Wednesday
Feb282024
The Conversation -- February 28, 2024
** John Fritze of CNN: "The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether Donald Trump may claim immunity in special counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case, adding another explosive appeal from the former president to its docket and further delaying his federal trial. The court agreed to expedite the case and hear arguments the week of April 22." At 5:10 pm ET, this is a developing story. The AP's story is here. Marie: To be clear, the Supremes are aiding & abetting Trump's delay-delay-delay tactic, thus effectively giving Trump immunity without granting general presidential immunity.
** Buh-bye, Mitch. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell, the longtime top Senate Republican, said on Wednesday that he would give up his spot as the party's leader at the end of this year, acknowledging that his Reaganite national security views had put him out of step with a party now headed by ... Donald J. Trump. 'Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular time,' Mr. McConnell, who turned 82 last week, said in a speech on the Senate floor announcing his intentions. 'I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them.' His decision, reported earlier by The Associated Press, was not a surprise. Mr. McConnell suffered a serious fall last year and experienced some episodes where he momentarily froze in front of the media. He has also faced rising resistance within his ranks for his push to provide continued military assistance to Ukraine as well as his close-to-the-vest leadership style." The AP's report is here.
Way last week, Trump was too rich to post bond in the E. Jean Carroll case. (Story linked below.) This week ~~~
~~~ Ben Protess & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump offered a New York appeals court on Wednesday a bond of only $100 million to pause the more than $450 million judgment he faces in his civil fraud case, saying that he might need to sell some of his properties unless he gets relief. An appellate court judge promptly denied Mr. Trump's emergency request to halt the financial judgment, but the former president is not out of options. Mr. Trump can try again with a panel of five appellate court judges, which will entertain his request next month. However that panel rules, the request represented a stunning acknowledgment that the former president, who is racing the clock to secure a bond from a company for the full amount if he does not produce the money himself, lacks the resources to do so. If he fails, the New York attorney general's office, which brought the fraud case, could seek to collect from Mr. Trump at any moment, though it is expected to provide him with a 30-day grace period until March 25.... The appellate court judge ... granted the former president's request to temporarily pause [a three-year ban on running his company and a ban on obtaining a New York bank loan]...." This is an update of a story linked earlier.
Mikey Wants to Keep the Lights on for a Few Weeks. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson is floating another short-term stopgap spending bill to head off a partial government shutdown at the end of the week, offering a temporary path out of a stalemate that has repeatedly threatened federal funding over the past six months. His proposal would extend funding for some government agencies for a week, through March 8, and the rest for another two weeks, until March 22. It would be contingent on congressional leaders finalizing an emerging bipartisan agreement on six of the 12 annual spending bills. And it would leave time for top lawmakers to negotiate the other six measures, and then try to pass the spending bills individually before the next set of deadlines to fund the government. That would be a tall order in the House, which has struggled to pass spending legislation amid Republican divisions."
~~~ Marie: Colbert does raise an issue I not thought of: when can you destroy a frozen embryo in Alabama? Since the darling teensy, weensy cell blob is a person, frozen embryos can never, ever be destroyed because to do so would be murder. So once you get those embryos in the cold storage, folks, you will have to support them for long past your own natural life.
CNN is running a liveblog of Hunter Biden's deposition to members of the House as part of the fake Biden impeachment inquiry:
"For months, Hunter Biden said he would only testify before Congress if it was in public. But President Joe Biden's son will now go behind closed doors Wednesday to face off with his Republican detractors on Capitol Hill for a deposition.... Sources familiar with terms negotiated between Hunter Biden's team and congressional Republicans told CNN that the deposition will have several unique features that are different from the other interviews the committees have conducted to date: ... The deposition will not be videotaped.... After a review to redact any sensitive information like names of congressional staffers, it could be released quickly, potentially within 24 hours after the deposition wraps."
"House Republicans are using a bigger room than they typically do for closed-door interviews because there are a number of members expected to attend Hunter Biden's deposition."
"House Oversight Chair James Comer could not specify what direct actions Joe Biden took while in office that benefited his son;s business dealings, and instead pointed to two checks that his brother wrote to him as loan repayments when he was not in office as evidence of the bribery House Republicans are alleging."
"Hunter Biden said in a statement for his deposition that his testimony should 'put an end' to the Republican impeachment inquiry because his father, President Joe Biden, was not involved in his business dealings. '... I did not involve my father in my business,' Hunter Biden said, according to a copy of his opening statement."
So what we saw I think was a rather embarrassing spectacle where the Republicans continue to belabor completely trivial points they seem to be obsessively focused on. I believe based on this first hour that this whole thing has really been a tremendous waste of our legislative time and the people's resources. -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), during a break in the deposition
Remember, this is all predicated upon testimony originally provided them by four witnesses, one of whom is in jail, one of whom is accused of being a Chinese spy, and the third one also in jail for lying to the FBI and possibly being an agent of Russian intelligence. What committee in Congress wants to hang its hat on that kind of evidence and that kind of basis. Enough said. -- Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), during a depo break
"Democrats leaving Hunter Biden's deposition said the president's son raised the 'double standard' of Republicans investigating his business dealings but turning a blind eye to members of the Trump family like Jared Kushner, whose company received a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia after leaving the Trump White House."
