May 28, 2023
Afternoon Update:
Turkey. Bad News for Democracy. Suzan Fraser & Zeynep Bilginsoy of the AP: "Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won reelection Sunday, extending his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade as the country reels from high inflation and the aftermath of an earthquake that leveled entire cities. A third term gives Erdogan an even stronger hand domestically and internationally, and the election results will have implications far beyond Ankara.... With more than 99% of ballot boxes opened, unofficial results from competing news agencies showed Erdogan with 52% of the vote, compared with 48% for his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The head of Turkey's electoral board confirmed the victory, saying that even after accounting for outstanding votes, the result was another term for Erdogan."
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** Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: "Top White House and Republican negotiators on Saturday reached a deal in principle to raise the debt limit for two years while cutting and capping some government spending over the same period, a breakthrough after a marathon set of crisis talks that has brought the nation within days of its first default in history, three people familiar with the agreement said. Congressional passage of the plan before June 5, when the Treasury is projected to exhaust its ability to pay its obligations, was not assured, particularly in the House.... But the compromise, which would effectively freeze federal spending that had been on track to grow, had the blessing of both President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, raising hopes that it could break the fiscal stalemate that has gripped Washington and the nation for weeks, threatening an economic crisis. The two spoke by phone on Saturday evening to resolve final sticking points." (Also linked yesterday.) An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... here are some takeaways [about the elements of the agreement] based on the information initially made available. The debt ceiling would be increased until 2025, after the next election.... Domestic spending would be capped, but not as much as Republicans wanted.... Defense, Social Security, Medicare and veterans' programs would be shielded.... Some recipients of government assistance would face new work requirements.... Major energy projects would be granted a streamlined review process." The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Alan Rappeport of the New York Times blames Democrats for the debt ceiling crisis, and for once I think a both-sides MSM reporter is right: Last fall, "in an interview on her flight from New Delhi to Bali, Indonesia..., [Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen] urged Democrats to use their remaining time in control of Washington to lift the debt limit beyond the 2024 elections.... Democrats did not heed Ms. Yellen's advice." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "The Biden administration announced Saturday that it had reached an agreement with 13 other countries in the Indo-Pacific region to coordinate supply chains, in an effort to lessen the countries' dependence on China for critical products and allow them to better weather crises like wars, pandemics and climate change. The supply chain agreement is the first result of the administration's trade initiative in the region, called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. Negotiations are continuing for the other three pillars of the agreement, which focus on facilitating trade and improving conditions for workers, expanding the use of clean energy, and reforming tax structures and fighting corruption.... But prominent business groups expressed reservations about the Indo-Pacific deal, and on Friday, more than 30 of them sent a public letter to the administration saying the negotiations were leaving out traditional U.S. trade priorities that could help American exporters."
To the class of 2023 and to all the cadets here today: You stand on the broad shoulders of generations of Americans who have worn the uniform, including many barrier breakers and trailblazers. In fact, this year, you celebrate the 75th anniversary of the integration of women in the military, as well as the desegregation of our military. -- Vice President Kamala Harris, addressing West Point graduates yesterday ~~~
~~~ U.S. Army Enters 21st 20th Century. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday became the first woman to address a graduating class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and used the opportunity to extol the diversity of the American armed forces at a time of struggle over the military's identity. In an 18-minute speech, Ms. Harris noted that the nation's military had evolved in the last 75 years from an institution once dominated by white men to one more open to women and minority groups. While she did not mention the significance of her own historic appearance, her presence at the microphone on the field at West Point in New York spoke for itself." ~~~
Marie: So that's why this is so stupid: ~~~
~~~ Trip Gabriel, et al., of the New York Times: "... as [a number of reparations] commissions announce their recommendations, the political climate is far different from just three years ago. A widespread 'anti-woke' movement on the right has targeted programs aimed at social and racial justice, and the hard-cash figures being proposed as reparations are causing sticker shock. A California task force recently recommended more than $500 billion in reparations to Black residents. San Francisco is considering compensation of $100 billion. And Representative Cori Bush of Missouri said $14 trillion was the true national cost. Republicans have seized on the figures to argue that the left's pursuit of social justice has run amok. But for Democrats, the re-emergence of the long-dormant issue poses a deeper set of problems on the horizon." ~~~
~~~ Marie: No matter who you are, no matter your race, your ethnicity, your religion, your sex, your sexual orientation, your economic status or your physical health, the odds are high that either you or your forebears have suffered discrimination for who you are or who they were in the Land of the Free. Oh, I know there are some tens of thousands of Americans whose family never suffered much discrimination, but they're a tiny minority, and they don't have enough money among them to pay the rest of us for how we and our families were cheated of our human rights. I also know that some groups have suffered much more than others. Most were not cast into slavery. But if you're a white person whose family has been here for a long time, you probably have a few indentured servants in your line and most of your female ancestors were chattel. The point is that, in general, somewhere in our personal histories, American life has not been fair to most of us. ~~~
~~~ Update: In today's Comments, Ken W. has a much better analysis than mine, asking, for instance, how reparations themselves can be doled out in a fair & equitable manner.
