Tuesday
Jan072020
The Commentariat -- January 8, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump backed away from further military confrontation with Iran on Wednesday after a barrage of missiles fired at American troops killed no one and Tehran indicated that would be the end of its retaliation for the killing of a top general." Mrs. McC: Another one of the speeches Trump delivered in his "hostage" monotone. BTW, the brass who allowed themselves to be used as a shiny human backdrop for a speech that was bound to contains outrageous lies & misdirection (and of course it did) should be ashamed of themselves. Some of them managed to look like hostages, too, and that's probably how they felt. ~~~
~~~ Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump's big speech about the situation in Iran is not getting strong early reviews, in no small part because he spent much of it blaming former President Barack Obama for the current tensions with Tehran."
Peter Beaumont, et al., of the Guardian: "Iran's aviation authority will not hand over flight recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 jet that crashed moments after take-off from Tehran killing all 176 passengers and crew, either to the aircraft's manufacturer or US aviation authorities.... 'This accident will be investigated by Iran's aviation organisation but the Ukrainians can also be present during the incident's investigation,' [said Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation head Ali Abedzadeh].... Announcing on his Facebook page that Ukraine would send a team of experts to Iran later on Wednesday, the country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: 'Our priority is to establish the truth and those responsible for this terrible catastrophe.'" ~~~
~~~ U.K. Telegraph: "Ukraine has refused to rule out that the plane that crashed in Iran and killed all 176 on board was struck by a missile.... Mr Zelensky instructed Ukraine's prosecutors to open criminal proceedings over the crash." ~~~
~~~ Jeff Wise, in New York, explains why it seems likely the aircraft was shot down.
~~~~~~~~~~
New York Times live updates for Wednesday on developments in the Iran crisis are here.
"All Is Well." Really? Phil Helsel of NBC News: "'All is well!' ... Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night after Iran launched ballistic missiles at U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. The president also said he would make a statement Wednesday morning. 'Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!' the president tweeted." ~~~
~~~ MSNBC is reporting that Iran has said it won't launch new attacks if the U.S. does not retaliate. Mrs. McC: I can't find a print version of this, but the Guardian (@ 21:37 ET) has published a tweet from Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif: "Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched. We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression." ~~~
~~~ ** Hamdi Alkhshali, et al., of CNN: "Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases that hold US troops in what appears to be retaliation for the American airstrike that killed a top Iranian general last week, the Pentagon said Tuesday. A US official told CNN that there were no initial reports of any US casualties, but an assessment of the impact of the strikes is underway. There are casualties among the Iraqis at Ain al-Asad airbase following the attack, an Iraqi security source tells CNN. The number of casualties and whether the individuals were killed or wounded was not immediately clear. White House aides are making plans for a possible address to the nation by ... Donald Trump, according to two officials." ~~~
~~~ ** New York Times Live Updates (Tuesday): "Iran attacked two American bases in Iraq early Wednesday, Iranian official news media and United States officials said, the start of what Iran had promised would be retaliation for the killing of a top Revolutionary Guards commander. 'The fierce revenge by the Revolutionary Guards has begun,' Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement on a Telegram channel. Iranian news media reported the attacks hours after the remains of the commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, were returned to his hometown in Iran for burial. Hossein Soleimani, the editor in chief of Mashregh, the main Revolutionary Guards news website, said that more than 30 ballistic missiles had been fired at the American base at Asad, in Anbar Province, in western Iraq. There were also rockets fired at an American base in Erbil, in northern Iraq." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: According to Richard Engel of NBC News, these are Iraqi bases that house American troops. Engel suggests that the attacks could make Iraq even more adamant about forcing the U.S. to "reposition" its troops to someplace not Iraq. More on this below.
Daniel Victor, et al., of the New York Times: "A Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 carrying 176 people on Wednesday crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing everyone on board. The circumstances of the crash are not fully known. The Iranian state news media cited technical problems on the plane, which was bound for Kyiv.... The disaster happened against the backdrop of the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which on Tuesday attacked two bases in Iraq that house American troops. It also has the potential to add to the crisis at Boeing, which has been dealing with the fallout from two crashes involving a different jet.... After the crash, Ukraine's Embassy in Iran initially issued a statement ruling out terrorism or a rocket attack as a cause of the crash. But the statement was later removed from the embassy's website and replaced by a statement saying it was too early to draw any conclusions about what had happened." A Reuters story is here.
