Saturday
Apr262014
The Commentariat -- April 27, 2014
Maureen Dowd: "When the younger stars of the G.O.P. race to embrace a racist anarchist lionized by Sean Hannity, it underscores the party's lack of leadership or direction." ...
... Charles Blow: "... I refuse to let Bundy's fantasies about slavery and projections about 'Negroes' be given over to predictable political squabbling. The legacy of slavery must be liberated from political commentary. Casual, careless and incorrect references to slavery, much like blithe references to Nazi Germany, do violence to the memory of those who endured it, or were lost to it, and to their descendants." ...
... CW: Blow wrote, "America must live with the memory of what its forefathers -- even its founding fathers — did." That's hardly news. But what struck me is this: the right's fascination with the founders, their adherence to originalism, their donning of Tea Party tricorns, etc., is not in spite of the fact that many of the founders were slaveholders. It is because of it. They revere the founding fathers because they were white, they were men, they were propertied, and they had but the slightest qualms about subjugating or slaughtering people of color. What the Tea Party admires about the founders is what Blow -- and others -- call "America's original sin." ...
... AND, speaking of racists, here's the Washington Post story, by Cindy Boren, on remarks reputedly made by NBA Clippers' owner Don Sterling. The Los Angeles Times story is here. The TMZ audio, with a transcript, is here. See also Safari's remarks in today's Comments. ...
... The CNN story, to which Safari refers, is here. President Obama, responding to a reporter's question said (as cited in the CNN story,
'When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk. That's what happened here.' ... Obama also said Sterling's alleged comments are an example of how 'the United States continues to wrestle with the legacy of race and slavery and segregation. That's still there, the vestiges of discrimination. We've made enormous strides, but you're going to continue to see this percolate up every so often.'
... CW: I feel pretty sure the President was directing his remarks to Chief Justice John Roberts.
Maura Casey reviews Elizabeth Warren's memoir for the Washington Post. Casey makes the book sound like one of the few politicians' books worth reading.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "For years, the suspicion that [Vladimir] Putin has a secret fortune has intrigued scholars, industry analysts, opposition figures, journalists and intelligence agencies but defied their efforts to uncover it. Numbers are thrown around suggesting that Mr. Putin may control $40 billion or even $70 billion, in theory making him the richest head of state in world history.... Mr. Obama's response to the Ukraine crisis, while derided by critics as slow and weak, has reinvigorated a 15-year global hunt for Mr. Putin's hidden wealth." ...
... Eli Lake of the Daily Beast mocks Vladimir Putin's assertion that the Internet is a CIA operation. (See also link in yesterday's Commentariat.)
All Popes Day. Anthony Faiola & Stefano Pitrelli of the Washington Post: "Throngs of pilgrims crammed into St. Peter's Square early Sunday to watch the canonizations of John Paul II and John XXIII, a historic event bestowing sainthood on two looming figures of the 20th century who left outsized marks on the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis began presiding over the church's first twin canonizations of popes in a ceremony that apparently represents a decision by the crusading new pontiff to please both reformers and traditionalists." ...
... Anthony Faiola on saintly "miracles": "Some hope that the reforming new pope is moving to modernize the image of saints. The time has come, they say, to shift the emphasis from the mystical nature of saints toward their status as role models."
News Ledes
Guardian: "Pro-Russian separatists seized control of the TV station in the eastern city of Donetsk on Sunday, and immediately set about switching off Ukrainian TV and replacing it with Russian channels that broadcast exclusively pro-Kremlin views. A crowd of about 300 left a rally in Donetsk's Lenin Square and marched through the city centre, pulling down Ukrainian flags.... The capture of the TV tower appears to be part of an unfolding plan to shut out information critical of Moscow and replace it with Kremlin propaganda. In Slavyansk, meanwhile, rebels released one of eight European military observers kidnapped on Friday. Stella Korosheva, a spokeswoman for the town's separatist leadership, said they had freed a Swede. 'He has a mild form of diabetes so we decided to let him go.'"
New York Times: "Syria missed a revised deadline on Sunday for completing the export or destruction of chemicals in its weapons arsenal, but the government of the war-ravaged country may be only days away from finishing the job, according to international experts overseeing the process."
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Reader Comments (10)
And some of those founding fathers of the non-Virgina type, Ben Franklin prominent among them, were early abolitionists.
But today's "freedom" (that is freedom for me) lovers conveniently forget that.
And––back in them foundering days Jefferson as a candidate was accused of being a Muslim––some things jest never change, I guess.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117173/thomas-jeffersons-quran-denise-spellberg-reviewed
What struck me most about MoDo's column is that she, at least for now, has given up cute and gone for substance. She's taken quite a battering in the blogasphere of late. Maybe that's the source of change. Be interesting to see what she does next.
