Saturday
Apr022016
The Commentariat -- April 3, 2016
Kristen East of Politico: "Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran has reversed his position on a hearing and vote for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, just a week after straying from the position of GOP leadership. The senator's office released a statement Friday clarifying Moran's position, saying the senator no longer believes hearings are a necessity." CW: Clarifying? Apparently there is clarity in chickenshit.
Joan Lowy of the AP: " A government-sponsored committee is recommending standards that could clear the way for commercial drone flights over populated areas and help speed the introduction of package delivery drones and other uses not yet possible....."
Mark Sherman of the AP: A potential "Supreme Court appeal from a Hispanic defendant in Colorado raises the prospect that a juror's comments during deliberations can be so offensive that they deprive a defendant of a fair trial ... After a jury convicted Miguel Angel Pena Rodriguez of attempted sexual assault involving teenage sisters at a Denver-area horse race track, two jurors provided his lawyer with sworn statements claiming that a third juror made derogatory remarks about Mexican men before voting guilty.... The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Congress of American Indians are among the groups backing Pena Rodriguez, cataloguing examples of trials in which jurors uttered slurs or made derogatory remarks about Native American, African-American and Hispanic defendants." -- CaptRuss
Rocket Man. Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: Jeff Bezos, "the billionaire founder of Amazon.com (and owner of The Washington Post), not only announced ahead of time that his space company would launch a rocket on Saturday, but he live-tweeted it, giving his followers a play-by-play of the event, and a few inside glimpses. Saturday's liftoff from Blue Origin's launch site in West Texas was the third consecutive time the company has launched and landed its reusable New Shepard suborbital vehicle, which consists of a rocket and a capsule designed to take astronauts just past the edge of space." -- CW
Washington Murder Mystery. Steven Myers of the New York Times: "Mikhail Y. Lesin, once a player in the Kremlin's media apparatus, was found dead from 'blunt force injuries' in Washington, fueling speculation of murder." -- CW
Presidential Race
Lisa Lerer & Ken Thomas of the AP: "After a year of campaigning, months of debates and 35 primary elections, Sanders is finally getting under Clinton's skin in the Democratic presidential race. Clinton has spent weeks largely ignoring Sanders and trying to focus on ... Donald Trump. Now, after several primary losses and with a tough fight in New York on the horizon, Clinton is showing flashes of frustration with the Vermont senator -- irritation that could undermine her efforts to unite the party around her candidacy." -- CW
Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of the Washington Post interview Donald Trump: "In his first 100 days, Trump said, he would cut taxes, 'renegotiate trade deals and renegotiate military deals,' including altering the U.S. role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He insisted that he would be able to get rid of the nation's more than $19 trillion national debt 'over a period of eight years.' Most economists would consider this impossible because it could require taking more than $2 trillion a year out of the annual $4 trillion budget to pay off holders of the debt." Un-fucking-believable that he doesn't seem to understand that international trade deficits are the result of business transactions - which do not involve the government. -- CaptRuss ...
... Trump also said in the interview "that economic conditions are so perilous that the country is headed for a 'very massive recession' and that 'it's a terrible time right now' to invest in the stock market, embracing a distinctly gloomy view of the economy that counters mainstream economic forecasts." CW: Allow me to remind you that in 2011, Mr. I. Speak toMyself "predicted riots in the street and exorbitantly expensive loaves of bread due to higher oil prices and a declining dollar. But the business mogul overshot the price of bread by more than 12 times." ...
... And Then Some
Glenn Kessler of the Fact Checker at the Washington Post laments that there are only Four Pinocchios available: "Alone among Republican hopefuls, Trump has pledged not to touch entitlement spending. So unless he wants to start breaking some campaign promises, one presumes he would not seek to change the laws governing most mandatory spending. That leaves discretionary spending, which Congress votes on year after year and funds the basic functions of government, such as defense, homeland security, highways, and so forth. In the eight years of a putative two-term Trump presidency, the CBO projects a total of $10 trillion in discretionary spending. So even if Trump eliminated every government function and shut down every Cabinet agency, he'd still be $16 trillion short."
Jonathan Martin & Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "As Donald J. Trump moves closer to the Republican nomination, his unpopularity with large groups of voters suggests a potentially staggering loss in a general election.... In recent head-to-head polls with one Democrat whom Mr. Trump may face in the fall, Hillary Clinton, he trails in every key state, including Florida and Ohio, despite her soaring unpopularity ratings with swing voters." -- CW ...
