October 6, 2022
Afternoon Update:
** Dude! Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Thursday pardoned all people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law and said his administration would review whether marijuana should still be a Schedule 1 drug like heroin and LSD, saying that 'makes no sense.' The pardons will clear about 6,500 people who were convicted on federal charges of simple possession of marijuana from 1992 to 2021 and thousands more who were convicted of possession in the District of Columbia, officials said ahead of the president's announcement. Mr. Biden urged governors to follow his lead for people convicted on state charges of simple possession. The number of convictions under state laws vastly outnumbers those who have been charged with a violation of federal laws, limiting the overall reach of the president's actions on Thursday.... Mr. Biden stopped short of calling for the complete decriminalization of marijuana -- something that Congress would have to do -- and said that the federal government still needs 'important limitations on trafficking, marketing, and underage sales of marijuana.'" ~~~
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Republicans are surely excited about the news that a group of oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia will slash oil production by 2 million barrels per day.... Democrats need to respond, not just for their own good but for the good of the country. This is an opportunity to clarify some murky complications in our politics about what the parties stand for -- and show that our energy future and even the fate of the Western alliance backing Ukraine are deeply entangled in these midterms. Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), a vulnerable swing-district incumbent, is introducing a bill designed to increase pressure on OPEC and its allies to reverse the move. The bill would require the removal of U.S. troops and missile defense systems from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.... Biden as commander in chief doesn't need this bill to begin withdrawing military.... Biden has invested a great deal in 'cajoling' the Saudis, but it obviously failed...."
** November Elections. The Crazy Owns the GOP. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "A majority of Republican nominees on the ballot this November for the House, Senate and key statewide offices -- 299 in all -- have denied or questioned the outcome of the last presidential election, according to a Washington Post analysis. Candidates who have challenged or refused to accept Joe Biden's victory are running in every region of the country and in nearly every state. Republican voters in three states nominated election deniers in all federal and statewide races The Post examined. Although some are running in heavily Democratic areas and are expected to lose, most of the election deniers nominated are likely to win: Of the nearly 300 on the ballot, 173 are running for safely Republican seats. Another 52 will appear on the ballot in tightly contested races.
"The implications will be lasting: If Republicans take control of the House, as many political forecasters predict, election deniers would hold enormous sway over the choice of the nation's next speaker, who in turn could preside over the House in a future contested presidential election. The winners of all the races examined by The Post -- those for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, Senate and House -- will hold some measure of power overseeing American elections."
Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Ben Sasse is likely to accept a job as the president of the University of Florida and resign his Senate seat in the near future, according to two people familiar with the Nebraska Republican's plans.... Prior to running for Senate, he was president of Midland University.... Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts would then appoint a replacement for Sasse under state law, with the seat then up for a special election in 2024. One of the people familiar with Sasse's plans said Ricketts himself is viewed as a potential appointee for the seat. The University of Florida confirmed Sasse's plans in a press release Thursday that announced him as the sole finalist for the position."
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A lieutenant of longtime former Proud Boys chairman Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio became the group's first member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Thursday, deepening the government's case against an organization accused of mobilizing violence to prevent the inauguration of Joe Biden. Jeremy Bertino, 43, of Belmont, N.C., becomes a potential key witness for the Justice Department against Tarrio and four other Proud Boys leaders, some of whom had ties to influential supporters of ... Donald Trump. The five Proud Boys defendants are set to face trial in December on charges including plotting to oppose by force the presidential transition, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol." Politico's story is here.
Devlin Barrett & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "Federal agents investigating President Biden's son Hunter have gathered what they believe is sufficient evidence to charge him with tax crimes and a false statement related to a gun purchase, according to people familiar with the case. The next step is for the U.S. Attorney in Delaware, a Trump administration holdover, to decide on whether to file such charges, these people said. The investigation into Hunter Biden began in 2018, and became a central focus for ... Donald Trump during his unsuccessful 2020 reelection effort. Initially, the investigation centered around Hunter Biden's finances related to overseas business ties and consulting work." The CBS News story is here.
