The Commentariat -- April 25, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "The family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy whose fatal shooting by the Cleveland police in 2014 prompted national outrage, is set to receive $6 million from the city in a settlement announced Monday in federal court records." -- CW
Kirk Semple of the New York Times: "... an international panel of investigators ... ha[s] been examining the ... [disappearance of] 43 students ... in the city of Iguala[, Mexico] one night in September 2014 amid violent, chaotic circumstances.... The reason for the students' abduction remains a mystery. Despite apparent stonewalling by the Mexican government in recent months, the panel's two reports on the case, the most recent of which was released on Sunday, provide the fullest accounting of the events surrounding the students' disappearance, which also left six other people dead, including three students, and scores wounded." -- CW
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "As the [U.S. Supreme Court] justices are set to review ... former Virginia governor [Bob McDonnell]'s [R] conviction this week, other politicians will be watching for a decision on when a favor crosses the line into an 'official act,' an area that has become increasingly blurry in the world of campaign contributions." -- CW
Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: Muskogee County, "Oklahoma police took $53,000 from a Christian band raising money for an orphanage. A Texas man who is a refugee from Burma was carrying the cash -- most of it from ticket sales for the band he managed -- in his car when officers stopped him and seized the money under the state's forfeiture law.... Oklahoma has some of the most permissive forfeiture laws in the nation, according to a 2015 report by the Institute for Justice, a civil liberties law firm." -- CW
Larry Neumeister of the Boston Globe: "New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady must serve a four-game 'Deflategate' suspension imposed by the NFL, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, overturning a lower judge and siding with the league in a battle with the players union." -- CW
*****
Staff writers of the BBC: "US President Barack Obama has dismissed North Korea's proposal to suspend nuclear tests if the US ends its annual military exercises with the South. On Sunday Mr Obama told reporters that the US did not take such a proposal seriously and that Pyongyang would "have to do better than that". The North's foreign minister Ri Su-yong made the offer in a rare interview. Mr Ri's comments came as the North said it fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its eastern coast." --safari
Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Obama will announce the addition of 250 Special Operations troops to the American advisory force in Syria, U.S. officials said Sunday, the administration's latest move seeking to intensify pressure on the Islamic State." ...
... Juan Cole calls this announcement the "ISIL Endgame." --safari
Alison Smale & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama said on Sunday that he was confident the United States and the European Union would succeed in negotiating a new trans-Atlantic trade deal by the end of the year, saying the benefits of such an agreement were 'indisputable.'... Mr. Obama spoke while standing next to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at a news conference in Hanover as they prepared to preside over the opening here of the world's largest industrial trade fair. In the evening, Mr. Obama and Ms. Merkel hosted a dinner for 29 chief executives of major American and German companies." CW ...
... She Is Not Amused. Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "Asked Sunday how she viewed the prospect of working with a President Trump, given his harsh criticism of her refugee policy, Merkel first stared icily at the reporter who posed the question -- and then quickly dismissed it." -- CW
David Sanger of the New York Times: "The United States has opened a new line of combat against the Islamic State, directing the military's six-year-old Cyber Command for the first time to mount computer-network attacks that are now being used alongside more traditional weapons. The effort reflects President Obama's desire to bring many of the secret American cyberweapons that have been aimed elsewhere, notably at Iran, into the fight against the Islamic State -- which has proved effective in using modern communications and encryption to recruit and carry out operations." -- CW
Deb Reichmann of the AP: "The Obama administration will likely soon release at least part of a 28-page secret chapter from a congressional inquiry into 9/11 that may shed light on possible Saudi connections to the attackers. The documents, kept in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol, contain information from the joint congressional inquiry into 'specific sources of foreign support for some of the Sept. 11 hijackers while they were in the United States.'" -- CW
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "There are only two countries on the planet that currently jail people for being too poor to pay the government for getting arrested: The United States and the Philippines.... In any given year, city and county jails across this country lock up between 11 and 13 million people just because they aren't rich enough to write a check for a few hundred dollars.... Jason Flom..., CEO of Lava Records..., wants to get rid of cash bail. Boom." Lithwick interviews Flom. -- CW
Jesse Eisinger of the New Yorker on why the S.E.C. didn't bring criminal charges against Goldman Sachs' top bankers. CW: Sounds an awful lot like Wall Street has "captured" the regulatory agency, which will come as little shock to Reality Chex readers.
