Thursday
Jan142016
The Commentariat -- January 15, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register: "Donald Trump has rented space at an Urbandale movie theater and will give Iowans free tickets to a showing of the Benghazi movie that critics of Hillary Clinton have been eagerly awaiting.... The movie depicts the terrorist raid on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012. It reportedly makes no mention of Clinton, then the U.S. Secretary of State, but has again raised the topic of the Democratic presidential candidate’s role in the tragedy...." ...
... Adam Goldman & Greg Miller of the Washington Post: The former CIA chief in Benghazi says a pivotal scene in the movie "13 Hours" is fictional: there was never a "stand-down order."
Birtherism 2.0. Laurel Calkins & Kevin Cirilli of Bloomberg: "Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz should be disqualified from the race because he isn't a 'natural-born citizen,' a fellow Texan claims in a 'birther' challenge filed against the senator in a U.S. court. The suit seeks a court definition of the term to clarify whether Cruz -- who was born in Canada to an American mother -- can or can't serve if elected. 'This 229-year question has never been pled, presented to or finally decided by or resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court,' Houston attorney Newton B. Schwartz Sr. said in his 28-page complaint. 'Only the U.S. Supreme Court can finally decide, determine judicially and settle this issue now.'... Schwartz, 85, said in a phone interview he isn't connected to any particular campaign, though he personally 'probably' supports Bernie Sanders...."
Adios, Arbusto! Anna Palmer & Ben White of Politico: "Politico talked to nearly two dozen major donors [to Jeb!'s campaign], and most say they are waiting for what one veteran Republican and former Bush 43 administration appointee described as the 'family hall pass' to jump to another campaign after the New Hampshire primary." ...
... AND Just in the Nick of Time. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Sen. Lindsey Graham on Friday endorsed Jeb Bush for president, a major get for the former Florida governor who has struggled to gain traction in the contest."
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The harshest and most antagonistic phase of the Republican presidential race began in earnest on Friday as the candidates departed the debate hall for the campaign trail, leaving behind any pretense of good will that might have remained.... Mr. Trump, appearing on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,' accused Mr. Cruz of being 'inappropriate' in raising questions about whether Mr. Trump's mother's citizenship status -- she was born in Scotland -- disqualifies him from running for president. And Mr. Trump said the Texas senator's remark about his 'New York values,' a dig at the real estate mogul's perceived liberal tendencies, was 'disgraceful.'... Though he had pledged to stay above the Republican-on-Republican attacks, Mr. Rubio on Friday was even sharper in his questioning of Mr. Cruz's devotion to conservative principles than he was during the debate." ...
... Charles Pierce has some thoughts on the debaters. For the most part, one would not describe them as positive, although he did enjoy it when "He, Trump ... squash[ed] that demagogic bug [being Cruz] in just that way and, just for a second, I began to see the sense behind He, Trump's poll numbers." CW: I object when Pierce, or anyone, describes that turd Marco as "oily" & "oleaginous"; Pierce means "greaser," whether he realizes it or not, & it's decidedly not P.C. to use such a term when referring to a person of the Hispanic persuasion. Pierce should cut that out. But he won't. ...
... Dana Milbank: "Republicans like to blame Trump for hijacking the party, but equally to blame are the others in the race for letting it happen -- and continuing to do so, now just two weeks from the Iowa caucuses. Thursday night's debate was another depressing development: Any of four men on the stage -- Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie or John Kasich -- could have been a viable alternative to the fear and demagoguery offered by Trump and Ted Cruz. Instead, they cluttered the stage and quarreled among themselves, offering little beyond faint echoes of Trump's rage."
Stephen Losey of the Air Force Times: "Robins Air Force Base in Georgia has taken down a flyer advertising a 'Martin Luther King Jr. Fun Shoot' scheduled for the holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader. In a statement to Air Force Times, Robins apologized for the advertising tying the event to the holiday honoring King, who was shot by an assassin in Memphis in 1968." CW: As a result of criticisms lodged against the event, organizers announced they would reschedule the event to February 12 & rename it "Abe Lincoln Fun Shoot."
