;)
The Conversation -- September 22, 2023
** Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has been charged in a sweeping federal corruption indictment, the authorities said on Friday. The three-count indictment, which also charges the senator's wife and three New Jersey businessmen, accuses him of using his official position in a wide range of corrupt schemes at home and abroad. In one, he sought to benefit the government of Egypt, including secretly providing it with sensitive U.S. government information, while in two others, he aimed to influence criminal investigations of two New Jersey businessmen, one of whom was a longtime fund-raiser for Mr. Menendez.... In exchange for all those actions, the indictment said, the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes, including cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, a luxury vehicle and other valuable things....
"The businessmen named in the indictment, which was unsealed in Manhattan federal court, are Fred Daibes, a prominent New Jersey real estate developer and fund-raiser for Mr. Menendez; Wael Hana, a longtime friend of Ms. Menendez's who founded a halal meat certification business and Jose Uribe, who works in the trucking and insurance business.... The 39-page indictment charges the senator, his wife and the businessmen with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. It also charges Mr. Menendez and his wife with conspiracy to commit extortion under the color of official right, meaning using his official position to force someone to give them something of value." ~~~
~~~ Erica Orden & Matt Friedman of Politico: "During a search of the Menendezes' New Jersey home in June 2022, federal agents probing the alleged scheme found 'over $480,000 in cash -- much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe' along with $70,000 in Nadine Menendez's safe-deposit box, the indictment says.... Menendez has survived two previous federal investigations."
~~~ The indictment, via Politico, is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Congrats to Bob Menendez for extending & enhancing New Jersey's long tradition of (allegedly!) crooked Democratic pols! And he made it a family affair. Lovely. Which brings us to ~~~
~~~ Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "James E. McGreevey, a former [Democratic] New Jersey governor who resigned two decades ago in scandal..., is making plans to do what he had said he would not: re-enter politics. Over the past several months, Mr. McGreevey has begun cobbling together support for an expected run for mayor of Jersey City, the state's second-largest city, where he has lived for eight years.... He expects to make a final decision before Thanksgiving.... The current mayor, Steven Fulop, who is running for governor, does not intend to run for re-election. But the contest is not until November 2025...."
Thankfully, Clarence Thomas continues to do his bit for (alleged!) GOP corruption: ~~~
~~~ Joshua Kaplan, et al., of ProPublica: "On Jan. 25, 2018..., some of the richest people in the country were arriving for the annual winter donor summit of the Koch network, the political organization founded by libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch. A long weekend of strategizing, relaxation in the California sun and high-dollar fundraising lay ahead. Just after 6 p.m., a Gulfstream G200 jet touched down on the tarmac. One of the Koch network's most powerful allies was on board: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.... The justice was brought in to speak, staffers said, in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving. That puts Thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the Supreme Court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term. Thomas never reported the 2018 flight to Palm Springs on his annual financial disclosure form, an apparent violation of federal law requiring justices to report most gifts....
"Thomas' involvement in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship with the Koch brothers that has remained almost entirely out of public view. It developed over years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men's retreat in Northern California. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for two decades, where he stayed in a small camp with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and the Kochs, according to records and people who've spent time with him there.... The dinners' purpose was 'giving donors access and giving them a reason to come or to continue to come in the future,' a former Koch network executive told ProPublica." Thanks to RAS for the link.
Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "The United Automobile Workers union on Friday significantly raised the pressure on General Motors and Stellantis, the parent of Jeep and Ram, by expanding its strike against the companies to include all the spare parts distribution centers of the two companies. Shawn Fain, the union's president, said Friday that workers at 38 distribution centers, which provide parts to dealerships for repairs, at the two companies would walk off the job at noon. He said talks with two companies had not progressed significantly, contrasting them with Ford Motor, which he said had done more to meet the union's demands.... The union said it was not striking more facilities at Ford because of the gains it had achieved in talks with that company, including on cost-of-living adjustments, the right to strike if the company decides to close plants and two years of pay and health care benefits for workers who are laid off indefinitely.... Mr. Fain also invited President Biden to join workers on the picket line."
