The Commentariat -- April 12, 2015
Internal links removed.
Wherein President Obama decisively whacks John McCain & most U.S. Senators & urges them to STFU (about 13:45 min. in):
... Nahal Toosi of Politico on remarks McCain has made about Kerry. ...
... McCain's Twitter response to President Obama's remarks: "So Pres Obama goes to #Panama, meets with Castro and attacks me -- I'm sure Raúl is pleased" in a statement which Toosi cites, McCain made a more measured response.
... Julie Davis & Randal Archibold of the New York Times: "President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba met [in Panama] Saturday, in the first face-to-face discussion between the leaders of the two countries in a half century. Seated beside Mr. Castro in a small room in the convention center downtown where the summit was being held, Mr. Obama called the event 'an historic meeting.' The president cast his decision to seek normalized relations with Cuba after 50 years of estrangement in a bid to reverse a failed policy":
... The Washington Post story, by Karen DeYoung & Nick Miroff, is here. ...
... Joshua Goodman & Josh Lederman of the AP: "President Barack Obama met privately with his Venezuelan counterpart Saturday amid a bitter dispute between the two nations over recent U.S. sanctions on seven senior Venezuelan officials. The meeting between Obama and President Nicolas Maduro took place on the sidelines of the Summit of Americas and lasted only a few minutes, according to a White House official, who wasn't authorized to comment by name. The encounter comes after the Obama administration declared the economic and political crisis in Venezuela a national security threat for the U.S. and froze the U.S. assets of seven officials accused of human rights abuses tied to anti-government protests last year in Venezuela."
** The New York Times editors condemn Republican attacks on President Obama: "If this insurrection is driven by something other than a blend of ideological extremism and personal animosity, it is not clear what that might be. But it is ugly, it deepens mistrust of government and it harms the office of the president, not just Mr. Obama."
Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Kimberly Kindy & Kimbriell Kelly of the Washington Post: "Among the thousands of fatal shootings at the hands of police since 2005, only 54 officers have been charged, a Post analysis found. Most were cleared or acquitted in the cases that have been resolved." This is a long piece. ...
... Here's a breakdown of the 54 cases. "In three-quarters of the reviewed cases, the race of the charged officer was white. Of those, two-thirds shot and killed a black person. In none of the cases did a black officer fatally shoot a white person."
... Frank Serpico in Politico: "I've been saying this for a long time, ever since I spoke before the Knapp Commission investigating corruption in the NYPD more than 40 years ago: Unless we create an atmosphere where the crooked cop fears the honest cop, and not the other way around, the system will never change. Unless honesty is rewarded more often than corruption, the police will lose credibility altogether."
AG Eric Holder has to remind DOJ personnel "that they are prohibited from soliciting, procuring, or accepting commercial sex. This rule applies at all times during an individual's employment, including while off duty or on personal leave, and applies regardless of whether the activity is legal or tolerated in a particular jurisdiction, foreign or domestic." ...
... Jaime Fuller of New York: "This may seem like an obvious rule, but the DOJ also had to release a report last month detailing the cartel-funded sex parties Drug Enforcement Administration agents were hosting."
... ** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Garry Trudeau, in the Atlantic, on "The Abuse of Satire."
God News. Henry Samuel of the Telegraph: "Pope Francis has reportedly barred the nomination of a close aide of President Francois Hollande as new French ambassador to the Vatican because he is gay. The apparent rejection calls into question the pope's reputation as holding more liberal views on homosexuality. Laurent Stefanini, 54, a senior diplomat and Mr Hollande's chief of protocol, was nominated in early January but the Vatican has maintained a stony silence over whether it accepts his credentials, officials in Paris said."
Presidential Race
Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "The political world's worst-kept secret will officially escape out into the wild shortly before noon Eastern time with the launch of Clinton's campaign website." ...
... CW Update: It's after noon ET, and if Hillary Clinton's team has launched her Website, I'll be darned if I can find it. ...
... UPDATE 2: The Guardian is actually liveblogging Clinton's activities: "Clinton has now delayed her announcement; the plan changed over the weekend after the Guardian reported on it and multiple news outlets began detailed preparations for the announcement." CW: Please, Democrats, find another candidate. ...
... UPDATE 3, via the Guardian: Looks like Hillary left it to John Podesta to make the announcement. This is downright silly.
Annie Karni of Politico: "Hillary Clinton's campaign-in-waiting held its final pre-game briefing Saturday at its Brooklyn Heights headquarters, just ahead of her expected official entry into the race on Sunday. During an hour-long meeting..., Robby Mook, who will serve as campaign manager, distributed a mission statement to all aides in which he detailed the core values the campaign organization will be based on: diversity, discipline and humbleness, according to a Democratic operative who attended the meeting."
