Monday
Dec282015
The Commentariat -- Dec. 29, 2015
Internal links removed.
Be sure to read today's Comments section. It's 5 am here, & the comments already are packed with wisdom (as they are most days). BTW, I may lose power today, so if Reality Chex looks stunted, it's only because I'm sitting in the dark. -- Marie
Paul Krugman: "Obama the Job Killer":
Walter Mondale, in a New York Times op-ed: "American diplomats have made remarkable progress across a number of fronts, from climate change to checking Iran's nuclear ambitions. Such success depends on making common cause with our allies, an effort led by America's ambassadors. And yet, thanks to Senate politics, dozens of ambassadorial nominations have been delayed unnecessarily.... When it comes to security, an ambassador acts as a sort of general, coordinating diplomatic and intelligence activities. Without someone in that post, lapses are likely.... Despite the vital national interest in working with Norway and Sweden, the Senate has failed to take a vote on nominees for the ambassadorships to either country, nominees who were unanimously approved by the Foreign Relations Committee this summer.... This is an unconscionable abuse of senatorial power...." Oh, and Marco Rubio is an idiot (paraphrase). CW: Mondale is, of course, a former senator, former vice president, & former ambassador to Japan & respected expert on international relations. No one is better qualified to speak out on this issue.
Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "The F.A.A. said it was in charge of anything in the air. The agency took the position as part of an introduction of new recreational drone rules, which included requiring users to register in a national database starting this month. The F.A.A.'s new stance sets up potential clashes across the country. Local and state lawmakers, concerned about the safety and privacy risks that drones pose, have been passing rules about the machines at a rapid pace."
"Democracy" for the Few. Digby, in Salon, on the many ways Republicans are trying -- as they long have done -- to suppress the minority vote. ...
... THESE People Think That's a Right Good Idea. Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed: The success of Donald Trump's candidacy has encouraged a disparate group of white nationalists who call themselves the "alt right," an alternative to conservative (or "cuckservative," in their incarnation) policies. They're kind of confused about what their movement represents: secession, bashing Jews & other minorities, or just making what they think are clever or ironical derogatory comments on Websites they populate. While they claim not to be white supremacists (they say they don't care that Trump has a Jewish daughter), immediately after Gray interviewed a prominent alt right guy for this piece, "... a stream of anti-Semitic tweets came my way, without a word of this story having yet been written or published." CW: As far as I can tell, the main difference between the alt right & the Klan is that the alt right (a) doesn't have outfits, & (b) is less sociable, working mostly out of the isolated anonymity of their basements.
Ed Pilkington of the Guardian (Dec. 26): "Lawyers representing Guantánamo Bay detainees who have been held at the camp in Cuba for up to 14 years without charge or trial have accused President Obama of stalling on his promise to close the military prison."
David Sanger & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "A Russian ship left Iran on Monday carrying almost all of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium, fulfilling a major step in the nuclear deal struck last summer and, for the first time in nearly a decade, apparently leaving Iran with too little fuel to manufacture a nuclear weapon. The shipment was announced by Secretary of State John Kerry and confirmed by a spokesman for Russia's civilian nuclear company, Rosatom. Mr. Kerry called it 'one of the most significant steps Iran has taken toward fulfilling its commitment' and American officials say that it may now be only weeks before the deal reached in July will go into effect."
New York Times Editors: "... the [qualified] victory [of Iraqi forces in Ramadi] is the clearest sign yet that the Islamic State, after laying claim to huge parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, is losing momentum and in retreat.... It is estimated that the group's control of Iraqi territory has shrunk by 40 percent since last year.... Iraq's leaders will need a political and military strategy for holding Ramadi permanently before they can move on to retake Mosul."
Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times: "Tashfeen Malik apparently claimed she was pregnant when she was interviewed by a visa officer after she had applied for permanent U.S. residence in the fall of 2014.... It appears that Malik, who was born in Pakistan, became pregnant shortly after she arrived in the U.S. on July 27, 2014, on a K-1 fiancee visa. The couple had previously married in Saudi Arabia, and then obtained a marriage license from Riverside County on Aug. 16, 2014.... Malik's pregnancy may have been noted as evidence to show her marriage was legitimate."
Jim Fallows: President "Obama doesn't watch TV news. Good."
Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "President Barack Obama will host Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in March, the White House announced Monday. Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will hold a state dinner with Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, on March 10."
