Tuesday
Jun092015
The Commentariat -- June 10, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Jad Mouawad & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Obama administration on Wednesday said it would regulate greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes, a move that could significantly strengthen President Obama's environmental legacy but that also presents major new challenges for the airline industry. The Environmental Protection Agency found that emissions from airplanes endanger human health because of their contribution to global warming. That finding does not yet impose specific new requirements on airlines, but instead requires the agency to develop the new rules, as it has done for motor vehicles and power plants."
Jana Kasperkevic of the Guardian: "Los Angeles will officially raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. After a third and final city council vote, workers in Los Angeles will receive incremental pay increases over the next five years that will bump their wages up from $9."
Michelle Rindels of the AP: "Brian Sandoval, who gave up a lifetime appointment as a federal judge to run for Nevada governor, said Tuesday he liked the job so much that he was turning his back on a U.S. Senate bid that he would've been highly favored to win. Sandoval's decision to forgo a run for the seat held by retiring Democrat Sen. Harry Reid brings the search for the Republican nominee into sharper focus...."
*****
Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "In a major shift of focus in the battle against the Islamic State, the Obama administration is planning to establish a new military base in Anbar Province and send 400 American military trainers to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi. Although a final decision by the White House has yet to be announced, the plan follows months of behind-the-scenes debate about how prominently plans to retake another Iraqi city, Mosul, which fell to the Islamic State last year, should figure in the early phase of the military campaign against the group."
Monica Davey, et al., of the New York Times: "After days of silence, J. Dennis Hastert, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he illegally structured bank withdrawals and lied to the authorities about millions of dollars he had promised to pay someone for misconduct that occurred decades ago.... He was released on a $4,500 bond and ordered to stay in the continental United States, to surrender his passport and to remove his sons' guns from his suburban home within two weeks. He was also told to avoid contact with anyone who might be a witness or an accuser in his case.... Judge [Thomas] Durkin, who had been randomly assigned to the case [and who has several personal connections to Hastert], said he would remove himself unless both sides -- the prosecution and Mr. Hastert's lawyers -- decided this week to waive objections and permit him to stay on."
Dana Milbank: "President Obama uttered more than 3,600 words on the stage of Washington's Marriott Wardman Park ballroom on Tuesday, but his message could be summed up in three: You wouldn't dare.... He was speaking ... to five men not in the room: the conservative justices of the Supreme Court. His appeal to the justices, devotees of judicial modesty all: Do they really wish to cause the massive societal upheaval that would come from killing a law that is now a routine part of American life?... It's difficult to imagine the Supreme Court justices taking away health coverage for 6 or 7 million Americans, causing costs to skyrocket for millions of others, and likely plunging the entire American healthcare system in chaos. That's not just judicial activism -- it would be a judicially induced cataclysm.... I have faith that the conservative justices, even if they detest Obamacare, have no wish to throw the country into chaos." ...
... Here's better audio, courtesy of C-SPAN, of President Obama's speech on the Affordable Care Act, delivered yesterday:
... Greg Sargent reads Mitch McConnell's tea leaves: "Republicans will argue that the post-King chaos is the fault of the law itself, and not the fault of the Court decision (which Republicans urged on) that is knocking out a key pillar of it. In this telling, the cause of all the damage will be that Obamacare held out the false promise of economic security for millions, in the form of expanded coverage, but that security was then snatched out from under all those people (thanks to Obummer's incompetence) when the Court clarified what the law actually says. All this is only the latest way in which Obamacare is hurting countless Americans. That's pretty damn slick."
Manny Fernandez & Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "A federal appellate court upheld some of the toughest provisions of a Texas abortion law on Tuesday, putting more than a dozen of the state's remaining abortion clinics at risk of permanently shutting their doors and leaving the nation's second-most populous state with possibly seven providers. There were 41 when the law was passed. Abortion providers and women's rights groups vowed a quick appeal to the United States Supreme Court, setting the stage for what could be the most far-reaching ruling in years on when legislative restrictions pose an 'undue burden' on the constitutional right to an abortion." ...