"House Oversight Chair James Comer said the next phase of the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden will be a public hearing with Hunter Biden. 'But I think this was a great deposition for us. It proved several bits of our evidence that we've been conducting throughout investigation, but there are also some contradictory statements that I think need further review. So this impeachment inquiry will now go to the next phase which will be a public hearing,' the Republican from Kentucky told reporters Wednesday afternoon."
"Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell told reporters after his closed-door deposition that Republicans have produced 'no evidence' to support allegations that President Joe Biden benefited from his son's business dealings. Lowell also criticized Republicans for going after Hunter's drug addiction during the deposition."
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Presidential Race
Michigan Primary Results. Nicholas Nehamas & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "President Biden won Michigan's Democratic primary election on Tuesday but faced opposition over his support for Israel as it wages war in Gaza, with a substantial number of voters casting ballots for 'uncommitted' as part of a protest movement against him.... Donald J. Trump was also victorious in the Republican primary, coasting past former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina to continue his undefeated primary streak. The Associated Press called both races as final polls closed at 9 p.m. The results demonstrated how both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump are confronting enduring weakness within their parties, with meaningful numbers of Democrats and Republicans voting against them even as they race toward a November rematch." This is the pinned item in a liveblog.
Putting the Uncommitted Vote in Perspective. Chris Cameron: "In 2008, over 238,000 votes were cast [in Michigan] for 'uncommitted' in the Democratic primary after Barack Obama and others removed their names from the ballot, because the state had jumped ahead of the national party's calendar."
Epstein: "President Biden did not mention the 'uncommitted' vote or the organized protest of his Gaza policy in a statement on Michigan's results released by his campaign. 'I want to thank every Michigander who made their voice heard today. Exercising the right to vote and participating in our democracy is what makes America great,' Biden said."
Christine Zhang: "With nearly all of the vote estimated to be counted in Dearborn [-- the center of Michigan's Arab-American community --] 'uncommitted' now has received around 56 percent of the vote, with President Biden at about 40 percent."
With 89% of the vote counted, President Biden had 80.5% of the vote; "uncommitted" had 13.8%. With 94% of the vote counted, Trump led Haley 68.2% to 26.5%.
But Wait! It ain't over till it's over: ~~~
Henry Gomez of NBC News: "A Michigan court has thwarted Kristina Karamo's efforts to remain in control of the state Republican Party, issuing a preliminary injunction Tuesday that bars her from conducting party business. Kent County Circuit Judge J. Joseph Rossi issued the decision hours before polls closed in the state's presidential primary and days ahead of a Michigan GOP convention that will determine how delegates for this summer's Republican National Convention are allocated. Rossi's order also could end a long dispute between Karamo, who was ousted as chair in a vote by party insiders last month, and former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who had been selected as her replacement. The sides have been on a collision course that could culminate in a crisis Saturday if Karamo goes forward with plans to host a rival convention.... [At least until now,] Karamo has refused to leave the post, even after Trump and the RNC weighed in against her. She has maintained access to the Michigan GOP bank, email and social media accounts, hamstringing Hoekstra's efforts to take full control of the party."
The Winter of Our Discontent. Elena Schneider & Adam Cancryn of Politico: "President Joe Biden scored a decisive win in the Michigan primary on Tuesday evening, clearing an organized protest vote against his handling of the Israel-Hamas war though not necessarily by enough to calm Democratic jitters.... Democrats were divided over how to treat the outcome, noting that Biden continued to dominate the primary in ways similar to, or even exceeding, past incumbents but also wary that significant pockets of discontent in the party could prove fatal in the general election. 'I don't see a pathway for them to win Michigan with that many people not voting for them,' said Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of the Muslim advocacy organization Emgage.... Donald Trump also won the Michigan primary convincingly on Tuesday. But the former president continues to face a faction of Republicans who refuse to back his candidacy despite his chokehold on the nomination."
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "The big question going forward will be how many of these voters Biden will be able to win back, particularly since it's almost unimaginable that he would cut off military aid to Israel, as the Listen to Michigan movement is demanding. Biden needs to win the state in November, and right now, it's hard to see how he can even campaign there without encountering furious demonstrations. We need a cease-fire first and foremost to save lives in Gaza. But without one, America is also stumbling toward disaster."
Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "President Biden and congressional leaders appeared to agree Tuesday to press forward to prevent a government shutdown, but in a gathering that one lawmaker [-- Chuck Schumer --] called the most intense Oval Office meeting of his career, officials remained divided on U.S. support for Ukraine as Russia begins to make battlefield gains in its two-year-old invasion." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Everybody Picked on Mikey. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "At an intense meeting inside the Oval Office on Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson was the odd man out. President Biden made clear that the speaker's positions were out of step with other leaders in government, as did Vice President Kamala Harris. The top Democrats in the House and Senate did, too. Even Senator Mitch McConnell, his fellow G.O.P. leader on the other side of the Capitol, emphasized the need for the speaker to avoid a government shutdown and provide badly needed aid to Ukraine.... Mr. Johnson, only months into his job, has found himself the last holdout at an increasingly agitated table of negotiators. On the one side, he is feeling pressure from the president of the United States, both Senate leaders and the House minority leader -- all demanding he cut a deal to fund the government and keep aid to Kyiv flowing. But on his right flank, he is facing a band of hard-line Republicans demanding that he hold out for conservative priorities and spurn Ukraine's calls for help, or risk being booted from the speakership. To put it succinctly, Mr. Johnson is in a bind." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If Bible Mike were an American patriot, he would not be "in a bind." It's obvious to the majority of Americans what needs to be done here. That said, I listened to some interviews Vaughn Hillyard of MSNBC conducted with Trump supporters. They said President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was "evil" and Vladimir Putin of Russia was "someone who would work with America," or words to that effect. (This Raw Story report includes video of Hillyard's interviews.) At least one of them also said that if Donald Trump lost the presidential election, Americans would be justified in taking control of the country by force. I'm always knocking these idiots, but it's still disturbing to hear them openly voicing such anti-democratic opinions. There's a chicken-and-egg question here, but it's clear why elected GOP traitors don't want to support Ukraine. And of course opposition to Ukraine all flows from the Biggest Traitor, Donald Trump. When you see Trump winning every primary by wide margins, you can't attribute it just to voters without a clue; a lot of his voters are knowingly supporting a fascist-style dictatorship.
Phillip Bump of the Washington Post uses facts and figures to show that the size of the judgments against Donald Trump dictate that he will have to pay his own bills. ~~~
~~~ But Trump Is Too Rich to Post Bond! Liz Dye of Above the Law: "The court entered its judgment [in favor of E. Jean Carroll in her defamation case against Donald Trump] on February 8, starting the clock for the 30-day automatic stay of judgment under Rule 62. If Trump fails to post a bond of $91.6 million, or get the bond requirement stayed by March 9, Carroll will be able to immediately begin collecting. And yet it took the defendant until Saturday to get around to asking the court for an 'an unsecured stay of the execution of the Court's February 8, 2024, judgment...'. Alternatively, he'd like to 'post a bond in an appropriate fraction of the amount of the judgment' -- maybe $91.60! -- while he tries to convince the court to overturn the jury's verdict.... [Trump's lawyers make several arguments for the unsecured stay.] But the best part is Trump's claim that he's so rich that he should be spared the ignominy of having to post a bond. 'Having argued to the jury that President Trump has great financial resources, Plaintiff is in no position to contradict herself now and contend that she requires the protection of a bond during the brief period while post-trial motions are pending,' he huffs. He then immediately turns around and argues that, despite his vast wealth, having to post a bond would constitute irreparable injury."
Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against ... Donald J. Trump brought a key witness back to the stand on Tuesday afternoon, as the judge weighs whether Fani T. Willis, the prosecutor who brought the case, has a disqualifying conflict of interest. The witness is Terrence Bradley, the former divorce lawyer and law partner of Nathan Wade, whom Ms. Willis hired to manage the case. The decision by Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court to seek more testimony from Mr. Bradley was a victory for Mr. Trump and his 14 co-defendants, who are trying to remove Ms. Willis, Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis's entire office from the high-stakes prosecution.... But 90 minutes into Tuesday's hearing, the defense had not achieved its goal of getting Mr. Bradley to contradict the two prosecutors about when the relationship began." (Also linked yesterday.)
Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Indiana's ban on hormone treatments and puberty blockers for transgender minors can go into effect, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday, undoing a lower court decision last year that had largely blocked the law. The three-paragraph ruling by a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, based in Chicago, said it was staying a preliminary injunction that the district court had issued in June, just before the law was scheduled to take effect last summer. The appellate judges did not explain their reasoning but simply said that a full opinion on the case would be issued in the future. The decision further unsettles the national legal landscape around transgender care for minors, with bans blocked in some states but not others, and it could lead to abrupt changes in treatment for young people in Indiana." MB: IOW, another instance where legislators & judges, unqualified to make medical decisions, are making medical decisions and usurping the personal rights of individuals & families. Please don't be yelling fre-e-e-e-dom at me.
Feeling Good about the Economy? Thank an Immigrant. Rachel Siegel, et al., of the Washington Post: "Immigration has propelled the U.S. job market further than just about anyone expected, helping cement the country's economic rebound from the pandemic as the most robust in the world. That momentum picked up aggressively over the past year. About 50 percent of the labor market's extraordinary recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data. And even before that, by the middle of 2022, the foreign-born labor force had grown so fast that it closed the labor force gap created by the pandemic, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.... Economists and labor experts say the surge in employment was ultimately key to solving unprecedented gaps in the economy that threatened the country's ability to recover from prolonged shutdowns." (Also linked yesterday.)
Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Business types and some economists may talk glowingly about the virtues of creative destruction, but the process can be devastating economically and socially for those who find themselves on the destruction side of the equation.... This process and its effects are laid out in devastating, terrifying and baffling detail in 'White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy,' a new book by Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman. I say 'devastating' because the hardship of rural Americans is real, 'terrifying' because the political backlash to this hardship poses a clear and present danger to our democracy and 'baffling' because at some level I still don't get the politics.... Technology ... has made America as a whole richer, but it has reduced economic opportunities in rural areas.... Maybe ... loss of dignity explains both white rural rage and why that rage is so misdirected -- why it's pretty clear that this November a majority of rural white Americans will again vote against Joe Biden, who as president has been trying to bring jobs to their communities, and for Donald Trump, a huckster from Queens who offers little other than validation for their resentment." ~~~
~~~ Marie: When I was growing up, I often heard a song called "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree?)" The song was written in 1919 and gained new popularity after World War II. What interests me about it is that the song expresses exactly the opposite dynamic as the rural belief system Krugman describes: "In the crudest sense, rural and small-town America is supposed to be filled with hard-working people who adhere to traditional values, not like those degenerate urbanites on welfare...." I recall the old dynamic, the feeling that it was embarrassing to be a rube. There was a real desire to go to the big city and "prove yourself": "New York, New York; if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." Although I had lived in two of the nation's biggest cities -- Chicago & Los Angeles -- when I moved to Manhattan well into my adulthood, I did experience that "New York, New York" feeling. Still, my sense was not that being able to navigate the big city made me better than the rubes, but that it made me more self-confident. I was grateful, too, that my life had been more adventuresome and varied than I had imagined as a teenager it would be. I had seen Paree (actually and figuratively). If today's rural Americans are suffering from a lack of dignity, as Krugman writes, it's because they chose to remain not just physically but also intellectually, emotionally and socially isolated.
For a Balanced Dinner, Choose Frosted Flakes. Emily Heil & Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "People angered by the rising cost of food have found another villain in the ongoing saga of inflation: the CEO of WK Kellogg, who recently suggested in a TV interview that cash-strapped consumers should eat cereal for dinner to save money.... [CEO Gary] Pilnick touted a marketing campaign that his company launched urging people to give 'chicken the night off' and instead consume bowls of Frosted Flakes and Frosted Mini-Wheats.... Some critics questioned whether the CEO, whose total compensation last year was $4.9 million -- and that was before his promotion to the top job -- was following his own company's suggestion. 'I wonder what cereal he and his family are eating for dinner?' one user posted on X." MB: Unfuckingbelievable. The two top ingredients in Frosted Flakes: milled corn & sugar. A 10.5-oz. box of Frosted Flakes costs $5.70 at Walmart (though you can buy it cheaper in bulk). But, hey, it's fat- & cholesterol-free.
Jordan Holman of the New York Times: "Macy's said on Tuesday that it would vastly reshape its strategy and retail footprint, closing about 150 Macy's stores over the next three years while expanding its upscale Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury chains. The moves put the stamp of the company's new chief executive, Tony Spring, on an effort to improve the profitability of the largest department store operator in the United States and stave off a potential takeover bid. It is the second major downsizing of the Macy's chain since 2020 and will leave the company with 350 stores, slightly more than half the number it had before the pandemic. Macy's said the 'underproductive locations' it planned to close accounted for 25 percent of the company's overall square footage but just 10 percent of sales." (Also linked yesterday.)
Starbucks Relents. Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "Starbucks and the union that represents employees in roughly 400 of its U.S. stores announced Tuesday that they were beginning discussions on a 'foundational framework' that would help the company reach labor agreements with unionized workers and resolve litigation between the two sides. The union greeted the development as a major shift in strategy for Starbucks, which has taken steps to resist union organizing at the company since the campaign began in 2021, moves that federal labor regulators have said violated labor law hundreds of times."
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Arizona. April Rubin of Axios: "Arizona Republicans are advancing a bill that would allow people to legally kill someone accused of attempting to trespass or actively trespassing on their property.... The legislation, which is expected to be vetoed if it reaches the state's Democratic governor, [Katie Hobbs,] would legalize the murder of undocumented immigrants, who often have to cross ranches that sit on the state's border with Mexico." MB: When my parents lived in the countryside near Las Cruces, New Mexico, my father would bring water, and occasionally sandwiches, to migrants crossing their land. I don't know what my father thought of unauthorized immigration, but he sure lacked the murderous cruelty of Arizona legislators.