New York. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday blocked large portions of New York's new gun law, finding that the expansive restrictions on the public carrying of guns created by the measure were unconstitutional. In a 53-page order, the judge, Glenn T. Suddaby of the Northern District, said he would block the state from enforcing a number of the new law's provisions, writing that New York was trampling on the constitutional right to bear arms. But he agreed to a three-business-day stay of his order, pending an emergency appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.... Judge Suddaby, a former prosecutor who was appointed to the court in 2008 by President George W. Bush, took a harsh view of the new law, which was passed this summer after the Supreme Court struck down the state's previous gun law, one of the most restrictive in the nation."
Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Two Russian nationals sought asylum in Alaska on Tuesday when they landed by boat on St. Lawrence Island, leaving lawmakers from the state asking the federal government for extra support in case more Russians flee to Alaska amid President Vladimir Putin's military call-up. The town of Gambell on the northwestern tip of the island is more than 60 miles from mainland Russia across the Bering Strait. Local authorities first encountered the Russian nationals and contacted the U.S. Coast Guard for help. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, called the federal response 'lacking' and said that Customs and Border Protection had to send Coast Guard responders from over 750 miles away.... [Sen. Dan] Sullivan [R-Alaska] said he has encouraged CBP 'to have a plan ready with the Coast Guard in the event that more Russians flee to Bering Strait communities in Alaska,' Sullivan said."MB: My plan: accept their asylum applications, then bus them to Martha's Vineyard.
~~~~~~~~~~
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden, standing amid the devastation a week after Hurricane Ian slammed into southwest Florida, said on Wednesday that the federal government would provide 'every element' of its resources to support the recovery effort. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican rival to the president in 2024, stood near Mr. Biden and praised the work the White House had done to pump federal resources into his state 'from the very beginning.'... In any other political era, such an appearance would have been standard fare.... But it took a Category 4 hurricane to temporarily dull the animosity between Mr. Biden and Mr. DeSantis.... For those looking for evidence of the tension between them -- apparent most recently over the stunt engineered by Mr. DeSantis to fly migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard as a way of criticizing the administration over its immigration policy -- there were subtle signs that their rivalry is alive and well." The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Two Salty Old Dogs Meet on a Beach. Judy Kurtz of the Hill: "President Biden appeared to share a lighthearted, R-rated exchange while caught on a hot mic as he met with Florida officials and residents affected by Hurricane Ian. 'No one f[ucks] with a Biden,' the president appeared to say with a laugh as he had a seemingly friendly conversation with Fort Myers Beach Mayor Ray Murphy on Wednesday.... 'You're goddamn right,' Murphy chuckled in response...." ~~~
~~~ Danielle Paquette & Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "... Ian already is shaping up to be the deadliest storm to pound Florida since 1935. State authorities have documented 72 deaths thus far -- slightly under Hurricane Irma's toll in 2017, according to the National Hurricane Center. County sheriffs have reported dozens more, pushing the total to at least 103. That makes Ian more fatal than Hurricane Andrew in 1992."
