The Commentariat -- April 12, 2021
Late Morning Update:
The New York Times' live updates of Day 11 of Derek Chauvin's murder trial are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here.
A New Direction for CBP. Nick Miroff, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden is preparing to nominate Tucson police chief Chris Magnus to be commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, selecting a critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies to run the country's largest federal law enforcement agency as it contends with the biggest increase in migrants arriving at the southwest border in two decades. Magnus has led the Tucson police department since 2016 and has prominently associated himself with the reform movement favored by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party that emphasizes a less-aggressive, community-based policing model." Politico's story is here.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Donald Trump's gift to Joe Biden was a very low bar. Here we were on a Monday morning, picking up our newspapers, virtually or from the front porch, and not finding headlines about how the President had made a fool of himself over the weekend. (The same is not true of Trump, of course; he's still making a fool of himself on a weekend).
Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "The ability of the Department of Health and Human Services to build shelters, move children quickly into them and then unite them with relatives and other sponsors in the United States is the first major test of whether the Biden administration can respond swiftly and effectively to a growing immigration crisis that has far-reaching political and human ramifications.... More than 20,000 [migrant] children and teenagers are in the custody of a government system that is already at '103 percent of capacity,' including nearly 17,000 in shelters run by the health department, according to briefing materials from Operation Artemis, a response to the border crisis led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Government projections obtained by The New York Times show there could be more than 35,000 migrant children to be cared for by June...."
They All Fall Down
Tara Palmieri & Rachel Bade of Politico: "A slew of well-heeled Republican National Committee donors descended on Palm Beach this weekend..., eager for access to Donald Trump.... [Of Trump's speech, one of them said,] 'It was horrible, it was long and negative.... It was dour. He didn't talk about the positive things that his administration has done.... Many major donors have been fed up with Trump's antics since Jan. 6." Emphasis removed. ~~~
~~~ Ha Ha. Gabby Orr, et al., of CNN: "Rep. Matt Gaetz, who's facing a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations, was recently denied a meeting with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate as the ex-President and his allies continue to distance themselves from the Florida congressman. Two people familiar with the matter said Gaetz tried to schedule a visit with Trump after it was first revealed that he was being investigated, but the request was rejected by aides close to the former President, who have urged Trump not to stick his neck out to defend Gaetz. Harlan Hill, a spokesman for Gaetz, said the congressman did not request a meeting with Trump this week." MB: Yeah, Matt, just another fake news story. Now, aren't you glad you spent all that effort humping Trump? The New York Times, in the article below, still refers to Gaetz as "a close ally of" Trump. Goes to show what Donald thinks of "close allies." ~~~
~~~ The Epitome of "A Florida Man." Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times on the strange, short political career of Joel Greenberg, one that "culminated in 33 federal charges against Mr. Greenberg, 36, including sex trafficking of a minor, bribery, fraud and stalking -- and led to a mushrooming political scandal that burst into national news in recent days and ensnared [Matt] Gaetz, who is a close ally of President Donald J. Trump, and other influential Florida Republicans, with the investigation continuing."
Danny Hakim & Mary Walsh of the New York Times: "For three decades, Wayne LaPierre has been the implacable face of the gun lobby, a scourge of the left who argued that giving ground on gun control was akin to giving up on America. So it was remarkable to see the shambolic turn his tenure atop the National Rifle Association has taken showcased last week in federal bankruptcy court in Dallas. Mr. LaPierre acknowledged that he had secretly taken the N.R.A. into bankruptcy -- without telling even his top lieutenants or most of his board -- essentially as an end run around attacks from the New York attorney general, who is seeking to shut down the group amid charges of financial mismanagement and corruption. And he made a string of admissions that served largely to underscore the N.R.A.'s disarray and the questions about his own fitness to lead it."
Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "In semi-private, encrypted chats, neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists planned rallies in dozens of cities Sunday to promote their racist movements and spread their ideologies to larger audiences. Hyped by organizers as events that would make 'the whole world tremble,' the rallies ran into a major problem: Hardly anyone showed up. The 'White Lives Matter' rallies, the first major real-world organizing efforts by white supremacists since 2018, were planned on the encrypted app Telegram.... The poor showing underscores how the country's unpopular and disorganized extremist movements have been driven underground by increased scrutiny from the media, law enforcement agencies and far-left activists who infiltrate their private online spaces and disrupt their attempts to communicate and organize."
Mark Follman in Mother Jones on "how Trump unleashed a domestic terrorism movement": "The description of Trump as a terrorist leader is neither metaphor nor hyperbole -- it is the assessment of veteran national security experts. Trump, those experts say, adopted a method known as stochastic terrorism, a process of incitement where the instigator provokes extremist violence under the guise of plausible deniability.... His demagoguery was initially focused on 'the other,' ... Muslims..., Mexican[s]..., 'shithole' countries..., the news media. By his 2020 reelection campaign, he'd turned his incitement squarely on the American political leaders who opposed him..., [beginning with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer against whom he incited a kidnapping plot]. After his election loss, Trump's incitement became ever more alarming." Follman goes on to cite expert advice on how to deal with a charismatic terrorist leader & his followers.