Grandma Hillary. Maureen Dowd: "Instead of a chilly, scripted, entitled policy wonk, as in 2008, Hillary plans to be a warm, spontaneous, scrappy fighter for average Americans. Instead of a woman campaigning like a man, as in 2008, she will try to stir crowds with the idea of being the first woman president. Instead of haughtily blowing off the press, as in 2008, she will make an effort to play nice."
Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "The deluge of derision this weekend from Republicans responding to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential launch is the start of a highly coordinated effort by national GOP leaders and conservative groups to effectively begin the general-election campaign against the likely Democratic nominee."
Benghaaazi! Secretary Clinton's decision to seek the presidency of the United States does not and will not impact the work of the committee. The Committee needs to and expects to talk with Secretary Clinton twice, as ensuring the committee has all relevant material is a condition precedent to asking specifically about Libya and Benghazi. -- Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi
Ari Melber of MSNBC: "Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley says if he runs for president, he will try to pull the Democratic Party back to its populist roots."
Not Satire. Andy Borowitz: "The two major political parties' unconscionable waste of money officially commences this weekend, as Democrats and Republicans will soon begin spending an estimated five billion dollars of their corporate puppet masters' assets in an unquenchable pursuit of power."
Other Candidates
Maximum Crazy. Joanna Walters of the Guardian: "The National Rifle Association's Annual Meetings and Exhibits continued in Nashville, Tennessee this weekend.... Most of the leading Republican hopefuls were scheduled to speak, and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, was a particular target, 24 hours before she was scheduled to officially launch her bid for the White House.... [Ted] Cruz called Clinton a 'gun-grabber' for her support for gun control legislation, while [Bobby] Jindal said she was part of a 'vast leftwing conspiracy' and called the NRA 'the most effective civil rights organisation' in the US."
Juanito Arbusto Now Claiming to Be Plain Ole White Guy. Andrew Kaczynski & Megan Apper of BuzzFeed: "Florida Gov. Jeb Bush updated his voter registration the day a New York Times story revealed he listed himself as Hispanic on the form in 2009."
When Randy was Doogie. Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: "When he was a surgical resident in Atlanta, his friends called him 'Doogie Howser' because he still looked like a teenager. Unlike his four siblings, he made a life for himself far from Texas. Rand and his wife, Kelley -- who originally became interested in him at a party in 1989 when she overheard him discussing Dostoevsky...."
... Here's Li'l Randy, ca. 2010, on Ayn Rand & Fyodor Dostoyevsky:
Beyond the Beltway
I feel Walter's death was motivated by racial prejudice. -- The Rev. George Hamilton, at the funeral of Walter Scott
Frances Robles & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday for the funeral of Walter L. Scott, the black man whose killing by a white police officer was captured on video.... The pastor at WORD Ministries Christian Center, where Mr. Scott worshiped, minced no words, telling the standing-room-only crowd that Mr. Scott had died because he was black. The pastor, the Rev. George D. Hamilton, stressed that most law enforcement officers serve honorably, but he urged the members of South Carolina's congressional delegation who attended the funeral to take up the issue of police killings in Washington so that African-Americans 'don't have to be scared every time they get pulled over.'" ...
Melissa Boughton of the Charleston Post & Courier: "The National Bar Association, made up of predominantly African-American attorneys and judges, is calling for the immediate arrest and indictment of North Charleston police officer Clarence Habersham, the second officer shown in the Walter Scott shooting video. According to a statement the organization released Friday, members are also demanding Habersham and any other North Charleston police officer who allegedly filed a false police report be terminated. The organization claims Habersham 'deliberately left material facts out of his report' after officer Michael Slager shot and killed Scott, and made false statements about the incident."
Peter Holley of the Washington Post: "A California sheriff has suspended 10 deputies involved in a brutal beating of a suspect on Thursday that was caught on camera by a news helicopter.... [The suspect Francis] Pusok was treated at a local hospital for abrasions and bruises, then booked on multiple criminal charges, including felony evasion, theft of a horse, possession of stolen property. He also has an active warrant for reckless driving."
News Lede
New York Times: "Stanley I. Kutler, a historian who fought for the release of President Richard M. Nixon's White House tapes and concluded that they proved Nixon was 'deeply and intimately involved in sometimes criminal abuses of power, both before and after the Watergate break-in,' died on Tuesday in Fitchburg, Wis., a suburb of Madison. He was 80." CW: Prof. Kutler also had the distinct privilege of teaching me.