Stanley Reed of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia and Russia, acting as leaders of the OPEC Plus energy cartel, agreed on Wednesday to their biggest cuts in production in more than two years in a bid to raise prices, rebuking efforts by the United States and Europe to choke off the massive revenue Moscow reaps from the sale of crude. President Biden and European leaders have urged more oil production to ease gasoline prices and punish Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine. Russia, a co-leader of OPEC Plus with Saudi Arabia, has been accused of using energy as a weapon against countries opposing its invasion of Ukraine, and the optics of the decision could not be missed." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Let's say you're a patriotic American Neanderthal and you can't help but think climate change is a myth/hoax. Wouldn't you still want the U.S. to develop alternate sources of energy to save the U.S. (and other nations) from being so dependent upon fickle oil & gas producers in the Middle East & Russia? ~~~
~~~ Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "The move by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners prompted a blistering reaction from White House officials and reverberated almost immediately through domestic and global financial markets, threatening higher energy costs for the United States and European countries already grappling with inflation and economic instability.... 'The President is disappointed by the shortsighted decision by OPEC Plus to cut production quotas while the global economy is dealing with the continued negative impact of Putin's invasion of Ukraine,' U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said in a statement. The statement added that the administration will consult with Congress on additional mechanisms 'to reduce OPEC's control over energy prices' -- suggesting the U.S. policymakers could be interested in repealing a long-standing exemption to federal antitrust law that allows the consortium to effectively coordinate on prices." ~~~
~~~ Here's the Sullivan-Deese statement, via the White House. ~~~
~~~ Lee Shan of CNBC: "OPEC+'s plans to cut oil production is a 'mistake,' according to U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, who said there needs to be a re-evaluation of the alliance between the group's de-facto leader and the United States.... 'I think it is a mistake on their part. And I think it's time for a wholesale re-revaluation of the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia,' Murphy told CNBC's Hadley Gamble Tuesday. Murphy said that the United States needed the Saudis to take steps that 'may affect their short-term bottom line when it comes to oil revenues,' but which would allow the West to survive the challenge against Russia." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Why Can't the U.S. Be More Like Uruguay? Noah Shannon in the New York Times: "This is the paradox at the heart of climate change: We've burned far too many fossil fuels to go on living as we have, but we've also never learned to live well without them.... There are countries more prosperous, and countries with a smaller carbon footprint [than Uruguay's], but perhaps in none do the overlapping possibilities of living well and living without ruin show as much promise as in Uruguay.... Today, Uruguay boasts one of the world's greenest grids, powered by 98 percent renewable energy." Interesting. MB: Despite Uruguay's attempts to mitigate the environmental effects of their huge cattle industry, I still think they should learn to eat less beef. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "A motorcade taking Vice President Harris to work was in a one-car accident on a closed roadway in D.C. on Monday morning, an incident that concerned both the Secret Service director and the vice president and revived worries about the agency's history of concealing its mistakes, according to two people familiar with the incident. The Secret Service agent driving Harris in an SUV struck the curb of a downtown tunnel hard enough that the vehicle's tire needed to be replaced.... The routine nature of the travel and the high level of training required for agents who drive the president and vice president led many in the Secret Service, as well as Harris, to question how such an accident could happen. The Secret Service also failed to note key details of the incident in an electronic message formally alerting senior leadership to the motorcade's delay. The agency's protective intelligence division reported that 'a mechanical failure' in the lead car had forced agents to transfer Harris to another vehicle...."