Presidential Race 2024. Marie: Ron DeSantis hasn't let a day go by since the disastrous rollout of his presidential campaign in which he doesn't say something stupid, outrageous and/or offensive to normal people. At this point, I'm planning to skip most of his remarks, but I'll probably highlight a few over the coming months.
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Jared Gans of the Hill: "Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) said her predecessor, Republican Doug Ducey, misappropriated $50 million that the federal government provided to the state through the American Rescue Plan. Hobbs said in a release Friday that Ducey made the grant to the state treasurer in the final hours of his administration to fund all-day kindergarten for student recipients of empowerment scholarship accounts, which allow for parents to use the money they would pay in taxes for education to send their student to the school that they choose. But the memo notes that the state only funds half-day kindergarten for students in public school.... 'Illegally giving $50 million to private schools while failing to properly invest in public education is just one egregious example of the previous administration's blatant disregard for public school students,' Hobbs said." Hobbs' statement implies she has been able to prevent the funds from being unlawfully distributed to parents of private-school students. (Also linked yesterday.)
New York. Alysia Santo of the Marshall Project, published by the New York Times: "Over a dozen years, New York State officials have documented the results of attacks by hundreds of prison guards on the people in their custody. But when the state corrections department has tried to use this evidence to fire guards, it has failed 90 percent of the time, an investigation by The Marshall Project has found. The review of prison disciplinary records dating to 2010 found more than 290 cases in which the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision tried to fire officers or supervisors it said physically abused prisoners or covered up mistreatment that ranged from group beatings to withholding food. The agency considered these employees a threat to the safety and security of prisons. Yet officers were ousted in just 28 cases." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ohio. Cleveland 19 News: "Cleveland 19 News received a bomb threat Friday afternoon against five Target stores in the area. The threat, received at 12:26 p.m. via email, centered around Target's LGBTQ+ merchandise. Immediately jumping to action, our staff made reports with each local police department as well as the Cleveland Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigations." ~~~
~~~ Utah. KUTV News Salt Lake City: "A Target in Layton[, Utah,] was evacuated after officials said they were informed of a bomb threat to multiple Utah locations.... Sgt. John Ottesen with Layton Police said bomb threats were made to Target stores in Layton, Salt Lake, Taylorsville and Provo. Officers began the investigation after two local new stations received emails alerting them about the threats. They said Target's Pride merchandise displays were referenced in the emails. The threat was three sentences long and came from a 'bogus email address,' according to Sgt. Ottesen."
