The Commentariat -- Nov. 30, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "President Obama told world leaders who gathered northeast of Paris on Monday for a climate conference that the United States is at least partly to blame for the life-threatening damage that environmental change has wrought, and he urged world leaders to join him in fixing the problem.... Mr. Obama also repeated an argument, lampooned by some Republicans, that the climate conference was a fitting response to the terrorist attacks that cost the lives of 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13. 'What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it,' he said." CW: Can hardly wait for the GOP response to Obama's admitting U.S. culpability on climate change: "Weak!" "Hates America!" _______Fill in______
... The Times has a running commentary on the Paris talks.
Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "The International Monetary Fund on Monday designated the Chinese renminbi as one of the world's elite currencies, a major milestone that underscores the country's rising financial and economic heft. The decision will help pave the way for broader use of the renminbi in trade and finance, securing China's standing as a global economic power. Just four other currencies -- the dollar, the euro, the pound and the yen -- have the I.M.F. designation."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders stepped off the campaign trail on Monday to have a procedure to repair a hernia. Mr. Sanders, the independent from Vermont and Democratic presidential candidate, had an outpatient procedure at George Washington University Hospital and was expected return to his Senate duties on Tuesday."
Maggie Haberman & John Corrales of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump met privately on Monday with black pastors and religious figures at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he was expected to hold preliminary discussions to seek their endorsements." See links to related news under Presidential Race below.
Nicky Woolf of the Guardian: "Officials have filed charges today against four men accused of shooting into a crowd of protesters in Minneapolis a week ago. Protests have been ongoing outside the precinct building since police shot Jamar Clark, an unarmed black man, just a few hundred yards down the road on 15 November. He died in hospital a day later."
*****
Maria St. Louis-Sanchez & Michelle Karas of the Colorado Springs Gazette: "Family members have confirmed to the Gazette's news partner KKTV that a man named Ke'Arre Stewart was one of the victims killed in Friday's Planned Parenthood shooting. On Facebook his sister, Leyonte Chandler, wrote that Stewart was an Army veteran who served a tour in Iraq. He leaves behind two young daughters." ...
... Jakob Rodgers of the Gazette: "Another civilian victim killed Friday in the attack at a Planned Parenthood clinic in west Colorado Springs has been identified as Jennifer Markovsky of Colorado Springs, her father confirmed to The Gazette. Markovsky was married and had a son and a daughter, said John Ah-King, Markovsky's father in a telephone conversation from his home in Honolulu, Hi." CW: Probably just a coincidence that both victims are racial minorities. ...
... Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "The governor of Colorado [John Hickenlooper (D)], where a gunman killed three people and wounded nine others in a rampage at a Planned Parenthood clinic last week, called the shooting a 'form of terrorism' on Sunday and said that the country needed to ask why such shootings were happening so frequently.... 'I think as a state, but as a country, we have got a lot more thinking about this,' Mr. Hickenlooper said, 'of how to make sure we keep guns out of the hands of people that are unstable.' Colorado has been the site of two other mass shootings.... Several other guests on Sunday talk shows called the shootings domestic terrorism, including Mike Huckabee...; the mayor of Colorado Springs; and the head of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Many, including Mr. Hickenlooper, also suggested that it was time to begin discussing how to tone down rhetoric that 'is inflaming people to the point where they can't stand it, and they go out and they lose connection with reality in some way and commit these acts of unthinkable violence.'" ...
This is so typical of the left to immediately begin demonizing a messenger because they don't agree with the message. The vast majority of Americans agree what Planned Parenthood is doing is wrong. -- Carly Fiorina ...
... Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "During his arrest, Dear referred to 'baby parts,' a law enforcement official said. Abortion rights advocates say the connection is clear. Over the summer, a little-known antiabortion group called the Center for Medical Progress released a series of covertly filmed videos purporting to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sells fetal tissue, or 'baby parts,' as abortion foes refer to it, for research.... State and congressional investigations have so far failed to produce proof supporting the allegations.... On 'Fox News Sunday'..., Carly Fiorina [said,] 'nothing justifies this.' In the past, she has accused Planned Parenthood of 'butchering babies for body parts.'... 'Politicians need to stop escalating the rhetoric against Planned Parenthood, and that means by and large the Republican Party," said Laura Chapin, a pro-abortion rights ... consultant and former press secretary to former Colorado governor Bill Ritter (D). 'Right-wing politicians need to back off.'" CW: Thanks for the she-said/she-said report, WashPo! ...