~~~~~~~~~~
Groundhog Day All Over Again. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Right-wing House Republicans dealt another stunning rebuke to Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday morning, blocking a Pentagon funding bill for the second time this week in a vivid display of G.O.P. disunity on federal spending that threatens to lead to a government shutdown in nine days. Just hours after Mr. McCarthy signaled he had won over some of the holdouts and was ready to move forward, a handful of Republicans broke with their party to oppose the routine measure that would allow the military appropriations bill to come to the House floor for debate, joining with Democrats to defeat it. It was a major black eye for Mr. McCarthy, who has on multiple occasions admonished his members in private for taking the rare step of bringing down such votes, known as rules, proposed by their own party -- a previously unheard-of tactic.... 'This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,' Mr. McCarthy said on Thursday." The NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yo, Kevin, "burning the whole place down" has been a GOP tactic at least since the Gingrich era, and you've lit a few matches yourself. So don't act all shocked when the mob nails you to the stake. ~~~
~~~ House Nihilists Take a Long Weekend. Here's an update to the NYT story: "By Thursday afternoon, lawmakers were flying home for the weekend, scrapping plans to stay in session to pass spending legislation after a week in which they were unable to make any progress toward resolving their impasse." ~~~
~~~ The NBC News story linked above, by Scott Wong & others:, "'We are very dysfunctional right now,' Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said, adding that the failure proves that GOP leaders 'obviously can't count' votes, unlike Democrats.... 'Speaker Pelosi, love her or hate her, she put something out there and they'd rally around it.'... Moderate Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who faces a tough re-election bid next year, has described the GOP dysfunction as a 'clown show' and warned that pragmatists would work with Democrats to keep the government funded. 'For my colleagues, they have to come to a realization: If they are unable or unwilling to govern, others will. And in a divided government where you have Democrats controlling the Senate, a Democrat controlling the White House, there needs to be a realization that you're not going to get everything you want,' he said. 'And just throwing a temper tantrum and stomping your feet, frankly not only is it wrong -- it's pathetic,' he added." ~~~
~~~ Marie: In fairness to House Republicans, they need to go home to boast to constituents that they're showing their unwavering support for the Great Pretender. Reuters: "... Donald Trump has urged fellow Republicans in Congress to shut down the government to thwart the federal prosecutions against him, although any funding lapse was unlikely to stop the cases from being pursued.... 'Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of Crooked Joe Biden's weaponized Government,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social media site late on Wednesday, calling it 'the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots.' The U.S. Justice Department has previously said activities funded by 'permanent indefinite appropriations" would continue during any funding lapse." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, a Tweet of His Own. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden ... fired off a tweet reminding lawmakers that the last shutdown led to some 800,000 government workers ― more than a third of the federal workforce ― being furloughed without pay. 'But enjoy your weekend,' he added sarcastically[.]... The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the 35-day shutdown in 2018-2019 cost the economy about $3 billion, according to Reuters." MB: The 2018-2019 shutdown was a wholly owned-and-operated GOP production: Donald Trump was president*, and Republicans controlled (well, maybe "controlled" isn't the best word here) both the Senate and House. ~~~
~~~ Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "White House officials have begun preparing for a government shutdown that they are confident the public will blame on the GOP.... With less than two weeks until federal funding lapses, Biden aides are in communication with congressional leaders in the House and Senate about the best path forward to extend the Sept. 30 deadline. But congressional aides and experts on both sides of the aisle say a shutdown is likely to redound to the White House's political benefit, particularly as the GOP House is consumed in a fierce internal battle. The result is that while Biden aides do not want the government to close down, the White House isn't working as urgently to avert one as it did earlier this year to head off a breach of the U.S. debt ceiling." ~~~
~~~ AND. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "... Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday set up a path for the Senate to move first on a bill to fund the government beyond Sept. 30. Schumer filed cloture on a motion to proceed to H.R. 3935, the House-passed bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which could serve as a legislative vehicle to pass a continuing resolution to fund government through the Senate.... Traditionally, the House moves first on spending and revenue bills but senators feel they must make the first move to keep the government funded because Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has not been able to round up 218 Republican votes in the House to move a stopgap funding measure.... The Senate will hold a pro-forma session Friday and not reconvene until 3 pm on Tuesday in observance of Yom Kippur, which ends at sundown Monday."
Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly confirmed Gen. Randy George of the Army and Gen. Eric Smith of the Marines as the chiefs of staff of their respective services, circumventing a single senator's blockade against senior military promotions but leaving hundreds more still in limbo. The action followed the confirmation on Wednesday night of Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. to serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The three moved forward after Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, steered around a longstanding roadblock by Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, who has halted military promotions in protest of a Pentagon policy on abortion access. But Mr. Tuberville made it clear that he had no intention of lifting his blockade.... The Alabama senator said the only way to get around his obstruction would be for Mr. Schumer to continue to consider the promotions one by one, a time-consuming process that Democrats and many Republicans agree is untenable." Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: While Sen. Potato Head deserves all the criticism he is receivng and then some, the stupid part nobody mentions is retaining a Senate rule that allows a single senator to impose a sweeping hold on routine Senate actions like wholesale approval of noncontroversial military promotions by voice vote. While changing standing rules normally takes a 2/3rds vote, a single senator can invoke the "nuclear option," which -- if supported by a simple majority -- overrides the standing ruling. In view of Tuberville's six-month-old hold on all military officers' promotions & nominations, I can't understand why Senate Democrats won't go that route. Unless Manchin. ~~~
~~~ Speaking of Manchin, he's addressing serious Senate matters: ~~~
~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is circulating a proposal to reestablish the Senate's dress code, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) loosened over the weekend to allow senators to wear whatever they want on the Senate floor, according to senators familiar with the proposal.... Schumer's decision appeared aimed at catering to first-term Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), whose hoodie was a signature look on the campaign trail in 2022 and who wore a dark short-sleeved collared shirt and dark shorts to work Thursday. But the decision to loosen the dress code is getting bipartisan pushback, including from Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), who says the Senate should have standards." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Personally, I think Fetterman looks ridiculous wearing shorts & a hoodie on the Senate floor. But I also think that senators are supposed to be smart enough to know how to dress appropriately without being required to conform to a dress code. Those who aren't, like Fetterman & Krysten Sinema, may or may not pay a price at the ballot box for sloppy or outlandish attire. Besides, there may be times a dress code is itself ridiculous; for instance, should a senator have to wear a necktie when appearing for a 2:00 am vote? I don't think so.
In His Unrelenting Search for Impeachable Offenses, Comer Uncovers Evidence That Some Women Find Joe Biden Sexy. Heidi Przybyla of Politico: :House Oversight Chair James Comer, who is investigating President Joe Biden for what Republicans call potentially impeachable offenses, was given unrestricted access Thursday to a batch of his emails from his time as vice president, according to two sources familiar with them. Comer has made gaining access to redacted portions of Biden&'s emails a major target as he tries to build a case that the former vice president sought to dictate U.S. policy on Ukraine to benefit the business interests of his son, Hunter. But the new emails do not provide any evidence that Joe Biden personally benefited from his son's business dealings.... They include schedules with ordinary family get-togethers.... And then there are the private musings of multiple Georgian [the country, not the U.S. state] women saying they found Joe Biden 'sexy' during a 2009 trip that also included a stop in Ukraine."
Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: "A Biden administration rule that allows employee retirement plans to consider environmental, social and governance issues in investment decisions survived a legal challenge by 26 states on Thursday. Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, said in a 14-page opinion that he would not block the rule, part of the so-called E.S.G. investment trend that places emphasis on companies' records on labor issues, social justice and environmental factors." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is kind of amazing inasmuch as the states clearly chose Kacsmaryk's lonely Amarillo court because the Trump appointee has been a reliable rubber stamp for far-out right-wing causes.