*****
Presidential Race
Jonathan Martin & Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas sharply attacked each other on Thursday night over the Canadian-born Mr. Cruz's eligibility to be president and Mr. Trump's 'New York values,' shedding any semblance of cordiality as they dominated a Republican debate less than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses.... In many ways, it was the darkest debate of the campaign, as the Republicans tried to paint the grimmest possible portrait of an America in decline economically, despite rapid job growth, and militarily, though they praised service members.... Neither Mr. Rubio, who spent most of the debate delivering rehearsed lines that seemed to come out of speeches, nor the other four Republicans on the debate stage left nearly as big an impression during the night as Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz." ...
... The Washington Post story, by Karen Tumulty & Philip Rucker, is here. ...
... Margaret Hartmann of New York on what you (and I!) missed by not watching the debate. ...
... Driftglass provides an excellent transcript of the debate, although it appears a few citations may be paraphrases.
... Here's the birther exchange:
Here's the Trump-Cruz exchange on "New York values." Trump's response starts at about 1:45 min. in:
... Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post: "The Republican presidential candidates responded in Thursday's GOP debate by painting an even more dismal and dangerous picture than they had in the past. The president is a traitor. The military is a shell of a fighting force. The economy is a shambles. Average families are in grave danger. If Democrats win, the country is lost.... Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) 'won' the latest round of this increasingly disgusting show, with Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) coming in second. But being the most effective at exaggerating the dangers the country faces and preying on voter anger is not an achievement; it is a moral failure." ...
... Ed Kilgore: "In the end, the domination of the endless debate time by everything other than the basic economic issues you might expect from a business network showed how far into the fever swamps the GOP contest has strayed. When Donald Trump responded to the attack from host-state governor Nikki Haley on 'the angriest voices' by saying 'I will gladly welcome the mantle of anger,' he did not stand out at all. And after all the talk about the Republican field and the party Establishment conspiring to stop Trump, that's the irony: they are increasingly the party of Trumpism With or Without Trump -- plus John Kasich." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "... those of us who believed Republican elites would kill Trump's candidacy out of self-preservation have to face the increasingly plausible prospect that, for whatever reason, they may lay down their arms before a shot has been fired.
Mark Murray of NBC News: "Donald Trump has more than doubled his national lead in the Republican presidential race ahead of Thursday night's GOP debate here, according to the results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Trump is the first choice of 33 percent of national Republican primary voters - his highest percentage in the poll. He's followed by Ted Cruz at 20 percent, Marco Rubio at 13 percent and Ben Carson at 12 percent. Chris Christie and Jeb Bush are tied at five percent. No other Republican presidential candidate gets more than 3 percent." CW: Remember that national polls don't mean much, especially now, when most of the country isn't concentrating on the presidential race. ...
... Kevin Cirilli of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump said he's building a movement bigger than that of former President Ronald Reagan. 'I think that the closest thing I can think of is Reagan, but I don't think it's the intensity that we have,' the billionaire told Mark Halperin and John Heilemann of Bloomberg's With All Due Respect just minutes after he finished a rousing speech to a capacity crowd of 10,000 inside a Pensacola, Florida, arena on Wednesday night. 'Now, Reagan had a little bit of this, but I don't think to the same extent -- but he also won,' Trump said."
Birtherism 3.0. Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Marco Rubio's lawyers are defending his eligibility to run for president in a quixotic legal challenge that alleges he isn't a natural-born citizen. A Florida voter filed the suit, which claims that the senator isn't a true 'natural-born citizen' under the Constitution because his parents were not both U.S. citizens at his birth in Miami."
Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "When asked about the federal government's role in addressing tension between the police and minority communities during a meeting with the Des Moines Register editorial board on Wednesday, Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush brought up black-on-black shooting rates.... 'Putting aside a police officer shooting a black man, most of the crimes are black on black in the communities. Most by far,' Bush added. 'The police shooting of unarmed black males, which is what the conversation is about as I understand it, is very small.'" CW: It's as if Jeb! & his rivals all went to the top Right Wing World Brain Surgeon to get him to implant one of his recordings in each of their tiny brains, & every time someone asks a question, the record fast-forwards to a related stereotype, & the words comes out. ...
... Oh, speaking of Right Wing World brain surgeons ...
... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Ben Carson's national finance chairman Dean Parker resigned Thursday morning amid questions about his use of campaign fund and criticism from Carson allies and donors."
