Alex Jones and a cartoon icon associated with the white nationalist alt-right.... The image included Jones, a conspiracy theorist, in mid-scream, alongside Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos and the cartoon frog Pepe. The latter, as the Daily Beast's Olivia Nuzzi reported in May, had been adopted by anonymous alt-right followers as a sort of mascot, sometimes portrayed in a Nazi get-up, other times with skinhead tattoos." The image was a re-tweet of a tweet by conspiracy theorist and goon Roger Stone, whom Junior didn't identify by name but called "a friend." -- CW
Other News & Views
Brian Beutler: "Hillary Clinton's ballyhooed comments at a fundraiser in Manhattan on Friday night, when she said that 'you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,' were a Rorschach test for the political class. And perhaps the most disappointing reactions came from anti-Trump conservatives who nevertheless believe it was rude of Clinton to call his racist followers racist.... Those who wish to dislodge Trump and Trumpism from the party face an enormous challenge because for all his flaws as a candidate, he is proof of concept that performative bigotry is a ticket to a loyal following.... The entire GOP, from House Speaker Paul Ryan on down, is in a holding pattern, waiting for the results of the election to determine what their best future course will be." -- CW
Cristina Marcos & Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Congress is eyeing a short-term spending bill this week to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1 and potentially make an early getaway from Washington. The Senate will likely make the first move on a short-term appropriations bill, also known as a continuing resolution.... Over in the House, conservatives in the meantime are expected to force a vote this week on impeaching Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen in defiance of GOP leaders." CW: When you got nothin', impeach the IRS!
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Reader Comments (27)
Someone posted on the NYT that he would rather have an unconscious Hillery than a conscious Trump as President. Perfect!
She should have come clean up front. I was in NYC at the time and the humidity was really bad. My first guess was dehydration.
Again, why isn't mental illness an illness?
@Marvin Schwalb: Thanks. Hillary stood for an hour-and-a-half, as far as I can tell, in close quarters, in the sun, wearing a suit & Keplar vest & apparently having nothing to drink, while she had pneumonia, for Pete's sake.
I couldn't do it now, & I wouldn't even try: for more than a decade, I haven't been able to stand immobile on concrete -- much less in the sun. (And I'm not exactly feeble; this afternoon when I was emptying a cargo trailer, I moved -- without help -- several big ole moving boxes, a large upholstered wooden desk chair, some eight-foot by four-foot wooden fence sections and two cast-iron park benches, plus other smaller things.)
Meanwhile, given her diagnosis, I think Clinton's campaign should have made better arrangements for her.
Marie
I wonder if Sergei Lavrov should share that Nobel Prize. Lavrov has to manage a megalomaniac, as well as the negotiations. I'm not advocating, I'm just wondering as, like Kerry, he has been a primary negotiator in all these really big deals. These two people have made a difference in the world.
The plethora of press headlines, "Clinton overheated" rather than prefaced by "as a result of pneumonia" (a common curable disease). Really, a non threatening brief and curable affliction is not the kind of medical info pertinent to a test for the presidency. It's another Clinton gotcha. Likewise, I don't really need to know how many blue pills it takes for Trump to alleviate his erectile dysfunction, no matter how minuscule the problem. If Clinton didn't want to say she had pneumonia that's her call. It raises no questions for me nor should it for anyone else.
David Fahrenthold's article on the Trump foundation and the genuine shady dealings is what should be getting massive headlines. Probative information vs speculation, yup, go with the speculation. Trump can drop his drawers and have a nice big poop on the stage and its okey dokey. The press has no expectation of legitimacy for Trump. Unfortunately, Clinton can't, quite literally, sneeze without "raising questions".
PS: Meanwhile, we're still waiting for a legitimate physician, who isn't stoned or otherwise impaired, to provide a standard fit-for-the-presidency medical summary on Trump. As with the birther travesty, taxes, etc, etc the press falls in step "don't talk about it."
Further evidence of the white supremacist upsurge in Juan Cole's blog. Twitter feeds with white nationalist and neo-nazi hashtags have risen from 3500 to 22,000 from 2012-2016 (600%). "White nationalist followers used Trump hashtags more than any other white nationalist related hashtag except for #whitegenocide."
http://www.juancole.com/2016/09/terrorism-nationalist-twitter.html
A sensational sounding headline in this morning's New Trump Times asks the question on the lips of Stormtrumpers, not-so-Breit-bart readers (they're the ones who move their lips when they read), hate radio witch doctors, and more run of the mill idiots: "Hillary Clinton Has Pneumonia. What that means."