Matt Stieb of New York: "On Tuesday, the president of the United States reluctantly walked back his threat to commit war crimes by bombing cultural sites in Iran. 'They are allowed to kill our people,' Trump said before reporters in the White House. 'They are allowed to maim our people, they're allowed to blow up everything that we have and there's nothing to stop them. We are, according to various laws, supposed to be very careful with their cultural heritage. And you know what, if that's what the law is, I like to obey the law.' Though that last point could be contested -- his career before politics suggests a businessman that does not like to obey the law -- his comment is a major backpedal from his Saturday threat to strike 52 cultural sites in Iran, one for each of the Americans held during the hostage crisis following the 1979 revolution. [On Sunday,] Trump even doubled down on the threat.... Trump's reversal on a topic he has expressed great interest in -- by pardoning and campaigning with accused U.S. war criminals and threatening to commit war crimes as a candidate in 2015 -- was likely influenced by pushback in his administration." ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels & Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday said he did not intend to quickly move troops from Iraq in his first lengthy comments about Middle East turbulence following the U.S. air strike that killed a top Iranian military general.... 'Eventually we want to be able to let Iraq run its own affairs, and that's very important. So at some point we want to get out. But this isn't the right point,' Trump told reporters during a meeting with the Greek prime minister Tuesday."
Nicole Gaouette & Jennifer Hansler of CNN: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday defended the basis for killing Iranian General Qasem Soleimani because of the threat of an imminent strike but declined to present any evidence, saying President Donald Trump's decision was 'entirely legal.'... Pompeo ... didn't offer any evidence of looming threats, but instead referred to past events that he said Soleimani was responsible for." The story will be updated. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Watch that POS lie to Andrea Mitchell about Trump's repeated threats to destroy Iran's cultural sites. Ken W. posited in today's comments that Pompouspeo is a chicken. Pompeo went on the teevee to prove it (again) today:
~~~ Pompeo's "Credibility Problem." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a news conference Tuesday in which some believed that he walked back just how 'imminent' a threat Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani posed. Asked about the topic, Pompeo pretended journalists were too consumed with that word (even though Pompeo has used it). And then rather than shed new light, Pompeo opted to talk about what Soleimani had already done, before adding that Soleimani's campaigns could 'lead potentially to the death of many more Americans.'... Pompeo is an imperfect messenger taking the lead for a notoriously untruthful president.... He'll often be asked to account for the things Trump says and pretend that the mere question is ludicrous.... NBC's Andrea Mitchell asked Pompeo whether he would prevent Trump from [attacking Iran's cultural sites], and Pompeo pretended the question was ridiculous.... 'I was unambiguous on Sunday. It is completely consistent with what the president has said,' [Pompeo told Mitchell.] Except it's not. And the fact that Pompeo insists it is ... makes it difficult to take him at face value. Now is the time when something like that matters most." ~~~
~~~ ** This Is Mike's Mess. Edward Wong & Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the loudest voice in the administration pushing President Trump to kill Iran's most important general. This week, he is back in his role as the nation's top diplomat, trying to contain the international crisis the general's death created.... As Iran begins retaliating aggressively, Mr. Pompeo, 56, could become known as the man who helped lead the United States into another conflict in the Middle East -- breaking one of Mr. Trump's key campaign promises just as the president faces re-election.... Days after becoming secretary of state in 2018, Mr. Pompeo pushed Mr. Trump to withdraw from the nuclear agreement and reimpose strict sanctions on Iran.... In April, he advised Mr. Trump to designate as a foreign terrorist organization the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, an arm of the Iranian military that includes General Suleimani's elite Quds Force.... The upheaval is unfolding at a pace that Mr. Trump and top aides never expected, officials said. Millions of Iranians have taken to the streets to protest General Suleimani's killing -- a drastic change from only weeks ago, when demonstrators were denouncing the rulers in Tehran. European allies have expressed anger to Mr. Pompeo over the strike, which they were not told about in advance. And Mr. Pompeo has been unable to convince Iraq's government that the United States remains a reliable partner."
