The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705
Thursday
Mar312016
The Commentariat -- April 1, 2016
Note to Readers: I've sent e-mails to the lucky contributors who have volunteered to do the heavy lifting here. If you volunteered & didn't get two e-mails from me this morning, please contact me via e-mail here. Either I mistyped your e-mail address, or I overlooked your generous offer. We'll go live tomorrow with contributor links & perhaps there will be a few in today's Commentariat. -- Constant Weader
Afternoon Update:
** "Soften Your Tone" and Other Bronx Cheers. Eric Levitz of New York: "On Thursday night..., [Bernie Sanders] drew 18,500 raucous supporters to St. Mary's Park in the South Bronx. Although the senator's campaign has often been portrayed as the whitest thing since sliced Wonder Bread, the crowd in Mott Haven was a rainbow coalition: Among the Caucasian Sandersistas were significant numbers of African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, and even a smattering of Hasidic Jews. BernieBros and BernieBroads were out in roughly equal numbers. The only demographic that went underrepresented was 'people who were alive when Ronald Reagan was in office.'"
Josh Lederman & Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Barack Obama urged global leaders Friday not to be complacent in the face of an evolving threat from terrorists who he said are eager to unleash a devastating nuclear attack. 'It would change our world,' he declared":
Max Ehrenfreund & Roberto Ferdman of the Washington Post: "As many as 1 million Americans will stop receiving food stamps over the course of this year beginning on Friday, the consequence of a controversial work mandate that has been reinstated in 22 states as the economy improves. The 20-year-old rule -- which was suspended in many states during the economic recession -- requires that adults without children or disabilities must have a job in order to receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for more than three months, with some exceptions."
Katherine Krueger of TPM: "Republican operative Karl Rove said Thursday that based on the GOP's current crop of candidates, the party might be better off picking a 'fresh face' for the best chance of winning the White House. 'Donald Trump excites a lot of enthusiasm,' Rove said about the Republican frontrunner. 'But he also excites a lot of anger within the Republican Party and outside of the Republican Party. And a fresh face might be the thing that could give us a chance to turn this election and win in November against Hillary.'" ...
... Scott Wartman of Cincinatti.com: "Former presidential candidate Rand Paul said Friday he would still support Donald Trump if the controversial real estate tycoon ends up as the Republican nominee. Paul's statement, in response to an Enquirer reporter's question, puts him at odds with other Republicans, including Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Donald Trump. Those three candidates have backed off from earlier pledges to support the Republican nominee no matter what." CW: Yo, Karl, there's your "fresh face"!
Descent of the Zombie. Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump ... may have surrendered any remaining chance to rally Republicans strongly around him before the party's July convention in Cleveland. At a moment when a more traditional front-runner might have sought to smooth over divisions within his party and turn his attention to the general election, Mr. Trump has only intensified his slash-and-burn, no-apologies approach to the campaign.... Republicans who once worried that Mr. Trump might gain overwhelming momentum in the primaries are now becoming preoccupied with a different grim prospect: that Mr. Trump might become a kind of zombie candidate -- damaged beyond the point of repair, but too late for any of his rivals to stop him." ...
... CW: Funniest part of Burns' article: where he turns to Newt Gingrich to provide advice on how to be presidential.
*****
Paul Krugman reminds us that President Obama has been a pretty, pretty good president.
Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators have approved a historic expansion of subsidies for the poor, fleshing out for the first time a set of Reagan-era discounts on phone service to include home Internet access. The 3-2 vote by the Federal Communications Commission Thursday will let roughly 40 million Americans on food stamps, Medicaid or other federal assistance register for and use an existing benefit worth $9.25 a month to purchase broadband service...."
Timothy Cama of the Hill: "The United States and China are pledging to sign last year's Paris climate change agreement as early as possible. President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Thursday that their representatives will approve the deal on April 22, Earth Day. It's also the earliest date on which countries can sign it. Though the agreement was crafted in December, it does not enter into force until 55 countries with at least 55 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are on board." (Also linked yesterday.)
Nahal Toosi of Politico: "Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy [D] and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in a war of words over the Democrat's request that the State Department investigate alleged human rights violations by Israeli and Egyptian security forces. Leahy and 10 House members sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Feb. 17 that lists several examples of alleged Egyptian and Israeli 'gross violations of human rights,' including extrajudicial killings, that should be examined.... Leahy's signature drew special attention because his name is on a law that conditions U.S. military aid to foreign countries on those countries' human rights records. 'In light of these reports (of suspected abuses) we request that you act promptly to determine their credibility and whether they trigger the Leahy Law and, if so, take appropriate action called for under the law,' the letter states." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Clarence Williams & Moriah Balingit of the Washington Post: "The CIA left 'explosive training material' under the hood of a Loudoun County[, Virginia,] school bus after a training exercise last week, a bus that was used to ferry elementary and high school students to and from school on Monday and Tuesday with the material still sitting in the engine compartment.... CIA officials said in a statement that the material 'did not pose a danger to passengers on the bus.'" CW: Good to know.