Jeffrey Sparshott of the Wall Street Journal: "The head of the nation's biggest business lobby inveighed against presidential candidates singling out immigrants, ethnic or religious groups, highlighting divisions among supporters of the Republican establishment and the party's leading candidate Donald Trump. 'There are the voices, sometimes very loud voices, who talk about walling off America from talent and trade and who are attacking whole groups of people based not on their conduct but on their ethnicity or religion,' Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a speech on Thursday. 'This is morally wrong and politically stupid.'"
... Greg Sargent: "Interestingly, the ad doesn't name Hillary Clinton.... The Sanders argument is that nothing we've seen during the Obama years -- and nothing we've heard proposed from the Hillary Clinton campaign -- comes close to the sort of far-reaching, deep structural changes to the economy that will be required to seriously combat the soaring inequality and wage stagnation of the moment." ...
... CW: Also interestingly, I just saw Clinton's campaign strategist complaining to Tuck Chodd that the Sanders spot breaks Sanders' campaign pledge not to run negative ads. Clinton, of course, takes the ad personally, but as Sargent points out, Sanders is challenging the entire Democratic approach to economic policy. And of course the Clinton campaign's complaining about negative ads is pretty hilarious after the last week or so of her and her proxies going after Sanders, both fairly & unfairly. ...
... Update: Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton's campaign on Thursday decried what it called an attack ad from Democratic presidential rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Clinton's aides claimed Sanders had broken his pledge to never run a negative advertisement by releasing his 30-second campaign spot on 'two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street.'...Sanders's campaign insisted that the ad wasn't 'directed at Secretary Clinton exclusively.' 'It's about people in the Democratic establishment who believe you can take Wall Street's money and then somehow turn around and rein in the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior,' Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement shared with The Hill. 'Obviously she is part of the establishment that Wall Street has showered with financial support. Bernie is not,' Briggs added...." ...
... Charles Pierce: "Bernie Sanders is where he is because the positions and the policies he has been championing all his career have come back somewhat into favor ever since some grifters broke the world economy and then made off with the rubble. That is why he's different from Donald Trump and that is why Hillary Rodham Clinton is noticing that things in the rear-view window are closer than they appear." ...
... Gene Robinson: "Any Clinton supporters looking for a reason to panic should consider the way the campaign attacked Sanders on health care this week, [which began with Chelsea Clinton's charges against Sanders' proposals for single-payer insurance].... Such careful and misleading parsing of language can only be called Clintonesque and only be read as a danger sign. I can't help but recall how Bill Clinton invited a backlash in 2008 by calling the Obama candidacy a 'fairy tale.' Maybe Hillary Clinton should try leaving the family at home.... The Clinton campaign has a fight on its hands -- and anything smacking of politics-as-usual is more likely to lose votes than win them." ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton's national lead is slipping faster in 2016 than it did in 2008."
Marlow Stern of the Daily Beast interviews Bill Maher on the candidates -- entertaining, & politically correct.
Real News
Okay, real-ish:
Tim Egan: "... on the mastery of changing hearts and minds, the 'ability to astonish and inspire,' [President Obama] falls short. His presidency, as of now, has not been transformational. He has 370 more days, or thereabouts, to make a dent in a hard history." ...
... CW: I disagree with Egan. I don't think anyone can blame the President for the vicious antics of Republican "leaders." Last night's debate was the 10,000th illustration of that -- two days after Obama chastised them for behaving badly, they behaved worse. I don't think any one of them, with the possible exception of Kasich, has a whit of common decency (and his ideology is counterproductive); their entire case is built on a foundation of lies, smears & scorn. One individual is not responsible for the immorality of an entire corrupt power structure. In my lifetime, the Republican party always has appealed to Americans' worst instincts. It has never done so more forcefully than now.
** Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Obama administration will announce on Friday a halt to new coal mining leases on public lands as it considers an overhaul of the program that could lead to increased costs for energy companies and a slowdown in extraction, according to an administration official. The move would represent a significant setback for the coal industry, effectively freezing new coal production on federal lands and sending a signal to energy markets that could turn investors away from an already flailing industry. President Obama telegraphed the step in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, saying, 'I'm going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.'"
Bill Vlasic of the New York Times: "With automakers and technology companies rushing to develop self-driving cars, the Obama administration on Thursday pledged to expedite regulatory guidelines for autonomous vehicles and invest in research to help bring them to market. Until now, the federal government has taken a hands-off approach to regulating new technology that allows vehicles to operate independently and without an actual driver."
Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Planned Parenthood on Thursday filed a long-awaited federal lawsuit against the anti-abortion activists who have targeted the group with undercover videos for the last year. The formal complaint marks the first time that Planned Parenthood has taken legal action against the group, the Center for Medical Progress. The national organization, along with its California affiliate, is accusing the Center for Medical Progress and its organizer David Daleiden for unlawful behavior ranging from secret taping to trespassing. The group said the Center for Medical Progress has violated the laws of three states as well as federal law." ...
... Nina Liss-Schultz of Mother Jones: "The federal lawsuit accuses CMP of racketeering, illegally creating and using fake driver's licenses, invading the privacy of and illegally recording Planned Parenthood officials and staff. The suit describes CMP as a 'complex criminal enterprise conceived and executed by anti-abortion extremists,' and says that 'the aim of the fake enterprise -- which stretched over years and involved fake companies, fake identifications, and large-scale illegal taping, was to demonize Planned Parenthood.'" The complaint is embedded in the story.
Paul Krugman: "... given the reality that wealth often reflects either luck or power, there's a strong case to be made for collecting some of that wealth in taxes and using it to make society as a whole stronger, as long as it doesn't destroy the incentive to keep creating more wealth. And there's no reason to believe that it would. Historically, America achieved its most rapid growth and technological progress ever during the 1950s and 1960s, despite much higher top tax rates and much lower inequality than it has today.... The rich don't have to be as rich as they are. Inequality is inevitable; the vast inequality of America today isn't."
Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "More than seven years after the worst of the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs is again paying a price for the role it played. The Wall Street firm said on Thursday it had agreed to a civil settlement of up to $5 billion with federal prosecutors and regulators to resolve claims stemming from the marketing and selling of faulty mortgage securities to investors.... The agreement in principle requires Goldman to pay $2.385 billion in civil penalties and $875 million in cash and provide up to $1.8 billion in relief to consumers."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. CW: I don't know why public universities don't dispense with classrooms & professors & students studying literature & physics and all when they could more easily concentrate on being excellent sports enterprises. Go, Bucks! O H I O!
W. J. Hennigan & Tracy Wilkinson of the Los Angeles Times: "How U.S. sailors almost started a crisis with Iran." The vessels were a mile inside Iranian waters. "The situation became only more complicated when a U.S. aircraft carrier task force led by the Harry S. Truman, on patrol in the gulf, quickly launched search helicopters into Iranian airspace. That served to further alarm Tehran, even as U.S. officials began considering a possible rescue operation.... [The incident] also raises questions of whether Iran violated international law by using the detainees for propaganda purposes."
Hey, Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), America's Stupidest Senator is still America's stupidest senator: Christopher Massie of BuzzFeed: "Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson inaccurately described South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as an immigrant while praising her response to President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday night.... '... And Governor Haley is an immigrant. She has powerful stories of being an immigrant....'" ...
... CW: Here's a clue, Ron. As even you must know, Republicans are chattering about Haley as a possible vice-presidential candidate. But, see, the vice president can't be an immigrant. S/he has to be a "natural-born citizen," something that even you also should know by now, since the topic has been in the news all week. Sheesh!
Laurie After 13 years of rancor over conflicting views on homosexuality, the archbishops of the Anglican Communion have voted to impose sanctions for three years on the Episcopal Church, the American branch of the Communion, for its decision last summer to allow clergy to perform same-sex marriages, church officials said Thursday. News of the archbishops' decision to discipline the American church leaked out near the end of a weeklong meeting in England called by the Most Rev. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury. He had summoned the archbishops to Canterbury in an effort to break the bitter impasse that has divided the Anglican Communion since the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003.... The Anglican Church of Canada, which has allowed some clergy members to perform same-sex marriages but has not adopted a policy for the entire province, escaped sanctions. But the archbishops' resolution fell short of the demands of conservative primates to evict the Americans and the Canadians from the Communion." ...
... CW: Oh, they're primates, all right. I believe I'll head down to St. Andrews this Sunday.