Mustafa Salim, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Iraqi government has interpreted a letter delivered by the U.S. military advising of a 'repositioning' of U.S. forces as a signal of an intent to withdraw, Iraqi officials said Tuesday, even as the Pentagon strenuously denied that any decision has been made to pull out of the country that has embroiled the U.S. military in conflict for most of the past 30 years. The letter delivered to the office of Iraq's caretaker prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, on Monday cited 'deference' to a vote in the Iraqi parliament calling on all foreign forces to leave by way of explaining an expected increase in U.S. helicopter activity over the Baghdad airport in the 'coming days and weeks.' The U.S. military wants 'to ensure that the movement out of Iraq is conducted in a safe and efficient manner,' the letter said. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the letter a 'mistake' and a 'poorly worded' draft. U.S. military officials said such letters are routine, intended to keep their Iraqi counterparts abreast of intended U.S. troop movements to avoid misunderstandings." ~~~
~~~ Ron DePasquale of the New York Times: "NATO is removing some of the trainers who have been working with Iraqi soldiers battling the Islamic State, in the aftermath of the American killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani of Iran in Baghdad.The NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, announced on Monday that the training had been temporarily suspended. For the security of NATO personnel, the organization said in a statement that it would be taking precautions -- including 'the temporary repositioning of some personnel to different locations both inside and outside Iraq.'NATO, which has been running the training operation since 2018, will continue to maintain a presence in Iraq and remains committed to fighting international terrorism, an official said, while refusing to divulge details about troop movements." ~~~
~~~ Bruce Campion-Smith of the Toronto Star: "Canada is moving some of the troops deployed to help improve security in Iraq out of that country to ensure their safety amid rising regional tensions following Washington's targeted killing of a prominent Iranian general. Canada joined other allies such as Germany, Romania and Croatia in promising to shift personnel as concerns mounted over the threat of regional violence. Those fears were realized just hours after the plan was announced when Iran fired a barrage of missiles targeting U.S. and coalition forces at Iraqi military bases at at Al-Assad and Erbil." ~~~
~~~ Jeff Stein & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Senior administration officials have begun drafting sanctions against Iraq after President Trump publicly threatened the country with economic penalties if it proceeded to expel U.S. troops, according to three people briefed on the planning.... Such a step would represent a highly unusual move against a foreign ally that the United States has spent almost two decades and hundreds of billions of dollars supporting. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal deliberations, emphasized talks were preliminary and no final decision has been made on whether to impose the sanctions." The Hill has a summary of the WashPo report. (Also linked yesterday.)
Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "As President Trump grappled with how to respond to Iran throughout the last year, one of the people he turned to for advice was his personal attorney and unofficial envoy, Rudy Giuliani. The former New York City mayor has had a long-standing interest in Iranian affairs. He was once paid by organizations linked to an Iranian dissident group formally designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization -- until Giuliani helped get the outfit off the terror list.... As recently as the summer of 2018, Giuliani appeared on stage at an event for the People's Mojahedin of Iran, known by its Farsi acronym, MEK.... There's no indication that Giuliani plugged the MEK specifically in his discussions with the president, or that he's promoted specific military or foreign policy proposals. But Giuliani acknowledges that his beliefs fall on the aggressive end of the policy spectrum when it comes to Iran policy." --s
Mehdi Hasan of the Intercept explains Trump's Iran debacle -- s:
~~~ Daniel Nakamura & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump has sought to demonstrate strong and decisive leadership in the targeted killing of Iran's top general, but he has overseen a chaotic and mistake-prone public response since the operation.... In the days after a U.S. military drone killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani near the Baghdad airport, Trump and his top advisers have refused to provide details of what prompted the decision to strike and offered conflicting accounts over whether Soleimani was coordinating imminent attacks on U.S. facilities in the Middle East. The lack of clear information continued late Tuesday in Washington, after Iran said it retaliated for Soleimani's death with missile attacks on military bases in Iraq. The White House announced Trump would make no public remarks in response Tuesday night, nor would any other senior administration officials. Hours later, Trump tweeted that he would address the nation Wednesday morning."