Today's Factoid. Richard Wolf of USA Today: "Long before they made headlines, President Obama's embattled Supreme Court nominee and Donald Trump's beleaguered campaign manager had a legal altercation over a gun. Merrick Garland was one of three federal appeals court judges who denied Corey Lewandowski's effort to get his pistol back after his arrest in 1999 for carrying it into a House office building. Garland, who is under fire from gun-rights groups for two other rulings that supporters say have been misrepresented, was joined in ruling against Lewandowski in 2003 by two conservative judges."
Annals of "Journalism," CTD. Charles Pierce: A few days ago, the WashPo published a story about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails (linked on the Commentariat), which claimed 147 agents were dedicated to the investigation. [CW: After the Internets went nuts,] the Post published a correction saying the number of agents was fewer than 50. Turns out the number may be more like 12. "That 'lawmaker briefed by FBI director James Comey' [who gave the post the 147 figure] is obviously a ratfcker with an agenda that has nothing to do with anything except political sabotage. That, by the way, is a helluva story."
Presidential Race
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) at a Congressional hearing on energy issues in 2011. He's perfectly normal, people.Beware Hillary & Bernie: Judd Legum of Think Progress: "Congressman Don Young (R-AK) ... told WFQD on Wednesday that ... Republicans [should support] whoever is the [GOP] nominee.... Young goes on to earnestly explain that Sanders or Clinton would mandate 'when to get up, what to eat, what you are thinking, what school you are going to go to and what you are going to believe.'... While Young is not a fan of Trump, he has participated in a style of bombastic, factually unencumbered and incendiary commentary that has paved the way for his rise." CW: Young has been Alaska's only representative in the House since 1973. I hope Hillary will order me to get up later & think about chocolate cake.
Alexander Cohen of the Center for Public Integrity, in Politico: "... Hillary Clinton has collected more money than any other candidate in the 2016 race from employees tied to the 50 largest contractors with the Department of Defense -- at least $454,994 in campaign funds over a 14-month period ending in February.... Clinton's haul is ... only one-third higher than the amount defense contractors gave to the campaign of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.... Despite advocating steep cuts in defense spending, Sanders' campaign has accepted at least $310,055 in defense-related donations -- more than any Republican presidential candidate -- since the start of the 2016 campaign cycle." Cohen has some suggestions as to why defense contractors like Democrats better.
Hillary Loses It. Harper Neidig of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton on Thursday accused Bernie Sanders's campaign of lying about her in a heated exchange with an environmental activist. 'I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about me. I'm sick of it,' the visibly angry Democratic presidential hopeful said, pointing a finger in a woman's face, in a video posted by Greenpeace":
... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "According to a fact check [by FactCheck.org]. it is true that Clinton's campaign hasn't accepted donations directly from the industry -- doing so would violate campaign law -- and she hadn't gotten contributions from PACs affiliated with the industry, either. But she has received more than $330,000 from oil and gas industry employees. Sanders' campaign said Thursday evening that Clinton has relied heavily on donations from oil and gas lobbyists.... Eva Resnick-Day, the activist who questioned Clinton on Thursday, works with Greenpeace USA, an organization that has tracked Clinton receiving more than $4.5 million in funding this cycle -- in the form of her campaign and allied super PAC -- from lobbyists, bundlers and donors with ties to the industry. Greenpeace tallied 57 fossil fuel lobbyists who have given to Clinton -- 43 gave the maximum $2,700 contribution to her campaign, and 11 bundled $1.1 million." ...
... Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "... [Eva] Resnick-Day [of Greenpeace] said in an interview with The Washington Post that she has no ties to the Sanders campaign and has not committed to any candidate in the race.... Resnick-Day said Greenpeace has asked all of the presidential candidates to sign a pledge to reject money from the fossil-fuel industry and to pursue campaign finance reform. Sanders has signed the pledge but Clinton has not." ...
... Sara Jerde of TPM: "Sanders had tied Clinton to Wall Street and the fossil fuel industry earlier in the day at a rally in Wisconsin, according to local TV station WGRZ." ...
... Greg Sargent takes an on-the-one-hand/on-the-other-hand approach to the Clinton-Sanders tiff. CW: But, hey, what about all that defense-contractor money, Hillary & Bernie?