Beyond the Beltway
Daniel Bethencourt of the Detroit Free Press: "Since Flint switched its water source to the Flint River, officials have seen a spike in the number of cases of a severe form of pneumonia, called Legionnaires' disease -- but officials say they're still looking for the cause. There have been 87 cases in Genesee County from June 2014 to November 2015 -- and 10 of those cases resulted in death, said Dr. Eden Wells, chief medical executive with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, or MDHHS.... While state officials said they couldn't make a connection between the water and the spike in disease, [Marc Edwards of Virginia Tech,] a drinking water expert who studied Flint, said the rise in cases was 'dramatic,' and added there's a 'very strong likelihood' the river's water played a role." CW: So much for killing them softly with lead poisoning.
Carol Marin & Don Moseley of NBC Chicago: "Senior members of Rahm Emanuel's administration received and sent emails about the video of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald long before the mayor said he was fully briefed, emails obtained by NBC5 News show. The emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and show that the mayor's chief of staff, deputy chief of staff and top press aides were included in email chains." ...
... Mark Guarino, et al., of the Washington Post: Rahm Emanuel "faced renewed questions Thursday about whether he had known earlier than he had previously said that police accounts of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald conflicted with a dashboard-camera video of the 2014 incident. Early in the day, a federal judge ordered the release of video footage in another case, from 2013, that shows police fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager. The city had long opposed the release, but reversed itself this week and asked a court to make the video public. It was released hours after the ruling."
Patrick Whittle of the AP: "Critics of Maine Gov. Paul LePage failed to muster support for a vote Thursday on an independent investigation that could have led to impeachment for alleged abuse of power. LePage responded by calling the impeachment effort 'nonsense' and 'foolishness.'"
Elliot Njus of the Oregonian: "As the armed occupation of a Harney County wildlife refuge drags into its 13th day, protesters are sending mixed signals about their plans." ...
... Sam Levin of the Guardian: "Leaders of the armed militia occupying federal lands in eastern Oregon could face hefty fines and more than 10 years behind bars if government officials decide to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, legal experts say. Ammon Bundy and his crew of rightwing anti-government followers -- who have refused to leave the Malheur national wildlife refuge since they took over its headquarters on 2 January -- appear to have violated a number of laws that prohibit the unauthorized use and destruction of public property.... Tim Colahan, Harney County district attorney, said in an email that he is working with county, state and federal law enforcement agencies and is discussing the possibility of criminal prosecution." CW: I'll believe these guys might do time when I see a criminal complaint. Meanwhile, Papa Bundy is still out there grazing his cattle on our land & refusing to pay more than $1MM in fees he owes us.
News Ledes
CNN: "The Dow dropped another 391 points on Friday, leaving the index down an incredible 1,437 points in just the first two weeks of the year. The S&P 500 lost 2.3% and the Nasdaq plunged 2.7% to its lowest level since October 2014."
AP: "Two Marine helicopters carrying 12 crew members collided off the Hawaiian island of Oahu during a nighttime training mission, and rescuers are searching a debris field in choppy waters Friday, military officials said. There was no immediate word on what caused the crash or if any survivors have been found."
AP: "A Tennessee man pulled a folded Powerball ticket from the front pocket of his shirt and told a national television audience Friday that he held one of three winners of the world-record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot. 'Now I'll be nervous because everybody knows,' said John Robinson, who appeared in the New York studios of NBC's 'Today' show alongside his wife Lisa, their daughter and their lawyer. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the Robinsons' claim."
Los Angeles Times: "The California Public Utilities Commission agreed Thursday with a judge's recommendation to fine Uber $7.6 million for failing to meet data reporting requirements in 2014. Uber will appeal the decision, but has agreed to pay the fine to avoid a 30-day suspension of its license in its home state."
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Reader Comments (16)
To further the ridiculousness of the Flint water tragedy, as touched upon in yesterday's thread, some residents of Flint (the poorer ones, as per usual) are being constantly harassed with payment dues and threats to cut off their water supply. So the state has poisoned their water supply with lead and other unknown ills, and is still forcing the poisoned residents to pay for the damaging water even after admitting its toxicity! While I seriously doubt those residents are chugging down liters of water when they can afford not to, cutting their water off adds another serious burden to these people already living through a government-sponsored nightmare.
Are those "free" bottles of water arriving from the benevolent hands of Mr. Snyder sufficient enough to account for cooking, cleaning and personal hygiene? As Forrest calculated yesterday, fat chance. If I were living there I would be incensed to have to pay for poisonous water knowing it was the direct result of a conscious decision taken by the state government, elected to serve the people, to "save money".