... Tierney Sneed of TPM: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has cleared the way for most of a restrictive Texas abortion law -- that among other things requires clinics to meet hospital-like standards and providers to attain special credentials with local hospitals -- to go into effect. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, all but seven of the clinics in the state stand risk of closing." Includes copy of decision. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... MEANWHILE. Jason Stein & Andrew Hahn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Amid a lengthy and wrenching debate, the Wisconsin Senate passed a Republican-backed bill Tuesday to ban abortions after 20 weeks from fertilization. The bill is moving quickly toward becoming law but would be struck down by a federal trial court if a lawsuit against the measure is eventually brought, legal experts said. Only the U.S. Supreme Court could uphold the measure, which carries no exemptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother.... The legislation ... now heads to the Assembly.... Gov. Scott Walker ... has said he would sign the bill if it came to his desk."
Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: "The Library of Congress is to announce on Wednesday that Juan Felipe Herrera, a son of migrant farmworkers whose writing fuses wide-ranging experimentalism with reflections on Mexican-American identity, will be the next poet laureate. The appointment is the nation's highest honor in poetry and also something of a direct promotion for Mr. Herrera, who was poet laureate of California from 2012 to 2014." ...
... Here are a few of Herrera's poems. Dwight Garner of the New York Times highlights Herrera's special gifts.
Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan of Politico: "House leaders, confident but not yet certain they have the support to pass sweeping trade legislation, are aiming to bring the package to a floor vote by the end of this week -- even as they rush to resolve a last-minute hangup over how to pay for aid to displaced workers."
American "Justice," Ctd. Shaila DeWan of the New York Times: "Defense lawyers, scholars and even some judges say the high bail amounts set for some Baltimore protesters highlight a much broader problem with the nation's money-based bail system. They say that system routinely punishes poor defendants before they get their day in court, often keeping them incarcerated for longer than if they had been convicted right away.... Critics say the system allows defendants with money to go free even if they are dangerous, while keeping low-risk poor people in jail unnecessarily and at great cost to taxpayers.... For those who cannot afford to post bail, even a short stay in jail can quickly unravel lives and families." ...
... A Larger Lesson from McKinney. Seth Stoughton in TPM: "A short video of officers in McKinney, Texas, shows us the avoidable results of an unnecessarily aggressive approach to policing. But in the same video, we can see a few seconds of policing the way the way it should be done.... As a former police officer and current policing scholar, I know that an officer's mindset has tremendous impact on police/civilian encounters. I've described the Guardian and Warrior mindsets at some length here and here; for now, suffice to say that the right mindset can de-escalate tense situations, induce compliance, and increase community trust over the long-term." (See also Beyond the Beltway.) ...
... digby: "I think everyone got so caught up in the story of military gear appearing on the streets of America that our discussion of the militarization of police got short changed. This is the big problem that stems from militarization --- bad training and bad attitudes."
C. J. Ciaramella of BuzzFeed: "The Justice Department has issued a federal grand jury subpoena to Reason, a prominent libertarian publication, to unmask the identity of commenters who made alleged threats against a federal judge.... The subpoena raises several First Amendment issues, such as whether the comments rise to the level of a 'true threat' or are protected free speech. The Supreme Court recently ruled that 'true threats' must be made with some knowledge or intent that the threat will be taken seriously. Kimberly Chow, an attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the comments on Reason clearly fall within the internet's regular, if outrageous and often vile, discourse.... Free speech advocates also worry that such subpoenas burden websites with significant legal costs and could have a chilling effect on speech." ...
... CW: FYI, "burdening websites with significant legal costs" is one reason I delete the very infrequent comments made on Realty Chex that might be perceived as threats or inciting violence -- I can't afford them. But, go ahead, as some have done, & accuse me of having "a chilling effect on speech." ...
... Virginia Postrel of Bloomberg, who says she is one of the founders of Reason: "Venting anger about injustice is not a crime. Neither is being obnoxious on the Internet. The chances of one of these commenters being convicted of threatening the judge are essentially nil. Conviction isn't the point. Crying 'threats' just makes a handy pretext for harassing Reason and its commenters. The real threats ... [are] coming from civil servants in suits. Subpoenaing Reason's website records, wasting its staff's time and forcing it to pay legal fees in hopes of imposing even larger legal costs ... sends an intimidating message...."
Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "A rush to recruit additional Secret Service officers in the wake of numerous White House security lapses has led to a new problem: Several dozen of the fresh arrivals have been posted in sensitive positions without completing the required national security clearance process, according to two government officials familiar with the situation.... [Rep. Mark] Meadows [R-N.C.] told The Post it was 'very puzzling' that a violation of security standards was tolerated for so long and now could be resolved in a week."
David Nakamura & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "The White House daily briefing was interrupted Tuesday when reporters and staff were evacuated by the U.S. Secret Service during the televised question-and-answer session due to a bomb threat made over the telephone, authorities said."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd., "Luxury" Edition
Dylan Byers, et al., of Politico: "In an effort to showcase Sen. Marco Rubio's history of financial struggles, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Florida Republican had spent '$80,000 for a luxury speedboat' even as he faced outstanding debts. But while Rubio did indeed spend $80,000 on a boat, the vessel in question is not the glamorous 'luxury speedboat' the Times article portrayed. It is, in fact, an offshore fishing boat.... The manufacturer, Edgewater, notes that the boat is perfect for 'safety-minded family boaters and avid anglers.' In a place like Miami, home to billionaires and stars who have multimillion-dollar yachts, an '$80,000 luxury boat' can seem like a contradiction." ...
... CW: Byers, et al., are fractionally-right to call out the Times' characterization of the boat. When I read the Times article, I pictured a Bush-family-type cigarette boat, not a clunky fishing boat. However, the Politico "reporters" then go overboard, so to speak, in emphasizing the boat's family values. As Hunter Walker of Business Insider notes, "However you might define the boat, it is clearly marketed as an impressive craft. On its website, EdgeWater describes its Deep-V Center Consoles as 'luxury boats.' The manufacturer's website describes the model owned by Rubio as an 'unsinkable' boat 'of unmistakable distinction' with 'offshore capabilities.'" ...
... CW: As I watched the video, I couldn't help think of the cost of docking, drydocking, fueling & maintaining the boat in Miami. (Do you think Marco cleans out the bilge tank? Or scrapes barnacles? I can't quite picture him even cleaning his own fish.) ...
... Charles Pierce: "Over the last couple of weeks, [Dylan Byers has] ... gone to work on behalf of The Washington Free Beacon, a Washington supermarket flyer for ratfkers run by William Kristol's otherwise unemployable son-in-law, Matthew Continetti, who once vowed that he would be engaging in 'combat journalism.'" ...
** "The Fournier Effect." Charles Pierce: Our elite journalists can't handle democracy. "I have no idea whether [Hillary Clinton] will 'tack back to the center,' or whatever the cliche du jour turns out to be in the high midsummer of 2016. But, for now, if she's making the likes of Ron Fournier and David Brooks nervous about their ongoing journalistic malpractice, that's all to the good." ...
... In one of his best -- and as usual, humorous -- takedowns ever, Driftglass eviscerates Brooks' column. Driftglass exposes, for the umpteenth (modest estimate) time Brooks' tried-&-lied shifty elisions of facts. Brooks is an expert at ignoring -- and inviting the reader to ignore -- the salient truths that would demolish his arguments.
Presidential Race
CW: In a somewhat convoluted way, perhaps because she culled her column from a panel discussion, Joan Walsh of Salon sez what I said the other day. Walsh -- and Democratic strategist & opinion researcher Stan Greenberg -- assert that Hillary Clinton does indeed champion policy goals that appeal to working class whites, especially white women. ...
... CW: Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post, friend of David Brooks & fake liberal, writes -- correctly, I think -- "Reports of Hillary Clinton's supposed lurch to the left have been greatly exaggerated.... Nothing Clinton is saying is outside the 2015 Democratic Party mainstream -- or, more to the point, is likely to hurt her in a general election.... As Clinton prepares for her big launch speech Saturday and begins to flesh out her policy specifics over the summer, the left-leaning positions she isn't taking are as significant as the ones she has endorsed." Here's where Marcus outs herself -- in perfect Village vernacular, I might add: "Folks like me will hope in vain for even a glancing mention of the national debt or entitlement reform." Brooks couldn't have said it better. And, yes, Hillary, we so want to hear some of that "belt-tightening" rhetoric.