Charles Blow of the New York Times writes about the history & some implications of white replacement theory: "On Thursday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson caused an uproar by promoting the racist, anti-Semitic, patriarchal and conspiratorial 'white replacement theory.' Also known as the 'great replacement theory,' it stands on the premise that nonwhite immigrants are being imported (sometimes the Jewish community is accused of orchestrating this) to replace white people and white voters. The theory is also an inherent chastisement of white women for having a lower birthrate than nonwhite women."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.
Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell warned in an interview broadcast Sunday that reopening the economy too quickly could lead to another worrisome jump in coronavirus cases, arguing that the country has not completely turned the corner and that the pandemic continues to pose major risks to any recovery. Powell, speaking in a '60 Minutes' interview, also said that the coronavirus pandemic had exacerbated economic disparities in the United States and that this could take time to address during an uneven recovery. In the interview, Powell described an economy that was at 'an inflection point,' showing signs of acceleration but still facing numerous risks."
Beyond the Beltway
Todd Frankel of the Washington Post: "More than 100 chief executives and corporate leaders gathered online Saturday to discuss taking new action to combat the controversial state voting bills being considered across the country, including the one recently signed into law in Georgia. Executives from major airlines, retailers and manufacturers -- plus at least one NFL owner -- talked about potential ways to show they opposed the legislation, including by halting donations to politicians who support the bills and even delaying investments in states that pass the restrictive measures, according to four people who were on the call, including one of the organizers, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor. While no final steps were agreed upon, the meeting represents an aggressive dialing up of corporate America's stand against controversial voting measures nationwide, a sign that their opposition to the laws didn't end with the fight against the Georgia legislation passed in March. It also came just days after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned that firms should 'stay out of politics.'..."" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gee, Mitch, who would have thought that threatening the hands that feed you -- especially when those hands are the appendages of (mostly) men who think they're the masters of the universe -- would not work out well for you?
Minnesota. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A police officer in Minnesota fatally shot a motorist on Sunday in the city of Brooklyn Center, about 10 miles north of Minneapolis where a police officer is on trial and charged with murdering George Floyd last year, the authorities and witnesses said. A large crowd of people was gathering Sunday evening at the scene where the driver died and some began to jump on and break the windows of police vehicles, according to video posted on Facebook. Officers with protective body gear and helmets were also at the scene, according to video posted on Twitter." An ABC News story is here.
Virginia. Rachel Chason of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Sunday he is directing Virginia State Police to investigate a traffic stop during which two police officers held an Army second lieutenant at gunpoint months ago in the southeast part of the state. Town officials said later that night that one officer was fired. Northam (D) said the incident -- in which body-camera footage shows police pepper-spraying, striking and handcuffing Caron Nazario -- 'is disturbing and angered me.' Nazario, 27, who is Black and Latino, filed a lawsuit this month against Windsor officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker that alleges excessive force due to racial profiling." Politico's story is here. MB: I had little faith that Gov. Northam had had a come-to-Jesus moment after there emerged decades-old college yearbook photos of him in blackface. I was wrong. Northam has consistently stepped up.
Way Beyond
Iran. Ronen Bergman, et al., of the New York Times: "A power failure that appeared to have been caused by a deliberately planned explosion struck Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment site on Sunday, in what Iranian officials called an act of sabotage that they suggested had been carried out by Israel. The blackout injected new uncertainty into diplomatic efforts that began last week to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal repudiated by the Trump administration." An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Martin Chulov of the Guardian: "Israel appeared to confirm claims that it was behind a cyber-attack on Iran's main nuclear facility on Sunday, which Tehran's nuclear energy chief described as an act of terrorism that warranted a response against its perpetrators.... As Iranian authorities scrambled to deal with a large-scale blackout at Natanz, which the country's Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged had damaged the electricity grid at the site, the Israeli defence chief, Aviv Kochavi, said the country's 'operations in the Middle East are not hidden from the eyes of the enemy'."
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Reader Comments (9)
"MB: I had little faith that Gov. Northam had had a come-to-Jesus moment after there emerged decades-old college yearbook photos of him in blackface. I was wrong. Northam has consistently stepped up. " Good for Northam. Young people are not fully assembled yet. Young people are all hopped up on hormones to make more young people and in that elaborate stew of mating and hormones indecretions are common. Now, inconsequential people as well as governors can have digitally recorded 'youthful indescretions' retained forever. Do you think Ron DeSantos was passive in having YouTube take down video of him being indiscreet as per Sean Burch? Sort of like George W. Bush never having a 'Bimbo Eruption': the powerful have better cover for their indiscrete moments. US jails are full of unpowerful, stupid young people. How many and how long should we seek to lock up the January 6 participants?