... But there's this. Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: "Few people are thanking the president for low unemployment [in Indiana]. Instead, many discouraged workers are attracted to Donald J. Trump's economic message." CW: Then again, Trump is a white dude.
Ben Schreckinger & Ken Vogel of Politico: "In public, Donald Trump is standing behind embattled campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as he faces battery charges for grabbing a reporter. But behind the scenes, Lewandowski's role in the campaign is shrinking. In early March, Lewandowski ceded authority over many hiring decisions to a lower-ranking staffer. In recent days, the campaign's press office has been overruling his decisions about issuing credentials for campaign events. Going forward, Trump's just-named convention manager, Paul Manafort, is expected to take a leading role not just in the selection of delegates, but in the remaining primaries themselves, according to three people on or close to the campaign." ...
... CW: Not that there's anything wrong with picking as an alternate delegate a guy who is in jail awaiting trial on federal charges stemming from his part in the Cliven Bundy stand-off & also participated in the Oregon occupation of the Malheur Reserve. Lewandowski's been doing a great job!
... This Elephant Has a Very Short Memory. Joey Garrson & Dave Boucher of the Tennessean: "Donald Trump's campaign for president is accusing the Tennessee Republican Party of 'doing the bidding' of the national GOP establishment in a calculated attempt to 'steal' pro-Trump delegates and stop them from being a part of Tennessee's GOP delegation.... A Tennessee party official disputes that allegation, instead accusing Trump's camp of distorting the truth while noting Trump will still receive all delegates won from the state." CW: Apparently Trump forgot that way two days ago he admitted that his campaign wasn't doing its job of trying to "steal"/persuade convention delegates to vote for him. ...
... Jamie McGee & Joel Ebert of the Tennessean: "Tennessee Republican Party leaders voted Saturday to finalize a list of delegates to the GOP's national presidential nominating convention over fierce objections from Donald Trump backers, who accused officials of stacking the group against the real estate mogul.... As the committee began its meeting at 10 a.m.dozens of Trump supporters formed a line outside the Hillsboro Village office, voicing frustration over the fact that they weren't being allowed inside for the proceedings. [Trump supporter] Robert Swope, Metro Councilman for the 4th district..., [said] 'Trust me, there will be a war.... I want everyone to remember this moment in the Tennessee GOP because this will come back to haunt them." -- CW ...
... Shane Goldmacher & Kyle Cheney of Politico: Party leaders, alarmed by an intensifying backlash throughout the night, have hired extra security for the event -- which party chairman Ryan Haynes noted had been scheduled to take place in a small, unsecured conference room -- and [they consider[ed] canceling the event altogether." ...
... CW: As I wrote yesterday, Trump's preferred method of negotiation is violence or threats of violence.
Peter Montgomery in Otherwords, via Juan Cole: "There's a darker side to Trump's campaign that should disturb anyone thinking about supporting him: It's electrifying and energizing the white supremacist movement." -safari
Maureen Dowd interviews Donald Trump. "It's ridiculous how many mistakes Trump has made in rapid order to alienate women when he was already on thin ice with them -- and this in a year when the Republicans will likely have to run against a woman." Dowd doesn't make any definitive news, but there's this: Dowd: "I had to ask: When he was a swinging bachelor in Manhattan, was he ever involved with anyone who had an abortion?" Trump: "Such an interesting question. So what's your next question?" So yes. Of course. -- CW
Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump "either can't or won't think before speaking. Shooting from the hip may work on reality TV, but it's no way to run a country -- or even to broker a deal, the art of which seems to have been lost on its author." -- CW
When a huckster presidential candidate jokes about nuclear war while real POTUS works to avoid it. Ben Jacobs and Martin Pengelly in the Guardian: "Speaking at a rally in Rothschild, Wisconsin ahead of the state's primary on Tuesday, [Donald Trump] said that if conflict between Japan and nuclear-armed North Korea were to break out, 'it would be a terrible thing but if they do, they do'. 'Good luck,' he added. 'Enjoy yourself, folks.'" --safari
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. New York Times Edition. Steve M.: "An editorial in The New York Times [Saturday] expresses anguish at the GOP establishment's decision to freeze out that nice John Kasich.... The media feels it [sic!] has a responsibility to save the Republican Party from itself.... The press blam[es] itself for the fact that Republican voters admire Donald Trump and want to watch and read about him before enthusiastically voting for him.... Beyond that, the press wants a Republican to admire." Steve reiterates why Kasich is not that admirable guy. -- CW
Senate Race
Melinda Deslatte of the AP: "Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards told state Democratic Party leaders on Saturday that he's backing Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell in the U.S. Senate race, and he encouraged them to unite behind one candidate on the November ballot ... Campbell, a member of the Public Service Commission for more than a decade and a long-time state senator before that, called the governor's support 'monumental' for his campaign." Political newcomers Caroline Fayard, an attorney, and Josh Pellerin, a businessman in the oil and gas industry, have also announced they will run for the senate seat being vacated by moral reprobate David Vitter. -- CaptRuss
Beyond the Beltway
Rebecca Traister of New York Magazine, published April 1st: "On the last day of March, the New York State Legislature finalized a budget deal that included not only a promise to raise the minimum wage to $15, but also the nation's newest -- and by far its strongest and most comprehensive -- bill mandating paid-family-leave time for -- most employees. That means that New York has just become the fifth state ... to mandate paid leave. And compared to its progressive predecessors, New York's bill is startlingly robust."safari note: Elections matter y'all.