Jeb Does Germany. Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: In Berlin, "in a speech before a business group affiliated with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, [Jeb] Bush praised former president George H.W. Bush for having partnered a quarter-century ago with then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl in one of 'history's decisive turns.... The work was done, and because of that, Germany was whole and Germany is free.' At no point, however, did Jeb Bush mention the more recent Bush presidency -- that of his brother George W. Bush -- when relations with European allies were strained over the Iraq war and the go-it-alone approach of the 43rd president's administration." ...
... Matea Gold & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "A super PAC backing ... Jeb Bush is likely to fall short of collecting $100 million by the end of this month, despite widespread expectations that the group would hit that record-breaking sum, according to people close to the operation.... That would be a major psychological blow for Bush's operation, whose fundraising prowess has raised expectations about how much cash it has been amassing. Bush's schedule for the past five months has been dominated by high-priced fundraisers for the super PAC, helping the group stockpile tens of millions."
Nick Gass of Politico: "Unmarried Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says that if he becomes president, he will have a 'rotating first lady.'" CW: I think I'll vote for Lindsey just so I can watch a first lady rotate. As well as being an experienced first lady, Michelle Obama is a very good dancer & athletic gymnast. Lindsey should pick her. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update: Ah, Akhilleus has found a well-qualified candidate:
Here's Diane's entry (BTW, there seems to be a good deal of animal cruelty on the YouTubes):
Wait! Wait! MAG has an excellent suggestion, & likely more to Lindsey's "lifestyle choice":
Nick Gass: "Just one Iowan showed up at [Rick Santorum's] 2 p.m. campaign stop Monday at a restaurant in the unincorporated community of Hamlin, population 300, according to a report from The Des Moines Register -- Peggy Toft, an insurance agent who chairs the county's Republican Party.... Eventually, there were four Iowans gathered at Santorum's table.... Santorum told the Register that the low turnout was not surprising, but that it is all a part of the plan." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Samantha Marcus of NJ.com: "The [New Jersey] state Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Gov. Chris Christie can slash billions of dollars in contributions from New Jersey's troubled public employee pension system. The court's ruling caps an intense fight for pension funding and deals a major blow to the state's labor unions, who challenged Christie's spending cuts. Christie had sought to dismantle the pension law, which he argued was unconstitutional. Judges split 5-2 reversing the lower court's ruling that ordered Christie had broken his own landmark pension law and had to work with the Legislature to comply with it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Guardian: "Nearly 24 hours after a judge ordered the release of a man who has spent more than four decades in solitary confinement, another court has ordered him to remain in prison at least until the end of this week. On Monday, a federal court ordered the immediate release of Albert Woodfox, the last of the 'Angola Three' inmates, who has been in solitary confinement in a 6 by 8 sq ft cell since 18 April 1972. Judge James Brady called Woodfox's release 'the only just remedy' after his two previous convictions for the death of a prison guard were overturned because of racial prejudice and lack of evidence. But Louisiana attorney general Buddy Caldwell on Tuesday appealed to the fifth US circuit court of appeals in New Orleans to keep Woodfox in prison with the intent to try him a third time." ...
... "The United States of Torture." Charles Pierce: "There are two stories out there that fill me with horror and disgust. They involve the fact that I live in a country that has made peace with its own inherent barbarism, one in Louisiana and one in New York.... Dear god, 40 years in solitary? By any measure, including those used by the United Nations, solitary confinement is a form of torture. It drives people mad." ...
... Los Angeles Times: "Los Angeles Police Officer Sharlton Wampler said he was in a life-and-death struggle with Ezell Ford, wrestling over the officer's gun on a summer evening last year. Fearing Ford would get control of the weapon, Wampler pulled out a backup gun from beneath his uniform and fired a fatal shot into his back. The account prompted Chief Charlie Beck to conclude Wampler was justified in opening fire. But on Tuesday, the L.A. Police Commission rejected Beck's finding, ruling that Wampler's use of deadly force violated LAPD policy.... The commission decided [Wampler] did not have a reason to stop and detain Ford in the first place. His handling of the encounter, the commission concluded, was so flawed that it led to the fatal confrontation.... It now falls to Beck, who alone is authorized to discipline officers, to decide what punishment, if any, to impose." CW: So according to the commission, that Walking While Black is not a death-penalty crime in L.A., after all. In theory, anyway. ...
... Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Video footage of a group of police officers in California beating a man with batons is being investigated by the department after the city's police chief conceded that it appeared 'horrific and inflammatory'. Officers from the city of Salinas were filmed repeatedly striking Jose Velasco, who is said by his sister to have a mental illness, as he writhed around on a street on Friday. Velasco, 28, appears from the video clip to be hit on his head, legs, hands and back during the 45-second beating." ...
... Sarah Mervosh of the Dallas Morning News: "McKinney[, Texas,] Police Chief Greg Conley condemned as 'indefensible' the actions of Eric Casebolt, an officer who resigned Tuesday, after a video of Casebolt physically confronting teenagers at a pool party attracted national attention. Conley said at a news conference late Tuesday that Casebolt, 41, resigned 'on his own will' while under investigation. He will keep his pension and benefits.... The chief said the investigation will take some time to determine whether Casebolt should be criminally charged." ...
... CW: Remember this: some officers are brutes, some are racists & some are both. But mostly, they are not too intelligent.
Jessica Wohl of the Chicago Tribune: "McDonald's tapped two outsiders for key brand roles on Tuesday, the latest signal from the world's largest restaurant company that it wants to ignite change in the organization. Robert Gibbs, former press secretary for President Barack Obama, was named global chief communications officer. Silvia Lagnado, a past chief marketing officer for Bacardi Limited, was named global chief marketing officer, a position that was vacant for five years." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Power of Grover. Tierney Sneed of TPM: Deep in a budget crisis, some Louisiana GOP legislators have begged tax nazi Grover Norquist to loosen his "no-new-taxes" manifesto to allow them some wiggle room to write a budget Norquist Disciple Bobby Jindal would sign. Norquist, of course, declined. CW: Pathetic.
Way Beyond
Chicks Are Crybabies & Distractions to Great Men of Science. Jamie Grierson of the Guardian: "The Nobel laureate Tim Hunt has apologised for comments he made about female scientists. Hunt had told a conference he had a reputation for being a chauvinist, before saying: 'Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab. You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.' The 72-year-old, who was awarded the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine in 2001, also said he was in favour of single-sex labs, while adding that he did not want to 'stand in the way of women'."
News Ledes
CNN: "American citizen Keith Broomfield was killed fighting in Syria, a State Department official confirmed Wednesday." He was reputedly fighting with Kurdish forces against ISIS.
Reuters: "Several thousand barrels of crude have spilled into a river in southwest Colombia after insurgents bombed a pipeline, state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday, describing the damage as an 'environmental tragedy.'"
Washington Post: "Alleged serial offender Jesse L. Matthew Jr. on Wednesday was convicted in a brutal 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax City after a stunning development in which he reached a plea deal with prosecutors on the third day of his trial."
New York Times: "An examination of the cellphone used by the engineer on the Amtrak train that crashed just outside Philadelphia last month turned up no evidence that he was on the phone at the time of the accident, federal investigators said Wednesday."
AP: "Pope Francis has created a new Vatican tribunal section to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect children from sexually abusive priests, the biggest step the Holy See has taken yet to hold bishops accountable."
Guardian: "Pope Francis has been encouraged by a top American diplomat to take a tougher stance against Vladimir Putin when he meets the Russian president on Wednesday evening. The pope, a frequent critic of military action, has taken a cautious approach to criticism of Russia since its annexation of Crimea. Kenneth Hackett, the US ambassador to the Holy See, said the Vatican 'could say more about concerns on territorial integrity'."
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Reader Comments (11)
Ah, yes, Ruth Marcus––""Folks like me will hope in vain for even a glancing mention of the national debt or entitlement reform." Yep, folks like you and conservatives like you are always worried about the debt, the deficit, and those darn "entitlements." Instead of hoping in vain how about introducing once again, just as Bernie and Warren have, the issue of tax reform. Why not remind those "folks" of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which cut the upper tax rate in the U.S. to 28% and was considered the distinctive achievement of none other than the Republican god himself, Ronald Reagan. During the Clinton years and now with Obama that rate has not been called into serious question. Will Hillary address the idea of going back to a more progressive tax structure? She's on the inequality bandwagon and since many economists say that lowering the top income tax rates have sharply contributed to the rise of inequality since the 1980s, without bringing adequate corresponding benefits to society at large.