... Still, we might want to give Jackie Calmes of the New York Times First Prize in Both-Siderism: "Congressional supporters and opponents of Planned Parenthood were uncharacteristically subdued over the weekend." And so forth. "On Saturday, one Democrat, Senator Barbara Boxer of California, called on Mr. Ryan to disband the special House committee investigating Planned Parenthood. 'It is time to stop the demonizing and witch hunts against Planned Parenthood, its staff and patients, and the lifesaving health care it provides to millions every day,' she said." Cue Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), chair of the "Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives": Boxer "should stop 'playing politics with this tragedy.'" You have to read Calmes' report with a fine-toothed-comb & a commitment to Planned Parenthood to find any suggestion -- other than the organizations own denials -- that Planned Parenthood is not guilty of "selling baby parts for profit." ...
... Calmes does manage to illustrate why Foxbots & their ilk are ready to kill anyone associated with Planned Parenthood: "Representative Trey Gowdy ... on Fox News in July said the videos showed Planned Parenthood to be 'barbaric,' 'depraved' and 'right on the precipice of discussing homicide.'"
... Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "... Donald Trump said the shooting was 'terrible' but focused on the mental state of the alleged gunman. Ben Carson deplored the killings but said, when asked if the attack was a form of domestic terrorism, as a Planned Parenthood official has claimed, 'there is no saint in this equation'." CW: That is, Planned Parenthood is partially (or equally?) at fault. ...
... Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The Republican presidential field, which for much of the year has been full-throated in its denunciations of Planned Parenthood, has been nearly silent about the shooting in Colorado at one of its facilities that left a police officer and two others dead.... It was suspected, according to a law enforcement official, that heated rhetoric surrounding the issue of abortion influenced Dear's actions.... Many Republicans have also accused Planned Parenthood of selling such tissue, which would be illegal and which the organization vehemently denies.... Republican [Sen.] Cory Gardner [Colorado] -- who defeated incumbent Mark Udall last year in an election that Democrats tried to make a referendum on reproductive rights -- issued a statement Saturday night that did not mention the site of the killings." (Published prior to airing of the Sunday showz.) ...
... Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune: Ted "Cruz rejected a potential connection between anti-abortion activism and the shooting, instead taking issue with 'some vicious rhetoric on the left blaming those who are pro-life.'... When a reporter reminded Cruz it has been reported Dear made a comment about 'baby parts' while being apprehended, Cruz retorted, 'It's also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist. If that's what he is, I don't think it's fair to blame on the rhetoric on the left. This is a murderer.'"
... Steve M.: "There was an ever-thinning line between the GOP and the lunatic fringe, and Ted Cruz just erased it." ...
... Steve has a nice catch, too, on how Fox "News" is covering the "no more body parts" remark by the (alleged) killer. Instead of attributing the leaked quote to officials, their headline is "Planned Parenthood Official Claims Colo. Gunman Opposed Abortion." Way down in the story, Foxbots who read that far will find that an official relayed to media that Dear had made the "no more body parts statement." More careless readers, quite naturally, will assume that Planned Parenthood is offering up an unfounded opinion.
Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration is preparing an executive order designed to bolster the government's Senior Executive Service (SES) with increased compensation, a streamlined hiring process and greater diversity in assignments."
Curt Stager in a New York Times op-ed: "Roughly one-eighth of the carbon in your flesh, hair and bones recently emerged from smokestacks and tailpipes. We are not only a source of air pollution -- we are air pollution, and our waste fumes will henceforth be woven into the bodies of our descendants, too.... By running our civilization on fossil fuels, we are both creating and destroying climates that our descendants will live in tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years from now."
Paul Krugman: "... in this age of [urban] gentrification, housing policy has become much more important than most people realize.... New York City can't do much if anything about soaring inequality of incomes, but it could do a lot to increase the supply of housing, and thereby ensure that the inward migration of the elite doesn't drive out everyone else."
Presidential Race
Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "To unionized workers, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is one of their own. And so his endorsement of ... Hillary Clinton on Sunday at a rally in his city's historic Faneuil Hall served as a call to action for union members nationwide who are the foot soldiers of the Democratic Party.
Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "After prematurely announcing the endorsements of 100 black pastors -- prompting several to protest they were not, in fact, supporters -- Donald Trump's campaign abruptly cancelled a press conference with the group scheduled for Monday afternoon at Trump Tower.... Some of those listed as invitees quickly took to social media to condemn the billionaire businessman. Detroit pastor Corletta Vaughn called Trump 'an insult and embarrassment' in a Wednesday Facebook post. On Friday, Los Angeles-based Bishop Clarence McClendon announced that he would not attend the meeting, writing on Facebook, 'The meeting was presented not as a meeting to endorse but as a meeting to engage in dialogue.'" ...
... Reuters: "Donald Trump insisted on Sunday he was '100% right' when he said he saw Muslims in Jersey City, New Jersey, cheering the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center -- even though fact-checkers have debunked his claim.... He quickly rejected NBC anchor Chuck Todd's assertion that 'this didn't happen in New Jersey'. 'It did happen in New Jersey,' Trump said. 'I have hundreds of people that agree with me.'" ...
... Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Donald Trump's divisive rhetoric is only serving to turn the international Muslim community against the U.S. 'Oh, I think it has an interesting effect of turning Muslims all over the world against the United States of America, which is 99.44 percent people who practice an honorable religion,' the Arizona senator said of Trump on CBS's 'Face the Nation' on Sunday."
A Nice Place to Visit.... Sabrina Siddiqui: "After spending Thanksgiving weekend visiting refugees in Jordan, Ben Carson called on the US to support Syrians displaced by the war there, where he said facilities in the camps were 'really quite nice', rather than bring them to America." CW: I wonder how much Doc Ben would enjoy living there, what with their being few walls to on which to hang his plaques & Jesus-Loves-Ben pictures. ...
... Omar Akour & Steve Peoples of the AP: "'I did not detect any great desire for them to come to the United States,' Carson told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Jordan. 'You've got these refugee camps that aren't completely full. And all you need is the resources to be able to run them. Why do you need to create something else?'"
Martin Pengelly of the Guardian (via the Raw Story): "Jeb Bush would support Donald Trump if the real-estate billionaire were to win the Republican presidential nomination, 'because anybody is better than Hillary Clinton'."
Beyond the Beltway
Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Lawyers for the family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy fatally shot last year by the Cleveland police, have presented Ohio prosecutors with two outside reports that call an officer's decision to shoot the boy 'unreasonable.' The reports, made public on Saturday night, are at odds with three previous investigations commissioned by the prosecutor's office that labeled the shooting as tragic but reasonable. Grand jurors are expected to consider all those reports in deciding whether the police should face criminal charges."
Way Beyond
Karia Adam of the Washington Post: "... tens of thousands of people worldwide hit the streets [of London, England,] this weekend for a global climate march, pressing world leaders to push for a bold international agreement at the upcoming climate summit in Paris. The center for the demonstrations was supposed to be Paris, where nearly 150 world leaders are gathering for a U.N. global summit on climate change that kicks off Monday. But after the terrorist attacks there more than two weeks ago that killed at least 130 people, French police banned large protests.... On Sunday, they sought to enforce that ban, firing tear gas in the afternoon on an unauthorized gathering at Place de la Republique, a focal point for protests, and detaining about 100 people."
James Kanter & Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "Under heavy pressure from Germany to get a grip on the migrant crisis in the Continent after months of dithering, the European Union agreed to a deal on Sunday with Turkey that aims to slow the chaotic flood of asylum seekers into the 28-nation bloc. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, speaking to reporters late Sunday, acknowledged that the agreement, under which Europe will provide 3 billion euros, about $3.2 billion, and other inducements in return for Turkish help on migrants, would not immediately halt the flow of asylum seekers from the Middle East and elsewhere. But Ms. Merkel said it would help 'keep people in the region' and out of Europe."
David Kirkpatrick, et al., of the New York Times: "When the Libyan arm of the Islamic State first raised the group's black flag over the coastal city of Surt[, Libya,] almost one year ago, it was just a bunch of local militants trying to look tough. Today Surt is an actively managed colony of the central Islamic State, crowded with foreign fighters from around the region, according to residents, local militia leaders and hostages recently released from the city's main prison."