Luke Barr & Jack Date of ABC News: "The Justice Department has arrested and charged an IT contractor with two counts of espionage for allegedly taking secret and top-secret information from the State Department and sending it to a foreign country. Abraham Teklu Lemma, a foreign national with U.S. citizenship, was working as an evening help desk technician assigned to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research with the U.S. Department of State when he is alleged to have copied large amounts of classified information, including documents, photographs, notes, maps and satellite imagery, and transmitted it to a foreign country using an encrypted messaging application.... The Justice Department alleges Lemma was paid over $100,000 in exchange for the information.... In addition to his work at the State Department, he is currently employed during the day as a contract management analyst at the Justice Department, according to court records." ~~~
~~~ Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The New York Times revealed this month that [Lemma] had been arrested in August and charged with spying for Ethiopia, a country that is a significant recipient of aid from the United States, but little else was known. While the complaint does not disclose what country Mr. Lemma was working for, U.S. officials identified it as Ethiopia and described the suspected spying as narrow in focus." Lemma is of Ethiopian descent.
Marie: If you have a subscription to the Atlantic, editor Jeffrey Goldberg has written an article on outgoing Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, which details how Milley dealt with irrational President* Donald Trump. The Atlantic article is here. Tatyana Tandanpolie of Salon summarizes a couple of the highlights of Goldberg's report. Another reminder that when Trump calls special counsel Jack Smith "deranged," Trump is projecting; that is, talking about himself.
Marie: For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name Jude Wanniski -- as I was -- I commend to you an illuminating article by Thom Hartmann, which RAS linked in yesterday's Comments. Wanniski, according to Hartmann, "literally transformed American politics with a plan that the American mainstream media, astonishingly, continues to ignore.... Wanniski's 'Two Santas' strategy dictates, when Republicans control the White House they must spend money like a drunken Santa and cut taxes on the rich, all to intentionally run up the US debt as far and as fast as possible. They started this during the Reagan presidency and tripled down on it during the presidencies of Bush and Trump with massive tax cuts for billionaires and increases in spending across-the-board.... Then ... when a Democrat is in the White House, Republicans must scream about the national debt as loudly and frantically as possible, freaking out about how 'our children will have to pay for it!' and 'you must cut spending to solve the crisis!' The 'debt crisis,' that is, that they themselves created with their massive tax cuts and wild spending." ~~~
~~~ Presidential Race 2024. Here, BTW, is Nikki Haley, criticizing her old pal Trump for "spending a lot of money" and predicting "we're all paying for it." Funny she doesn't mention the massive Trump tax cut for the rich. You can bet that, should she become president*, Haley would be advocating for reducing taxes on the rich & spending on GOP pet projects. Because that's the job of a Republican president*.
Joel Cappelletti & Michelle Price of the AP: "When ... Donald Trump visits Detroit next week, he'll be looking to blunt criticisms from a United Auto Workers union leadership that has said a second term for him would be a 'disaster' for workers. Trump will bypass the second Republican presidential debate on Sept. 27 to instead visit striking autoworkers in Michigan, where he has looked to position himself as an ally of blue-collar workers by promising to raise wages and protect jobs if elected to a second term.... A Trump campaign radio ad released Tuesday in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, praised auto workers and said the former president has 'always had their back.'... But ... Union leaders have said his first term was far from worker-friendly, citing unfavorable rulings from the nation's top labor board and the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as unfulfilled promises of automotive jobs. While the United Auto Workers union has withheld an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race, its leadership has repeatedly rebuffed Trump." ~~~
~~~ Olivia Olander, et al., of Politico report on Trump's anti-labor policies and his false boasts about supporting labor when his slapdash efforts to preserve or create jobs failed.
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Another Dr. Frankenstein Horrified by His Own Monster. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "It's nice to know that Fox News, which has so deranged America while making Rupert Murdoch ungodly sums of money, has in the end made Murdoch miserable, at least if the journalist Michael Wolff is to be believed. But the consolation is a small one. Murdoch's unhappiness and befuddlement is the throughline of Wolff's amusingly vicious and very well-timed book, 'The Fall: The End of Fox News,' which is to hit shelves next week, days after Murdoch, 92, announced his retirement from the Fox Corporation and News Corporation boards. Wolff paints Fox's owner as embarrassed by the channel's vulgarity and horrified by its ultimate political creation, Donald Trump.... Few people bear more responsibility for Trump than Murdoch.... The electorate that Fox helped shape, and the politicians it indulges, have made this country ungovernable. An unbound Trump may well become president again, bringing liberal democracy in America to a grotesque end." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, isn't it gut-wrenching when a billionaire has a sad when he doesn't get his way?