And then we have Jeb who wants to raise one hundred million dollars for his fucking campaign––one hundred million???? Not that he's alone in this, it's just so sickening that this kind of money floats around like pollen, producing wheezles and sneezles and then poof, gone with the wind.
And here's a jolly story: During Maggie Thatcher's reign, when she, too, dropped the marginal income tax rate to 40 % (previously, 83%) one Conservative MP got so carried away that he reported to have said that "he did not have enough zeros on his calculator" to measure the size of the tax cut that he had just helped to improve for himself.
Now that's a problem! Sigh~~~~~~~~~
Marie,
I liked your description of Dylan Byers' latest moon pie offering as being "fractionally right". Fractionally right is typically the best Byers has to offer. Most times he's either completely wrong or simply way off. In most all instances he's an incompetent hack.
So he wants to make hay on the Times' characterization of Rubio's juvenile boat purchase, and in the process, help Team Rubio distract the public from the candidate's inept, underhanded mismanagement of his personal finances, which includes stealing from taxpayers by double billing.
You know what Dylan? I don't give a rat's ass what kind of boat it is. And I don't care that it doesn't stack up to billionaire yachts. It's not important that his "safety minded family boat for avid anglers" looks bad next to Norman Braman's 175 foot yacht. So how's this for an avid angle? An $80,000 boat--whether a speedboat, fishing boat, leaky dinghy, or garbage scow, is for 99.9% of Americans, a luxury. End of fucking story.
And speaking of stories, how is it that it took three Politico staffers to write a 328 word article? He can't muster more than 109.33 words a day? Or is he like the monkey who types a million words in order to find 100 words that read like a person wrote them?
This is classic misdirection. The point of the Times piece was that Rubio had money problems when he was starting out and over time those problems have become much worse, to the point where they demonstrate both his inability to rein in his adolescent desires and control his own spending (something he insists we all do, by the way) AND his reliance on big money sugar daddies to bail him out, and to whom he now, to quote Tennessee Ernie Ford, owes his soul to the company store; and decidedly not to the American people.
This is also a version of argumentum ad hominem, wherein the attacker, in order to put a certain argument in a bad light, criticizes the character of the speaker. In this case, the giveaway is the first sentence:
"In an effort to showcase Sen. Marco Rubio's history of financial struggles, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Florida Republican had spent "$80,000 for a luxury speedboat" even as he faced outstanding debts."
Typically the construction "in an effort to show..." is used when the writer's intent is to demonstrate that the effort failed.
The check is in the mail, Dylan, but don't wait by the mailbox. It's a check from Rubio so it may bounce when it gets there.
Loser.
Oh, and by the by, since Norman Braman has been helping Young Marco with his ledger balancing, it's instructive to note how the teacher handles his own personal finances. Braman registers his yacht, "Kisses" (as in "my ass") in the Caymans, rather than Florida where he lives. This accomplishes two legal, but essentially un-American goals. He doesn't have to pay state taxes and fees and he skirts American labor laws, enabling him to hire foreigners to run his boat. Are you listening Marco? Sure you are!
Is this what Lindsey Graham has in mind?
I see where Juanito Arbusto is already laying pipe for his very own foreign policy disaster.
I've said it before and I wasn't kidding:
Bush I: small war, never handled properly but touted as military genius on a par with Waterloo.
Bush II: regional war on shocking scale in both loss of life, cost, and cataclysmic devastation to stability in the middle east leading to ISIS and who knows what additional horrors to come.
Bush III: small and regional don't do it for Juanito. He's looking to kick the Bear. WWIII or bust!
Will the American people be stupid enough to go with yet another privileged, self-possessed incompetent from a family that more closely resembles the mafia than it does a political dynasty?
I guess all that "looking into his soul" bullshit didn't work for Bush III. I suppose he has to do something to prove his "manhood".
And here he is planning to do exactly that.