Nick Gass of Politico: "Bernie Sanders broke his monthly fundraising record in March, pulling in more than $44 million, his campaign announced Friday following the midnight filing deadline with the Federal Election Commission."
Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "The Washington D.C. City Council will meet as early as next week for an emergency vote after a mistake by the city's Democratic Party threatened to leave Bernie Sanders off the presidential primary ballot in June. NBC News4 is reporting that D.C. council member and Democratic Party Chairwoman Anita Bonds will propose emergency legislation to ensure Sanders's name makes it on the ballot after the party accidentally submitted its slate to the Election Board late. Hillary Clinton also appeared on the late submission, but only Sanders received a challenge over the error."
Rebecca Fishbein of the Gothamist: "Ben & Jerry's founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield love fellow native Brooklynite and Vermont transplant Bernie Sanders so much, they made him his own ice cream, a mint chocolate chip flavor where 'all the chips have somehow floated to the top.' And lucky fans of ice cream and single-payer healthcare alike [could] get a taste of 'Bernie's Yearning' [Thursday] -- both Ben and Jerry [were] in [New York City's] Union Square handing out free sundaes starting at 5 p.m...."
Josh Barro of Business Insider: "Republicans would be screwed without racist voters.... A healthy chunk of Republican voters don't have a broad objection to big government, but an objection to big government for the wrong people.... Trump correctly realized he could win this kind of white Republican voter by becoming a demented version of Richard Nixon, turning the dial up on ethnocentric appeals ('they're rapists,' 'Islam hates us') and turning the dial down on the government-slashing (no Social Security cuts....
Nick Gass: "A political accountability group backed by Hillary Clinton supporters this week filed a complaint to the Justice Department alleging that Donald Trump illegally promised Ben Carson a position in his administration in exchange for his endorsement, according to a document provided to Politico on Thursday. 'It has recently come to light that Mr. Donald Trump may have willfully offered Dr. Ben Carson an appointment to his administration should he become president in return for supporting his candidacy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 599,' wrote Brad Woodhouse, the head of the David Brock-backed American Democracy Legal Fund. The letter is dated March 29 and addressed to Raymond Hulser, the head of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section." After suggesting in an interview that there was a quid pro quo in his talks with Trump, Carson later denied it.
Larry Buchanan & Alicia Parlapiano in the New York Times on "how votes for Trump could become delegates for someone else. The rules for how Republican delegates are selected -- which differ in every state -- could end up turning votes for one candidate into delegates who will support another candidate at the convention." ...
... NEW. Kyle Cheney & Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "If Trump heads into the convention without the magic number of 1,237, already more than a hundred delegates are poised to break with him on a second ballot, according to interviews with dozens of delegates, delegate candidates, operatives and party leaders."
David Smith & Molly Redden of the Guardian: "Donald Trump was facing the biggest crisis of his bid for the White House on Thursday, after his comment that women should be punished for having an abortion produced a fierce backlash from both left and right.... In what was described as the worst week of his campaign so far, his team swung into damage-limitation mode. Spokesperson Katrina Pierson told CNN his initial comments were a 'simple misspeak' and said Trump did not support penalising women for having abortions, even if they were illegal.... [Ted] Cruz has voted to approve several abortion bans with no exception for rape victims, and [John] Kasich has signed 16 abortion restrictions as governor of Ohio, including a measure to ban abortion after 20 weeks."
Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "With a looming loss in Wisconsin vastly increasing the odds of a contested convention, [Donald] Trump trekked to Capitol Hill to meet with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, with whom he has had a lukewarm relationship.... He also convened a meeting with members of his newly established foreign policy team and rolled out his U.S. House Leadership Committee." ...
... Update. Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Outwardly, Donald J. Trump called it a 'unity meeting' -- a closed-door session in Washington on Thursday involving his own inner circle and the Republican National Committee's high command. Inside, however, it was more of a clearing of the air, according to three people briefed in detail on the discussion. And the candid remarks included some by Mr. Trump directed at his own team. There was plenty of tension to defuse...." ...
... digby: "I'm a little disappointed. The Great Negotiator should have emerged from any meeting with the RNC giving him the nomination by acclamation, amirite? Shouldn't Preibus have come out and stood behind Trump at a press conference like the newest Trump butler?"
... Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Remember the Republican 'autopsy' report from the 2012 campaign, the GOP's 100-page investigation into why it lost the last presidential election and what it had to do to resurrect itself? Donald Trump has essentially set fire to that report. He's done the exact opposite of almost every recommendation Republican analysts said the party needed to adopt if the party wanted to survive."