Beyond the Beltway
Cory Shaffer of Cleveland.com: "A Cuyahoga County grand jury on Monday elected not to bring criminal charges against the two Cleveland police officers involved in last year's fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. The decision not to indict officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback brings to an end a months-long criminal investigation into the high-profile shooting. Monday's decision comes more than 13 months after the shooting, which catapulted Cleveland into the national debate about police use of force." ...
... Leilla Atassi of Cleveland.com: "On the heels of a grand jury's decision Monday not to indict the Cleveland police officers involved in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, [Cleveland] Mayor Frank Jackson pledged a thorough administrative review of the events surrounding the shooting last November." ...
Tamir Rice's death was a heartbreaking tragedy and I understand how this decision will leave many people asking themselves if justice was served. We all lose, however, if we give in to anger and frustration and let it divide us. -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich, in a statement
... Sara Dorn of Cleveland.com: "Supporters of the 12-year-old boy shot to death by a Cleveland police officer gathered at the site of the shooting Monday afternoon after Cuyahoga County prosecutors announced the officers involved will not face criminal charges." ...
... The New York Times story, by Mitch Smith, is here. ...
... ** Leon Neyfakh of Slate: "The [grand jury's] decision was influenced by [prosecutor Timothy] McGinty's belief -- presented to the grand jury as a formal recommendation -- that there was no probable cause to conclude that [Tamir] Rice's shooting had been a crime, as well as by testimony from witnesses and experts who appeared before the jurors in closed-door hearings.... The central concept in the case ... is known in law enforcement circles as 'officer-created jeopardy': situations in which police officers are responsible for needlessly putting themselves in danger, committing an unforced tactical error that makes them vulnerable -- and then using deadly force to protect themselves.... Questions arise because of a 1989 Supreme Court ruling in Graham v. Connor, which established the constitutional test by which all use of force cases involving the police must be evaluated in court." ...
... Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "Strip away the rhetoric, and McGinty has made a clear statement about police conduct: If police perceive a threat to their lives then they've de facto justified their actions regardless of context, even if it ends with taking the life of a child. That includes situations like the Rice shooting, where police chose to create a confrontation, rather than manage an encounter.... What we see with Tamir Rice -- and what we've seen in shootings across the country -- is what happens when the officer's safety supercedes the obligation to accept risk."
Danica Coto of the AP: "A Puerto Rico policeman fatally shot two high-ranking officers and a policewoman on Monday following an argument and hostage taking at work that temporarily shut down the station in the U.S. territory's second largest city, authorities said. The suspect was immediately placed under arrest. The suspect, Guarionex Candelario Rivera, held a female lieutenant, a male commander and a policewoman hostage in an office before he killed them, police spokeswoman Mayra Ayala told The Associated Press. She said authorities were about to start negotiations with the 50-year-old suspect when the victims were killed."
Natasha Korecki of Politico: "In the midst of a police crisis that has drawn national scrutiny and calls for his resignation, [Chicago] Mayor Rahm Emanuel is returning early from a Cuban vacation that was to span about 16 days, his office confirmed Monday." CW: Perhaps worth noting: it's illegal for U.S. citizens to vacation in Cuba; Rahm took his whole family on the unlawful jaunt.
** Chico Harlan of the Washington Post: "In the metropolitan areas of the Deep South, government policies and rising real estate prices have pushed the poor out of urban centers and farther from jobs. Low-income people have, in turn, grown more reliant on public transit networks that are among the weakest of quality in the country. When they search for work, they step into a region where pay tends to be low and unemployment tends to be high.... The safety net has expanded for those who can hold down jobs, but it has shrunk for those who cannot." ...
... Joe Mozingo of the Los Angeles Times: "With the lowest median income of any city its size in the state, San Bernardino has become one of the cheapest places to live in urban Southern California. That has given immigrant families ... an affordable place they hope will launch their children into America's middle class. The terror attack this month drew the president and throngs of national media to a city well known for its failings. Some residents took that tragedy as a cue to remind one another on social media that run-of-the-mill shootings and robberies continue at an alarming rate."
Our Ignorant, Violent Bigots. Peter Holley of the Washington Post: "White Americans continue to attack American Sikhs, often because the white ignoramuses think the Sikhs are Muslims. "'Over the last few weeks, the level of intimidation is worse than it was after Sept. 11th,' Harsimran Kaur, the Sikh Coalition's legal director, told The Post. 'Then, people were angry at the terrorists and now they're angry at Muslims, anyone who is seen as Muslim, or anyone who is perceived as being "other."'"