Well, Herman, it usually means that someone with pneumonia will take it easy, follow doctor's orders and they'll feel better in a few days. But that's not good enough for the NT Times which feels compelled to insinuate that those fringey reports of imminent death might now have some real evidence.
A tiny semblance of balance appears deep into the article but that's like starting off with "Will That Man Ever Stop Beating His Wife" and a few paragraphs of damning suppositions followed , in the last paragraph, by "there is no actual evidence of any abuse whatsoever , but some people are saying..."
The daily failure, despicable failure, by the Times , and many other MSM outlets, to provide fair coverage, real balance, and reporting devoid of he said she said and Drudge style "people are saying" regurgitations are primary reasons a lying maniac is doing so well in the polls.
Congratulations, New Trump Times. Der Fuhrer vill revard you handsomely mit der personal interview ven he takes over. If he feels like it, ja?
Akhilleus, the New Trump Times headline included "The incident is likely to increase pressure for her to release detailed medical records".
And what about the fact that we have no records, never mind detailed, from Trump. How do they ignore that! As Diane says, how about some info and photos of Donald's doctor? A GI specialist analyzing his heart!
All we have here is a common infection in a person who in an effort to counter the health crap made a mistake. The mistake was she didn't have a bottle of water at the 9/11 presentation. Of course, if they found her drinking water during the 90 min. that would have been absolute proof she was about to die.
It is really hard trying to live in never, never land.
And lastly as I was walking around NYC yesterday in my shorts and tee shirt, I repeatedly needed to drink from the bottle of water I always carry on such days.
@Akhilleus: Luckily the Times has an ombudsman to criticize their unbalanced coverage of the candidates! Ha ha ha.
Liz Spayd, the Times' "public editor" wrote a piece of crap over the weekend that essentially blames the critics/readers for being too dumb to realize that the Times presidential coverage is way "fair & balanced."
As commenter Isis accurately wrote, "So the NYT doesn't have a public editor. It has a PR agent." Either Spayd is dumb as a post or her job description begins "Defend all NYT content & practices against criticism from stupid crybaby readers."
Marie
@ Gloria: You make an good point re: Lavrov sharing that prize. The deal made took two.
@Marie: And speaking of two: You lifted two cast iron park benches from one place to another? Ha! Maggie Thatcher was coined "The Iron Lady"––I think she just lost that title to you.
The whole kerfuffle over Hillary's state of health is almost laughable. Here we have an overweight, red faced goon who clearly displays some mental deficiencies, who has not released a proper medical report, but somehow that goes by the wayside cuz, ya know, we womens are frail creatures and serious illness could befall us at any time. I'd like to see Donny lift and move those two cast iron park benches! He'd probably keel over from pure exhaustion.
And while we are into health issues this article might interest you, especially since if you, like I have, been yummering about these anti-bacterial soaps causing actual harm. Here is an example of more of "that government interference" that I applaud. I am, however, puzzled at why hospitals would still be able to use them.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/bacteria_on_skin_is_safer_than_these_2_chemicals_fda_soap_ban_20160911
Meanwhile in that lovely, ole southern state of Alabama, one of them good ole boys who had "grown up to serve the lord", a Pastor Allen Joyner says people who don;t stand for the National Anthem should be shot. If that doesn't curl yer toes, the fact that he said this to an audience of school age children and they responded with loud yeas and claps might jest do fer ya.
@PD Pepe: Thanks for the heads-up on the anti-bacterial soaps. At the well-regarded hospital where my husband was in ICU, everyone who entered a patient's room was required to use an anti-bacterial soap every single time s/he entered. That meant staff used the soap a hundred times a day. And, as you say, that isn't going to change, at least in the near term.
Marie
Marvin,
But this morning I heard an interview with Donaldo in which he wished Clinton well but reminded everyone of what great shape he was in and promised (cross his withered little heart and hope to dye--for a lot longer) a real, honest-to-Trump report thingy with health stuff on it from, like, a really good doctor, the most amazing--believe him--the most amazing doctor ever, and not a single word in crayon or smiley faces all over the place like the last one. Any day now.