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New York. Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "Days after a 1-year-old died and three children exposed to drugs at a Bronx day care site were hospitalized, investigators uncovered a trap door under a play area that was concealing fentanyl, other narcotics and drug paraphernalia. The police had already discovered a kilogram of fentanyl near nap mats at Divino Niño on Morris Avenue, but the new search was triggered by a tip that more drugs had been hidden, Lieutenant John Russo said on Thursday. A neighbor had said last week that the owners of the facility had spent months sprucing it up -- including laying down new floors. On Saturday, the day care program's operator, Grei Mendez, and a tenant, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, who lived in the apartment, were both arrested and charged with murder in the death of the toddler, Nicholas Feliz Dominici, as well as criminal possession of drugs and other related charges. In addition to the kilogram, the police had already recovered two so-called kilo presses used by drug dealers to package large quantities of drugs."
South Carolina. Ben Brasch of the Washington Post: "Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to financial crimes that factored heavily in the trial earlier this year that led to his conviction on charges of murdering his wife and son. This is the first time Murdaugh has admitted legal guilt in a web of lies and violence that rocked the South Carolina Lowcountry and drew national attention. Murdaugh pleaded guilty to 22 counts, including money laundering and bank fraud, according to court documents. The former lawyer stole money from clients, including teenagers and a quadriplegic man, to fund the family's extravagant lifestyle and his addiction to opioid pills that forced him into a rehabilitative-care facility three times before the June 2021 slayings. Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to shift the focus away from himself and prevent his financial crimes from being uncovered. In all, Murdaugh is accused of swindling nearly $9 million."
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Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Canada in a surprise visit after his trip to the United States, according to the office of Canadia Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Zelensky had just wrapped up a whirlwind day in Washington, where he visited the White House, the Pentagon and talked to congressional leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), whose party includes lawmakers skeptical about sending additional aid to Kyiv. In a nightly address made to the Ukrainian people summarizing the day's events, Zelensky expressed thanks to President Biden for approving the latest tranche of U.S. military aid. 'Thank you, Mr. President Biden!' he said. The Ukrainian leader also thanked 'Congress -- both parties, both houses,' before saying that he had 'very frank, detailed conversations' with U.S. lawmakers.... Zelensky will spend Friday in Canada, Trudeau's office said. 'While in Ottawa, President [Zelensky] will deliver an address to Parliament,' it said. Trudeau and Zelensky 'will then travel to Toronto, where they will meet with Canadian business leaders to strengthen private sector investment in Ukraine';s future.'" ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's main story, by Tyler Pager & others, on President Zelensky's visit to Washington, is here.
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Reader Comments (21)
To be or entropy*…that is the question.
And the answer? Go on vacation! Because months and months of doing nothing must be tiring indeed. House traitors need a break. After all, it’s not their fault if stamping their feet to get what they want doesn’t work. Waaaahhh….we need a vacation!
*entropy: the amount of energy in a system unavailable for doing work. After pulling an all-nighter with pencil, paper, calculator, and piles of documentation, I have arrived at an answer. The amount of Republican energy unavailable for doing work? A shitload. (That’s the scientific-like term, by the way. A shitload.)
Tribalism or tribald-ism?
Rape? Sexual assault? Meh… Bitches can’t take a joke, amirite?
When you think of it, though, it’s one thing for the tribe to close ranks around one of their beloved MAGAts, but it’s another thing entirely (or should be) to hail rapists and sexual predators as heroes.
But what am I saying? Their Dear Leader is himself a convicted rapist!
The latest poor misunderstood martyr for the MAGA crowd is disgusting British “comedian”, Russell Brand. Brand, who has been accused by multiple women over many years of being a predatory prick, has been adopted by the likes of TuKKKer KKKarlson and Elon(gated asshole) Musk(ox) as the latest cause célèbre. Handsy Rudy has also gotten into the act.