Stephanie Clifford of the New York Times: "... two private bankers who worked at a Bedford-Stuyvesant branch of JPMorgan Chase, Jonathan Francis and Dion Allison..., and their accomplices withdrew about $400,000 from the accounts [of elderly or dead bank clients] over two years, according to [a New York state] indictment.... JPMorgan Chase has already faced accusations of fraud among staff members this year. In April, an investment adviser, Michael Oppenheim, was charged in Federal District Court in Manhattan with stealing $20 million from seven of the bank's clients. Also in April, another employee, Peter Persaud, who worked at a Chase branch in Brooklyn, was accused of selling customer data ... to an informant and an undercover officer."
Evan Perez of CNN: "Mexican authorities have detained so-called 'affluenza' teen Ethan Couch and his mother near the popular Mexican Pacific beach resort town of Puerto Vallarta, officials briefed on the matter told CNN. Couch, 18, went missing earlier this month, two years after he made national news when he was sentenced to probation for a drunken driving crash that killed four people.... The case ... drew widespread attention after a psychologist testified that Couch, who was 16 at the time, suffered from 'affluenza,' describing him as a rich kid whose parents didn't set limits for him."
Presidential Race
Being called wacko by a pathological liar like Mr. Trump makes me think he is getting nervous that the American people are catching on to his pathetic policies, which include giving hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to billionaires like himself while refusing to raise the $7.25 an hour minimum wage. -- Bernie Sanders, in a statement ...
... Jana Kasperkevic & Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "Donald Trump ... has changed his mind about wages: Americans aren't earning enough.... 'Wages in are [sic] country are too low, good jobs are too few, and people have lost faith in our leaders. We need smart and strong leadership now!' Trump tweeted on Monday. The opinion appeared to reverse what [Trump] ... said in November during the fourth Republican debate.... '[T]axes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave [the minimum wage] the way it is,' Trump said at the time.... [Sen. Bernie] Sanders ... [said] on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday, 'This is a guy who does not want to raise minimum wage,' he said of Trump. 'In fact, he has said that wages in America are too high.' Trump lashed back at Sanders, tweeting: '[Bernie Sanders] -- who blew his campaign when he gave Hillary a pass on her e-mail crime, said that I feel wages in America are too high. Lie!'" ...
... CW: It would appear that the guy who claims to have "the world's greatest memory" is suffering from senile dementia. Some may call his charge that Sanders lied to be clever obfuscation. I call it demented. ...
... Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump unleashed a torrent of criticism at the publisher of an influential New Hampshire newspaper on Monday and at the paper's preferred candidate, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. The double-barreled attack came after the publisher, Joseph W. McQuaid of The Union Leader, wrote an editorial comparing Mr. Trump to 'Biff,' the egomaniacal entrepreneur in the 'Back to the Future' movies. Mr. Trump responded by giving an interview to WMUR, a local television station with a deep rivalry with The Union Leader, in which he called Mr. McQuaid 'a real lowlife' who had repeatedly asked him for personal favors." ...
... CW: You'll have to read Haberman's full post to get the gist of Trump's tirade. It would be difficult to write a daily feature called "Who Did Trump Insult Today?" because he insults so many people every day. He's a real sicko. ...
... Katherine Krueger of TPM: "After months of free buzz around his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump is planning a substantial television advertising blitz that could cost upwards of $2 million a week ahead of the Iowa caucuses, according to a Fox News report."
Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: Rick Santorum wants you to know that it wasn't Donald Trump who has been featured in ISIS anti-American propaganda; it was he, "Catholic crusader and American politician" Rick Santorum. Kaczynski provides the proof.
Josh Barro of the New York Times explains Ted Cruz's "simple, radical tax plan," which consists primarily of a 10 percent flat tax & a 16 percent value-added tax (VAT). CW: Barro discusses the inflationary effect of the plan & how the Fed would likely try to control it, but he doesn't mention how Ted's retro plan to return to the gold standard (no, I'm not kidding) might constrain the Fed's ability to react to Ted's radical plan. Maybe Barro, like Wall Street, thinks Ted is kidding about the gold standard.
... CW: Nor does Barro, who is a conservative, note, as James Kwak does, that "60% of the tax cut goes to the top 1%.... The only policies we have that limit the transmission of wealth from generation to generation are the estate tax and taxes on investment income. Eliminating one and slashing the other, as Ted Cruz proposes, is the single biggest step we can take toward becoming an aristocracy of inherited wealth."