Zeke Miller of Time: "Donald Trump's announcement that he no longer stands by a pledge to support the GOP has thrown his hold on South Carolina's 50 delegates in doubt. The Palmetto State was one of several that required candidates to pledge their loyalty to the party's eventual nominee in order to secure a slot on the primary ballot. Though Trump won all of the state's delegates in the Feb. 20 primary, anti-Trump forces are plotting to contest their binding to Trump because of his threat on the pledge Tuesday."
John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "Some of the Republicans trying to prevent [Donald Trump] from becoming the Party's Presidential nominee believe that they're finally making progress.... The Never Trump folks are harrying the front-runner constantly. With the spotlight on him, the cracks in his candidacy are becoming all too visible.... He is still in a strong strategic position and remains the firm favorite, even as cracks are showing."
** The Banana Republic of Trump. Brian Beutler muses on the various ways a Trump presidency might play out. Well-worth reading. CW: What struck me, though Beutler doesn't directly mention it, is how our governmental institutions offer little protection against a single unstable individual -- if the electorate first gives him/her the means to do so -- could take over & destroy the entire system. It's a flawed system, one that's easily exploited by people of bad faith. This isn't a surprise; it's been evident at least since Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House. (Also linked yesterday.)
We're Still Checking. Toby Eckert of Politico: "Donald Trump's campaign released a letter from his tax attorneys Wednesday night saying Trump's personal tax returns 'have been under continuous examination by the Internal Revenue Service since 2002,' a reason the GOP presidential candidate has cited for not releasing his returns. The March 7 letter from Sheri A. Dillon and William F. Nelson says audits of Trump's returns for 2009 'and forward' are ongoing and says all of the audits are 'consistent with the IRS' practice for large and complex businesses.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... CW: What is "consistent with IRS practices" is that the agency will repeatedly audit an individual whose earlier audits have found the taxpayer had underpaid his taxes. This letter doesn't help Trump except with his base; rather, it suggests he consistently cheats on his taxes. Big surprise.
Back to the Future. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Bookended by advertisements for Trojan condoms and Malibu Ultra Light cigarettes, [a 1990] interview in Playboy magazine is a remarkably prophetic document.... Donald J. Trump sat down with Glenn Plaskin, a celebrity columnist, and ... enumerated a grievance-filled economic agenda, a searing denunciation of weak-kneed American leadership and a keen understanding of his appeal to blue-collar Americans that uncannily resemble the White House campaign he is waging today...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Nolan McCaskill: "Donald Trump won't be able to mount a third-party bid for president if he loses the Republican nomination, Ted Cruz said Thursday. 'He doesn't have the option of running as a third-party [candidate],' the Texas senator told Wisconsin radio host Charlie Sykes. 'Quite a few states across the country have what are called sore-loser laws, that once you run as a Republican and lose, you don't get to then turn around and file on the ballot as an independent, so that will not be an option available to him.'" ...
... CW: If Politico had better reporters, they would have rebutted Cruz in their story. Ballotpedia, ca. October 2015: "Some states bar candidates who sought, but failed, to secure the nomination of a political party from running as independents in the general election. Ballot access expert Richard Winger has noted that, generally speaking, 'sore loser laws have been construed not to apply to presidential primaries.' In August 2015, Winger compiled a list of precedents supporting this interpretation. According to Winger, 45 states have sore loser laws on the books, but in 43 of these states the laws do not seem to apply to presidential candidates. Sore loser laws apply to presidential candidates in only two states: South Dakota and Texas." ...
... CW Update: McCaskill wrote to me, "It seems like there's a bit of a split on the application of the laws, though. Someone tweeted me a story from Conservative Review after it contacted every state, and 15 said they have sore-loser laws that apply to presidential candidates. Here's a link to that: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/03/trump-independent-bid-all-but-impossible But I certainly agree with your point that it would have enhanced the story to have more context regarding the veracity of Sen. Cruz's claim." Now I feel bad for dissing his reporting."
Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "With growing confidence about a big potential win in Wisconsin, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is trying to discredit Ohio Gov. John Kasich's campaign before it gets to more favorable ground. In interviews this week, Cruz has repeatedly invoked the RNC's rule 40b, which allows candidates to be nominated only if they've won total delegate majorities in eight states or more. That rule, hastily written in 2012 after then-Rep. Ron Paul of Texas nearly grabbed enough wins to be nominated, is now favored by allies of both Cruz and Donald Trump as a way of making Kasich -- or any establishment 'savior' -- irrelevant." ...