David Daley, in New York, writes a long piece on the "REDMAP ratfuck." -- CW
Whistling Dixie. Jim Webb, who claims to be a Democrat who should be president, in a WashPo op-ed: "One would think we could celebrate the recognition that Harriet Tubman will be given on future $20 bills without demeaning former president Andrew Jackson as a 'monster,' as a recent Huffington Post headline did. And summarizing his legendary tenure as being 'known primarily for a brutal genocidal campaign against native Americans,' as reported in The Post, offers an indication of how far political correctness has invaded our educational system and skewed our national consciousness." -- CW ...
... Eric Loomis of LG&$: "This is classic Webb. Downplay genocide, not even discuss slavery, totally avoid Jackson's utterly disastrous economic policies, play up the violence and manliness." -- CW
Eyal Press of The New Yorker has a very long read on systemic torture and abuse of mentally-ill inmates within our prison system. The lede: "In Florida prisons, mentally ill inmates have been tortured, driven to suicide, and killed by guards." --safari ...
... CW: Had just read this myself. Depressing but compelling. And, sadly, not limited to Florida.
Presidential Race
Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Even as his chances of winning the Democratic presidential nomination slip away, Senator Bernie Sanders and his allies are trying to use his popularity to expand his political influence, setting up an ideological struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party in the post-Obama era. Aides to Mr. Sanders have been pressing party officials for a significant role in drafting the platform for the Democratic convention in July, aiming to lock in strong planks on issues like a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, breaking up Wall Street banks and banning natural gas 'fracking.'" -- CW ...
Steven Dennis of Bloomberg: Bernie Sanders, "whose insurgent campaign has energized millions on the left and challenged the prohibitive favorite, said Sunday on ABC's 'This Week' that he would work to defeat the Republican candidate if [Hillary Clinton is] the Democratic nominee. Still, he urged her to adopt many of his agenda items." -- CW
Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont did his best on Sunday to avoid talking about comments made by one of his supporters, the actress Rosario Dawson, who invoked Monica Lewinsky at a rally for Mr. Sanders this weekend." -- CW
Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Hillary Clinton unveiled a major new attempt to use Donald Trump's words against him at the weekend, as both she and rival Bernie Sanders adjusted course near the end of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. While Clinton turned toward an anticipated general election showdown with Trump, Sanders invited Democrats to take a broader view of his role in the race than just as a contender, telling CNN he was out to 'revitalize American democracy'." -- CW
... ** Tax-Dodgers-in-Chief. Rupert Neate of the Guardian: "... Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ... share an affinity for the same nondescript two-storey office building in Wilmington[, Delaware]. A building that has become famous for helping tens of thousands of companies avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in tax through the so-called 'Delaware loophole'.... Both ... Clinton and ... Trump -- have companies registered at 1209 North Orange, and have refused to explain why.... This squat, yellow brick office building just north of Wilmington's rundown downtown is the registered address of more than 285,000 companies. That's more than any other known address in the world, and 15 times more than the 18,000 registered in Ugland House, a five-storey building in the Cayman Islands that President Obama called 'either the biggest building in the world, or the biggest tax scam on record'." -- CW Read on. ...
... "Crooked Hillary." Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: Hillary "Clinton needs to find her voice on the question of campaign finance -- to talk more about money, not less -- because valid doubts about the integrity of the system are fuelling Trump's campaign, too. That won't change if Bernie is gone.... There are legitimate concerns about the role of money in politics that go well beyond quid-pro-quo bribery, such as the effect that being in a closed conversational circle with wealthy donors can have on a politician's world view and priorities. Sanders, though he might do so less derisively, has a right to raise them." -- CW ...
... John Amato of Crooks & Liars: "... Republicans have let out one of their big strategies they'll use against a possible Hillary Clinton presidential run - Swiftboating Benghazi." -- CW ...