Beyond that, I've heard some talk about getting Snyder into some legal issues because of his sanctioned stupidity, but I haven't heard anything about repercussions falling on the shadow "emergency manager" who is supposedly the magic hand behind the water source switch. Is this heartless, unelected baffoon also being considered for serious legal problems? I'm guessing he's even more protected than Snyder through his "emergency manager" contract, making him even less accountable to the people he's "serving".
That's some democracy those Republicans are designing over there...
And the link, my apologies.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/01/14/3739622/flint-water-crisis-bills/
So I answered my own question thanks to the Googles.
The Emergency Managers in Michigan are protected by the scope and breadth of the law, apparently vague enough to cover their asses in case of wrongdoings. That said, apparently one recourse justice could have would be filing an ethics complaint against the governor and his minions, but my gut says that that would throw the scandal into the bright light of public scrutiny but end without any real consequences for their egregious negligence of public welfare.
Another gem I learned from this morning's investigation that adds another level of slime to the whole situation, given the high levels of poverty that are placed under the control of these unelected emergency managers:
"By law, the pay of (then) Michigan’s five emergency managers — ranging from $132,000 to $250,000 — is set by the state, but the money actually is paid by the local communities they’re in charge of.
http://www.reachoutjobsearch.com/2016/01/MichiganBoardofEthics-FlintWaterCrisis.html#ixzz3xJGcAFMl
Thanks, safari, for that last information re: those supercilious "slimes" that you so accurately portray. I have been incensed over this issue and cannot understand why the media isn't covering it more as a horrible catastrophe––except for Rachel, it's given scant reportage. Now with the news that cases of pneumonia have been prevalent and could be connected to the water, it's an even bigger catastrophe.
I watched some of the debate last night. It pained me to listen to all that prick pomposity––all of them brazen and bold––when they become President, boy, oh, boy will they fix everything––and right off the bat–-that very first day in office they will repeal all those nasty things Obama has done to this country. If that superb "Nature" program had been on PBS I would have watched that instead, given that our fellow creatures seem to have more of a moral code than those candidates–––but I did think of the Cuttlefish who, although blind, has the ability to change color according to his surroundings. Seems to me there is a similarity here.
So–- here then is a fun NYT's rated (Lies, half truths, or...) rundown of the candidates murmurings.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/fact-check.html?_r=0
I would like to bring a little science into our political debate on America. Subspecies- "a category in biological classification that ranks immediately below a species and designates a population of a particular geographic region genetically distinguishable from other such populations of the same species and capable of interbreeding successfully with them where its range". Of course the isolation creates genetic variations of all sorts. So in America we have two subspecies of Homo sapiens- Conservative and Liberal.
The principle difference is that one group has a lower level of intelligence producing fear of anything and everything resulting in the creation of a wall that tries to exclude anyone except themselves. For this group religion and politics are the cultural bases for their environment.
The other group has more knowledge that can create social interaction which creates an environment which can be respectful and inclusive of other humans besides themselves. In this case, religion (or not) and politics are simply the expression of their views and do not serve as an excuse to hide from reality and the rest of the human race.
Lastly, by definition the two subspecies can have sex with each other. However, I don't recommend it.
Marvin wrote:
"Lastly, by definition the two subspecies can have sex with each other. However, I don't recommend it."
Ha! A good laugh to start the day.
It reminds me of one time FCC chairman Newton Minnow's quip about television: "The word is part Greek, part Latin. Nothing good can come of it."
Minnow is also the guy who described television as a "vast wasteland", a comment which didn't sit well with producers of quality television such as the creators of "Gilligan's Island". They named the ship that was lost at sea and stranded the castaways ("...a millionaire and his wife, a movie star, and the rest..." See? I spent my childhood constructively!) on a deserted island, the S.S Minnow in his, er, honor.
Hate to jump on Egan, too, for his rare misstep. Obama not transformational? Maybe. Depends on what Egan or the words he chose really meant.
If by transformational he meant managing to create in only seven years the "one America," not blue, not red state vision he espoused at the 2004 Democratic convention, yeah, he didn't fulfill that promise. As if any one man or woman could by the power of will alone.