Michigan. Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "An Indiana man pleaded guilty Tuesday to threatening to kill a Michigan elections clerk after the November 2020 election, federal prosecutors announced. A week after Joe Biden was elected president, Andrew Nickels of Carmel, Ind., left a voice mail for Rochester Hills, Mich., Clerk Tina Barton in which he said she deserved a 'throat to the knife' because she had 'frauded out America of a real election,' the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Michigan said in a news release.... When Nickels called Barton on Nov. 10, he said in his expletive-filled message that '10 million plus patriots will surround you when you least expect it,' according to prosecutors.... Nickels, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of making a threatening interstate communication, according to the news release, and he faces up to five years in prison.... [Nickels' attorney] told the Detroit News that the case shows 'how mental health affects so many people.'" MB: Yes, the affliction might be called "Trump syndrome,"; and it is primarily found among people who present with high levels of stupid.
Texas. Paxton Bests Pregnant Women. Matthew Choi of the Texas Tribune: "A federal court in Lubbock ruled Tuesday that proxy voting in Congress doesn't count toward a quorum, weakening a law to protect pregnant workers that was passed with proxy votes. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration last year over a massive government funding package that passed largely by proxy votes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding package, passed in December 2022 [when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker], included the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which protects accommodations for pregnant employees in the workplace.... Paxton argued the Constitution requires a physical majority of members in the U.S. House to pass legislation. Since a majority of members of the House voted on the funding package by proxy, Paxton said it was unenforceable.... Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas agreed with Paxton's understanding of a quorum.... Hendrix ruled the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act unenforceable against the state government and its agencies."
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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israel and Hamas have downplayed progress on a potential deal to pause fighting in Gaza in exchange for the release of more hostages, after President Biden said he hoped a weeks-long cease-fire could start as soon as next week. Biden faces political pressure over his handling of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, including in key swing states he must secure to win reelection.... A Hamas official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive cease-fire talks, said Hamas 'received a paper, which is not a draft agreement, but rather ideas for discussion.' An Israeli official was also circumspect about Biden's timeline, saying, 'Right now, there is no deal.'"
Ukraine, et al. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Through much of [Volodymyr Zelensky's fraught relationship with Donald Trump], Zelensky has been mostly diplomatic toward the former and potentially future president who, regardless of the 2024 election results, holds considerable sway over the survival of Zelensky's country. But increasingly, Zelensky has apparently decided that diplomacy involves putting pressure on and, in some cases, directly criticizing Trump. In a CNN interview that aired Monday, Zelensky ... repeatedly entertained the idea that Trump might effectively be on Russia's side.... He also suggested that Trump doesn't know what he's talking about when he says he could quickly end the Russia-Ukraine war."
News Ledes
New York Times: "The second-largest wildfire on record in Texas raged across 850,000 acres on Wednesday, as firefighters from around the state tried to contain it. The blaze has consumed houses, burned vast ranch lands, killed livestock and forced evacuations across the sparsely populated Texas Panhandle. The blaze, known as the Smokehouse Creek fire, ignited on Monday and by Wednesday had spread across vast swaths of ranch lands, fueled by strong winds and dry conditions. It still had not been contained and was growing, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. Satellite data from the National Interagency Fire Center suggested that the fire had already become the largest ever seen in the state."
New York Times: "Richard Lewis, a stand-up comedian who first achieved fame in the 1980s with his trademark acerbic, dark sense of humor, and who later parlayed that quality into an acting career that included movies like 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' and a recurring role as himself on HBO's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm,' died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 76."
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Reader Comments (32)
I used to accepts insults with a grain of salt. Now they just piss me off.
Yesterday, a commenter concluded that I was so profoundly ignorant that I needed remedial instruction in the 3/5ths compromise that put a permanent (if since repealed) stain on our foundational document and remains a virulent, pulsing smudge on the nation to this day.
I make plenty of mistakes, and there are vast areas of knowledge that have eluded me and always will, either by my own choice or by my genuine intellectual limitations. I should like to think that regular readers would have gleaned that the nation's history of racism is not one of those areas where I am unschooled. Therefore, I respectfully request that you-all try to refrain from inferring otherwise. If you can't do that, fine. But please quit sharing your suspicions here.
Thank you.
A couple of things about the Michigan election.
Once again, the Trump Goliath failed to get even 70% of the vote. Biden came away with over 80%. Nevertheless, The NY Times decided this was a big problem for Biden (it’s actually a problem for the nation, and by extension, the world), but no mention of the fact that the R incumbent (that’s what he is) couldn’t even muster 70%.
Typical. It’s always “Biden: Aieeee!” “Trump:….”
As for the protest vote by the Arab-American community, they just sent a big message to Netanyahu. It says “No cease fire, keep up the killing!” Why? Because Bibi would much rather see the Orange Monster in the White House. Trump would okay a plan to fire bomb Gaza. If Bibi thinks a cease fire will help Biden and hinder the return of his authoritarian, Muslim-banning pal, why would he even consider it?
So, good job, Michigan uncommitteds! Trump loves you. Until he gets back in, then you’re all fucked. But great job.
Meanwhile over at Freeeedum Central, aka the Supreme Court, advocates of mass murder will be making the case that unstable gun knobbers and the Ready to Go Postal crowd should be able to get their trigger fingers on bump stocks once again, because FREEEEDUM!!