... digby: "I have a sneaking suspicion that Trump's going to get a lot more down and dirty than that, however. He's shown he's not afraid to sink as low as it gets. Benghazi ain't it." -- CW
Sidney Blumenthal in The Atlantic: "One hundred and sixty years after the founding of the Republican Party, Donald Trump has evoked Abraham Lincoln as a standard for his branding.... But Lincoln became 'presidential' by resisting not only slavery but also isolating nativism.... The Republicans are now going the way of the Whigs by embracing the politics that helped destroy them." --safari
Too Little, Too Late. Matt Flegenheimer & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Senator Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio have agreed to coordinate in future primary contests in a last-ditch effort to deny Donald J. Trump the Republican presidential nomination, with each candidate standing aside in certain states amid growing concerns that Mr. Trump cannot otherwise be stopped. In a statement late Sunday night, Mr. Cruz's campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said that the campaign would 'focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Governor Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico.' Minutes after Mr. Roe's statement, the Kasich campaign put out a similar message." -- CW ...
... The Washington Post story, by Sean Sullivan & Dave Weigel of is here. -- CW
Simon Maloy of Salon: "Large segments of the Republican Party and the conservative movement have arrayed themselves in opposition to Trump to ward off the political reckoning his candidacy threatens, but there are some people who want Trump to win precisely because his nomination would inflict much-needed violence upon the Republican Party as it currently exists. Bruce Bartlett, a former official in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and a longtime critic of the GOP's increasingly conservative politics, sees Trump as both a product of the Republican Party's decline and a potential catalyst for its eventual reclamation." --safari
AP: "A 20-year-old Connecticut man is facing charges after authorities say he tweeted out a bomb threat during a Donald Trump rally Saturday. Connecticut State Police say the U.S. Secret Service contacted them Saturday afternoon after they say Sean Morkys posted on Twitter, 'Is someone going to bomb the trump rally or am I going to have to?'" CW: Thanks, kid, for making the Trump opposition look insane AND giving Donald a legitimate grievance. Idiot.
Beyond the Beltway
Staff writers of The Seattle Times: "Vandals have tagged a Seattle church with racist graffiti that includes swastikas and a message telling its congregation to 'go back' to Africa. The Seattle Police Department is now investigating the messages...The church believes the vandalism occurred at some point between Friday and Sunday morning." Via The Daily Beast --safari
Guardian: "Eight family members found shot dead at four homes in rural Ohio were targeted for execution in a planned 'sophisticated operation', authorities have said as their investigation entered a third day. They said that remaining members of the tight-knit Rhoden family and other residents of Pike county should arm themselves if they feared further attacks from the killers, who were still at large. Charles Reader, Pike county sheriff, and Mike DeWine, Ohio attorney general, said on Sunday it was clear the victims, ranging in age from 16 to 44, were deliberately singled out for attack, most of them while they slept, rather than killed at random or in a crime of passion. Several marijuana-growing operations were found at the crime scenes, they added, although it was unclear what, if any, role the operations had played in the killings." CW: Arm yourselves? Really?
Christian McPhate of the Dallas Observer: "Tracy Murphree, the GOP candidate for Denton County sheriff, posted on Facebook that he'd beat the hell out of a transgender person who tried to piss in a bathroom where Murphree's daughter was peeing." -- CW ...
... Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: Murphree is expected to win the election. -- CW
Sarah Burris of RawStory: "A preacher in Alabama wants you to know that sex will kill your brain cells, make you homeless and was brought by God as a means of punishing people...Many right-wing religious have deep and profound problems with sex. They want to regulate when you can have it, how you can have it and who you can have it with. But, this guy has taken the anti-sex philosophy to a whole new level of hostility." --safari
The racist origins of tipping. Maddie Oatman of Mother Jones: "On the surface, tipping seems little more than a reward for astute recommendations and polite, speedy service. But the practice has unsavory roots.... European aristocrats popularized the habit of slipping gratuities to their hosts' servants, and by the mid-1800s rich Americans, hoping to flaunt their European sophistication, had brought the practice home." --safari
Way Beyond
Ali al-Mujahed & Hugh Naylor of the Washington Post: "Signaling a major shift in Yemen's grinding civil war, Saudi-backed forces Sunday appeared to mount a large-scale offensive to drive militants aligned with al-Qaeda out of their strongholds in the country's south." -- CW
S. Nakhoul, et al., of Reuters: Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, overseeing Saudi Arabia's economy, unveiled ambitious plans on Monday aimed at ending the kingdom's 'addiction' to oil and transforming it into a global investment power, including changes that would alter the social structure of the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom by pushing for women to have a bigger economic role and by offering improved status to resident expatriates." -- LT
The AFP in the Guardian: "Austria's government was licking its wounds after the anti-immigration far-right triumphed in presidential elections, dealing a major blow to a political establishment seen by voters as out of touch and ineffectual. According to preliminary results, Norbert Hofer of the Freedom party came a clear first with 36% of the vote in the first round of elections.... Candidates from the two ruling centrist parties, which have effectively run Austria since the end of the second world war, failed to even make it into a runoff on 22 May, coming fourth and fifth each with 11% of the vote." --safari
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Reader Comments (12)
Thought that this was an interesting roundup in the Daily Kos. There is also a link to Ruth Marcus, where I found the comments worth a quick look. Especially the comment about "Bread and Circuses". We are beguiled for decades by the right about gays, abortion and welfare, so that we don't discuss the policies of trade, social security, taxation, health insurance, and so on. That is, the issues that really do affect people, and which would attract more voters to the Dems, if polls on these subjects are a guide.
A strong case is made for Georgetown University making reparations to the descendants of slaves, given its beginnings.
Also discussed is Flint water. Are people poisoned with disregard because they are predominately black, or poor? I have often thought that is was a deliberate tactic to pit poor whites against poor, or all, blacks. Pretending it's a zero sum game to divide and conquer. Ruby Wax did a series of interviews (sorry I can't find them) a few years ago with desperately poor white R voters. It was painful to watch people twisting and turing as she pressed them on why they voted R, when the policies of the D's would and did so clearly help them. I particularly remember one toothless guy agreeing that the R's had not so far done anything for him, but "one day, they might". It was so often a way of differentiating themselves from, of elevating themselves over the Others.
Trump was correct - with the minuscule number of transgender people in society, how likely is it that Ted's daughters are ever going share a bathroom with a transgender woman? Would they know? Are there any transgender people scarier than Ted?
This paragraph from the above Guardian piece gives me chills:
"The rise of fringe politicians has been mirrored across Europe, including in Spain, Britain and Germany, and also in the US with the populist messages of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front, who hopes to become president next year, tweeted her congratulations to the Freedom party for its “magnificent result”. “Bravo to the Austrian people,” she said.
Except for throwing Bernie into this mix whose "fringeness" is NOT like the others, this radical move to the right does not bode well for our fractured world. The influx of refugees probably plays a big part in peoples becoming more nativist and conservative and scared?
But here in this country we see glimmers–-faint, but still–––David Jolly (R FL) wants to change the system of what he calls, "Dialing for Dollars" and has brought to the floor the "Stop Act" that would ban all federal elected officials from directly soliciting donations. Watch this segment from 60 minutes and tuck away the fact that Jolly isn't getting very far in this endeavor. And you would think ALL congress critters would jump at changing this awful telemarketing that they, themselves, have to do. Why is it, do you suppose, this bill is going to fall flat on its face?
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-are-members-of-congress-becoming-telemarketers/
And speaking of money: Just in Tax Havens alone the U.S. annual tax loss is $35 billion. Now you would think in the aftermath of the financial crisis there would be an international crackdown on the use of these tax havens. Again––small glimmers, but no big change.
@PD
I thought the same thing while I was reading the article re: Sanders. Maybe considered outside of mainstream politics, okay, but lumping him next to Trump and Le Pen is simply journalist negligence.