Clearly, Egan did not mean transformational policies, for as he himself grants, the Obama years have brought many of those, from the ACA to Dodd-Frank to name only two, and how those policies and programs will affect the face and mind of the union over time is yet to play out.
But if we take "transformational" to mean clarifying, Obama' Presidency has certainly done that. During the last seven years, beginning the night of his inauguration, the Right has showed itself for what it really is, or over the years since Reagan, what it had become.
The Right's nature is no longer hidden. It is now the very public and shameless repository of ignorance and hate, fear and resentment, financed by beneficiaries and purveyors of an equally public greed, all in all a welcoming home to the worst within us.
So would agree Obama didn't transform the nation the way naive liberals (like me?) might have liked. But in addition to all the policy and program accomplishments, he did radically transform the nation by bringing the sick cesspool that sustains the Right to the surface, where it can no longer be denied or ignored.
As a result, the choices ahead of us are clearer than they have been since the 1930's, and adhering to the message below the portrait still on our living room wall, I will continue to "hope" we make the right ones.
And if we do, Obama will have been transformational in the way Egan says he was not.
I grew up in a small town in Genesee County, MI about 5 miles from Flint and lived there for 30 years. It was our "big city". My family and friends still live there. I posted a couple months ago about the water issues, before it blew up in the news. Growing up, I lived across the street from the Flint river. It stunk because it was a major receptacle for treated sewage. No one, I mean no one, ever swam, boated or fished in the river.
It was a factory town, even more so than Detroit, where people without college educations could make a good living. Now its a devastated shell of poor people with few resources. Yesterday, there was a comment about voters in Flint being mostly Democratic. I think its more accurate to say those that vote are Dems, but few people in the city actually vote. Survival is the priority and frankly, the local candidates are marginal choices at best. That kind of poverty and hopelessness often attracts someone looking for a way to cash in. The party doesn't matter.
A close friend lives in the city of Flint. Last weekend, I spoke with her. She went to one of the water distribution places and they were out of water. Instead, they gave her a 10lb bag of potatoes. She had been laid off her last job for 5 months. She bought a house built in the 1920's about 25 years ago, a nice sturdy, brick house, the way they build them in Michigan. My friend thinks often about moving, especially after being the victim of 6 break-ins in the last 3 years. There were 18 policeman on the Flint force. Three of the break-ins resulted in her front door being kicked in and or windows smashed. No response from police, yes, she had an alarm. A cop came by 3 days later. No one has been caught, no forensics. The house is close to be paid for, but its questionable if she would even get the 5K needed to pay it off. Then there is the question of where and how she would afford another place. I don't want to make this a sob story, so I'll stop there.
So the water issue is the latest travesty wrought by economic decline and the embrace of "emergency managers". The trajectory of the GOP in this country, compounded by apathy / not voting, paints a terrifying picture.
I am not usually so wordy and I have refrained from posting on this issue as its hits close.
@Diane: I appreciate you taking the time to give us a more personal look into the Flint situation. Your close friend, indeed, appears to be in dire straits and it must be frustrating and infuriating to know she has to go through such trauma. And it sounds to me as though Flint has been left for the dogs––no one gives a shit. Yesterday I praised Obama for visiting the woman who wrote him a letter in which she expressed her fears that her children would grow up in a world that had been devastated due to lack of care for the environment. After reading your post, Diane, I think he needs to visit the people in Flint. This is not fear of the future–-this is here and now!
Diane,
I was going to say that with 10 lbs of potatoes your friend could at least make some vodka to dull the pain but then they would also need water.
I'm more than a bit incensed as well to continue to read that this debacle was caused by the "City of Flint". It was no such thing, at least not in any way in which actual blame could be assigned to local elected officials. They have been largely removed from the decision making process. This entire scheme is the (damaged)brainchild of a Republican governor and his unelected stooge of an "emergency manager" (I doubt it was made clear to Flint residents that the Emergency Manager was there to create the emergencies, not solve them). You really have to dig in many stories, if you didn't already know it, to recognize the slightest bit of culpability for Republicans.
And now, to top it off, Snyder is demanding that the hated government give him money and take over to clean up the mess he created, a disaster created by policies based on Republican ideology.
Funny how Republicans are always criticizing Democrats as being the Nanny Party, always wanting to tell people how to live and how to act. But to my knowledge, no Democratic initiatives have decided to completely remove any and all local input and allow unelected hacks to make vital decisions about life in a community as Republicans have done in Michigan. More IOKIYAR, I guess.