Then he took a few minutes to rip Clinton for her basket of deplorables characterization of his "amazing" supporters (someone must have told him what "deplorable" means), lecturing her that if she wants to be president, she has to be president of "all the people" not just the ones she likes.
Wow. Just, wow.
Or maybe Trump doesn't consider non-whites, Muslims, and most women "people".
This guy really does live in his head. And a mighty small place it is, too. I dunno how he does it. No windows, no ventilation, dung heaps piled all over the place, dirty laundry to the ceiling, porno mags stuck to the floor, mountains of unpaid bills, stacks of chapter 11 filings, 8 year old Trump steaks molded over in the fridge, his dad's old KKK membership card pasted above the toilet, discarded cans of spray tan, and mirrors; mirrors everywhere. And an old eight track tape playing a loop of sultry voices whispering what a manly man he is and how much they all want him.
President of all the people. Yeah...
AK: "an old eight track tape playing" "Oh, you nasty man" over and over––the message of him being as bad as he can be with sexual overtones of, "man, you is one hot, nasty number"––all women love the bad boys, don't they?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vykIkESfFSo
@Akhilleus: your snippet contained above " ...and hope to dye" once again brought to mind, the weirdly varying shades of yellow that hair-of-the-Drumpf appears in photos. Inquiring minds want to know, is he a do-it-yourselfer? Or does he actually go to a professional? If it's a professional would imagine he/she was required to sign voluminous legal documents never to reveal they have touched up/recolored his 'unnatural' hue. Tho' if any professional is involved, they probably wouldn't want to admit having anything to do with him, legal non-disclosures aside, since they'd be embarrassed.
Hence, I speculate that Drumpf gets his uneven hair coloring from a nearby drugstore and it is part of his personal self-grooming detail. Perhaps, a rinse and not a dye. Thus all the variations from platinum to spun dross. Same goes for his raccoon 'make-up' applied with a spray gun!
A few years back I belonged to a women's networking group. One of our guest speakers and members was a young woman who 'free-lanced' and was on call to the Manchester, NH tv station. Apparently, when candidates landed in town and prior to tv appearances she'd be called to do their make-up. (Shades of avoiding a Nixon look!).
You'd think Drumpf would have such an on-call person locked in the Trump Air hold!
But, I digress. The bigger picture is far more alarming than hair color. Despite the increase (at last) with more in the Media writing more hard-hitting and critical articles on DJT there is little movement in what polls show. I do recall it often seemed iffy in the last election cycle as many worried that Romney could somehow prevail. In the end, it appeared that the voters who seemed ambivalent made the right decision in the end. Let's hope the news stories that show Drumpf with the advantage through interviews and selective local color stories are just speaking with the 'wrong' just folks. Funny, how a story can be slanted by what is said and what is omitted.
Dear god, please help us so we can continue to fuck over the country. Some parts still work. It ain't fair, nohow.
Ever so piously yours,
Mitchell McConnell, age 6.
When things go bad, wingers beg god to help them screw over their enemies. Isn't that like calling down jihad?
So Mitchy, at the Kentucky Confederate Party "Lincoln Dinner" (and no, I am not making that up), asked everyone to pray for the party and for him to stay top man in the senate so's he can keep it operatin' like the well oily machine he's turned it into. Also, god, please let us, as we celebrate our phony baloney Lincoln heritage bullshit, keep being able to smack those smartass darkies who think they can vote us out of office. Let's see how they like it back in chains, uppity bastards.
The Lincoln Dinner was also attended by teabagger asshole, Governor Matt Bevin, who, because "Obama", took one of the best run health exchanges in the country and tore it apart. Damn poors think they can get somethin' fer nothin'. Not like Bevin, who has run tax delinquent businesses and, in the midst of a statewide crisis, due to his cuts in services such as food stamps for mooching poors, is giving his buddy Ken Ham (the Noah's Ark idiot) an $18 million tax break to build a religious monument.
I'm sure Lincoln would approve of starving children so a loony can build a fake ark and charge those same poors through the nose to come to his taxpayer supported religious fantasy land. This is also the idiot who declared his support for illegal cock-fighting contests, declaring that the founders were all big into that sort of thing. Hey, wasn't there a Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington betting his wooden teeth at a cockfight? No? Hmmm...must have been some other founder. Prob'ly Franklin.