I linked the piece to make the larger connection, as you did, to the rise of nationalistic, xenophobic forces across the most "developed" democracies. We see daily occurences of racist attacks spattered across the local papers throughout Western cities, which is to be expected from some considering the depth of ignorance coupled with xenophobia and a lack of empathy for others. The bigger problem is when these people find themselves in front of microphones, amplifying their thoughts, while the supposed leaders acquiesce in front of the moment. At present, that lack of sustained courage is being filled by bravado and fear mongering, and elections are confirming the results.
Gloria,
I can't be sure of the motivation for choosing Flint for a Grand Republican Experiment in Saving Money at the Expense of People's Health, but the fact that Flint is in the top ten list of American cities with the highest percentage of African-American residents could have something to do with it, maybe just teensy-weensie bit.
Let's look at it this way, have you ever seen one of these whack job wingnut experiments applied to Republican cities or counties? Why didn't Snyder choose a location say, in Ottawa County, MI? Oh..let's see, perhaps because of its 263,000 residents over 90% are white and upper class and only 1.5% are black, or maybe because the county has not voted for a Democrat since George McClellan in 1864. And he was an idiot.
No, Flint was Snyder's choice to inject a little Kansas style "belt-tightening", but even better than Kansas (because too many white people), he didn't have to worry about people getting sick and dying, if his experiment didn't work, because black and Democratic.
And if there happen to be a few poor people who vote Republican, they're never a concern. They're all brainwashed anyway and wouldn't vote against the GOP If their kids were being sold into sexual slavery and only a Democrat could save them.
Am in a hurry this AM and don't have time for much, which seems, neatly enough, a reflection of what has prompted the reactionary state of the world that Safari and PD have been talking about.
We're all in too much of a hurry and have little to say about the forces that propel us to move at such a high speed. In the last century we've experienced massive, wrenching technological, environmental and social changes over very short periods and the headlong dynamics of those changes have afforded us little time to adjust. We're ready for, even desperate for easy answers.
Large human migrations, while only one of those changes, are among the most obvious, the most frightening, and most amenable to easy control.
All we have to do is build a fence or pass a law to keep those strangers where they belong.
Have another thought about what this means for progressivism and conservatism, but will save it for another time. (Pardon this reminder to self.)
But as I said, I'm in a hurry.
From one misogynistic braggart to another.
Herr Drumpf, a rotomontade raconteur of the first order, never tires of reminding everyone of how smart he is--a big brain, all the best words--and how unfailing is his instinct for winning and for winners.
Here's his quote from a couple of years ago on the eve of the NFL draft:
"Teams are making a big mistake not taking Johnny Manziel – he is going to be really good (and exciting to watch)."
The next day 21 teams declined Trump's sage football advice and passed on Manziel (winner of the Heisman Trophy as best college player in the country) before the Cleveland Browns chose him with their number one pick.
He was an abysmal loser. In two years, he won only two games. But he had a raft of social media gaffes, plenty of off-field drama, and insulted as many people as he possibly could (sound familiar?) The Browns cut him. Yesterday it was announced that a Dallas grand jury indicted him for beating up his girlfriend. His NFL career is very likely finished two years after Trump picked him to be one of the very best.
After being drafted, the ever boastful Manziel (whose signature "move" was to make a dollar sign with his finger after scoring) "...told Browns quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains 'Let’s wreck this league,' what he was essentially saying was “Let’s make Cleveland great again.'"
After only eight games, he was done. Great call, there, Donald.
Let's see if Cleveland, this July, picks another cocky, arrogant, misogynistic loser.
I often rail against things I hear on NPR, not typically because they are the most egregious transgressors of journalistic integrity, clearly they're not, but because over the years they have demonstrated an ability to (somewhat) transcend the quotidian fustiness and cavalier condescension to accuracy that besets most MSM news outlets. Hope spring eternal, I suppose.
But anyway, here we go again.