Jen Kirby and Chas Danner of NY Magazine: "Queens Bull Escapes to College, Gets Rescued by Jon Stewart ... [Stewart] and his wife run their own animal sanctuary, Bufflehead Farm, in New Jersey, and were alerted to [the bull's] plight by the Farm Sanctuary organization, who negotiated the release of the animal." -- CaptRuss
Kate Royals and Sarah Fowler of the Jackson, MS Clarion-Ledger: Mississippi "House Bill 1523, or the 'Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act,' is soon headed to Gov. Phil Bryant's desk after the House concurred with the Senate's version Friday morning." Among other nonsense, the bill protects "individuals whose sincerely held beliefs include that 'sexual relations are properly reserved' to a marriage between a man and a woman, raising questions about whether single mothers could be targeted...Bryant said he has not made a decision about the bill." -- CaptRuss
Charles Pierce of Esquire on the upcoming "shitstorm" in Wisconsin: "All morning, citizens scrambled through the freshening snow into the four local offices [in Madison]of the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles. They were there to get the identification cards they will need to cast a vote on Tuesday under the state's new voter ID law that is having its shakedown cruise that day." -- unwashed. As a former Wisconsinite it's hard to believe how far the Badgers have fallen down the rabbit hole.
Way Beyond
Helena Smith of the Guardian: "Rioting and rebellion by thousands of entrapped refugees across Greece has triggered mounting fears in Athens over the practicality of enforcing an agreement already marred by growing concerns over its legality.... 'We are expecting violence. People in despair tend to be violent,' the leftist-led government's migration spokesman, Giorgos Kyritsis, told the Observer..., 'These are people [that] have fled war. They are not criminals.' With tensions on the rise in Lesbos, the Aegean island that has borne the brunt of the flows, and in Idomeni on the Greek-Macedonia frontier where around 11,000 have massed since the border's closure, NGOs warned of a timebomb in the making. Hopes of numbers decreasing following the announcement of the EU-Turkey deal have been dispelled by a renewed surge in arrivals with the onset of spring." -- CaptRuss
News Ledes
AP: "Joseph Medicine Crow, an acclaimed Native American historian and last surviving war chief of Montana's Crow Tribe, has died. He was 102. Medicine Crow died Sunday...." Read the obituary.
New York Times: "Fierce winds, snow, lightning and hail stomped across the East on Saturday and early Sunday, downing trees, damaging buildings and cutting power to more than 250,000 homes across 14 states. Among the hardest hit were New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with over 35,000 homes in each state dark on Sunday afternoon."
AP: "Authorities say an Amtrak train struck a piece of construction equipment just south of Philadelphia, and some injuries are being reported. Service on the Northeast Corridor between New York and Philadelphia has been suspended.... The impact derailed the lead engine of the train." ...
... Washington Post Update: "Local police told affiliate NBC10 that two people had died and at least one was hurt." ...
... NEW Wash Po LEDE: "Two Amtrak maintenance workers were killed Sunday when a passenger train bound for Washington plowed into a backhoe machine they were operating just south of Philadelphia.... Amtrak said its scheduled trains would run in the Northeast corridor on Monday, but that riders should expect delays between Wilmington, Del., and Philadelphia."