Eric Tucker of the AP: "The killing of a top Iranian general has ratcheted up the anxiety of families of Americans held in Iran, one month after the release of a New Jersey student had given them hope. The Trump administration has made a priority of bringing home hostages held abroad, but the prospect of a forthcoming resolution for the handful of captives in Iran seems to have dimmed with the two nations edging dangerously close to conflict and warning of retaliatory strikes and continued agitation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Senate Republican leaders are preparing to move forward on a set of impeachment trial rules without Democratic support. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is on the verge of having sufficient backing in his 53-member caucus to pass a blueprint for the trial that leaves the question of seeking witnesses and documents until after opening arguments are made, according to multiple senators. That framework would mirror the contours of President Bill Clinton's trial and ignore Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's demands for witnesses and new evidence." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The reporters don't mention that during Clinton's impeachment trial, Ken Starr's witch hunt had got plenty of first-hand evidence, from Monica Lewinsky to Bill Clinton's deposition & DNA. Claiming the Trump rules "mirror" the Clinton rules is a crock when you figure in, as is necessary, Trump's forceful stonewall. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Update: NPR ran exactly the same kind of report Tuesday afternoon; they made McConnell & Republicans seem fair & reasonable. ~~~
~~~ Olivia Beavers & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is leaning into her plans to withhold sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate, amplifying her position Tuesday that she won't deliver them until she knows what a trial in the upper chamber will look like. Pelosi, writing in a letter to her Democratic colleagues, called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to promptly unveil the resolution that will lay out the guidelines for the trial centered on President Trump's contacts with Ukraine and whether they warrant his removal from office. The Democratic leader dug in on her plans to withhold the articles after McConnell announced at a press conference earlier in the day that Republicans 'have the votes' to pass a resolution to start the impeachment trial without requiring additional witnesses and key documents.... The Democratic leader also continued to hammer McConnell for his earlier remarks that he would be in 'total coordination' with the White House on strategy for the impeachment trial. ~~~
~~~ Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that Democrats will force votes on witnesses at the start of the impeachment trial even as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has secured enough support to delay the decision until mid-trial. 'Make no mistake, on the question of witnesses and documents, Republicans may run but they can't hide. There will be votes at the beginning on whether to call the four witnesses we've proposed and subpoena the documents we've identified,' Schumer said.... McConnell wants to pass two resolutions: The first, at the outset of the trial, would only deal with the rules. The Senate could then pass a second resolution, after opening arguments and questions from senators, that would determine which, if any, witnesses will be called."
Josh Gerstein & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Federal prosecutors on Tuesday called for up to six months of prison time for Michael Flynn, arguing that the former Trump national security adviser's shift to a more combative defense strategy shows he's no longer exhibiting the remorse he did when he pleaded guilty in 2017 to a felony charge of lying to the FBI. The notable shift in the Justice Department's stance comes after it initially said it was open to a sentence of probation as Flynn's punishment when he was cooperating with government investigators in special counsel Robert Mueller's sprawling investigation of ties between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia.... After providing the government significant help -- participating in 19 interviews with the Mueller team and other Justice Department prosecutors -- he reversed course by hiring a new team of lawyers, who have tried without success to get the initial case dismissed." The New York Times story is here.
Jim Mustian & Alan Suderman of the AP: "Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a major donor to ... Donald Trump's inaugural committee with obstructing a federal investigation into whether foreign nationals unlawfully contributed to the inaugural celebrations. The donor, Imaad Zuberi, recently pleaded guilty in a separate case in Los Angeles to campaign finance violations, tax evasion and failing to register as a foreign agent. A criminal information filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court accuses Zuberi, a globe-trotting Los Angeles venture capitalist, of taking' numerous steps' to interfere with the investigation into where the inaugural committee received its funding. Prosecutors say Zuberi backdated a $50,000 check and also deleted emails. Zuberi, a prolific fundraiser who has also donated large sums to Democrats, gave $900,000 to Trump's inaugural committee in the months after the president's 2016 election. The criminal complaint says that donation 'was in fact funded using money obtained from other sources,' including a would-be inaugural donor The Associated Press has identified as Murat Guzel, a Turkish-American businessman who has ties to the administration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan [and is a member of the Democratic National Committee]." Mrs. McC: Looks like the only kind of "convictions" these guys are likely to have are the ones that may land them in jail.