Cora Engelbrecht of the New York Times: "An Iranian American who was held captive in Iran for seven years was released on Wednesday for urgent medical surgery [in the U.A.E.], according to his lawyer and the U.N. The man, Baquer Namazi, 85, a retired UNICEF official, was imprisoned in 2016 by Iranian authorities during a visit to Iran to check on his son, Siamak Namazi, who had been arrested the year before while on a business trip. The Namazis were convicted of collaborating with a hostile power -- the United States -- in a secretive trial in Iran in October 2016, but the precise nature of the accusations has never been made clear. A video released by Iranian state media on Wednesday appeared to show Baquer Namazi on a tarmac struggling to board a flight of stairs...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trump Loses Again. Kaia Hubbard of U.S. News: "An appeals court sided with the Justice Department on Wednesday, granting its request to expedite an appeal of the appointment of a special master to review the documents recovered by the FBI from ... Donald Trump's Florida estate. The Justice Department last week asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to expedite its consideration of the government's appeal of District Judge Aileen Cannon's move to grant Trump a special master to review the seized materials, while barring the government's review of thousands of documents, arguing that the move is harmful to its criminal investigation.... Donald Trump's legal team on Monday opposed the Justice Department's request to expedite its appeal." ~~~
~~~ Oops! From the Department of Be Careful What You Wish For. Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "An inadvertently shared log of potentially privileged materials taken from former President Trump's Florida home includes details of his calls as president, analyses of who should receive pardons and heaps of records tied to his many legal entanglements. The logs, apparently unsealed in error, were first reported by Bloomberg News, which shared the filing that has since been removed from the court docket.... Among the tranche of records at Trump's home were communications about securing clemency for Rod Blagojevich, the former Democratic Illinois governor whose sentence was commuted by Trump.... He also had 'internal pardon packages[s],' or clemency requests, for individuals listed only as RN, IR, JC and MB." MB: That "MB," of course, is I. ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler on how Judge Aileen Cannon appears to have caused Donald Trump more harm than if she "had left well enough alone.... That's because, by means that are not yet clear (but are likely due to a fuck-up by one of Cannon's own staffers), the inventories [of documents] ... were briefly posted on the docket. (h/t Zoe Tillman, who snagged a copy [MB: Bloomberg link]). Those inventories not only show Cannon's claims of injury to Trump were even more hackish than I imagined. But it creates the possibility that DOJ's filter team will attempt to retain some of the documents..., notably records pertaining to the Georgia fraud attempts and January 6, they otherwise wouldn't have.... The single solitary medical document pertaining to Trump ... is this letter from Trump's then-personal physician released during the 2016 Presidential campaign.... [That is, Cannon] personally halted efforts to keep the United States safe, in part, to prevent leaks of a document that Trump released himself six years ago." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ken Bensinger & Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times: "Soon after the F.B.I. searched Donald J. Trump's home in Florida for classified documents, online researchers zeroed in on a worrying trend. Posts on Twitter that mentioned 'civil war' had soared nearly 3,000 percent in just a few hours as Mr. Trump's supporters blasted the action as a provocation. Similar spikes followed, including on Facebook, Reddit, Telegram, Parler, Gab and Truth Social.... Posts mentioning 'civil war' jumped again a few weeks later, after President Biden branded Mr. Trump and 'MAGA Republicans' a threat to 'the very foundations of our republic' in a speech on democracy in Philadelphia. Now experts are bracing for renewed discussions of civil war, as the Nov. 8 midterm elections approach and political talk grows more urgent and heated.... Polling, social media studies and a rise in threats suggest that a growing number of Americans are anticipating, or even welcoming, the possibility of sustained political violence, researchers studying extremism say." ~~~
~~~ Marie: And here's something I missed: "At a recent fund-raiser, Michael T. Flynn, who briefly served as Mr. Trump's national security adviser, said that governors had the power to declare war and that 'we're probably going to see that.'" That is, Flynn is endorsing a theory that armed revolution is legal. ~~~
~~~ AND It's the Godly Thing to Do. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: "Federal officials said Wednesday that [Bill] Dunfee, 57, [an Ohio pastor,] ... travel[ed] from his home in Frazeysburg, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., where he allegedly instigated rioters, pushed barricade into officers and praised those who stormed the Capitol as they left the building. Dunfee has been charged with several felonies and misdemeanors, including committing violence on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, and obstruction of an official proceeding...."
Megan Messerly of Politico: "In the 100 days since Roe v. Wade was overturned, 66 clinics in more than a dozen states have stopped providing abortions, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights advocacy and research group. Of those 66 clinics, 40 still offer non-abortion services while 26 have shut their doors, the analysis found. Among them is Jackson Women's Health Organization in Mississippi -- the abortion clinic at the center of the Supreme Court case decided in June that dismantled Roe -- which closed in early July with plans to move to New Mexico."
Beyond the Beltway
Gail Collins of the New York Times: "... Republicans have assembled a trove of truly terrible candidates." Collins names a few.