This morning, in an extended piece by Mara Liasson, the populist "movements" affecting both parties was examined, but examined only in the most antiseptic manner. It wasn't a true "both sides" bit of lying fluff, but it might as well have been. Without getting into a whole big megillah, here's my complaint: There are different types of populism and the effect on each party is distinct. They mention this in passing but here's what they don't mention. Supporters of Sanders' style populism want a fairer, more democratic society. Supporters of Trump want a police state where their enemies are locked up or denied access. This is a huge fucking difference. Yes both sides have an argument to make about big banks and a system rigged for the rich, but their ultimate goals couldn't be more at odds.
Liasson talks to Republican strategists about how Trump's populism has changed the party. "Oh yes! Things'll be so different now. We'll pay more attention to the people." And they will; sorta. Like Trump, they'll talk a good populist game then after the election, close the door to the smoke filled room and conduct business as they've always done it, and with it comes the standard GOP misprision. One guy says "Oh, Trump style populism has been a part of the Republican Party for ages and ages. At least ten years." Oh really? Ten whole years? Wow.
There's talk of populism (that term deserves its own hour special to explicate its various iterations and understandings, but good luck with that) and gold standards and nativism, but no attempt to explain the distinctions to casual, or younger listeners, it all sounds like another "Both Sides" piece. When in fact, one side wants more democracy, more fairness, and the other side wants democracy only for a few and for the game to be rigged for them instead of the oligarchs.
And that misunderstanding is a failure of journalism. Again, I never expect to hear Chuck Todd attempt this sort of thing, or Jonathan Karl. But someone has to do it. Todd is too busy with his rumor mongering and Karl is too busy as ABC's resident Confederate mole, allowing the Kochs to paint themselves as patriots and great fans of democracy. I suppose, like Todd, too many "journalists" believe it's not their job to explain anything to the mob.
It's just too much work.
Thanks, AK. I always have NPR on in the bathrooms where I am attempting to get decent for work, and twice in the last two weeks, I have emailed the journalists of Morning Edition for allowing ONE side to blab, with no attention to an equal voice from the other. One was after trump (lower case) decided to punish women after a legal abortion, and NPR had on the unfortunately named head shill of the Susan B. Anthony outfit, and the other was an r (snacilbuper, as coined by someone at Juanita Jean's beauty salon--)talking about how sensible the NC potty law was. And of course minimum wage wasn't even mentioned. NPR wrote me back that bias has no place in their lexicon. Of course the lady included a list of three pieces NPR had done on the NC law. I was not talking about news, I was talking about unshackled opinions presented as fact. They do get my goat but otherwise, I get to hear Morning Joke and his sad sidekick. NPR wins... (and what's with the fleece sweatshirts MJ affects these days? Just one of us, I guess--)
Looks as if the Cruz-Kasich tag team is already under strain with Kasich saying he hasn't told his supporters in Indiana not to vote for him.
There was a good article in The Guardian on the theme of how this ti "too little, too late" and in reinforcing Trumps claim of the system being rigged will only hasten the breakup of the GOP.
There has been a lot of discussion on Trump not caring about the future of the republican party but I haven't seen discussion on how this could be the Cruz agenda as well, to form a more evangelical, nativist party.
Safari, I am sorry. I think I messed up your Austria post when I posted about Saudi Arabia. I hope you can fix it back . ~Lisa
I agree with every point you make, Akhilleus. I was trying to make the additional point that confederate government will always abuse the poorest. I realise that Dem voting, poor AND black gives them the trifecta, but in the links I gave, they argued that a rich, black community probably wouldn't have been poisoned. Flint is 40% white, not an insubstantial number.
Ruby Wax showed how some of the poorest whites will always vote R despite overwhelming evidence that they are impoverished by their confederate representatives. Her interviews and the link in the Daily Kos article suggests that those poor whites are mollified by promises that The Others won't get "free stuff".
I recommend the Miami Herald article in which I believe Pitts argues that economic privilege is an important a factor, as is white privilege, and that poor whites have been "sold a bill of goods". He doesn't argue, and neither do I, that poverty displaces race as an explanation for discrimination, but adds to it. I have read articles quoting white Kentuckians who voted for Bevan and are now shocked that they, too, might lose their health insurance. Tea Partiers who think benefits are terrible except for theirs.