Also in attendance was Rand (git them blacks outta my eye-pokin' shop, dammit) Paul. Li'l Randy is still on about how the Constitution should be rewritten to give him the right to discriminate against all those pesky blacks and Hispanics. Old Abe, he'd be so proud of young Randy.
Well let's see how Mitchy's previous prayers worked out.
"Please make President Watermelon a one term president"
"Nope."
"Send all the gays to hell without letting them get married"
"Are you for real?"
"Make the senate a wonderfully run branch of the government so all men will worship me and marvel at what a great guy I am."
"Ahhhh......no."
"Please, please, please, don't let that awful Donnie Trumpy make fun of me."
"Hahaha."
"Okay, well then, at least don't let him become my party's nominee. I will look sooooo stupid and impotent."
"Looks don't deceive."
Sooo...not doing so well on the prayer front, eh?
Well, keep it up, Jowly Boy. Law of averages, know what'a mean? Any day now, you'll get a hit. Maybe it will be that prayer that Trump doesn't strip you of your big job when he becomes dictator. He'll just require that daily testicle washing exercise. And don't make the water too cold.
@MAG: I've seen numerous reports, including this one from July 2015, that assert Trump does his own hair, & spends about an hour a day at it. I read somewhere else that he said he's going to change his do if he becomes president as it's too time-consuming to maintain.
It's amazing to me that a grown man with money to burn would spend as much time on his appearance as does a teenaged girl. It's been repeatedly reported that Trump has the attention span of a problem child, unable to focus for more than five minutes, but when it comes to his personal appearance, he can concentrate for several hours a day: (Hour 1 -- tanning bed; Hour 2 -- hair; Hour 3 -- bathing, shaving, dressing, etc.). You might think he's a narcissist.
Marie
Just to remind everyone:
Obese
High cholesterol
Extreme stress
Poor sleep
Each one of these on it's own is a serious risk factor for a heart attack. So Trump is perfect, he has them all!
And note again. These symptoms are all out in the open. Yet no one in the media seems to notice. Of course if Hillary was just over weight, she would be days away from death.
Many hospitals use hand sanitizers in wall dispensers instead of antibacterial soap. The FDA forbids the use of triclosan in hand sanitizers. They are mostly alcohol.
@Marie: Thanks! The Daily Beast article is a great piece. Love how it answered my puzzlements. The photo with the article is especially lover-ly !!!!
Considering the abject and deferential manner with which religious conservatives treat the twice divorced, lying, cheating, stealing, malignant, friend to murdering mobsters, tax cheat, demeaner of the sick and downtrodden, who heaps scorn on the family of decorated war veterans who died doing their duty, and who laughs about getting a Purple Heart the easy way, who makes fun of a former POW, and worships Mammon above all other gods, one might rightly question the authenticity and sincerity of their belief system.
In all other cases, at least cases in which these self-righteous types, noses high in the air, are determined to exert some political influence (ie, get everyone else to bow to their demands), they wave the Bible around as if every word is law that we are all bound to obey. Surely, if they really believed that, they could never support such a malicious conniver and liar.
Could they?
But they do. Which can only mean one of two things.
First, they are liars too.
Let's put it this way. Would Jesus knuckle under and betray his stated beliefs if it allowed him to curry favor with some soon to be powerful scion of a wealthy Roman family?
Not the Jesus I grew up reading about.
So, is their Jesus is different? Is their Jesus a bit of a chiseler and duplicitous conniver as well? Or are they just self-serving liars and hypocrites, willing to throw values they claim are not just cherished but sacred, into the gutter for political gain?
Which is it? There's no third way.
Unless, of course, one considers mental illness. Lots of that going around on the right these days.
Dear Mr. Akhilleus:
As you know I come off my high horse––sorry, I mean Cloud, every once in awhile to peek in various parts of the planet to see how the humans are doing. My favorite peek is in your neck of the woods because while many other countries have resigned themselves to living on the edge or/and living with endless wars and deaths and destruction, the United States still thinks it is the greatest democracy ever–––and to tell you the truth, I marvel at that. The other reason I do my sneaky peeking is the Christian component. Somehow these religious folks haven't figured out that I have been retired for many a moon. Your rendition of who you call "Jowly Boy" is a mighty good example of all those prayers going nowhere––there is no there there. And since you wrote about him, I'll let you in on a secret: Mitch McConnell's DNA matches exactly the Tennessee Snapping Turtle's.If you look closely the resemblance is uncanny. They, those turtles, move slowly but once they spot their prey, they leash out rapidly with their long tongue and mighty claws and wham! A goner! So make fun of the guy if you will, but keep an eagle eye on the tongue and the claws.