** Frank Rich, in a long New York essay on the fate of Vichy Republicans: "... Trump collaborators are kidding themselves if they think that post-Trump image-laundering through 'good works' or sheer historical amnesia will cleanse their names of the Trump taint as easily as his residential complexes in Manhattan have shed their Trump signage. A century of history -- and not just American history -- says otherwise.... The stench of disrepute that will cling to Trump's collaborators is likely to exceed the posthumous punishment of Nixon's dead-enders for the simple reason that Nixon's White House horrors weren't in the same league."
Presidential Race
Quint Forgey of Politico: "The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, said on Tuesday that the party organization would reschedule next week's presidential primary debate in Iowa if the televised event conflicts with ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate."
Alex Kantrowitz of BuzzFeed News: "... Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is wasting little time capitalizing on the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Just three days after the death of the head of Iran's Quds Force, the president's reelection campaign began to run hundreds of ads praising Trump for ordering the killing -- a decision that had been declined by presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama."
Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... Donald Trump's reelection campaign is planning to drop $10 million to advertise during the Super Bowl, the start of a massive election-year spending spree that will intensify over the coming months, according to four people briefed on the plans. The campaign has purchased 60 seconds of commercial time during the Feb. 2 Super Bowl, which is likely to be the most-watched television event of the year. The ad or ads -- it's unclear whether it will be a single 60-second spot or a pair of 30-second commercials -- are expected to run early in the game, when viewership is likely to be at its highest."
Presidential Race 2024. In case you are a fan of Nikki Haley, Ed Kilgore of New York -- with a little help from Aaron Blake & Philip Bump of the Washington Post -- will disabuse you of your admiration for that sweet-faced harridan. ~~~
~~~ Jill Filipovic in a CNN opinion piece: "How much has Trumpism broken the GOP? Just look at Nikki Haley.... On Fox News Monday, Haley made the despicable claim that Democratic leaders and Democratic candidates for president are 'the only ones that are mourning the loss of Soleimani,' the leader of Iran's Quds Force who was killed by a Trump-ordered attack. Never mind that there's no evidence -- not one iota -- for this claim. Not a single Democratic leader, candidate or other politician, 'mourned' Soleimani or expressed sadness over the man's death. To the contrary: They nearly to a one noted that he was a vicious actor, a man with the blood of thousands on his hands. But they also did what real stateswomen and men are supposed to do: Analyze the full picture."
Melanie Zanona of Politico: "Rep. Duncan Hunter will officially step down from Congress next week, more than a month after the California Republican pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misuse campaign funds. Hunter had previously said he would leave Congress after the holidays. His resignation will take effect Jan. 13, according to a copy of the letter he sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday.... Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) does not have to call a special election because the nomination period has closed and it's an election year, raising the prospect that the seat could remain vacant for the rest of 2020."
Michael Sainato of the Guardian: "A December 2019 poll conducted by Gallup found 25% of Americans say they or a family member have delayed medical treatment for a serious illness due to the costs of care, and an additional 8% report delaying medical treatment for less serious illnesses.... Despite millions of Americans delaying medical treatment due to the costs, the US still the most on healthcare of any developed nation in the world, while covering fewer people and achieving worse overall health outcomes.... A 2009 study conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School found 45,000 Americans die every year as a direct result of not having any health insurance coverage. In 2018, 27.8 million Americans went without any health insurance for the entire year." --s
The Image of Innocence. Monica Hesse of the Washington Post: "A black SUV pulled to the curb [in front of a Manhattan courthouse Monday], and as Harvey Weinstein emerged from the passenger side, his metal walker was fetched from the back. An assistant hastened it over to the disgraced movie mogul, who then began his hunched shuffle past photographers. The walker's legs were inserted into yellow tennis balls, which -- and here seems like an appropriate place to mention that Weinstein's films were often celebrations of costume design and attention to detail -- looked dingy. Weinstein had back surgery last month. It's entirely possible that the walker was necessary to his recovery (before the surgery, critics noted that he used the walker for public court appearances, but appeared to walk unaided when privately shopping).... When Weinstein arrived for the opening of his highly anticipated trial, he'd assembled a meticulous wardrobe for a specific character: a weakened man.... Weinstein's career was about accruing power. His alleged crimes were about abusing it. And his defense is about erasing it, a special effect communicating that he's either too broken to punish or, possibly, to have committed the crimes in the first place." See also Patrick's comment in yesterday's thread.