AP: "A week after taking back the historic town of Palmyra, Syrian troops and their allies on Sunday captured another town controlled by the Islamic State group in central Syria, state media reported. The push into the town of Qaryatain took place under the cover of Russian airstrikes and dealt another setback to the IS extremists in Syria. However, an activist group that monitors the Syrian civil war said the government forces for the moment control more than half of Qaryatain but have not fully secured the town."
Charles J. Gans of the AP: "Latin Jazz saxophonist Leandro 'Gato' Barbieri, who composed the Grammy-winning music for the steamy Marlon Brando film 'Last Tango in Paris' and recorded dozens of albums over a career spanning more than seven decades, has died at age 83...He earned the nickname 'El Gato,' which means 'The Cat,' in the 1950s because of the way he scampered between clubs with his saxophone.... He released 'Caliente' (1976) for the A&M label, which included his popular rendition of Carlos Santana's 'Europa.'" The sensuous "Europa" has long been one of my favorite jazz tenor sax tunes and is emblematic of Barbieri's rich and smoky style. -- CaptRuss
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Reader Comments (19)
Thanks Capt. Russ for the post about the errant bull in Queens who was rescued by Jon and Tracey Stewart and sent to their Bufflehead Farm animal sanctuary! I am a member of the Farm Sanctuary movement and encourage interested others to join as well. It is small, but effective--one rescue at a time. I "adopted" Rhonda, a lovely turkey (about to be slaughtered), at Thanksgiving, since I am one of those veggie types. She is doing splendidly, and told me to let all of you know that she reads Reality Chex every day, which confirms her faith in human beans!
Interesting discussions on "The War on Drugs" at the moment. The UN's special session on drugs has been brought forward two years, to this month, at the request of countries most affected by drug related violence. The "War" is increasingly regarded as a failure and responsible for more misery and death than drugs themselves: "By any yardstick, the 1961 convention (on narcotic drugs) has been a spectacular failure, one that has had devastating consequences for those caught in the crosshairs of the war on drugs – a war, critics say, that is of the UN’s making". A redirection of these futile efforts would surely result in making the world a safer, richer, healthier place.
Things are going much better today. The only screw-up was mine. I was removing some superfluous code & I got carried away. But I fixed it.
Marie
I have been reading about Richard Nixon of late since my fascination with the man and with his foreign policy never quite ends and this obviously is true for the authors of four more books on Nixon. The fact that there are still hundreds of tapes and documents yet to be released I expect more books will surface. The reason I bring up Nixon at this time is that for many he and Kissinger are known for their sly and expert hands at dealing with foreign entities. Yet on many occasions they failed badly. For instance: negotiations during a secret meeting in Paris with the North Vietnamese had no visible effect on Hanoi's behavior; Nixon and Kissinger could not get a helpful reaction from the Russians or the Chinese either. There are more examples of failed interventions which as we know resulted in horrific results. So––I'm linking these failures to Trump's bombastic boasts that he––and he alone––can talk to our allies and enemies and TELL them what he wants done and by god, they will DO it. Here's what Dobrynin said about Nixon after he met with him during a meeting at the White House in which "the toughest guy (Nixon) in the W.H. since T.R. prepared for a showdown..."
"he lacked emotional self control"..."the fate of his predecessor LBJ is beginning to really worry him. Apparently this is taking on such an emotional coloration that Nixon us unable to control himself even in a conversation with a foreign ambassador."
Carl Bernstein wrote in a review of one of these new books on Nixon "Vietnam and Watergate are inextricably linked in the Nixon presidency. They are an intertwined tale––one story––of sordid abuse of presidential power, vengeance, cynicism, and lawlessness."
If deceit and disregard for the law were the common threads running through the Nixon presidency and I would add the Bush presidency ––both involved us in endless wars–– can we imagine where a Trump presidency would take us?
Rachel brought this to our attention on Friday but haven't heard much about it until I found this:
The disbarred attorney, M.R. Sibley says he has records from "D.C. Madam" escort service that could change 2016 elections. It appears that some of the phone numbers belong to Cruz:
http://gawker.com/disbarred-birther-attorney-says-he-has-records-from-dc-1767915692
Here's another story about it. When I first heard about this I thought I would bet the farm on it not being Bernie, even thought it might not be Cruz––somehow can't picture him sneaking off for a dalliance with one or two of the ladies of the night–––yet––unless this is all bonkers, his phone number seems to be on the list.
https://themarshallreport.wordpress.com/2016/04/01/cruz-why-is-your-number-on-the-list-of-d-c-madam/
@PD Pepe: Huh? What's Bernie Sanders' phone number? Where is it on the list? I don't know who runs "the Marshall report," but do you consider it a bona fide news source?