Glad to be of service once in a blue moon.
Always, GOD
This is the difference between Trump's campaign and Clinton's:
Donald Trump's father died of pneumonia, but he also had Alzheimer's. You don't see Clinton using that to gin up controversy over Trump's health and suggesting Trump's behavior is a precursor to Alzheimer's.
But you can be sure if a parent or sibling in Clinton's family had Alzheimer's, we would be hearing about it 24/7.
Dear God,
Hey man, thanks for the heads-up about Turtle Boy but I think evolution (you invented that, right?) has allowed the Tennessee turtle to retain its essential natural skills as a predator while its Kentucky cousin is but a mewling shadow, a recidivist coward and opportunistic scavenger on the Testudine family tree. He lies in wait for others to do the dirty work then skulks out to nibble on the entrails of defeated prey. It seems to be a particularly Republican style of feeding.
Anyway, glad to hear you're doing well. I figured you might have been retired since those prayers I sent up for a decent reliever for my favored ball club have not been answered. Instead, we traded away a bunch of homegrown talent from our farm system and got zippo in return. Unless you were listening and just decided to stick it to me, in which case, very funny.
In any event, make sure you don't forget the sunscreen, and lay off those Hornitos margaritas. Those things'll kill you.
Yours,
Akhilleus
What? Who died?
Margaret Sullivan in WAPO piece: "...students didn’t know Bin Laden was dead. How did we get so clueless about news? "time to wake-up" These were seniors, no less — in a journalism class at a well-regarded New York City charter school.
"...“News literacy is an urgent mission,” Miller (Alan) told me, pointing out that even the best news organizations may find it impossible to get people to pay for their expensive news-gathering if they can’t distinguish real news from rumor and hoax. "
Viewing comments posted elsewhere (not Reality Chex!!) shows that it's not only students who are unaware and clueless. Earlier, I tried to read reader posts on CNBC.com and some on HuffPost—but had to click off. I do despair at the lack of critical thinking.
MAG,
Knowledge gaps in education? SERIOUS knowledge gaps?
The article you link has two words that explain it all: Charter. School.
The attempt by wingers to devalue and disenfranchise public schools and hand education over to for-profit douchebags has been sold as a panacea in this country when in fact failing schools typically fail because politicians cut budgets drastically and force students and teachers into terrible environments where learning takes a back seat to killing rats and keeping the lights on.
The only ones benefiting from charter schools are investors and scam artists who make money by selling bullshit schemes to "advance" education, like the system pushed by Neil Bush, brother of The Decider (isn't it the height of irony that a Bush is putting himself out there as a proponent of learning?), whose No Child Allowed to Learn program was designed, in part, to make money for his brother who, after costing American taxpayers over a billion dollars in his savings and loan scam, decided to forgo banking fraud and get into education fraud.
The charter school movement is a direct descendant of the same kind of chicanery.
Hillary Clinton is now being ripped for wobbling a bit (while suffering from pneumonia) and leaving a 9/11 memorial service early. But no one credits her with being there in the first place. She knew how sick she was but she went anyway.
If it had been Trump, he would have checked into a hospital and put out the story that he was bravely battling life threatening microbes implanted in his body by haters of straight talking Donaldo. The story would have been all about him. Any 9/11 remembrances would have been completely overshadowed by the royal orange aura.
And just imagine what they'd be saying if Clinton begged off because she was under the weather.
They'd have killed her. The New Trump Times would have run a special edition. CNN would have curtailed all programming to go straight to an in-depth three hour report by crack political observer Corey (the Leg Breaker) Lewandowski on How Long Hillary Has to Live and Why Haven't We Been Told?
It doesn't matter what she does, she'll be killed for it. And disgraceful hack outfits like the Times and CNN are happy to oblige.
Yep! Ak, you picked up on the two key words in my post. The song-and-dance selling that charter schools are better than public-funded schools is among the worst scams ever. Of course, it ranks up there with privatization anything. We see & read of the scandals in the prison system....everyone appears horrified for a moment, and then it is forgotten amidst the next 15-minutes of news distractions hitting the front page.