... AP: "Ted Cruz's presidential campaign is trying to knock opponent John Kasich off Montana's primary by questioning signatures the Ohio governor's campaign submitted to qualify for the ballot - another subplot in the unfolding political drama to derail Donald Trump's presidential bid." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "PPP's newest national poll finds that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan wouldn't exactly be the solution to the GOP's Donald Trump problem.... Romney is incredibly unpopular nationally now- his 23/65 favorability rating is even worse than the 29/63 Trump comes in at. Clinton (45/32) and Sanders (48/31) each lead Romney by double digit margins. Ryan would trail Clinton 44/39 and Sanders 45/38, numbers not terribly dissimilar to how Trump polls against each of them."
Beyond the Beltway
Jesse McKinley & Vivian Yee of the New York Times: "Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state legislative leaders announced on Thursday that they had reached a budget agreement that would raise the minimum wage in New York City to $15 by the end of 2018, but initiate slower increases elsewhere, even in the city's wealthy suburbs. For Mr. Cuomo, the wage agreement came with clear concessions, as some lawmakers outside the city won a softer phase-in period. Long Island and Westchester County will not reach a $15 wage for nearly six years; areas north of Westchester are assured only of reaching $12.50 by 2021."
AP: "A federal judge has overturned Mississippi's ban on allowing same-sex couples to adopt. US district judge Daniel Jordan, in a preliminary injunction issued Thursday, ruled for four couples who had sued, saying the ban is unconstitutional after recent US supreme court decisions legalizing gay marriage and benefits for gay couples."
Liam Dillon & Patrick McGreevy of the Los Angeles Times: "In a move that puts California at the forefront of efforts to raise wages for low-income workers across the country, the Legislature approved a sweeping plan Thursday to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years, boosting the future paychecks of millions of the state's workers. The Senate voted 26 to 12 -- with loud cheers of [Si se puede' from the gallery above -- to give final approval and send the measure to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk less than one week after a legislative compromise. Brown will sign the wage hike into law in Los Angeles on Monday."
Richmond Times-Dispatch: "Virginia State Police Superintendent W. Steven Flaherty said Thursday night that a state trooper shot by a man at Richmond's Greyhound bus station has died from his wounds.... [The shooter] was then fatally wounded as two troopers returned fire. Two civilians were injured in the gunfire that erupted about 2:45 p.m."
Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "Anyone who has doubts about the importance of journalists in 2016 need [sic!] be acquainted only with the reporting team at AL.com, the largest statewide news organization in Alabama. The group's reporters cracked open a scandal involving their governor's alleged infidelity last week and have been covering the unpredictable fallout aggressively ever since.... Alabama lawmakers, led by Republicans, are looking at ways to impeach [Gov. Robert Bentley (R)] or set up a recall.... The story stretches far beyond sex, though. It's also connected to an ethics trial of the House speaker and a shadowy nonprofit that paid [Bentley paramour Rebekah] Mason's communications firm about $320,000 at the time of her resignation. As AL.com reporter Leada Gore said: 'It's got every part of a scandal you could want.'"
Nathaniel Rich in the New York Times Magazine: "Over the course of 4 months, 97,100 metric tons of methane quietly leaked out of a single well into California's sky. Scientists and residents are still trying to figure out just how much damage was done."
Patrick McGeehan of the New York Times: "A new round of testing has found high levels of lead in water at more schools in Newark, including at least two charter schools, according to results the school district released on Thursday. Nearly a quarter of the water samples collected in the school buildings tested last week had lead concentrations above 15 parts per billion, which is the federal Environmental Protection Agency's threshold for taking action."
What's the Matter with Kansas?, Ctd. Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "... in Kansas. Gov. Sam Brownback and other conservative Republicans have expressed outrage over State Supreme Court decisions that overturned death penalty verdicts, blocked anti-abortion laws and hampered Mr. Brownback's efforts to slash taxes and spending, and they are seeking to reshape a body they call unaccountable to the right-tilting public. At one point, the Legislature threatened to suspend all funding for the courts. The Supreme Court, in turn, ruled in February that the state's public schools must shut down altogether if poorer districts do not get more money.... Partisan conflict over courts has erupted in many of the 38 states where justices are either directly elected or, as in Kansas, face periodic retention elections...."
Susan Svrulga of the Washington Post: "The George Mason School of Law will be renamed in honor of the late U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.... The university announced Thursday that it has received $30 million in combined gifts to the George Mason Foundation to support the law school, the largest gift in the university’s history.... Twenty million dollars came from an anonymous donor, and $10 million came from the Charles Koch Foundation.... Leonard A. Leo..., who was close with Scalia and his family, was approached by a donor who asked that the university name the law school in honor of the late justice, and offered a $20 million donation." CW: I'll bet it will be one of those "slower-track" schools Scalia liked so much. ...