Marie
I guess politics is everything. This morning I read a story on houzz.com, a site that covers home remodeling & decorating. The story was about growing an attractive front-yard vegie garden. Seemed straightforward enough to me, but some nut wrote a comment connecting the gardening story (and she did make the connection) to a long diatribe against the government & Agenda 21.
Guess I'd better not plant that garden, or "the government" will come & take me away.
Marie
@Marie: no, don't consider "the Marshall report" a bona fide news source, but at first was the only source that had this story. I didn't say Sander's phone number was on the list––what I meant was when Rachel reported the story––she had no phone numbers, only that when they came out it could change the election in a significant way I was trying to figure out which candidate, if any, would be caught with his pants down and I figured it certainly wouldn't be Bernie–-in fact, I'd bet not only the farm but the whole stock in trade that it wouldn't be Bernie.
@PD: Beware. Of. Those. Pesky. Run-on. Sentences! :)
In the Pierce piece linked by Unwashed, above, Wisconsin Gov Walker says among other things, about voter ID in Wisconsin, "If you're a veteran, you can use your veteran's card."
There is no such thing as a veteran's card.
There might be one in 2017 because a U.S. congressperson passed a bill that basically says "we'll try to do that." Even if there were such a thing, states' voter ID laws would not necessarily honor them. The idea of the card is that vets could use it to get vets' discounts, e.g. when they buy that red Corvette.
Best part of the Vet ID bill: the vet will probably have to pay a fee to get one.
Gov. Walker continues to use his lower face-hole to create wordlike sounds, but not facts.
@PD Pepe: Thanks. I couldn't figure out what the antecedent to "his" was in "his phone number seems to be on the list." I guess you meant Cruz.
Marie
@Patrick - Although I dislike backing up Walker, there are Veterans Cards. I have two. One is the standard Department of Veterans Affairs card, which is a picture ID with a bar code and a magnetic strip. The other is a Veterans Choice Card, which is a temporary card issued last year after the brouhaha about long waiting lists a VA facilities.
Chernobyl?
Fukushima?
Nope: Indian Point! -
". . . located in the sixth most densely populated urban area in the world, the New York metropolitan region, just 30 miles north of Manhattan Island and . . . sits astride two seismic faults . . . ".
"A Fukushima on the Hudson? The Growing Dangers of Indian Point"
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35462-a-fukushima-on-the-hudson-the-growing-dangers-of-indian-point
Article from the Huff Post about Wasserman-Schultz and the super delegates. Ugh. Great picture, though.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-winship/a-bird-a-plane-no-its-sup_b_9588656.html
Keep trying to figure out who Trump's friends are. Came upon a clue in an old WaPo article. " richest man in NYC " Ron Perelman for one!
"...back in his Upper East Side Georgian town house, away from the political stiffs, Perelman, 55, prefers to talk about the important stuff with his fellow plutocrats." (article dates from 1998, Perelman who is now about 73 & currently on wife #5).
The 'important stuff' by percentages, according to DT would be: "We spend 95 percent of our time talking women and 5 percent talking deals," Donald Trump noted of Perelman in his recent book, "The Art of the Comeback."
Yeh! That sums it up.
Greetings, MAG.
A parenthetical to your post:
Ellen Barkin was married to Piggy Perelman (I believe [?] she divorced him). She was previously married to Gabriel Byrne, with whom she remains friends (he's the father of their children).
Still buddies with Perelman?
Not.
CaptRuss - I suspect what you have are VA Health cards. As far as I can tell, there are no ID cards for vets who are not in the VA health system. I don't know whether those health cards are honored for voting; there are many vets who are in the VA health system who are not US citizens.
The stories of international money laundering and corruption percolate just under the surface from time to time, but rarely seem to have enough force or surface area to penetrate the thick, golden crust of protection these people amass around themselves. Money (probably trillions), power and violence pour like oil over turbulent waters, and kill everything beneath. Today, stories appear in several news sites, WaPo, BBC, and HuffPo, with names named, special shout out to the Kochs, so I thought RC might be interested. I've believed for more than a decade that our problem isn't that we are too globalised, but that we are not globalised enough. We need international laws and enforcement to tackle these serious threats to peace, rule of law and democracy around the world. Not to seem too dramatic about it!