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona, etc. Thankfully, He's a Republican. Jacques Billeaud of the AP: "An elected official in metro Phoenix resigned Tuesday, months after being charged with running a human smuggling operation that paid pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to give up their babies in the U.S. The resignation of Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen came after leaders in the one of the nation's most populous counties suspended and pressured him to resign after his arrest nearly three months ago. The county's governing board voted in late December to start the process of removing Petersen, who also works as an adoption attorney. He is accused of illegally paying women from the Pacific island nation to come to the United States to give up their babies in at least 70 adoption cases in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas over three years. Citizens of the Marshall Islands have been prohibited from traveling to the U.S. for adoption purposes since 2003.... Authorities say the women who went to Utah to give birth received little or no prenatal care. They also said Petersen and his associates took passports from the pregnant women while they were in the U.S. to assert more control over them.... Petersen previously rejected calls to resign and was fighting his 120-day unpaid suspension. Thousands of files related to his adoption business were discovered on his government laptop, cementing the board's push to remove him. Content recovered on the laptop included text messages of pregnant women being threatened when they changed their minds about giving up their newborns." The Arizona Republic story is here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In case you're wondering how Petersen came up with this deplorable enterprise, the AP has the answer: "As a member of The Church of Jesus Christs of Latter-day Saints, he completed a proselytizing mission in the Marshall Islands...." Divine!
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Reader Comments (16)
Yesterday (Tuesday) morning on NPR, a story on the upcoming McConnell show trial in the Senate was introduced with the incredible claim that the Senate proceedings promise to be just as partisan as those in the House.
First, the impeachment hearings held by the House were entirely necessary and proper, not partisan. Unless one considers the caterwauling and treasonous outbursts by Republicans who simply refused to consider the facts and spent their time instead indulging their patented taste for bombastic, querulous mendacity.
This is the worst and most misleading sort of bothsiderism. If you can’t get it right please don’t make shit up so as not to piss off any traitors who happen to be listening in.
Jesus.
This observation has been true for years, but it seems to be exceedingly more so in these times of deep uncertainty: the need for (uninformed) first takes on breaking news.
First it was the advent of the 24/7 news cycle and then came social media, which at first was taken up hesitantly by most serious journalists but has now become indispensable. Getting the news out ASAP that Iran shot off missiles is a great service to keep everyone in the know, but I'm increasingly disturbed how everyone it seems has jumped onto the frenetic 'first out of the gate' analysis mentality, likely pushed by the desire to get more clicks and interactions = ad revenue = stay afloat.
The ground was still smoldering in Iraq while multiple articles pour out about what it means and game theory and blah, blah, blah. A journalist I respect, Josh Marshall of TPM, wrote up a post seemingly seconds after hearing the news with the ominous title "A Dark, Dangerous Moment". As facts are gathered and it seems no American was harmed and it could be a path for deescalation, Marshall with have to write up another one informing the previous. It's a frankly irresponsible practice. Even for those of us trying to stay informed as possible, these dynamics are leading to further confusion; imagine those who only try in passing.
I gave up on NPR when the GOP took over the Senate. Their insistence on being “fair” has led to them be mere credulous parrots of the right-wing talking points their GOP (or worse) “guests” spew.
@Akhilleus: Yes, just as the NPR segment I heard yesterday made McConnell sound like the Prince of Fairness because he proposed to conduct Trump's just like Clinton's impeachment trial, never mentioning or even hinting what few listeners know or recall today: that Starr got all the cooperating witnesses he needed.
I don't think NPR reporters & commentators are stupid: I think they're Republican shills with pleasant, modulated speaking voices who make "reasonable," plausible-sounding arguments that align with GOP talking points. "NPR," it turns out, stands for National Party of Republicans.
I don't think NPR reporters (voices?) are stupid either, and the smartie part of me used to enjoy small ego-stroking doses of what NPR offered, but overall NPR has long sounded too precious for my ear, purveyors of the ain't we special elite that irritates the hell out of Real Americans, a group which to the degree that they irritate me too I would have to count myself as belonging....