Jim Newell of Slate has a kind of funny post titled "Ben Carson needs to get over himself." It's accompanied by a funny video of Ben Carson closing his eyes.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Daniela Deane of the Washington Post: "Belgian police arrested two people over the weekend suspected of planning a New Year's Eve attack on 'symbolic places' in Brussels, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.... Islamic State propaganda, military-type clothing and computer material was also seized in the raids [in several cities], prosecutors announced, but no weapons or explosives."
Angus Hervey of Medium finds "11 reasons why 2015 was a great year for humanity."
News Ledes
Weather Channel: "... floods have already been responsible for at least 17 deaths in the Plains and Midwest. In Missouri, Gov. Jay Nixon activated the National Guard to support emergency personnel and protect communities affected by the floods."
AP: "Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert is to go to prison in February for his role in a bribery scandal after the country's supreme court reduced his sentence from six years to 18 months. The court partially accepted his appeal and cleared the ex-premier of the main bribery charge but upheld part of his conviction for taking a lesser bribe."
NBC News: "Country singer Craig Strickland has been declared missing following a duck-hunting trip in stormy conditions with a friend who turned up dead. Officials began searching for Strickland -- lead singer of country-rock group Backroad Anthem -- and his 22-year-old friend Chase Morland on Sunday after they failed to return from duck-hunting on Kaw Lake, according to NBC affiliate KFOR. Morland's body was found in the lake on Monday, according to a statement from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol."
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Reader Comments (18)
Sooooo...
Cops who killed (sorry, murdered) a 12 year old kid in Cleveland for the crime of carrying a toy while black get off scot free and get to go back to killing more children, if, in their opinion, they need killing.
Two seconds. That's all it took for them to shoot 12 year old Tamir Rice. Not long enough to take a deep breath.
The police cruiser hadn't even come to a complete stop before they shot this kid. But there's no blame here???????
What.The.Fuck.
These guys couldn't have taken two more seconds to ascertain the situation? To talk to the kid?
Don't worry, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity will have two hour specials talking about how cops have to shoot anyone they fear. Anything else would be un-Confederate. Confederate media will send joyous hosannas into the starry firmament that one more "thug" is dead, no matter the age or whether or not it was justified. Black Lives Don't Matter.
Does anyone--anyone--seriously doubt that had this kid been white, even in a bad part of town, he'd still be alive?
Black child with a toy? Kill him. No worries.
Please read that Kiese Laymon piece mentioned yesterday. This shit stinks to high heaven.
Marie, my frustration with the Adolf story just keeps growing. Not dementia. Delusion. What he said yesterday is irrelevant. Whatever he said today is the fact. The fact that today's fact is different means nothing. Whatever he said is the fact.
I understand how difficult it is to comprehend a mind like Trump. Someone who has no problem changing the 'fact' daily in front of millions. When is the world going to get it?
When is the world going to get it? Good question!
After nearly 50 years, I finally got around to viewing “A Clockwork Orange.” Brutal, almost gave up, but watched it through to the end. Afterwards searched reviews for explanations to try to understand its meaning, and came across a 2012 New Yorker article by author Anthony Burgess.
Burgess wrote: “It is significant that the nightmare books of our age have not been about new Draculas and Frankensteins but about what may be termed dystopias—inverted utopias, in which an imagined megalithic government brings human life to an exquisite pitch of misery. Sinclair Lewis, in “It Can’t Happen Here”—a novel curiously neglected—presents an America that becomes fascist, and the quality of the fascism is as American as apple pie.”
Published in 1935 during the rise of fascism in Europe, the Lewis novel describes the rise of Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, a populist United States Senator who is elected to the presidency after promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and traditional values. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can't_Happen_Here )
Example: the message behind the slogan "Make America Great Again" Yeah!
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/04/the-clockwork-condition
Truly prescient, when one considers today’s “Buzz” Windrips in the running!
..."It would be difficult to write a daily feature called "Who Did Trump Insult Today?" because he insults so many people every day. He's a real sicko...."
Yes, he most certainly is! I have gotten off so far by calling The Donald a psychopathic narcissist--which is pretty damn crazy. But my husband (a retired psychiatrist) has convinced me that it goes further. This crazoid is also paranoid and delusional. Truly. The paranoid existential stance (according to Eric Berne: "Games People Play") is I'm OK; You're NOT OK. Trump demonstrates this--consistently. Which is what delusional people do.