Juanito, are you sure you wouldn't like a nice game of chess?
It's gigglicious that Lindsay doesn't even mention the possibility of an actual First Lady. The closet isn't big enough for both their gowns.
Akhilleus, your rotating ballerina was much more high minded than my mental image. My first image involved my beloved bulldog butt twirling.
Before things get too far afield with the possibly imminent vivisection of the ACA, it's important, vital really, to not lose sight of the fact that the case upon which the Five Horsemen of the Derpocalypse may be casting evil fairy dust, is one that never should have made it this far. It's a largely illegitimate case brought by plaintiffs without any significant standing (a fact used before by the court to boot complaints they didn't want to deal with), manufactured for the express purpose of enticing--no, demanding--Little Johnny and company to rule in their favor. The fact that the Dwarfs chose to rule on it at all speaks volumes.
Just sayin'.
And I recognize that some pundits are suggesting that the president's recent speech on the subject was designed as a shot across the Supremes' bow, daring them to kill the ACA. But that outcome obtains if and only if the Dwarfs hear the argument. I doubt Fox, source of most of their information, gave this speech much airplay.
Re: Lindsay's rotating FLOTUS, I'm envisioning something more like one of those Swiss cuckoo cuckoo clocks with a cast of little ladies (think old Sid Caesar routine here!) revolving 'round and 'round.
As part owner of the White House, (1/325,000,000th) I think we
owners should have a say in choosing a first lady to live in our house
if Lindsey Graham is elected (ha!) I have in mind a Latina Lesbian.
It's not like they will be copulating anyway, because R's don't believe
in that from what I've heard.
Forrest,
Normally, given their pinched puritanical stance towards anything involving S*X, sexy time is forbidden or strictly circumscribed, but copulation is possible for R's under a couple of scenarios. First, god tells them to do it, and the woman has no choice, as usual, choice not being something they do well.
Second, they can do it as long as there's some illegality or illicitness or sleaziness connected to the whole seedy business: cheating on your wife while she's in the hospital dying of cancer, picking up strangers in the men's room after voting repeatedly against LGBT rights, hitting on underage boys you happen to coach in "wrestling" (Greco-Roman, no doubt, accent on the Greco), or perhaps you pretend to be hiking the Appalachian trail while practicing the prone polka with someone--not your wife, or maybe you're a family values married guy dancing the horizontal tango with hookers while dressed in a baby diaper.
Gives the future President Graham some options anyway.
I like your idea of a Latina lesbian. Maybe one of those Carnaval do Brasil ladies with the wild costumes and gigantic headdresses. Can't you picture conga lines at the inaugural ball with a drunken Lindsey shaking his maracas?
And Kansas sinks ever further into the dark and damp cave of Right Wing World. Sing it loud to the world my friends, this grand conservative "experiment" sure is producing some stunning results. None to be proud of unfortunately.
Brownback's now threatening the Judicial branch with making them unemployed if they dare use long-established laws against him. Where are the tricorns waving the Constitution in Topeka? Oh yeah, they're there, but they're supporting this charade of Democracy. Tyrant? Nah, determined visionary!
And speaking of Democracy, Brownback has again let loose Kris Kobach (R-evil) to hunt down all them colored folk tryin' to exercise their voting rights by voting 12 twelve times. That's right, we're spending more time and more public money (*cough*cough* $400 million budget shortfall! What to do? Raise petty tax on the poor, hurray!) on the Right's favorite witch hunt, the ever-elusive fraudsters ripping apart our democracy 3 ballots at a time. Oh yeah, and we still don't have a state budget, 20 days past the official 90-day session. Why? Because negotiating is for losers so get on the Brownback train or lose your milk money.
Governance!(?)
http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article23610484.html
Lindsey's offerings by Diane (whose dog looks like it has worms which causes a terrible itch that presents with this butt sliding); Ak's ballerina who, I'm afraid would run circles around poor Lindsey; and finally MAG's wonderful crazy clock (I remember seeing this–-have always thought Sid Caesar and crew one of the best we've ever had). Thanks all for your efforts––perhaps Lindsey will have to resort to an escort service or purchase a blow up babe to inflate and deflate at his leisure––tick tock!