** Texas. Hasta La Vista. Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: "The Texas House impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust, a stunning rebuke of the conservative firebrand that at least temporarily forces him from office pending a state Senate trial that could lead to his permanent ouster.... Gov. Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican who has worked closely with the attorney general, will be able to appoint a temporary replacement.... Paxton has been a fierce defender of ... Donald Trump and a defiant opponent of the Biden administration, but his impeachment came at the hands of fellow Texas Republicans, who have long controlled all three branches of state government.... Of 146 House members present, 121 voted to impeach Paxton -- more than the majority required, including all but one Democrat and 60 Republicans -- 23 voted no (all Republicans), and two were present but did not vote.... Rep. Charlie Geren (R) ... noted that several colleagues had 'received telephone calls from Gen. Paxton personally threatening them with political consequences in their next election.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Zach Despart & Zach Barragan of the Texas Tribune: "Defying a last-minute appeal by ... Donald Trump, the Texas House voted overwhelmingly Saturday to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton," (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Coalition of the Corrupt. Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune: "Donald Trump made a late play Saturday to stop the Texas House's push to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, blasting it as 'ELECTION INTERFERENCE.' With less than half an hour until the House was set to consider Paxton's impeachment, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to blast the effort.... He went on to make clear that he will politically target any Texas House Republican who lets the impeachment move forward.... On Saturday morning, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, added his voice to the opposition, calling the impeachment effort a 'travesty.'" MB: Gosh, Donald, it looks like the majority of Texas House Republicans aren't askeert of you.
~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments in Texas AG Ken Paxton's impeachment hearing. The Texas Tribune is airing the proceedings, as well as running a liveblog, here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond
Turkey. Louisa Loveluck of the Washington Post: "Turkish voters head to the polls Sunday for a landmark presidential runoff that will decide who leads the divided country through a critical period at home and on the international stage.... Sunday's runoff election is the first in Turkey's modern history and pits incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu after neither secured a majority in the first round, winning 49 percent and 45 percent of the vote, respectively. On the heels of a poorer-than-expected showing by Kilicdaroglu's alliance on May 14, most polls now predict a comfortable victory for Erdogan, who has led Turkey for two decades as prime minister, then president."
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Ukrainians fighting outside Bakhmut have reported seeing Russian mercenaries withdrawing from the eastern city.... There were no active battles in Bakhmut on Saturday, but Russian forces continued to shell the city's outskirts and the approach to it, according to Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar.... In fields seeded with mines, Ukraine farmers face deadly planting season: The Russian invasion has made Ukraine one of the most mined countries on the planet, officials there say...." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
Andrés Martínez of the New York Times: "Russia fired the biggest wave of drones of the war on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Sunday, leaving at least one person dead.... Russia has intensified its focus on Kyiv in May, unleashing its biggest and most sustained attack there since at least March, with near-nightly volleys of missiles and drones. Sunday's attack, the 14th this month, appeared to be the first deadly one in May. Ukraine's air defenses destroyed more than 40 drones, the most fired at Kyiv in one night, the city's military administration said on Telegram."
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So do we have a deal? While not pleased with the deal or its necessity, I will be happy if we do. I don't look forward to even mini-armageddons.
But I'll believe it when I see it. There are too many angry, stupid Wingers in the Congress, in the thrall of one fantasy or other, all eager to make a name for themselves regardless of the cost to the nation.
And truth to tell, I have very little faith in McCarthy' ability to control his caucus. Since he already sold the store, I don't see he has anything left to bargain with.
No sermon, just a thought or two on reparations.
Maybe it's the Catholic still in me, but I don't think a society can functions very well when it simultaneously asserts money is the root of all evil and yet acts as if applying it generously and ubiquitously it can fix everything.
I see at least three problems with reparations.
Unless it monetary damage can be measured precisely, money has no place in righting a wrong.
Since most reparations discussions apply to groups, assigning a dollar figure to damages done to any individuals, whose family member have each traveled their own path over time, is likely to miss the individual arithmetic mark that "fairness" would have it hit.
But making reparations monetary on any large scale misses the mark in a more fundamental way. It misses the moral dimension of the damage done. Worse, it almost excuses it, saying in the words of American money-talk, we can make anything right with a large enough checkbook. Anyone think massive fines and settlements changed Wells-Fargo's ways? Or that the recent five and a half million dollar judgment against the Pretender made him a better man?
What we should be pursuing, though, is exactly that behavior change, the elimination of bad conduct. When we use money as the medium of reparations, we bypass atonement, the "I am heartily sorry" part of Confession that promises a sincere effort at moral improvement.
And unless the arrangement we make to right a moral wrong is directly between perpetrator and victim, I don't see how atonement has any place at the reparations table.