And that was before the Repugnant take over of their news programming, which has resulted in a more educated, as Bea says, reasonable-sounding version of the fraudulent both siderism that destroys any possibility of finding any real meaning in what we hear.
It's everywhere, even in that journal of higher education, the Sunday newspaper supplement "Parade Magazine," where I encountered its resident intellectual Marilyn Savant, the lady with the puzzles, suggest that adherence to political parties (note the "s") gets in the way of real thinking.
I sent her this last Sunday:
"Enjoy your “Parade” puzzles and usually sensible comments, Ms. Savant.
Have to express mild disappointment with your Jan 5 comment on belief, though, to the large degree it relies on the curses on both your houses meme.
Surely true believers infest all political parties, but one of our current parties is far more comfortable with and welcoming to the irrational—the rabidly anti-science and conspiracy-friendly—than is the other, and failure to point that out here in 2020 is a great disservice to the public.
If you wish to attack the sources of irrational belief more directly, though “Parade” editors would likely cringe at the thought, I’d recommend a few comments on the large part religion plays in training people to accept absurdity.
Have a good New Year."
More tilting at windmills, I know...
I'm pretty sure I recall reading somewhere that the crazed, narcissistic maniac Nero tweeted "Omnis bene est" as he oversaw the destruction of Rome. "All is well", garbled out by a congenital liar like Trump has exactly the opposite effect. It was likely heard on the bridge of the Titanic, and uttered by officers manning the Maginot Line, by investors on October 24, 1929, and by Fox anal cysts on election night 2016.
I'm tempted to respond "Acta, non verba" to Fatty's assurances that all is well, but we've already had a look at his acta, all of which tend to be stultus.
Ken: It may be "more tilting at windmills" but isn't that our job as citizens? We can yummer all we want in the security of our abodes, but our voices need to be heard beyond those walls and you, Ken, are doing just that. Don't stop!
P.S. watched the documentary "Where's My Roy Cohen" last night. I recommend it: It's a clear portrait of a brilliant, utterly corrupt closeted homosexual who made his way into all those bonfires of the vain and prosperous political theater. Fatty shows up late in the game but then never lets go of Roy's advice: "Never apologize for anything--ever"–– and "lie your way out of everything."
Here was a man–-Cohen–-whose mommy (who had her own problems of not being loved) adored her little boy to the point of telling him over and over how great and special he was. As an adult he could never admit he was wrong about anything. In his bedrooms he had dozens of stuffed frogs ( a childhood holdover) and had to have sex every day. So as he screwed others in his day job, he screwed others when the sun went down.
He died of Aides; he died a broken man. So when Donald cries out "Where is my Roy Cohen!" someone should remind him.
Ken,
To pick up on PD's train of thought, I would point to the aptness of your reference to "tilting at windmills" especially as we are currently mired in the distinctly evil Swamp of Trump.
I have little interest in whether or not Fatty has ever read "Don Quixote" (I'd bet the farm that he hasn't), but if he is able to call up the tiniest cultural allusion to the character of the Cervantes' knight, it is likely one of ridicule and disparagement. A foolish old man who dreams of honor and nobility. But here's the thing. If you don't have dreams, you have nightmares, and nightmares are what Trump trucks in.
The old Don has long been one of my most cherished characters. He is the one who runs, as the song has it, where the brave dare not go. He is the one who attempts to right the unrightable wrongs, to fight for what's right without question or pause. Or hope, even.
The Don is the essence of the medieval image of chivalry, a code of honor for knights which directed them at all costs to remain just, decent, and honorable, to treat women with courtesy and grace, to fight for those who cannot help themselves, the poor and the outcast, to never lie and to remain faithful to pledges (oaths) taken.
These qualities are so un-Trump-like (and toxic to the Republican Party as a whole) as to be from another universe. Trump, who craves authoritarian muscle, who seeks to emulate the craven, the ruthless, the dishonorable, the mendacious, the law breakers, the terminally immoral, has wrought immeasurable harm on the country and the world.
It may not be the harm from the horrors of Nazism or Soviet style communism, but it is harm nonetheless. It is a diminshment of spirit, a hollowing out of the heart, a raising up of the worst human instincts, instincts that allow him to rape women, spit on the poor, mourn the murderers, love the rapists, and celebrate the rapacious.