Amanda Marcotte explains how this works:
“We see this in the same rally-round-the-pig response MAGA had to Andrew Tate, a man whose total worthlessness as a human being was evident long before he was arrested for rape and human trafficking in Romania. Tate, an ‘influencer’ who preyed on school kids too young to know better, wasn't exactly coy about his misogyny or violent impulses before his arrest. He openly bragged about hitting women and trapping them in the house and even offered to teach his followers how to get into sex trafficking. [Evangelicals LOVE this guy!]
Despite — or really because — of all this, the MAGA reaction to Tate's arrest was to treat the guy like a hero. Tucker Carlson interviewed him for Twitter and Elon Musk heavily hyped the video. Needless to say, it wasn't a hard-hitting interview exploring the evils of sexual violence. It was a softball meant to portray Tate, who is accused of choking women so hard he broke blood vessels in their faces, as the real victim.”
Yeah. They’re all victims.
Maybe they can be victims in prison for a change.
Heh-heh…
This is good.
Seriously, though, the spectacle of treasonous, ignorant savages, who still call Trump’s violent overthrow attempt a visit by peace-loving, patriotic tourists lecturing John Fetterman about proper decorum…synapses whither under the electrochemical storm in the brain.
@Akhilleus: Lalo has a point. If it's "inappropriate" for Fetterman to wear a sweatshirt & shorts on the Senate floor, isn't it inappropriate for GOP members of Congress to dress up in legislator outfits when they're really circus clowns?
Oh, and here's something I don't understand about Fetterman's standard fashion choice. I wear sweatshirts (a few of which are hoodies) in winter to stay warm and shorts in summer to stay cool. Why does Fetterman wear cool-weather clothing AND warm-weather clothing at the same time and in a variety of weather conditions? Maybe his outfits make fashion sense to him, but they don't seem practical to me.
Ron Johnson, the Stupidest Man in the Senate™, has figured out the source of all our economic woes. Elected officials, sez Ron, pay more attention to the needs of constituents than rich donors.
The idea! Those whiny, undeserving voters. How dare they distract politicians from waiting hand and foot on their wealthy masters!
Impeach!
Wait…isn’t that the R answer for everything these days? I’m sure there’s another one…lemme think a sec…
Oh yeah!
Gerrymander!
There, that’s better.
Good ol’ Ron. A font of feculence.
By the way, we had a post the other day from “b” about how the littlest pretender, Sen. What About Meeee, was going on and on about how he ain’t signing any bill that sends money to Ukraine.
Know who else sez that?
Stupid Ron Johnson! Ahhh…fellow travelers on the road to stupidity, autocracy, democratic dissolution, chaos, and…did I say stupidity?
@AK: The Crooks and Liars link might be an interesting read, but the site seemed to attack my computer with a McAfee ad that took over the browser.
Some of us are old enough to remember a time, when, if you were to stage a comic farce, and wanted someone to portray a moron, you would dress them in short, baggy pants, big shoes, and put their hat on backwards. The moment this clown appeared, the audience would instantly perceive: This is the Village Idiot.
@NiskyGuy: I tried the link and it works for me with no interference from McAfee. However, I've removed McAfee from my computer and use another security system. If you have Webroot or something like that, you too can ditch McAfee. I forget what my ideological objection to McAfee was, but I had one once!
Update: OMG! After I wrote the message to NiskyGuy, I went back to read the Crooks & Liars post. The window is loaded with McAfee warnings, which won't go away without closing the window. And I do not have any McAfee programs loaded anywhere on my computer.
I also tried getting at the post by calling up Crooks & Liars' main page, then clicking on their link to the post. Same message came up. So the problem is not coming from Akhilleus' end.
Tho' not today's news, guess we could still call this hot news...followed by my comment.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/09/21/california-insurance-risks-fire-climate/?
The subject of insurance deserves more attention and thought than it has gotten. It seems we're forced by circumstance to do some of that thinking now, some of it leading into uncomfortable territory like the very blurry line between private and public responsibility for the public's welfare.
Paul Krugman has borrowed the neat phrase that has described the Federal government as a giant insurance company with an army... I would have added ...without the requirement that it make a profit.