Why working class, uneducated Americans support Trump, I will try to explain in non-psychological terms. (This is from Family Systems Theory, Murray Bowen, M.D., Georgetown University--with whom my husband and I studied in the late 60s.)
First of all, the theory is built around toxic effects of chronic anxiety. And the sometimes crazy acting out of acute anxiety. This is not only in families--but in entire societies. (Hitler and his persecution of the Jews fits in here, as do other horrible acts against humanity through the ages.) Bernie Sanders has got it right that working class Americans suffer from intense chronic anxiety (not his words) about their inability to thrive, and their unfair treatment in our society--which is ruled by the 1% (or upper income people, in general). They feel hopeless, angry and want to lash out. People who live with hopelessness and chronic anxiety feel victimized, but do not lash out at those responsible, because they cannot. They need a scapegoat! In other words, chronic anxiety requires a scapegoat to blame and to siphon off negative feelings. Therefore, Trump has a ready made audience: Mexicans are raping our women and stealing our jobs! Muslims are murdering our people. Democrats are making excuses, rather than punishing our criminals. Politicians are corrupt and stupid.
One must take as a given that these forsaken people are more interested in ridding themselves of anger and angst than in finding truth. Donald Trump plays into this by engaging their negative emotions and presenting himself as a "savior." He is not "bought off" like the rest of the pols. He could be sitting poolside in one of his casinos, but he chooses to "champion the underdog." And Make America Great Again! Not really, of course, but these folks do not do their homework. They are not rational or using critical thinking. Their support for this psychopath is 100% emotional--just like fundamentalists who support their lying, cheating preachers, give them what little money they have, and believe what they hear from them.
I am getting really worked up writing this, and do not think I have anything else to add. I have obviously oversimplified the data, but not because I lack respect for all of you. By writing this, I am re-remembering it myself.
AMEN.
P.S. I wish Bernie Sanders knew Family Systems Theory and could find a way to use it to explain his premise--rather than constantly reiterating his economic meme! I think there is a way to help people to understand this in a useful manner. It is definitely NOT rocket science.
@MAG: Thanks for the link to Burgess's piece. To anyone who can't get to the library because the weather outside is frightful (as it is where I am), Australia's Project Gutenberg has It Can't Happen Here in very readable format here.
Marie
Kate Madison, excellent post. So when is the media finally going to do its job and tell the truth. Trump is seriously mentally ill and an enormous danger to America and the world (with the exception of Russia).
Here we have Ed Pilkington's piece (linked above) with a headline that suggests it's Obama's fault that Guantanamo has not been closed. Within article it is stated that we really don't know exactly why the stalling––could be Congress, could be the Pentagon, could be Obama and if the latter why would that be since he has stated emphatically that he wants it closed. Then hop over to article in Reuters (top side bar) whose headline ––Pentagon thwarts Obama's push for closing Guantanamo. Having read both of these journalistic gems (one not so glimmering) it looks to me the Pentagon has done put its jackboot on the passage of G's prison mates. The reasons remain murky, but it's a story that needs to be dug into. It's also a story that needs rewording of certain headlines.
@Kate: thanks for your insights. Some time ago I wrote about that scapegoat business which plays such a major role in this Trumpy triumph and how he has emerged as the "savior" except in his case he could be categorized more as a Pied Piper that is taking his followers into that dark forest or over the cliff. And after watching this man once again rank on another critic, perhaps if we could persuade someone or quite a few persons of high esteem (in Trump's eyes only) finally quit him–-finally say, enough is enough, the man is demented––would that do it? If that would happen I envision the Donald dissolving in a puddle just like the Wicked Witch, screaming, "You're all losers–-––you're all... Silence.
@PD Pepe: Thanks for making the connection between the Guardian & Reuters stories. Of course, the biggest impediment to closing Guantanamo has been the Republican Congress, which is somehow skeert of putting the actual badasses in mainland maximum security prisons.
Marie
Kate's recognition that Trump's appeal is entirely emotional rings true. I mean, what else could it be? His foreign policy acumen? His adroit command of domestic problems and serious proposals to address same? His aplomb and composure under pressure? A clear-cut political philosophy with a well thought out, balanced plan for all Americans?
Certainly not.