You’ll recall, no doubt, that NRA hero who murdered dozens of innocent people in Las Vegas a few years ago using a bump stock to turn his weapons into machine guns.
Congress quickly, and surprisingly, banned the use of this gizmo because MASS MURDER. But now the anti administrative state bunch is up in arms (literally) to make the case today to the anti administrative state supremes.
A Texas gun seller in Texas is quoted in the Times saying that bump stocks are used by people who just wanna have fun.
Right. Like that guy in Las Vegas.
Drinking and driving is fun too, but it’s illegal for a reason.
And what happens when the Supremes okay the sale of these things again and some NRA hero mows down another fifty people in two minutes?
Thots N Prayrz.
@Akhilleus: Quite right. There's no telling who a New and Improved Muslim Ban would cover. And it wouldn't require court approval because Article II lets Trump do whatever he wants. Just ask him (and his acting AG). There would be no stopping Trump from deporting Muslims who were citizens, Muslims who were in the country legally, people who "looked like" Muslims, people who voted "uncommitted" and anybody from "shithole countries." Hell, you and I could be dispatched in all haste for being "seditious liberal conspirators." Whatever.
“Texas gun seller in Texas”?
Where’s my copy editor??
@Akhilleus: I think she got a job at Google programming Smart Reply.
Haha. That smart ass.
Hey, once the Supremes put bump stocks back on the market and those Ready to Go Postal types have their fourth all-Frosted Flakes dinner in a row, there should be all kinds of fun! Maybe that Texas gun seller in Texas can offer a free box of Frosted Flakes with each bump stock purchase. Is this a great country, or what?
Akhilleus,
Have to go along with your take on the implications of the Michigan vote. Tho I understand the feelings the Muslim vote expressed, it seems those who hopped on the uncommitted train can see no farther ahead than the MAGAs who can't see around the corner of what they think they want. Too few farseeers on both sides.
How's that for both-siderism?
And on the rural-city divide, which is an old trope in literature. (and as Marie says, in song), in the current U. S. I think the over-riding motivators for the city haters are race, family disintegration (sourced in both the absence of jobs, but other by the young leaving because they can't stand their parents' politics) and the religion that makes many who remain feel superior to those to whom they feel inferior.
It’s Fox
Umm…what?
Do these people even listen to themselves?
Sean Hannity sez “Biden’s going to visit the border! Aieee! It’s a sick political stunt!! Tune in tomorrow. I’ll be going to the border to interview Trump.”
Seriously…
“Fox News host Sean Hannity made it clear on his show on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s planned visit to the border this week is ‘beyond disgraceful,’ nothing but a ‘cynical, sick political stunt.’ Oh, and also? He will be at the border to interview former President Donald Trump in what is definitely not any kind of political stunt at all.”
Sean, dude, no more Frosted Flakes. Try chicken for dinner. Or maybe a bowl of Snickers.
I realize that these guys live for outrage, but please to be explaining what is disgraceful about Biden going to the border. Every night you’re screaming about Biden! Border! Biden! Border! Then he goes there and it’s…disgraceful?
I’m thinking of that great line at the end of the movie “Chinatown”. The Jack Nicholson character explains that when he was a beat cop in Chinatown, he did as little as possible because there were always things going on that were just beyond his understanding. At the end of the movie, through a weird series of events, he inadvertently causes the death of his love interest. Stunned and shaken, his partner walks him off saying “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”
So, in this case, all you can say is “Forget it, Akh, it’s Fox.”
Yeah…never mind.
It was a lower turnout election, but the last Democratic incumbent President Obama received 10.7% uncommitted vote in his 2012 Michigan primary.
Ken,
Your comment about big city haters reminded me of an interview I read with a statistical analyst, Walt Hickey, who has written a book called “You are what you watch”, a look at how the media we consume changes our world view.
He has a funny anecdote about Ronald Reagan’s first day in the White House. As he was being given a tour of his new digs, Reagan expressed an interest in seeing the War Room. What he was thinking of was the Hollywood version of the War Room, as depicted in Dr. Strangelove, the dark room with the huge round table and the overhead lights, and the wall sized map of the world, the place where the George C, Scott general says “Mr. President! We can’t let that Commie in the War Room! He’ll see the big board!” Turns out there is no such place in the White House, or anywhere else in Washington, apparently. But the image was so real for Reagan, he assumed there must be a “big board” somewhere.
Anyway, Hickey also points out that back in 1990, when the show “Law and Order” first made that iconic “ding-ding” sound, the murder rate in New York was very high. But it’s come down drastically since then (Hickey explains why). Nevertheless, every year, poll questions appear asking Americans if they think crime is up or down. Invariably, the answer is “up”, in many cases astronomically up. But the reality is (despite what Fox wants it’s viewers to believe) very much the opposite.
So why the difference? Hickey suggests that today, there’s not one Law and Order, but three. And a raft of other cop shows all depicting horrible crimes every day of the week. All in big cities like New York and Chicago. So it’s no wonder people believe that big cities are hell holes where you can’t cross the street without bumping into murderers and rapists. And far-right outlets like Fox are happy to maintain that fiction, even as the Fox media side makes a ton of money producing shows about cops and robbers—in big cities.