James Singer
I will never forget John Kerry returning from the Vietnam War, testifying before Congress, and asking: "Who do you want to be the last man to die for a lost cause?" (I am paraphrasing.)
I guess he would rather be rich and powerful than keep his integrity. C'est mauvais.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/23339-john-kerrys-sad-circle-to-deceit
Out in the world of sports, there is a significant uproar because the owner of the L.A. Clippers, a degenerate racist billionaire by the name of Don Sterling, was allegedly caught on tape mouthing off his apparently well-known views to his wife who wanted to take selfies with Magic Johnson or something. Normally this would be just another case among many of privileged white bastards projecting ignorance, but being the owner of the Clippers puts his in the middle of the NBA and thus surrounded by non-whites.
I mention this story for two reasons. First of all, is his age failing him so severely that he can't see his own wife? She's reported as being part Mexican and part African-American! What does that say about the rich billionaire racist owner who chooses the "prettiest" (debatable) colored girl in the room to be The Chosen One? As I don't personally know Mr. Silver I won't speculate, but RC's comments about the revelry of the Founding Fathers comes to mind. But I digress...
The other thing I find most interesting in this story is it's comparison with the now infamous Bundy monologue "The Negro". This story has gotten tons of press, even in the mass media where they manage to take short breaks between more floating trash found in the Indian Ocean. Yet, given the introduction of racism into this toxic scenario of Bundy, his white militia posse, anti-gummit hysteria and general Tea Party frenzy, few "Very Important People" seem to want to take on this charging bull head on. Bundy starts to soliloquize about "Negros picking cotton" and his Hannity soapbox immediately disappears. Now we begin the Faux News strategy of putting a few news cycles between Bundy and the network and then voilà it never happened!
In the Bundy debacle, Harry Reid was one of the top vocal critics of Bundy before the racist card was pulled (domestic terrorist) and even came back at him again hard afterwards. Props to Harry for bringing a big voice to the debate. However, it's nearly impossible that Obama hasn't heard about the Bundy debacle, yet Obama has remained silent on the matter. Maybe he gave the nod to Reid to lay into him on his part, but given the toxic mix and in fear of further stirring the pot, decided that this one was better to watch from the sidelines.
Then we come to the Don Sterling comments. Pres. Obama, halfway around the world in Malaysia, picks up on the story and decides to give his two cents on ignorance and the history of racism in the U.S. I find it extremely interesting to think about why he chose to throw his hat in the conversation from Malaysia on a trivial private conversation some billionaire had with his wife yet he abstains from Bundy's debacle. Part of me thinks about the Chait vs. Ta-Nehisi Coates debate on the existence of "Black Culture" and Obama perhaps feeling a stronger connection to the culture of the NBA of which he is a big fan and thus feels more comfortable wading into this arena. Part of me thinks Obama can more easily scold a billionaire and let his message "trickle down" to the common folk so he's not seen directly confronting with the average citizen. Yet if we take the two examples together, Bundy is clearly more egregious and more deserving of a Presidential shaming, even if the racist pig would merely laugh it off and become a folk hero of the local ignoramuses.
Whatever the reason, all of these racist anecdotes bubbling to the surface should all be mailed directly to John Roberts and the Supreme Court as a continual stream of proof that idealism is far from reality in the current US of A.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/27/us/nba-team-owner-alleged-racist-remarks/
@Safari recheck the details. Sterling was talking to a 'girlfriend' —not his wife. He & his wife have been separated for a long time. In fact, his 'wife' is suing the girlfriend for return of expensive geegaws bestowed on her from Sterling.
Aside from these corrections, Sterling is a total creep. Got that right!
Re: love the one you're with. Here's a selfie of me with my skinny little bitch. Look at the diamond collar; I gave it to her. Look at the fancy coat she wears when the weather is cool; I gave it to her. Look at her digs, full of fluffy pillows. Look at her fun things; I gave them to her. Look at her nails and hair, I pay for the peds and the do's. Look at the food she eats, only the best; I pay for it.
Look at this selfie of her sitting on my lap, look at that smile; I pay for that.
So why can't the little bitch do what I ask? I say stay away from the darker colors. Will she? No. I say don't hang with Mexicans. Does she? Yes. Sure, she's mixed blood; but look what I have done for her; my money make her better than the street trash she calls friends. Now my wife is involved. She says I've gotten senile and wants a divorce. All because of the little bitch.
Mr. Sterling and I have the same damn problems.
Course; my little bitch is a five and half pound Chihuahua by the name of Twiggy that was rescued from the streets. We call her Twiggy after the fashion model from the sixties, same eyes, same body style. Twiggy is her own girl and she runs the three other mixed mutts that somehow or another have taken up squatting in my home.