... Elie Mystal of Above the Law: "Good lord. You are deemphasizing the name of a founding father to honor a man who fetishisized the beliefs held at the founding? A guy who didn't go there, or have any connection to the school, who wouldn't have hired a George Mason law student as a bathroom attendant, much less a Supreme Court clerk? That's the guy you are renaming your law school after? Your Twitter hashtag is now #ASSLaw (Antonin Scalia School of Law). Who was in second place, Donald Trump?" ...
... Gabrielle Bluestone of Gawker: "'By and large,' Scalia told an American University of Law student in 2009, 'I'm going to be picking from the law schools that basically are the hardest to get into. They admit the best and the brightest, and they may not teach very well, but you can't make a sow's ear out of a silk purse. If they come in the best and the brightest, they're probably going to leave the best and the brightest, OK?' At the time, American was ranked 45th. George Mason is currently ranked 45th." CW: Yup. Slower-track.
News Ledes
Bloomberg: "Employment in the U.S. climbed and wages picked up in March, signs of labor-market durability in the face of lethargic global growth. The 215,000 gain in payrolls followed a revised 245,000 February advance, a Labor Department report showed Friday. Average hourly earnings increased 0.3 percent from a month earlier, while the jobless rate crept up to 5 percent as more people entered the labor force."
Washington Post: "In several Latin American nations hit hard by the Zika epidemic, the transmission of the virus appears to have peaked, with the number of infections declining in recent weeks...."
Hill: "The State Department issued a new travel warning on Syria to U.S. citizens Thursday, saying that 'fighting still persists' and advising against visiting the war-torn country." CW: Drat! Here I was planning a nice visit to Damascus with a side trip to Palmyra.
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Reader Comments (23)
For my last post on Reality Chex, as we know it, I have chosen the last stanza from William Stafford's "A Ritual to Read to Each Other." Stafford was the poet laureate of Oregon, as well as of the U.S. I have been assured that quoting one stanza of this poem does not fall under the copyright law.
"...For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give--yes or no, or maybe--should be clear:
the darkness around us is deep."
To be clear: this is what Reality Chex, and my long friendship with Marie have meant to me. I have been challenged to stay awake--and to listen thoughtfully I thank all of you. We are people to whom knowledge, thinking, sharing and compassion mean everything. I will be forever grateful.
Excellent posts, Marie on both Krugman & Egan today! Getting top recommends, too! (Despite no green check mark :)
BTW checked out Facebook and discovered there are beaucoup Marie Burns-es from shore to shore and elsewhere. Tho' knew it wasn't you with the huge slab of pizza! Somewhere on page 5 or 6, there you were.
This may (or may not) be the last day for RC here...but if the move forward (to a new format) does go to Facebook...alas, I will not be able to follow along.
Truly, I wish I 'got it' about Facebook's value. But I don't. I have looked and asked someone to show me '...what is a really good Facebook site?' Yet to discover any such. Aside from the "Susie Q's likes" the page layouts are boring. Photos usually out of focus. Should be cropped. Color corrected. NOT! Comments usually involve the word 'great.' As in great picture, great post, great group, great, great, great...the most over-used adjective ever.
Guess this might be my last not-so-great post!
P.S. Is "On the Road" really your favorite movie?
Good news, it seems, to receive here in Nebraska. RC does have a future.
Don't know yet what it will look like but from the here and now it would seem that an RC by any name would still smell sweet. Will learn more when we get home to more reliable internet windows and do what I can to support the new effort.
On Facebook. To quote Bartleby, "I (too) prefer not." And I would add this note drawn from my experience a few years back working on a reunion committee for my university, which long after I left gained an unparalleled reputation as a school for computer nerds and techies of all stripes...
At least half of our Class of '68 committee did not do Facebook or Twitter and had no desire to do so. Maybe a little snobbery here, a rejection of its superficiality and non-linearity, images in lieu of print, and maybe a little reluctance for old dogs to do you know what, but maybe simply summarized as a generational thing. We--most RC readers?-- just didn't grow up with it and while typing on any device is just the typing we knew, Facebook and social media in general are not.
Note to the New Editorial Board: Let the rest of us know if and how we might help.
Cheer up all you wonderful people cuz R.C. will hobble forward. This morning received copious instructions on how to continue this site. Marie states she has seven souls that have volunteered to do the job. Reading the instructions makes my head swim and am not sure I understand much of it at this point, but I'm determined to master some of it. I certainly hope the other six volunteers are more savvy than I or we gonna end up with a hodge-pudge. So be patient and forgiving as we forge forward.
Marie is on Facebook??? That's a surprise.
I suggested Facebook the other day to keep RC going, but I have to make it clear that I'm not a Facebook fan. It was one of those last resort suggestions. Sorry so many of you were "horrified."
The only thing worse than FB is Twitter.