References (1)
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Response: TS Inter 1st (First) Year Results 2015
Reader Comments (6)
Trudeau's point that satire should always punch up, not down is good. However, when people organize into groups of millions, they will always be more powerful than an individual with a pen. Must one ignore the sheer weight of Islam or fundamentalist Christianity just because its individual members lack power?
@Jack Mahoney: That's the same point that conservative legal analyst Eugene Volokh makes in the Wash Po: "Whatever the status of Muslims might be in France, Charlie Hebdo’s famous cartoons weren’t commenting on French Muslims as such — they were commenting on Islam generally, and particularly at the more traditionalist strands of Islam."
In Denmark & France, Muslims are a minority, just as they are in the U.S. I guess I'd think of it this way: There are about as many ethnic Chinese is the world as there are Muslims, yet ethnic Chinese are a minority in the U.S. Would you think it was okay to do derogatory Chinese impressions at a party? Or tell a joke that hinged on an American stereotype of Chinese people? What if some at the party were ethnic Chinese? Still okay?
Similarly, would it be all right to make grossly sexist jokes about women? After all, women are a majority in the U.S. I still am uncomfortable with using words like "prick" & "dick." Once I asked on Reality Chex if men were offended by these terms, & nobody responded, so I keep on using these terms on the perhaps lame excuse that they do not really condemn men per se.
My rule of thumb is that if I wouldn't use a term in front of someone to whom the term might apply, then I don't use it. When I call some public figure a "racist," for instance, I would call him that to his face. When I slam "regular people" for ignorant views, I would slam their views to their face, too, tho when I do it -- and I do -- I do so way more politely, (1) partly because I'm not going to change someone's thinking by belittling him or by telling him his views are "insane," even if I think they are, and (2) partly because I'm a reactionary mean girl -- I'm quite good at rude, but somebody has to inspire me.
Marie
Marie, the challenge is to point out the anachronistic nature of religion and lessen its role in enabling demagogues to arrest progress while not enabling hatred (usually adherents of one religion vs. another; atheists rarely thrown actual stones), most of whom seem to think that they were born into the only true faith. I don't know how to accomplish that task, but I do believe that in a world in which much policy making seems to hinge on religious fantasy (Dominionism, International Jihad) vs. reality (growing population, diminishing resources), the attempt must be made to separate people from beliefs that are so inconsistent with reality.
@Jack Mahoney: I certainly wouldn't disagree. But how many Muslims -- or any other religious adherents -- do you think have seen the light as a result of their faith's being mocked or subjected to "sacrilegious" humor?
My father, a long-lapsed Roman Catholic, scolded me when I told him of my delight at hearing Tom Lehrer's "Vatican Rag." He knew too many Catholics -- including our family members -- to find humor in mocking the faith. Me, more than half a century later, I still think it's a great song.
Marie
Good rules, Marie, to navigate satire's sticky and perilous path. It's not easy and missteps are inevitable. Since satire is based on social and intellectual power relationships, we can expect people to react when they feel attacked, as in fact they often are.
Some further comments:
First, one can avoid its use entirely and join the ranks of the dull and uninformed. I was once called, a "sarcastic public school teacher" by a private, religious school mother. She was right and I took it as a compliment, but I've never forgotten what she said because there was a lesson in there about different kinds of people I'm still trying to learn. For many reasons some people don't like snots.
Second, satire or ethnic jokes are often used with hurtful intend. I had students say hurtful things (usually white students about Natives or Hispanics) and when called on it ("beaner" comes to mind) said it was just a playful joke. My assumption: Claiming humor when its object does not find it funny is often the first cowardly refuge of a scoundrel.
Then there's that whole Catholic thing, the question of intent. Is it a social sin if you didn't mean it? Here I tended to shed my own Catholic upbringing by dealing with the behavior and ignoring the claimed intent. Putting complexity aside, my playbook rule: If it could be taken as hurtful to any individual in my school, it was wrong.
(One of the on-the-other-hand complexities--there's social value in developing a thick skin, and I tried to instill that, too.)
But that uptight Christian lady was right. I am given to sarcasm, satire's little brother or sister (trying to be gender neutral here so as to limit offense), and do believe satire, by stretching one's standard frame of reference and hence expanding perspective, can be a great teaching tool for a receptive audience.
Unfortunately, those in most need of that stretching are likely those least likely to accept it.
And thanks for the "Vatican Rag." Raised two boys on Lehrer and they don't seem at all the worse for it.
Old news dept:
Penn and Teller on Vaccinations, from my physician daughter in law.
Caution: contains two bad words and verges on sarcasm in places.
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2015/01/watch-2-magicians-destroy-anti-vaccine