@RAS. Yeah, I saw that yesterday. But Biden is old.
@Akhilleus: To make Hannity's stupid remarks even more stupid, Biden has a legitimate reason to go to the border; border security is part of his job description. Trump's only reason is to make a show where he lies about Biden, the border, the justice system, etc., etc. Hannity of course has the bestest excuse: he will need to be nodding approvingly to every Trump lie.
CNN
"News outlets are collapsing as advertisers flock to social media platforms. It has major implications for society
Social media companies are soaking up the billions in advertising dollars that once flowed to legacy media companies — a trend that continues to accelerate despite an ever-growing mountain of evidence indicating the Silicon Valley titans govern their ballooning kingdoms with little regard for how their products negatively impact society.
While the dramatic shift has empowered these companies, it has also simultaneously dealt massive blows to news organizations, most of which are struggling to survive as they see their one-time revenue sources sour on their products in favor of tech platforms."
The Boebert family is doing their part to keep crime in the news. Lauren's ex husband was arrested last month and now "Rep. Lauren Boebert’s son was arrested Tuesday and now faces 22 charges relating to an alleged crime wave in Colorado, authorities said." Republicans doing their part for the messaging.
@Akhilleus: I'd also blame the gun lobby. One reason people think "crime" is up is because mass shootings are way up. While it's true that on local news, "if it bleeds, it leads" is a long-standing programming principle, the national news features stories about each mass shooting for hours and hours and even days and days. Sure, Fox "News" may play up crime stats and stories to scare their viewers, or misdirect them (especially when they can point to crimes committed by the "others" -- Blacks, immigrants, etc.) but the other cable channels go overboard on mass killings, too.
But I don't blame the cable channels as much as I blame the gun lobby and their enablers for giving the mass shooters the means to carry out their ends. Every time I hear a multiple-shooting story, I say, "Thanks, Scalia."
So a judge in Texas agrees with Texas AG Paxton that the US law passed in 2022 providing rights to pregnant workers, is unconstitutional and void, because it was passed without a legal quorum in ther US Congress. (BUT, the gazillions of bucks in the other parts of the bill, for defense spending, etc., are still OK because ???).
The US Constitution says " ... Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide. ..."
"Each" above refers to House and Senate.
"In such manner" means that each determines its own rules for establishing a quorum. Which the House did for itself when setting up the rules for proxy voting in the 117th Congress. And when the 118th came in, it repealed those rules. Because the House determines its own rules. And the 117 was D and 118 was R.
The Supreme Court and other courts have declined to rule on such cases (i.e., sufficiency of quorum), due to lack of authority over legislative prerogatives.
But a Texas judge says "hold my beer."
This is getting tiresome.
shrug
goodbye
Marie,
Good point. The gun lobby has so much to answer for as far as dramatically lowering not only the quality of life in this country but the duration of life for many, and increasing the stress and agony of those left to pick up the broken pieces.
All to feed the obsession of gun owners who believe that their freedom is at stake if they can’t buy one more semi automatic rifle. And by the way, that bullshit that NRA and their water carriers in Congress default to about good guys with guns stopping bad guys with guns was proven to be just that, bullshit, during a shoot out at the Super Bowl parade in Kansas City recently. There were hundreds of armed police officers and probably hundreds more concealed carry gun owners present that day, but that still didn’t stop people from being shot and killed.
Just imagine if one of those guys had a bump stock.
I think President Biden should invite Donald Trump to D.C. to
address Congress, laying out his plans to solve the Israel/Palestine
conflict and the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
He claimed he could solve this in 24 hours, so put your money where
your mouth is (that sounds weird, oh well).
President Biden could even promise to pardon him if those conflicts
are solved within 24 hours.
I think Trump would learn that you can't bribe your way out of
every bad situation, or pay someone off to keep them quiet.
Now that embryos are children in parts of the US I wonder if women or couples will start dropping off their left over or unwanted "children" at the safe haven baby boxes so that the state can take care of them and find them a good home. Will these red states pay to indefinitely keep all those embryos on ice? Or will they foster them out to anyone with enough room in their freezer? What is the CPS's policy about keeping the "kids" next to the frozen burritos and ice cream?
Marie, Please tell me you were joking when you said someone had the gall to explain to you the three /fifths compromise! On to more important issues… bump stocks… you have to be kidding!!! Sure we all need a few in our homes for our personal protection.. my father must be wondering why he worked in NSA including when the whole group stood off “the house of unamerican affairs”. why didn’t we go to canada in 2000 when they might have let us in? Oh i remember… my husband’s family were in RI. As a Navy Junior with no roots it seemed like a lame excuse. So now we will have to try to explain that bump stocks are not toys for a day at the town dump and shooting at empty cans. Considering one of our democratic leaders in our RI legislature has an A plus rating from the NRA this should get even weirder.