Arizona Statewide Races. Allan Smith of NBC News: "Rep. Liz Cheney urged voters to reject Arizona's Republican nominees for governor and secretary of state in next month's midterm election, casting them as existential threats to U.S. democracy. 'If you care about democracy and you care about the survival of our republic, then you need to understand -- we all have to understand -- that we cannot give people power who have told us that they will not honor elections,' Cheney, R-Wyo., said Wednesday night at an event at Arizona State University. Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor, and Mark Finchem, the GOP nominee for secretary of state, have both put denial of the 2020 election results in their state at the forefront of their campaigns. Aligning themselves closely with former President Donald Trump and his stolen election lie, Lake has falsely called President Joe Biden an illegitimate president, while Finchem has said that had he been secretary of state when Biden won Arizona, he would not have certified the 2020 election results."
Georgia Senate Race. Brad Dress of the Hill: "The woman who had an abortion at GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker's urging is the mother of one of his children, The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday. The woman, who remains anonymous, said the Georgia football legend-... requested she get an abortion in 2009 and also told her it was not a 'convenient time' to have a child when she conceived again years later. The woman, who decided to have the child the second time, said Walker 'didn't accept responsibility for the kid we did have together, and now he isn't accepting responsibility for the one that we didn't have.... That says so much about how he views the role of women in childbirth, versus his own. And now he wants to take that choice away from other women and couples entirely,' she told the outlet.... Walker, who has categorically denied the reports that he paid for an abortion in 2009, told Fox News on Wednesday that he was unable to determine who the woman is." A New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yeah, Walker also said he was going to immediately sue the Daily Beast. He didn't. It sure is odd he can't remember the woman with whom he had a child, but apparently he pretty much forgot his out-of-wedlock children, too, so I suppose there's a kind of consistency there. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Newt Gingrich is endorsing Herschel Walker because Walker has a "commitment to Christ," ignoring the fact that Walker's opponent, the Rev./Sen. Raphael Warnock has spent his adult life as a Christian pastor. Newt excuses Walker's bad behavior on account of "He had a lot of concussions coming out of football, he suffered PTSD." I agree that some of Walker's violent behavior may be attributed, at least in part, to the battering he took as a football player. And I also would blame football "culture" for his lack of regard for women. But neither a commitment to Christ or a mental disability that causes violence against women is a reason to make a person a U.S. senator. I've believed all along that someone should have talked Walker out of running for Senate & Walker should have taken that advice. Walker has proved, by the false assertions he has made, that he knows what sorts of things a good person might do. Instead of falsely claiming he has done those good deeds, he should go forth & do a few of them.
~~~ Amanda Terkel & Kevin Robillard of the Huffington Post: "'...I supervise six hospitals around the United States,' [Herschel Walker] said [in 2011]. But the reason not many people know about Walker supervising hospitals around the country is because it doesn't appear that he ever did. It's part of a pattern by Walker where he embellishes his business record and misstates facts about his personal history.
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "Several Russian missiles destroyed residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's foreign minister said Thursday. The region's governor said the attacks caused huge fires in the city, and that rescuers are pulling people out from the rubble.... The attacks came as Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, traveled to Kyiv to discuss a protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.... Vladimir Putin ordered this week that Moscow oversee the plant, heightening international concerns about nuclear safety."
Adam Schreck of the AP: "Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the final papers Wednesday to annex four regions of Ukraine while his military struggled to control the new territory that was added in violation of international laws. Ukrainian law enforcement officials, meanwhile, reported discovering more evidence of torture and killings in areas retaken from Russian forces. In Lyman, an eastern town liberated after more than four months of Russian occupation, residents emerged from their destroyed homes to receive packages of food and medicine. In a defiant move, the Kremlin held the door open for further land grabs in Ukraine." ~~~
~~~ Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "In a vain bid to celebrate his illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ... promised to organize restful autumn holidays for schoolchildren in 'restless and even dangerous' areas of Ukraine. But even as he spoke, Russian forces continued to retreat from the territories Putin just claimed as his own.... Putin's surreal message to the war-torn areas amid cascading Russian military setbacks on the battlefield created a stark split-screen between the image of control that the Kremlin is trying to project and the reality on the front lines, where Russia has been losing ground for weeks. Earlier Wednesday, the president had signed legislation to absorb the seized regions into Russia despite his lack of control."
Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "United States intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorized the car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, an element of a covert campaign that U.S. officials fear could widen the conflict. The United States took no part in the attack, either by providing intelligence or other assistance, officials said. American officials also said they were not aware of the operation ahead of time and would have opposed the killing had they been consulted. Afterward, American officials admonished Ukrainian officials over the assassination, they said. The closely held assessment of Ukrainian complicity, which has not been previously reported, was shared within the U.S. government last week. Ukraine denied involvement in the killing immediately after the attack, and senior officials repeated those denials when asked about the American intelligence assessment." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CNN story is here.
Denmark. Johnny Diaz of the New York Times: "Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has apologized for upsetting members of her family with her announcement last week that she was stripping four of her grandchildren of their royal titles, but she did not back down from her decision.... On Sept. 28, the palace announced that, as of Jan. 1, the four children of Margrethe's youngest son, Prince Joachim, would no longer carry the titles of prince or princess and would be called count or countess of Monpezat instead." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Seems to me Margrethe could have allowed the kids to retain their titles. After all, according to the Washington Post's story, "... the four grandchildren already were not expecting salaries from the state." And "all four will keep their spots in line for the throne." People like their titles. Through my husband, I was acquainted with a number of people who would have held noble titles had their home countries not revoked their titles en masse. Still, the people, with one exception, all preferred to be addressed as "Princess" or "Count" or whatever. And we serfs would oblige.
News Ledes
Guardian: "The Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to Annie Ernaux 'for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory'." This is a developing story. The New York Times report is here.
New York Times: "The police in Saskatchewan said on Thursday that a stabbing rampage last month in western Canada had been carried out by one man, Myles Sanderson, who killed not just several people on an Indigenous reserve and in a nearby village but also his own brother, Damien Sanderson. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police raised the death toll to 11 from 10, with Damien now counted among the victims."
New York Times: "A former police officer opened fire at a child-care facility in northeastern Thailand on Thursday, killing more than 30 people, more than 20 of them children. The gunman, identified by the police as Panya Kamrab, 34, shot and stabbed children at the child-care center, some as young as 2, Police Col. Jakkapat Vijitraithaya said in an interview with the local television station, Thairath TV. He then fatally shot himself and his wife and child, according to Police Maj. Gen. Paisan Leusomboon." This is a liveblog.
New York Times: "A Police Department vehicle crashed into another car in the Bronx and careened onto a nearby sidewalk on Thursday, striking a crowd of pedestrians and sending 10 people to the hospital, four of them with 'life-threatening injuries,' spokesmen for the Police and Fire Departments said." At 5:15 pm ET, his is a breaking news story; it may be updated later.
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Reader Comments (10)
Something forgotten in Denmark?
So this Queen Magrethe person has decided that the grandkids can fuggedaboutit with the royal titles. Hey, me, as Emperor of the Universe, I don’t require the full title, nor do I need any bowing and scraping. The occasional human sacrifice will do nicely.
And I see where this Prince Joachim fellow will no longer be referred to in that way. How ‘bout they just refer to him as “dude” or “that guy”?
Just imagine certain scenes in Shakespeare were royal titles replaced with more common cognomens:
Falstaff to Prince Hal:
“Dude! Banish plump Jack and banish the world!”
Yeah, doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?
Okay then, I’m going back to Emperor of the Universe.
@Your Majesty, Emperor of the Universe: Your humble servant here most humbly suggests that -- while you may be doing a good job on civilizations far, far away -- your track record on overseeing Planet Earth is mighty spotty.
Having lived through the effects of a number of OPEC and its predecessors' oil production and price whipsaws and after watching our own oil companies control so much of our politics and lives since oh, the first Rockefeller whose story I learned from Ida Tarbell, I'm more convinced than ever that energy companies are in fact public utilities and ought to be treated and managed as such.
Fossil fuel companies are not the tail wagging the dog. They are the dog, and we are the tail being wagged.