PDPepe:
I maintain several blogs using Wordpress. If that's your platform and you need some help, let me know.
Re: Facebook. I have a Facebook page somewhere, but I haven't looked at it for years. Once I looked at it & it was full of kitten pictures that somebody else had posted. I hate to think what might be on there now. I don't know what the movie "On the Road" is, so I doubt I listed it as my favorite movie. (Don't know if I have a favorite movie, but it might be "All the President's Men." I've watched it perhaps half-a-dozen times over the decades, & I can't think of any other film I've watched more than three times.) I opened the Facebook account only as a necessity, as some other sites allowed access only via Facebook. I'm not "against" Facebook; I just don't have a need for it. I'm sure millions of people "Like" it.
I am not opposed to any efforts to open a Reality Chex-related Facebook page or a Wordpress or blogspot blog, & if time allows, I might try to participate. A little.
In the meantime, I'm very much hoping we can go forward with our experiment here. As P.D. Pepe writes, getting started on the technical aspects looks difficult, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature. I had trouble writing the instructions, & certainly missed some stuff, because I don't think about the process except when I get in trouble.
Please be kind to the contributors. There are bound to be some screw-ups. I know how to do this, & I still make mistakes every day. BTW, the "super-contributors" can delete any nasty comments. So watch it.
Marie
@P.D. Pepe: I second your comments about the instructions to maintain this blog - they made my head swim, too. They also made me realize even more what an outstanding effort Marie has made. Even her copious instructions are beautifully and (I think) clearly written. Time will tell!
P.S. I doubt I am more tech savvy than you - this will be a challenge for me.
Facebook is worse now, Marie.
Good luck to the new crew!
The instructions for posting content might seem like a lot but once you try it you'll be surprised how basic it all is. That's not to say that there's no room for error, but things should even out. Hey, it's better than the alternative, right? And now I don't have to post any maudlin farewell clips (I had something specific in mind).
Anyway, "Excelsior", as certain overly optimistic Romans might once have said (they might have been high too).
@Akhilleus: Send maudlin clips!
Marie
And a hearty and incredibly grateful thanks to those intrepid souls who have volunteered to keep this invaluable resource going (too many adjectives here?). I look forward to my continued doses of the wit and wisdom found only here -
Note to all: I have spent the whole morning working on this.I now have a headache. I was progressing ok, but then screwed up. I'm afraid this is too complicated for me but I hate defeat–– perhaps I'll give it another go, but maybe this is too out of my reach.
Postmodernism Comes to Right-Wing World
(And it ain't pretty)
For a collection of knuckleheads wingers sure have a thing for what they consider suspicious lefty academics, especially anything to do with critical theory.
One thing they've been most exercised about is postmodernism, or at least their understanding of it. The origins of postmodernism arose as a reaction to, well, modernism. Funny how those things work, right? Anyway, postmodernism rising on the heels of two vicious and nihilistic world wars, strove to question everything, especially what was considered received wisdom, grand narratives, and settled rules of the social order. The result was an approach that looked at the gray areas more than hard edged black and white boundaries, prized self-reflexivity, parody, irony, interrogation of cultural norms and a mixing of genres, artistic, musical, literary, cinematic, which dissolved the barriers between high and low culture. It's a pretty wild theoretical ride that has yielded some fascinating ways of dealing with and understanding the world.
But here's how wingers see it: God is dead and everyone does and says and believes just whatever the hell they want. And don't forget moral relativism!
So you can see how postmodern texts and ideas that didn't simply accept the old rules without question would stick in Confederate craws.
Except now, as postmodernity disappears in the rear view mirror, it seems that it has found a new home in Right Wing World where there are no rules anymore. Anyone can say whatever the hell they want (see: Trump, D; Cruz, T; Carson, B) and never worry about having to back it up (actual postmodern works do not try to get away with simply dropping turd dollops on the street and passing them off as gold doubloons of wisdom) and your reality is as valid as the guy falling off the stool at the end of the bar (hey, is that John Boehner?). So science doesn't matter. History is rewritten at the drop of a communion plate, law is changed to suit religious nut jobs, foreign policy is based on delusions and tribal mythology, and Supreme Court justices are chosen based on the likelihood that they'll agree to let mental defectives carry loaded weapons into kindergartens (talk about moral relativism). Remember "We make our own reality"? In fact, this shit makes postmodernism look like a two sizes too small starched Victorian collar.
And as a little lagniappe to end this mini critical-theory-visits-the-Confederacy jaunt, check out this hie-larious flow chart created by a far-right Islamophobic hate group called ACT for America to support their demented world view.