Yesterday Marie linked a piece that attempted to differentiate Republicans and Democrats. A writer quoted therein was surprised to discover how concerned Democrats seemed to be about personal issues compared to those high-minded, abstract loving Republicans. I think if I were in a situation as bad as your friend's and found my life complicated even further by unconscionable Republican tinkering I'd be focused on personal issues as well.
The problem, as you rightly put it, is that people get to a place where they simply don't vote anymore. Unfortunately for them, Republicans make sure their people vote and they make it as hard as possible for the other party to do the same even if they wanted to. A bad thing all around.
Ken W wrote above: "The Right's nature is no longer hidden. It is now the very public and shameless repository of ignorance and hate, fear and resentment, financed by beneficiaries and purveyors of an equally public greed, all in all a welcoming home to the worst within us."
I tried to think of words to ameliorate that statement, to say that it isn't all that bad, that the surface impressions of today's primary language is just base-baiting BS.
But it's more than primary language, when you consider the legislative activities in Congress and many state legislatures. Right Wing World is getting scary.
But I'm afraid Ken W is correct, and when you consider that in national elections the popular vote is usually pretty close, you have to infer that a large percentage of our fellow voters is either ignorant. or nasty, or both. Worse, about half the electorate thinks that of the other half.
They say you can't cure stupid, but I think we should work on it. The viability of democracy requires educated, informed and responsible citizens. The alternative is demagoguery and mob, followed by some form of authoritarianism. Not good.
Even the beard was a bad idea.
In two minutes Robert Reich lists 7 really terrible ideas being pushed hard by Confederate in-house "economic policy wonk" Paul (Lyin') Ryan.
There are a lot more terrible ideas bouncing around in that empty noggin but these are all pretty awful.
Unapologetic Republican shills working hard for the rich.
The "American Dream" of working hard and achieving is still a part of the national psyche. It seems especially true for people in poverty, people of color and immigrants. In fact, its on a never ending loop from the Haves to the Have Nots; if only you'd sacrifice more, work harder, etc. For people at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder, harder work usually refers to physical labor, preferably for the benefit of the Haves. Intellectual acuity has little actual value among the right. Besides, its very expensive, not to mention dangerous. Obama, trying to give more access to student loans and make JR college free understands. Its a sick joke that people profit enormously for being hateful, ignorant, and having nothing to offer to others are exalted by the media (Kardashians, Trump).
That dream is a form of ignorance, but is also a form of hope. It presents a heart breaking paradox that is thoroughly exploited by those who would be king. You, too can be wealthy - remember Joe the Plumber who wasn't a real plumber and was broke, but planned to be wealthy someday? I think Obama is addressing this paradox when he often repeats "we all rise together and we all fall together". Unfortunately, I don't think Hilary has any such vision.
I agree with Patrick, that the pathway to retaining a democracy requires much hard work. Are there enough people up to the task? Don't know, hope so.
The title of the following says it all.
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/01/15/new-york-daily-news-tells-ted-cruz-to-drop-dead-on-new-cover/21297756/
Regarding "greaser:" Until you wrote it, I had never heard the word as referring to people of hispanic origin. Yes, I grew up in the nearly all white far north. The association I made to C. Pierce's use of the word "oleaginous" brought up in my mind the words from "My Fair Lady" when Rex Harrison was describing the Count he didn't like:
"Oozing charm from every pore,
He oiled his way across the floor."
I definitely experience Cruz as oozing and oiling his way around everywhere, like a slimeball. Oleaginous. Not thinking about Hispanics at all. Definitely thinking about slime. And that awful approximation of a smile.
@Victoria. The definition of 'oleaginous' as you described it, was exactly how I read it—it did not pertain to a particular ethnicity. (the second descriptive provided on Google): exaggeratedly and distastefully complimentary; obsequious.
i.e., "candidates made the usual oleaginous speeches in the debate"
@Ken Winkes. Yes, I was surprised to read Egan's piece this morning. I read it twice. Checked the author name. Had the Times erred in attribution? Jack Mahoney, who sometimes comments here on RC, had an excellent reaction. He started with: "Tim, it feels like this column is a response to a challenge issued after several drinks that you write a column critical of the President. Your heart wasn't really in it,..."