You (I? One?) would think declaring oil producers and sellers public utilities would be a cause all those self-declared populists we hear about could get behind.
@Ken Winkes: What? What? Regulate the O&G companies as utilities? What are you? A commie subversive? Haven't you ever heard of free markets and capitalism? And and and.
Otherwise, it sounds like a damned sensible idea. I'd guess quite a few countries already do that. And of course the governments of some countries -- like commie Russia & commie China! -- own their O&G companies outright. We already have a pretty crummy, pro-O&G-company agency set up to do just that: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Some states have similar agencies, & I'd guess most of them are just as bad or worse than FERC.
On another topic: some while back, (I think) you quoted somebody as saying something like, "Religion is an excuse to exercise your own prejudices." The remark was better-said than that. Do you remember what it was exactly & who said it? I tried Googling it and had no luck, but that's probably because I couldn't figure out the right words to use in my search.
I finally have my computer back––-the absence was like losing part of yourself–-sort of. The Anderson window brigade turned out to be only two lovely young men–-both from Ukraine who have done a spectacular job.
So this morning when Marie mentioned those "patriotic American Neanderthals" I had to laugh because last night my son David in Germany sent me this:
"Jule and I were joking about German today. In German there are a lot of words ending in “zeug,” which means “thing.” In fact, the Internet has identified 2961 German words containing “zeug.” There is for example Fahrzeug, Flugzeug, Werkzeug, Bettzeuge, etc. (car, plane, tool and sheets). If English were like that then you would take your drive-thing to the fly-port to catch your fly-thing in time to put on your bed-things using a work-thing. It strikes me as direct but somehow not very imaginative."
and I replied:
All the different languages in this world––-a fascinating subject. I am still amazed that you leaned German as you did and did so well. As for that language lacking imagination–—the question then is why?
and he replied:
Maybe they’ve just got some of that Neanderthal genome:
"In 2016, the [Neanderthal genome] project found that Neanderthals bred with modern humans multiple times.”
But the structure of the language certainly speaks to the way that Germans think. I miss a certain fluidity, but maybe it’s just my circle, or square, as the case may be.
To which I said:
As for Neanderthals co-mingling with modern humans, I think we see the results of that in what used to be called the Republican Party.
PD,
Neanderthals did indeed mate with their cousins, thus many of us carry smidges of Neanderthal DNA (if DNA strands can be referred to as smidges).
But recent scholarship has discovered that Neanderthals were not the knuckle dragging grunters of imaginations past. They were sophisticated, and developed their own art forms. But for some reason, that branch of the primate tree fell off and they went extinct.
It’s a bit of an insult to cave dwelling Neanderthals to compare them with R’s who ARE knuckle dragging grunters, with little in the way of either sophistication (except in their criminal and anti-democratic pursuits), or art (good art) of any kind.
Plus, even worse, they are unlikely to die out any time soon. They’re like cockroaches. They never die. Were the planet to be consumed by a nuclear holocaust, months later you’d see Josh Hawley, briefcase in hand, running away from something.
@ Marie
Some version of that line is familiar, and I could have quoted something along those lines, could even have coined it, but don't think I did either. Like you, I do think I also read it here, though...
Help, anyone?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/06/hunter-biden-tax-gun-charges/
Can see why the Trumpistas are pissed about Hunter.
Maybe he didn't pay all his taxes due, something no Republican would ever stoop to.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/06/saudis-snub-biden-cut-oil-production-2022-midterms/
Thought this a trenchant analysis of how crucial it is for people and nations to choose the right bedfellows. Maybe time to split the blanket.
Dear Marie,
I too remember reading something similar on this site and wish I could identify who wrote it. On aclu.org under a section titled “End The Use Of Religion To Discriminate” I found this “While the situations may differ one thing remains the same: religion is being used as an excuse to discriminate and harm others.”
Thank you again for all your hard work, I appreciate all you and the regular commenters do everyday!