Whenever I read about today's student debt I'm staggered. How in the hell can anyone get out from under such onerous financial obligations. But, look at some 'private' schools that were involved, which explains a lot. Let's see Corinthian is down & out, ITT Technical Institute just failed...(I wonder how WAPO embraces their Kaplan University association.) I wonder about the entity called Phoenix University. And, there's the former Trump University, errrr Trump Institute..I don't wonder about it at all.
Charter schools, privatization—yeah, what could go wrong.
Me, I graduated from a state run teachers college (now a university), before that I attended all public schools. If it weren't for the state system (looking back) I probably would not have been able to afford college. Though teaching wasn't for me, what I experienced and know from my college curriculum is the dedication and emphasis that went into educating and training future teachers during those four years. It was intense...from the classroom lessons to off-campus teacher training in local school districts.
Where are charter schools getting their teachers? Who is preparing these teachers? Are they drawn from the public school sector? What are their qualifications? Are there certification standards?
The alarm has gone off, why'd everyone hit the snooze button?
MAG,
The charter school movement has been largely taken over and weaponized by groups promoting right-wing ideology and funded by billionaires like the Kochs, Philip Anschutz, and Rupert Murdoch. The goal is two-fold. First is to get hold of taxpayer money set aside for actual education and funnel it to private sector cronies. But the larger, much more insidious goal, is the subversion of education and knowledge. The right has long understood that education is a bulwark against their ability to control how citizens think. Students schooled in critical thought would be much less likely to go full wingnut and accept dangerous morons like Donald Trump (or Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, George W. Bush, or Mittens Romney) as true and truthful leaders.
So there's that.
Charter schools allow winger ideology to encumber education in such a way that can set children up to be either uneducated dummies or blank slates ripe for wingnut encoding. Either end is acceptable. What is not acceptable is public education not controlled by the right. That's why movements like the Parent-Trigger initiative, which allows parents, with enough signatures, to close a public school, fire all the teachers, and hand the public's money over to for-profit friends of the Kochs have garnered so much support from Confederate donors.
States like Pennsylvania have been bled dry by charter school scammers who, in many states, take the money and run, often closing the schools with a day's notice when the well runs dry, leaving parents and kids with nowhere to go. California, where charter schools have proliferated like weeds, promoted by not just winger billionaires, but well-meaning Democrats (Jerry Brown, for one), is in desperate straits. Charter schools there have bilked taxpayers for hundreds of millions of dollars for which they are rewarded with abysmal test scores. But the movement has plenty of support in the form of propaganda paid for by proponents of dumbing down America and getting taxpayers to line their pockets.
A few years ago, we rented a movie called "Don't Back Down". I've always enjoyed teacher movies, most of which aren't very realistic, but a little bit of idealistic inspiration can be fun, probably a remnant of watching movies like "To Sir With Love" and "Blackboard Jungle" when I was a kid. But not even half an hour into this movie, I smelled a rat. Public school teachers were all depicted as lazy liberal shirkers who cared only about their paycheck and hated the kids. A brave, virtuous mom and a couple of "committed" teachers take over and turn it into a charter school. Of course they have to fight evil liberals, evil liberal unions, and evil lazy liberal politicians, but they win the valiant battle and within days, the school is awash with good feelings and a renewed spirit of learning that made the Enlightenment look like an extended village idiots convention.
Come to find out that this movie, like several others, was funded by Philip Anschutz, a winger billionaire who wishes to force his belief system onto the American public. ALEC has also been a big player in promoting the charter school scam.
And what better way than by infecting children and putting them in nice looking classrooms (at least while the scam is still up and running) and having them meet with actual teachers once every 20 days or so. Turning out a generation of morons is just what the Kochs ordered.
So, when I say the phrase "Charter Schools" is the kiss of death for education I'm not indulging in hyperbole. If there's an apple for the teacher, it's a poison one.
Just another scheme by Confederates to control the minds and hearts of children. If their voting rolls are diminishing, what better way to improve their chances than by creating a generation of uneducated dullards untouched by the messiness of critical thinking and walled off from the power of real knowledge.
It's 8 PM, just got around to dropping by Charlie Pierce and...Jeebus! Talk about timing! He writes: The Charter School Movement Is "a Vehicle for Fraud and Corruption"
" The evidence is now abundantly clear in a number of states: As it is presently constituted, the charter school movement is far better as an entry vehicle for fraud and corruption than it is for educating children."