I may be discomfited by the sins of my fathers and I may wish he had behaved differently and better, but I am not heartily sorry for them and don't see how me paying for them is in any way "fair."
When I was a kid our town had parades throughout on Memorial Day and I loved how the drums reverberated in my belly. When I asked my father what the parade was for he said it was for remebering those that died in the war and that we'd killed off the Nazi scum for good.
Obviously, not good enough.
Later in my teens M.D. was spent at the lakes with sunbathing, swimming, and intermingling with the opposite sex. Little thought went into wars and sacrifice–––until Korea came along and took away some of those boys we had intermingled with.
and so it goes~~~~~~
Of COURSE the Fat Fascist, crime lord, soon to be multiply indicted, oft impeached, and chronically crooked as a drunkard’s stagger races to defend a corrupt creep like Ken Paxton. He needs all the racist, anti democratic, malignant misfeasors he can find. He must find Paxton especially admirable for his ability to avoid the inside of a courtroom for almost a decade after being charged with crimes.
And like a dippy bird who automatically plunges its head into water when prompted (and will do it forever), here’s Ted (Your wife is ugly and your dad killed Kennedy) Cruz, the textbook definition of oleaginous obsequity, shouting “Me too”.
Years ago, driving cross country from LA back to Boston, a couple of friends and I started seeing signs in Montana for a place called Wall Drug. All the way on I-90 from there to the Dakota Badlands, we saw the signs: Free ice water at…Wall Drug! Hamburgers at…Wall Drug! Stop…at Wall Drug! The nearer we got, the more closely spaced were those gigantic billboards. Of course, we had to stop, just to say we did. It was a giant tourist trap. And their ice water wasn’t cold. We spent an hour or so looking at overpriced crap then got back in the car and continued on our way.
Republicans have the same sort of advertising scheme. You’re driving down electoral highway and you start seeing the signs: Corruption ahead with…the GOP! Racism and bigotry with…the GOP. Rat bastard crooks…the GOP. I mean, it’s not like they try to hide it. They have gigantic billboards shouting about it. Most people see those signs and say “Woof! Keep going.” Some stop, look around and skeedaddle. But way too many take up residence and say “We’ve found it. A paradise for liars and cutpurses. Let’s move here!”
The signs are everywhere. The latest is in Texas where TFG and a current senator say “It’s an outrage that this crooked pal of ours is getting his!”
I’d rather live in Wall Drug. The water might not be that cold, but it ain’t poisoned.
Akhilleus,
Wall Drug!
Didn't try the ice water, but the coffee was cheap and tasted like it.
Ah, memory.....
The former Secretary of Education jetted from their compound in
the Caribbean sea to their little summer cottage just north of here
today. I waved as she went over, quite low, but she didn't wave back.
Must have read some of those comments on RC.
Somewhere I read a statement by some gun control advocates, goes
something like this:
No drag queen has ever shot up a school, church, bar, parade or
attempted to assassinate a president or any other politician.
But apparently they don't contribute huge sums of money for the
re-election of anti-gun control politicians, so nothing will change, and
drag queens can be harassed with no consequences. Just say that
they're after your kiddies and that takes care of it,
This weekend starts the invasion of our quiet little town of under a
thousand residents. About 10,000 tourists every weekend driving
around looking for a parking place. Fortunately they're all peace
loving, so far.
“With more than 99% of ballot boxes opened, unofficial results from competing news agencies showed Erdogan with 52% of the vote, compared with 48% for his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.”
(What? He didn’t win 120% of the vote? Erdogan must have missed the page in the Authoritarian Election Handbook that suggests receiving more votes than there are voters is a good way to scare off future opponents.)
“The head of Turkey’s electoral board confirmed the victory, saying that even after accounting for outstanding votes, the result was another term for Erdogan."
He better say that or he’ll be introduced to Erdogan’s election consultant Mr. Bonesaw, and his pals Mr. Pliers and Mr. Blowtorch.
If I were Kemal Kilicdaroglu, I’d make sure my passport was in order.
Don’t you just know how jealous Fatty must be of fascist leaders who don’t have to start an insurrection to “win” an election?