The property insurance troubles brought on by a range of factors (that yes, do include climate change) mirror the private insurance problems we are only too familiar with in the health care industry, a service that has over time been of necessity increasingly shouldered by government.
To protect their profit margin, private insurance companies may be more sensitive to risk assessment than government, and since profit is always their priority private insurance invariably costs more than most insurance government provides.
But when risk is too high for private companies to bear (that is, when it threatens their profits), the only alternative insurance source is government, which because it can tax can spread the risk over a wider pool of participants.
And since we live in a time of more wide-spread and increasing expensive disasters that affect property (just as Covid greatly affected the nation's health), the role of government is bound to increase.
Uncomfortable or not for private property fetishists, that is the new reality.
Maybe Manchin is just trying to stop Susan Collins from following through on her totally credible threat of wearing a bikini on the Senate floor.
Propublica has another story about Clarence Thomas. This time about him playing footsie with the Koch brothers.
So sorry for all the problems with that site. I’ve never had virus issues with C&L, I stay away from dodgy sites that don’t look legit.
Second time might be the charm. He survived his first corruption trial, but
"Sen. Bob Menendez indicted over gifts of gold bars, car, apartment"
@RAS: Re: Susan Collins, Manchin's effort looks more worthy when you put it that way.
David Brooks, the New York Times' deep-thinking Conservative Intellectual and ever-so-serious moralist must have been facing a deadline as he waited for a plane. Inspiration arrived with his dinner. It was all downhill after that. The Guardian's Martin Pengelly reports the fiasco.
New York Times writer draws ire for blaming Biden’s economy for $78 airport meal
"After David Brooks posted a photo of his burger and whiskey, many pointed out the cost of the drink probably pushed up the tab…"
Edit: My posting implied that Brooks wrote about his meal in a NYT column, which was not the case. It was only a tweet.
Wait…MORE secret trips to exclusive billionaire retreats? When the hell does Coke Can Thomas have time for Supreme Court stuff? No wonder he never asks questions from the bench. He’s either sleeping, catching up from his last long weekend with “the boys”, he’s hung over (which might account for that permanent scowl), or he’s pissed that the GulfWing he flew home in wasn’t showing Long Dong Silver videos on the seat back monitors.
Oh, such a tough life.
I must renew my skepticism of Our Miss Brooks as a “Conservative Intellectual”, referring to Monoloco’s comment about Brooks’s umbrage at what he apparently describes as Biden influenced price jacking that darkened his airport three whiskey lunch (okay, I don’t know how many whiskeys ol’ Davey threw back, but my last time buying a small beer at an airport, I expected something amazing to accompany the drink. There’s no way that ten dollars gets you a single 12 oz beer.)
Nonetheless, I didn’t, like Dave-O, decide to blame exorbitant airport prices on Joe Biden.
Why?
Because I’m not an ideologically debilitated asshole.
I’m sure Monoloco is not in accordance with Dave-Os bullshit based on his capitalization of the “Conservative Intellectual” soubriquet.
My larger point (expansion of which shall occur anon) is that there ARE NO conservative intellectuals. None. Nada.
Here is Lit Crit guy Lionel Trilling in 1950 (1950, fer crissakes!):
“In the United States at this time Liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is the plain fact that nowadays there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation. This does not mean, of course, that there is no impulse to conservatism or to reaction. Such impulses are certainly very strong, perhaps even stronger than most of us know. But the conservative impulse and the reactionary impulse do not, with some isolated and some ecclesiastical exceptions, express themselves in ideas but only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas.”
Didja get that?
“…action or…irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas,”
This is David Brooks, who still blames pot smoking, free love hippies for all the problems in America, but mostly because why he had no fun in college and wasn’t considered one of the cool kids.
Mental gestures that seek to resemble ideas are like five year old finger paintings that seeks to resemble high renaissance Fine Art. Oh, wait…there’s a difference. Five year old finger painters offer an authentic presentation of their unsullied non-ideological world view.
David Brooks? “Hippies and Joe Biden picked my pocket at the airport. While I was hammered.”
Oooh…intellectual chops, like you read about. Watch out, Socrates!