@RAS, very funny but. It turns out the storage of frozen embryos for ever and ever, amen, is a real conundrum. If embryos are indeed people, then to dispose of them is murder. And Mom & Pop won't be able to drop them off at the nearest fire station or convent freezer box. No, Mom & Pop will have to store them in perpetuity, long past their own natural lives. (I learned this by watching the latest Colbert monologue; see above.)
The Turtle is going back into his shell…good riddance.
Mitch McConnell will no longer have to worry about freezing up in public. He is leaving his leadership position in November. Fuck him.
But that means we could have an even worse asshole running things on the Trump (ie, Treason) side of the Senate.
@Marie: It still seems that safe haven laws should allow people to surrender custody of the embryos to the state under their own twisted logic of personhood. And some hospitals would have the equipment necessary to receive them. There would probably need to be some appointment made beforehand and some paperwork saying they were being abandoned to the state. But it would follow for their own ridiculous interpretation of the law.
I could also see the companies holding the embryos having to deal with a lot of people who just stop paying their bills because they know that the company will have to hold them whether they pay or not. That brings up the question of what happens when a company goes bankrupt or has to close down for some reason. The fallout of this idiocy is mind boggling.
For another example, any pregnant woman incarcerated in Alabama right now can claim habeas corpus for the violation of their fetus's constitution rights of being imprisoned without a trial. Just crazy.
Another thought about the Michigan primaries…
Just picturing Trump and his campaign Myrmidons elbowing each other and giggling like eighth grade boys at a stupid sex joke considering the very real possibility that Arab-Americans in that state could guarantee a return to the White House of the most racist, anti-Muslim president* in American history.
I just cannot get over how many unearned breaks this fucking asshole has gotten in his privileged, rich white guy life.
@Akhilleus: Quite right about the shortsighted "uncommitted" voters.
Hadda look up myrmidon. But you had the unfa-a-a-ir advantage of knowing about myrmidons because Akhilleus was a Myrmidon.
Sitting at our local country Dem headquarters trying to remember what I wrote this morning and failed to send.
Akhilleus wrote about the effects of the Faux News flood of bad information on those who take it in.
No argument with that but maybe an extension.
Not just the Faux News dupes are the products of what they hear, the language, the images, the beliefs they imbibe. We all are.
My personal example: When I left my small northwest town for college in the 1960's, I didn't immediately leave the Catholic, Goldwaterish young man behind. It took a while, a year or so in that distant institution for parts of that boy a to fade away and be replaced by other notions and beliefs.
Of course, that boy is still here, but modified. Much that change took place in the first two years after leaving home. There whe as all that schooling, the Vietnam War, the association with fellow students, many from backgrounds far different than my own, also seeking their own way in the wider world that opened to me.
In short, the culture I carried with me had changed.
Some of that change just happened. Some of it was the result of conscious decision. A professor in the university I attended is now making small media waves with a book declaring that free will doesn't exist. I'd disagree. We do make choices; it's just that the yardsticks we use to measure those choices' value can change over time.
If we allow them to. If we're willing to learn. If we admit reason, skepticism and fact. as disturbing as they can be, into our lives, we do change over time.
I changed as my culture changed, and along with it, my yardsticks.
I suspect the Faux News culture just stands still.
Marie,
Gotta keep up with your Ancient Greek lit. In another venue murmur dons might be gossipy British college tutors. Probably not the types that would have been called upon to storm the walls of Troy, unless that activity included tossing hoary manuscripts at Hector. “Take that, son of Priam!”
Supreme Traitors say they’ll listen to the Orange Monster’s whine about immunity. In late April!!!!
This means they’ll hand down their decision sometime in October, making sure that the Fat Fascist can’t be tried for insurrection before the election.
The treason never stops. What did I just say about this loser fuck getting every break in the book?
The appeals court took their time making sure their opinion on his bullshit immunity claim was bulletproof, but oh no…little Johnny and the dwarfs want to do their own investigation.
And here’s the other thing. The Roberts Court NEVER takes a case to just say “Okay, you got it right” to a lower court.
They take cases to overturn rulings they don’t like. Even if they decide that there’s only limited immunity, it will be too late.
Trump will never be tried for his crimes. They’ll make sure of it.
Fucking banana republic we live in now.
Supreme Court as Marie said is helping subvert justice with regards to Trump. The People also have a right to a speedy trial.
"The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be tried for trying to steal the 2020 election, setting an accelerated schedule to hear the case in April while his criminal trail remains delayed.
The court will hear arguments the week of April 22 on whether a president can be charged criminally for conduct that involved official acts while he was in the White House."
Another can kicked down the road
"Congress has agreed on a short-term spending agreement to avert a partial government shutdown, which would kick the can down the road to fund the government once again as lawmakers struggle to reach a consensus on a longer-term deal.
The extension – referred to as a continuing resolution – will fund parts of the government through March 8 and the remainder until March 22, congressional leaders announced in a joint statement on Wednesday. "
The number of government shut down cliffs we have faced in Johnson's short, feeble speakership is outrageous.