If there doesn't seem to be some kind of underlying rhyme or reason to Trump's widespread derision it's because there isn't one. Why do sullen, low information dead-enders love Trump so much? He acts just like they do. These are the guys who sit in bars and complain about every fucking thing. Women, gays, liberals, Obama, Muslims, their jobs (if they work), all those forces arrayed against them, out to personally fuck up their lives. They see a story on the TV about Black Lives Matter, and it's "Fuckin' jungle bunnies, we give them everything and they still complain. Send 'em all back to Africa." They see a story about women: "Bitches. All of 'em. Just like my ex-wife." One about immigration: "Goddam wetbacks, comin' here, takin' our jobs, gettin' free food, free education, free healthcare, nice places to live, and we foot the bill for these assholes. Fuckin' criminals."
It doesn't matter what the story is, they're against it. They ride a never ending tide of emotional upheaval and Trump's shotgun-insult approach makes them feel completely comfortable with him. He's one of them. It doesn't matter that he's a rich, egotistical fat cat who wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire. He hates all the right things and insults all the right people. And the list is pretty long.
And the best thing about an appeal to emotion is its surefire way to cover up any inconsistencies in policy pronouncements (such as they are) and allows Trump to blissfully elide any pesky details. He's saying the right things (Build a wall, send 'em all back to Mexico...) so who cares how he plans to do it or even if it can't be done. It can't but to them, it will be "...fuckin' liberals screwed Trump". It's perfect for him. And them. For once, someone is saying exactly the sorts of things they tell each other while tossing back shots and beers, so they don't care if none of it is possible or even true.
They don't even care if he gets caught in a lie, something that happens almost daily. They chalk it up to the treacherous media and Trump's opponents who all hate him (and, by extension, them).
Trump may indeed be an unstable whack job, but if he's not mentally and emotionally impaired, his supercharged injection of hatred and chaos into America's public discourse and his reliance on appeals to the worst in human nature ranks him as one of the most vile, despicable and cynical political schemers in modern US history.
Scan the headlines on Google news sites and you'll come across one after another pleas (demands, really) for calm and restraint to be exercised by anyone distressed by the murderers of Tamir Rice being allowed to walk.
Why are there never calls for restraint on the part of police? Why do they get to shoot anyone they want then claim they were scared and walk away? The Supremes say cops can't be challenged. Under that scenario, all manner of poorly trained, incompetent cowboys can operate with carte blanche and never have to pick up the check.
But don't worry, these calls for peace and calm and "understanding" are the same sort of boiler plate demands for everyone to STFU we hear after a mass shooting. Everyone remain calm. Nothing to see here, everyone go home. And don't cause a fuss. Or else.
Good info, Kate. To your comments about family systems theory including "entire societies" I would add the word "clan". Trump and his authority loving supporters as well as their police who shoot 12 year olds with 2 seconds of "consideration" are all about their obvious clan affiliation. Skin color. Neighborhood. Cleveland prosecutor McGinty acts with the fiat one would expect from a clan/klan-loving Trump supporter.
I appreciate your reference to Eric Berne; the Trump/McGinty supporters have an expectation for a "transaction" of us vs. them for almost all their public/political interactions. Because those supporters have the attention span less than the average tv commercial their ability/interest to adjust their opinions is and will remain negligible. They are the same 25% of people who still supported Cheney/Bush after 8 years.
One of my friends long in the labor movement has said many American workers suffer from a clear case of "battered wives syndrome." They know they are abused but just can't summon the moxie or see a way to get themselves out of the destructive relationship they know or at least sense they are in. And with the decline of unions, they feel ever more powerless, isolated and alone.
It's an interesting analogy, related I think to Kate's and the other fine comments above.
The typical American workers has certainly been abused over the last forty years, so it is no wonder that he or she shows symptoms of the battered.
From The Free Medical Dictionary: "A personality profile obtained by psychological testing reveals the typical battered woman to be reserved, withdrawn, depressed, and anxious, with low self-esteem, a poorly integrated self-image, and a general inability to cope with life's demands. Victims of the battered woman syndrome are often afraid to leave the man and the situation; change, loneliness, and the unknown are perceived as more painful than the beatings."
And, of course, the longer they stay in the relationship the worse it gets.
But we also know those abused can lash out when they have finally had enough or are given permission to do so. Meekness sometimes understandably arms itself with a knife or a gun. That is why the battered wives syndrome has been used successfully to defend women who have killed their husbands even when they are not at the moment being physically attacked.
All these battered workers provide fertile soil for the Right to farm.