Basically, everything connected to the Democratic Party, progressive movements, and liberals, feminism, the Green Party, the anti-war movement, and don't forget the radical gay agenda, comes directly from Karl Marx. (Karl Marx: Radical Gay Agenda. Who knew?)
They get from the KGB to the Congressional Progressive Caucus in two quick jumps. But interestingly, the creators of this winger fantasy chart seem to know at least a little bit about some fairly obscure movements and historical figures. They mention the Fabians, a very non-radical socialist group that began operating in Britain in the 19th century. But then they jump from the Fabians, who were anything but violent revolutionaries, to the SDS, Bill Ayers, and, of course, directly to the Democratic Party. Hey, you never know when some ivory tower academic with a copy of "Das Kapital" on her bookshelf will destroy the country.
It's like one of those math puzzles where no matter what numbers you put in, the answer is always 9. Here the answer is always Marx.
Just another example of wingers high on a postmodern toot. Who'da thunk it?
@PD Pepe: Yes, take a break, but don't give up. You were off to a good start. Just getting on to the site where you can edit is an achievement when you haven't done this kind of thing before.
Marie
Hooray! Thank you, intrepid people such as PD-- think of it as an invaluable service to your elders, of which I am one. I also vote against Facebook. I can't think of a single reason to use it. Ditto Twitter. I hope this works-- and again a huge THANK YOU to PD et al. And the endless thank-yous to Marie continue, like a Mobius strip.
Oh, alright.
These are the maudlin farewell clips. Get the Kleenex.
Maudlin clip number one. If you've never heard of Mrs. Calabash, look her up.
Maudlin clip number two (part one) and (part two). You really have to watch them both to get the maximum tear duct action.
And as a bonus (since I was in the neighborhood) here is perhaps one of the most affecting scenes anywhere. Even though it's in a kids' movie, I bet it was the parents who were sobbing at the end of this leave-taking in theaters around the country (and in living rooms when the DVD came out).
Where's my hanky, dammit!?
Re: Facebook.
I decided against Facebook when the marketing director of Facebook actually said that the sole purpose of Facebook was to deliver information on people to marketers.
I also learned that one of Facebook's best customers is the NSA. On Facebook, people "give up" personal information which would otherwise take months for the NSA to gather.
Somehow, this makes Facebook seem not so attractive to me. Family actually has to tell me about their kids or cute puppies.
Victoria,
Plus, Facebook is a prime hunting ground for serpentine predators like Ted Cruz who has a company that sniffs through Facebook users' undie drawers looking for ways to better massage his message of theocratic control.
The Stoppable DT? Who is left to insult? Short list, anyone?
Anything? anyone? left to put on such a list?
He's a " jerk " aka total ass.
Maybe one of his former supporters, Stephanie Cegielski said it best: "Most frightening of all is that "the man does not know policy, nor does he have the humility to admit what he does not know" she says. According to Ms Cegielski he made no effort to come to grips with issues of substance in the campaign.
"I am now taking full responsibility for helping create this monster," she wrote.
Okey dokey. Let's hear a "my bad' confession from the rest of you in the GOP/Tea Party/Confederacy.
And, then there's Kansas. There's a book that likely needs serious re-editing with a revised title: "WTF is the Matter with Kansas" as today's NYTimes article by Erik Eckholm illustrates: "Outraged by Kansas Justices’ Rulings, G.O.P. Seeks to Reshape Court." linked by CW atop.
To Everyone,
Thanks to all who are trying to keep RC going.
You all are heroes to me.
Every day I learned something new and loved the writing of commenters.
Crossing my fingers that it will work.
sincerely
mae finch
Jeebus Ak: I hate it when cartoon characters make my eyes well up! Years ago, watching "Day of the Dolphin" (no, not a cartoon) did me in totally. As for Mrs. Calabash, remember her name quite well...as a kid sitting close to my family's old Philco radio, when Jimmy signed off at the program end!
Inka dinka doo! (Always wanted a Peruvian hamster pet, so that I could name it Inca Dinka Doo).
Nice to know...that RC will continue be here! Wonderful to all of you who have stepped up to help. See you tomorrow over coffee.
MAG,
INCA Dinka Doo.
Love it. I'm sure Durante would have as well.
It's rather amazing that George C. Scott, who played the marine biologist in "Day of the Dolphins" was the same guy who was slapping around a GI suffering from PTSD a few years earlier in "Patton" (Tricky Dick's favorite movie--any wonder?).
I suppose that's why they call it acting.
And hey, Drumpf knows something about acting. Right now he's acting as if he has a fucking clue about anything besides which bimbo he'd rather be boinking.
Incter Sphincter Fool. Or maybe that should be Incter Sphincter Stool.
Either way it comes terribly close to Drumpfy.