Citizen: in my opinion, worth not all that much, January 6 was a whole lot worse than a sexual dalliance, whether it worked out or not. I think that the FBI should arrest and imprison all of them. Without consequences, these nutcases and terrorists will be encouraged to create more problems. And the spinoffs (Pittsburgh, El Paso, etc) will continue to shoot innocents as long as we let them. It is already a problem that "legislators" (who no longer legislate--) seem to have forgotten how horrified they were THAT DAY, and are excusing it all. It was neither youthful nor an indiscretion. It was terrorism. It was perpetrated, initiated and egged on by the President* of the United States and his minions. It cannot go unanswerable. If I had my way, he would be in prison now, for life.
@Jeanne: I'm with you. I've seen a couple of articles that say prosecutors are ready to cut plea deals. Unless those plea deals are for people who can implicate Trump (with receipts), I'm against cutting any of these jerks a break. The U.S. (and most other countries) used to take traitors out & shoot them. I'm against capital punishment (would that be "Capitol punishment"?), so I don't want these bozos shot, but I'd like to see their sentences to be as severe as the law allows, and for the reasons you argue. And that includes Der Furor.
Citizen's case in point:
"the powerful have better cover for their indiscrete moments. US jails are full of unpowerful, stupid young people."
Citizen A is in jail for selling Mary Jane on the streets of Philadelphia when he was sixteen and hungry.
Donald j, Trump is still free, full of shit and floating his balls on the golf course.
But agree with M.B. and Jeanne re: the "jerks" who gotta pay the price for as serious a crime as the insurrection. Message: This was a crime!!! you idiots, not a romp at the White House.
Good points of distinction as food for thought. Thanks. Violent revolutionists need to be considered differently. First, eliminate the possibility they can legally possess firearms.
The Shame of it All
Apropos of the January 6th traitors and those in congress and the White House who not only support their actions but trigger them, I came across an observation made several hundred years ago during another time of national crises.
Montaigne, in his essay "On Conscience", relates some scary situations he encountered during the civil wars in 16th century France (the French Wars of Religion, Catholics vs Huguenots). Traveling could be particularly dangerous if one ran into the "other side" as Montaigne discovered. He notes that one of the biggest difficulties was that those on the other side were often no different in dress, demeanor, language, and background, which often made determinations of alliances a tricky business, as both yourself, your friends, and your enemies had all been brought up under the same laws, customs, and climate.
But it's not that way today in America. The traitors and their supporters have not been brought up under the same laws, customs, and climate as the majority of Americans. They don't believe in democracy, the Constitution, or the basic idea of America, at least as I was brought up to understand those things. They subscribe to dodgy conspiracies, to racist enmity, to paranoid delusions, and, to a person, are whiny snowflakes, quick to cry about how put upon they are, despite being superior in all respects. Montaigne would have no problem distinguishing "the enemy" were he abroad in America today.
He goes on, in this essay, to discuss the idea of conscience, both good and bad, and drifts into a consideration of torture which he sees as bestial and, surprise, surprise, a terrible way to uncover truth. Funny that a guy in the 16th century, writing with a quill pen understood what Bush and Cheney (and Trump) have no clue about.
He points out that those with a bad conscience often will give themselves away, that the inner turmoil roused by shame for evil deeds will be too much for many to bear.
No longer.
Yesterday, RAS linked a cartoon outlining "Republican math". The idea is that there is no shame on the right. No conscience. No moral core. Just the craving for power. Power over their perceived enemies, those they are taught must be hated and stomped into the dirt. An overwhelming need to throw aside any consideration for other human beings and the rule of law, as long as they can "win". Conscience and shame just get in the way.
There is no dearth of evidence of this lack. Just listen to Mitch McConnell whine about the necessity of proper decorum and fairness when discussing matters of the Supreme Court. Listen to (alleged?) sexual predator Matt Gaetz scream that he will never back down and is proud of himself. Then there's Trump and his entire shameless, conscienceless brood.
So yes, these people who claim to be patriots and great Americans must be judged by the laws they insist everyone else (but them) abide by. And no, they don't share the same background or understanding of ethics, morality, true patriotism, truth, decency, or law, that most of the rest us do.
But they operate better without a conscience. No conscience, no shame. Also no humanity.
But ... with no conscience one has no internal feedback, hence no course correction, and must rely on external signals to move with any purpose or effect. Which is why people with no conscience make good tools ("good" being an iffy concept), but no-so-good citizens. They can be driven by whoever has the flashiest signals.
Patrick,
Exactly. Like career criminals. Or...Republicans. But I repeat myself.
More on those responsible Republicans.
(Liked this one because I was thinking the same thing. So it goes...)
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/4/10/2025291/-Vaccine-refusal-is-going-to-cost-this-country-billions-and-it-will-come-out-of-your-paycheck?