The Right taps into great stores of anger and angst for its political success. "Victimhood" of all stripes, real and imagined, is the source of that general anger and angst, and the mass of American workers are no doubt victims.
Looked at that way, the Right's political success depends on deliberately creating victims, tapping into those victims' anger and discontent, and directing that anger towards everything but its real source, the Right's economic policies which are designed to limit the distribution of resources to the few and to breed and maintain a large supply of powerless, cheap labor.
So the Right directs the anger at Muslims, Blacks, Mexicans, the government and Planned Parenthood. And it gives everyone guns.
Eisenhower once said, "Anger cannot win; it cannot even think."
I would modify that wisdom slightly. Anger can't win, but in politics keeping people angry is a winning strategy. That's why the Right likes to keep as many as possible angry all the time.
The Right doesn't want us thinking, and though their talents are obviously limited, they are frighteningly good at what they do.
The existence of something called Alt Right is a testament to the success of the Republican Party's policy of hatred and bigotry employed as a political tool, their secret ingredient, if you will, to the noxious Kool-Aid they've been brewing since Nixon darkened the White House linens. The fact that extremist nutjobs like Cruz and Rubio and Carson and Gohmert and King, et al, aren't far right enough for the monsters Republicans have coaxed out of their holes in the ground should make all decent Americans blanch at the results of Confederate perfidy and hate mongering.
These people have a lot to answer for.
Ken's comment:
What he said...
One more thing about the Tamir Rice murder.
Charlie Pierce reminds us that Ohio is a open carry state.
Hmmm.....doesn't that mean that anyone can walk around with a Glock dangling from each trigger finger and a couple more in the waistband (just in case) and not be molested or even challenged? How often have we read about gun fondlers walking around parks and recreation areas full of children or strutting into family restaurants waving semi-automatic rifles over their heads daring anyone to say boo? Oh wait. I should have pointed out that those guys were white.
Never mind.
I guess the cops who murdered Tamir Rice just weren't aware that Ohio is another NRA success story, a GSR paradise where everyone is invited to walk around like Wyatt Earp at the OK Corral, ready to mow down all those bad guys.
Unless you're black. The math for that eventuality is much different: Black+gun=dead.
You'll all recall that at one time Republicans (Ronald Reagan!) were big supporters of gun control. That was when Black Panthers had weapons, and no way wingers were going to allow them to walk around like that, carrying guns in public, unchallenged and unmolested, scaring the bejesus outta all those nice white folks.
So they'd arrest them. Now they just shoot them. And all those nice white folks get to carry guns in public unchallenged and unmolested.
That's whatchacall pro-gress, ain't it?
And speaking of racial bias...
(I know I'm monopolizing things....I'll desist after this.)
I'm sure you've all heard the outraged disclaimers from Confederates when confronted with the racial animosity they've stirred up. Why, they're no more racist than your aunt Minnie, they say. Sure.
Then it must be their consultants who are the racist swine.
The WaPo reports on a new study appearing in the journal, Public Opinion Quarterly (here's that study) that points out some of the many ways Republicans employ race and racial bias in order to scare the electorate and win elections (SCARY BLACK GUY AHEAD......Oooooooooo).
The report examines pictures of ads from the McCain/Palin campaign that digitally darkened President Obama's features in an attempt to tap into a perceived increase in white bias determined by the darkness of skin tones.
But don't worry. They don't have a racist bone in their body.
And I'm Emperor of the Universe.
Oh, and don't miss the Post's attempt to help out their Republican buddies. They get points for printing the story, but even more taken away for their attempt to minimize this disgusting trend with the headline: "Obama’s skin looks a little different in these GOP campaign ads".
A little? He looks like a different guy. He looks like he was shoved into an oven and roasted. I guess it's a case of the small print giveth and large print taketh away.
In the Rosie Gray Buzzfeed piece, one of the subjects referred to the (movement? whatever) as "alt righters."
That sounds like a cross-lingual pun on the German "alte kampfers", the original Brownshirt SA thugs of the Nazis, meaning "old fighters."
Alt righters, old fighters, alles scheit nein?
Speaking of crowd psychology and what motivates it, this article in the Times called "The Unstoppable Virality of Trump" raises some interesting points in the context of social media presence. It contends that, "2015 was the Year of Trump because he is the perfect candidate for our viral age. His success tells us a lot about the nature of what goes viral and how it reflects our beliefs and our fears."