If ever the world needed more Don Quixotes, it is now.
The goal of the code of chivalry is not stupid, not old fashioned, not the stuff of fairy tales and legends. It is a goal to strive for, the best of human nature. A way of being in the world that demonstrates what humanity can be at its apogee, a way forward when the dark road seems the easy way to riches and power, the road ever chosen by such as Trump.
Fatty drags us all down into the muck and the mud and his enablers and sycophants like Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham are taking pleasure in watching the windmills beat back noble knights of all stripe, all genders, and all races.
Such pleasures are fleeting and ignoble, disgraceful. Honor is not.
But they will never understand this. They will continue to laugh at the noble and the honorable, the decent and the just. And so, tilt on, my friend, tilt on.
PD,
Sorry, I know it's a typo, but I couldn't help but think immediately "You know what? Maybe Trump will 'die' of 'aides' too!"
And on a more sober note, someone should remind Trump (he won't give a shit) that when Cohn, who provided him with the roadmap to his current state (however you choose to think of it), who tutored him in the logic of going low, lower, lowest, was left to die alone, he was somewhere else. One might expect a decent person, even an asshole, to visit someone who had given them so much as they lay dying alone in a hospital room.
Not Trump. "Roy who?" was likely his write-off for the guy whose spirit he now cries out for.
Words fail me.
AK: I know I misspelled AIDs ( liked what you did with that, however) I also misspelled Cohn. I'm typing too fast or/and I'm just having trouble spelling these days. I'm going to blame it on not my youth, although I wish I could, but blame it on all this administration's weaselspeak which clouds men's mind or eyes in my case.
And speaking of Cervantes: He coined so many gems; here's one that's relevant:
"Those that play with cats must expect to be scratched."
PD,
Cervantes’ cat scratch admonition is too perfect for an inveterate pussy grabber like Fatty. I did notice the Cohen substitution-by-rapid-typing (a too common mishap of my own) and thought that pretty perfect as well. Trump asks “Where is my Cohen?, and the (hopefully) omen-like answer is, “Why, your majesty, funny you should ask. Your Cohen is in jail.”
So may you be, you sonovabitch. And that right soon.
Noblesse oblige certainly, but maybe too a hint of emerging sanity among the privileged?
I'd like to think I'd forego my private jet, too, (as soon as my wife and I make our planned trip in Feb...)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/06/the-ultra-wealthy-who-argue-that-they-should-be-paying-higher-taxes?verso=true
Have just finished Adam Hochschild's book on the Spanish Civil War, "Spain in Our Hearts."
Like all good history it evoked many thoughts about the present. I shed tears along the way. When I get the thoughts, not the tears, organized might burden you all with a few.
Ken,
Regarding the Hochschild book, please, burden away. I first encountered Hochschild's work through his book "King Leopold's Ghost", about the atrocities inflicted upon the natives of the Congo by the Belgian king who believed that the "lesser" races lived to serve his greed. Sound familiar? I distinctly recall being introduced to this evil prick through the offices of Vachel Lindsay via his poem "The Congo". I heard a recording, as a freshman in high school, of Lindsay reciting this piece. Pretty hair-raising stuff for a 14 year old. Despite the racist overlays ("Fat black bucks in a wine barrel room..." and "skull faced witchmen"), Lindsay found an appropriate place for the king, burning in hell as demons cut off his hands, as he had done to those Congo natives who declined to bust their guts to fill his coffers with rubber profits.
God only knows what Trump would have been like had he been a 19th century king or robber baron.
Anyway, I'd be curious to read about his take on the Spanish Civil War, another historical episode revealed to me in my high school reading ("For Whom the Bell Tolls", among other books).
https://nypost.com/2020/01/08/rod-rosenstein-who-oversaw-robert-muellers-probe-heads-to-corporate-law-firm/
And here I thought he'd take a job as a public defender.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/federal-appeals-court-upholds-bar-trump-s-public-charge-rule-n1112666
Am thinking that corporations and wealthy individuals [Amazon (and Pretenders?????)] that pay no taxes and live on the beneficence of others should also be considered "public charges" and deported.