I respect Twiggy more than Mr. Sterling.
Unfortunately my gut instinct is to think Mr. Sterling believes he is a "owner". Much like other men of his power, wealth and position he uses money to control those "lesser" than him.
We all have to dance to the tune of those paying for the band. The one percenters of the world want us to not only dance but sing their song as well.
I don't know if Mr. Sterling is a racist. I don't know the man. But I think I can call Mr. Sterling a "owner". Fuck him.
Twiggy would not accept him into her pack and she's alpha dog.
@safari wrote, "... it's nearly impossible that Obama hasn't heard about the Bundy debacle, yet Obama has remained silent on the matter.... Pres. Obama, halfway around the world in Malaysia, picks up on the [Don Sterling] story and decides to give his two cents on ignorance and the history of racism in the U.S. I find it extremely interesting to think about why he chose to throw his hat in the conversation from Malaysia on a trivial private conversation some billionaire had with his wife yet he abstains from Bundy's debacle."
There are two reasons Obama spoke about Sterling but not about Bundy.
(1) The most obvious: the reporter asked about Sterling; he didn't ask about Bundy. Obama answered the question asked.
(2) While Bundy may legally be a "public figure" because of the way he has courted the press, he is not a public figure in the sense Sterling is. Bundy is mostly a private citizen/criminal. While it is true that because he is stealing from all of us, he is stealing from taxpayers of all colors. He may or may not have black ranch hands, but it's safe to say he does not derive his principal income directly from black people.
Sterling, on the other hand, is a public figure in the larger sense of the term. He owns an NBA franchise, his operation is televised over public airwaves, he derives many tax benefits from that enterprise, especially from the citizens of Los Angeles. I don't follow sports, so I don't know if Sterling regularly makes comments about the team or whatever, but because of his position, what he says & does is newsworthy. Rich people usually buy sports franchises because they want to be in the public eye. I suppose there are some shrinking violets among team owners, but the majority enjoy the public prestige & recognition that come with pro team ownership.
In addition, the majority of Sterling's principal Clippers employees are black. Looks like the starting lineup is 4/5ths black. To hold one's own employees in such contempt shocks the conscience.
Sterling's alleged comments reflect a long white-bigot tradition of enjoying minority "entertainment" while rejecting minorities as social equals. As JJG implies, Sterling's girlfriend is, in effect, a bought-and-paid-for "entertainer," as far as Sterling is concerned. As such, Sterling expects her to conform to his so-called standards of behavior, which apparently don't include socializing with black men. (The taped conversation, of course, is hardly unique. Many a couple has argued over the public behavior of one of them. "Your antics at the company picnic humiliated me....")
I detect a large dollop of stereotypical white-man's-fear-of-black-penises in Sterling's remarks to Stiviano. Sterling seems to be a shriveled-up old white guy who is jealous of his girlfriend's black friends. He's pathetic, or as MAG wrote, "a total creep."
Marie
Among other fascinating things in this long article from the NYTimes, is more evidence of the bankrupt mythology of private ownership in an increasingly populated and complicated world:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/us/how-a-gulf-settlement-that-bp-onc
Of course, it's difficult for adjudicators and the courts to assess responsibility and determine harm done to the public by private entities. The larger the disaster, the more people affected; and the more difficult it is to determine whom and how much. Certainly in today's interconnected world the mechanisms we have created to determine and mete out economic justice don't begin to fit reality. They are the equivalent of using a meat cleaver for brain surgery.
With millions of people living along the Gulf, dependent on the natural bounty of the region, on the business they provide one another and on the significant influx of tourist dollars each year, both logic and experience would tell us that to some degree all people living in the region were affected by the BP spill. Furthermore, everyone who paid a higher price for gasoline anywhere during the price spike that followed the spill, was also affected. Dealing with the spill also increased the cost of government, affecting all taxpayers, everywhere. In short, no one escaped the spill's consequences.
Pretending that in all circumstances we can isolate cause and effect--responsibility and restitution--with the precision most tort cases require is just that, pretense, more comfort food for those who don't want to think to much.
Or pap fed the unsuspecting public by those who think it's OK to extract billions in private profit without paying the real costs of what they're doing to the rest of us.
Think it's too late to file a claim?
Re: Ken - Have the good people of the Gulf states look at how screwed over were both the humans and non-humans after the Exxon Valdez disaster. Hold your nose and litigate: oil companies are like footballers who only understand winning at any cost. Atrocious behavior is normal for oilmen, hence Texas. Oil companies are the parasites whose tail wags the dog of humanity. My goal is to use less oil and energy every year. It is a small start within the realm of the possible